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Short return note from the baltic sea …
I did not change the laser – you somehow had a pulsating bug…
🤔
hey just been testing the beta 27
testing notes:
i noticed at the title menu page, on my vectrex most of the time the left icon (and the top one?) seem to be off-centre inside the triangle, see the first picture below
intro animation: i think it would be a good idea here to do what you did with the boss fights:- have a eg. 3 second duration at the start of the intro animation where you cannot skip the animation via button press, so that it is not skipped by mistake as it starts, and also, after the 3 seconds if the player presses the button to skip the intro animation, it would look better (more professional) if the screen went black/music stops for eg. 0.5 or 1 second before displaying the title menu screen
new start game sound: i thought that sounded good although if being really fussy maybe the noise effect a little quieter perhaps (or instead the instrument volume level increased but not the noise)
dying at the boss level: i thought that seemed ok to be put back some levels (to eg. try to increase your weapons again)
boss 1 background noise: i thought that sounded good and not out of place. if being fussy perhaps might be better a little louder
after destroy boss: i noticed that when i press buttons after the boss was destroyed i dont get the bug of garbage/bullets being displayed on the screen so i assume you did something there to fix the bug
shop: i noticed that a lot of times, on my vectrex the bottom (line) of the alien body does not properly line up (overlap) with the line he is resting on. i think it certainly looks better when it is lined up properly rather than overhanging (see picture 2 below where he is overhanging)
i just had a play of beta 33
very good fun and the game feels like it is coming along really well and in good shape!
i reached level 79 and scored 540,000
overall i think the difficulty level of EASY is goodthere are some things to report so here they are below in no particular order
1 – new shop sound effect when moving between items:
in my opinion the sound is a bit too aggressive and ‘out of place’ sounding, it would be better in my opinion if you have a simple short ‘beep’ sound, dont make it a low pitch sound, eg. a suitable sound would be like a ‘blip’ ‘blip’ ‘blip’ as you move between the items in the shop2 – at the first boss, i had the triple shot, i cant remember if i had autofire or not but anyway, when i killed the boss and he was exploding, i can still keep firing bullets, and some bullets are stuck around the middle of the screen. do you need a video recording of this issue? note i only ever play on real vectrex, never emulation (vide)
3 – i think i mentioned before: after completing minestorm, could you instead display that you receive cash $1000
example: instead of the current display: “Success! 10000 bonus“, change to “Success! $1000 bonus” (or: “Bonus! 1000 Cash“) (or if you have space/cycles, you could display both.. so display that you been awarded 10000 points and 1000 cash)4 – if you get a weapon in the game because you collected EXTRA icons, in my opinion that weapon should be unlocked in the current game and you can now buy that again if u lose a life (currently you have set it so you can only buy the weapon grade one step below). this seems a bit irregular and uncommon to me, and annoying! lol
(ok it’s just my opinion of course but i wanted to voice this opinion) 🙂5 – i have mentioned this in the other thread: in achievements screen, for ‘Greedy’ page details, the text and cup gfx are overlapping
6 – just an opinion of course but, for the large alien which appears down low on the screen from the left and then moves across to the right, but stops a few times to fire the solid laser beam downwards, if it’s possible, could u set it so that if the round is over (all enemies gone), can that large alien just move along off the right of the screen rather than keep stopping and firing his laser beam). it ends up kind of boring and takes too long waiting for him to go away (it works well of course if the round is still active with enemies and action, but when the round is over, it feels like you are just sitting around for too long waiting for him to go away.. and it’s not like he is any challenge at that point (because now its easy to avoid his laser beam if the screen is empty of other attacking enemies). i mention this because a few times when i have played including tonight, that alien shows up just as i have finished a level, so then i have to wait ages for him to go away (…. it would be improved if at least he stops ‘stopping and firing’ when the other enemies on the level are gone) . by the way, i know he can be destroyed but often the player doesnt have powerful weapons and so just ends up avoiding him rather than trying to kill him anyway.
EDIT: a different idea to address this issue is:- if that large alien is to appear on a level, set it so that he appears nearer to the START of a level, so then there are other aliens present making it all more exciting and challenging. no need to make him only show up when you have spent too much time on a level. instead have him show up early.7 – the change so that the boss fights do not use the old numbering system (level 25 – boss), was good, no complaints here!
8 – 3rd boss (the death star), i notice when i hit him with my weapon (i think i had triple shot), that he makes a ‘jerking’ movement now, at his top half (of the circle of his body) … i assume this is something new you added? – well to throw in my opinion, it felt to me like the jerk is a bit too severe and should be reduced (it’s a good idea that he jerks like that when he is hit, but i think it should just be a slight jerk and not as much as it is currently set to .. currently to me it looks a bit ‘glitchy’ because of the high displacement when he jerks)
9 – falling bonus icons in game:
i wanted to mention 2 of them, the ‘minestorm’ icon and the ‘extra life’ icon
in the game i played this evening, they were both too common in my opinion.
i must have got the extra life icon about 4-5 times in a single game (i played 79 levels). it seems it would be better if the chance of getting the ‘extra life’ icon was reduced .. so eg. maybe i might see it approx. twice in 79 levels seems better to me)
– the minestorm icon seems to me to be too common also (it feels like it should be reduced in odds a little, eg. reduced by 35% because it seems to me currently it shows up way too often)10 – super diamond .. i know this is quite rare to see… however, i got this ‘bonus stage’ when i played tonight, and to me it feels a little ‘unfinished’, as in, there is not really any sounds here if i remember correctly? and also, you dont really do anything, just a big diamond comes to you. maybe you could reduce the big diamond size?
suggestion: …. have the short ‘diamond minestorm’ section like you have now but which has some slower moving regular sized diamonds, but then after a pause, the (reduced in size as its way too big now) super diamond flies down the screen but REALLY fast, so it is not easy to grab it. sometimes you might get it, and sometimes not. like in the picture below, u could set it so the little diamonds dont all move too fast so u can grab some, but the larger super diamond which only comes once, moves VERY FAST so its not easy to get it!
1 – new shop sound effect when moving between items:
in my opinion the sound is a bit too aggressive and ‘out of place’ sounding, it would be better in my opinion if you have a simple short ‘beep’ sound, dont make it a low pitch sound, eg. a suitable sound would be like a ‘blip’ ‘blip’ ‘blip’ as you move between the items in the shopWill look at the sound again…
2 – at the first boss, i had the triple shot, i cant remember if i had autofire or not but anyway, when i killed the boss and he was exploding, i can still keep firing bullets, and some bullets are stuck around the middle of the screen. do you need a video recording of this issue? note i only ever play on real vectrex, never emulation (vide)
Will look at it again…
3 – i think i mentioned before: after completing minestorm, could you instead display that you receive cash $1000
example: instead of the current display: “Success! 10000 bonus“, change to “Success! $1000 bonus” (or: “Bonus! 1000 Cash“) (or if you have space/cycles, you could display both.. so display that you been awarded 10000 points and 1000 cash)Will do…
4 – if you get a weapon in the game because you collected EXTRA icons, in my opinion that weapon should be unlocked in the current game and you can now buy that again if u lose a life (currently you have set it so you can only buy the weapon grade one step below). this seems a bit irregular and uncommon to me, and annoying! lol
(ok it’s just my opinion of course but i wanted to voice this opinion) 🙂Won’t do 🙂 – otherwise you can “buy” the laser to early…
5 – i have mentioned this in the other thread: in achievements screen, for ‘Greedy’ page details, the text and cup gfx are overlapping
Already done
6 – just an opinion of course but, for the large alien which appears down low on the screen from the left and then moves across
Will not be changed.
8 – 3rd boss (the death star), i notice when i hit him with my weapon (i think i had triple shot), that he makes a ‘jerking’ movement now, at his top half (of the circle of his body) … i assume this is something new you added? – well to throw in my opinion, it felt to me like the jerk is a bit too severe and should be reduced (it’s a good idea that he jerks like that when he is hit, but i think it should just be a slight jerk and not as much as it is currently set to .. currently to me it looks a bit ‘glitchy’ because of the high displacement when he jerks)
Didn’t change anything. I’ll look at it. – But possibly this will simply stay…
9 – falling bonus icons in game:
i wanted to mention 2 of them, the ‘minestorm’ icon and the ‘extra life’ icon
in the game i played this evening, they were both too common in my opinion.
i must have got the extra life icon about 4-5 times in a single game (i played 79 levels). it seems it would be better if the chance of getting the ‘extra life’ icon was reduced .. so eg. maybe i might see it approx. twice in 79 levels seems better to me)
– the minestorm icon seems to me to be too common also (it feels like it should be reduced in odds a little, eg. reduced by 35% because it seems to me currently it shows up way too often)Didn’t change anything. This is pure random – the same randomness where you complained that Minestorm is to seldom :-).
Will probably stay10 – super diamond .. i know this is quite rare to see… however, i got this ‘bonus stage’ when i played tonight, and to me it feels a little ‘unfinished’, as in, there is not really any sounds here if i remember correctly? and also, you dont really do anything, just a big diamond comes to you. maybe you could reduce the big diamond size?
suggestion: …. have the short ‘diamond minestorm’ section like you have now but which has some slower moving regular sized diamonds, but then after a pause, the (reduced in size as its way too big now) super diamond flies down the screen but REALLY fast, so it is not easy to grab it. sometimes you might get it, and sometimes not. like in the picture below, u could set it so the little diamonds dont all move too fast so u can grab some, but the larger super diamond which only comes once, moves VERY FAST so its not easy to get it!That is not realy a “level” more an “intermission” scene. You can’t really do anything – except get 100000 points and some cash. Its a “reward” thing. Will not change except perhaps some sound.
Regards
Malban
vtk: 1 – new shop sound effect when moving between items:
in my opinion the sound is a bit too aggressive and ‘out of place’ sounding, it would be better in my opinion if you have a simple short ‘beep’ sound, dont make it a low pitch sound, eg. a suitable sound would be like a ‘blip’ ‘blip’ ‘blip’ as you move between the items in the shop
–
Malban: Will look at the sound again…Good. Currently, the sound sounds like a drum or tambourine and doesn’t fit very well. It supposed to be a really descreet and non-enerving sound.
vtk: 10 – super diamond .. i know this is quite rare to see… however, i got this ‘bonus stage’ when i played tonight, and to me it feels a little ‘unfinished’, as in, there is not really any sounds here if i remember correctly? and also, you dont really do anything, just a big diamond comes to you. maybe you could reduce the big diamond size?
suggestion: …. have the short ‘diamond minestorm’ section like you have now but which has some slower moving regular sized diamonds, but then after a pause, the (reduced in size as its way too big now) super diamond flies down the screen but REALLY fast, so it is not easy to grab it. sometimes you might get it, and sometimes not. like in the picture below, u could set it so the little diamonds dont all move too fast so u can grab some, but the larger super diamond which only comes once, moves VERY FAST so its not easy to get it!
_
Malban: That is not realy a “level” more an “intermission” scene. You can’t really do anything – except get 100000 points and some cash. Its a “reward” thing. Will not change except perhaps some sound.Ouch, I also thought that in Super diamond level you could do something. But it doesn’t matter and some riddles left in Vectorblade are o.k..
had a good game tonight, i scored over a million points and did the 100 levels so now can start the game on ‘normal’ difficulty
couple of things to mention:- first, i tried to keep firing bullets (quad shot) on the final boss 4 when i killed him, and that ongoing bug was present there (some bullets are stuck in mid air and i can keep firing away)
something else to mention about the final boss 4 .. (i had quad shot) i have to say (at least with that weapon), he is way, way, too easy to destroy. i killed him with no challenge, very quickly . i think the other 3 bosses are very good with their difficulty level, but the 4th boss was too easy (it felt like, when i had the quad shot, to make it a fitting end challenge it should have taken 4 times as long to kill him as it did). … perhaps u already tweaked boss 4 difficulty if using the laser so that’s ok? anyway, i dont know what he’s like with the blaster but it was certainly way too easy with quad shot
ps. the new final sound effect you put in at the end of the game sounded good and fitted well 🙂
pps. im running out of bugs or suggestions to report in, so that’s good news, hehe 🙂
…
yea, found another place where that bug could occur. Probably fixed with next beta… – if there is not still another bug :-).
I never found the last boss too easy. But giving him more hitpoints is not a problem.
Any of the others killed him yet – thoughts?
if you wanted some testing done on the last boss it might be an idea to make a custom beta where you start the game in the shop with enough money/the option to buy any weapon, and then when you exit the shop you are at the last boss
Just checking the code base, as a follow up to the above, here the random range table for bonus…
A random number is generated (0-255), the ranges describe the number range a needed for a bonus.
So it starts at zero, “LETTER E” has a range of 5, so if the random value is between 0-4, then a bonus letter E is created.A “LIFE” bonus only has a chance of 1:255 (~0,4%), and a Minestorm bonus double of that value.
Still, random is a bitch!
Cheers
Malban
;#################
; Random ranges
BONUS_E_RANGE = 5
BONUS_X_RANGE = 5
BONUS_T_RANGE = 5
BONUS_R_RANGE = 5
BONUS_A_RANGE = 5
BONUS_SLOWER_RANGE = 10
BONUS_SHOTMINUS_RANGE = 10
BONUS_SHOTPLUS_RANGE = 10
BONUS_FASTER_SHOT_RANGE = 4
BONUS_FASTER_RANGE = 10
BONUS_ARMOR_RANGE = 3
BONUS_SHIELD_RANGE = 3
BONUS_SCOOP_RANGE = 8
BONUS_SHOT1_RANGE = 15
BONUS_SHOT2_RANGE = 20
BONUS_MINESTORM_RANGE = 2
BONUS_MULT2_RANGE = 8
BONUS_MULT5_RANGE = 2
BONUS_BOMB_CASH_RANGE = 2
BONUS_BOMB_DIAMOND_RANGE = 2
BONUS_TIMER_RANGE = 2
BONUS_SLOWER_SHOT_RANGE = 10
BONUS_MONEY_20_RANGE = 30
BONUS_MONEY_50_RANGE = 5
BONUS_CASH_DOUBLER_RANGE = 1
BONUS_SHOT_POWERUP_RANGE = 1 ; 0.5 in reality
BONUS_LIFE_RANGE = 1
;->BONUS_MONEY_5_RANGE = 7110 – super diamond .. i know this is quite rare to see… however, i got this ‘bonus stage’ when i played tonight, and to me it feels a little ‘unfinished’, as in, there is not really any sounds here if i remember correctly? and also, you dont really do anything, just a big diamond comes to you. maybe you could reduce the big diamond size?
suggestion: …. have the short ‘diamond minestorm’ section like you have now but which has some slower moving regular sized diamonds, but then after a pause, the (reduced in size as its way too big now) super diamond flies down the screen but REALLY fast, so it is not easy to grab it. sometimes you might get it, and sometimes not. like in the picture below, u could set it so the little diamonds dont all move too fast so u can grab some, but the larger super diamond which only comes once, moves VERY FAST so its not easy to get it!Just thought to mention, there is the super diamon level – yes, but that is not random.
The super diamond level appears, when you collect a certain number of diamonds… and is an intermission to reward 100000 extra points.
There ALSO is a Diamond Storm (like Minestorm level – just with ONLY diamonds). THAT one appears randomly (1:255 chance).
Malban
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