[hcmffm]

Thank you for the update, Chris.

> Being able to say that about something you programmed yourself is fantastic :-).

Yes, Vectorblade is indeed a master-piece. But “Release!” and Frogger aren’t bad either. 😉

I like the new “Drunken bonus” graphics. But I dislike the game over sequence – personally I think it doesn’t fit to the rest of the game.

> You can decide:

• do you want a beta by the end of the week – possibly with more or less completely untested “features”
• or do you want to wait till in about 3 weeks – when I can finish everything and at least playtest a bit?

I’d say: “We want it all! And we want it now!”

 

[hcmffm]

It’s too early to congratulate, but this sounds very promising. My fingers are still crossed and I much hope that you, Chris, can solve this unwanted, mysterious, and exhausting riddle, soon.

[hcmffm]

Major Havoc is a simple answer for me:

In terms of gameplay, Vectorblade is the most complex game I know on the Vectrex. And Vectorblade will still be the most complex gameplay without Major Havoc. So I think you (Chris) should forget about Major Havoc and make a seperate game out of it.

If you still have ressources and energy, you could give all testers an indication and let them make suggestions. ATM, I don’t have a suggestion for Vectorblade on my mind, but I’m pretty sure that if I looked at the game today, I would find things that could be improved.

Linking the two games (VB and Major Havoc) in some way is a good idea,  e.g. VB could have an end sequence with the pilot getting of the space craft and climbing into a shaft. The end sequence could be the start sequence of Major Havoc. Or menu system could be similar. Or…

Just my 2 cents… Good luck in finding the bug(s) and I wish you (Chris) good and joyful VB free days!

[hcmffm]

Excellent, Chris! I keep my fingers crossed that you track ’em down all.

[hcmffm]

Sounds like a good strategy. If there was a binary with a configuration for the random seed I could let it run on several Vectrex consoles. VB could perhaps even run in several instances of ParaJVE (blush – not using Vide, yet) – not sure how much CPU ressources emulation requires.

[hcmffm]

Mir fällt dazu Folgendes ein:

Vorgestern hatte die Apollo 13-Mission ihr 50-jähriges Jubiläum. Die Mission wurde die erfolgreichste Mission der NASA.

[hcmffm]

Quite some communication these days and I hope that the bug can be tracked down, soon. Please let me know if I can help at some point by running some code/binary on my three Vectrex consoles or in ParaJVE.

Last not least: Happy Easter to everyone!

[hcmffm]

When adding up above numbers, it’s about two full days of testing beta 33, now. My guess is that we could continue running VB beta 33 in demo mode for even more days without experiencing any crash.

Perhaps it’s a good idea to run a version without any debug code for a longer time in demo mode. This way we could verify whether the crash occurs in demo mode at all.

@Malban: Which VB version crashed for a tester when playing for a longer time?

PS: Welcome, @Jerome!

[hcmffm]

Thank you for this update after a long time, Christopher. I’ll download the beta version and will run it in demo mode on one of my Vectrex consoles.

EDIT 1/2: VB beta 44 running… …: After more than 2 hours still no crash on my no-buzz Vectrex. I don’t want to leave my Vectrex running unattended so I’ll stop the test, now. I’ll continue tomorrow…

EDIT 3/4: [13.03.2020 08:25 am.] VB beta running… [9:25 pm] …stopped after 13 hours. No crash, here. Tomorrow I’ll try on a buzz Vectrex.

[hcmffm]

Hmm, my first thought was also that all graphics except the MB logo are too low down. But from what I can see the VEXTREX logo and the “CASSETTE” label is missing on the front.

Some minor issues that I want to mention:

Grid a bit too coarse
The white grid seems to be a bit too coarse:
MB originals: 34 squares horizontal
Vector blade: 32 squares horizontal

Penis-style space ships
As you know, I don’t like the penis-style space ships in the higher levels. On the box these space ships don’t look any better. Perhaps a scene with other space ships could be chosen for the screenshot on the box.

EDIT:

Screenshot on box reveals some surprise
The screenshot shows the players spaceship with two scoopies of different type. This does happen but is a bit unusual. And it’s a bit of a surprise when this does happen (at least to me it was).
I’d suggest a screenshot with two similar buddies which is more standard and thus not reveal this little surprise.

[hcmffm]

Thank you for your update, Chris. Good to see that Vectorblade progresses. 🙂

Another beta, -> Download: VectorbladeDiary.pdf

Almost I wrote something like “Where can I download the new beta?” but then realized that it’s a beta of the Vectorblade diary and not a beta of Vectorblade. 😉

I also started the instruction booklet, but that will keep me busy for a while, since it is really trying to insert vector graphics.

Let me know if you need support in creating vector graphics. As you know, vectorizing scans or screenshots with vector graphics is a work that I like. Once vectorized you can use the vector graphics even in MS Word or MS PowerPoint.

[hcmffm]

The shots missing… was that more when many enemies are on screen or rather when there are only a few enemies?

I can’t remember but I think it was when many enemies were on screen. During my last games (beta33) I didn’t experience/notice the problem at all. So the problem seems to be really rare and random.

@vtk: Do you remember?

[hcmffm]

Thats the effect of something I did on prupose for optimization.

I can take it out – doesn’t really matter – probably.

Decide your self. It’s a minor issue and most users won’t notice or experience this problem.

But horizontal axis will still take precedence over vertical axis.

Mapping diagonal joystick directions to left/right is fine.

[hcmffm]

There’s a minor issue/bug in the main menu:

Selection doesn’t change when controlling diagonally
When you move your controller to a different direction without centering first, the menu might not change. To reproduce simply do a “circle tour” with your joystick, i.e. move it to the top and then try out all directions without moving back to center position.

 

[hcmffm]

Some more feedback for the achievements:

Naming of achievements
Some of the namings of the achievments might be improved:
COMPLETE: EASY –>
COMPLETE EASY (Notes: No colon. Imperative, just like in the other “WHEN” sections, e.g. DISCOVER …. Applies for all levels (EASY, NORMAL, HARD, …)

90% ACCURACY –>
ACCURACY > 90% or SHOT ACCURACY > 90% (Notes: Different wording, just like “SCORE > 100000”. Applies for all accuracies (90%, 100%, 120%)

Position of top arrow
Currently, the heading “ACHIEVEMENTS” and the top arrow are a bit close together. This looks a bit cramped.
Suggestion: Position the top arrow a bit more down.

 

 

 

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