[Malban]

Hi guys.

I am again at the baltic sea (renovating the house) and can’t program anything. That doesn’t stop me from thinking though.

I want to finish – yes FINISH Vectorblade “soon”. It has already been a long time coming – and usually I pride myself in doing things fast.

Following is a list of things I have still on my list of todos:

– on death “sprawl” some bonuses*
– candle STAYS**
– additionally some better sort of explosion of the last fighter (like anim shown)
– intro text for each level (like the original Warblade)
– normal: intro attack – to remove
– some sort of sound within diamond storm and super diamond
– beta testers get a special section in the scroll text – an extra “scene” not “neccessary”
– upon death a display of number of lives left

uncertain
– new achievement: “enter shop after boss fight”, still to be determined what causes it
– achievement: %10, %20, %30 percent reduced item cost in shop (additional or perhaps instead of the money?)

 

* the plan is to check which “bonus” items will be lost when death occurs.
The appropriate bonuses (if they exist) will be be “exploded” onto the screen. The “new” ship can catch those bonuses to
“upgrade” again. BUT the bonuses will be “far apart” so the player has to decide which bonus is the most dear to him…

** I know you don’t like the candle in the VB – context.
But I like it :-). And I actually discovered two other people who also like it (even within Vectorblade). So I am not “alone”
anymore. For that reason – the candle stays! (but plan is – to still do a better “game over” explosion – so perhaps the best of
both worlds wins)

---

 

If these are implemented and no known bugs exist – I would like to call it quits.

Have you guys anything you think is neccessary left, things I might have forgotton? This might be the last time to speak up.

Otherwise, once I find the time, I will implement the above….

… and build a “Release candidate” which must be tested (and probably bugfxed several times).

And than only “manual” work will be left (packaging…).

Thoughts?

Cheers

Chris

 

[Malban]

Hm.

I don’t really think I “understand”.

It is “fragile” – but the “problem disappeared”

– What do you mean by “still fragile” – is the Atari Vox still “resetting”?
– If not, how do you determine, that version 1 is “slightly better” than version 2?

“muffled” –
There is no volume setting with vecvox “software” – if you want it to be softer, you have to regulate whatever amplifier you have connected.

Thx for testing – and answering all my questions.

 

Cheers

Chris

[Malban]

Do both versions work equally “well”?

Or do you notice any difference?

[Malban]

@Jerome, try this one:

VecFever version:
Vectorblade_B57.V4E – 27th June 2020

I changed at some point 2 timing parameters (I rediscovered).

This one takes back ONE of those parameters  perhaps that helps – perhaps not (I don’t see a reason why it should hang after 60 levels of play!!!).

The other timing also changed updated with following binary

VecFever version:
Vectorblade_B57_2.V4E – 27th June 2020

Still I would wonder if any of that “helps” – but IF at all, I would much prefer above version one to work!

Chris

[Malban]

I tested just now again with these three:

(at least level 50 with each)

 

[Malban]

As said before – I played a lot and didn’t have any problems.

It sure is strange, that it happens with a new version and not with an old version though.
I will compare the sources for VecVox between now and beta40 (when I find the time).

I “might” have to ask you

a) to do lots of tests 🙁

b) or to lend me your vecvox, I have 3 different ones here, but they all seem ok

 

I’ll provide more info ones I find the time to compare the sources.

Cheers

Chris

 

[Malban]

No time for programming…
(at least not for thinking)

Starting soldering…

[Malban]

Back from the holiday.

I still will not be able to do Vectrex. I have quite a bit of work backlog and still have a house to “renovate”. It will probably be a few weeks till I can go back to Vectorblade in earnest :-(.

---

@Helmut:
I’ll change the negative bonus to the “original” state. The new style doesn’t look too great. And also – I received the third edition of the instruction manual – the bonus symbols are printed in it. So I think (since they are not totally awfull) I’ll just stick with it :-).

---

@Jerome:
I will again test the VecVox… but as of yet I have had no diffictulty at all. Any other testers care to comment on VecVox issues?

Attack “from side”.
Ok. If you really think “normal” is to difficult – I’ll change it to what you suggested – start the additional attacking one “level” later. Not many people will ever notice :-).

I am not sure what you mean with:

– another point: playing with the last ship: instead of an armor, other improvements (or nothing), a temporary increase of the bonuses to collect (life / powers etc…) would be great.

As of now the “last ship” does not offer any additional “things” – also no armor!

Continue:
I don’t think I would like to offer that.

As of now there are already a couple of ways to play:

• easy mode
  the “normal” game
• hard mode (not difficulty)
  only one life, no shop
• enter level/difficulty you want to play
  If you reached level X you can start playing from there
  (which is really hard, since you start with your normal “starter” gear”
• play from a saved game
  With this you can “explore” the whole game to the highest difficulty – if you want, but you cannot save high scores

I am not sure what a “continue” as you described would really “add” to the game.

One Vectorblades feature is to get better/more convenient stuff thru achievments.
There IS already an achievement that allows you to enter a shop with each level start. So if you have money, you can equip yourself “fresh” after each death.

A continue such as you suggestest would really only be:

• a couple of more lives
• another “saved” game (depending on high score handling)

And the question remains… if you managed to die – why wouldn’t you die again shortly after?

I guess the “method” to prevent deaths from being fatal in the later game is:

• don’t die
• buy locks
• have much money and the ability to enter the shop

---

Now that I think of it…
A rather “cool” reward for an acceptional achievment would be:
(Boss fight)
– either: enable – teleport back to the last shop
– or: enable – do not teleport at all, but allow a shop enter

OR

Another (or instead) – reward could be:
– enable: enter shop after a death

Now – any ideas for what kind of achievement (a new one please) – that could be a reward for?

---

 

Chris

PS

Received you parcel. Do you want me to send it right back to you with the current version (beta 56) – or wait a little longer for some “more” stuff?

[Malban]

If you still have your positions – feel free to argument with me. Frequently being persistent and arguing led to me change things I originally didn’t want to change :-).

 

 

[Malban]

Vectorblade mechanics

Aliens
——
Have hitpoints.
“simple” aliens have between (I think) 1-31 hitpoints.
BigBugs have up to 256 hitpoints.
Bosses and “super” aliens can theoretically have up to 65536 hitpoints – but I think
in reality Sinistar has the most hitpoints with about 500.

Hit points increase with difficulty level!

Aliens (defined by the level) have attack patterns.
Per level 4 different attack patterns are defined. They are ordered from 1-4, 1 being the easiest attack pattern,
and 4 being the hardest.
The number of used attack pattern is random, but the random is influenced by the difficulty.

Levels
——
Have three stages.
1) intro stage -> the aliens appear in patterns

2) Waiting stage -> aliens wait and perhaps attack

3) decreased alien stage -> if the number of aliens are reduced below a key value
additional “aliens” can appear (bugs/super aliens/saucer)

Killing aliens in the “intro” phase is the easiest way to handle them.

Player-Shots
————
Each shot (bullet) has a power. Per default the power is 1.
Thus one single shot bullet does 1 damage.

A full single shot -> 1 damage
A full double shot -> 2 damage
A full tripple shot -> 3 damage
A full quad shot -> 4 damage
A full Blaster shot -> 5 damage
A full Laser shot -> 1 damage (each round)

“multi” shots can decrease (1-4) with the damage they do (a quad shot can become a tripple shot by delivering 1 damage).

Laser damage is HEAVILY reduced against bosses.

The most effective weapon against bosses is the blaster.
The most effective weapon against aliens is the laser or sometimes the quad shot (since it spread wider and can
deliver damage to up to four aliens).

On easy the laser goes “thru” aliens, any other difficulty the laser is “broken” by aliens it hits.

Player shots (starting with difficulty “normal”) can get additional power.
POWER (as the name suggests) is immensly powerful, since it increases the base damage of each bullet.
Collecting 1 power increases the damage done by 1 (thus for single to quad shots DOUBLES the damage done).

Up to 6 (if I remember correctly) power can be collected.
Playing higher difficulties one NEEDS power!
Power is also a random bonus drop from level normal onwards (1/512 chance).

Losing a live
————-
Decreases every decreasable stat by 1, that is:
– rate
– bullet
– speed
– timer (5s)
– power
– or instead of the above (if available) 1 lock

Vectorblade Difficulty
———————-
Difficulty within one difficulty level (100 levels) increases “slightly” with play elements.

Aliens use more agressive attack patterns, different alien types have “more” hitpoints, can spawn clones
or have more “big” bugs.

Difficulty over difficulty levels have different “increase” factors.
a) aliens get more hitpoints
b) weapons are less effective
c) the attack patterns of the aliens are “modded” to be more difficult – see above
d) aliens also attack during intro (this is new)
on easy – 0 alien is allowed to attack
on normal – 1 alien is allowed to attack
on hard – 2 alien is allowed to attack
on impossible – 3 alien is allowed to attack
on s. impossible – 4 alien is allowed to attack
e) bosses behave slightly different
f) on s.Impossible – there is no intro to levels anymore
g) the higher the difficulty the less “bonus” stuff drops

Strategy
——–
Vectorblade (in my mind) has two different “play types”

a) the casual
This player plays on easy and tries to reach 100 levels (probably 95% of the players)

b) the “crack”
This player plays to higher difficulty levels.
(I don’t think it is possible to play more than two times super impossible)

Different “srategies” apply (or are needed).

The casual:
“Easy” can be played in principle with a double shot without “difficulty”.
Nonetheless the player ought to fill up:
a) number of bullets in the air (up to 10)
b) speed of the fighter
c) speed of the bullets
(… so basically get greedy 🙂 ).

As a bonus he can collect EXTRA and get a better shot – but as said this is not really needed.

The “crack”
Has more work to do.
He knows as the game progresses over the difficulty levels “money” (and bonuses) will get rarer.
He also has to build up greedy – but he also more or less must ensure, that after reaching
level 100 his money is about 20000-30000, so that he can “cash in” with each double cash that drops.

Dying for the “crack” is a very bad thing (as Jerome mentioned).
It does not really matter whether you have 9 lives or 3 – if you die more than a couple of times you
might as will quit.

BUT

There are ways to compensate
a) with locks
You can buy “locks”. If you die no stat of yours will be reduced! (you can buy up to 15 locks)

b) with time
Raising the timer to an “ungodly” value you can shield yourself (shields can hold in access to 5 minutes in
later games)

c) shop availability
Thru achievements you can get the possibilty to access the shop at the beginning of every level (also after a death)

d) bombs
Smartbombs destroy every normal alien and every bug and EVERY SHOT on the screen.
These are live savers! And level finishers!

d) secrets
Some secrets are more “valuable” than others.
If you go for a “record” get them all!
Having the “money” secret – you WISH for the money sucker to appear – since if destroyed he
drops more money than he can every “suck”

Getting the “sucker” secret lets the scoopies stay over each warp (except bosses)
(for the complete 25 levels – if you play carefully!)

Getting the “bomb” secrets lets you buy bombs in he shop in case you do not want to “collect” the bombs
the normal way (higher difficulties).

and so on.

—————-

Open to discussion, but…

From what I have played…
I do not want to reduce the intro attack.

I don’t really like the idea of a “savety” shield after XXX deaths – as mentioned there ARE a number of ways to
counter the dilemma you faced.

I will most probably not print the number of lives on screen. This is rather due to vectrex limitations than not wanting to.
But each “print” reduces the time I have left for other things and I am already at the limit.
The player does not really need to know the number of lives each second.
He can keep track in his brain – or hit pause.

Before I display the number of lives – I would rather display another “score” digit. Playing “all the way” one can probably get about 20-30 million. And at the moment 9999999 is max.

If it weren’t for all the things that needed changing
(high score, high score edit, saving, comparing, displaying) I might have done that already – but the player base that NEEDS a higher max score is probably so small – that I probably won’t do it)

—–

Have other people problems with VecVox?
I have not encountered any!

—–

I will have to look at the diamond storm and noise again.

—–

In higher levels there is no better thing than getting power up/lock up / timer up !!!

—–

Nope – I never purchase a laser either, my favourite is the quad shot – IMHO the best of both worlds :-).
But I find that Ok.

—-

Sure – one can price differently between difficulties. But you would not like me doing that –
because I would only raise prices in higher difficulties 🙂

—-

Greedy
Not immediatley – only after a shop visit!

—-

Thought:
To counter your dilemma a little bit I could:
Minimum value a fighter can decrease its efficiency to is the “start value”.

Having a couple of achievements that wouldn’t be too bad…
(tripple shot with 5 bullets I think is possible)

Malban

[Malban]

If you don’t mind me asking…

Did anyone play the latest VB version – did any kind of crash happen? How much (if) have you played?

[Malban]

Vectorblade_B56.bin – 29th Mai 2020

and VecFever version:
Vectorblade_B56.V4E – 29th Mai 2020

Despite my last positing I programmed a lot on this one – and fixed a couple of bugs.
It still has the candle death sequence and no beta tester honors. That must wait till after my holiday.

Nonetheless the “big” bugfix, which probably caused the crash is “in it”. I played a couple of hundred levels and all seemed ok. But (fingers crossed) – one never knows.

Additions and bugfixes I can remember since the last “playable” binary:

Saving
1) Save game in progress
In pause mode press “up” to the disk and follow instructions

2) Load saved game
go to the “settings menu” and press “down” to the disk and follow instructions

Save game should work on VecFever and on the Flash version!

Minestorm
Minestorm reward is now based on the speed that you can manage:

Snail, 1000 points, 100 cash
Turtle, 2000 points, 200 cash
Boring, 5000 points, 500 cash
Rabbit, 50000 points, 1000 cash
Falcon, 100000 points, 5000 cash

The achievement reward for “greedy” is now +1 weapon type.

You get also an achievement for Minestorm Falcon – also +1 weapon type.

So you are able to start with a tripple shot!

Drunken
I implemented the mentioned drunken “bonus”. If you catch that the steering is reversed for a couple of seconds.
(below the fighter a tiny “timing” marker appears)

Entering minestorm – as usual – does not reduce time of bonuses. Finishing a Minestorm while “drunken” – you get an achievement “drunken storm”. This achievement enables bonus drops in game of “tripple shots”.

For all of the above…
Texts, sound, voices, achievements, help texts, pause status… etc have been implemented (doesn’t sound like much – but codewise these were many, many changes – small though, but fiddle sticks)

Difficulty
In shop the “lock” and “power” cash requirements have been deeply raised!
For “non easy” (as mentioned befor) the gameplay variety has increased.
Depending on the difficulty aliens can now attack directly from their entry moves – they do not have to reside at their waiting position.
Also all bosses change slightly with increased difficulty. The most obvious changes are:
– boss 1
“Swarm” members protecting the queen – can now also swoop at the player
– boss 2
“Sinistar” has now different movement patterns per difficulty – this really freaks me out! 🙂

Wishlists
– I implemented Helmut’s latest wishlist, as their are:
–  “deny” sound in shop
– switch the “sign” of “S” and “B” – although I do not really find that better 🙂
– fireworks rockets are a bit brighter
– Major Havoc has slightly increased walking distance
(not done “yet?” – displaying the number of lives left)

Other bugs
– minestorm does not finish when collision close to the end
– using higher scale than 127 – caused lasers (player, scoopy and boss 3) to be displayed buggy

Other not seen changes
Code for the “wheel” is now for both VecFever and Flash in the same bank und thus “unified”.
Both circle coordinates for the “black hole” and the “wheel” have been shortened by 512 bytes. Somehow it escaped me, that a modulo of 512 of register “D” can easily be achieved by a simple “ANDA #%00000001”.

The code for the “test all aliens with shots” has been completely removed (this was the code that caused the crash).
I could not find a way to keep the better collision detection for “small” aliens – and also do sensible collision detection for bugs and big enemies. Hope thus works out nonetheless.

 

---

 

I tested this version quite extensively. But there still might be bugs left.

I will not be able to fix anything before about the midst of June. I hope you are all well.
If you have time and it is still fun to you – you are heartily invited to play a round of Vectorblade :-).

@Jerome:
I have not received anything via snail mail yet – so you will not get the replacement cartridge “soonish” – sorry.

As a matter of more “open” communication – I might do another redundant blog entry… depending on my mood.
Thank you all for your patience and persistence with Vectorblade. The end draws near!

Regards

Chris

[Malban]

Somehow I can’t bring myself to concentrated programming.

I’ll try to add the achievements this week… but that will probably be all… before my work holiday

For the next beta – you’ll be stuck with the candle :-)- perhaps it will grow on you after all. If not I think I think (unless serious VETO) I’ll go the “particle” route as in last example above.

Gee – I also still have to do my taxes … end of May fast…

 

[Malban]

Lots and lots of “debris”

 

[Malban]

Sketch of a “beta tester” ceremony?

[Author]

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