vtk
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// vtk: How did you find out about “EXTRA” in correct order?
i can’t remember but i would say it was either malban told me or it was from the documentation here:
i’m still quite fixed on the idea of having the laser reduced in power (eg. ‘burst mode’ operation) but then with further effort the laser can be upgraded to a ‘super laser’ (i would describe how the laser currently performs as a ‘super laser’) 🙂
however if you dont want to do that then perhaps yes make it a little harder to obtain the laser then (it’s nice to be able to get it on the EASY level as it is useful later on around stages 75-100), i suppose you could not allow it for the EASY level at all, i guess (to be honest i dont think my opinion will change about the laser (my opinion being it is a little too powerful so makes the game feel too easy if you are at EASY or NORMAL, however having the laser that powerful for later levels like HARD etc would be ok)
it’s only my opinion so no need to stress about it of course, everyone has their own opinion and it will be impossible to please everyone 🙂
ps. i play a little different from how i used to: now, to obtain the laser quickly i tend to just start getting E,X,T,R,A in the correct order as soon as i start the game. i suppose this could be tweaked so it is not so easy to do (currently i would say yes it is is fairly easy to get the laser this way, often quickly after beginning a game i have the laser — eg. 10 or 15 rounds in…)
Perhaps It’s possoble to add a line like “Welcome to grumpy Alien’s Supplies” when entering the store.
how about .. “YOU STEAL, YOU DIE …” 🙂
my thoughts are, to solve all of the concerns you have written above;
the weapons as you get them in order – from single shot, double, triple, quad, blaster .. for each of those jumps in weapon grade there is a good, consistent, even increase in weapon grade, but then when you get the laser weapon, the increase in destructive power from the blaster to the laser is too big. i can only keep coming back to the conclusion that if the laser was tamed down from the current implementation (for example: have it fire in bursts rather than a ‘solid line’) so that the laser is now just a step up from the blaster and not a giant leap, then you dont need to worry about anything else.(if you really dont like the idea of losing the ‘solid line’ laser (it’s certainly a very impressive technical feat, seeing the vectrex be capable of doing that), perhaps you can have a regular ‘burst’ laser but then have a further upgrade possible (super laser) .. possible on eg. later skill levels such as HARD difficulty onwards)
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)
thanks for the new beta i will report in later with notes etc
as Malban suggested could everyone try out the laser weapon now that it is unlocked to buy
here i think that because you can just hold down the fire button with the laser weapon so the laser line stays solid on the screen and cuts through everything easily, it’s fun but for me it makes things too easy taking away too much of the challenge
to fix that, my suggestion was to only allow the laser weapon to be fired in ‘bursts’ (regardless of if you have autofire or not)
i can try yes although i dont tend to have much luck doing sound effects (i havnt done that much in the past so it is uncharted territory for me)
just a note about your cartridge, have you thought of tin-plating the cartridge connector pins with solder? i did that with my test cartridge here as i found that it went into my vectrex quite loosely, and i did have some problems in the past of sometimes the cartridge would not boot properly without re-inserting a few times until it worked
since tin-plating the cartridge pins i have not had any problems
(if you decide to do it, it only needs a very thin layer of solder on each pin)
hey just been having a go tonight of the latest beta 26
i play with a different strategy now;
what i used to do is, just concentrate on getting RATE, BULLET and SPEED up to max …
now though, what i do is from the beginning of the game just try to get E,X,T,R,A in the correct order so i jump to the LASER weapon,
ok so using that strategy i just got the laser weapon and i have been using it, and just wanted to say i think it is much better now that it works in the ‘burst’ mode instead, so it means that the levels are still challenging and it’s less likely that all aliens can be destroyed as soon as they enter the screen (which felt to me ‘too cheap’)
so thanks for changing the laser performance..
actually i think there was a bit of a bug with it though:
when i got E,X,T,R,A in the correct order and got awarded the LASER, then the burst mode was not functional, and instead i could just hold down the fire button for the old style continuous laser ‘line’ on the screen.
however, a few levels later i lost the laser (i lost a life) and then had the blaster. but i got E,X,T,R,A again and so upgraded to the laser again, but then this time, the burst mode was functional. so it seems a bug is happening there?thanks for changing the armor feature; i got hit by a spiky falling rock and it was really good that i then had a second or two to move to safety and the armor flashed to say it was now being removed. nice! 🙂
ok and for now, one more thing:
note: please try this before deciding on the answer… 🙂
ok so, it is when a high score is entered.. and you can move the joystick left and right to spin the letters around..
well, ever since the beginning, this has always felt ‘strange’ to me (i don’t know why…)
so tonight, i was entering a high score, spinning the letters and as usual it felt strange..
i then turned my joystick upside down (so left becomes right, and right becomes left) and then, now it feels normal and natural. could you try that and let me know what you think! (if any of the other testers are reading this, please also try it!)thanks for the update, here i took a bit of a break for some days but now looking forward to getting playing again with this new beta, will report in here as usual 🙂
