[vtk]

i just been playing, and i got to level 81

ok my weapons were not doing so well when i got to level 81, i just had double shot and my firing rate/amount of bullets was quite average,
the first life on level 81 i was just shooting like crazy so then after a while of that i realised that that was not going to clear the aliens as they kept increasing in numbers, so then i kind of sat back to see what would happen. then (apart from the regular ufo at the top which comes) i noticed the other type of alien arrive at the top of the screen so assumed if i could kill him, then that would end the level. however, as he passed, due to my weaker weapons and a lot of the smaller enemies in the way, i didn’t manage to kill him. then i waited again but im not sure if he was going to come back? anyway the other ufo eventually killed me. then on the next life i had single shot only, but this time i didnt shoot the small alien so he didnt multiply, and waited for that other larger alien to show up. when he did, i tried to kill him but due to only having single shot, i couldnt kill him during his pass. ok so then i hung around again, and eventually, the level just let me pass and i got to level 82 (i died there though, as my weapons were too weak now, single slow shot heheh) … anyway so just wanted to report in (needless to say i need to get back there again with good weapons and i think i would be ok)… will have another try tonight

[vtk]

that’s strange i wonder why in all the times i played i have never had the animated shield you mentioned. i will try to get it then (how do i get it? lol) :p

thanks for explaining the level counting, i thought of that after i posted the message – “…oh wait ok the bosses probably dont use a level number”

it’s certainly a nice feature that if u have eg. single shot u can sneak bullets through little gaps 🙂

icons: that’s interesting, i rememeber i complained about the size early on, but never noticed they got bigger .. anyway they are ace so that’s that 🙂

i wonder if i have seen level 81 already, maybe that’s the level i died on last time i played (im not sure..) well anyway tonight i will play again, and try to get up to those higher levels

[vtk]

hi Peer, i hope it all goes well with the rom programmer, i’m sure it will 🙂

[vtk]

by the way, to mention about something u wrote elsewhere:

Bonus
One thing from the start.
I am aware, that some of the bonus are a little bit hard to discern. Nonetheless – the bonus are the size they are supposed to be – and that will not change.
You will discover, that if you play on a real vectrex a few games – you can very well see the differences quickly enough – I know I played many, many games.
Even if you can not see every vector clearly – the graphics are sufficently different from each other, that you will very fast LEARN which bonus does what.

in the beginning i had the problem with the compact size of the icons, but now i totally agree with what u said, it doesnt take long to get used to them and now i dont have any trouble at all during gameplay of knowing what every icon is

[vtk]

just been playing beta8

i did well managing to get to around level 80, was good to defeat the 3rd big boss, scored about 660,000

it was interesting as i got the ‘diamond storm’ stage where all of the objects in the minestorm are diamonds to collect. also, at one point in the game i got the super diamond (the big giant diamond) which i collected

i noticed i had about $25,000 cash at the shop, and later on i had about $56,000 so i expect i got the x2 bonus icon

i was certainly happier with the mini boss bugs having that increased strength, which now seems perfect to me on the easy mode (hopefully the other testers will be ok with that) 🙂

the levels after the 3rd big boss were interesting with the long blockade along the lower part of the screen to protect the alien enemies from the player shots. i noticed on level 79 i could fit single bullet shots through the gap on the far right of the screen though, perhaps u put that in on purpose? (it was very welcome to have that gap to fire through when stuck with the weak single shot!)

im a bit confused about the difference between the armour and shield, perhaps i need to read your docs about this? in the shop i noticed (i think) i could buy a shield, but, if you click to buy more shields in the shop, your cash is decreased each time you click on it in the shop, but u only ever end up with one shield? (maybe i got confused with all that, otherwise it would be a bug with the shield item purchasing)

i have changed from previously avoiding the mine strom icon (because previously i thought all the mine storm level gives u is some extra points if u get through it), to now always attempting to grab that icon when i see it, now that (after speaking to you about it) i know that completion of the mine storm gives you $1000 cash bonus

and … last thing for now then; i might be confused on this one but i think(?) the 3rd boss is LEVEL 75? but then on the level afterwards, i noticed it might have said LEVEL 75 again on the screen before the level commenced.. (should have said LEVEL 76 instead? it’s late though so maybe i got that wrong and i was just half-asleep, check it out perhaps) 🙂

hoping to be able to clear 100 levels soon

[vtk]

hey just to add a note here for beginners,
note there is a notch in the chip (and rom chips in general), so u can see the correct way the chip should be inserted
in the pcb socket or device etc
(i have circled the notch in red, here is the correct way it goes into the vectorblade proto pcb):

[vtk]

hey thanks for the beta 8 change; i really wanted to try those bugs with harder difficulty as i have found them so weak and helpless before haha, so i know it will be much better now, thanks very much for that change!

[vtk]

hey could be good news now

i have been trying that new level33overandover binary

i could not replicate the bug on that new binary

then i decided to try the older special binary and got the bug again
i then went back to the level33overandover binary again, and couldnt reproduce it

i went back and forth between the 2 binaries, i would say about 6 times, but could only see the bug happen on the older special binary, so i’m not sure what the difference is but perhaps you have managed to solve this bug, very quickly 🙂 ?

[vtk]

here is the gameplay bug: (see the video inside the .zip file)
edit: actually or maybe this issue is a bug with my vectrex.. i just thought of that 🙂
(the rom file used was the special beta you made)
the video:
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1sD28xkO5C3zFpbN2GtdxThGkG078ed3N&export=download
http://vectrex.malban.de/tmp/BUG-Example1.avi

note that my video camera is not very good so first off, it can only record in 30 frames per second,
and secondly, for this video, turn up the sound volume very high so you can hear something what happens (explained below)..

in the video, if you watch and listen very carefully (because this bug happens quickly), at approx. 8 seconds into the video, there is a high pitched beep sound which came from the vectrex when the bug occurred, and then something goes wrong with the vectors — the spiky rocks, my 2 scoopy aliens, and the background stars all ‘move’ (jump) and are instead briefly displayed up and to the right of where they are supposed to be. it looks like from the screenshots below, the player ship and possibly the bullets also, are not affected. i’m not sure if the alien ships are affected.. it is hard to tell in the video).

look at these screenshots in the .zip file below for a closer look:
screenshot 1, is just before the bug occurs..
screenshot 2, the bug happens..
screenshot 3, we are back to normal display.
the screenshots:
https://drive.google.com/uc?authuser=0&id=1jH4RiJZhR4Qb1l5RflPsD-yX9W9j6Hdj&export=download

[vtk]

Is “easy” still to difficult?

i think everyone’s opinion could vary a lot here and it will be interesting to see what the other testers think, but to throw in my opinion, i think currently the ‘EASY’ game mode is fine as it currently is (well apart from the various mini bosses in the levels like the beetle’s and so on should be (at least) twice as difficult to destroy but that’s only my opinion. when they appear, i can kill them in just a few seconds, which i think is far too quickly and really makes them uninteresting and weak enemies).
well anyway i know it is only my opinion and you perhaps are happy as it is and dont want to change it, but these are the enemies i mean which i think should be twice as difficult:

( .. i havnt got to the 4th bug so dont know if he is too easy also) 🙂
.. maybe u could make them more difficult and see if the other testers complain? in which case u could simply make them easier again

i have successfully made a video of the game bug we have been discussing, i will be back soon with all the details and the video/screenshots (the camera i used is not very good but i notice when looking back at the video of the bug, there is a frame where you can see the bug has happened and the vectors have messed up and moved, it’s interesting to see, ok anyway i will be back shortly, i am starving so it’s lunch time now) heheh 😀

[vtk]

back again, played the regular beta 7 and managed to do my best yet, reaching level 75 but lost all my lives on that boss, i need to do better at the timing of moving in-between the explosions from his laser

my score was 330,000

i got lucky and ended up with around $4000 in cash so bought loads of extra lives in the shop (i must have got the cash x 2 falling icon a few times)

title menu: the icons added to the terminal screen with descriptions are a really welcome addition, it really helps to have them there to memorise what all the bonus icons mean

i reached a ‘warp failure’ screen later on with so, so many enemies packed in there lol ; it was good fun clearing them, it’s lucky the dead ones didnt respawn when i lost some lives, otherwise i would have had no chance (i had average weapon)

i still think all of the smaller regular level ‘bosses’ are too easy (twice as hard as they are now for easy mode would be about right) 😀

nice demonstration mode by the way, i waited for it and watched it (man that will blow some minds at demo parties etc heheh)

ok that’s it for now, will make a video (well, try my best) tomorrow regarding that mysterious bug…. in the meantime though if you see the bug yourself then let me know so i wont need to make the video
(load the special beta, then let the enemies enter the screen, dont kill them all too quick, let some of them get across the screen so they are spread out, and so the spiky rocks end up spread out. try level 33, and also 34 if u dont see it on 33 and still have both your scooped enemies by your side. try 15 times and maybe you will see the bug once or twice. just look really carefully at the spiky rocks on the screen and u might see some of them disappear and re=appear someone else on the screen).

[vtk]

ok i tried the special beta’s and got the bug a few times again,
however i dont know how to recreate it reliably,
i simply just tried some goes (im not sure, maybe 15 times)
and saw the bug on 3-4 of the goes

note: i tested using the first special beta build, not the second one where you have the permanent scoop weapon enabled

ok since i dont know how to recreate the bug, i will have to try to film the vextrex screen tomorrow so u can see for yourself. i dont have a very good camera though, so we will have to hope for the best that the quality is ok.

ok that’s that for now then, and now i will just play some regular beta 7 and check out some of the new stuff u put in 🙂

[vtk]

thanks im certainly curious to see if it happens again,
i was out all day today and then work this evening but going to have a play tonight for an hour or two, will try the special beta’s first
.. and then have a regular game with the latest beta 7 ..
will report back soon

[vtk]

ok i will certainly pay attention to see if i can see the bug again and detail it better next time

if you did want to prepare some kind of special beta so i can test around the levels 32-34 then i will use that, otherwise i will just pay attention whenever i get to those levels (mind you i dont know if i will have the scoopies there again very often, so i think i will need a special beta build in order to investigate this more quickly)

[vtk]

im not sure if the scoopy was still active so unsure if enemies/debris were being repelled, but there was some kind of display error going on (it’s hard to explain but to try to describe it:- some objects on screen would disappear and reappear in a different position. i noticed this effect occurring in the lower third of the screen. i think it might have been spiky rocks which were experiencing this issue, but im not sure, i would need to recreate the bug again to be sure/look more closely)

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