LaserZone

[Rob_hawk]

Just had 10 mins on this and it's really coming together nicely. It has a nice feel to it and although too easy right now I can't help think that this is going to be an excellent candidate for the 'High Score Challenge' when it's completed.

Having never got to level 32 before do you know what happens on the original when level 32 (Shame it's not Level 42!) is cleared? Game over or go round again with added Minter difficulty perhaps...

[Rob_hawk]

Hi Shaun - Had a spare 20 mins so had a chance to give it a run out on my real Model B. A couple of things just in case you are not aware of them.

- On the instructions screen the return key says ‘jump’ as opposed to fire - trivial but worth a mention.
- In game once I got to level 3 (screen shot attached) no more aliens arrived on screen which meant I couldn’t progress further. I could fire and move but nothing arrives toi kill!
- On the vertical gun when it’s moved there are some artefacts of its previous position shown when you move.

Small things in the big scheme of things but thought you’d like to know.

Rob

[fizgog]

Thanks for testing

Jump text was me copying code from Pitfall

I guessed next wave code was probably buggy as it was rushed to get the Alpha release done, need to revisit the logic

Also noticed I’d left the number of ships left to 1 instead of 4 when I was testing game over screen

Going to be a few days before I can look at the code again so keep trying to break it.

Also looking at Minters code it seems once it hits 32 it stays on 32 and uses the wave data from that not sure if anyone has gotten to 32 though

[Rob_hawk]

No trouble. I’ll keep an eye out for the next update and find some time to give it a run through again. I’m pretty sure I’ll never get to level 32 without the level selection option but will try!!

[fizgog]

Alpha 0.002

LaserZone.ssd

(33.25 KiB) Downloaded 24 times

This versions contains the following: -

Fixed instructions page
Recoded all of the game loop code - hopefully fixing hanging on some levels
Tweaked the wave data to make each level harder
Opened up level select to 1-32 for testing purposes - NB final game build will go back to 1-16
Every wave cleared now gives you 1 extra electro bomb upto a maximum of 4
Added training mode - Press T on title page

Still to do: -

Destroy player ships with own missiles
Pods / IDS ship
Highscore entry
Wave complete gives a bonus - I think for electros left, but not sure
Add more colours to loader screen
+ anything else

[fizgog]

No build today but I've added the following : -

Added prelimary high score entry

Added new Game control instructions

[fizgog]

Alpha Build 0.003

Changes from last night, but I've only just gotten around to building it.

What's new in this version: -

Title page text now showing correct text centre
Missiles now kill player ships - Use the Testing mode to get the hang of it
Complete rewrite of the high score entry (Allowed character 0-9, A-Z, Full Stop and also Exclamation mark gives you a camel)
Added Player killed message screen
Fixed 2 player mode - not showing player 1 game over screen
New instructions page

LaserZone Alpha0.003.ssd

(33 KiB) Downloaded 27 times

NB Code needs tidying up again before any more changes

*EDIT seems to be a bug in player movement as something is making it fire on its own (but intermittently so might be hard to track down).

[fizgog]

Currently working on the IDS (Iratian Death Satellite)
But I need to try and disassemble the C64 version as the VIC20 only contained static pods that exploded

Made the following 3 sprites using 4 frames 1,2,3,2

SDS.gif (10.02 KiB) Viewed 3196 times

[lovebug]

Brilliant work well done

[fizgog]

Brilliant work well done

Thanks lovebug,

dissembling the C64 doesn't seem straightforward and is taken me ages, I've just spend an hour and so far don't seem to be getting anywhere

Any news on what you are planning on coding next as I loved reading your development blog, one of the best blogs on here in my opinion.

[Rob_hawk]

Currently working on the SDS (Iratian Death Satellite)

SDS.gif

That looks awesome IMO

I’m hoping to get some time tomorrow to give your latest release a run through on the physical B.

[fizgog]

Currently working on the SDS (Iratian Death Satellite)

SDS.gif

That looks awesome IMO

I’m hoping to get some time tomorrow to give your latest release a run through on the physical B.

Thanks, let me know what you think of the levels 1-32 as I can tweak them further to make them harder

[Rob_hawk]

Currently working on the SDS (Iratian Death Satellite)

SDS.gif

That looks awesome IMO

I’m hoping to get some time tomorrow to give your latest release a run through on the physical B.

Thanks, let me know what you think of the levels 1-32 as I can tweak them further to make them harder

Will do although not sure I’ll get to level 32 without using the level skip!

[lovebug]

Any news on what you are planning on coding next as I loved reading your development blog, one of the best blogs on here in my opinion.

heh I dont know about the best but it probably was the longest

My next game is called Nova which is going to be something like nes gradius (hopefully better) but turned sideways for a smooth vertical scrolling experience

its going to be for master/compact only using all 4 banks of sideways ram, shadow screen so that all main ram from 0000-7fff available for code and each level (map/graphics/music) will be loaded from disk into sideways ram using my own disk loader code, mos disabled as usual except for irq1 for interrupts

no code written yet as im still thinking of ideas and the best way to do it

[fizgog]

Any news on what you are planning on coding next as I loved reading your development blog, one of the best blogs on here in my opinion.

heh I dont know about the best but it probably was the longest

My next game is called Nova which is going to be something like nes gradius but turned sideways for a smooth scrolling vertical experience (hopefully)

its going to be for master/compact only using all 4 banks of sideways ram, shadow screen so that all main ram from 0000-7fff available for code and each level (map/graphics/music) will be loaded from disk into sideways ram using my own disk loader code, mos disabled as usual except for irq1 for interrupts

no code written yet as im still thinking of ideas and the best way to do it

Sounds exciting apart from the Master /Compact bit as I don't have one ..... going off to check out eBay prices on Masters

But will definitely subscribe to it once you start

[lovebug]

Thanks

I really should make a start on it, at least get the single line scrolling working

[lovebug]

I played your lazerzone a lot and im really enjoying it but I keep shooting myself in the foot

[Rob_hawk]

Hi Shaun,

Well I’m fresh from a couple of hours of blasting this morning. Well fresh that is other than the trigger finger which is deep in recovery! I’ve put an hour into testing your version this morning and another 30 mins on the C64 an VIC20 versions on my ‘theC64’. First things first and that is to say that I prefer your version for sure. It takes the best of both Commodore games and brings them together. Like you I prefer the VIC20 screen and guns which you have on the Beeb and the C64 aliens are the best so good that’s you went for these.

So I’ll break this down into two parts firstly small bugs I have discovered whilst playing on the BBC and secondly difficulty level. Here goes:

** Small bugs found **

1. The game freezes at certain times and once this happens you can’t quit out via the ESCAPE key it’s a hard reset to get going again. At first I thought it was after level 10 and only when I played from 1 to 10 but it has since happened around half a dozen times on various levels. Not much use but I’ve attached a screen shot of the freeze state.

2. When you reach level 10 and onwards the level displayed on screen is in HEX so you see 0A and 10 for levels ten and sixteen for example.

3. I was able to play through from level 12 (Decimal) to level 35. After level 32 is reached (Displayed as 20) each time you clear a wave it reports the new wave as level 20 hex again the count stops if that makes sense.

That was all I came up with in a solid hour of gameplay so good going if you ask me!


** Difficulty Level **

I’m not the best game player in the world but I do like to feel like a hero sometimes and I just had this experience and really enjoyed it!! However there are a couple of things that I think are making your version significantly too easy and therefore would reduce the longevity of play especially for an ACE player like Venger and others.

1. On second pass I could easily play from level one to 22 with all my lives remaining and could have carried on to 32 I am sure had it not have crashed.This is unusual for me!

2. I worked out a system where by if I positioned the vertical gun about 25% of the way down from the top all I had to do was consistently hit fire and this vertical gun destroyed any enemy moving down the screen vertically all the time, every time. This then left me free to concentrate only on the enemies moving from left to right with the horizontal gun which was easily accomplished until around level 15 when the density of enemy moving across the screen increased meaning more concentration was required but it was still achievable using only the occasional ‘ELECTRO’ bolt to clear the screen of enemies. It was at this stage that I decided to load up the game on the VIC20 and C64 to check and see how I performed here.

3. I mostly played the C64 version as the ELECTRO bolt on the VIC was’t triggering for some reason and the gameplay of the C64 version IMO was the most similar to yours as well. I really don’t like the guns on the C64!!

- I tried to replicate the methodI had used on the BBC and even on level 1 & 2 on the C64 & VIC20 it soon became obvious that although the method worked to a degree it wasn’t consistent and as such often let vertical travelling enemy through which meant that either the vertical gun had to be moved or the enemy dealt with via the horizontal gun as well. This lead to more panic and as such much quicker loss of life!

- When I thought about this and looked closer at the C64 version It appears that the vertical gun fires less frequently than the Beeb version and as such this combined with I think a little extra enemy speed on the C64 means enemies can slip through between gunshots where as the Beeb vertical gun wins every time! It did feel good


Anyhow that’s where I got to this morning and I hope it’s of some small help. If you try my method I think you’ll soon see for yourself what is possible.
Perhaps you are able to play the C64 version via emulation to see the difference in gun firing patterns?

This has been a bit of a ramble whilst typing my notes up so please let me know if you need anything clarifying!

I’ve really enjoyed the past couple of hours testing your excellent game. It really is awesome that you have been able to port another game over to the Beeb from a legendary coder!

Cheers

Rob

[fizgog]

Thanks for the test it's much appreciated

I've not noticed the lock up before - sure it wasn't pressing the P to pause as there is no indication to say it's paused (probably need to add one)
Although it's more than likely down to playing through a lot of levels though and something is getting corrupted as the ESCAPE key should always work apart from when messages are being displayed.

I knew about the wave complete in hex - I just need to write a hex (base16) to integer (base10) function

I need a way of showing 33,34,35 etc even though 32 is the last wave of the game

I think on the Vic and C64 you have to line the ships up with the lines on the rails before they would fire, but I found this very frustrating when trying to fire, so my version lets you fire in any position.

I also thought it was a bit easy for me, I can slow down the missiles and increase the alien speeds (I do like the feeling of firing fast though )

The death satellite will also make it harder, once I've coded the movement and firing logic.

[Rob_hawk]

Hi Shaun,

No trouble at all it was fun.

Pretty sure I didn’t hit the P key for pause just been and check hand position on the keyboard again and very unlikely. Good news that you were away for several of the other small items as well

The ESCAPE key defo didn’t work and I had to do a CTRL Break to go again to restart.

That’s really interesting what you learned about the C64 version having to be level with the rails to fire that makes sense I guess as to why the firing didn’t seem as rhythmical as your version which I have to say feels more fluid in play. Like you I loved the rapid fire action it feels awesome perhaps experiment with increasing the alien speed first?

Agreed the ‘death satellite’ (great name to match your super new graphic!) will help to prevent my method of play especially as it can’t be killed. These seemed to appear from level 5 I think on the C64 version.

Look forward to the next iteration and so long as you don’t mind I’ll give it another run through.

Cheers

Rob

[fizgog]

First attempt at getting the beeb to move the iration death satellite


https://youtu.be/qiTKGAOjecY


* might want to turn sound off or down, as it contains background noise of my laptop fans

[fizgog]

FYI

I struggled disassembling the C64 version so for the first test, I went with using the x and y positions as counters, one was AND %00000111 and the other with AND %00000011

When they reached 0 they would move in either the x or y direction, it took a bit of coding and I’m sure using some sort of path finder data would be much better IMO

If anyone has any better ideas it would be much appreciated

[fizgog]

Alpha version 0.004

Fixed game freezing up and missiles auto firing - seems it was down to using ZP variables > 9F
Fixed Attack Wave ?? Destroyed message showing hex numbers
Added preliminary IDS (Iratian Death Satellite) appears from level 5 onwards for a set time and then disappears
NB IDS doesn't currently fire back at the moment

Added 1000 points for surviving IDS
Made game slightly harder - probably still needs making harder on earlier levels?

LaserZone Alpha 0.004.ssd

(33.25 KiB) Downloaded 27 times

I need to look at optimising the code next to free up some more memory to allow for IDS laser fire

[Rob_hawk]

Alpha version 0.004

Hi Shaun,

Sorry for the delay... I have a little time today so will give another run through and get back to you. Looking forward to seeing how the new difficulty level curbs my ambitions

Rob

[Rob_hawk]

Hi Shaun,

Once again another great update and it’s a lot of fun to play. A few observations based on another fun 40 mins of blasting!

1. Game no longer seems to lock up.

2. Crashed and returned to level 1 twice at various levels (once level 3 and again on level 25) so quite random.

3. IDS locks on screen if it arrives right at the end of a level and then remains visible in all subsequent levels. This seems especially prevalent if you use a bolt late in a level to wipe out remaining enemies. (See photos attached of this)

4. Difficultly level in my opinion needs to increase several notches still. From around level 25 onwards there’s more going on across the screen that starts to force some errors I played through to level 25 without losing a life (or moving the vertical gun a single time) before it reset to level one but could have happily continued with the same strategy.

5. Started again at level 25 from the level selector and things really hot up on the level 30 upwards. Lots on the screen and impressive speed I have to say!

6. Levels now reported in decimal.

Great update and hope this helps a little.

Cheers

Rob

[fizgog]

Thanks for the test, I thought it was still to easy

Not sure if the electro should kill the satellite or not - need to test the C64 version again

Definitely need to remove it once the wave is complete.

I’ll have a look at why the game is resetting

Currently going through the code and removing / optimising it to free up some more memory

[Rob_hawk]

No trouble. It’s not often that I ask for games to be harder these days with my middle age reflexes

Look forward to the next iteration.

Cheers

Rob

[fizgog]

Alpha version 0.005

Added IDS (Iration Death Satellite) from level 5 onwards, cannot be killed
Added IDS laser sounds and laser sprites
Fixed restarting wave making you kill all the aliens again after being killed

LaserZone Alpha 0.005.ssd

(33.5 KiB) Downloaded 27 times

[fizgog]

No build available, but last night I added bonus code.

I've gone with the following formula

((Ships left + Electro Bolts left) * 8 ) * Wave Reached

Currently rewriting all of the timing code to try and sort out the difficulty - might be a while though before another release

[fizgog]

Took time out with recoding the difficulty level to work on the frontend loader

Added exomizer compression and also an extra 2 colours to the mode 1 screen loader