Last nights build - Alpha version 0.006
Added bonus code for surviving wave
Added new 6 colour Mode 1 loader
Slowed down player ship
Increased alien speed
Wave complete should now display 33,34,35 etc. instead of staying at 32
I will probably add some more sound effects and a bit more tidying up before an official release
LaserZone
Re: LaserZone
Pitfall, Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, LaserZone, AcornViewer, AcornPad
Re: LaserZone
Great to see the next release. I have a bit of a hectic work week but as soon as I can I’ll give it another good play test.
Re: LaserZone
Last nights build - Alpha version 0.007
Cleaned up some code to free up some memory
Added Player Ready sound effect
Added game over sound effect
Changed IDS to appear after level 1 instead of level 5
Increased laser fire rate for IDS
Think I still need to make it harder
Cleaned up some code to free up some memory
Added Player Ready sound effect
Added game over sound effect
Changed IDS to appear after level 1 instead of level 5
Increased laser fire rate for IDS
Think I still need to make it harder
Pitfall, Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, LaserZone, AcornViewer, AcornPad
Re: LaserZone
Hi Shaun,
Hope all is well.
I was lucky enough to have an hours meeting cancelled mid afternoon so was able to give this some good attention. A fine way to spend 60 minutes on a Friday
Things are shaping up nicely and it’s certainly a very playable game and I find myself enjoying it as much today as I did on the last couple of outings so that’s a good sign! I’ve discovered a few things and have some observations as below. The new sound effects and the IDS appearing right the level 1 are great changes.
So in no particular order:
- Difficulty level has increased a little since I last played. I lost a couple of lives this time by level 20 but still needs to be increased considerably IMO.
- The IDS moving and firing lasers has certainly given me more to think about so this has contributed to the difficulty level increasing a little. More on this further down.
- The game pauses at random times and the pause message is displayed. At first I was sure this must be me but after the 2nd time I know I went nowhere near the ‘P’ key. When you restart via ‘P’ it starts with no sound and you have to hit ‘S’ mid game to get the sound back.
- The key for pause ‘P’ does not pause and restart the game straight away. Multiple key presses are required. I was trying to use pause today so that I could make notes as I tested.
- Although better with the slower player guns it’s still too easy to sit that vertical gun in one place for a long time (although not like before when I didn’t have to move it once). I now have to move it say 4/5 times per wave to dodge the IDS lasers. To help make it much more difficult the IDS in my opinion could track more tightly to the vertical player gun position and move quicker than it currently does, I think this would make the player have to think about moving the vertical gun much more often especially when combined with the following point.
- The IDS could fire more frequently than it currently does as it would force more player thought and movement.
- The IDS vertical laser (shooting down) currently does not get to the bottom of the screen making the horizontal player gun safe from destruction in this way.
- Each level now seems to take longer than it did before, the threshold does not go down very quickly at all but this may be due to the next point, or perhaps intentional?
- Nearly every level seems to now have only two aliens on screen plus the IDS at the same time. When I tested last time around there were 4/5/6 aliens on screen which added a frenzied feel to the level which is lost with only two aliens.
- The game randomly crashed a few times but this could be of interest re the last point about there being less aliens. On level 28 there were 2 aliens on the screen throughout the wave until it crashed. Then I restarted from the same level from the menu and to my surprise the threshold gauge was where it was when it crashed plus this time there were 5 aliens on the screen. This was the first time more than 2 aliens had been present right up to level 28 today.
- Also on this front when I had shot the two aliens that were on screen during levels there seemed to be a significant pause before the wave arrived which meant I had time to collect myself before the next attack. I am sure this was not present last time and have a feeling that it’s like there are supposed to be 3/4/5 aliens however they are not displayed hence the pause and what looks like a long period of no action?
- Level 32 similar to the penultimate point re 2 enemies pre crash then 5 after a restart on the same level from the level select menu screen.
I hope this makes sense as I’ve just quickly typed up my findings this evening straight after work so I didn’t forget! If anything’s needs clarification just let me know.
Loving this game and I think once it’s completed it’s going to be highly playable and I hope a contender for the monthly ‘High Score Challenge’
Keep up the great work!
Cheers
Rob
Hope all is well.
I was lucky enough to have an hours meeting cancelled mid afternoon so was able to give this some good attention. A fine way to spend 60 minutes on a Friday
Things are shaping up nicely and it’s certainly a very playable game and I find myself enjoying it as much today as I did on the last couple of outings so that’s a good sign! I’ve discovered a few things and have some observations as below. The new sound effects and the IDS appearing right the level 1 are great changes.
So in no particular order:
- Difficulty level has increased a little since I last played. I lost a couple of lives this time by level 20 but still needs to be increased considerably IMO.
- The IDS moving and firing lasers has certainly given me more to think about so this has contributed to the difficulty level increasing a little. More on this further down.
- The game pauses at random times and the pause message is displayed. At first I was sure this must be me but after the 2nd time I know I went nowhere near the ‘P’ key. When you restart via ‘P’ it starts with no sound and you have to hit ‘S’ mid game to get the sound back.
- The key for pause ‘P’ does not pause and restart the game straight away. Multiple key presses are required. I was trying to use pause today so that I could make notes as I tested.
- Although better with the slower player guns it’s still too easy to sit that vertical gun in one place for a long time (although not like before when I didn’t have to move it once). I now have to move it say 4/5 times per wave to dodge the IDS lasers. To help make it much more difficult the IDS in my opinion could track more tightly to the vertical player gun position and move quicker than it currently does, I think this would make the player have to think about moving the vertical gun much more often especially when combined with the following point.
- The IDS could fire more frequently than it currently does as it would force more player thought and movement.
- The IDS vertical laser (shooting down) currently does not get to the bottom of the screen making the horizontal player gun safe from destruction in this way.
- Each level now seems to take longer than it did before, the threshold does not go down very quickly at all but this may be due to the next point, or perhaps intentional?
- Nearly every level seems to now have only two aliens on screen plus the IDS at the same time. When I tested last time around there were 4/5/6 aliens on screen which added a frenzied feel to the level which is lost with only two aliens.
- The game randomly crashed a few times but this could be of interest re the last point about there being less aliens. On level 28 there were 2 aliens on the screen throughout the wave until it crashed. Then I restarted from the same level from the menu and to my surprise the threshold gauge was where it was when it crashed plus this time there were 5 aliens on the screen. This was the first time more than 2 aliens had been present right up to level 28 today.
- Also on this front when I had shot the two aliens that were on screen during levels there seemed to be a significant pause before the wave arrived which meant I had time to collect myself before the next attack. I am sure this was not present last time and have a feeling that it’s like there are supposed to be 3/4/5 aliens however they are not displayed hence the pause and what looks like a long period of no action?
- Level 32 similar to the penultimate point re 2 enemies pre crash then 5 after a restart on the same level from the level select menu screen.
I hope this makes sense as I’ve just quickly typed up my findings this evening straight after work so I didn’t forget! If anything’s needs clarification just let me know.
Loving this game and I think once it’s completed it’s going to be highly playable and I hope a contender for the monthly ‘High Score Challenge’
Keep up the great work!
Cheers
Rob
Re: LaserZone
Thanks for the test, I'll ramp up the difficulty
Also seems something is overwriting some of the zp locations causing the pause to trigger and probably effecting some other values as well, I'll try and track it down.
Also IDS laser fire stops when one of the lasers reach either the right rail or the bottom rail (whichever is closer), I'll look to see if I can keep it firing to the other rail
*Edit
Think I've fixed the pausing, seems I'd forgot to set the Data Direction Register "A" on startup
Also I've increased the IDS fire rate and the ship movement, also I've added an automatic fire if the IDS is lined up with either the x ship of y ship
Still more to look at.
Also seems something is overwriting some of the zp locations causing the pause to trigger and probably effecting some other values as well, I'll try and track it down.
Also IDS laser fire stops when one of the lasers reach either the right rail or the bottom rail (whichever is closer), I'll look to see if I can keep it firing to the other rail
*Edit
Think I've fixed the pausing, seems I'd forgot to set the Data Direction Register "A" on startup
Also I've increased the IDS fire rate and the ship movement, also I've added an automatic fire if the IDS is lined up with either the x ship of y ship
Still more to look at.
Pitfall, Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, LaserZone, AcornViewer, AcornPad
Re: LaserZone
No trouble at all.
Great that you had time to take a look and make a couple of changes. I think the changes to the IDS firing and movement patterns will make quite a difference to the difficulty level.
I’ll look forward to the next version and will have another run through.
Have a good weekend.
Rob
Great that you had time to take a look and make a couple of changes. I think the changes to the IDS firing and movement patterns will make quite a difference to the difficulty level.
I’ll look forward to the next version and will have another run through.
Have a good weekend.
Rob
Re: LaserZone
New alpha version 0.008
Fixed keyboard pause lockup - hopefully
Fixed alien countdown - was pointing at wave data rather than countdown timer data, so was getting longer and longer to show
Increased IDS movement
Increased IDS rate of fire
Added IDS line of sight firing - will fire lasers if it detects the players ships on the same path and as long as it's not already firing
Increased alien appearance slightly
Fixed keyboard pause lockup - hopefully
Fixed alien countdown - was pointing at wave data rather than countdown timer data, so was getting longer and longer to show
Increased IDS movement
Increased IDS rate of fire
Added IDS line of sight firing - will fire lasers if it detects the players ships on the same path and as long as it's not already firing
Increased alien appearance slightly
Pitfall, Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, LaserZone, AcornViewer, AcornPad
Re: LaserZone
Great - I’ll have some time later today or tomorrow to have run through
Cheers
Rob
Cheers
Rob
Re: LaserZone
Well the last round of changes certainly made a very significant difference to the difficulty level and for the better!!
Once again in no particular order but this time in two categories…
Game play improvements & potential tweaks:
————————————————————————————
- The IDS increased movement and fire pattern has certainly added to the difficulty and given you more to think about. The fact that the IDS fires when it gets level to your guns certainly makes you move around more and lose focus on incoming aliens.
- On latter levels 30,31,32 for example I could clear these albeit using a 2/3 electro bolts and losing a life or two. Perhaps it would be possible for the IDS to progressively increase in speed and also fire even more rapidly from say level 25 and up to make these last 7 levels significantly harder?
- Perhaps possible on the latter levels to have more enemies on screen at the same time to make even more of a challenge? If say level 25 and up had extra on screen that that might allow the current upper level of enemies to be moved down to say level 15 to 25? I know there may be performance constraints that prevent this and the speed in my opinion at the moment is impressive.
- The aliens are certainly arriving on screen with more frequency now and this has made a very big difference to playability. It’s starting to feel every inch of a Jeff Minter frenzied shooter now!! I think the early levels perhaps 5 are still too easy. It’s nice to have a nice few levels to pick things up however I think you could be left wondering when the real action is going to start if too many levels are easy.
- The first time out today I didn’t make it past level 6 without losing all my lives and at least 2 x electro’s. This is a far cry from the last version where I could comfortably hit level 32. This update has really taken the game to a new level I felt when playing it today - big step forward.
- Is there an extra life awarded at any stage?
- The high score feature was nice today and just a shame my scores were not as impressive this time
Issues Found:
————————-
- Occasionally laser artefacts are left on screen and these stay between levels (image attached) this was a bit like the 1st version of the IDS that you fixed.
- Occasional random game restarts on no particular level
- Pause on/off still not immediately responsive to a ‘P’ press
- Occasional random mid level pauses without any key press to pause
- If you restart a game and then start again from a new level the previous ‘remaining’ threshold seems to carry over into the new game which on one occasion meant I only had to kill one alien to clear the wave.
- At the end of a level the score keeps incrementing and in some cases on later levels this can take 15 to 20 seconds before the score stops updating and the next level can begin. This I think is new to the last two releases as don’t recall it from early tests.
- The vertical gun has some small artefacts above and below it when it’s moved up or down.
In my opinion this is by far the best release of the game to date.
As always let me know if something isn’t clear and I’ll look forward to the next release.
Cheers
Rob
Once again in no particular order but this time in two categories…
Game play improvements & potential tweaks:
————————————————————————————
- The IDS increased movement and fire pattern has certainly added to the difficulty and given you more to think about. The fact that the IDS fires when it gets level to your guns certainly makes you move around more and lose focus on incoming aliens.
- On latter levels 30,31,32 for example I could clear these albeit using a 2/3 electro bolts and losing a life or two. Perhaps it would be possible for the IDS to progressively increase in speed and also fire even more rapidly from say level 25 and up to make these last 7 levels significantly harder?
- Perhaps possible on the latter levels to have more enemies on screen at the same time to make even more of a challenge? If say level 25 and up had extra on screen that that might allow the current upper level of enemies to be moved down to say level 15 to 25? I know there may be performance constraints that prevent this and the speed in my opinion at the moment is impressive.
- The aliens are certainly arriving on screen with more frequency now and this has made a very big difference to playability. It’s starting to feel every inch of a Jeff Minter frenzied shooter now!! I think the early levels perhaps 5 are still too easy. It’s nice to have a nice few levels to pick things up however I think you could be left wondering when the real action is going to start if too many levels are easy.
- The first time out today I didn’t make it past level 6 without losing all my lives and at least 2 x electro’s. This is a far cry from the last version where I could comfortably hit level 32. This update has really taken the game to a new level I felt when playing it today - big step forward.
- Is there an extra life awarded at any stage?
- The high score feature was nice today and just a shame my scores were not as impressive this time
Issues Found:
————————-
- Occasionally laser artefacts are left on screen and these stay between levels (image attached) this was a bit like the 1st version of the IDS that you fixed.
- Occasional random game restarts on no particular level
- Pause on/off still not immediately responsive to a ‘P’ press
- Occasional random mid level pauses without any key press to pause
- If you restart a game and then start again from a new level the previous ‘remaining’ threshold seems to carry over into the new game which on one occasion meant I only had to kill one alien to clear the wave.
- At the end of a level the score keeps incrementing and in some cases on later levels this can take 15 to 20 seconds before the score stops updating and the next level can begin. This I think is new to the last two releases as don’t recall it from early tests.
- The vertical gun has some small artefacts above and below it when it’s moved up or down.
In my opinion this is by far the best release of the game to date.
As always let me know if something isn’t clear and I’ll look forward to the next release.
Cheers
Rob
- Attachments
-
Re: LaserZone
Thanks for testing, much appreciated.
- On latter levels 30,31,32 for example I could clear these albeit using a 2/3 electro bolts and losing a life or two. Perhaps it would be possible for the IDS to progressively increase in speed and also fire even more rapidly from say level 25 and up to make these last 7 levels significantly harder?
I'll look into this if I can free up some space
- Perhaps possible on the latter levels to have more enemies on screen at the same time to make even more of a challenge? If say level 25 and up had extra on screen that that might allow the current upper level of enemies to be moved down to say level 15 to 25? I know there may be performance
I'll look into this
- Is there an extra life awarded at any stage?
No 5 lives and that's it game over
- Occasionally laser artefacts are left on screen and these stay between levels (image attached) this was a bit like the 1st version of the IDS that you fixed.
Fixed - in next build
- Occasional random game restarts on no particular level
Hate these sort as it's hard to track down, but will look
- Pause on/off still not immediately responsive to a ‘P’ press
Same as other games, I've done. One key to handle pausing and unpausing, there is a 15 countdown timer to trigger the pause / unpause, hold the key down for longer to trigger it, same for the sound key for on / off
NB Saves on having to double up on keys to turn things on and off
- Occasional random mid level pauses without any key press to pause
Hate these sort as it's hard to track down, but will look
- If you restart a game and then start again from a new level the previous ‘remaining’ threshold seems to carry over into the new game which on one occasion meant I only had to kill one alien to clear the wave.
Fixed - in next build
- At the end of a level the score keeps incrementing and in some cases on later levels this can take 15 to 20 seconds before the score stops updating and the next level can begin. This I think is new to the last two releases as don’t recall it from early tests.
It's the bonus counter after completing a wave, rather than just adding the bonus score it counts up in 1's, but looks like on later levels it's taking to long, I'll take a look
- The vertical gun has some small artefacts above and below it when it’s moved up or down.
Not seen this but will take a look
- On latter levels 30,31,32 for example I could clear these albeit using a 2/3 electro bolts and losing a life or two. Perhaps it would be possible for the IDS to progressively increase in speed and also fire even more rapidly from say level 25 and up to make these last 7 levels significantly harder?
I'll look into this if I can free up some space
- Perhaps possible on the latter levels to have more enemies on screen at the same time to make even more of a challenge? If say level 25 and up had extra on screen that that might allow the current upper level of enemies to be moved down to say level 15 to 25? I know there may be performance
I'll look into this
- Is there an extra life awarded at any stage?
No 5 lives and that's it game over
- Occasionally laser artefacts are left on screen and these stay between levels (image attached) this was a bit like the 1st version of the IDS that you fixed.
Fixed - in next build
- Occasional random game restarts on no particular level
Hate these sort as it's hard to track down, but will look- Pause on/off still not immediately responsive to a ‘P’ press
Same as other games, I've done. One key to handle pausing and unpausing, there is a 15 countdown timer to trigger the pause / unpause, hold the key down for longer to trigger it, same for the sound key for on / off
NB Saves on having to double up on keys to turn things on and off
- Occasional random mid level pauses without any key press to pause
Hate these sort as it's hard to track down, but will look- If you restart a game and then start again from a new level the previous ‘remaining’ threshold seems to carry over into the new game which on one occasion meant I only had to kill one alien to clear the wave.
Fixed - in next build
- At the end of a level the score keeps incrementing and in some cases on later levels this can take 15 to 20 seconds before the score stops updating and the next level can begin. This I think is new to the last two releases as don’t recall it from early tests.
It's the bonus counter after completing a wave, rather than just adding the bonus score it counts up in 1's, but looks like on later levels it's taking to long, I'll take a look
- The vertical gun has some small artefacts above and below it when it’s moved up or down.
Not seen this but will take a look
Pitfall, Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, LaserZone, AcornViewer, AcornPad
Re: LaserZone
Further changes late last night
- On latter levels 30,31,32 for example I could clear these albeit using a 2/3 electro bolts and losing a life or two. Perhaps it would be possible for the IDS to progressively increase in speed and also fire even more rapidly from say level 25 and up to make these last 7 levels significantly harder?
I've added 4 rates to the IDS laser fire (1 being fastest)
More code changes coming tonight
- On latter levels 30,31,32 for example I could clear these albeit using a 2/3 electro bolts and losing a life or two. Perhaps it would be possible for the IDS to progressively increase in speed and also fire even more rapidly from say level 25 and up to make these last 7 levels significantly harder?
I've added 4 rates to the IDS laser fire (1 being fastest)
Code: Select all
level 1 - has no IDS
levels 2-8 - fire rate 4
levels 9-16 - fire rate 3
levels 17-24 - fire rate 2
levels 25-32 - fire rate 1
Pitfall, Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, LaserZone, AcornViewer, AcornPad
Re: LaserZone
That should work well. I'll await your next release with further changes and will then test again. All things being equal I will have some time late in the day tomorrow.
Re: LaserZone
New alpha version 0.009
Added IDS fire rate 1 - 4 (see earlier post for details)
Changed Pause text to flashing Magenta as white was to similar to the score above it
Increased Alien attack rate by a factor of 1 on every level - (can be increased again)
Fixed laser artefacts
Fixed initialisation of threshold when restarting game
Speeded up Bonus timer - now counts in tens if wave > 16 otherwise it counts in ones
NB played from level 1 to 10 without locking up, but will keep testing
Added IDS fire rate 1 - 4 (see earlier post for details)
Changed Pause text to flashing Magenta as white was to similar to the score above it
Increased Alien attack rate by a factor of 1 on every level - (can be increased again)
Fixed laser artefacts
Fixed initialisation of threshold when restarting game
Speeded up Bonus timer - now counts in tens if wave > 16 otherwise it counts in ones
NB played from level 1 to 10 without locking up, but will keep testing
Pitfall, Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, LaserZone, AcornViewer, AcornPad
Re: LaserZone
Sorry but not going to be able to test tonight as planned. This evening I rather unceremoniously fell backwards into a dense area of stinging nettles whilst doing some work outside - a bit uncomfortable right now to say the least. 
Tomorrow is a big work day but I’ll have some quality time on Thursday to run through the changes again.
Very sorry - I know you got the latest round of updates done quickly.
Rob
Tomorrow is a big work day but I’ll have some quality time on Thursday to run through the changes again.
Very sorry - I know you got the latest round of updates done quickly.
Rob
Re: LaserZone
No problem and hope you feel better.Rob_hawk wrote: ↑Tue May 23, 2023 7:08 pm Sorry but not going to be able to test tonight as planned. This evening I rather unceremoniously fell backwards into a dense area of stinging nettles whilst doing some work outside - a bit uncomfortable right now to say the least.
Tomorrow is a big work day but I’ll have some quality time on Thursday to run through the changes again.
Very sorry - I know you got the latest round of updates done quickly.
Rob
I'm planning on spending time tonight trying to track down the random pausing, so loads of testing and not much coding.
Pitfall, Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, LaserZone, AcornViewer, AcornPad
Re: LaserZone
Hi,
Thanks!
So I’ve had another run through and the list is getting shorter and that’s always a good thing as you near the end!
1) The IDS fire increasing make a difference so that’s an excellent addition.
2) Pause on P in magenta is much clearer now and works well when you hold P down.
3) More aliens are most welcome. I think it could increase by another factor of 1 as this would up the level of challenge later on whilst at the same time not making the early few levels too hard whilst you get used to the controls etc.
A few small issues:
4) I had one random pause today. This came on level 3 whilst pressing the “:” up key. Once again it also turned the sound off so “S” had to be pressed to return to normal.
5) One random crash and return to the menu screen. Today it happened on Level 9.
6) I’ve attached a short video of the vertical laser artefacts. You’ll notice the small extra pixels towards the base of the laser.
https://youtube.com/shorts/zlyJlS-PTLM
Look forward to the next release.
Cheers
Rob
Thanks!
So I’ve had another run through and the list is getting shorter and that’s always a good thing as you near the end!
1) The IDS fire increasing make a difference so that’s an excellent addition.
2) Pause on P in magenta is much clearer now and works well when you hold P down.
3) More aliens are most welcome. I think it could increase by another factor of 1 as this would up the level of challenge later on whilst at the same time not making the early few levels too hard whilst you get used to the controls etc.
A few small issues:
4) I had one random pause today. This came on level 3 whilst pressing the “:” up key. Once again it also turned the sound off so “S” had to be pressed to return to normal.
5) One random crash and return to the menu screen. Today it happened on Level 9.
6) I’ve attached a short video of the vertical laser artefacts. You’ll notice the small extra pixels towards the base of the laser.
https://youtube.com/shorts/zlyJlS-PTLM
Look forward to the next release.
Cheers
Rob
Re: LaserZone
Thanks for testing, I'll have another run through tonight using B-Em to see if I can get it to crash randomly so I can track down the location.
Never seen that ship corruption before, but will investigate, also I'll notch up the alien appearance a notch to make it harder in the next release.
Never seen that ship corruption before, but will investigate, also I'll notch up the alien appearance a notch to make it harder in the next release.
Pitfall, Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, LaserZone, AcornViewer, AcornPad
Re: LaserZone
Pleasure re the testing and sorry about the sneaky random crash to investigate. Hopefully it’s not too painful to find!fizgog wrote: ↑Thu May 25, 2023 2:16 pm Thanks for testing, I'll have another run through tonight using B-Em to see if I can get it to crash randomly so I can track down the location.
Never seen that ship corruption before, but will investigate, also I'll notch up the alien appearance a notch to make it harder in the next release.
All of my testing has been done on a physical Model B if that’s of any help. I think notching up the alien appearance will make a difference especially when combined with the IDS firing patterns in the last release.
Cheers
Rob
Re: LaserZone
New alpha version 0.010
Rewrite of the keyboard code, hopefully this fixes the lockup
Increased Alien appearance / speed by a factor of 1
Tidied up some more code
Rewrite of the keyboard code, hopefully this fixes the lockup
Increased Alien appearance / speed by a factor of 1
Tidied up some more code
Pitfall, Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, LaserZone, AcornViewer, AcornPad
Re: LaserZone
New Alpha version 0.011
Protected keyboard routines from other interrupts
Increased alien appearance again
Removed obsolete code
Protected keyboard routines from other interrupts
Increased alien appearance again
Removed obsolete code
Pitfall, Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, LaserZone, AcornViewer, AcornPad
Re: LaserZone
Hi Shaun,
Just back and had some time this afternoon so gave Alpha 0.011 a run through. Findings as follows:
Items Fixed / Improved :
- No crashes at all on a complete run through of levels 1 to 32 and onwards. I think you’ve fixed the random crash as this is the first time I’ve played for over an hour without it happening. Great work!
- Speed of aliens appearing on screen is better
- IDS fire rate makes things tougher as levels progress now
Game Play Suggestions :
I’ve played this a lot now and I still think a new comer will find too easy too soon which means the appeal and last ability will perhaps not be as long as it could be. It’s addictive and fun but it still needs to be harder on the player (screen shot attached of my first game today where I cleared all 32 levels kind of backs this up having not played the game for 10 days). A couple of suggestions, I know you were not keen on the first one…
- Lasers to have a slower fire rate / would force player to anticipate more and make smarter use of the Electro. Also force more use of diagonal shooting which is not really needed at all right now.
- IDS to track more aggressively towards the lasers (faster and more direct) / Would make sure player has to move more especially on the vertical axis.
- More enemies arriving on screen at shorter intervals from L15 upwards / Would make it feel more frenzied and force errors.
Very small Issues :
- Bonus awarded on L32 took a long time to add up before moving to the next level.
So in summary I think this release is a huge step forward and with some further tweaks to the difficulty level will have a big addiction factor.
As always if anything needs clarifying just let me know.
Cheers
Rob
Just back and had some time this afternoon so gave Alpha 0.011 a run through. Findings as follows:
Items Fixed / Improved :
- No crashes at all on a complete run through of levels 1 to 32 and onwards. I think you’ve fixed the random crash as this is the first time I’ve played for over an hour without it happening. Great work!
- Speed of aliens appearing on screen is better
- IDS fire rate makes things tougher as levels progress now
Game Play Suggestions :
I’ve played this a lot now and I still think a new comer will find too easy too soon which means the appeal and last ability will perhaps not be as long as it could be. It’s addictive and fun but it still needs to be harder on the player (screen shot attached of my first game today where I cleared all 32 levels kind of backs this up having not played the game for 10 days). A couple of suggestions, I know you were not keen on the first one…
- Lasers to have a slower fire rate / would force player to anticipate more and make smarter use of the Electro. Also force more use of diagonal shooting which is not really needed at all right now.
- IDS to track more aggressively towards the lasers (faster and more direct) / Would make sure player has to move more especially on the vertical axis.
- More enemies arriving on screen at shorter intervals from L15 upwards / Would make it feel more frenzied and force errors.
Very small Issues :
- Bonus awarded on L32 took a long time to add up before moving to the next level.
So in summary I think this release is a huge step forward and with some further tweaks to the difficulty level will have a big addiction factor.
As always if anything needs clarifying just let me know.
Cheers
Rob
- Attachments
-
Re: LaserZone
Thanks for that, I’ll try and take a look later tonight if it’s not to hot
Pitfall, Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, LaserZone, AcornViewer, AcornPad
Re: LaserZone
Coming along nicely. Had a quick blast.
I don't understand the firing pattern - I'm not sure where my next bullet will emerge from. What's the intended logic here?
Couple (probably) of typos on the second instruction screen. "Steering your nerves" should probably be "Steeling your nerves" and "your sitting" > "you're sitting"
If you display the "destroyed" message before adding the bonus it might look better - although the later bonus still take along time.
I think I agree (at least partially) with Rob about the difficulty. I thought I wasn't doing very well - didn't get past level 5 - so I jumped to level 30 expecting to die instantly - but I managed to complete 3 or 4 levels. The aliens seem slower on later levels and should probably be moving faster. The horizontal aliens on the first screen take about 5.5 seconds to move from left to right but on level 32 it's about 6.5 seconds. This may just be slowdown due to plotting a large number of sprites - and there is some flicker for some of them...
Lastly the electro seems to kill all aliens on the screen - not just the ones on the rails (this might change the difficulty).
I don't understand the firing pattern - I'm not sure where my next bullet will emerge from. What's the intended logic here?
Couple (probably) of typos on the second instruction screen. "Steering your nerves" should probably be "Steeling your nerves" and "your sitting" > "you're sitting"
If you display the "destroyed" message before adding the bonus it might look better - although the later bonus still take along time.
I think I agree (at least partially) with Rob about the difficulty. I thought I wasn't doing very well - didn't get past level 5 - so I jumped to level 30 expecting to die instantly - but I managed to complete 3 or 4 levels. The aliens seem slower on later levels and should probably be moving faster. The horizontal aliens on the first screen take about 5.5 seconds to move from left to right but on level 32 it's about 6.5 seconds. This may just be slowdown due to plotting a large number of sprites - and there is some flicker for some of them...
Lastly the electro seems to kill all aliens on the screen - not just the ones on the rails (this might change the difficulty).
Castle Defender, Untitled Dungeon Game, Night Ninja, Wordle, Waffle, Acorn Island, Beebchase, Ghostbusters
Re: LaserZone
Thanks Chris for testing,
Fixed text on instructions pages.
Moved destroyed message to before bonus counter
Increased score bonus counter update / display on levels >= 16
(Max 4 missiles 2 for each ship)
Electro is designed the same as the Vic and C64 - so I've kept it the same
I'm still in the process of increasing the alien appearance and slowing down the missile fire rate
Fixed text on instructions pages.
Moved destroyed message to before bonus counter
Increased score bonus counter update / display on levels >= 16
Missiles should fire right, up right, up
(Max 4 missiles 2 for each ship)
Electro is designed the same as the Vic and C64 - so I've kept it the same
I'm still in the process of increasing the alien appearance and slowing down the missile fire rate
Pitfall, Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, LaserZone, AcornViewer, AcornPad
Re: LaserZone
That only appears to be the case if you press fire repeatedly. If you hold down fire you get HHVHHV.. And If I tap fire and wait till the bullet disappears then it doesn't alternate and I get H H H H etc.
Castle Defender, Untitled Dungeon Game, Night Ninja, Wordle, Waffle, Acorn Island, Beebchase, Ghostbusters
Re: LaserZone
Thanks, I'll add it to my list of things to fix in tonights coding session
Pitfall, Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, LaserZone, AcornViewer, AcornPad
Re: LaserZone
This is really impressive, well done!
I'm not familiar with the original game though. I'm struggling to understand under what circumstances the guns "steer" and fire a diagonal shot. Is this intended to be random, or is there some way to force it to happen?
I'm not familiar with the original game though. I'm struggling to understand under what circumstances the guns "steer" and fire a diagonal shot. Is this intended to be random, or is there some way to force it to happen?
Re: LaserZone
Look forward to the next release. I think next time I test I'll also have another extended play session on the Vic 20 version first re the level of difficulty. Just to be sure it is the Vic20 version that you've based most things playability wise on as opposed to the C64? (like you I'm not a fan of those C64 lasers!)
Re: LaserZone
Best to use the Test Mode to get the hang of them (I still find it weird)
Basically you have to
1. Hold fire button, right and up which then tilts the bottom gun to fire diagonal right up
2. Hold fire button, left and down which then tilts the right gun to fire diagonal down and left
Diagonal firing is required to kill the aliens attached to the rails
Pitfall, Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, LaserZone, AcornViewer, AcornPad
Re: LaserZone
Alpha version 0,012
Fixed instruction grammar
Moved attack wave ?? destroyed before bonus
Fixed bonus score
Fixed missile firing alternative missiles sequence H V H V H V etc.
Reduced missile fire rate
increased alien appearance
Fixed instruction grammar
Moved attack wave ?? destroyed before bonus
Fixed bonus score
Fixed missile firing alternative missiles sequence H V H V H V etc.
Reduced missile fire rate
increased alien appearance
Pitfall, Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, LaserZone, AcornViewer, AcornPad