New game - Sub Wars

[mountaingoat]

Guys, I have finished the initial version of Sub Wars and am releasing it now. This is the game that inspired me to create the arcade component-based controller - we needed two controllers to play the game.

My son and I really like to play Space Wars but I always though that that game really could have been more. Had some ideas how to make a pvp game hopefully more exciting and since I was just finishing Marine Fox and was into the whole submarine thing, I figured why not make a 2 player submarine fighting game.

It was more work than I expected, because things can get really confusing during battle with all the torpedoes, mines etc so I needed a good way to have sound help the players comprehend what is going on. The Vectrex built-in sound routines do not allow independent control of the three channels so I had to make a whole new "sound engine".

The game is 2 player only and it is very unlikely that I would add a computer opponent. The whole point making it was to have fun with the kids.

Link to binary:

github.com/mountaingoate/vectrex/tree/master/games/subwars/bin

Link to doc:

github.com/mountaingoate/vectrex/tree/master/games/subwars/doc

Let me know what you guys think.

There is only one known issue at this time, sometimes the countermeasures stay on the screen between battles.

[vtk]

hey again   (note i have changed my nick from mugsy to vtek)

im waiting for the new batch of vecmulti carts to be finished by Richard H (over at the atariage forums), so then can get to trying out some homebrew stuff
,
looking forward to checking out your game when i get the new multicart

[50tbrd]

I gave it a little bit of a try. Its difficult to test it to its fullest without another person. Unfortunately, I've not had another player since I was a kid. Nice though.

[Rapetou33]

I also tried it a bit this morning with kids. I like space wars and I like sub wars as well ! The plus is the strategic side with several weapons to use. Very addictive !

You may want to change the shape of one of the submarines because it seems to be easy to confuse them while playing.
I am not fond of the music I find too fun. I 'd prefer something cooler, slower, worrying (sonar sound like polar rescue for example)

Thanks again for this very good new game !

[50tbrd]

A couple of things I thought.

The controls are much different from the norm. Fire is normally button 4 and Thrust is often button 3.

The homing missiles are nice but it takes away from some of the skill because they're fire and forget. No locking, no aiming. The nice aspect though, is that if one is fired, then the other person has to immediately maneuver away or use counter measures. It also means that you cant use missiles to take out mines. Missiles also can't cancel each other out.

I did like the fact that you can't just keep laying down mines without refueling though. That makes you have to move around screen and possibly come into contact with mines or the enemy ship. There's also a scramble to be the first one to get the power up. Something that would add even more is if the mines drifted over time.

You did make an effort to make the subs different but it may not be different enough. Maybe make one fat and round like an Octonauts sub. You could also make player 2 different in brightness like in V:Hockey or NOX.

[mountaingoat]

Guys, thanks for the comments!

First, the most dire problem, the similarity of the two subs. The current 2nd sub is my third - not very good - attempt at making them different looking. Just like you said, we (the kids and I) still keep confusing them. I think I will have to give up on the idea of the two subs having very similar geometry and go with a fat one and the skinny one.

The torpedoes make the attack simpler however I think they are easy to counter. The countermeasures (sorry about the bad pun) are very easy to use once you get used to them. Face away from the torpedo, stop for a sec, launch CM, move up a little bit.

I think where the torpedo gives a real advantage is when - as 50tbrd also noted - you race for the energy dots. If the other sub has enough energy already, you have to be really careful because once you are close and gunning for the dot it is almost impossible to avoid a quick torpedo launch. The fact that you have to race around the screen for energy was an actual design decision - I wanted to make sure that the mines cannot just be avoided by not moving.

I could swap the controls around, the real thing is that it takes a while to get used to the four different things you have to do anyway, once you start building up some muscle memory you won't accidentally lay mines when you meant to launch countermeasures :-)

[vectrexmad]

Nice rain effect a the start!
For the the similar looking sub issue, couldn't you just change the brightness of one of them?

[vectrexroli]

I just had a look without a 2nd player, really like it. When I will have more time maybe I can convince my wife to be the 2nd player, she is usually more into those point&click adventures, but let´s see... ;-)

[VectorX]

^Then that'll turn out to be "point and groan"/the villainess in an upcoming Roli video

[mountaingoat]

Roli, that would be great if she actually played a Vectrex game and it was on film!

You'll have to go easy on her though, the game is really tough if you don't know what's happening. For us, my son (my youngest) seems to be the real master of the game - he can be quite cunning in beating all of us :-)