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Post by garryg on Apr 19, 2015 18:15:07 GMT -5
I'm going to put a binary of this up on my blog soon and wondered if anybody would be interested in taking a look at seing how it plays both in an emulator and on a real Vectrex. Remember it isn't finished yet. It has no sound and runs quite flickery in an emulator. It seems a bit wobbely on my Vextrex so I would like to know how it plays on others.  Let me know if you are interested and I'll get back soon. See more on my Blog Page |
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Post by Mayhem on Apr 19, 2015 18:42:58 GMT -5
Yeah, should be able to give this a shot hopefully  |
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Post by 50tbrd on Apr 19, 2015 23:30:52 GMT -5
I can help.
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Post by cNp on Apr 20, 2015 3:20:29 GMT -5
Yeah, no problem... I have 3 x Vectrexes to test it on.
cNp
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Post by garryg (from work) on Apr 20, 2015 7:26:54 GMT -5
Thanks to all...
I will try and get time to upload this tonight.
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Post by garryg on Apr 20, 2015 14:36:30 GMT -5
The in development file can be got from Dropbox: www.dropbox.com/s/cf6k7ovbcjzpqim/circus.bin?dl=0This is playable (at least it is on an emulator) but it isn't a finished and polished game yet. It may need to be stripped back a little before the finished version is done. |
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Post by christophertumber on Apr 20, 2015 15:23:21 GMT -5
I'll test it on a few machines when I have a chance (probably tomorrow night).
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Post by cNp on Apr 21, 2015 2:28:31 GMT -5
Hi, I managed a few goes on this on real hardware and think it's definitely fun to play, I managed to clear enough of the 'blocks' at the top that a new line was introduced (it was before I cleared everything though). I like the rotation of the main sprites as they fly through the air. Hard to give feedback when it's unfinished as I usually find the answer is "yeah, that's on my list to do" The flicker level was actually headache inducing for me but I know you have not optimised, obvious things to reduce that would be: To only display lives when you die/respawn Don't have the word "Score" on screen Draw sprites big and then use as small a Scale as possible 'In line' any Bios routines Remove any unneeeded Reset0Refs Not sure if it affects flicker/performance but I think some of the objects are too bright (there was a very bright glow from the top left of the screen); I would reduce the intensity in general. Gameplay-wise I think you need to be able to move your seesaw half off the screen so there are never 'impossible shots'. I also noticed sometimes there was a sort of 'double bounce' and the same persona who had just landed flew back into the air. Looking forward to seeing this evolve, keep it up. cNp |
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Post by garryg on Apr 21, 2015 19:24:58 GMT -5
Hello Space War(ped), and thanks for the input...
The flicker is quite bad, but it isn't all that far away from being ok. If I take out some objects, or reduce the amount of lines draws it settles down fairly quickly without any more optimisation. And I'm planing on doing this once I get the missing stuff in there.
I did see the glitch with the Acrobat only jumping slightly. This seems to be something to do with the velocity and fall routine, which I will have a look at, thanks. Not sure why you would want to move the see-saw half out of the screen though. You can flip the see-saw by pressing a button to catch the Acrobat at the edge of the screen.
Again, thanks for taking the time to look.
PS. Anyone know where I can get 'March of the Gladiators' sheet music?
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Post by VectorX on Apr 21, 2015 20:48:12 GMT -5
Heh, that's his rank. His name's actually cNp. |
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Post by 50tbrd on Apr 22, 2015 0:43:57 GMT -5
When I played it, it behaved munched differently on my machine than on emulator. I will take a video of it today.
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Post by cNp on Apr 22, 2015 2:20:19 GMT -5
Hello Space War(ped), and thanks for the input... I did see the glitch with the Acrobat only jumping slightly. This seems to be something to do with the velocity and fall routine, which I will have a look at, thanks. Not sure why you would want to move the see-saw half out of the screen though. You can flip the see-saw by pressing a button to catch the Acrobat at the edge of the screen. Ahhhhh! Well that makes sense then, no need for the moving out of the screen... I felt miffed when I couldn't position the empty side of the seesaw to catch the falling guy! I'm doing similar with the performance side of my game (Big Blue) and leaving it mostly until I have other stuff in place... but sometimes, when I'm not in the mood for developing new features I go back and redo the coords for a sprite to make it draw big so it can be scaled smaller. cNp |
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Post by garryg on Apr 22, 2015 14:32:49 GMT -5
Heh, that's his rank. His name's actually cNp. Woops I cutted and pasted the wrong thing... it were late! |
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Post by garryg on Apr 22, 2015 14:34:29 GMT -5
When I played it, it behaved munched differently on my machine than on emulator. I will take a video of it today. Differentially good? Or differently bad? |
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Post by hcmffm on Apr 22, 2015 15:40:28 GMT -5
Thank you for providing the binary of Vectrex Circus for testing, Gary. I've just downloaded the game and tried it using ParaJVE.
- Playability / Fun
ATM, the game is not so much a game of skill but more a lucky game:
If the jumper jumps straight, it's very easy. Every now and then the jumper returns diagonally and then it's almost impossible to "catch" him. --> I'd suggest to reduce the difficulty by making the diagonal jumps less diagonal. Later on, difficulty can increase by various means, e.g. smaller seesaw (my preference), faster game, larger diagonal angle, ...
- Gameplay / Flickering
ATM, the jumper bounces like a ball. But a human jumper isn't a ball. I think that at the top there should be only one row - and no bouncing around. I.e. the task for the jumper is to catch something at the top. The catching could be initiated by the player, e.g. by pressing a button in the right moment. This would make the game harder and more intelligent.
- "You're dead"
As written a while back before, I'd like to see more kids games like Frog 'n Flies on the Vectrex. The Vectrex Circus might become another kids game, but then, a "You're dead" at the end of the game should be avoided. Instead, I'd suggest a simple "Game Over".
- Strange behaviour of the seesaw
Sometimes, when the jumper hits the seesaw, the seesaw seesaws twice at a time.
- Gravity / Velocity
When jumping upwards, the jumper's velocity is slowed down by gravity. When flying downwards, the velocity increases by gravity. ATM this slow down / speed up isn't very visible. Would be good if the jumper flew more in a parable.
- Idea: Height of jump dependant on exactness
ATM, the height of the jump seems invariable. It would be cool, if the height of the jump depended on the position you hit the seesaw: If you hit outside, the jump is high. If you hit pretty much in the middle, the height of the jump is very low. And the first jump might be low and depending on the hit area height can slowly increase or even get lower, again.
- Tasks/Levels
It's always good if a game is not endless but has levels. In each level, something could be changed; this will make the game interesting and step-by-step harder. Levels could differ in:
- Number of objects at the top
- Size of seesaw
- Speed
- ...
That's just some quickly written up thoughts. All in all I like your idea and initiative to develop a Vectrex Circus. I think that much less objects and a gameplay ruled by actual physics could make a good game that is fun for small and large children. I hope this feedback is helpful.
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