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Post by mountaingoat on Sept 13, 2015 7:41:33 GMT -5
Guys, I am happy to report, I just fixed the initial vector problem.
It was all my fault. The picture Rapetou33 posted actually helped. It looked like that the problem is different on different systems.
The fact that after a game it would not happen again made me think that it may be something not getting initialized in my code (as opposed to something Vectrex). In software when it doubt always suspect yourself :-)
Anyway, it was an uninitialized variable in Marine Fox. When you power on your box, the memory will be different but probably the same random for a particular system. So this random memory value will make the problem look different on different systems.
Also changed the intensity of the crystals back to 5F, I think it looks better.
Version 1.3 is up on Git, enjoy. Finally that nasty first start problem should be gone!
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Post by VectorX on Sept 13, 2015 11:51:31 GMT -5
^Glad you found the problem! As it may be a Vecflash issue, Multicart owners may test it ? I'll try with JF Mateos'. That's what I play my copy on to the same effect. That's why when I first started my very first game I thought the blasted cart wasn't in all the way, as games were playing screwed the very first time I got my cart and I didn't have it in a cartridge case. I thought there was something wrong with it, but I just needed to push it in all the way. It's worked fine since. |
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Post by Rapetou33 on Sept 13, 2015 13:35:31 GMT -5
Works fine now! Thanks
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Post by hcmffm on Sept 13, 2015 14:48:03 GMT -5
Thanks for Marine Fox 1.3, mountaingoat! Very good that you could find the initialization problem - I've just tested MF 1.3 and it works like a charm. The dimmer jewels are also good. Great stuff!  |
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Post by cNp on Sept 15, 2015 6:49:12 GMT -5
Tried the new version on real hardware using a VecFlash cart and all works well... great game... holds up well on real HW and only the slightest slow down on a later level with lots of diamonds.
Fine as it is ... a gameplay idea I thought of would be to have one diamond at a time brighter than the others and if you get the ones in the glowing order you get more points (like the lit bombs in bombjack) but as I say, there's enough gameplay as is and I'd happily buy it for my collection.
Great work.
cNp
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Post by Mayhem on Sept 15, 2015 7:59:09 GMT -5
Need to grab the new version and try it out tonight |
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Post by binarystar on Sept 17, 2015 8:15:28 GMT -5
Finally got around to downloading and playing this. (Helps that I put my Vec on my work desk  ) Excellent game and a nice variation on Solar Fox, a favourite 'maze' game of mine. Great work Mr Goat! |
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Post by Mayhem on Sept 17, 2015 8:48:54 GMT -5
Right, had a play of this last night. Impressed I think most of what people chimed in with has been addressed and don't need to comment upon. It IS a little confusing that the play area is larger vertically than where the bonus bar appears, so if you wrap the screen top to bottom (or vice versa) during play, you appear much lower on the screen than what the bar is. Need to remember what all the powerup symbols mean heh. Also prefer the controls using the buttons compared to the joystick, so I'm glad you put that feature in. Any thoughts about some VecVox support? Only graphical glitch I saw was that the Mountain Goat logo has a line not connected up correctly. Aside from that, everything else appeared good on my Vectrex during play. |
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Post by VectorX on Sept 17, 2015 17:46:57 GMT -5
Need to remember what all the powerup symbols mean heh. I had to catch onto the fact that once you get the Marine Fox logo, that IS the powerup, not the symbol that appears afterwards at the top telling you what powerup it was, as I tried to grab that several times (duh!). I never really got a chance to try out v. 1.2 until this afternoon. Quite liking the powerups and all, it makes the game even better. Along with Mayhem's, I also found a very mild graphical glitch: once you make it to level 10, it looks like this on my Vectrex: Level :0 It looks like a colon, or semicolon, or whatever that is. I thought maybe it was due to having the Mine Storm overlay on (fitting, since it's blue) and one of those crosses on the overlay was right on the 1, but there isn't one anywhere close. That, or maybe you just used a different font for a 1 for getting that far into the game? Not a big deal either way though, of course. |
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Post by mountaingoat on Sept 17, 2015 19:00:25 GMT -5
Guys, thanks for the comments.
The goat is not connected because the longer the vector list is (and the goat is one single list) the harder it is for the analog integrators having to keep the actual positions.
I thought about making the goat two or three lists but then decided to keep it one, the imprecise vector end is part of our beloved system.
(If you check the same in the emulator, the goat mouth/nose lines up perfectly - that is run by a software, not some real analog components.)
The level ":0" is almost certainly a bug, the ":" comes right after "9" in the Vectrex character table.
I thought I tested levels above 9 but will look into it.
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Post by hcmffm on Sept 19, 2015 9:58:56 GMT -5
Marine Fox 1.3 has become a real fun game; let's see whether something can be done about the "lucky" aspect. There are various characters/items in Marine Fox: The sharks, the player ship (is it supposed to be a submarine?), the Medusa (the woman), and the "logo" on the head of the Medusa. ATM, I see little connection inbetween these characters and wonder how a "relationship" could be created and indicated. Displaying the Medusa with the playership in the background might be such an indication and I've made a simple draft for this. Original (v1.3):  Draft:  Just an idea... PS: Normally I send such feedback and suggestions via e-mail or PM to developers. This time I thought it might be worth a try to use the VG forum for an open discussion, instead. |
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Post by VectorX on Sept 19, 2015 10:26:02 GMT -5
There are various characters/items in Marine Fox: The sharks, the player ship (is it supposed to be a submarine?), the Medusa (the woman), The Medusa is the submarine. The woman is a take-off/vector rendition of the marquee of Solar Fox. and the "logo" on the head of the Medusa. ATM, I see little connection inbetween these characters and wonder how a "relationship" could be created and indicated. It's the Marine, rather than Solar Fox. Most of this is in the instructions when you download the game. |
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Post by gliptitude on Sept 19, 2015 11:50:04 GMT -5
i think the game currently has adequate relationships, consistency, environment etc. From the very beginning this was a conversion that endeavored to impose a nautical theme on the pre-existing game, and several of the features of the conversion helped to flesh this out.
Perhaps the gestalt of the whole thing could be developed more, but the gameplay is much more important IMO, and might still have room for even more improvement. Also potentially more important than fleshing out the "relationships" might be adding features such as OPTIONS, demo screens and an elaborate animated ending to the game, if any of those things interested mountaingoat.
For me part of the fun of "primitive gaming" (i prefer this term to "retro") is that there is more ambiguity and much less of a burden of literal continuity, (vs cinema and modern console games).
.. I'd still like to see rotary driving controls and button activated burst control attempted!
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Post by gliptitude on Sept 19, 2015 11:54:32 GMT -5
** Also I think most of the story and continuity issues could be easily resolved by having a well thought out printed manual to accompany the game and give a decisive explanation of the scenario, and maybe a few illustrations.
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Post by mountaingoat on Sept 19, 2015 16:12:30 GMT -5
Yes, I still have to update the manual and add more context. That would make things - well make more sense :-)
As VectorX noted, the woman is the captain of the submarine. I don't think she was ever named in the original arcade, so I just came up with Ariel Fox - figured since there was no fox whatsoever in the original or this game, might as well call her Fox. The submarine she commands is called Medusa. I think there are lots of languages in which medusa means jellyfish - which her ship looks like - and also it seemed fitting that she (Ariel) would name her ship (submarine) after some mythological lady monster :-)
I thought a lot about button activation of the power-ups. This could have been beneficial for all of them (except the bonus reset). I decided against it because I wanted to keep the very simple control aspect of the game intact. You get the power-up - it activates. The exception of course is the row clear which has a little bit of delay.
I also though about the randomness but I think at this point you can play the game with skill. I am thinking about old-school classics like PacMan and Galaga, there is randomness in there as well but the whole point is that you learn how not to get into bad situations caused by random.
So while the sharks come randomly I think if you apply the basic strategy you can do well. Simply put, just know how many sharks can there be on the screen and do not go near the edges when sharks are to be "born". If you practice you will see how the Medusa's speed can be used to follow sharks down lanes and other minor points.
Having some animation for both game over and - if someone actually can do it - game completion is a very good idea.
Please keep the suggestions coming. Right now I started working on another project for the Vectrex but I will come back to MF and make more improvements.
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) Excellent game and a nice variation on Solar Fox, a favourite 'maze' game of mine. Great work Mr Goat!