Vectrex Programming at German University 2018

[hcmffm]

Thank you very much, volcanus , for registering here in the Vectorgaming forum and your prompt and long reply! For me providing feedback for a game is fun but quite some work. The best thing that can happen to a game tester is that the developer replies, likes the ideas, and adds some to his/her game. So the best thing happened, here! ATM, you intend to add most of my suggestions but please don't get yourself into trouble and focus on the exams - even if game development might be much fun.

Some comments on some of your replies:

Jun 21, 2018 6:57:11 GMT -5 volcanus said:

Horizontal walking ...
I pretty much like that idea. By adding walking on platforms as a requirement the overall game difficulty will slightly increase, which is why I don't need to speed up the platforms that much. However, it might be a bit tricky at some point to prevent the player from getting into impossible situations. Anyway, let's give it a try!
Additionally, I am planning to implement a simple player animation for walking, which fits perfectly to this suggestion.  

Using different ways than speed to make a game more difficult is always a good idea.

Jun 21, 2018 6:57:11 GMT -5 volcanus said:

Diagonal jumping and scrolling [...] In an earlier version of Floor Is Lava, the platform scrolling has already been diagonal. For some reasons it turned out that some players were irritated by the accelerated platform movement while jumping, which is why this feature was removed from the game. I definitly see your point regarding to the isometric perspective and I will try to add this feature again, combined with your other perspective related suggestions below. 

Do you happen to have this old version with diagonal scrolling? I might have a look at it and try to understand why people found it irritating. Possibly it's the moving platforms plus the diagonal scrolling which is confusing. This confusion might be reduced by starting with fixed platforms; this way players get used to the game mechanism before it gets more complex. A completely different approach would be steady scrolling but this would probably require lots of code changes and would make up a different game.

Jun 21, 2018 6:57:11 GMT -5 volcanus said:

Game difficulty [...] Currently, the difficulty is increasing very quickly from the beginning to prevent skilled players from getting bored over the first platforms. Starting with a couple of non-moving platforms might not be a bad idea though. Anyway, I would like to keep the steeply rising difficulty, since players will come quickly in a game flow after playing a few rounds.
Maybe it might be helpful to wait for some more opinions here...

As an alternative, the game could be splitted up into two seperated games with different difficulties, where the first game features platform introduction for novice players and the second game starts on an average level. 

More opinions would be really good. Also it would be interesting to see and know two numbers: How far do novice players get during their first five games? How far do average players get when practicing for one hour? Depending on these figures the game's difficulty might be adjusted. Also, Lava is Floor might be an interesting game for children (without shooting); two games with different difficulty would probably the best way to go.

Jun 21, 2018 6:57:11 GMT -5 volcanus said:

Wide/narrow platforms / Rectangular platforms / (Partly) random platform shapes [...] Totally agree with you! The platform shapes you just uploaded look splendid and gave me a helpful impression of how the pattern for creating new platform shapes could look like! I will gladly replace the rectangular platforms with some more interesting ones.  

Very cool! A naturally looking and partly random shaped "landscape" sounds very cool to me!

Jun 21, 2018 6:57:11 GMT -5 volcanus said:

Delay between jumps [...] Only execute jumping, when the button state changed, definitly makes sense. However, playing the game in the ParaJVE, I did not realize any delay between landing on a platform and jumping again. I will have a closer look on that after I fixed the button pressing thing.

I guess this is not a bug but was just my impression that the player is on the ground when he's actually still in the air. Later on I realized that the legs are a good indicator and since then jumping worked fine.

Jun 21, 2018 6:57:11 GMT -5 volcanus said:

Approaching the volcano / Active volcano [...] Currently, the vulcano already scales for a small amount (so small that it's quite hard to see) after passing a platform. Here it might be reasonable to underline that more by increasing the scale factor.
As I mentioned before, the movement of the vulcano from outside into the centre has already been in the game ealier, but was rejected as it did not achieve the desired effect. Anyway, I am planning to try this again later.

This is really just an extra gimick. So don't put too much effort into this.

Jun 21, 2018 6:57:11 GMT -5 volcanus said:

Player's graphic [...] I thought about changing the simple player graphic to a more complex one, but due to my lack of creativity, I just kept it simple for now. Since you offered me a lot of cool drafts, I will definitly change that in the future, eventually strongly inspired of one of your graphics. The complexity of the players shape will depend mostly on the machine cycles I have left, preventing the game from falling below 50 Hz.

Fine-tuning the player's graphic when other things are more settled is a good idea. In case you need some support please let me know.

Jun 21, 2018 6:57:11 GMT -5 volcanus said:

Again, thank you for suggesting a lot of great ideas - I enjoyed all of them!
Unfortunately, I have some exams to do for now, which is why I can't continue developing until July.

Vielen Dank für deine Antworten und Mühe und Zeit, volcanus, die du in das Spiel steckst und jetzt erst einmal viel Erfolg bei deinen Prüfungen!

Helmut

[volcanus]

Jun 21, 2018 15:13:00 GMT -5 hcmffm said:

Do you happen to have this old version with diagonal scrolling? I might have a look at it and try to understand why people found it irritating. Possibly it's the moving platforms plus the diagonal scrolling which is confusing. This confusion might be reduced by starting with fixed platforms; this way players get used to the game mechanism before it gets more complex. A completely different approach would be steady scrolling but this would probably require lots of code changes and would make up a different game.

I found an old version of the game which contains the diagonal scrolling. Be free to try it out!
I am sure, there is way to make this look more realistic. Please let me know if you found out something helpful and, of course, thanks for investigating and spending time on this!
I uploaded the binary here.

Jun 21, 2018 15:13:00 GMT -5 hcmffm said:

Vielen Dank für deine Antworten und Mühe und Zeit, volcanus, die du in das Spiel steckst und jetzt erst einmal viel Erfolg bei deinen Prüfungen!

Thank you!

- volcanus -

[hcmffm]

Jun 22, 2018 16:07:41 GMT -5 volcanus said:

... I found an old version of the game which contains the diagonal scrolling. Be free to try it out!
I am sure, there is way to make this look more realistic. Please let me know if you found out something helpful and, of course, thanks for investigating and spending time on this!
I uploaded the binary here.

Cool that you found the old version with diagonal scrolling, volcanus. I've played this version for about 5 minutes on ParaJVE.

My impression:
- Isometric perspective and scrolling match nicely; you really have the impression that you jump horizontally (and not upwards).
- Diagonal scrolling plus the moving platforms result in complex routes of the shapes and makes you almost feel a bit dizzy after a while.

My first thought:
Diagonal scrolling is the way to go because it looks consistent. To avoid confusion and dizziness moving platforms shouldn't be used at the beginning of the game. And moving platforms might move a bit slower.

My second thought and final opinion:
Please stick to vertical scrolling. Don't use diagonal scrolling; the complex movements of the graphics are confusing. Scrolling is vertical (into the depth) and thus perspective is "straight". The volcano in the middle is correct.
The perspective of the rectangular platforms doesn't match the straight perspective. You should get rid of the rectangular platforms (which is your intention, anyway) or change their shape to a straight perspective. Once you got rid of the rectangular platforms, the current vertical scrolling will be fine.

And if you use different brigthness, perspective, movement, and impression of depth will work out well.

Cream of the crop would be adding some zooming to the incoming platforms, but that might be too much for our little 6809 processor.

- Helmut -

[hcmffm]

EDIT 23.06.2018: I just played again together with my 9 year old daugther on the real hardware. Today, I enjoyed the game much more. Sector 5 is interesting because the cursor is fast and the lasso length is just long enough to catch the large asteroid. And I'm still nosey to see how Asteroid Cowboy continues. (What is a typical highscore, btw?)
My daughter is not much familiar with computer games but liked the game (which is not always case, e.g. she didn't like Karl Quappe which is a Frogger clone). She finished sector 1 once. "Gruselige Musik" is what she said at some point. Please note that I've just made two additions "Bonus for several asteroids" and "Number of lifes at start-up" below.

Next testing feedback is for "Asteroid Cowboy" developed by A.B.. The story is a bit strange but again: Why not? At first I did some play-testing on ParaJVE and later on a real Vectrex. Using a Vectrex controller is indeed more fun to play because you can control the lasso much more precisely. On the real hardware my highscore was 75 points. The game is good but for some reason I don't know I wasn't too fascinated. (Floor is Lava has used up quite some of my enthusiasm and testing ressources. ) Though, I'm nosey whether there are more changes in the game like the "lasso + 3" in later sectors and whether there will be power-ups. So there is motivation to play again.

Asteroid Cowboy

· GENERAL NOTES
The game play of Asteroid Cowboy is a bit like Alex Nicholson's Star Sling. Currently, Asteroid Cowboy is a one player game with levels. You control the lasso and your task is to catch asteroids with your lasso.

· WHAT I LIKE
+ Funny game idea and story
+ Using the lasso to catch the asteroids works well
+ Intro screen with moving asteroids
+ Levels with summary and animation at end of level
+ Song from "The bad, the Good, and the Ugly (German: Zwei Halunken)" at the beginning of each level

· BUGS
Permanent tone
When pressing button 1 while end music is playing the start page with the highscore is shown (ok) and the tone is played permanently (bug).

Lasso doesn't catch when closing with diagonal line
Lasso doesn't always "catch" when closing the polygon with a diagonal line

Occassional crashes
There are occasional crashes both in ParaJVE and on the real Vectrex console. From what I can see the bug may occurs after an asteroid collides with your lasso and parts of the lasso are removed.

Diagonal lasso ghost
Sometimes a diagonal lasso section appears at the end of the lasso although there was no lasso before. To me this problem seems related to the problem causing the occassional crashes.

Lasso not drawn
Sometimes when moving no lasso is drawn. When moving more, the lasso is drawn, again. To me this problem seems related to the problem causing the occassional crashes.

Different font sizes in "SECTOR x CLEARED
This might be a bug or even a feature: Currently, when finishing a level the cowboy screen with the result appears. In the label "SECTOR [x] CLEARED" the number [x] is written in a smaller font than the rest. This looks a bit strange.
Suggestion: Use one font size consistently.

Collision sound when loosing last life
This also might be a bug or even a feature: Whenever the player collides with an asteroid a sound is played. Currently, when loosing the last life there is no collision sound; instead the end music is played.
Suggestion: Collision sound should always be played - even when loosing the last life. After the collision sound the end music should be played.


· SUGGESTIONS
Below you'll find various suggestion. Quite a number of them affect the gameplay and I'm not sure whether these changes would be really improvements:
At the moment, Asteroid Cowboy is easy and intuitive to control: Just move around and the lasso is drawn. Even simple games can be appealing given that there is some variety or challenge in them. In Asteroid Cowboys you have the sectors and even some changes (lasso + 3) and the player is nosey how the game continues. So all in all the game play is fine and doesn't necessarily need much changes. A time limit or a time bonus might be a good addition, though: The limited time or time bonus will make players take some risk to get some bonus or to be in time. Without any time pressure the game is much simpler and it needs many fast asteroids till the player actually gets into trouble.

No Sudden death
Currently, the start position of the player is random and it sometimes happens that you die right away because you collided with an asteroid.
Suggestion: Whenever the player spawns there could be a short time of invulnerability. While invulnerable the player might blink to indicate this.

More Sound effects
Currently, the game has a sound effect when the player and an asteroid crash. Apart from that it's very quiet.
Suggestion: Add more sound effects:
- When an asteroid hits the lasso
- When the lasso closes
- When an asteroid in the lasso is caught and is destroyed/collected
- When moving around (e.g. low tone with frequency depending on the lasso length)

Button to start game
Currently, button 1 is used to start the game.
Suggestion: Button 4 should be used for startign the game. Most Vectrex games use button 4 for starting and playing. Button 1 is a bit unusual.

Number of lifes
When playing for the first time I wondered why I couldn't catch these asteroids at the top left. It took some 2-3 games till I realized that the number of lifes is shown at the top left.
Suggestion: Display the graphics "number of lives" in a smaller size and with a bit larger spacing. Also, a lower brightness could be used.

Time limit / time bonus
Currently, it doesn't matter if you finish a sector quickly or slowly.
Suggestion: Time for clearing a sector might be limited and/or the player might get some bonus if he/she clears a sector more quickly. This would require a countdown be shown on the screen.

Bonus for several asteroids
Currently, catching one or multiple asteroids seems to make no difference.
Suggestion: There could be some reward if the player manages to catch several asteroids at once. The bonus could be a bonus score or perhaps even a bonus life.

Number of lifes at start-up
Currently, when starting the game you have two lifes.
Suggestion: Typically, a player has 1, 3, or 5 lifes at the beginning. Two lifes is a bit unusual. I'd suggest to have three lifes at start-up. (This will make the game a bit easier which is good for novice players and children).

Animation when colliding
Suggestion: There could be a small animation when the player spawns and when the player dies. E.g. the player could zoom in when spawning and zoom out when dying.

"Asteroid Cowboys" on start screen
Currently, on the start screen you see the last highscore and asteroids moving around. The "Highscore: 0010" looks a bit lonesome and the screen looks pretty much like the highscore screen of the game "Asteroids."
Suggestion: Add a "Asteroid Cowboys" label (or even better a graphics/logo) or some other graphics which indicates that this is Asteroid Cowboys.

___
Minor issues from here on:

Asteroid in asteroid
Currently, it sometimes happens that two asteroids have the same start position and the same flying direction. These two asteroids fly together forever till you catch them which looks a bit "unnatural".
Suggestion: Avoid parallel asteroids by using more possible flying directions. Or add some random to the direction whenever an asteroid bounces.

Random asteroid shapes
Currently, there is one asteroid shape per size and the same shape appears on the screen multple times.
Suggestion: There could be some more different asteroid shapes per asteroid size; perhaps even using some random factor.

No "New Highscore"
Currently, it says "New highscore" at the end of a sector and at the end of a game.
Suggestion: I'd prefer if it always just said "Score" during the game and "Highscore" when the highscore is displayed. (I think the player knows if he/she has achieved a new highscore).
Note: Perhaps it's just me who finds this a bit irritating. Other opinions?

Smaller Cowboy graphics
The cowboy graphics is quite cool but looks a little bit coarse.
Suggestion: Make the cowboy graphic a bit smaller; this way it will look more detailed.

Cowboy with blinking eye
Currently, when finishing a sector the cowboy graphics and score is displayed. The lasso is animated but apart from that the cowboy doesn't move.
Would be cool if the cowboy was animated a little bit. E.g. the cowboy might blink with one or two eyes - this would make him more alive.

Full lasso death
Currently, (from what I can see) the lasso is partly removed whenever an asteroid hits the lasso. The player doesn't loose a life if the lasso is hit.
Suggestion: Whenever an asteroid hits any part of the lasso, the player looses a life.
Note: This change would make the game different and much more difficult and challenging. Perhaps too different and too challenging. Perhaps there could be two game modes?

Lasso control
Currently, the player has little control of the lasso. This makes up a simple game which is good. But perhaps it would be cool and even more interesting if the player had more control.
E.g. the player might remove the complete lasso when pressing a button.
Especially in combination with the "Full lasso death" this could be interesting.

Two player mode
Currently, Asteroid Cowboy is a one player mode. One player controls the lasso.
Suggestion: It would be cool if there was a two player mode but I'm not quite sure how this mode could work out. E.g. each player controls one end of the lasso and the rope of the lasso has a maximum length. The rope might break whenever the maximum length is reached. The lasso is closed whenever the two ends (players) hit each other.
But: I guess it would be quite some effort to realize a two player mode because the lasso works very differently.

Optimized lasso drawing
Currently, the lasso consists of many short single lines drawn on the screen.
Suggestion: Perhaps, drawing could be optimized by combining lines in the same direction. This would require that vectors (length + direction instead of coordinates) are used for each section. All vector of the sections have the same length. Each vector has a direction. If direction of the vector of the current line section is the same as the direction of the vector of the previous line section, the line that needs to be drawn could be prolonged. Otherwise the line is drawn.
Please note that I'm not familiar with Vectrex programming and am not sure whether such an optimization really works out and saves processor cycles.

- o -

[Peer]

Helmut, I am probably repeating myself, but many many thanks for your extensive reviews and for your direct feedback to the programmers! This is highly appreciated and is a great benefit for the classroom course and for my teaching, as it allows me to integrate "customer feedback" as part of the whole software development process of the projects, and as this also gives the students the possibility to really experience what alpha / beta testing cycles mean in real life.

Thanks and Cheers,

Peer

[andyi]

Hello Helmut,

thank you very much for your extensive feedback! I'm sure that your suggestions will make the game much better and more playable.

Here are my thoughts and comments:

hcmffm said:

My daughter is not much familiar with computer games but liked the game (which is not always case, e.g. she didn't like Karl Quappe which is a Frogger clone).

I'm glad to hear that! From my experience the younger audience is the most merciless group when it comes to feedback concerning games, so I'm really happy she likes it

hcmffm said:

What is a typical highscore, btw

I have to admit, that I never played it with the intention to achieve a highscore, so it's up to the community to set the standards .

hcmffm said:

Permanent toneWhen pressing button 1 while end music is playing the start page with the highscore is shown (ok) and the tone is played permanently (bug).

Will be fixed.

hcmffm said:

Lasso doesn't catch when closing with diagonal line
Lasso doesn't always "catch" when closing the polygon with a diagonal line

This is more a feature than a bug (there is some information about this issue in the manual by the way :-) ) I experimented a lot with the collision detection and this was the best compromise I found, because it's very efficient and allows asteroids to only break parts of the lasso when colliding with it. The only downside is, that it fails when moving diagonal into a diagonal lasso element. All other collisions should work fine (at least when I tested it). Also, diagonal movements are faster than the other ones, so isn't it fair to cut their power a little bit? ;-)

hcmffm said:

Occassional crashes
There are occasional crashes both in ParaJVE and on the real Vectrex console. From what I can see the bug may occurs after an asteroid collides with your lasso and parts of the lasso are removed.

Diagonal lasso ghost
Sometimes a diagonal lasso section appears at the end of the lasso although there was no lasso before. To me this problem seems related to the problem causing the occassional crashes.

Lasso not drawn
Sometimes when moving no lasso is drawn. When moving more, the lasso is drawn, again. To me this problem seems related to the problem causing the occassional crashes.

Thank you, I wasn't aware of the crashes. I already had some problems leading to crashes and fixed them, but these are new to me.
The lasso ghosts appeared weeks ago for the first time, but i couldn't reconstruct the situations they occur, maybe your hint could lead to a fix.

As you can see, these errors are really hard to track down, so I probably won't find enough time in the next weeks. But I really hope to be able to fix them in a later release!

hcmffm said:

Different font sizes in "SECTOR x CLEARED
This might be a bug or even a feature: Currently, when finishing a level the cowboy screen with the result appears. In the label "SECTOR [x] CLEARED" the number [x] is written in a smaller font than the rest. This looks a bit strange.
Suggestion: Use one font size consistently.

Will be fixed, since the built-in fonts/printing functions need to be replaced anyway.

hcmffm said:

Collision sound when loosing last life
This also might be a bug or even a feature: Whenever the player collides with an asteroid a sound is played. Currently, when loosing the last life there is no collision sound; instead the end music is played.
Suggestion: Collision sound should always be played - even when loosing the last life. After the collision sound the end music should be played.

Will be changed.

hcmffm said:

At the moment, Asteroid Cowboy is easy and intuitive to control: Just move around and the lasso is drawn. Even simple games can be appealing given that there is some variety or challenge in them. In Asteroid Cowboys you have the sectors and even some changes (lasso + 3) and the player is nosey how the game continues. So all in all the game play is fine and doesn't necessarily need much changes. A time limit or a time bonus might be a good addition, though: The limited time or time bonus will make players take some risk to get some bonus or to be in time. Without any time pressure the game is much simpler and it needs many fast asteroids till the player actually gets into trouble.

I really like the idea of the time limit, I will definitely realize it in a separate game mode.

hcmffm said:

No Sudden death
Currently, the start position of the player is random and it sometimes happens that you die right away because you collided with an asteroid.
Suggestion: Whenever the player spawns there could be a short time of invulnerability. While invulnerable the player might blink to indicate this.

Simple to implement and prevents frustrating moments, will be realized!

hcmffm said:

More Sound effects
Currently, the game has a sound effect when the player and an asteroid crash. Apart from that it's very quiet.
Suggestion: Add more sound effects:
- When an asteroid hits the lasso
- When the lasso closes
- When an asteroid in the lasso is caught and is destroyed/collected
- When moving around (e.g. low tone with frequency depending on the lasso length)

Are already planned, but with a lower priority, so could take some time.

hcmffm said:

Button to start game
Currently, button 1 is used to start the game.
Suggestion: Button 4 should be used for startign the game. Most Vectrex games use button 4 for starting and playing. Button 1 is a bit unusual.

Number of lifes
When playing for the first time I wondered why I couldn't catch these asteroids at the top left. It took some 2-3 games till I realized that the number of lifes is shown at the top left.
Suggestion: Display the graphics "number of lives" in a smaller size and with a bit larger spacing. Also, a lower brightness could be used.
Number of lifes at start-up
Currently, when starting the game you have two lifes.
Suggestion: Typically, a player has 1, 3, or 5 lifes at the beginning. Two lifes is a bit unusual. I'd suggest to have three lifes at start-up. (This will make the game a bit easier which is good for novice players and children).

Wasn't familiar with those "conventions", thank you! Will also be realized.

hcmffm said:

Bonus for several asteroids
Currently, catching one or multiple asteroids seems to make no difference.
Suggestion: There could be some reward if the player manages to catch several asteroids at once. The bonus could be a bonus score or perhaps even a bonus life.

This one is already built in ( --> manual)

hcmffm said:

Animation when colliding

Suggestion: There could be a small animation when the player spawns and when the player dies. E.g. the player could zoom in when spawning and zoom out when dying.

"Asteroid Cowboys" on start screen
Currently, on the start screen you see the last highscore and asteroids moving around. The "Highscore: 0010" looks a bit lonesome and the screen looks pretty much like the highscore screen of the game "Asteroids."

Suggestion: Add a "Asteroid Cowboys" label (or even better a graphics/logo) or some other graphics which indicates that this is Asteroid Cowboys.

Asteroid in asteroid
Currently, it sometimes happens that two asteroids have the same start position and the same flying direction. These two asteroids fly together forever till you catch them which looks a bit "unnatural".
Suggestion: Avoid parallel asteroids by using more possible flying directions. Or add some random to the direction whenever an asteroid bounces.
Smaller Cowboy graphics
The cowboy graphics is quite cool but looks a little bit coarse.
Suggestion: Make the cowboy graphic a bit smaller; this way it will look more detailed.

Cowboy with blinking eye
Currently, when finishing a sector the cowboy graphics and score is displayed. The lasso is animated but apart from that the cowboy doesn't move.
Would be cool if the cowboy was animated a little bit. E.g. the cowboy might blink with one or two eyes - this would make him more alive.

Will be done.

hcmffm said:

No "New Highscore"
Currently, it says "New highscore" at the end of a sector and at the end of a game.
Suggestion: I'd prefer if it always just said "Score" during the game and "Highscore" when the highscore is displayed. (I think the player knows if he/she has achieved a new highscore).
Note: Perhaps it's just me who finds this a bit irritating. Other opinions?

It only says New Highscore, if you really beat the old Highscore (between the sectors and in the game over screen). I like these little achievements, but also would like to hear more opinions on this one.

hcmffm said:

Random asteroid shapes
Currently, there is one asteroid shape per size and the same shape appears on the screen multple times.
Suggestion: There could be some more different asteroid shapes per asteroid size; perhaps even using some random factor.

I like the idea of random shapes, but since I'm already running out of RAM, I would concentrate on the other things first.

hcmffm said:

Full lasso death
Currently, (from what I can see) the lasso is partly removed whenever an asteroid hits the lasso. The player doesn't loose a life if the lasso is hit.
Suggestion: Whenever an asteroid hits any part of the lasso, the player looses a life.
Note: This change would make the game different and much more difficult and challenging. Perhaps too different and too challenging. Perhaps there could be two game modes?

Lasso control
Currently, the player has little control of the lasso. This makes up a simple game which is good. But perhaps it would be cool and even more interesting if the player had more control.
E.g. the player might remove the complete lasso when pressing a button.
Especially in combination with the "Full lasso death" this could be interesting.

This is definitely worth to be integrated in a separate game mode!

hcmffm said:

Two player mode
Currently, Asteroid Cowboy is a one player mode. One player controls the lasso.
Suggestion: It would be cool if there was a two player mode but I'm not quite sure how this mode could work out. E.g. each player controls one end of the lasso and the rope of the lasso has a maximum length. The rope might break whenever the maximum length is reached. The lasso is closed whenever the two ends (players) hit each other.
But: I guess it would be quite some effort to realize a two player mode because the lasso works very differently.

I also thought about similiar things, but had to drop all of them, because they would lead to a lot of additional work ( for which I don't find time now, but maybe in the future? )

hcmffm said:

Optimized lasso drawing
Currently, the lasso consists of many short single lines drawn on the screen.
Suggestion: Perhaps, drawing could be optimized by combining lines in the same direction. This would require that vectors (length + direction instead of coordinates) are used for each section. All vector of the sections have the same length. Each vector has a direction. If direction of the vector of the current line section is the same as the direction of the vector of the previous line section, the line that needs to be drawn could be prolonged. Otherwise the line is drawn.
Please note that I'm not familiar with Vectrex programming and am not sure whether such an optimization really works out and saves processor cycles.

This could be worth a try. In the past this wasn't possible, because my collision detection was dependent on the same data as the drawing routine, but with my current approach this could work. Will have look at this one, if the more important things are done



Thanks again for the awesome feedback! I will definitely realize your suggestions. Some of them in the next days and some of them in the next weeks/months (or after the exams).


If you or any other member here has further suggestions, feel free to open issues at my repository at github:

github.com/andybitter/asteroid-cowboy

You can also find the source code and current binary (often NOT stable) there. I'm planning to create a release from time to time, to provide a stable binary with the corresponding manual and overlay (additionally to the updates in our Vectrex Gallery).


Best Wishes,
Andy

[Peer]

Greetings again,

and here we have another one  The programmer of Pyoro-Chan has also decided to release the current version of his project as alpha candidate for testing.

Cheers,

Peer

[hcmffm]

Peer : It's always a pleasure for me to support you and your students' excellent work! I just hope the students get their priorities right - just like last year.
Seriously: I am very pleased that my proposals are falling on fertile ground and are being very positively received. And very nice that two students registered here in the Vectorgaming forum and responded right away - that was really a cool surprise which is much appreciated! But it's also o.k. if a student responds later. And if a student dislikes some or all suggestions and/or doesn't find the time to make changes to the games that's fine, too. Let us set our expectations low, then we will continue to be surprised.
___

andyi : Thank you for joining the Vectorgaming forum and your long reply, Andy. Cool to get another prompt and positive reply to my testing feedback - thank you! I much look forward to a coming versions but please take your time!

This afternoon I played a bit more and found that in higher sectors (>5) the game gets more and more difficult - even without a time limit. A real problem in higher sectors are parallel flying asteroids: If two big asteroids fly parallel you have little/no chance to catch them. Also, the screen is pretty crowded and the sudden death problem occurs more likely. I'm still nosey to see whether new things happen in higher sectors but it's hard to get there...

Time bonus/time limit
On the time bonus/time limit: The simple game play of Asteroid Cowboy (I almost wrote: Android Cowboy) has it's charme and I'm not so sure anymore whether a time bonus/time limit is really needed. A time limit also will change the slowly paced character of the game. Putting the time limit in an extra game mode is a good idea.
Before putting much effort into this you might want to try out a time limit by using a stop watch / timer on your handy. The result might be: Time needed to clear a sector depends too much on the constellation of the asteroids.

- Helmut -

[hcmffm]

Jun 24, 2018 13:12:41 GMT -5 Peer said:

...

and here we have another one  The programmer of Pyoro-Chan has also decided to release the current version of his project as alpha candidate for testing. ...

Cool that another programmer provides a test version. I'm quite busy at the moment and won't find the time for testing for a about a week. Could someone else (Malban , cNp , ...) please try out Pyoro-Chan and provide some feedback?

[cNp]

Jun 24, 2018 13:12:41 GMT -5 Peer said:

Greetings again,

and here we have another one  The programmer of Pyoro-Chan has also decided to release the current version of his project as alpha candidate for testing.

Cheers,

Peer

I've had a play of the other games too but Helmut has covered them so extensively and my thoughts were more than covered so I'll stick to Pyoro Chan...

It's a simple but fun game and, as the design intended, gets faster and more frantic very quickly... definitely the intended scoring will really make it a "one more go" type of game with games that don't last too long and going for a high score. On game over the final score should be displayed along with the high score... if the score is the new high score the game should show that.

Scoring as simple as 1 point for every seed destroyed would work just fine but multiples for hitting several seeds in 1 shot would be a nice extra and could add some risk/reward element in. Waiting to hit seeds lower as risk/reward would also be a good mechanic for this sort of High Score game.

I think having 2 x Fire Buttons would help a lot, one firing diagonally left and one diagonally right; only shooting the direction you last moved in can feel quite restrictive. The rest of my thoughts/ideas are just "you could try this" but this I think would definitely improve the game.

Experiment with having larger sections of floor (so fewer segments in total) and you die if the floor you are on is destroyed. This is something that could vary when you implement levels as mentioned in the instruction manual.

Some basic sounds always help to indicate shooting, seeds hitting the floor, floor being restored, etc.

I was able to camp at the edge of the screen shooting fast and survive for quite a long time... not so easy as things speed up but perhaps some targeted seeds dropping would ensure the player has to keep on the move.

The sprite of the bird could be a little more detailed and cuter without too much extra drawing... this does rely on a "pen lifted" move but is still very few vectors in total:

[andyi]

Hello guys,

I just finished the new v0.1-beta version of Asteroid Cowboy with a few bugfixes and new features like the proposed "Full Lasso Death" mode.

You can have a look at the complete changelog and get the updated files here:

github.com/andybitter/asteroid-cowboy/releases/tag/untagged-9b3362258d05b072af1d

Have fun with it!

- Andy -

[Peer]

Greetings everyone,

I have also uploaded the new beta release to the Asteroid Cowboy project page. I still have to update the screenshots shown on the page as the overlay has changed, but I don't have the time right now. I will try to do so soon.

(Edit 06/28 at 2000 hours): The screenshots have also been updated.

cNp : Many thanks for testing and providing feedback for Pyoro-Chan. This is highly appreciated!

Cheers,
Peer

[Peer]

And greetings again,

we have one more programmer who decided to release an alpha version. Treasure Diver is now available in the download section of the project page.

The programmer is already aware of some issues which are mentioned in the alpha version manual, but definitely wanted to go to alpha status today. The semester is rapidly drawing to a close, and the next two weeks will be filled with exams. Development will continue afterwards, so releasing the alpha binary for testing now was a smart decision and will give the testers some time. Any volunteers? 

Cheers,

Peer

 

[hcmffm]

• Thank you for testing the alpha version of Pyoro-Chan, Chris (cNp ).
  
• And thank you, Peer (Peer ), for updating the project gallery and keeping us informed.
• And last not least thank you to Falrahch for your providing an alpha version of Treasure Diver. I'll see whether I find time (and energy) for testing during the next days. (If someone else wants to have a look at Treasure Diver and provide feedback please go ahead. Chris, you might be biased. ).

___

Pyoro-Chan

I've played Pyoro-Chan a bit and agree with Chris' feedback. ATM, shooting very fast and hiding in a corner or moving a bit left/right is sufficient to survive for a longer while. Player's tactics and skills are not really needed. Below please find some additions to Chris' feedback.

Slow shooting, tactics
Currently, the player shots with a super fast laser. Difficulty (i.e. number of seeds) ramps up very quickly. Result is a very-fast paced, too fast paced game. Shooting very fast seems to be the best way to play this game and is thus the only skill you need.
Suggestion: Slower and precise shots could change the style of the game. Alternatively, laser might be limited somehow (e.g. each shot costs energy or there is a pause between shots). Apart from avoiding hits, keeping your ground (more or less) intact should be the target of the game. The game might work well with a good balance of (wise) shooting and walking (needed for targeting or avoiding bullets). As soon as skills or even tactics are needed to master the game it will become a much better game.

Types of seeds
There are various types of seeds which is good. At start-up the player has no idea which seed does what and which ones are worth while shooting.
Suggestions: Explain types of seeds in the manual. Start with one and gradually and slowly introduce new types. This way the player gets familiar with the various types.


___

Asteroid Cowboys beta 0.1

Thank you for the many changes you've implemented in beta 1, already, Andy (andyi ). I just tried out the beta 0.1 of Asteroid Cowboys. Below please find some feedback for this beta 0.1 version and some more suggestions/ideas. My current highscore is about 150 points in sector 9. Sector 9 seems pretty hard to me because the lasso "fades"/dissappears soon after throwing/drawing.

Rope shifting: Good!
At first, the shifting of the rope when moving around was quite irritating. But after playing some few games I much like the idea: Now, the rope really behaves a bit like a lasso and is a bit "alive". Only drawback/bug(?): When moving vertically on the very right side and then moving to the left, the vertical rope dissappears.

Full lasso length death: Soso
I found that game 2 is not so much fun and not as challenging as I thought. I'd suggest to remove this mode, again. Same applies for lasso deletion when pressing button 1.
(Note: Game modes are not so common on the Vectrex but they can make a game attractive for an even longer time. But game modes need some name and/or explanation and should be fun.)

Bug: Occassional crashes
The occassional crash still occurs. My impression is that it doesn't occur that often anymore. But the game still crashes every now and then.

Sector changes as text
After finishing a sector, sometimes a message "LASSO LENGTH +3" appears. This message sounds a bit technical. From what I can see there are other changes within two sectors like lasso duration or cursor speed. In sector 9 it's quite hard to catch an asteroid because the lasso fades away very soon after you have thrown (drawn) it.
Suggestion: Perhaps every sector could have a small change and this change could be indicated in a short message. (e.g. "LONGER LASSO", "FASTER CURSOR", "FASTER LASSO FADING", ...)

Melody: Variations
Currently, when starting the game and when finishing a sector, a part of the melody "The Good, the bad, and the ugly" is played.
Suggestion: The original melody consists of four variations with the following notes:
1. ADADA FGD
2. ADADA FGC
3. ADADD? FEDC
4. ADADA FDD
When finishing a sector1, variation 1 should be played. When finishing sector 2, variation 2 of the melody should be played, and so on. Sector 5 starts with variation 1, again.

Prettier Title screen
Good that "ASTEROID COWBOY" has been added. From my point of view the title screen doesn't look too appealing, yet.
Suggestion: Perhaps "PRESS BUTTON 4" can be changed to "PRESS BUTTON" and game could start when pressing any button. (Note: That's not much of a change and big design improvement but perhaps a start.)

Shorter invulnerability time
Very good and helpful that the player is invulnerable for a while after spawning. Currently, this period of invulnerability is comparatively long.
Suggestion: Time of invulnerability could be a bit shorter.

Fixed cursor position at start of sector
Currently, every time a new sector starts, the lasso cursor starts at a random position. At the beginning of a sector the player has to search the cursor on the screen.
Suggestion: The cursor could always start in the center position.
Note: Not sure whether this will make the game a bit better or a bit worse.

- o -

[andyi]

Thanks again for your feedback Helmut!

Jun 29, 2018 17:42:02 GMT -5 hcmffm said:

Rope shifting: Good!
Only drawback/bug(?): When moving vertically on the very right side and then moving to the left, the vertical rope dissappears.

I wasn't able to reproduce this one, could you make a video or some screenshots showing that error please?

Jun 29, 2018 17:42:02 GMT -5 hcmffm said:

Full lasso length death: Soso
I found that game 2 is not so much fun and not as challenging as I thought. I'd suggest to remove this mode, again. Same applies for lasso deletion when pressing button 1.
(Note: Game modes are not so common on the Vectrex but they can make a game attractive for an even longer time. But game modes need some name and/or explanation and should be fun.)

Thank you for the input! I would like to hear some other opinions on this one before removing it again, but my experiences were similar to yours.

Jun 29, 2018 17:42:02 GMT -5 hcmffm said:

Bug: Occassional crashes
The occassional crash still occurs. My impression is that it doesn't occur that often anymore. But the game still crashes every now and then.

Unfortunately this wasn't part of the update, since I still couldn't track down the exact parts of code leading to the crash. Probably this will take a few more weeks to be fixed.

Jun 29, 2018 17:42:02 GMT -5 hcmffm said:

Sector changes as text
After finishing a sector, sometimes a message "LASSO LENGTH +3" appears. This message sounds a bit technical. From what I can see there are other changes within two sectors like lasso duration or cursor speed. In sector 9 it's quite hard to catch an asteroid because the lasso fades away very soon after you have thrown (drawn) it.
Suggestion: Perhaps every sector could have a small change and this change could be indicated in a short message. (e.g. "LONGER LASSO", "FASTER CURSOR", "FASTER LASSO FADING", ...)

I will definitely adapt the less technical "LONGER LASSO" message, but with the rest I thought it's better to let the player explore the changes, since they are more obvious than the increased lasso length.

Jun 29, 2018 17:42:02 GMT -5 hcmffm said:

Melody: Variations
Currently, when starting the game and when finishing a sector, a part of the melody "The Good, the bad, and the ugly" is played.
Suggestion: The original melody consists of four variations with the following notes:
1. ADADA FGD
2. ADADA FGC
3. ADADD? FEDC
4. ADADA FDD
When finishing a sector1, variation 1 should be played. When finishing sector 2, variation 2 of the melody should be played, and so on. Sector 5 starts with variation 1, again.

Nice idea, will give it a try!

EDIT: Variation 4 sounds a little bit strange or at least strange with the lengths I used, so i had to drop it, but the other ones are fine!

Jun 29, 2018 17:42:02 GMT -5 hcmffm said:

Prettier Title screen
Good that "ASTEROID COWBOY" has been added. From my point of view the title screen doesn't look too appealing, yet.
Suggestion: Perhaps "PRESS BUTTON 4" can be changed to "PRESS BUTTON" and game could start when pressing any button. (Note: That's not much of a change and big design improvement but perhaps a start.)

Shorter invulnerability time
Very good and helpful that the player is invulnerable for a while after spawning. Currently, this period of invulnerability is comparatively long.
Suggestion: Time of invulnerability could be a bit shorter.

Fixed cursor position at start of sector
Currently, every time a new sector starts, the lasso cursor starts at a random position. At the beginning of a sector the player has to search the cursor on the screen.
Suggestion: The cursor could always start in the center position.
Note: Not sure whether this will make the game a bit better or a bit worse.

Consider them as done!