Gyrostronomy / Gyrostrology - physical cartridge release

[VectorX]

^lol on the very last screenshot with that link!

[Peer]

Very quick update:

• another severe bug fixed yesterday evening
• some more minor beautifications done
• overlay(s) finalized
• manual(s) almost completed
• web page(s) almost completed
• not really done any more playing/testing...
  

Will be back later today.

Until then, one more Tolkien quote:

    "I don't want to be in a battle.
    But waiting on the edge
    of one I can't escape
    is even worse."

And another Tolkien inspired quote:

    "So few have come. We cannot defeat the armies of the Vortex."
    "No, we cannot. But we will meet them in battle nonetheless!"

Cheers,
Peer

[Peer]

Project X will finally go live later today in the afternoon.

A little later than I had hoped for, as I could not do as much as I wanted during the past days and had to fix one more (score-related) bug yesterday evening. There are still most likely more bugs, but I want to get the RC off my chest now.

I will post the link once everything is online.

Cheers,

Peer

[Peer]

Greetings everyone!

If all that secrecy of the past weeks has been annoying or confusing, please forgive me, my enthusiasm for this project probably got me carried away a bit.

The spoilers/hints/songs/references were mostly related to the fictitious background story, which of course you cannot know. But there were also several subtle hints to the game and the game play itself. I think much will become clearer soon.

So, speaking about hints, here are two final songs which are, figuratively, related to the game play:

"The Wheel in the Sky (keeps on turning)", Journey
"You spin me right round, baby, right round", Dead or Alive, (and left round!)

There is one more song which I have not mentioned so far. That song is more than strongly related to the game. Quoting it would have been a dead give-away. I have listened to (a certain version of) that song a lot while programming. To get into the right mood. You will know which one. As soon as you play the game…

Please do me a favor and carefully read the intros and also the other sections of the manuals before playing. I put some work into it. Maybe even read them twice If you like spotting for quotes and references (or subtle differences…), you might actually enjoy this.

Before I forget: No responsibility whatsoever is assumed for any negative effects this game might have on the joystick of your Vectrex controller.

You have been warned:

THE SKIES ARE EMPTY!

Have Fun & Many Cheers,
Peer

[cNp]

This is awesome, great work Peer!

I just played on real hardware to the 3rd warp of Capricorn and met the Star Castle like barriers and didn't manage to get past that this time

I think I need to get out one of my arcade sticks... and maybe my auto fire dongle

The sound and music are really spot on, well done on that.

I'll play some more tomorrow and send any feedback. I know from playing Gyruss on a JAMMA cab that I get used to the way the stick/directions work but an option to have just left and right to rotate could be a nice option

[cNp]

The manual is great too btw, made me smile a lot as I hit each reference

[D-Type]

Phew, I just read the intro web pages and the manual, and I'm sweating already!

I better download the game and have a play :-)

[Peer]

I have just uploaded new binaries (beta RC version 1-1) which hopefully fix a bug reported by Malban. Please update. He also reported two more smaller issues which I will try to fix tomorrow.

Cheers,

Peer

[D-Type]

I had a blast and got through a few levels. Everything is really smooth, I like the constellation selection, the circular movement and animation stuff works really well, the in-game tunes are nice. Very impressive!

Three niggles:

1. The star field backdrop appears to have stars with two speeds, glacial or like a firework from the middle of the screen. The glacial ones are fine, but IMHO the firework ones don't really work to give a 3D effect, they move too fast and their velocity doesn't change as you'd expect, they're too fast initially. They also clash with your bullets from the aliens during play. I get it that it's part of the skill of the game, but I reckon getting hit by a stray bullet that you didn't see isn't as much fun as getting hit whilst failing to dodge bullets that you can see.

2. The bullets from your ship appear to have a 2D velocity from your ship towards to the centre of the screen. This doesn't look right in 3D, they should slow down as they get nearer to the centre, and get dimmer, which currently they don't.

3. OK, this is super minor, but the jingle tune on the attract screens plays too often, once every 30-60 seconds or less might be better. It was driving me nuts whist I was typing this...

But hey, these are all minor, otherwise it all plays great, and the manual and backstory is great fun also, I get many of the references.


Thanks for publishing!

[gliptitude]

This is great, thank you.

How about Atari driving controller support?

The constellation theme and bosses (two that I've seen) are great. The level select mechanic is also just great.

I think the scale is uniquely satisfying, not clumsy or over/under produced, straight text suits the layout, and it all fits together tightly. I also enjoyed the flyer.

I'm still seeing things as I play that change my impressions, but I think it is really too difficult, at least for casual gaming. Maybe you could add invincibility or infinite lives mode for people like me?

[Peer]

Greetings everyone,

and thanks a lot for all the feedback here!

I have just uploaded Beta RC version 1-2 of Gyrostronomy and Gyrostrology. The following issues have been addressed:

• bugfix: sometimes the explosion of the very last enemy of a level was not correctly displayed or not displayed at all
• performance: the explosion of one boss significantly exceeded the 50Hz framerate
• display: the brightness of certain rocks was too high
• 3D effects: the player's shots now decrease in speed when approaching the center of the screen, and at the same time their brightness is reduced, which together gives a much better 3D impression. This was suggested by D-Type . Would love to hear your opinions about the result.
• 3D effects once more: reworked the starfield motion, stars now slightly increase in speed while moving outwards, which also adds to the 3D impression. This was also suggested by D-Type , and again I would love to hear your opinions.
• misc: constellation Monoceros renamed to Unicorn. This sounds less formal, and also saves 2 bytes of ROM
  

Hope I didn't break anything or introduced new bugs...

Regarding Atari driving controller support (as asked by gliptitude ): Unfortunately, I don't have one. If I could get hold of one, I'd be happy to see what I can do.

And here is a strategic spoiler/hint regarding the game-play:

SPOILER: Click to show

{The usage of the VIDE mechanism (if you dont know what that is, check the manual)}
The use of the VIDE device is two-fold: First, you can simply use it as a way to escape emergency situations (just like the jump button in Minestorm). E.g. if you realize that you cannot avoid the collision with an object, and if you are quick enough, press escape, and you are saved. Secondly, you can also use this mechanism strategically. Consider for example, that once you have obtained a laser bonus, you can also shoot the mines. So, in the beginning of the game, select a constellation with an easy entry level, where bonuses can be easily obtained. Once you have the desired bonus, go back to the gyroscope and then start on one of the more difficult constellations. Or, if you die at some stage and lose a life and all the current bonuses, instead of continuing at that stage, go back to the gyroscope, go again to that easy entry level, get the bonus again (and maybe an additional life), and then do another VIDE, and continue where you had been before. That strategy works also with bosses

Many Cheers,

Peer

[tatanga]

Hey Peer
This is awesome! Thanks again for your great work!

I would like to lend you my driving controller. Unfortunately I only have one, otherwise I would donate one to you. But I would gladly pay the shipping costs! By the way, I'm from Hamburg.

[gliptitude]

I've packed mine up for the purpose. I had wanted to confirm at post office before offering to make sure postage cost matched what the website estimated, which wasn't that bad.

They are pretty easy to come by in the U.S.

.. I hadn't realized that the arcade original was a joystick so maybe driving control is kind of arbitrary in that respect. But the game is obviously suited to it, like Tempest. And these things plug right into a Vectrex, unlike other Atari controllers.

...


Otherwise on the game, I thought the bullet and starfield changes were good. Also between the spoiler, some practice and a switch to a different controller, I can't complain about the difficulty anymore, (reached +50% yesterday).

..I was wondering about some crazy starfield experiments if they are apparently open to revision. I notice already there are at least two different patterns and one of them twists. If this is just a background and seems to not be at all distracting from gameplay, what about some crazy dynamic stuff like in Star Wars arcade? Or maybe more specifically Tac Scan tube phases? .. Changing direction and dipping in addition to twisting???

I don't know if it's worth it or not or would be noticeable while playing. For me some of the enemy movement patterns give the most compelling 3D effects in the game.

It's hard to tell at the user end what all details exist and effect the impression. As interested in starfields as I am, I was also curious what it might look like with NONE.

I only just realized Gyrostrology and Gyrostronomy are separate softwares. That is so weird and cool. Maybe they could be together on a double-ender cart.

[Peer]

Just a quick (but likely important) question: Does the Atari Driving Controller have two separate buttons? Or is it just one button? One button would be bad, as there are at least two buttons needed for the game: fire & escape.

I will also reply to the other points you mentioned, I just do not have the time to do it right now. Hopefully tomorrow. Anyway, all your feedback is highly appreciated!

Many Cheers,

Peer

[VectorX]

^Just one button. 2600 games had only one button/function on their controllers. They didn't expand to several more buttons (four) until the Atari 5200.