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Post by VECTREXER on May 8, 2021 10:08:27 GMT -5
Greetings everyone, here are the latest news of the Vectrex Academy 2021: All the projects are on track. Some have already reached what I would call a very early alpha status, which is quite amazing considering the fact that, just 7 weeks ago, none of the students had even heard of a Vectrex before. Two of the students are brave enough to have their alpha candidates already put out to the public for some very early alpha testing  Alpha test binaries of projects "Frog Jump" and "Racetrex" are available for download by means of the gallery page. There are also links on the project pages for playing the games in Dr. Snuggles' online emulator in your web browser. It would be really really great if some of you guys out there find the time to take a look and try these games and voice your opinions and some early feedback here on the forum. This would be quite rewarding for the students and a great help for them while continuing their work on the projects. Many Cheers, Peer Thank you for the update Peer. I have cross-posted your update into the "Vectrex Fans Unite!" Facebook group ( www.facebook.com/groups/VECTREX ) |
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Post by hcmffm on May 9, 2021 10:46:43 GMT -5
It's very good to see the first binaries available. And playing them in browser via Dr. Snuggles was a very good idea, VECTREXER . Thank you for keeping us informed and up-to-date, Peer ( Peer ), and caring for the project gallery page! I'm not sure whether I can manage it, but I'll try to provide at least a short reviews for each game once a binary is available. Would be cool if other people ( Malban , nubiandaze , ...) could have a look and write short feedbacks, too. First my "disclaimer": An important note for all my reviews:I much appreciate the work, effort, and thoughts that all you students have put into your games! My "reviews" are rather feedback and suggestions and not so much reviews that judge whether a game is good or bad. Criticizing a game is simple compared to writing a Vectrex game - especially the very first game. My criticism is intended to give you hints and ideas to perhaps make your game even better. Some of my ideas might be simple to implement, some might mean quite some effort. Decide yourself which ideas you pick up and which ones you don't. In no case feel obliged in any way. Even leaving your game as it is now, is fine for me. Though, I do admit that I'm sometimes picky and I do like high quality and complete Vectrex games.  If you should have questions regarding a specific suggestion you can post here or contact me via PM (English and German are both fine). Thank you all students for your excellent effort and love that you put into the development of your Vectrex game! ___
Frog Jump Below please find feedback for Frog Jump. The game is developed by "Space Invader's", is in alpha status, and can be played, already. You'll find the game in the Vectrex project gallery. Frog Jump is a jump game. You control a frog and have to jump from platform to platform. The game play is a bit related to former Vectrex games like Floor is Lava or Kingdom of Heaven. · WHAT I LIKE+ Animation of frog: The jump animation of the frog is well done + Graphics of bird is well done and very Vectrex like + The permanently jumping of the frog is a good and interesting element of the gameplay.
+ Moving platforms combined with jumping frog is a good challenge · BUGSMissing platform It happened to me once that there was a platform missing. The platform was supposed to be at the same height as the bird. After killing the bird there was no platform to jump on and the next platform was unreachable. Tongue not reset When using the tongue and being killed the tongue is displayed in your next game.
· SUGGESTIONSStart: Dying right awayCurrently, after pressing 2 to start the game it's pretty likely that you die and end your first game within two seconds. This is not a really good start for a game. Suggestion: Place the very first platform underneath the frog so that it just jumps on and on unless you control the frog left/right. Ramping up difficulty / elements of the gameSuggestion: Until now I've score about 40 points. I'm not sure how much more variety is in the game but I think that there should be a longer period between the various elements of the games (moving platforms, bird, ...). This will make the game more interesting and difficulty will ramp up more nicely.
Game element: wider and more narrow platforms"Frog jump" could be played by players of all ages including children. Personally, I think for young players the initial difficulty level could be even a bit lower, i.e. the game a bit more easy. Some suggestions/ideas for an easier start: - Wider platforms at the beginning. During the game platforms might become more and more narrow. - No "side jumps": Sometimes you have to jump to the left to reach a platform on the right (and vice versa). This makes the game difficult for (novice) players. - Instead of random levels the game might have fixed levels. This way the player might learn about the levels and improve step-by-step. Square platforms
Currently, the platforms are squares. This looks a bit synthetic and not so natural
Suggestion: Shape of platforms could vary (e.g. triangles) while the width of the platform is always the same.
Button settings Currently, you start a new game by pressing button 2. And you use the tongue by pressing button 1 Suggestion: For most Vectrex games, button 4 is the fire button and the button to start a game.
- o -
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Post by hcmffm on May 9, 2021 10:53:28 GMT -5
Next review is for Racetrax. RacetraxRacetrax is programmed by "Chroma". You'll find the game in the Vectrex project gallery. · GENERAL NOTESRacetrax is a racing game. You control a race car left and right inbetween three lanes and try not to crash into the cars that you overtake. Currently the game is in alpha-status. · WHAT I LIKE+ Name of the game: A good mix of Race and Track and Vectrex. + Sound intro (two or three voices)
· BUGSPlayer's car dissappears sometimesWhen switching lane while a car is close the player's car sometimes dissappears. (Perhaps this is the situation when a crash animation is supposed to be displayed.) · SUGGESTIONSCountdown: Beep toneSuggestion: When counting down add beep tone per second (low-low-high is typically in ski-racing games) No immediate startCurrently, the first race starts right after the game started. Suggestion: The screen "Press B1 to start" could be shown right after game start and after pressing the countdown could appear. Crash: Animation / endSuggestion: When crashing, it could say "Crash!" instead of "You lost". Race timeCurrently, you either loose or win the game. Suggestion: In a way it is cool that you can win a race game. Personally, I'd find it more challenging to have a comparable race time. E.g. the time that you survived could be counted and displayed as highscore. New race: MusicCurrently, right before each race a tune is played. Suggestion: The intro tune is nice and can be played at the very beginning. But the tune shouldn't be played whenever starting a game. Switching lanes abruptedly
Currently, you can be on one lane at a time only and you switch lanes abrubtly. This makes Racetrax a very fast game but to me it looks and plays a bit like an LCD game.
Suggestion: Switching lanes could happen gradually, i.e. your car moves slowly from one lane to another. Result will be a much slower game - I can't say whether this will be better or worse. Perhaps it's even a question of flavor (Geschmacksache).
Overlay: "Arrows" Currently, it says "ARROWS" in the overlay. Suggestion: On a Vectrex controller you have the joystick and the buttons. There is no such thing as "Arrows". ;-) - o -
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Post by VectorX on May 10, 2021 8:07:47 GMT -5
A note for Peer: if any of your students want to sign up for an account for these forums, an easy Vectrex question has to be answered first to weed out spammers. There's plenty of room to put in a comment with the answer, so you might want to tell any prospective members to write in--along with the [correct] answer to the security question--stating that they're a student of yours. That way I probably won't even look up their ip address and ok their account real quick. Using their same username as on the project page will also help but isn't 100% mandatory, as one student did that this morning and they're already on.
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Post by Peer on May 10, 2021 10:03:32 GMT -5
VECTREXER: Many thanks for cross-posting this on FB! hcmffm: Many thanks to you (again and again) for your extensive feedback on the two alpha versions. This is highly appreciated! Getting external feedback is a great motivation for the students to keep working on their projects.
VectorX: Many thanks also to you, this is a good idea, and I will pass on the information to the students.
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Post by VectorX on May 10, 2021 10:11:08 GMT -5
^Great!
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Post by hcmffm on May 21, 2021 14:15:02 GMT -5
Pretty quiet here in this thread, these days. But pretty busy all students and professor behind the scenes, I guess. |
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Post by drsnuggles on May 22, 2021 3:03:42 GMT -5
good things take time..just the calm before the storm, or the calm while eating... not sure |
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Post by Peer on May 22, 2021 13:56:34 GMT -5
... or the calm while eating... not sure No, the calm while watching the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest right now!  ... Sorry, couldn't resist Will post some more serious things soon... |
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Post by VECTREXER on May 22, 2021 16:10:43 GMT -5
... or the calm while eating... not sure No, the calm while watching the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest right now! ... Sorry, couldn't resist Will post some more serious things soon... so gathering more Vectrex music tune data eh? Nice to see a Vectrex Eurovision music cart. |
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Post by Peer on May 23, 2021 10:31:23 GMT -5
No, the calm while watching the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest right now! ... Sorry, couldn't resist Will post some more serious things soon... so gathering more Vectrex music tune data eh? Nice to see a Vectrex Eurovision music cart. I doubt that Vectrex tunes are allowed to participate in the ESC, but if they were, they would probably not win, but I am 100% certain that they would not end up in the last place  |
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Post by VectorX on May 23, 2021 10:56:51 GMT -5
^Yeah, 'cuz of people like us!
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Post by VECTREXER on May 23, 2021 11:23:54 GMT -5
so gathering more Vectrex music tune data eh? Nice to see a Vectrex Eurovision music cart. I doubt that Vectrex tunes are allowed to participate in the ESC, but if they were, they would probably not win, but I am 100% certain that they would not end up in the last place I was thinking the other way around. With a set of all tunes in Eurovision composed for the Vectrex after the winner is found. But I like your thinking. The Vectrex and its programmers as a Eurovision contestant. Or at least the Vectrex providing the music, or musical component, for the singer. |
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Post by Peer on May 23, 2021 14:23:10 GMT -5
But I like your thinking. The Vectrex and its programmers as a Eurovision contestant. Or at least the Vectrex providing the music, or musical component, for the singer. Not exactly Vectrex, but close enough: check out the song "8 bit" by "mind.in.a.box". Anyone who ever played video games back in the eighties, especially on the Atari 800, Commodore 64, Amiga and Atari ST, will likely recognize the sound and style. The lyrics are also fun. The song is from their 2010 album "R.E.T.R.O." which features more stuff like this, e.g. "Last Ninja ", "The Last V8", "I love 64" are also worth listening to. |
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Post by Peer on May 25, 2021 11:28:19 GMT -5
Ok, let's get back on track: Pretty quiet here in this thread, these days. But pretty busy all students and professor behind the scenes, I guess. Yes, it has indeed been a bit quiet in this thread lately. But that is not the students' fault, but is entirely to blame on that lazy professor of theirs! It is already more than half-way through the current semester, and all classroom courses have long since progressed from the easy introductory things to the real hard topics, so the students have a lot of other duties going on in parallel to the Vectrex class. But rest assured, they all keep working on their projects. I have relayed the feedback given here to the authors of the two games, and they were both really happy about how their work in an open forum and to learn how it is perceived in the community. They have already started incorporating the given suggestions in their implementations. I had not yet done so here (sorry, I should have done that earlier), so here I am now saying once more thanks a lot to Helmut for his continuous support and his thorough reviews of the alpha versions! Reading them was also a great motivation for the rest of the students. In the (virtual) classroom sessions we have recently covered topics like state machines and the various ways to implement them in C, efficient pseudo random number generation, procedural content generation, efficient score display and score calculation, simple enemy AIs, and some C preprocessor magic. And a lot of other things, specific to individual projects. Many Cheers, Peer |
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