Vectrex Academy 2021

[Peer]

Greetings everyone,

a new alpha binary of project "Racetrex" is available for testing on the project web page.

Have fun,

Peer

[hcmffm]

Out of curiosity I've just visited the project gallery of Vectrex academy. Thank you, Peer, for the updates that you made on 21st of June. A beta release of Frog Jump is available, now, and from what I can see developer SpaceInvader7 made various changes which improved the game quite a bit. E.g. the "immediate kill" no longer happens. During my 5 minutes of playing I scored 168 points and for me playing Frog Jump is good fun. On the week-end I'll try out the beta version a bit more.

[Peer]

[Please insert standard disclaimer of me being sorry for not having posted updates more frequently here]

Greetings everyone!

Projects "Frog Jump" and "Racetrex" have both been completed and release versions have been uploaded to the project web pages. Overlays and game manuals are also available now.

Time flies. The classroom lectures of this year’s Vectrex Academy have ended. Having been forced to do this course as a purely virtual lectures has once again proven to be a bit of a challenge, but the students really did well, and we had many interesting discussions of lots of interesting programming problems. Except for the two projects mentioned above, all other students have opted to hand in the final versions of their projects after the end-of-semester-exams which are going to be held during the next four weeks. So my apologies that there will be again a bit of a wait ahead.

Many Cheers,
Peer

[Peer]

Greetings everyone,

a beta release candidate of project Darts is now available for playing and testing.

Have fun,
Peer

[Peer]

Greetings everyone,

a beta release candidate of project Instigator is now available for playing and testing.

Have fun,
Peer

[Peer]

Greetings everyone,

project Get That Gold has declared completion. A release binary, overlay and manual are available for download.

If someone is trying this (or one of the other projects) out, it would really be cool to read your thoughts here. No extensive testing or reports, just some words would be nice, as the students are looking forward to external feedback.

Many Cheers,

Peer

[hcmffm]

Sorry for the quietness on my side. Life can be pretty busy, sometimes.

Below please find feedbacks for the game "Darts". I try to write up reviews for "Instigator" and "Get That Gold" during the next two days.

___

Darts

Version played: Beta release

Platform: Played in Browser using  Dr. Snuggles' online emulator and

Controller: PC keyboard

· WHAT I LIKE

+ Graphics of dart board and dart

+ Two player mode

· BUGS

Darts no longer scored

It happened to me twice that when throwing darts the game no longer scored. Arrow counter blinked but didn't change, either. To reproduce I think you just have to press Button 4 over and over again - even while a dart is still flying.

· SUGGESTIONS

Overlay is mandatory

Playing the game without an overlay doesn't make much sense because you don't know the numbers of the fields. This means on a real Vectrex console that you'll need a real overlay for this game.

Suggestion: It would be great if numbers could also be drawn. A thin vector font could be used for this. This way people could play "Darts" without an overlay on a real Vectrex.

Gameplay

Personally, I find the gameplay not so challenging at the moment:

· "Left/Right" is only needed to finish the game (each single dart is centered so you can try and shoot the triple 20 right away). I only use left/right to finish a game with the right double.

· Power control is comparatively slow. You can either memorize or mark the position on the screen and then try to hit the triple 20. All in all a bit boring, I think. But I have played only few times and in real life I'm not a dart player. So there might be people who really enjoys this.

Some suggestions/ideas for the game play:

· Don't reset the position of the dart to center position. Instead, remember last position or even set horizontal position by random.

· Change the control of the dart - here are various ideas:

a.) E.g. have two controls: one power control on the right and a left/right wind control on the left side (or also on the right side). The wind will influence the left/right direction of the arrow.

or

b.) Use the joystick to control the dart. The faster you move from "Down" to "Center" to "Up", the higher the dart flies. Vectrex has an analogue joystick mode which might be also useful.

or

c.) Use joystick to control a cross that indicates the spot that you will hit on the dart board. The cross moves around quickly and you have to use the joystick to correct position of the cross all the time and press the button to shoot at the right time. (This is my personal favorite because this is both challenging and you actually look at the dart board and not on a power control or similar).

...

Intensity

Currently, the same intensity is used throughout all graphics.

Suggestion: Use a higher intensity for dart so that it can be seen better and to make the game look even more appealing.

Sound

Currently, the game has no sound.

Suggestion: Sound is an important part of a game - even a dart game. E.g. there could be sound whenever the dart hits the dart board. Also, when hitting a double or a triple or even a bull or double bull a special sound could be played.

Overlay: Text Orientation of numbers

Currently, the numbers 1-20 have all the same, normal text orientation.

Suggestion: Use varying text orientation for the numbers 1-20 - just like on a real dartboard. EDIT: I just realized that dart boards both with all upright text and rotated text exist.

Dart counter

Currently, the counter "Arrow" counts from 1-3 and then again from 1-3. There is no counter that tells you the round, i.e. you have no idea how many darts that you needed to finish a game

Suggestion: Count each dart that is thrown from 1-n. Alternatively, the round could be displayed.

End of Game

Currently, when finishing a game, the game just ends and start screen is displayed.

Suggestion: Would be good if there was an "end" screen with some statisitics (Arrows, Rounds, ...).

- o -

[Peer]

Many thanks (once again) for your extensive feedback, hcmffm! That is highly appreciated!

[Peer]

Greetings everyone,

project Pongmania has declared completion, and there are alpha release candidates of project Galactica and of project Invasion available.

Many Cheers,
Peer

[hcmffm]

Next review is for Instigator written by Racoon. This game really is some challenge to me: Even after reading the "How to Play" and "Game rules" carefully, I didn't quite get what I was supposed to do. Until now I could finish the first level but poorly fail in the second level. I guess once you found out what to do it will be simple to clear level 2, too. Still trying and guessing...
EDIT: Success! I reached level 3. You have to attract one enemy and make its beams/"shots" hit another enemy. Very last enemy can always be killed by pressing button 4 once you are close to it. Just like in the instructions...

___

Instigator
Version played: Beta release
Platform: Played in Browser using Dr. Snuggles' online emulator
Controller: PC keyboard

· WHAT I LIKE
+ Game idea and game play (even though I still don't have a real clue how to play this game). This game concept really has potential.
+ AI of enemies - their movements are clever and they really hunt you.

+ Levels with increasing difficulty

· PERSONAL THOUGHT

With a different control concept (see below) and graphics, Instigator could become an even more challenging and cool game. Driving around with some vehicle to tease enemies and flee from them could be good fun and joy.

· BUGS
No bugs encountered. (Sometimes, orientation of the enemies and their direction of movement do not 100% match. But I consider this as a feature, not a bug.)

· SUGGESTIONS
SoundFX
This game really needs sound effects: I can imagine sound effects whenever...
... you are killed.
... the last 10 seconds start.

... the enemies start moving.

... the enemy detected the player's ship

... the clock ticks (frequency of sound could become higher and higher with every tick).

... enemy explodes.

...

Controls: Left/right - Thrust

Currently, you control the player ship using the four directions of the joystick. The ship reacts immediately and moves into the apropriate direction.

Suggestion: Ship control with left/right for rotating the ship and fire button for moving (immediate full speed or accelerating) could work very well for this game, be good fun, and make it even more challenging. Perhaps the "ship" might even move backwards - see next bullet point.

Scenario: Landscape instead deep space

Currently, the player's ship looks like a space ship. The enemies are more or less undefined and could be space ships or large vehicles.

Suggestion: The movements of the enemies look as if these were large vehicles that move on a landscape. Perhaps the player's ship could become a vehicle (car, jeep, tank, ...), too, thus the whole scenario would be a landscape and not deep space.

Enemies: No 180 degree flips

Currently, the enemies sometimes perform 180 degree flips, i.e. they are (sort of) mirrored and move in the opposite direction.

Suggestion: It would look more "natural" / realistic, if the enemies would rotate quickly instead of 180 degree flips.

Enemies: Grapics / View Area

Currently, the enemy view area is marked with a sort of triangle. To me enemies look like loudspeaker symbols and not so much like enemy ships.

Suggestion: Perhaps the view area could be displayed in a different way so that it's clearer that it's just a view area.
Some ideas:

a.) The triangle could flash periodically (0.5s off, flash, 0.5s off, flash, ...)

b.) There could be an animated line which moves left/right which indicates the scanning area. (a bit like this animation)

c.) There could be several lines moving (a bit like in this video)

Level numbering

Currently, the first level has #000.

Suggestion: First level should be #001.

Start of level (minor)

Currently, whenever a new level starts, the level number plus the current score is displayed.

Suggestion: For level 1, only the level number should be displayed. Score doesn't make sense at this stage because it's always 000

End of game: Screen layout (minor)

Currently, the text in the "Game over" screen is left aligned.

Suggestion: The Game over screen might look better if...

..."Game over" was centered.

...it would say "YOUR SCORE:" (with colon).

Enemies / Player ship: In-graphic animations (minor)

Currently, the player ship and the enemies are mainly static graphics.

Suggestion: There could be some in-graphic animation, i.e. the player ship could have a flame when flying or some blinking antennas.

- o -

[hcmffm]

Jul 26, 2021 14:35:36 GMT -5 Peer said:

Many thanks (once again) for your extensive feedback, hcmffm! That is highly appreciated!

You're welcome. I wished I had more time...

Jul 26, 2021 14:39:16 GMT -5 Peer said:

...

project Pongmania has declared completion, and there are alpha release candidates of project Galactica and of project Invasion available.

Cool that more games have first releases - my congratulations! Looks like the coming evenings will be busy for me...

[hcmffm]

Next review is for "Get that Gold" written by 8bits1byte. "Get that Gold" is a clone of the famous jump-and-run-game "Miner 2049er".
Providing feedback and making suggestions for a release version doesn't make quite sense - but perhaps this is release version 1.0 and version 2.0 is planned by the author, already. Last-not-least feedback is something you can learn from so I continue writing...

Notes:

· I played "Miner 2049er" on the Commodore 64 many(!) years ago. I wonder how 8bits1byte knows about this very old game.

· Another cool mining game on the C64 is Baggit man.

___

Get that Gold
Version played: Release version
Platform 1: Played in Browser using Dr. Snuggles' online emulator, Controller: PC keyboard

Platform 2: Played on real Vectex hardware. Controller: Original Vectrex controller

· WHAT I LIKE

+ Game is very playable, i.e. walking, jumping, falling, climbing ladders all work fine and smooth. Controlling Bounty Bob through the level is fun.

+ Graphic of Bounty Bob is pretty close to the original

+ Graphics of small tools (Fish, ...)

+ Game can be played on real hardware, all essential graphics are drawn and overlay is not really needed.

+ Jump and run game (there are very few Jump and run games on the Vectrex, only.)

+ Child friendly

+ I have won the game.

· BUGS
No bugs encountered.

· SUGGESTIONS
SoundFX

For some reason I don't know this is another game without any sound (for a short while I suspected DrSnuggles emulator but this is not the case.) Sound much adds to a game athmosphere. I guess the lacking sound is just a matter of time and effort so you have to make trade-offs.

In this game I can imagine sound effects whenever...

... you walk
... you jump

... you kill an enemy

... you run into a "Tool" which allows you to eliminate the monsters.

... walk on an area that you have never walked on before.

Note: I find the jumping sound of the original Miner 2049er pretty enerving after a short while.

Scoring / Time

Currently, once you've finished/won a game there's no such thing like a score to compare with other playes who also finished the game.

Suggestion: There could be a timer (stop watch) which counts the time that you need to finish the game. This timer would be displayed at the end of the game. In addition, the timer could be displayed throughout the game but this would require extra processor cycles which are scarce.

Drawing areas that you have visited

Currently, when you visit an area a line appears to indicate that you have visited the area. On my real Vectrex console this line has both a vertical and horizontal offset. The vertical offset is fine but the horizontal offset is a bit irritating when walking or jumping on narrow platforms.

Suggestion: To indicate that an area has been visited the appropriate line could be highlighted using a higher intensity. This way, no additional lines are needed and you can be sure that there is no offset at all.

Non-visited area counter

Currently, "Get that Gold" displays a the number of lives.

Suggestion: Like in the original game there could be a counter which displays the number of areas that you still have to visit. Advantage of the counter is that the player realizes what he/she has to do and he/she knows how many platforms are still left to visit.

Difficulty: More levels with increasing difficulty

The game is fun to play but currently there is one level, only. Once you finished that level the game ends and you have won the game. I'm a normal player and I can finish level 1 without any problems and without loosing any of the three lives. From my point of view difficulty of level 1 is good for children but too easy for normal players/adults. It would be cool if there were more levels with increasing difficulty. The original Miner 2049er has 10 or even 25 levels with game elements like slides. My ideas to increase difficulty without changing the layout of the level too much:

Less tools: There could be less tools in higher levels so that the player is forced to jump over monsters

Reachability of tools: There could be tools which are harder to reach (currently you just walk and automatically run into the tools).

Faster monsters: Monsters could be faster in higher levels

Area of Monster: The area the monsters can walk could be increased in higher levels

Intensity: Monsters, ...

Currently, it seems that there is no variation in intensity (bright / dark) throughout the game.

Suggestion: Use intensity for special items and monsters. This will make the game graphics look even more appealing.

End of game: No game reset

Currently, once you finish the game the game resets and initial melody of Vectrex is played.

Suggestion: I think there should be some scoring (see above) and when finishing a game the score (time) should be displayed.

- o -

[VectorX]

Oh MAN! I wonder how many levels of a Miner 2049'r clone you could get on a Vectrex if it were made as a 32K, if not full 64K cart? (I played the ColecoVision version at a friend's. Awesome game!)

[hcmffm]

The feedback marathon continues. Feedback below is for "Pongmania" written by BUG. No need to mention that Pongmania is a clone of Pong.

___

Pongmania
Version played: Release version
Played in Browser using Dr. Snuggles' online emulator, Controller: PC keyboard

· WHAT I LIKE

+ Single player and two-player simultaneous mode.

+ Nice Extras/details: Spider, wide paddle, text on end screen

+ Life graphic (heart)

+ Score with cool vector font

+ Pretty complete game with start-screen to set number of players and start level and end screen with score.

· PERSONAL THOUGHT:

Pongmania could become a real fun game on the Vectrex - especially in two-player mode. Several options/settings (drunk mode, narrow paddle, ...) ideally applicable per player could offer much variety to the game, iron-out different skill levels (adult versus child) and be much fun.

· BUGS
No bugs encountered.

· SUGGESTIONS

Paddle movement

Currently, the ball bounces off the paddle with a random direction (delta X)

Suggestion: When calculating the new direction (deltaX) of the ball also take the movement of the paddle into account. This way the player has a bit more control and can try to shoot the spider for example.

Intermediate screen

Currently, whenever you missed the ball an intermediate screen with the current score and the number of lives is displayed.

Suggestion: Personally, I find this intermediate screen a bit disturbing. The screen interrupts the game and it doesn't offer any extra info. Instead of the intermediate screen I just would pause the game for an instant and then continue.

EDIT: Intermediate screen makes sense inbetween levels because you see the level number. But I think when missing the ball the intermediate screen shouldn't be displayed.

Game variations

Currently, in the single player mode you play "Squash", i.e. the ball is reflected by a wall and not an opponent.

Suggestion: With perhaps not too much effort there could be game variations:

a.) There could be a "Single player - Two paddles" mode with two sychronized paddles. I.e. the player controls both paddles at the same time.

b.) There could be a "Single player - Two paddles - anti-sync" mode with two sychronized paddles but the paddles moves in opposite directions. I.e. when bottom paddle moves left the top paddle moves right. (Peer might want to call this mode "Single player - Two Paddles - drunk" mode.)

c.) There could be a "Two player - drunk" mode: In this fun mode both paddles react mirrored - i.e. when moving controller right the paddles moves left. (o.k. - you can turn your controller 180 degrees but that should be forbidden.)

d.) Mode with more narrow paddle(s)

...

Difficulty of game (1)

The initial difficulty of the game is good but difficulty (i.e. speed of the ball) could ramp up a bit more quickly. (Just to make sure:  Paddle speed should always be equal or higher than maximum horizontal speed of ball. Otherwise the game will be unfair. EDIT: Level 6 is unfair - see below.

Difficulty of game (2)

As written above, difficulty could ramp up a bit faster. One way to increase difficulty is the speed of the ball. Another good idea might be a more and more narrow paddle (sure enough there should be a minimum size).

Maximum DeltaX

Currently, in higher levels (e.g. level 6) the horizontal speed of the ball (deltaX) is higher than the speed of the paddle. This is unfair, I think, because you have no way to catch up with the ball. I made it to level 6 and lost all of three lives in about 20 seconds because the initial horizontal speed of the ball was always so high that it flew almost horizontal (o.k., I'm exaggerating a bit - but just a bit ).

Initial serve

Currently, as soon as the game starts the ball flies away from your paddle.

Suggestion: The ball could stick to the paddle and even move left/right with the paddle until the player presses button 4 to release  the ball. For the initial deltaX of the ball the movement of the paddle could be taken into account. This would make the start of the game more tennis like and would allow the player to make difficult serves which makes the other player struggle.

More levels

Currently, "Pongmania" offers three levels. Would be cool if there were more levels with some more extras. E.g. there could be some obstacles on the playfield which also reflect the ball. EDIT: Pongmania offers at least 6 levels.

Intensity and SoundFx

I guess I mentioned before that usage of both intensity and sound add much to the athmosphere of a Vectrex game. E.g. the "frame" of the playfield could be a bit darker. And the ball could make the magic and original "pong" sound once it bounces off the paddle. And a higher "ping" sound if player 2 paddle is hit.

- o -

[Peer]

Greetings everyone,

there are now also alpha release candidates of project Blackjack and of project Catch Your Parcels available.

Many Cheers,

Peer