Vectrex Academy 2022

[Peer]

Greetings everyone,

here is the next quick update on our classroom activities.

Last Monday, we tested all current development binaries on a real Vectrex console  That was something which not only the students, but also I personally really enjoyed after two years of pure virtual teaching due to the pandemic. It was really nice to see what is currently going on in the projects. Some of them are already (a bit) playable, and there are also some demo videos available on the project web pages (more will follow). In the second part of the lecture, we dug into topics like unions in C, efficient use of look-up tables and of arrays in C. For next week, sound on the Vectrex is scheduled.

hcmffm: Thanks a lot for your additional thoughts, and also for detecting and reporting the broken link. This is fixed now.

Many Cheers,
Peer

[Peer]

Greetings!

Here is a list of the main things and topics we talked about in the recent classroom sessions:

- sound on the Vectrex, BIOS sound routines, sound data formats for use with the BIOS routines, a simple sound engine based on the BIOS routines, design of a complex multi-channel sound-engine
- state machines and (the pros and cons of) their various implementations in C (if-else cascades vs. switch-case vs. binary-search vs. function pointers vs. computed gotos)
- simple (and not so simple) ways to code an AI for computer controlled game elements

More updates have been done to the project web pages. There are also already some test binaries available for download or online-playing. A few words in this regard:

Why make available test binaries which have not yet reached alpha or beta release status?

Well, those are provided in hope of getting some very early feedback from external players and testers. In the past years, binaries were provided rather very late in the development cycle, essentially when beta release status was effectively reached. The problem was that this was also rather late with respect to the ongoing lecture, i.e. when the semester was already almost over. As a result, there was hardly any time left to react to the feedback provided here on the forum, which was a bit frustrating and disappointing for the testers as well as for the programmers. So this year's procedure is an attempt to hopefully get some early comments and thoughts about the games with still enough time left to react and to implement suggestions or to fix usability issues.

So, any comments are very welcome 

Many Cheers,
Peer

[hcmffm]

Thank you for your detailed update, Peer! A very good idea to make test binaries available at an early stage. I'll provide feedback for all available binaries till Sunday latest. In a previous post I announced some graphics, I'll post them by Sunday, too. So some comments and feedback from my side will come... ...sure enough feedback (short or long) from several people would be even better...

[drsnuggles]

Your are right, the early binaries are provided for feedback!

SAVE THE PLANET
- Overlay: You display left/right but it's up/down
- Add possibility to change speed a bit, positive and negative
- Please get rid of annoying respawn kills, e.g. give player one second invincibility or choose horizontal position without enemy


ROAD RUNNER
- Attractor/Demo showing each action would be helpful for players without reading how to play
- Personally i find it quite challenging, maybe smaller steps between levels would help me
- @peer: The (8) link does not work


SPACE SHOOTER
- Overlay: This time the red border somehow prevents me from crossing it. Maybe removing the red line in the area where you can pass through left/right would made me crossing it earlier Stupid me!
I played SAVE THE PLANET at first and interestingly due to flying i had no fear of crossing the red lined border here.

Sorry for not writing earlier and only giving short and also very personal feedback.
I only mentioned things that i found and had an idea on how to improve.
Concept writing and art of all this years and previous years Academy games are hidden gems.
Thanks to all !

[Peer]

Many thanks, drsnuggles, for testing and for providing feedback! I will relay this to the respective authors. And, thanks for reporting the broken link. This should work now. You might have missed the most recent version of project "Space Shooter". That binary was uploaded just a few minutes before you posted your feedback, so I am not quite sure whether or not you probably played an older version.

Also, thanks to you, hcmffm, for willing to have a go at the games over the weekend.

Everyone, please note, I have just uploaded yet another test binary (project "Grain Sling"). There is now a total of 4 binaries available. Possibly more will follow during the next days. So stay tuned

Many Cheers,

Peer

[drsnuggles]

GRAIN SLING
- The Game Over message on successful level end made me think i've lost
- Displaying a timer or how many grain slings are left would help to spend slings more carefully
- With the fixed positions of hungry chickens i ended in just staying at a position and wait for a good moment

Hope to see the two player simultanous modes.
From original game roms only 8 support that:
4x PvP: Blitz!, Heads Up/Soccer Football, Pitcher's Duel, Space Wars
4x CoOp: Armor Attack, Rip-Off, Star Castle, Star Hawk

Not a single one with both modes!

[Peer]

Greetings everyone,

please note: I have just uploaded a new test binary (version 0.4) of project "Space Shooter", which the programmer sent me yesterday evening. It features some nice improvements and additions, as well as a little "oval shaped something allegedly distributed and hidden for kids by some mystical animal around the time of March/April"

Many Cheers,

Peer

[drsnuggles]

SPACE SHOOTER
- plays nicely
- i'm ok with the restricted area

I just play Vectrex in emu but for a short moment i was thinking: "those asteroids look more like pixels than vectors"

[hcmffm]

Time flies and long week-end flied, too. Until now, I didn't find the time to have a look at the binaries and write up something. But at least I found some time for some drafts for VectrEXIT:



Reviews will follow in the next 1-2 days...

[hcmffm]

Below please find a first review - more reviews will come, soon.

My yearly "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 want to pick up and which ones you don't. In no case feel obliged in any way. 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 very first Vectrex game!

___

Grain Sling

Below please find feedback for Grain Sling. The game is developed by "Kiddo", and is in an early test version which can be played, already. You'll find the game in the Vectrex project gallery.

· GENERAL NOTES
Grain Sling is an aim and shoot game. You control a cross which indicates the shooting direction of your sling. Your sling will shoot with grain at the chickens so your target is not to shoot the chickens but to feed them. (I wonder why they dissappear when being shot but I guess it's because they hide to eat their grain in secret so that other chickens can't see.

· WHAT I LIKE
+ Overlay: Overlay looks clean and simple with nice graphics on it.
+ Two types of chickens / birds. Shooting birds will reset score to 0.

+ A game for both children and adults.

· BUGS
Reporting bugs at this early stage doesn't make much sense. Only "bug" that I encountered is that after level 2 the game stops/stalls and nothing happens until you reset the game.

· SUGGESTIONS
Appearing / dissappearing of chicken
Currently, chickens appear all of a sudden and then they dissappear all of a sudden.
Suggestion: Chickens could appear by fading in and fading out (brightness). Alternatively, chickens may appear step-by-step like a "submarine": First you see the cockscomb, then you see cockscomb plus head, then you see cockscomb plus head plus body, and so on (actually when I had seen the drafts I thought that this was the intended way). This way there will be a lot of movement/animation on the screen and the game will look much more lifely.

Shot in the air
Currently, one can shoot in the air but it seems as if nothing happens.
Suggestion: When shooting in the air (i.e. missing a chicken), there should be a sound and something else should happen (e.g. grain counter could go down).

Near and far chickens
Currently, all chickens have same distance.
Suggestion: Perhaps chickens could have different distances: At the front chickens could be larger and towards the top chickens could be smaller (and a bit less bright).

Sling shot
Currently, the sling shot will hit exactly at the position where the cursor is displayed.
Suggestion: This suggestion bases on the previous suggestion. The sling might be moved left and right, only and distance of shot might be controlled by the duration the button is pressed (A bit like bringing the ball into the game in "Flipper pinball"). When releasing the button one might see an animation of the grain shot which flies a near or far distance depending on the duration that you've pressed the button.

Wall or roost?
Currently, some chicken sit on the roost while some chickens hide behind the roost. In a way these roosts are walls and chicken can hide behind them but then they sit on the roost. This is a bit irritating.
Suggestion: I think that the four lines are supposed to be walls that allow that chickens can hide behind them. With some graphical hints (e.g. chicken don't sit 100% on the lines but a bit above) players can see that these are walls and not roosts. Overlay could also support the "wall" graphics but remember that overlay and graphics may not match on all Vectrexes because X/Y position of graphics may differ.

Next level
Currently, when player has finished a level it looks as if it's "Game over" (Dr Snuggles has mentioned this above).
Suggestion: There should be no "Game over" when starting a new level.

Limiting game elements
Currently, it seems as if the player has unlimited time and unlimited shots.
Suggestion: There should be a limitations (time, shots, ...) which should be indicated to the user and which prevents players from playing endlessly.

Chicken graphics - more vector like
Currently, the graphics of the chickens reminds me of Tangram.
Suggestion: Use angles other than 90° and 45° for vectors. This will make look graphics less "stiff".

- o -

[hcmffm]

Road Runner

Next review is for "Road Runner" designed and developed by "T.Flops". Again, an early test version is reviewed, here. You'll find the game in the Vectrex project gallery.

· GENERAL NOTES

I'm not quite sure which genre "Road Runner" belongs to: One could say that it's a 3D jump and run game but then you could also say it's a sports game. Perhaps someone can help here and answer this. In Road Runner you control a person which runs while avoiding obstacles by jumping or ducking, for example. In real life this sports/hobby is called "Parkour".

· WHAT I LIKE
+ Overlay improves 3D impression.
+ Unparalleled game on the Vectrex

+ Game has no shooting and is suitable for both children and adults.

· BUGS
None found - game is still under (massive) development.

· SUGGESTIONS
Speed of obstacles
Currently, obstacles approach fast and the closer they are they become slower.
Suggestion: In reality, obstacles approach slowly and the closer they are they become faster. Note: A very detailed explanation can be found in this video.

Playablity/Obstacles
Obstacle left/right: Easy --> On higher levels passage could be more narrow
Obstacle with passage center: Easy --> on higher levels passage could be more narrow
Wall (jump): Medium, sometimes you die without really knowing why --> Jumping could be reworked a bit (e.g. animation)
Rope: Difficult. Right after appearing you have to press the right button. --> I have to play more before making a suggestion

Speed in Level 2
After playing four times I finished level 1 for the first time. Hurray! Difference in speed between level 1 and level 2 is high. Would be good if difficulty would ramp up more slowly - even level 1 could be slower - I think.

Animated person

Currently, one cannot really see that the player runs.

Suggestion: There could be some slight animations (e.g. up-down of body, moving legs, ..) to indicate that the person is running.

Idea: Duck and Rope with joystick

Pressing buttons for specific moves is o.k. but has to be learnt because it's not so intuitive.

Suggestion: Jumping when pressing button 4 is intuitive. For using the rope joystick "up" could be used and for ducking joystick "down" could be used. This might be more intuitive, I think. I wouldn't support "Center" because this is a bit strange move and it makes the game easier which is not always a desired effect.

Jumping

Currently, player only jumps as long as button 4 is pressed. This is a bit unexpected.

Suggestion: Player could jump once button 4 is pressed and then jump for a defined, fixed time.

Rope: difficult or impossible

Until now I couldn't manage to use the rope succesfully. Using the rope is either pretty difficult or impossible in this test version. EDIT: I managed once to use the rope successfully. Note: For some reason I don't know I don't like "rope" move not very much. Probably it's because a good animation for "rope" is pretty difficult.

High and low obstacles

Idea: Would be cool if there were obstacles that you can either avoid/go around or jump over.

First obstacle

Sometimes an obstacle (e.g. rope) appears right after starting a level. This is quite a surprise and often means immediate death.

Suggestion: All obstacles should appear far away and thus player should be given enough time to react.

Wall with passage

Currently, there is a wall with a passage (Durchgang) in the center. This passage is very easy to pass.

Suggestion: The position of the passage should be randomly - thus this would be more of a challenge. In higher levels the passage might become more narrow. Again, the wall could be low or high so that the player can decide whether he/she uses the passage or jumps over it. The wall could be even assymetric, i.e. one side could be high and the other side could be low.

Introducing obstacles

Currently, the levels are setup randomly. I.e. if you are lucky you have a level with obstacles which you can avoid using left/right, only. And it could happen that game starts and you have to use the rope immediately.

Suggestion: Obstacles could be introduced step-by-step. E.g. in level 1 there could be obstacles which you can avoid using left/right, only. In level 2, a second obstacle (e.g. wall for jumping) could be introduced. And so on. This way the player can learn to avoid obstacles more easily and with more fun.

Player graphics

Currently, the player's avatar looks a bit like "Minecraft". If wanted, I could try to create a draft of a person - perhaps including some animation to indicate that the person runs.

- o -

[Peer]

Thanks a lot, drsnuggles and hcmffm, for your thoughts and your suggestions! I have just sent a message to the students and relayed your feedback to the programmers.

Many Cheers,
Peer

[hcmffm]

Space shooter

Review below is for "Space shooter" crafted by "turing". An early test version is played and reviewed, here. You'll find the game in the Vectrex project gallery.

· GENERAL NOTES

Space shooter is - you guessed it a vertical Shmup (Shoot them up). When writing this very first line I haven't played Space Shooter, yet. Looking at the concept drafts it looks a bit like a clone of Vectorblade: Various enemies, bosses, and so on. Vectorblade can be considered as "reference" and has set a very high benchmark which sure enough cannot be reached. Yet, I'm very nosey to play and see what Space Shooter offers.

· WHAT I LIKE
+ Impressive multichannel intro sound (a bit short but still)
+ Various types of enemies
+ Sound FX
+ Boss fights with various bosses

· BUGS
During game testing, Space shooter crashed twice all of a sudden and killed whole webbrowser session (Mozilla Firefox). Crashes seem to be random - at least I couldn't recognize a systematic, yet.

· SUGGESTIONS
Level <xxx> screen
Currently, at the end of a level a "level <xxx>" screen is displayed. This screen is "closed" and next level starts by pressing button 4. Sometimes, when shooting you happen to finish the level and close the level <xxx> screen right away.

Suggestion: Introduce a minimum display time for the level <xxx> screen.

Playablity
After very few games I reached level 7 (then the game crashed). From my point of view initial difficulty of the game (level 1 + 2) is good. But later levels are too easy. From my point of view there should be more opponents (asteroids) and opponents should have more fire power. Alternatively, the players ship could have less fire power plus shots could fly more slowly (similar to Vectrexians).

Boss with life bar

It's good to have bosses which require lots of shots till they are killed. What I don't like that much is the bar which indicates the life level of the boss.

Suggestion: Display a "bar" in front (instead of above) of the boss (as a sort of shield) and let the shield get thinner and thinner (or less and less bright) until this bar/shield is finally gone. Then, the boss can be shot and will be killed right away.

Boss/shield: Flashing when hit

Currently, whenever the boss is hit by a shot, a sound is played.

Suggestion: In addition, there should be a visual indicator that boss is hit. This could be a very short change in brightness (flash) or a (small) explosion.

Moving after spawning
Currently, after spawning the player cannot move the ship until a first enemy appears.

Suggestion: Right after spawning the player should be able to move his/her ship.

Enemy ship looks like player ship

Currently, the first boss looks like the player's ship.

Suggestion: First boss should look other than the player's ship (to me it feels as if I attacked a mirror of myself).

Passing asteroids costs a life

Currently, whenever an asteroid passes without being destroyed, the player will loose a life. When playing for the first time the player has no idea why he/she has lost a life and loosing a life because of an asteroid passing seems a bit unlogical to me.

Suggestion: Passing asteroids shouldn't cost a life. Perhaps the player might get some extra score for every asteroid he/she killed. Combo kills could score even higher - this would encourage the player to kill as many asteroids as possible and not just let the asteroids pass. And to make it more difficult there should be more asteroids around at a time (asteroid storm).

Game over screen: Level

Currently, in the game over screen you can see your score. There is no level.

Suggestion: In addition to the score it would be interesting to know the level that has been reached.

Idea: Intro screen: Morphing ship graphic

The player can upgrade his/her ship and upgrades are indicated with a different shape of the player's ship.

Suggestion: In the intro screen the ship could morph/switch through the various possible shapes.

Asteroid graphics

In a way, the asteroids look cool. But from my point of view asteroid graphic does not quite fit to the geometric approach of all other graphics. Perhaps asteroids could be more geometric or even become mines or fast flying / kamikaze enemies.

Asteroids: Multiple shots

There are big and small asteroids. I'd find it cool if larger asteroids would split into smaller ones.

Diagonal flying asteroids

Currently, asteroids are quite easy to shoot.

Suggestion: Apart from straight flying asteroids there might be asteroids that have some horizontal velocity. This will make it more difficult to anticipate the flying path of the asteroids.

Bright explosions

Currently, explosions are a bit dim.

Suggestion: Explosion can be really bright and maximum brightness of vectors can be used.

- o -

PS: Tomorrow evening (Friday) I'll play test "Save the planet". "Choose your plane to start the game" is a good rhyme and I look forward to play test the game.

[hcmffm]

SAVE THE PLANET

My review below is for "Save the planet" developed by "RubberDuck". Again, an early test version is played and reviewed, here. You'll find the game in the Vectrex project gallery.

· GENERAL NOTES

The title says it all: In "Save the Planet" you have to save the planet. Ufos are invading (are they really dangerous or aren't they just harmless visitors like in Mars Attacks! ?) and you have to shoot all ufos. Once sky has been cleared, another, invasion of even meaner aliens will attack.

· WHAT I LIKE

+ Three planes and plane selection

+ Rotation of plane is very smooth

+ Flying around with the simple up/down control is fun

· BUGS

- Minor issue: When starting the game for the very first time it says "Level 005".

- Ground collission: Sometimes you can fly through the ground (bottom) and appear at the top again without being killed.

- Plane type changed after crashing: I had selected plane 2 (Snake 3). When crashing, the plane type changed to plane 1 (Duck46).

- Non-killable Ufo: In one game I had an UFO which flew straight up and down on the very right side. I couldn't kill this UFO - neither by shooting nor by hitting it with the plane.

· SUGGESTIONS

Playablity
As written above, it's fun to control the plane. At first, the up/down control is a bit strange but very soon you learn how to use it. After playing 1-2 times I've cleared the sky and shot all ufos.

Plane selection

At the beginning the player has to select a plane. When playing for the first time it's unclear how the player is supposed to choose a plane. I've tried to use joystick left/right first, but nothing happened. Then, it was clear that it must be buttons but still unclear whether it's buttons 1-3 or buttons 2-4.

Suggestion: Use joystick left/right to choose a plane and button 4 to confirm selection. Only selected plane should have a frame around it.

Overlay: Stars?!

I like the clean graphics of the overlay. Though the stars remind me of a circus. Is it night or why are there stars?

Overlay: Left/right or up/down?

Currently, the overlay indicates that joystick left/right is supposed to be used for controlling the plan.

Suggestion: In reality, it's joystick up/down which controls the plane. Arrows on overlay should indicate this.

Clever shooting/hunting

Currently, by flying around and shooting around you can be pretty successful.

Suggestion: The game might be changed into a clever shooting/hunting game. At a time, there's only one UFO/enemy on the screen that can be killed. All other Ufos are obstacles which cannot be killed. This way you really have to show your flying skills and not just shoot around.

Fish in the pond
While playing Save the planet the plane reminds me very much of a fish that swims through a pond. Why a fish? Probably because the "fish"/plane is very agile and you can fly very narrow curves - especially with plane 3 (). I'm not quite sure but perhaps the whole scenario could be set into a fish pond seen from above. And instead of shooting you have to catch all the food that floats in the pond randomly. So there is only up/down control and nothing else. And there should be no limit at the bottom and the top - I.e. you can swim as you like and appear at the other side. O.k., I admit that this is pretty crazy idea and very different to the current game but perhaps worth while to thinking about. The game concept would be very simple; my experience is that simple games can be quite addictive and appealing. And as written above controlling the fish/plane is really fun and enough to make a good game. A two fish player option would be the cream of the crop. "Save the pond" might be a fitting title.

EDIT: The fish game could have simple rules like the Conway's Game of life. E.g. there could be "cells" which split up in several ones and evolve to something. And the player has influence on this evolution or struggles to stop this evolution.

- o -

[hcmffm]

Pretty quiet here these days... ...probably everyone busy implementing, compiling, and testing...