Vectrex Academy 2022

[Peer]

Jan 24, 2023 3:22:14 GMT -5 Peer said:

A beta RC binary of project "Monster Shooter" is now available for testing:

itwww.hs-pforzheim.de/daten/mitarbeiter/johannsen/vectrex_2022/gallery/vectrex_gallery_2022.htm

Have fun, and many Cheers,

Peer

... changed the title of the thread to possibly get some beta testing feedback for the student ...

[hcmffm]

Thank you, Peer, for giving us hints to find the beta of Monster Shooter.

Monster Shooter

This review is for "Monster Shooter" designed and developed by "Confused Enigma". Beta version can be played in browser or downloaded and played, see Vectrex project gallery.

· GENERAL NOTES

I've tried out Monster Shooter - actually I've played first round of Monster Shooter in Webbrowser via DrSnuggles website - on my smartphone. That was yesterday - today I loaded the game on my VecMulti and played it on real hardware. Below please find various feedback. Please note that only my first suggestion has some importance - all other suggestions are nice to have which may improve the game but maybe not. Decide yourself how much more effort you want to put into Monster Shooter. Already, the game is very playable and really fun to play. Well done, Confused Enigma!

I've played Monster Shooter for about 20 minutes. At first, I died and didn't understand why but soon I realized that there is a timer. When timer elapses you loos a life. Timer is reset whenever you shoot an enemy so you better shoot enemies quickly. Monster Shooter is very playable and it's challenging to shot an enemy within available time. It's more like monster hunting than monster shooting. ;-) My best score was 46 - in most other games I scored much lower because for me it was difficult to shoot enemies within specific time.

· WHAT I LIKE

+ Two player mode (haven't tried it out, yet, but this is great!)

+ Animated explosion

+ Game play - hunting monsters is fun and a challenge due to the timer

+ Increasing difficulty with varying enemies (monsters).

+ There is sound

· BUGS

None found.

· SUGGESTIONS

Time reset when dying

Currently, when colliding with an enemy, you die. But timer is not reset. This means that it can happen that you die once again because you run out of time.

Suggestion: When player looses a life due to a collision, timer should be reset, also.

Note: From my point of view this one is important.

Player's shot starts within tank

Currently, when shooting, shot can be seen within the tank.

Suggestion: Player's shot should start outside the tank.

Blocks: Brightness
Currently, blocks use same brightness as enemies and player's tank.
Suggestion: Blocks could be less bright. This would bring some variation into look of the game.

Timer elapses quietly

Currently, there is no visual or sound indication that timer expires, soon.

Suggestion: There could be a sound which increases in frequency (e.g. like in Rip Off) or a beep every second which alarms the players. This would make game play even more intense (and enerving).

Timer: Accumulate time

Currently, the timer is reset to a specific value whenever shooting an enemy.

Suggestion: When shooting an enemy, a specific time could be added to the timer. This means that you can accumulate time when shooting several enemies quickly. Sure enough there should be still a maximum.

Player crash: Immediate game over
Currently, when player looses his/her last life the game over screen is displayed right away.
Suggestion: Introduce some crash animation for the player's tank.

Shot: Limited range

Currently, player's shots fly till they hit an enemy, or a block or reach screen boarder.

Suggestion: To make the game more challenging and realistic, the shot could fly a limited range.

Blocks: 0, 1, 2, and then 3.

Currently, the game starts with three blocks. Number of blocks and setup of blocks doesn't change during the various levels.

Suggestion: Game could start without blocks and with increasing levels the blocks could appear. This would bring quite some variation into the game.

Blocks: Several setups

Currently, the position of the blocks is always the same.

Suggestion: Perhaps there could be various setups for the blocks which are chosen randomly or with increasing levels.

Top view vs. side view:

Currently, the tank and the blocks gives the impression to view from the top while enemies look as if they are seen from the side.

Suggestion: Change design of enemies so that they look more from the top, i.e. not triangular but more something like a square (like in later levels)

Sound: Player shot

Currently, the sound of the player shot is a bit strange.

Suggestion: A "Peng" sound would be adequate for a tank. But then, maybe it's not a good idea to make it too realistic these days.

New level

Currently, a new level starts without any notice.

Suggestion: New level could start with some sound or some alert to indicate the new incoming monsters.

Sound: Driving

Suggestion: When tank moves there could be some sound.

Tanks and hearts

Currently, hearts are used to indicate the number of lifes.

Suggestion: Probably it's just me but a tank game with monsters and cute hearts don't really fit together. Perhaps a different graphics could be used instead of the heart (e.g. a square or a small tank made out of five lines like in Armor Attack.)

Animated graphics

Currently, tank plus enemies use invariable graphics.

Suggestion: Enemies could be animated, e.g. the dot (=eye) could move from left to right. Also, instead of flying straight they could move slightly back and forth orthogonal to their direction. This would make monsters look alive.

Small monster contains large monsters

Changing shape when shooting on a monster is a good idea. Currently, when shooting the second type of monsters (square) it transforms to a triangle. To me the triangle looks larger in size than the square. I.e. the small square transforms into a larger triangle. This looks a bit wrong to me (but again: Probably it's just me ;-) )

Suggestion: Perhaps squares could be made a bit larger and triangles a bit smaller.

- o -

[hcmffm]

Monster Shooter #2

Some more feedback for Monster Shooter - especially for the coop-mode which I've just played. It's really great that there is a two player mode at all and my suggestions below are really minor issues.

General stuff

Bug: Crash once game is restarted

During about 30 minutes of playing, it happened to me twice that the game crashed at the end of the game. To be precise it's when restarting a game: Crash occured on the menu "PLAYER" for choosing player. Shooting(?) tone was played and the game no longer reacted. I had to reset the game. To me it seems that this crash occurs when game has ended with a tank collission and next game is started right away by player.

Blocks: Collision detection

Currently, when placing player tank above or underneath a block and shooting horizontally, the shot hits the block although the cannon of the tank is positioned above or underneath the block.

Suggestion: Make collision detection a bit more precise.

Tank graphics
Currently, tank of player 1 is all square while tank of player two has diagonals.
Suggestion: To me, tank of player 2 looks nicer. I'd suggestion to swap tank graphics, i.e. tank 1 becomes tank 2 and tank2 becomes tank 1.

Two player mode

- Player2 tank moves with joystick 1
Currently, if no controller 2 is attached to the Vectrex console and playing coop-mode, both player 1 tank 1 and player 2 tank move with joystick up. Once second controller is attached, the behaviour is no longer there.
Suggestion: Tank 2 should move only when using controller 2.

- Number of players resets all the time
Currently, when playing in coop-mode and game ends, you have to set number of players to 2, again. This means that you have to set "PLAYER" over and over, again.
Suggestion: Number of players should remain unchanged, i.e. if player has selected 2 this should not change unless he/she changes it, again.

- "PLAYER" vs. "PLAYERS"
Currently, menu says "PLAYER" to choose the number of players.
Suggestion: I'm not a native speaker and original games use "PLAYER". But to me this sounds wrong. I'd suggest "PLAYERS" instead of "PLAYER".

- Competition mode vs. Coop mode

Currently, in two player mode each player has his/her own score and timer. This means that each player has to hunt a tank before timer elapses and it can even happen that players hunt the same (last) enemy. I guess this is fun and is a competitive mode. Note: In project description it says "Single player mode or cooperative 2 player mode". Currently, two player mode is simulataneous and competitive and not really cooperative.

Suggestion: It would be cool if there was a cooperative mode in addition. In this cooperative mode there would be one combined score and one combined timer for both players. When choosing "Player" 2 there could be an option (Competitive / Cooperative) for choosing  either competitive or cooperative mode.)

_____

- o -

[Peer]

Thanks a lot, faithful Helmut, for yet another great feedback report of yours! As always, this is highly appreciated, and I have just forwarded your thoughts to the student.

[Peer]

A new beta RC of "Monster Shooter" is available on the project web page. A lot of the suggestions from hcmffm's feedback have been implemented:

• The timer is now being correctly reset after the player looses a life.
  
• The brightness of the obstacles has been reduced for better contrast to the other game objects.
  
• Collision detection has been improved.
• Bug fixed related to restarting a game.
• Workings of the timer changed. Time can now be accumulated when shooting monsters.
• A warning sound now indicates when time is running out.
• The texture of the triangle shaped monsters has been adapted.
  

Have fun & Many Cheers,

Peer

[hcmffm]

Thank you for this update, Peer. Great to see that quite a lot of my suggestions for Monster Shooter have been implemented. Thank you very much, Confused Enigma, for this! It's 11:30 p.m. and too late to try out the new version. But tomorrow...

[hcmffm]

On the week-end I've played the latest version of Monster Shooter. The recent changes that you (Confused Enigma) made have improved the game quite a bit: Timer reset when losing a life makes a big change and collision detection is spot-on, now. Thank you for considering and implementing some of my suggestions., Confused Enigma!

I thought quite a bit about Monster Shooter. ATM, Monster Shooter is very playable and from what I can see it’s even mature enough to be played in the next Vector War in November. Given that it’s your (Confused Enigma's) first game and given the time frame Monster Shooter is a great game.

Depending on energy, time, and motivation you may want to put more effort into Monster Shooter - now or later. But please be aware of the Pareto rule – taking Monster Shooter to a higher level may take much effort. Areas you may want to work on:

a.) Final polishing

Additional sound effects like player explosion, intro screen, see also my previous posts

b.) Variation during levels and variation of enemies

While playing there aren't really challenges or ups-and-downs: From what I can see enemies behave all the same (my best score was 112 points). It's basically a matter of endurance and luck to master Monster Shooter. It would be good if there was more variation in Monster Shooter. Variation could be introduced by using different speeds, different moving algorithm (e.b. enemies homing towards player), and more.

c.) Control of tank - tank-like control

Currently, the control of the player tank is direct and unidirectional moving that means if you move joystick left player tank will move left immediately. A more tank-like control may increase fun in the game. I.e. control using joystick would be Rotate left / Rotate right plus Move forward / Move backward (pretty much like the jeep in Armor Attack). I guess this would be major change because smooth rotation would be required and shooting with various angles would be needed. Ratio "Result (more fun) : effort" is questionable.

Testers are demanding and I feel a bit like “Vom Fischer und seiner Frau” when suggesting more and more things. Decide yourself how much more effort you want to put into Monster Shooter. If you leave Monster Shooter the way it is now it's a very playable game. Again, thank you very much for the effort you've put into Monster Shooter and providing it to the Vectrex community for free!

[nexus6]

Feb 6, 2023 16:01:47 GMT -5 hcmffm said:

c.) Control of tank - tank-like controlCurrently, the control of the player tank direct and unidirectional moving. A more tank-like control may increase fun in the game. I.e. control using joystick would be Rotate left / Rotate right plus Move forward/ Move backward (pretty much like the jeep in Armor Attack). I guess this would be major change because smooth rotation would be required and shooting with various angles would be needed. Ratio "Result (more fun) : effort" is questionable.

That was the first thing that comes in my mind, when starting the game

But as you said, this would cause a major change. And it’s a common controlsheme if you come from a pixelgraphicsystem. Btw: this was a very good and detailed review.

[hcmffm]

I know I should let sleeping dogs lie but I wonder how programming things are going.

[Peer]

Feb 20, 2023 16:22:02 GMT -5 hcmffm said:

I know I should let sleeping dogs lie but I wonder how programming things are going.

There will soon also be an update for "Sleeping Dog" as well.

I realized that I never explained the "Academy Reloaded" thing here. Usually, the  Vectrex programming course is scheduled only in spring term semesters. But last autumn, when the fall term semester started, I was approached by two students who had not been able to participate in the 2022 sprint term class, and who would also not be able to participate in the 2023 spring term class, and they asked if there was some way for them to do this during the fall term semester. As I have a soft spot in my heart and a particular weakness for Vectrex things, I found a way to make this possible and taught an additional course "pro bono" on top of my regular lectures. This is also the main reason why I found almost no time to post about the progress of this course, with so many other things going on. In fact, there is also a third project listed for the reloaded class. There was yet another person who wanted to do a Vectrex project but who lives far away and is not enrolled at the university. We tried to include this as a remotely tutored project, but only got to a certain (nice) prototype status and then had to put the project on hold. We hope that we will be able to continued this in the upcoming 2023 class.

Many Cheers,

Peer

[Peer]

A beta RC binary of project "Sleeping Dog" is now available for testing:

itwww.hs-pforzheim.de/daten/mitarbeiter/johannsen/vectrex_2022/gallery/vectrex_gallery_2022.htm

Have fun, and many Cheers,
Peer

[hcmffm]

Thank you for your explanation regarding the fall term, Peer. Lucky students that have a dedicated professor like you.

Good to read that Sleeping Dog woke up, now. I've played Sleeping dog a bit and it's quite playable, already. It has a nice dog intro graphic and it's cool that analog mode of joystick is used and thus speed of player can be controlled. Also, nice that there are several rounds with varying difficulty.
I'll write up more feedback in the next days - on the week-end latest.

[hcmffm]

Sleeping Dog

This review is for "Sleeping Dog" designed and developed by "Screaver". Beta version can be played in browser or downloaded and played, see Vectrex project gallery.

· GENERAL NOTES

Already I've played Sleeping Dog on Monday evening and again today. To get the right impression and real feeling right from the start I've played Sleeping Dog on the original Vectrex hardware. Very soon I made it to round 1 and then 2. In round 2 I keep dying right away. I've changed starting round to round 2 and tried several times but without success. There must be a trick, I guess. The game is playable but I found it a bit frustrating because you have one life only and this precious player life sometimes lasts for seconds, only. Below please find various suggestions - decide yourself which suggestions you want to implement and which ones not. It's your first Vectrex game and I think you did well, Screaver! Thank you for your effort and thank you for your Sleeping Dog game!

· WHAT I LIKE

+ Dog graphic on initial screen

+ Detailed graphics of dog and player

+ Several rounds (levels) with different setup and difficulty available

+ There is some sound

+ Analog feature of joystick is used, i.e. player has varying speed depending on joystick movement.

+ Depending on walking direction dog looks to the left or right.

· BUGS

When dog reaches top right ladder all of a sudden the dog appears at the bottom right ladder.

When walking right of the bottom ladder, the dog passes and climbs up the ladder. When moving underneath the dog (withouth touching it) the game ends. (Looks like a bug but I guess this is a feature.)

· SUGGESTIONS

Dog and Player move a lot in sync

Currently, dog starts moving when player moves. I guess this is an essential game element, but it's a bit unnatural. You can stand around for hours and nothing happens in the game.

Suggestion: Player and dog could move a bit more independently, i.e. once awake the dog could stop but restart following after a short while.

Rounds: Numbering

Currently, first round is numbered 0. Second round is 1 and so on.

Suggestion: First round could be 1 and second round 2 and so on - this would be more intuitive.

Settings reset after each game

Currently, when setting a starting round in game settings, game will start with starting round that was chosen in setting. Next game is started with first round, again..

Suggestion: Make settings "persistent", i.e. as long as Vectrex console is on starting round remains unchanged unless the player changes it.

One life only

Currently, player has one life only. This is good to make the game difficult but with one simple mistake game ends which makes the game a bit too difficult. (My joystick isn't 100% centered, i.e. player moves right away resulting that dog is right away. This means immediate kill if player walks towards the left.)

Suggestions: Player could have three lifes for example. Low analog joystick values could be ignored to avoid problems with non-centered joysticks.

Player graphic/Background: Intensity

Currently, dog has a high intensity (bright) while all other graphics seem to have the same intensity.
Suggestion: Use lower intensity for background graphics and/or higher intensity for player graphic. This might make the game look more appealing.

ENDE
Currently, when game ended, it says "ENDE".
Suggestion: Game is all in English, so it should say "END" or "GAME OVER" at the end.

Player on Hoverboard

Currently, it looks as if the player uses a hoverboard. He/she glides over the floor.

Suggestion: Player's feet could move so that impression of walking is created.

Button mania

Currently, I find it someway complicated to start a game or use the menu. Sometimes it's button 3 to continue, then it's button 2 (at the end of a game)

Suggestions: - Use buttons more consistently. (e.g. Button 4 to select/confirm/start/continue.

- Make labels more readable using a colon: e.g. instead of "START BUTTON 3" you can use "BUTTON 3: START" or just "3: START".

Settings: Round plus and minus

Currently, you can use button 3 to increase round by one. There is no button to decrease round.

Suggestion: Button 2 for decreasing round and button 3 to increase round. Button 4 to confirm (=Home).

Settings: Three digit round

Currently, starting round is displayed with three digits. In total there are 11 rounds available.

Suggestion: Use two digits to display starting round. This is sufficient for displaying 11 rounds.

- o -

[hcmffm]

Spring 2023 Academy is on, already, so I guess Fall 2022 Academy has ended. I've just checked the Vectrex Academy Gallery of 2022; there the latest entry is dated 7th February 2023. Is this the final status or did students work more on their projects and are newer binaries available?

[Peer]

May 19, 2023 8:02:11 GMT -5 hcmffm said:

Spring 2023 Academy is on, already, so I guess Fall 2022 Academy has ended. I've just checked the Vectrex Academy Gallery of 2022; there the latest entry is dated 7th February 2023. Is this the final status or did students work more on their projects and are newer binaries available?

... oops, thanks for pointing out another open item on my to-do list

Indeed, there are no newer binaries available, and I had completely forgotten to properly mark those projects as finished.

Many Cheers,

Peer