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Post by hcmffm on May 9, 2013 15:54:40 GMT -5
Just stumbled from a discussion at Retrogamer forum to Gary's Gaming Blog. Gary programs for various platforms including the Vectrex. His Vectrex projects look interesting and both Assembler source and binaries are available for download. I'm nosey what the binaries reveal - but too late in the night, now, to check them out. I haven't heard of Gary before - is this Vectrex developer and his projects known here? Has someone tried out his prototypes, already? |
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Post by VectorX on May 9, 2013 17:31:15 GMT -5
Gliptitude posted about the "angry birds/Spike" deal a while back, which I recognized instantly. Other than that, this would've been the first I'd heard of him. Nice that he has several other projects he's working on as well  |
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Post by gliptitude on May 10, 2013 9:40:49 GMT -5
Yeah he posted on AtariAge a while back looking for feedback: atariage.com/forums/topic/204131-ideas-on-how-to-improvecomplete-a-couple-of-old-vectrex-games-i-started/page__st__25I HAVE tried out his demos, which may or may not be on his page for download. ... He had updated them and I could not get the updates to play on my Vectrex. So the ones I played were older versions. I think I made a short YouTube video of one of them, so that he could see how it displayed on Vectrex, (displays perfectly in emulator, but distorted on Vectrex, which he had never seen before). Search my username Gliptitude or "Vectrex, Gary" I think and you should find it. These unfinished projects comprise all of his Vectrex activity. I don't think he's spent a lot of time with it as I seem to remember him saying how easy it was for him to put these together (in a weekend or something). Also he's not very active in his forum threads or updating his page. Not sure if he will see any of these through or not. His (Spike and the Magic Lamps?, "vtwist.bin") was his coolest and most original idea. I was trying to convince him to eliminate Spike from the concept and make it a vehicle or an original character, but he likes Spike. ... The palette for the game is really cool and super well suited for Vectrex - a "grid runner" concept, kind of like a simplified version of Space Harrier. (There are two rectangular grids viewed in perspective, as the floor and ceiling, constantly scrolling to convey forward movement. A still image of it would look just like Sundance.) If he doesn't finish this game I would love to "steal" the grid runner layout for a different Vectrex game. ... Would be cool also if the player controlled movement forward (and backward like in Juno First), so the grid only moved when the player controlled it. |
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Post by VectorX on May 10, 2013 11:52:54 GMT -5
A still image of it would look just like Sundance. Yeah that's what I thought too when I saw that. |
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Post by desfeek on May 10, 2013 15:01:46 GMT -5
Wow, thanks for sharing...somehow I had missed out on this guy's work as well. I just tried out his 'Monsterhouse' demo, 'Vec Wars - Retro Devolved' beta and 'Spike and the Angry Vortex' demo on my VecMulti and am very impressed with the ideas and variety surrounding Gary. Honestly, fixing an annoying sound bug, and recalculating respawn points would make Vec Wars one of my favorite games for the system.
Dual joystick control, like 5200 Robotron? *drool*
Also - anyone else have trouble downloading his work in progress 'Lamp'? The link provided just redirects to the host, does anyone have that binary they'd be willing to share, or know where I could get it?
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Post by desfeek on May 10, 2013 15:05:34 GMT -5
If he doesn't finish this game I would love to "steal" the grid runner layout for a different Vectrex game. ... Would be cool also if the player controlled movement forward (and backward like in Juno First), so the grid only moved when the player controlled it. That is a really awesome effect...however it looks really screwy on my actual Vectrex. I've noticed the X-Y calibration on my machine wasn't perfect, but nothing looks as bad as this demo, unfortunately. Maybe a Kristof-style calibration adjustment would be necessary? |
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Post by gliptitude on May 10, 2013 15:17:12 GMT -5
I just tried out his 'Monsterhouse' demo, 'Vec Wars - Retro Devolved' beta and 'Spike and the Angry Vortex' demo on my VecMulti and am very impressed with the ideas and variety surrounding Gary. Honestly, fixing an annoying sound bug, and recalculating respawn points would make Vec Wars one of my favorite games for the system. Dual joystick control, like 5200 Robotron? *drool* Maybe if you start posting in his AtariAge threads he will get back to work. "Vec Wars", in case you didn't see, is intended to be a clone of Geometry Wars, which does use dual stick controls (on PS2). ... He had wanted it to be as close to the original as possible, which entails MASSIVE numbers of enemies, and which the Vectrex really can't handle. ... I was trying to convince him to make it an original game with different objectives, to avoid the inevitable shortcomings of a Vectrex Geometry War. |
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Post by desfeek on May 10, 2013 15:23:10 GMT -5
"Vec Wars", in case you didn't see, is intended to be a clone of Geometry Wars, which does use dual stick controls (on PS2). ... He had wanted it to be as close to the original as possible, which entails MASSIVE numbers of enemies, and which the Vectrex really can't handle. ... I was trying to convince him to make it an original game with different objectives, to avoid the inevitable shortcomings of a Vectrex Geometry War. Geometry Wars is one of my favorite XBL Arcade games (not PS2 lol)! I realize the similarities. Pretty mush any dual-stick shooter (Robotron, Smash TV, Geometry Wars) all follow the exact same premise, and it's what works. I think he did a marvelous job maximizing the number of enemies, its just that because the respawn point replaces you where you died, it can stick you right in the center of a swarm, eating up all three lives. |
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Post by gliptitude on May 10, 2013 15:25:35 GMT -5
If he doesn't finish this game I would love to "steal" the grid runner layout for a different Vectrex game. ... Would be cool also if the player controlled movement forward (and backward like in Juno First), so the grid only moved when the player controlled it. That is a really awesome effect...however it looks really screwy on my actual Vectrex. I've noticed the X-Y calibration on my machine wasn't perfect, but nothing looks as bad as this demo, unfortunately. Maybe a Kristof-style calibration adjustment would be necessary? Yeh that was the issue which he was unaware of, because it is all perfectly aligned in emulation. ... IDK if an in program calibration system would be useful or not ... basically graphics programming is a huge part of any Vectrex game. Apparently it is always a trick to get everything to draw properly and consistently, and this grid runner concept I think would require extra special attention to work. I don't think your Vectrex (or mine) is so badly calibrated to be the cause of this. |
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Post by 50tbrd on Apr 13, 2014 10:04:07 GMT -5
I loved Vec Wars Devolved. Id like to see that game finished. Needs music.
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Post by 50tbrd on Apr 13, 2014 10:11:33 GMT -5
And I agree that Spike and the Angry Vortex would be better without Spike.
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Post by garryg on May 23, 2014 17:34:52 GMT -5
Hello, I'm Garry. I stumbled on this thread by accident and was surprised to see that people were actually interested in these games. I started a new job at the beginning of the year and haven't had the time to do much Vectrex stuff lately. I will have a look at my blog page and update it. I think the Spike/Vortex program has had a bit of word done since the last version up on the blog. I think the game now has five of the 3d scrolling levels, and an end boss scene. I'm pretty sure I finished all the main game elements... Could Spike kick left and right to hit the diamonds in the version you played? I started writing a quick 'Flappy Bird' de-make for the Vectrex just this week, so I'll also put that up on the blog as well. It's around 95% done just now, I'm still working on the death animation, and have to put some sound in there... the score also isn't behaving properly but it is 100% playable... Yes, I know it looks more like a triggerfish than a bird... But the wing does flap... sort of. This was mainly a bit of fun, I can also put the source up if anyone is interested. I'm intending to do some more Vectrex stuff this year, so I may tidy up and finish off the older ones first. I did make a bit of a start on 'Lamps' but had to give up because I didn't have the time... I may have another look at this one. p.s. I've had a VecFlash for some time now, so I can test things out on a real Vectrex, the vortex scrolling in now a lot better. on the real hardware,.. not perfect, but much better. |
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Post by garryg on May 23, 2014 17:37:57 GMT -5
And I agree that Spike and the Angry Vortex would be better without Spike. What would you like to see instead of Spike? Remembering that the character can kick left and right to hit the floating enemys (you can't kick the horizontal or vertical walls) May 10, 2013 at 3:40pm gliptitude said: If he doesn't finish this game I would love to "steal" the grid runner layout for a different Vectrex game. ... Please do it would be interesting to see, feel free to rip and re-use any of my posted assembly code - i'm not precious about it! |
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Post by 50tbrd on May 23, 2014 18:24:51 GMT -5
It's your game. Just wasn't into a vector "space" themed character based player. I'd rather see a ship but I suppose it could be a Robo-Spike. It''s an interesting original game though.
You do great work. I think a lot of ppl would love to see your work progress, a lot more than have commented. Vec Wars Devolved seems to be a popular game. I absolutely love it. It does act funny on a real unit and I'd like to SFX to it. Think it'd be great as a dual stick game.
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Post by garryg on May 23, 2014 19:04:34 GMT -5
It's your game. Just wasn't into a vector "space" themed character based player. I'd rather see a ship but I suppose it could be a Robo-Spike. It''s an interesting original game though. You do great work. I think a lot of ppl would love to see your work progress, a lot more than have commented. Vec Wars Devolved seems to be a popular game. I absolutely love it. It does act funny on a real unit and I'd like to SFX to it. Think it'd be great as a dual stick game. I did notice the score glitching really badly with Vec Wars when run on a real machine, there are definitely some drawing issues in there. I liked the idea of a semi-intelligent respawn though, to place you out of immediate danger. I did try to put more things on the screen in this game, but any more than it has and it starts to flicker really badly on a proper machine. Watch this space.... |
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