Jump to content
  • entries
    657
  • comments
    2,692
  • views
    897,854

Less Chatty


SpiceWare

879 views

Done:

  • reduced chattiness ("Alert! Alert!" said less frequently)
  • new gamma level
  • tightened up formations
  • don't spawn spy ship, formations, or say "Alert! Alert!" if player is dead (was causing issues when returning to main menu after game over)
  • Station explosions are now deadly to enemy ships
  • Revisions to Difficulty Ramp Up
  • Updates to address screen jitter
    * Revised how work is spread over multiple frames
    * Gave 5 ticks of TIM64T from Vertical Blank to Overscan (this shifts screen image slightly upward)

For you:

  • Please give feedback on the Difficulty Ramp Up for the different difficulty levels (kids, easy, normal, hard).
  • Please report any bugs not listed in the To Do list.
  • Please test on real hardware and report if any level jitters - be sure to specify Quadrant, Sector and Difficulty Level you saw it on.

To Do:

  • fine-tune Level Progression
  • beginning of next sector (not new game) and next ship - slightly longer pause showing radar before the ship starts to move.
  • longer pause after player's ship is destroyed.
  • Nathan spotted a collision detection glitch, see details page 9 of Draconian Sound Effects PM have not been able to recreate
  • BUG: if your last star fighter crashes into the last station of a sector the game over message appears, but you'll also start the next sector with 0 lives remaining.
  • Remaining sound effects from ieposta
  • E-Type launched by station should be destroyed if it collides with mines or asteroids.
  • Lengthen duration of Mine Explosions
  • Bonus Lives
  • If Red Alert active when last ship is destroyed the Red Alert sound repeats in menu
  • If player flies AWAY FROM the side the spy-ship is exiting, condition red can be triggered right away even if the spy ship has additional passes remaining.

Currently at 911 bytes free in the ROM.

For Harmony or Stella (requires Stella 5.0.2 or newer)
draconian_20170920.bin

Source
draconian_20170920.zip

  • Like 3

4 Comments


Recommended Comments

A few notes from playing the arcade version in MAME:

 

1) Formations consist of only I-Types in the first sector

2) P-Type formations start in the second sector

3) E-Type formations start later - but I haven't found out when yet. I'll have to go back and look at videos

4) Spy Ships don't appear in the first two sectors until after the third formation attack

5) After that, it seems Spy Ships don't appear near the start of a sector - it's either after a formation attack (or two), or if you survive for a certain length of time (I have to fly the full height of the sector at least once)

6) Spy Ship appearances seem to (usually) follow formation attacks

7) When a formation attack is launching, it doesn't appear that any other ships will attack you (except Spy Ships) - again, I'll have to look at the videos

8 ) If you fly around long enough - a Red Alert will start, even without a Spy Ship. I don't know how long, however.

9) Alert! Alert! Seems to sound when a new threat is sighted - whether a ship or a space station. But it doesn't repeat for each one.

10) The arcade game is hard! I used to be a lot better at it. I think. ;)

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Added to the To Do list.

 

In regards to (2) do only P-Type formations get launched at that point, or is it random between I and P? Same for (3).

Link to comment

Revised the formations to appear like this:

  • Sector 1 = I-Type only
  • Sector 2 = 50% I-Type, 50% P-Type
  • Sector 3+ = 37.5% I-Type, 37.5% P-Type, 25% E-Type

For the Red Alert that starts w/out a Spy Ship I'm thinking maybe have that triggered if you haven't destroyed a station in the last minute or so. Yeah/Nay?

Link to comment
Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...