SpiceWare's Blog

That looks PERFECT!! The entire playfield's detail look very balanced now.

I think this one should be your final take for the walls.

1) The attract mode is very cool.

 

2) I just played a 3-point round on "Fast", and won a game for the very first time. It seemed much easier than the last time I played - have you lowered the default speed? Either the game got easier or I've gotten waaay better.

 

3) Select and Reset (F1 and F2) didn't seem to work in this version. I couldn't get back to the menu after my game by pushing F1, or start the game by pushing F2.

2) I just played a 3-point round on "Fast", and won a game for the very first time. It seemed much easier than the last time I played - have you lowered the default speed? Either the game got easier or I've gotten waaay better.

 

I just tried it on Medieval, and beat that too. Is it possible the brick thing is doing this?

1) thanks!

 

2) I changed the default speed so it's 1 lower than it used to be - Fast = 3 of the numeric speeds. I'll review the AI speed routines tomorrow - I may have done something incorrectly when I undid the AI Speed Swap that was implemented on the 19th.

 

3) Select and Reset work here, both in Stella and on the real thing. Anybody else seeing this?

The attract mode is very cool. However, it might be an idea to add a message to the middle of the screen in this mode which says "Hit SELECT to Play" or similar? I didn't have any problems with SELECT or RESET in this version.

 

Chris

I like that idea. I only get 16 pixels across though, so maybe:

 

XX  XXX X X  X
X X X   XXX X X
X X XX  X X X X
X X X   X X X X
XX  XXX X X  X

X X  X  XX  XXX
XXX X X X X X
X X X X X X XX
X X X X X X X
X X  X  XX  XXX

I'll need to flicker it though, else fireballs will be barely visible as they crossed the dragon zone of the screen.

I like that idea. I only get 16 pixels across though, so maybe:

XX  XXX X X  X
X X X   XXX X X
X X XX  X X X X
X X X   X X X X
XX  XXX X X  X

X X  X  XX  XXX
XXX X X X X X
X X X X X X XX
X X X X X X X
X X  X  XX  XXX

I'll need to flicker it though, else fireballs will be barely visible as they crossed the dragon zone of the screen.

 

I think that should work. Could you use a colour fade, just like the MM logo on the menu screen, instead of flickering?

 

Chris

I'll be using the dragon graphic routines to show the message. While those routines are active, only 1 of the 3 fireballs are visible(on those scanlines) due to processing time. That's not a problem while the dragon's on screen as the just-launched fireball is moving pretty slow, but it is a problem with fast moving fireballs.

Maybe instead of flicker you could blink it.

 

like:

 

on for half a second, off for half a second, on for...

 

A lot of games blink "INSERT COIN" while a demo is running, so I think it would fit. Then the balls wouldn't be so hard to follow all the time, anyway.

 

EDIT: Plus you don't need to be able to see the balls as well during a demo anyway.

 

Just watched the demo and it is very cool. I don't know that you need to have it play a full game, I think it is fine as it is.

 

I'd use the text "DEMO" alone instead of "DEMO MODE"

I like that idea. I only get 16 pixels across though, so maybe:

XX  XXX X X  X
X X X   XXX X X
X X XX  X X X X
X X X   X X X X
XX  XXX X X  X
[/quote]

How about:
[code]
XXX..XX.X...X..X
`X.X.X..XX.XX.X.X
`X.X.XX.X.X.X.X.X
`X.X.X..X...X.X.X
XXX..XX.X...X..X

 

Note that the first and last rows are shifted, but that shouldn't pose a problem. If you want more shifting, you could do

XXXXX-----------
-XX--XX---------
-XX---XX--------
-XX---XX--------
-XX---XX-XXXXXXX
-XX--XX---XX---X
XXXXX-----XX-X--
........--XXXX----------
........--XX-X---XX---XX
........--XX---X-XXX-XXX
........-XXXXXXX-XXXXXXX
................-XX-X-XX--------
................-XX---XX---XXX--
................-XX---XX--X--XX-
................-XX---XX-XX---XX
................---------XX---XX
................---------XX---XX
................----------XX--X-
................-----------XXX--

 

Indicdnetally, since you don't read paddles in demo mode, it would seem like it'd be possible (given code space) to have a kernel with 3 fireballs and the player graphics/hmoves. Timing should be quite easy on that.

Blink was a good idea. I opted for Flicker and Blink. During a test with just blink a fireball was totally invisible at one point because of the HMOVE lines between grey and purple.

 

The shifted demo was a clever idea, but I ended up using just demo w/out shifting as I didn't like appearance the skinny E.

The shifted demo was a clever idea, but I ended up using just demo w/out shifting as I didn't like appearance the skinny E.

 

Other DEMO version was too big?

just a tad

just a tad

 

How about using a 48-pixel sprite routine but changing the background color on those lines so that it looks like the fireballs should be invisible as they go behind the logo?

That's clever.