Planet Bob

"Violates the chosen raster"?

 

Sounds like a line out of a sword and sorcery novel.

 

"Lo! He violates the chosen raster! He must pay the ultimate penalty!"

 

(Seriously though... I don't know what you mean by that. Sounds cool, though.)

I just highlighted it for you. Maybe that makes more sense than my words

Thank you. That makes sense now.

That is really weird.

Just finished a binary for you guys. Too much flicker for that silly effect, no?

Just finished a binary for you guys. Too much flicker for that silly effect, no?

Yes.

 

What is the point of those glowing bricks? Do they do anything?

According to Nathan they just glow

 

BTW: Nathan, do you think it's vertically too squashed? Not much that could be done about it though: As is there's already only 24 lines left for score/state display.

BTW: Nathan, do you think it's vertically too squashed? Not much that could be done about it though: As is there's already only 24 lines left for score/state display.

It's bound to get squashed, but as long as the tanks still fit, it's fine. Looks good to me. (The mockups I did had the maze symmetrical. I don't think it would hurt the game if you needed to go that way.)

 

And if you turn on the phosphor effect in Stella, the flicker doesn't hurt quite so much. (But I don't think it's worth it for the eye candy. I'd have to look at it on real hardware to tell, though.)

It's bound to get squashed, but as long as the tanks still fit, it's fine. Looks good to me. (The mockups I did had the maze symmetrical. I don't think it would hurt the game if you needed to go that way.)

 

Would be cool if you could try some things with tanks, it'd be very interesting to see how they fit in. I will try keeping the original layout as long as I can

 

And if you turn on the phosphor effect in Stella, the flicker doesn't hurt quite so much. (But I don't think it's worth it for the eye candy. I'd have to look at it on real hardware to tell, though.)

 

I have another idea for those blocks, but am too tired already to try it still tonight...

With playfield, I think it's much better to go with interlacing rather than flicker because it is something that covers the whole screen. It worked okay with Ladybug but the flicker really has to be a last resort.

With playfield, I think it's much better to go with interlacing rather than flicker because it is something that covers the whole screen. It worked okay with Ladybug but the flicker really has to be a last resort.

 

100% agreed. I'll try something like that.

 

@Nathan: I added a second binary with better proportions. If you'd say that they're *much* better for the tanks, we need to think about making that work... (maybe removing the bottom lane? )

The longer I'm staring at this maze, the more oddities I find. This time I realized that it is actually missing one vertical wall...

So, done with the 2nd effect. Less flicker, but less effective. Is that a good compromise? Or should I better give up on the glow-blocks?

So, done with the 2nd effect. Less flicker, but less effective. Is that a good compromise? Or should I better give up on the glow-blocks?

Hmmm. I don't like it too much, maybe - they are dimmer than the regular walls, rather than brighter. Maybe do a straight flicker (i.e., frame 1=no glow blocks, frame 2=glow blocks) with the two frames different colors? Get the regular walls a mixed color and the glow blocks a brighter color?

 

Or can you use any of the other objects for the glow blocks?

Or can you use any of the other objects for the glow blocks?

 

Well, the Ball has the color of the maze and the missiles the color of the sprites and actually do I need all sprites and particles for other things already.

 

I'll experiment some with the alternatives you suggested

(A problem with them is that the mixed colors naturally will be brighter than the solo color, though.)

 

EDIT: Doesn't work. See the new attachment.

Or can you use any of the other objects for the glow blocks?

 

Well, the Ball has the color of the maze and the missiles the color of the sprites and actually do I need all sprites and particles for other things already.

That's what I figured.

 

EDIT: Doesn't work. See the new attachment.

Yeah. That was kind of a longshot idea.

 

What about striping (no flicker)? Regular maze on even lines, glow blocks on odd lines? Then you could even easily make the glow blocks actually glow (vary intensity). And maybe interlace flicker? That would be better than your first straight-flicker binary, though maybe still too much flicker.

I knew I should've kept that block-only data. Off we go recreating it...

 

EDIT: Now this indeed has a certain charm! Added yet another try

I like this one!

My favourite so far as well.

 

This also adds a scannline to the rows, so with 13 scannlines this is now residing right in the middle between the original maze (12) and the better proportions maze (14).

I should add that I'm not sure wether it can really be done this way, as it requires writing the playfield on every scannline and those sprites and missiles sure need some cycles too...

I think interleaved looks the best but you could also do "2nd Effect:" but with a straight slow blink of solid blocks and it would work okay.