Ooze V0.1 (catchup notes and thoughts.)Instead of cluttering up all the threads in the forums, I'll post notes here. Wish I had done this earlier actually.The Batari Basic is pretty powerful right now. When I first saw the project, I was skeptical but decided to jump in and see what was possible. Turns out the idea is solid, making games possible. The most interesting aspect of bb (Batari Basic) is the fact that it runs at native machine language speeds. It's not an interpeted basic, but a compiled one specific to the 2600. I got the idea for Ooze after reading the 2600 tutorial section. Figured that would be a good backgrounder for actually doing something with bb. The Ooze game I am developing really is inspired by that, but appears to be slowly becoming it's own creation.The ram based playfield makes the game possible. Being able to set and reset pixels gives the player something to interact with besides other players. In the 2600, this appears to be fairly rare. Bb was an interesting treat in that regard.The first version was posted on Kirk's 2600 basic page. (I'll maybe link it later, just google for Batari Basic and potatohead and you will be fine!) Done in the first release of bb, it showed a lot of potential. Game action was solid, sound, etc... all appeared to be workable and easy. I had the beginnings of an actual game! However, the limits of the first bb did not allow one to really make solid use of the available ram without a *lot* of work, so I let it cook for a while.The second release of bb is very cool. Complete games are possible. There are bugs, but nothing that really hinders development. Check out the Batari Basic Programming forum for both source and binaries for Ooze that show what this release can do. (Alpha 0.2) Big enhancements were labels and the ability to manage bit variables. Most of the other stuff worked nicely in 0.1.A new release is coming as well, but Ooze is already shaping up nicely.The most interesting aspect of this whole process happens to be community sharing of ideas and critique. Very cool stuff. When I posted Ooze V0.1, it was a complete game looking for ideas.Man, did I get some of those. People played the game (still are!) and provided lots of good creative feedback. To me, this is just great because it perfectly recreates the gaming environment I loved as a kid. We all would make games and play them. Each person trying to impress the others while taking their ideas to the next level. Fun stuff.*More kids today should be doing this, IMHO.*That first version was playable, but lacked soul. Graphics, sound and gameplay are rock solid however. My primary problem at this point is space. (As it always seems to be on the 2600.) Ooze V0.2 (Not released to anyone)This was a code cleanup to free variables and space. The idea was to make sure nothing changed while freeing as many resources as I could. This netted me about 500 Bytes and 6 more storage variable locations. Time to add stuff. The biggie with this release was full code commenting and far better use of bit variables to save space. Every last bit will be used for this game. Never thought I would have to do that, but it's a reality.Ooze V0.3 (Probably not going to be released either.)Tossed the title screen for now. If there is room in the final version, I'll put it back. However the game must go first. Always hated games that focused on the bells 'n whistles while sacrificing the actual gameplay. So I'm just not gonna do that.Key bits of input: (things to work on)- no penalty for letting ooze hit bottom- no sense of accomplishment, the whole thing seemed rather hopeless- gameplay does not change - where are the powerups, levels, etc?- what's the goal?(Things I got right)- cool sounds- nice action with real fast and furious potential. (If I can get the damm paddle working, it can get insane!)- nice graphics- everybody liked the title screen it seems. (But it's probably gone for good.)Ooze V0.3- added some powerup variations: No ooze growth, aggressive ooze, slow bullets, fast bullets, slow game play, extra leaky fuel. Have room for a couple more.The slow gameplay, combined with the fast bullets and aggressive ooze makes for a kind of matrix like mode where the player knows things are happening fast, but has the time to react to them. interesting. I'll have to include this with some groovy colors to mix things up.Thinking about changing the idea of fuel to gametime instead. That way, I can have a specific goal of survival until the level ends. Also can vary this time according to powerups and show the player how much time they have left, etc...Coded the ability to store colors for level ups in data statements to show players what they have done.Altered the target movement and added the ability to display multiple shapes to indicate how the game will change when it is hit. It's tougher to hit now because it will stop and change direction.The biggie was getting the ooze to splatter outward when it hits the bottom of the screen. In the older version, a player could just sit there, hold the fire button down and the game would play almost forever. Now, keeping the ooze at bay is important because the outward spread of ooze columns that hit the bottom eat away at the player safe space. Because each column spreads into the space necessary for the player to shoot adjacent columns, the effect is a slow trapping of the player once the ooze touches the bottom of the screen.Hitting the ooze costs one life and knocks it back enough to allow the player to continue on.Also thinking of turning on the aggressive ooze once it does reach the bottom instead of making this a random/powerup event. Might reinforce the danger posed by the falling ooze in the gamers mind.Added the ability to trigger random game variations by moving joystick down. This is for testing but has suggested some great ideas when the various options work together. Will be removed before release.Ooze 0.4 will probably happen next week...