Planet Bob

Well done on your minigame result! Crazy Balloon is a great game and thoroughly deserved its high ranking. Hopefully Colony 7 will be able to do the same (or better) next year, if it will fit into one of the size categories.

 

The Colony 7 sprites look great in the game - I can already picture lots of them moving around the screen! One small complaint I have is with the visibility of the players shots. They are a bit difficult to see due to the flickering - perhaps they could be a little larger or there could be more of them shown? Also, I think there should be a flicker in the middle of the crosshairs to indicate that you are firing? Anyway, great progress so far, and I am looking forward to a playable version.

 

Chris

Hi there!

 

Well done on your minigame result!  Crazy Balloon is a great game and thoroughly deserved its high ranking.

 

Hey, your games also did very good!

 

Hopefully Colony 7 will be able to do the same (or better) next year, if it will fit into one of the size categories.

 

It's looking a little better at the moment. I think there's ~800 ROM bytes free right now. Maybe I get it playable in 4K. I'll definitely try!

 

One small complaint I have is with the visibility of the players shots.  They are a bit difficult to see due to the flickering - perhaps they could be a little larger or there could be more of them shown?  Also, I think there should be a flicker in the middle of the crosshairs to indicate that you are firing?

 

What you see now is only the shot trails. I'm planning to have a big "finish" in the crosshair, done with engine sprites.

 

Displaying more dots will unfortunately slow the shots down too long and bigger ones don't look good.

 

EDIT: Thanks for mentioning the shot code BTW! I just had a look at it again and spotted (& fixed!) a bug!

 

Anyway, great progress so far, and I am looking forward to a playable version.

 

Thanks! I hope I can continue working at this pace for a while

 

Greetings,

Manuel

Yep, these are going to be some of the best graphics ever in a VCS game.

Hi there!

 

Yep, these are going to be some of the best graphics ever in a VCS game.

 

Cool! That's good to hear! Part of my motivation for doing Colony 7 was supercats (justified!) feedback about Crazy Balloon not looking as good as my older titles, so I wanted to do something looking more impressive again!

 

Greetings,

Manuel

Cool! That's good to hear! Part of my motivation for doing Colony 7 was supercats (justified!) feedback about Crazy Balloon not looking as good as my older titles, so I wanted to do something looking more impressive again!

Looks like you will definitely achieve that goal.

I have been meaning to ask this for a while: where does your exclamation "Uihjah" come from? Is it a word in German (or Bavarian), or just something you made up? It sounds a bit similar to Ouija and Hijjah? A search on Google results in a lot of links to your postings, and a suggestion to use the word "Elijah" instead!

 

Just curious

Chris

I have been meaning to ask this for a while: where does your exclamation "Uihjah" come from?

Not German or Bavarian. I suppose Manuel is just watermarking his posts.

Hi there!

 

A search on Google results in a lot of links to your postings, and a suggestion to use the word "Elijah" instead!

 

Uihjah!

 

Hm... actually, it's just some weird noise one of my coworkers made for a while. First I started imitating him and then it somehow stuck with me

 

Bavarians would occasionally do such funny noises, in this case it's supposed to be a mixture between disbelief and surprise, probably like a somewhat over the top version of "unbelievable!"

 

Well, if I knew any latin, I could tell you if there possibly was a relation to "Heureka" or not

 

Greetings,

Manuel

Hm... actually, it's just some weird noise one of my coworkers made for a while. First I started imitating him and then it somehow stuck with me

 

Thanks - that clears things up for me!

 

Chris

Good to see some mysteries cleared up here...

 

 

Anyway, I'll jump in, late, and echo that the sprites look very nice. to you and Nathan.

Uihjah!

 

Hm... actually, it's just some weird noise one of my coworkers made for a while. First I started imitating him and then it somehow stuck with me

I'd wager it'll be Helena's first word.

Hi there!

 

And I was so hoping for "Atari"

 

Greetings,

Manuel