HSC Season 5 Week 26: Planet Patrol

[Deteacher]

My first submission: 10,950.

 

I'll add a pic tonight when I get home. I just didn't get the chance to post it last night.

 

I did a little experiment last night with level one. It seemed like I was always scoring 150 points when the black ship came out. This led me to think you HAD to shoot down a certain number of ships before the stranded plane would come out. So, I started over and didn't fire a single shot. When the stranded plane came out, I realized that the levels are time based. So:

 

I would suggest on the harder levels (level 5 comes to mind) that you focus more on avoiding the planes/missles, rather than try to shoot them for points. If your goal is to survive the level, that might be the best course of action (but I have yet to try that, so I don't know for sure yet.)

[aftermac]

15,630

 

Ok Captain... you win... partially...

 

I don't want to fully retract my previous tip about staying in the center for better dodging, but I DID just beat level 5 by hugging the bottom.

 

I immediately went to the bottom of the screen and held down fire... I've found this easier than the top, because it's easier to look down than up. once the enemies start attacking, I shoot the planes and "bunny hop" the missiles. You have to be extremely quick and precise with your "hops" and 9 out of 10 games you WILL eventually hit a plane when "hopping" a missile (hence, why I don't want to retract my previous tip). However, every now and again the enemies will line up just right, so this doesn't happen. Either way, you can still rack up some big points. I've gotten as many as 3000 points on a single life WITHOUT beating the level. Unfortunately, you will eventually run out of fuel.

 

As Gemini stated you can fly between missiles that are side-by-side, which on level 5 is very difficult, but once you get in a rhythm you should be able to do this routinely... and you will need to!

 

[toymailman]

Wow, great score man! I can't seem to beat my old 14k score (or Level 5) yet. Still many days to go.

 

Also, as far as when the black ship comes out I believe it is based on the number of drones and not time. I've actually got a perfect score on wave #1 (500 points), but I think it is impossible on #2. There are always 20 drones on level 1 before the black ship comes out.

[Captain Beard]

Nice score, aftermac!

I've actually got a perfect score on wave #1 (500 points)

Very impressive!

 

I was wondering what the max was -- the best I've managed was a 480 once.

 

Anyway, another slight improvement for me: 11,250

Edited March 7, 2008 by Captain Beard

[cosmosiss]

6790

[toymailman]

Woo hoo!!

 

17,110

 

 

Still haven't got by Level 5, but I did have a couple good runs at it. Is there a level 6? (ie. drones worth 60 points) Or does it top out at Level 5 in both difficulty and scoring?

[Gemini]

I did a little experiment last night with level one. It seemed like I was always scoring 150 points when the black ship came out. This led me to think you HAD to shoot down a certain number of ships before the stranded plane would come out. So, I started over and didn't fire a single shot. When the stranded plane came out, I realized that the levels are time based.

 

That, and the number of enemy ships that can appear in each level is pre-determined. This is why you will sometimes come across a barrage of enemy ships at the end of a level, or a barrage of missiles. This happens because either the end is approaching and there's too many enemy ships left, or the number of enemy ships runs out before the end approaches.

[aftermac]

Woo hoo!!

 

17,110

 

 

Still haven't got by Level 5, but I did have a couple good runs at it. Is there a level 6? (ie. drones worth 60 points) Or does it top out at Level 5 in both difficulty and scoring?

 

Thanks, Toy and Captain! And that's a nice score yourself!

 

After level 5 you go to a nice and slow night time level. I wasn't alive long enough to pay attention to the scoring. The change of pace really screwed with me because the ships and missiles are dog slow.

[aftermac]

18,300

 

Here's a video of me beating level 5, it's not the best quality. I signed up for a YouTube account for this. I'm not sure if it will help anyone, but here it is:

 

 

Through the dozens of games it took me to get this video, I accidentally set a new high score. The video however, is not of me getting this score. I've beaten level 5 four times now and this was probably the easiest one, as there were no close calls with with enemy planes. The video goes through the next 2 levels, so you can see what happens after level 5. I'm really good at shooting the black planes!

 

After level 5, you go to "level 2"... 20 points per ship and a night time level. The next level ships are 30 points...

 

I do think I found another reason to be irritated at this game. At the end of this video pay attention to my lives at the bottom. I will fire a shot (I'm not sure if you can see it on the video) at the first green base that goes right through the center of it, then I kill the other two and crash into the barrier... and ALL 3 of my lives disappear! You'll see me move my ship to the bottom as I'm preparing to start the level over, until I realize my lives are gone.

 

Edited March 8, 2008 by aftermac

[Gemini]

I maintain that this game is incredibly evil. There's a substantial amount of luck involved, especially at the end of a level when gunning for the bases because in the later levels, if the shot bug causes your shot to skip over a base, you're screwed.

 

Anyways, my highest score so far is 11,010. It was painful. x_x;

 

 

One last tip:

 

* Your fuel only goes down if you're firing your gun. If you hit the red zone, stop firing so that you'll have some shots left for the bases at the end of the level.

[+Nathan Strum]

I do think I found another reason to be irritated at this game. At the end of this video pay attention to my lives at the bottom. I will fire a shot (I'm not sure if you can see it on the video) at the first green base that goes right through the center of it, then I kill the other two and crash into the barrier... and ALL 3 of my lives disappear! You'll see me move my ship to the bottom as I'm preparing to start the level over, until I realize my lives are gone.

I've run into this bug too. The game is a mess.

[keilbaca]

18020

 

Almost caught up to you... I will hit 19000 before this is done and over with.

[Captain Beard]

Holy crap, guys!

 

The scores! They hurt me!

 

But seriously... the reason I'm posting is to ask: Is there some secret to getting points I'm missing or do I really just need to hit more enemy ships? 'Cuz when I hit the 5th level, I've usually only got between 8000-9000 points. Then I quickly die three times and game over.

[aftermac]

Holy crap, guys!

 

The scores! They hurt me!

 

But seriously... the reason I'm posting is to ask: Is there some secret to getting points I'm missing or do I really just need to hit more enemy ships? 'Cuz when I hit the 5th level, I've usually only got between 8000-9000 points. Then I quickly die three times and game over.

 

Seriously, no secrets.

 

That's why I put up the video. Just hold down fire and dodge! I started that level with 6,650 and racked up nearly 4,000. I believe in my 18,300 game, I got ~3,000 points on level 5 and died, then beat it with another 4,000 on my next life.

[toymailman]

Closer for me too.

 

17,650

 

[+SpiceWare]

8,940

[Ze_ro]

With better collision detection, and maybe a slower ramp in difficulty on the higher levels, this game would be pretty good.

I wonder if it would be possible for a homebrewer to look into the code and fix some of the bugs, or if the game is simply too flawed to be fixed? Oh well, probably not worth the time.

 

One more thing, when will the Toyshop Trouble week commense for people who didn't get to play earlier?

Has the rom been released yet? I'm afraid I haven't been able to keep up with the "scene" much lately. I got my Christmas order just a few days ago, and with me ordering somewhat late (close to new years) and living in Canada, I imagine most people have got their orders by now.

 

I'd love to give it a go next week, as there's another recently released homebrew game in the queue that I've been holding back on until people got their cartridges (the rom for that one has been available for a while, but I know most of you prefer to play on real hardware).

 

Sorry for the slow updates, events at work have been extremely busy.

 

--Zero

[Mister VCS]

I'd love to give it a go next week, as there's another recently released homebrew game in the queue that I've been holding back on until people got their cartridges (the rom for that one has been available for a while, but I know most of you prefer to play on real hardware).

--Zero

 

 

I'd love to play Crystal Castles or Fatal Run next week! I am a "real-hardware-only-member"

 

Maybe Ikari Warriors or Buck Rogers ?

Edited March 11, 2008 by Mister VCS

[+Nathan Strum]

Good enough.

 

7,060

[+Nathan Strum]

One more thing, when will the Toyshop Trouble week commense for people who didn't get to play earlier?

Has the rom been released yet? I'm afraid I haven't been able to keep up with the "scene" much lately.

Not yet. The emulators have to be updated to support it first.

[+SpiceWare]

I suspect the reason collision detection is bad is because your shot doesn't actually hit the enemy. In the example below, the enemy is moving 2 pixels per frame, your shot is moving 1 pixel per frame.

 

Frame 1:

XXX
X-- 
XXXXXX
X
XXX

Frame 2:

  XXX
--X 
 XXXXXX
 X
 XXX

In this instance the shot never touches the enemy so the hardware collision detection does not go off. As the enemy gets faster this problem will occur more frequently. I think this could be fixed by making your shot 4 or 8 pixels wide.

[ed1475]

high score: 3750

 

 

ed1475.bmp

[aftermac]

I suspect the reason collision detection is bad is because your shot doesn't actually hit the enemy. In the example below, the enemy is moving 2 pixels per frame, your shot is moving 1 pixel per frame.

 

Frame 1:

XXX
X-- 
XXXXXX
X
XXX

Frame 2:

  XXX
--X 
 XXXXXX
 X
 XXX

In this instance the shot never touches the enemy so the hardware collision detection does not go off. As the enemy gets faster this problem will occur more frequently. I think this could be fixed by making your shot 4 or 8 pixels wide.

 

Brilliant observation!

[aftermac]

23,500

 

I'm pretty sure this is my final score for the week. This is the first time since Saturday that I have scored more than 15,xxx.

 

After beating the first 5 levels, I actually, beat 2, 3, 4, and made it back to 5 with one life left. Then I crossed 20,000 to get another life and had a couple good runs.

 

Good luck to everyone the rest of the night!

 

Edited March 11, 2008 by aftermac

[+SpiceWare]

I typed the following in Stella's debugger:

rom f378 $30
rom f43a $30
saverom ppbigbullet.bin

ppbigbullet.bin