Goat game

[freewheel]

Gotta make a game based on goats, she says. So - here's another new game I've been poking at for a few weeks now.

 

It's a little rough around the edges. I haven't fully worked out the scoring/level progression yet, not sure if it's too fast or too slow right now. And you have to reset at the end of the game if you want to play again. But I figured it's time for some feedback on the concept.

 

Hell, I don't even have a good name for it yet.

 

 

 

 

goat.bin

[GroovyBee]

:rolling: I'll show it Jeff Minter the next time I see him.

[GroovyBee]

A few suggestions :-

 

- Allow fire buttons to start the game.

- Make collectables speed up as the game progresses.

- Make collectables pass by at different speeds on the same level.

- If you removed the grass you could make the collectables into pre-shifted BACKTAB cards. That would free up MOBs for making a more colourful farmer or goat. It would also mean that you could have 10 rows of things thrown at the goat (for example). However, you'd have to reprogram some on the fly to have a variety of objects in the level over time.

- Allow a fire button to take you back to the title page on game over.

- Remove the BITCH from the game over text. I don't see why this wouldn't be a good game for children.

[freewheel]

Your first 3 suggestions are already in the game You might just have to play for a while to get to higher levels to notice it.

 

As for using cards as moving objects.. I'm hesitant to go this route as I don't like the rigid structure this may impose (not sure, can you place them with pixel-perfect accuracy?). Regardless, it's a complete re-think in terms of how the code works. You did give me an idea about changing the objects as the levels progress... it's just a pain to come up with things that look decent in an 8x8 grid. Without being all programmer graphics of course.

 

And yes, the game over stuff is very much crude at the moment, lol. I tossed that in there in annoyance one day and it amuses me for now. Obviously that is not my final intention.

Edited October 26, 2014 by freeweed

[GroovyBee]

Your first 3 suggestions are already in the game

Doesn't work with the left controller to start the game .

 

As for using cards as moving objects.. I'm hesitant to go this route as I don't like the rigid structure this may impose (not sure, can you place them with pixel-perfect accuracy?). Regardless, it's a complete re-think in terms of how the code works. You did give me an idea about changing the objects as the levels progress... it's just a pain to come up with things that look decent in an 8x8 grid. Without being all programmer graphics of course.

The limits are :-

 

1) Placement in Y e.g. (Y % 8 )=0

2) Use of GRAM cards at 2 per object. You could probably reprogram 8 objects at once on the fly.

 

And yes, the game over stuff is very much crude at the moment, lol. I tossed that in there in annoyance one day and it amuses me for now. Obviously that is not my final intention.

No worries!

[freewheel]

Doesn't work with the left controller to start the game .

 

Weird, all 3 fire buttons work for me. Maybe my emulator settings are messed up or something. This is the annoyance of not having a multicart - I'm relying on a few assumptions in terms of how keys are getting mapped. Right shift, alt, and ctrl all work and they're the default left controller settings, no?

 

 

The limits are :-

 

1) Placement in Y e.g. (Y/8)=0

2) Use of GRAM cards at 2 per object. You could probably reprogram 8 objects at once on the fly.

 

Yeah this is what I suspected. Maybe I'm missing something but to me that would create a very jumpy movement. I don't know how people have used these in the past. In case it's not obvious, my game borrows somewhat from Astrosmash - how did they manage all the on-screen objects there? I'm sure there are more than 8 at a time, but the movement seems pretty fluid to me. Tiling through cards to move objects a pixel at a time seems kinda tedious, and would use up GRAM pretty damned quick (at least 8, maybe 16 cards per object type - haven't done the math yet) if you wanted 1-pixel movements.

[GroovyBee]

Weird, all 3 fire buttons work for me. Maybe my emulator settings are messed up or something. This is the annoyance of not having a multicart - I'm relying on a few assumptions in terms of how keys are getting mapped. Right shift, alt, and ctrl all work and they're the default left controller settings, no?

I'll test on real hardware later this evening.

 

Yeah this is what I suspected. Maybe I'm missing something but to me that would create a very jumpy movement. I don't know how people have used these in the past. In case it's not obvious, my game borrows somewhat from Astrosmash - how did they manage all the on-screen objects there? I'm sure there are more than 8 at a time, but the movement seems pretty fluid to me. Tiling through cards to move objects a pixel at a time seems kinda tedious, and would use up GRAM pretty damned quick (at least 8, maybe 16 cards per object type - haven't done the math yet) if you wanted 1-pixel movements.

It would look like 1 pixel increments in X. Basically you'd move your 8x8 tile move horizontally in a 16x8 (w x h) grid. Sure, you have to reprogram things on the fly but to the player there will be 10 moving things on the screen at once (when there should only be 8 ).

[GroovyBee]

Sorry, my mistake. I just tested it on real hardware and its the right controller that doesn't respond to fire buttons or enter to start the game. I'm not sure what was going on with my jzintv configuration .

[GroovyBee]

How about adding power-ups? Maybe the farmer throws something that is extra yummy and it speeds the goat up or maybe the goat eats something bad like magic mushrooms and the controls are reversed. Just some things to spice up the game play a little.

[+Tarzilla]

I think that the goat's head should be the only part that can eat the edible objects, while the bad objects should take out the goat no matter what.

 

Also, take some time to try the pre-shifted GRAM approach in a separate copy of the code as suggested, yes it is more work, but you can then use the extra MOBs to upgrade your character look so your game doesn't look like a 2600 conversion and looks like an late model Intellivision game.

 

You only get 64 cards, but if the object(s) thrown change every level like Mega Mania you can be changing the 64 card set every level up to max cart size (which has been discussed to death in other threads, but is huge)

 

From a game theory point of view, it also makes the player want to see what the next level brings, instead of being a simple play until I die affair.

 

 

[Cybearg]

Haw! "Lonely Goatherd." I get it!

[pimpmaul69]

:rolling: I'll show it Jeff Minter the next time I see him.

funny i just googled him yesterday. I was going to try to contact him about the possibility of making hover bovver for ios. The c64 app has long since been removed and the ios 8 update effed up my ipad and i had to reinstall everything and i lost all of the paid c64 games which included games like bruce lee, international karate and hover bovver. I use my icade to play these games which works really well. The games jeff made on ios are icade compatible as well. Damn you apple. Edited October 26, 2014 by pimpmaul69

[freewheel]

How about adding power-ups? Maybe the farmer throws something that is extra yummy and it speeds the goat up or maybe the goat eats something bad like magic mushrooms and the controls are reversed. Just some things to spice up the game play a little.

 

That was actually part of the original plan. Of course now that I've maxed out the MOB count I'll need to experiment with GRAM animation to add anything else - this is probably one of the first things I'll try. I even know the exact music I want to use for a "power up" mode.

[pimpmaul69]

Playing this for a while, i think that it needs to stay where the goats entire body gets food. It allows you to be able to pick up stuff that is followed by (whatever the bad stuff is) that is faster. If you have skill u can still get these items. If you were to make only the goat head to eat items you would take away a skilled persons ability to swoop around the bad stuff and grab items really fast

[+DZ-Jay]

Cool game. It's another twist on Food Fight, like GroovyBee's Next Street, but with goats.

[+Tarzilla]

 

Hell, I don't even have a good name for it yet.

 

 

 

 

I Ain't Afraid of No Goats

Billy Goat Blitz

GoatBuster

Goat to Hell

You've Goat to be Kidding

Scape Goat

Angry Goat

[+DZ-Jay]

I like the "Goat Nom!"

[freewheel]

I really like it starting with G - as pointed out in the GoSub thread there are no games beginning with G on this platform.

 

HUGE fan of the Ghostbusters puns. Maybe I'll make a shooter where the goats are the bad guys, then those names would rock.

[pimpmaul69]

Billy the kid. A younger goat is called a kid. If it became a boxed game you could have a picture of a goat on a wanted poster on it.

Edited October 27, 2014 by pimpmaul69

[freewheel]

And a male goat is called a "billy". His name has always been a minor goat pun.

[catsfolly]

Looks good so far. It's fun to play.

 

I think the things coming at the goat should be animated. Using GRAM for some of them is a good idea too.

 

Catsfolly

[+DZ-Jay]

OK, time for my feedback. I know you've all been dying to know what I have to say.

 

• I like the Sound Of Music yodeling theme song rendition, it gives it an Alpine-y, mountain-y feel and sets the scene. Except that then you put a barn on it. I would recommend to pick a setting: its either a mountain goat, or a farm goat; pick a theme to match, and draw the appropriate setting. If you're going to keep the barn/farm style, then may I suggest a more "farmy" song--like, idunno, Chicken Reel?
• I really like "Goat Nom!" for a title. "GoatBuster" would be cool, except that you are the goat, not its antagonist, so it won't fit.
• The goat's legs should stop animating while standing still.
• It's hard to tell which items I should eat. For some reason I was avoiding red and blue "bombs shells" and kept dying when attempting to eat a "chocolate chip cookie"! After a while I figured out that those are not bombs and probably cans or rubbish; and that the cookies must be boulders. Perhaps a bit more detail, or a better color selection? The blue "bomb shells" still throw me off, the red ones seem to be cans, so those are OK; maybe make the boulders grey so that they look less yummy and scrumptious?
• I think the goat's horizontal velocity should be faster than the rubbish (at least faster than the slow ones), otherwise you can never catch an item after missing it. Then, there's little point in moving forward, innit?
• I agree with Catsfolly that the items thrown deserve some animation. You can never have enough animation!
• I recommend painting the background light-green with dark-green grassy highlights, rather than black. Or are you supposed to be feeding your goat at night?
• I know that it's still a work in progress, and that the sound effects may not be final, but... that goat death sound effect is much too explosive!
• When the goat dies, you should lower the position of the MOB a little bit, perhaps by half a sprite's height. This should give the illusion of it flipping over in place. Right now, it looks like it flipped up in the air and stayed there.
• May I suggest, as some others above, to make the "eating" collision area close to the head and body of the goat? It feels sort of weird when I just lightly graze a can with the bottom of the goat's feet and it counts as eaten.
• Once in a while, while the goat is not eating anything, it should open its mouth and "bleat." It doesn't have to be a fancy sound effect, just something that resembles the stuttering whine of a goat.

That's it, those are my comments so far. It's looking good so far.

 

-dZ.

Edited October 27, 2014 by DZ-Jay

[freewheel]

The mountain vs farm thing is tough. Technically they both refer to domesticated goats. And the SoM theme is probably the single most recognizable goat-themed song in history. Scratch that, the ONLY recognizable one. I'm impressed that so many people recognize the source, although I guess the audience here is a bit older than other gaming communities.

 

Leg animation is being worked on as we speak (who knows if I'll ever nail it).

 

In terms of the food items - part of that is because it's a crude mockup, but part of that was intentional. Our classic games all had that "wtf is this supposed to be" look to them, and you really had to read the manual to figure it out. The blue thing is supposed to be a fish, btw - see what I mean?

 

The background... I've struggled with the background. I'm a fan of games where the gameplay is more important than the graphics. Too many games of that era (and later) go for way too much graphical detail, or accurate coloring, or whatever, but muddy up the screen so that it's harder to play. My original plan was to make the entire screen change color per level, a la Astrosmash, but it makes the game uglier. Not sure how well "all green" would look but it's worth a shot.

 

The whole death thing is obviously temporary. Blatantly ripped from nanochess's sample code with some noise added. I was thinking of blowing the goat into pieces (the sprite data lends itself to this already) but that would look a bit silly. Perhaps a Pac-Man style collapse animation...

 

And yeah - I've spent countless hours trying to simulate a goat noise on the INTV. Nothing even remotely close so far.

[freewheel]

Re: background color. Hm, maybe it's not as bad as it looked a while ago. Here's all 3 possibilities for green - thoughts? I kinda lean towards the dark green myself but not sure.

 

Obviously some other colors will have to be adjusted to compensate, depending on final outcome.

 

 

 

 

goat_brightgreen.bin

goat_darkgreen.bin

goat_lightgreen.bin

[catsfolly]

I thought the light green looked the best with the current colors. The dark green might work better once the other colors are adjusted.

 

If you want more feedback, you should consider putting screen shots in your posts, for people who are either

1."emulator challenged" or

2. unable to run the binary (because they are at work?), or

3. people who just can't be bothered to run every binary update we upload...

 

 

 

 

 

When I play the game, I feel a strong compulsion to turn around and kick something with my rear legs. I imagine the goat character in the game feels the same way. Is there any way you could work this in?

 

Catsfolly

 

 

P.S. Why does the farmer change colors. Does he get embarrassed and turn red?

 

Edited October 27, 2014 by catsfolly