Intellivision Celery

[+atari2600land]

I worked some more on the title screen. I worked on a second part of the song. I also worked on Mr. Celery's blinking code. I wanted him to blink more so it doesn't look like he's a zombie who rarely blinks. So I moved it to random blinking. But right now it seems like he blinks too much. Or does it? You never know how much you blink until you start recognizing when you do. The celery wrapped in bacon idea is a good one, the vegetarians would not want to eat it. Neither would a banana.

celery20160831v2.zip

Edited September 1, 2016 by atari2600land

[DZ-Jay]

The "peel" is its legs. It is walking around.

 

Ah! I didn't see that. I still think using two MOBs for two colours would be best.

 

I worked some more on the title screen. I worked on a second part of the song. I also worked on Mr. Celery's blinking code. I wanted him to blink more so it doesn't look like he's a zombie who rarely blinks. So I moved it to random blinking. But right now it seems like he blinks too much. Or does it? You never know how much you blink until you start recognizing when you do. The celery wrapped in bacon idea is a good one, the vegetarians would not want to eat it. Neither would a banana.

 

I'll take a look at it.

[DZ-Jay]

OK, I've played a few rounds of the latest build and here's my feedback:

• The title music volume is much too low. I have to crank up my PC volume to max and I can barely hear it.
• I like the new bars you added to the title song. However, they feel like they should be the closing of a verse rather than alternating between two measures on the same verse. I would recommend you let the initial melody play a few times before switching to the second pattern.
• Also on the title music, you are missing a beat! The second pattern is a beat too short, causing it to run into the first pattern again in a strange way.
• The sound effects volume is too low as well.
• I like Mr. Banana Dan, but it's hard to tell at first what he is.
• I liked it better when the game said "The vegetarians ate you!" or something like that. Now it says a generic "Someone ate you." I understand that you may want to repurpose the message for different kind of enemies, but perhaps they should be more specific? Within the context of the game's story, I would imagine a "Death By Vegetarian" to be more gruesome than "Death By Banana Attack."
• I like very much the blinking animation but I agree that the frequency is weird. Here are a few pointers to consider:
  • People normally blink at regular intervals. Although it may be slightly different for each person, we all blink at roughly the same frequency. Don't go for random, just try to find a frequency that feels right.
  • People also tend to blink spontaneously as they express various emotions: e.g., bilnking rapidly may indicate confusion or bewilderment, etc.
  • Most people, when left to their own devices, will do more with their eyes than just blink: They may look to one side or the other spontaneously, while blinking. This is a very neat way to convey depth of character: nothing hits the uncanny-valley as hard as unnaturally fixed, unfocused eyes.

 

That's it for now. Looking forward to new updates.

 

-dZ.

[DZ-Jay]

By the way, I'll have you know that a few hours later in the day, at the office, that title song is STILL in my head!

[+atari2600land]

New version:

I upped the volume

Changed death so it either says "THE BANANA GOT YOU", or "A VEGETARIAN ATE YOU".

I changed the title screen song a little. I thought it sounded fine, but I put an extra beat in and now it sounds weird to me.

Blinking changed so it's no longer random. I don't know how I would change the eyes to move around though. Perhaps just delete the pupils and make them sprites would be what I would do...

celeryintv20160901.zip

[timdu]

I agree with DZ-JAY re: the music in the intro. I like the original music you had better in the previous versions before you made the change. However, maybe you can utilize

this variation of the intro music into another part of the game... like maybe in a different level...? or the end of the game?

Man, that evil banana is difficult to avoid. I'm using mode 1 which is slower. And I am still doing lousy. Isee how he travels in a zig zag pattern, but it's all about timing

to avoid him.

And once I get eaten, I have to rescue the peas that I already rescued. Should it be this way? Is there a way to make it so the game remembers which peas you have rescued in the level?

[DZ-Jay]

OK, I know I didn't explain it well before, so I extracted the song from the game and re-edited it in Logic Pro. Now, do not judge it to thoroughly, for I only could use the notes that were already available in the song and I didn't get too fancy with it. However, it should illustrate the patterns and arrangement I was suggesting. (Note that the ending of the bridge could use some work since I couldn't find the note that I was looking for isolated.)

• The Celery Song (Edited).wav

 

-dZ.

Edited September 3, 2016 by DZ-Jay

[+atari2600land]

You know what would help in programming music? A function that would let you repeat part of the song and then go on to the next part of it. What I have to do now is repeat the same notes, which hogs a lot of data available. Something like perhaps:

titlescreen2:

MUSIC C4,-,-

repeat titlescreen2

(after repeating titlescreen2 then point the player to titlescreen3)

titlescreen3:

MUSIC D4,-,-

 

Or is there something like that now and I'm missing it?

[DZ-Jay]

You know what would help in programming music? A function that would let you repeat part of the song and then go on to the next part of it. What I have to do now is repeat the same notes, which hogs a lot of data available. Something like perhaps:

titlescreen2:

MUSIC C4,-,-

repeat titlescreen2

(after repeating titlescreen2 then point the player to titlescreen3)

titlescreen3:

MUSIC D4,-,-

 

Or is there something like that now and I'm missing it?

 

I hear ya'. I know others have asked for this and I thought nanochess was working on it. I don't know if he already did on a recent version of IntyBASIC, though.

[+nanochess]

You know what would help in programming music? A function that would let you repeat part of the song and then go on to the next part of it. What I have to do now is repeat the same notes, which hogs a lot of data available. Something like perhaps:

titlescreen2:

MUSIC C4,-,-

repeat titlescreen2

(after repeating titlescreen2 then point the player to titlescreen3)

titlescreen3:

MUSIC D4,-,-

 

Or is there something like that now and I'm missing it?

 

There is MUSIC REPEAT that repeats the whole music from the start, and 'MUSIC JUMP label' that repeats the music after a labelled point.

[DZ-Jay]

 

There is MUSIC REPEAT that repeats the whole music from the start, and 'MUSIC JUMP label' that repeats the music after a labelled point.

 

[+atari2600land]

 

There is MUSIC REPEAT that repeats the whole music from the start, and 'MUSIC JUMP label' that repeats the music after a labelled point.

What I want is a MUSIC REPEAT code that doesn't repeat the music from the start, just sections of music.

[DZ-Jay]

What I want is a MUSIC REPEAT code that doesn't repeat the music from the start, just sections of music.

 

Er... Isn't that what "MUSIC JUMP" does?

[+atari2600land]

I thought MUSIC JUMP just jumped to a certain section of music

For example;

the_start:

(music notes)

some_more:
(music_notes)

some_more_2:

(music_notes)

music jump some_more

[DZ-Jay]

I thought MUSIC JUMP just jumped to a certain section of music

For example;

the_start:

(music notes)

some_more:

(music_notes)

some_more_2:

(music_notes)

music jump some_more

 

Yes, so you can write a loop that calls "MUSIC JUMP" to the specific section of music you want to repeat, then jump to a different section.

[+atari2600land]

but once it jumped there then it would just keep jumping to the section instead of going on to the next part once it kept hitting that MUSIC JUMP command. (in my example, perhaps I put some more music notes after the jump command. It would never get there.

[carlsson]

You are essentially asking for a module/tracker format that consists of blocks of music, and a play list in which order each block should be played or repeated. While that could be useful, I think it is asking a bit much at the moment. Either that, or a whole lot of spaghetti code and conditional branches inside the music data, which would be even worse.

[DZ-Jay]

You are essentially asking for a module/tracker format that consists of blocks of music, and a play list in which order each block should be played or repeated. While that could be useful, I think it is asking a bit much at the moment. Either that, or a whole lot of spaghetti code and conditional branches inside the music data, which would be even worse.

There is one of those, but it is an Assembly Language module, not IntyBASIC.

[carlsson]

Yes, I've heard of it. As long as entering music data can be made in a human friendly way, I suppose one could include it as a binary object while compiling, or has not the two tools been interfaced?

 

Anyway, nanochess earlier mentioned that the next (latest?) version of IntyBASIC will have both MUSIC JUMP and the flag MUSIC.PLAYING. In that way, you could join several songs in a sequence by waiting for MUSIC.PLAYING to become false, and instead of PLAY NONE, start your next subsong. I haven't tested this myself, but in theory it could work.

[mmarrero]

Yes, I've heard of it. As long as entering music data can be made in a human friendly way, I suppose one could include it as a binary object while compiling, or has not the two tools been interfaced?

 

Anyway, nanochess earlier mentioned that the next (latest?) version of IntyBASIC will have both MUSIC JUMP and the flag MUSIC.PLAYING. In that way, you could join several songs in a sequence by waiting for MUSIC.PLAYING to become false, and instead of PLAY NONE, start your next subsong. I haven't tested this myself, but in theory it could work.

Your theory is correct. I already made a sequencing demo using the latest version IntyBasic. (I just read your post, sorry for the spaghetti). Also, It might not work in PAL, I had to add extra silence to the Music data. I have no idea how to run emulators in PAL mode.

 

 

 

PRINT COLOR 5,"Play Sequence Demo"

PLAY SIMPLE:WAIT

MusicSequenceIdx=0

'======================

MainLOOP:

WAIT:PRINT AT 40,<>FRAME

MusicSequenceCheck:

IF MUSIC.PLAYING=0 THEN

MusicSequenceX=MusicSequence(MusicSequenceIdx)

MusicSequenceIdx=MusicSequenceIdx+1

PRINT AT 80+MusicSequenceIdx

 

ON MusicSequenceX GOTO MLoop0, MLoop1, MLoopEnd

END IF

GOTO MainLOOP

'======================

MLoop0:

PLAY Sequence0:PRINT ".S0":GOTO MainLOOP

MLoop1:

PLAY Sequence1:PRINT ".S1":GOTO MainLOOP

MLoopEnd:

MusicSequenceIdx=0:GOTO MusicSequenceCheck 'Reset,check again.

 

MusicSequence: DATA 0,0,0,0,1,1,0,0,1,0,1,2 '2=end!

 

Sequence0: DATA 8

MUSIC C3,G3

MUSIC s,s

MUSIC s,E3

MUSIC s,s

MUSIC s,s 'Extra silence!

MUSIC STOP

 

Sequence1: DATA 8

MUSIC D3,A3

MUSIC s,s

MUSIC s,F3

MUSIC s,s

MUSIC s,s 'Extra silence!

MUSIC STOP

 

 

 

- Marco

playdemo.bas

[+nanochess]

I think atari2600land wants to start a new tune per event (like button press) it is easier to use "PLAY new_music" when program reachs such point

[carlsson]

Great example, mmarrero! It could also be used to play "random" music, consisting of composed blocks of music played back in random order. One of the built-in demos of Activision's The Designers Pencil for the C64 (possibly also other formats) did exactly this, a 12 bar blues with an intro and then a number of different solo variations that would be played in random order, possibly designed in such way that the same variation would not be repeated twice in a row.

[freewheel]

While I've also asked for a simple way to repeat blocks of music (and then still be able to go into other blocks), worrying about storage space for music is a bit of a non-issue. I've got a game with over 10 minutes' worth of MUSIC statements - down to sixteenth notes - and it's an insignificant amount of code. You'd have to either be in the habit of writing half-hour long songs, or have an incredibly code-dense game before storage space is a concern here.

 

It'd be mostly useful if you're modifying/fixing a few repeated bars - sometimes I forget to fix up EVERY one of the repeated sections.

[DZ-Jay]

Yes, I've heard of it. As long as entering music data can be made in a human friendly way, I suppose one could include it as a binary object while compiling, or has not the two tools been interfaced?

 

 

You could interface the two, but it is not trivial: you would need to modify the IntyBASIC "prologue" file and create custom macros to call the tracker PLAY/INIT routines. It may be worth it, since Arnauld Chevallier's music tracker is very versatile.

 

 

I think atari2600land wants to start a new tune per event (like button press) it is easier to use "PLAY new_music" when program reachs such point

 

I think what he wants is to define patterns for parts of a song and play them in sequence, repeating some of them; like a MOD tracker or MIDI sequencer. This would be a nice thing to have in IntyBASIC, although it is not really crucial.

 

-dZ.

[+atari2600land]

I'll keep the music the way it is now. It's been a long time, but I added a new level. I beat it on both easy and hard settings, so it is possible. Just tell me how hard it is. (level 9).

 

celeryintv4.rom