Amoeba Jump

[SS]

the acceleration curve is almost the same as the original controls, without the downside of being "too sensitive"

This feels just about right.

[r_type2600]

Anybody who doesn't love this game? :-)

 

One small finetuning request: once a game is over and the player does not select to continue right away and press the fire button, it should automatically switch back to the title screen after a while (say 5-10 seconds).

[KevKelley]

I've been watching this game for some time and finally got a chance to play it. Not only is it extremely addictive and fun (I never knew of the original controls so I may have to try Candidate #2) but I absolutely love the music. It is awesome and I cannot wait for a physical release.

[Dionoid]

Anybody who doesn't love this game? :-)

 

One small finetuning request: once a game is over and the player does not select to continue right away and press the fire button, it should automatically switch back to the title screen after a while (say 5-10 seconds).

 

That is a good suggestion! Then the title screen can act like a sort of 'attract mode', which is a nice feature when the game is demoed at the AtariAge booth during the coming Portland Retro Gaming Expo.

[Dionoid]

I just uploaded version 1.2 of Amoeba Jump. I think this could well be the final version.

 

Changes:

• Returns to the title screen if the game has ended and left idle for more than 21 seconds; this acts as an attract mode. Thanks to r_type2600 for the suggestion!
  Note: I know some people like to take pictures of their high-score, so I thought 21 seconds should be sufficient for that :-)
• When a new game starts and the joystick isn't moved yet, the score bar shows the score and high-score alternating.
  Note: saving your high-score on SaveKey/AtariVox is only supported in the cart version.

Download it from here:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/280211-amoeba-jump/?p=4059709

Edited October 8, 2018 by Dionoid

[+sramirez2008]

Just played a few rounds of the latest version and I love it! Consider one cart sold.

 

Thanks for posting the ROMs.

[Dionoid]

My record so far: 21,256

 

[eegad]

Excellent game. I always liked DoodleJump on my phone/tablet. When I first saw this post I didn't think it would translate well to the Atari. Then I spent an hour yesterday afternoon playing "just one more time" each time I died. Great job!

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

Wow, that's damn good. I'm catching up though as I was able to get above 14,000 last night! :-) This game is so addictive!

 

My record so far: 21,256

 

IMG_3325.JPG

[AtariLeaf]

Holy crap this game is fun!

[stinkman]

fantastic game, excellent job! my high score is only about 7,800, but i've been playing for a couple weeks now daily because it's a great game to get in quick during work breaks and stuff. i even got it running well on my phone with 2600.emu. i never knew about doodle jump, so this concept is fresh for me. i like being able to chill on a platform for a while if i need a break. and the game difficulty progresses well to make it challenging but not crushing.

[chicgamer]

This game is incredibly addictive! I'm definitely looking forward to the cart release.

[+Muddyfunster]

simple concept, great execution, nice job.

[xybot67]

In my opinion, this is one of most addictive games on the system. I regularly need a fix.

[keebz]

Thanks for the great music Dionoid

Edited January 17, 2019 by keebz

[EmuDan]

This game is really well done! I love DoodleJump too, and my kids couldn't stop playing this version! I can't believe this is your first Homebrew!

[Dionoid]

This game is really well done! I love DoodleJump too, and my kids couldn't stop playing this version! I can't believe this is your first Homebrew!

 

Thanks for the kind words! It is my first assembly game and it was a great experience building this.

 

I'm a professional software developer (Java/.NET) and a couple of years back I made a game for mobile phones, so it's not like I was new to programming or game design :-)

 

And of course I got a lot of information from the AtariAge forums when I coded this game!

Edited February 8, 2019 by Dionoid

[+Muddyfunster]

Thanks for the great music Dionoid

That's really good!

[AtariLeaf]

Any update on when this game may get an AA store release?

[Dionoid]

Any update on when this game may get an AA store release?

 

Amoeba Jump will be released together with a small number of other games in a few months. Probably somewhere in May, but don't hold me to that :-)

[Dionoid]

I watched some people (and kids) play Amoeba Jump for the first time today, and some of them got frustrated with the fast controls.

So I made a fix today, which slows down the horizontal speed of the amoeba. By default, the amoeba now makes shorter jumps with better precision. You can still make long jumps if you hold down the fire button while jumping. In that case you'll get the original horizontal speed up.

This fix seems to result in better playability for people that are new to the game, so I think it's a good one.

But I also would like to hear your feedback of course.

New 1.5 version of Amoeba Jump is downloadable from the initial post.

Edited May 18, 2019 by Dionoid

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

I can definitely see this helping out somebody new to the game as that little amoeba can move pretty quick! Great add-on.

 

It does takes the horizontal movement from 3/4 screen width down to about 1/2 the screen width so I'll probably be sticking with the long jumps to bridge those tricky chasms. Of course this requires me to hold the button down the whole game.

 

As a suggestion, would it be possible to add the option to the main screen selection or as a difficulty switch instead so the button isn't needed to be held down the whole time? Unless your intent is to play with a mixed game of short and long jumps?

 

I just played a few games of the new build and found I ended up holding down the button instead of switching back and forth between long and short jumps. What does everyone else think?

 

So I made a fix today, which slows down the horizontal speed of the amoeba. By default, the amoeba now makes shorter jumps with better precision. You can still make long jumps if you hold down the fire button while jumping. In that case you'll get the original horizontal speed up.

This fix seems to result in better playability for people that are new to the game, so I think it's a good one.

But I also would like to hear your feedback of course.

New 1.5 version of Amoeba Jump is downloadable from the initial post.

 

[+Nathan Strum]

As a suggestion, would it be possible to add the option to the main screen selection or as a difficulty switch instead so the button isn't needed to be held down the whole time? Unless your intent is to play with a mixed game of short and long jumps?

 

I just played a few games of the new build and found I ended up holding down the button instead of switching back and forth between long and short jumps. What does everyone else think?

 

 

I found I did the same thing, although I like the short jumps at times. Maybe the difficulty switch toggles between two modes where either long jump is the default or short jump is the default, and the button lets you use the other.

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

Oooh, nice solution!! Best of both worlds!

 

I found I did the same thing, although I like the short jumps at times. Maybe the difficulty switch toggles between two modes where either long jump is the default or short jump is the default, and the button lets you use the other.

[Dionoid]

I just played a few games of the new build and found I ended up holding down the button instead of switching back and forth between long and short jumps. What does everyone else think?

 

I found I did the same thing, although I like the short jumps at times. Maybe the difficulty switch toggles between two modes where either long jump is the default or short jump is the default, and the button lets you use the other.

 

Thanks for your feedback! It sounds like you both prefer the original controls, and I think you're right.

 

This is what went wrong: Yesterday I asked a few local friends (who never played my game) to test Amoeba Jump on my Retron77. The feedback I got was that the controls were too fast.

This afternoon I asked them again to test my game, but this time on an actual Atari 2600, and now all of a sudden they liked the controls and were able to reach high scores. But it was exactly the same game!

 

So, I was clearly jumping to conclusions yesterday, and the original controls appear to be fine on actual hardware.

I think it's okay if it takes new players a few minutes to get used to the controls; because these long jumps are essential in reaching high scores.

 

Note to self: emulation is good, but actual hardware is better

Edited May 19, 2019 by Dionoid