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Major Blink - C16 port to the A8


Nojeee

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That might explain it. The original version was a fairly faithful port of the C16 release and I made no changes to the scoring or skill levels. I had noticed that an experienced player could accumulate lots of lives by starting at a lower skill setting so there were lots in reserve when things got harder. Extra lives were also given quite frequently so it was easy to keep to keep them topped up. When I started on the 5200 conversion I decided to spend some time balancing the game better and the new 2020 A8 version carries that over. The frequency of extra lives, along with the bonus scores generated for completing a box, is now governed by the entry skill setting. Additionally, the number and speed of enemies have been adjusted to (hopefully) make the difficulty ramp better. Finally, when you start reaching skill levels around 20 speeds increase even more. These changes should make it far more difficult to lock out at 999999 (I’d better not say impossible).

 

it would be really interesting to hear if you think the 2020 version makes things harder.

 

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1 minute ago, Preppie said:

Had another go, things do pick up after lvl20.  It's more challenging now at higher levels but I'm pretty sure I could max out the score with a few more attempts.

If you do manage to max out the score I’ll have to come up with a tweak to allow it to count higher ... I’ll need to keep the actual score values and skill settings the same though. 
 

3 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

Just above you at 59...

I claim the high score at 69 and counting ...

 

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14 hours ago, Preppie said:

I got 999999 on normal mode and nearly 800k on master, so the score system could do with altering - or you could just write Major Blink II :)

 

Thanks for the games Jon, sorry to give you more work.


Thanks for letting me know ... it just goes to show how bad I am at playing my own games!

 

I’ve had an idea which would cover the problem without making any changes to the in-game scoring and balancing. I’ll upload a version here once I’ve had a chance to do some testing .. I’ll need to add some cheats to enable me to get such a high score ;)

 

 

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  • 1 month later...
On 11/24/2020 at 9:59 AM, Nojeee said:


Thanks for letting me know ... it just goes to show how bad I am at playing my own games!

 

I’ve had an idea which would cover the problem without making any changes to the in-game scoring and balancing. I’ll upload a version here once I’ve had a chance to do some testing .. I’ll need to add some cheats to enable me to get such a high score ;)

 

 

That's cool can't wait for the new version

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I've spent ages playing the game and can't get anywhere nearing exceeding the score counter (I'll put it down to old age!).

 

However, I've created an updated version that works exactly as before with the 6 digit score but bumps to 7 digits when the score goes over a million. I've done it this way to preserve the original layout which is tidier when showing the high scores on the title page.

 

I haven't been able to do the amount of testing I'd normally do with this new version so I'd still advise sticking with the original unless you really want to try and break it ;). Let me know if there are any problems.

 

Major_Blink_2020_V2.xex

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17 minutes ago, Nojeee said:

I've spent ages playing the game and can't get anywhere nearing exceeding the score counter (I'll put it down to old age!).

 

However, I've created an updated version that works exactly as before with the 6 digit score but bumps to 7 digits when the score goes over a million. I've done it this way to preserve the original layout which is tidier when showing the high scores on the title page.

 

I haven't been able to do the amount of testing I'd normally do with this new version so I'd still advise sticking with the original unless you really want to try and break it ;). Let me know if there are any problems.

 

Major_Blink_2020_V2.xex 21.17 kB · 2 downloads

Thanks Jon, I'll try and smash the 10million when I get time lol

 

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On 11/24/2020 at 3:59 PM, Nojeee said:


Thanks for letting me know ... it just goes to show how bad I am at playing my own games!

LOL. I once sent my high score (WR) on Donkey Kong on the A8 to Landon Dyer (who programmed it) and he said that it was nuts and that he had never reached anywhere near that score..... 
Sure is nice to hear.

I found the new version of Major Blink to be indeed harder....I didn't check scores or levels....let me try again :)

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Scored somewhere in the 210000 after a few games. Mind you that was with 3 (small Dutch) beers down the hatch.... :D

 

I find it a bit unfair that when the bears are shot and dying, they can still kill you when you walk into them, but that's the case with many more games and if the original was that way....surely don't change that :)

 

Oh I also had a glitch/bug: at one moment one of the drones actually entered a top right corner of one of the boxes. It left a black "hole" but I could still "paint" the box and complete the level. It was in a situation where I was at the top of the screen and the drones where "queuing up" to get me.... 

 

By the way, there are some "magicians" here on this forum that specialize in creating the most awesome title screens....I'd love to see the C64 title screen version converted (and of course hugely improved) to the A8 ! :) 



By the way Jon, did you do the C64 version ? As it shows "Digital Monastery" in the scrolling text in the main menu.

Also, is there some kind of manual for the C16 version of Major Blink ? I know the game is simple enough but I can't find anything online ? 

While searching for that, I found this very nice interview:  http://classic-games.pl/jon-williams-the-classics-creator-an-interview-english-version/ 
Really enjoyed reading it (especially that you used an A8 to develop games on the Commodore.... LOL) 

IMG_4088.jpg

Schermafbeelding 2021-01-29 om 10.51.33.png

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I never spotted that glitch during testing so I think it’s a rare thing, I probably wouldn’t be able to reproduce it.  It’ll be down to the way an enemy is cleared before redrawing after a move.

 

I don’t remember there ever being a manual for the C16 game. All of the marketing was done by CRL who also did the cassette inlay picture ... which was then replicated for the C64 loading screen. I did write the C64 version but didn’t really know where to release it. The C64 scene seems to be quite different from Atari with a focus on cracking and releasing versions with cheats menus. I was invited to join a group who then took my main code and added the loading screen done by one of their members - they then uploaded it for me (hence the credit to Digital Monastery).

 

I remember back in the 1980’s how frustrating it was developing games. When I was asked to go a C64 game I just worked out a way of using the Atari 800 to assemble the code and send it to the C64’s user port. It sped things up greatly because if the C64 crashed I could simply update the code, reassemble and re-download. By the time I move onto the ST there were systems available to do the same to a slave ST or Amiga.
 

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16 hours ago, Nojeee said:

I remember back in the 1980’s how frustrating it was developing games. When I was asked to go a C64 game I just worked out a way of using the Atari 800 to assemble the code and send it to the C64’s user port. It sped things up greatly because if the C64 crashed I could simply update the code, reassemble and re-download. By the time I move onto the ST there were systems available to do the same to a slave ST or Amiga.

 

Having your dev environment be your test execution environment, with no high speed I/O from machine to machine, was truly a pain in the ass. I remember in the 90s getting remote debugging working for the first time with Visual C and just being so excited. "Aww it crashed, set a break point, push the magic button, and I'm back to the same spot!". So crazy that you didn't have to instrument for it.

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  • 2 years later...

ZeroPage Homebrew is playing Major Blink on today's ZPH stream LIVE on Twitch! Hope you can join us!

 

Games:

  • Dungeon Adventurer (2024 Final | A8) by New Generation / Daniel Koźmiński @dely (Code) / Piotr Świerszcz @tatqoo (Soundtrack)
  • Major Blink (2021 Final | A8) by Jon Williams @Nojeee
  • Laura (2018 | A8) by Arkadiusz Lubaszka @larek (Programming, Concept) / Paweł Szewczyk @ripek(Graphics, Game Intro Design) / Bartłomiej Wieczorkowski @wieczor (Music, Sound Effects)

 

 

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