Disc Donk beta -- a Tombstones B-side

[bjbest60]

So, whilst I was in the process of making Tombstones, the ROM wound up being slightly larger than 8k after adding everything to make the game feel polished. I used about 9k of a 16k ROM. I figured I couldn't let all that extra space go to waste.

 

I grew up with a TI-99/4a, and one of my favorite games was TI Invaders. My favorite part of that game was the bonus round where you shot a spaceship back and forth that got increasingly smaller and further away. So here, in that grand tradition, I am happy to present you this Tombstones B-side which is stupidly named Disc Donk (after the sound made when the ship gets hit).

 

Disc Donk attempts to replicate as much of the TI Invaders bonus game as possible while tacking on enough extras to make it a full game.

 

Features:

• Facsimiles of the TI colors, sound effects, graphics, and gameplay
• Same increasing point values as the TI version
• Dramatic explosion animation and sound after the 15th hit of the saucer
• Three stages per level; in each stage the saucer moves faster
• Five separate levels, increasingly blockaded
• Motivational messages between levels and an extra ship, too (idea and sound effect stolen vaguely from Munch Man)
• Hypnotic title screen and game over graphics
• A cornucopia of curses as you miss a three-pixel wide saucer at the top of the screen

I think my favorite part of the original bonus round was that it was more rhythmic than deliberate aiming. If you got the timing down, you could get pretty far without worrying where the ship was--just press fire at the right time. I'm pretty pleased that I feel that rhythm has been maintained here. When I'm feeling it, I can get to level 4 somewhat consistently. When I'm not, I can't get past the third stage of the first level.

 

Anyway, this will be released alongside Tombstones on a cart as a twofer type of thing. (In fact, the reason this ROM is 16k is because Tombstones is also in it.) But I wanted to release this separately for people to try out and offer comments / suggestions / bug reports.

 

Good luck with it!

 

Disc Donk Beta 1.bin

Edited September 13, 2018 by bjbest60

[+Karl G]

This is excellent, and I love the idea of a "side B" bonus game. This is nice and simple, but has fun, challenging gameplay. It is great as it is now, but I have two minor quibbles:

 

• The speed jump after the first shot feels like a bit too much compared to subsequent hits
• I would prefer the moving ship sounds to be a little quieter compared to the others

[bjbest60]

This is excellent, and I love the idea of a "side B" bonus game. This is nice and simple, but has fun, challenging gameplay. It is great as it is now, but I have two minor quibbles:

• The speed jump after the first shot feels like a bit too much compared to subsequent hits
• I would prefer the moving ship sounds to be a little quieter compared to the others

Those are both things I've been tweaking a lot. I definitely agree on the sound--I find it a bit annoying, honestly, but it's the closest I could come to approximating the TI version. Decreasing the volume should help. And I can definitely decrease the change in speed. I often find myself just waiting for the ship to move far enough right before I can begin blasting it, so it could move a little faster there, and then the change can just be a bit less.

 

Thanks for the feedback! I'll tweak those items some more.

Edited September 14, 2018 by bjbest60

[lucifershalo]

simple but really fun...like it!

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

We'll be featuring Disc Donk on the ZeroPage Homebrew stream tomorrow on Twitch at 6PM PT/9PM ET! Hope everyone can tune in to watch us play!

Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.t...ropagehomebrew/

Games Tomorrow:
Gyvolver (WIP) (2016) by Duane Alan Hahn (Random Terrain)
Sheep It Up! (2018) by Dr. Ludos
Wal-Rush 2: Tick Tusk (2018) by (JWalrus)
Disk Donk (WIP) (2018) by BJ Best (bjbest60)
Dr. Flin and His Pills (2015) by atari2600land

 

EDIT: Here's the YouTube archive of the show!

Edited November 12, 2018 by cimmerian