+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted November 24, 2019 Share Posted November 24, 2019 12 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: I really would like to have some more feedback about the game and how it plays for you. E.g. are the difficulties of the 5 variations OK? I find variation 1&2 way too sluggish to play. I think they would be simple enough with the speed of level 3 with the reduced number of tanks. I think that variation 3 is perfect as it is and variation 4 should be the speed of variation 3 and the difficulty of the reviving tanks is enough of an increase. Variation 5's speed is a little too fast and should be the speed of variation 4. 12 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: is the difficulty ramp up good? I can only speak to variation 3 for the difficulty ramp up but I think it's a touch too slow of a difficulty ramp up, a *slight* touch quicker would be better. 12 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: are the controls exact and responsive? Incredible, I have no problem at all with the movement or shooting. It's perfect. 12 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: last not least: how far can you get e.g. in variation 3? I was able to get to just under a 1000 points on variation 3 after a couple of games. I died most of the time due to stupid errors that were completely avoidable so I know I could do a lot better with even a few more games. This is an insta-buy for me when it makes it to cartridge, thank you so much for continuing to work on this masterpiece! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 24, 2019 Author Share Posted November 24, 2019 16 minutes ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said: I find variation 1&2 way too sluggish to play. I think they would be simple enough with the speed of level 3 with the reduced number of tanks. I think that variation 3 is perfect as it is and variation 4 should be the speed of variation 3 and the difficulty of the reviving tanks is enough of an increase. Variation 5's speed is a little too fast and should be the speed of variation 4. I can only speak to variation 3 for the difficulty ramp up but I think it's a touch too slow of a difficulty ramp up, a *slight* touch quicker would be better. Very good points, thanks! I had about the same feeling. Anyone else want to comment on this? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hizzy Posted November 24, 2019 Share Posted November 24, 2019 1 & 2 are too sluggish. One sluggish level to play with the kids is enough. I'm fine with the difficulty on 3, but I wouldn't mind it being a bit tougher. What are your thoughts on being able to shoot through dead enemies? I've noticed the active tanks can fire through disabled ones, but I can't shoot through the disabled tanks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 24, 2019 Author Share Posted November 24, 2019 (edited) 35 minutes ago, hizzy said: 1 & 2 are too sluggish. One sluggish level to play with the kids is enough. I will accelerate both. 35 minutes ago, hizzy said: I'm fine with the difficulty on 3, but I wouldn't mind it being a bit tougher. Difficulty will ramp up a bit faster, so that will make it automatically a bit tougher. Quote What are your thoughts on being able to shoot through dead enemies? I've noticed the active tanks can fire through disabled ones, but I can't shoot through the disabled tanks. That's taken from the original game. And since the tank missiles are much stronger than your shots (the missiles can kill through their own shields), it seems to make sense, no? Edited November 24, 2019 by Thomas Jentzsch 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian O Posted November 24, 2019 Share Posted November 24, 2019 Fun game Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hizzy Posted November 24, 2019 Share Posted November 24, 2019 2 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: I will accelerate both. Difficulty will ramp up a bit faster, so that will make it automatically a bit tougher. That's taken from the original game. And since the tank missiles are much stronger than your shots (the missiles can kill through their own shields), it seems to make sense, no? If it is taken from the original, then it should stay that way! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted November 25, 2019 Share Posted November 25, 2019 9 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: I will accelerate both. Difficulty will ramp up a bit faster, so that will make it automatically a bit tougher. That's taken from the original game. And since the tank missiles are much stronger than your shots (the missiles can kill through their own shields), it seems to make sense, no? Great game. Addictive. Reminds me of the Tank stage in Tron. There is a little luck involved on whether they swarm towards you or scatter. I don't see any of the tanks getting caught in futile cycling. That timer is a bitch in higher levels, but keeps you from taking a slow-paced patience strategy, sometimes forcing you to get reckless, but I think it adds to the fun. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 25, 2019 Author Share Posted November 25, 2019 (edited) Just updated to RC 3, following the suggestions above. Changes: changed initial game speeds for all variations but 3 (1 and 2 are faster now, 4 and 5 are slower) faster difficulty ramp up from city to city (~40% faster, please let me know if that's too much now) bonus life every 2 cities cleared Please have a look at the changes and let me know how they work for you. Thanks in advance! Edited November 25, 2019 by Thomas Jentzsch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 25, 2019 Author Share Posted November 25, 2019 10 hours ago, hizzy said: If it is taken from the original, then it should stay that way! I installed O2EM and double checked. Now I have to stand corrected, shots can pass killed tanks too. I don't think this makes a major difference to the game play, but I will change that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted November 25, 2019 Share Posted November 25, 2019 20 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: I installed O2EM and double checked. Now I have to stand corrected, shots can pass killed tanks too. I don't think this makes a major difference to the game play, but I will change that. How about making it a difficulty option? I think it adds an important strategic challenge to not be able to shoot through dead tanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 25, 2019 Author Share Posted November 25, 2019 2 minutes ago, Nathan Strum said: How about making it a difficulty option? I think it adds an important strategic challenge to not be able to shoot through dead tanks. Does it? I can only think about some rare situations where it really makes a difference. What do you have in mind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 25, 2019 Author Share Posted November 25, 2019 23 hours ago, sramirez2008 said: Love the Portuguese artwork. Some similarities with the Iron Giant. The robot looks familiar to me too. But I can't remember what it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hizzy Posted November 26, 2019 Share Posted November 26, 2019 I noticed that every 5th bullet or so passed through the dead tanks. It could have been the angle of the dead tank, but I found it strange! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted November 26, 2019 Share Posted November 26, 2019 11 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: The robot looks familiar to me too. But I can't remember what it is. Maybe...? (From the opening sequence in Toy Story 2) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted November 26, 2019 Share Posted November 26, 2019 14 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: Does it? I can only think about some rare situations where it really makes a difference. If you can't fire through dead tanks, you have to navigate around them to shoot any other tanks that may end up in your line of fire on the other side (that sentence made sense in my head when I wrote it...). If you can fire through dead tanks, it makes the game easier since it effectively opens up that entire path for you to shoot. Your enemies can already shoot over their dead comrades, so this would even the playing field. But it may not be desirable, if it makes the game too much easier. If the Difficulty switches aren't already in use, I'd suggest Expert/A would be "can't fire through dead tanks" and Novice/B would be "can fire through dead tanks". Anyway... you already can fire through dead tanks. If you're persistent. (As with ZeroPage Homebrew... watch at 60fps.) Here are the individual frames. If the position of your shot lines up with the flickering of the dead tank's shields, it passes through them: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 26, 2019 Author Share Posted November 26, 2019 Yes, I noticed that too. And it is hard to fix, because I am using hardware collision detection (to save space). So I better make them go through in all cases. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 26, 2019 Author Share Posted November 26, 2019 16 hours ago, Nathan Strum said: Maybe...? Nope. If you search a bit, you will find lots of battle robots with small and no heads. But nothing which comes close. Maybe from another label? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 26, 2019 Author Share Posted November 26, 2019 (edited) 17 hours ago, Nathan Strum said: If you can't fire through dead tanks, you have to navigate around them to shoot any other tanks that may end up in your line of fire on the other side (that sentence made sense in my head when I wrote it...). ... Anyway... you already can fire through dead tanks. If you're persistent. Yes, and I cannot prevent that. So I decided to let them always go through. That leads to RC4 (as always in first post). Changes this time: helicopter shots go through killed tanks new helicopter graphics (the old one looked dull). If anyone can draw a better one (or anything else that works in the scenario, the Odyssey 2 prototype had something like a moving trash can ) using the ball... bug fix in random number generation Feedback more than welcome! Edited November 26, 2019 by Thomas Jentzsch 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted November 29, 2019 Share Posted November 29, 2019 (edited) We'll be checking out the updates to Robot City LIVE on tomorrow's (Friday) ZeroPage Homebrew stream on Twitch at 12PM PT | 3PM ET | 8PM GMT! Hope everyone can watch! Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/ Games: - Robot City (2019 WIP Update) by Thomas Jentzsch - Street Rod 2600 (2019 WIP) by Anthony Quinlan aka TwentySixHundred - The End 2600 (2019 WIP Update) by Carlos aka RaymanC Archive Video of Stream (SET VIDEO TO 1080P60 FOR FULL QUALITY) Edited November 30, 2019 by ZeroPage Homebrew 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted December 1, 2019 Author Share Posted December 1, 2019 Next one RC5 (see first post). Only minor changes and bug fixes. The noticeable change are the helicopter graphics (again), where I added a front view (had to flicker the landing gear) and widened the side view. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIX Posted December 1, 2019 Share Posted December 1, 2019 (edited) On 11/26/2019 at 8:19 PM, Thomas Jentzsch said: new helicopter graphics (the old one looked dull). If anyone can draw a better one (or anything else that works in the scenario, the Odyssey 2 prototype had something like a moving trash can ) using the ball... Hey man, since it's a top down game, it's only right to have a top down view of the heli ! I don't know the dimensions or the frames used.. but would you consider something like this ? Edited December 1, 2019 by TIX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted December 1, 2019 Author Share Posted December 1, 2019 I thought about a top view too. But I couldn't come up with a good graphics. The problem is, that I am using the ball here. Which means, that each line can only have 1, 2, 4 or 8 consecutive pixels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted December 1, 2019 Share Posted December 1, 2019 Here are a couple of variations on the side-view copter (current one is on the right). The left one is similar to what's in Super Cobra, but requires flickering the cockpit and landing skids in the front view. The middle one lifts the skids up a little higher and widens the front view, making it look a little more aggressive. I took a shot at making a top-view copter with just the ball. It didn't end well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIX Posted December 1, 2019 Share Posted December 1, 2019 I'd give it a shot if I was familiar with the limitations.. I'm new to the 2600 (old player though..) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted December 1, 2019 Author Share Posted December 1, 2019 3 minutes ago, TIX said: I'd give it a shot if I was familiar with the limitations.. I'm new to the 2600 (old player though..) Limitations: In every line there can be only one single object, which is either 1, 2, 4 or 8 normal pixels wide. So no gaps inside a line. The beginning of the object can be shifted between lines. The helicopter (or whatever you come up with) is displayed in two frames (at 15 Hz). The rotor is flickering intentionally, but the landing skids (or the cockpit window in Nathan's suggestion) are flickering to create a horizontal gap between pixels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.