Shattered Earth - WIP

[+KaeruYojimbo]

A small update. I changed the scoring. Instead of being worth 250 points each, the astronauts are now worth progressively more each one you find (50, 100, 200, 400) and the value resets to 50 when you die.

ShatteredEarth20210226.bin

[alfredtdk]

I really liked the game, it has the look of a space hero. I would find it even more attractive if I had a choice of colors. Wouldn't an olive green version like that of a GB be possible? Thanks.

 

[+KaeruYojimbo]

Use the Select switch during the attract/screensaver to choose between 4 color palettes.

 

ShatteredEarth20210310A.bin

[+Karl G]

Cool to have a choice of colors, but I still prefer the stark while on black myself. ? 

 

I also discovered that I enjoy the game more starting on level 3, dealing with the wide variety of enemies and hazards. Here's my personal wishlist for the game:

 

• Deterministic levels (e.g. if I go back to the previous screen, it is still the same type of screen as when I was last there)
• Reset button starts the game (in addition to the fire button as it is now)

[+KaeruYojimbo]

20 minutes ago, Karl G said:

Cool to have a choice of colors, but I still prefer the stark while on black myself. ? 

Me too (though the Game Boy pea green is growing on me)

 

20 minutes ago, Karl G said:

Deterministic levels (e.g. if I go back to the previous screen, it is still the same type of screen as when I was last there)

Move the left difficulty switch to A and the game remembers the last room you were in. That's as far as I plan to go with that. (Like I've said previously, the randomness is part of the premise that you're in a shifting debris field.)

 

20 minutes ago, Karl G said:

Reset button starts the game (in addition to the fire button as it is now)

That actually was a feature until this version. I accidentally removed it when I added the palette switching. It'll be back in the next update.

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

2 hours ago, KaeruYojimbo said:

Use the Select switch during the attract/screensaver to choose between 4 color palettes.

It's probably a small thing but you can see your ship flash on the screen briefly if you press reset over and over.

 

- James

[chewy]

WAY better green on black! love it

[chewy]

ok so i have a question i like the green on black best but i have a question about the green on light green, can you make background green less green and more blackish green like on an apple iie monochrome screen- can you bring background green down a smidge more mixed darker closer to back but still green but less bright then u got..........can that be experiemented with?

[+KaeruYojimbo]

22 hours ago, chewy said:

ok so i have a question i like the green on black best but i have a question about the green on light green, can you make background green less green and more blackish green like on an apple iie monochrome screen- can you bring background green down a smidge more mixed darker closer to back but still green but less bright then u got..........can that be experiemented with?

I plan on tweaking the green on black to look more like an Apple II screen. The other 2 are supposed to be C64 and Game Boy. I might play around with those a little to see if I can get them closer.

[chewy]

1 hour ago, KaeruYojimbo said:

I plan on tweaking the green on black to look more like an Apple II screen. The other 2 are supposed to be C64 and Game Boy. I might play around with those a little to see if I can get them closer.

oh interesting wow!!! 

[chewy]

dawg what about a Macintosh plus very light and dark greys.............

[+KaeruYojimbo]

I added a couple of sound effects (though probably not the final version of those sound effects) and now the "easter egg" shoots at you starting with the fourth level. Basically I spent a bunch of time making an enemy that rarely shows up slightly more dangerous if you make it far enough into the game.

 

ShatteredEarth20210606.bin

[Prizrak]

Updating binary on PlusCart [emoji106]

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[+KaeruYojimbo]

I don't have a new ROM to post yet, but for the one or two of you who have been wondering whatever happened to this game, here's a look at what I've been working on, including using the Color/B&W switch as it was intended.

 

[+KaeruYojimbo]

Here is the one-level demo ROM that will (hopefully) be on display in the AtariAge booth at PRGE next month. The basic concept of the game is the same, rescue four survivors and get them to the space station before the timer runs out. Here are the main changes:

Left Difficulty Switch: B - restart on the same screen after dying. A - restart on a random screen.

Right Difficulty Switch: B - unpause. A - pause.

Color/B&W switch: Choose between color and black and white palettes.

Deterministic levels: You wanted 'em (well, one of you did anyway), you got 'em. Levels are created as you move through them, but once a room has been created, it remains the same for the remainder of the level.

ShatteredPRGE.bin

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

ZeroPage Homebrew is playing Shattered Earth on tomorrow's ZPH stream LIVE on Twitch, hope you can join us!

 

Tue Sep 19, 2023 | LIVE @ 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 1AM GMT+1Day

WATCH LIVE: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/
WATCH LATER: https://youtube.com/zeropagehomebrew/

 

Games:

• Frantic (2023 WIP Update | 2600) by Darrell Spice Jr. @SpiceWare
• Tray 4 (2023 WIP | 2600) by Alberto @jab
• Shattered Earth (2023 WIP Demo Update | 2600) by Ric Pryor @KaeruYojimbo

 WATCH AT 1080P60 FOR BEST QUALITY

 

 

[+KaeruYojimbo]

New ROM at the end of this post. I also wanted to take the time to post an updated breakdown of the gameplay, so here it is:

 

Your goal is to rescue four survivors and get them to the space station before time runs out. The station won't appear until after you've collected four survivors and may be in an area you've already visited.

Levels are created as you move through them. Each level is made up of 16 screens in a 4x4 grid. Moving off the edge of the map wraps you around to the other edge.

Survivors are worth progressively more points as you collect them (50, 100, 200 and 400 points). The value resets to 50 every time you lose a life. Destroying rogue satellites is worth 25 points.

At the end of each level you receive a bonus of 5, 10, 25 or 50 points (depending on how many survivors you've collected since your last death) for each unit of time left plus 250 points per survivor rescued (so 1000 points, since you'll always rescue 4).

You have unlimited lives, but every time your ship is destroyed you lose time. The game is over when you run out of time.

In the first level the satellites won't fire on you, but they will starting with the second level. Starting with the third level you might occasionally encounter a rift, a hole in spacetime created by the destruction of the planet. If you get caught in the rift you'll be transported to a random place in the level and lose time. Starting with the fourth level the rift will pull you towards it.

Use the joystick to control your ship. Press the button to fire a shot. With the left difficulty switch in the B position you restart on the same screen after losing a life, with it in the A position you restart on a random screen. The right difficulty switch pauses and unpauses the game. The Color/B&W switch switches between color and black & white palettes.

ShatteredEarth20230925.bin

[+KaeruYojimbo]

I still need to clean up and tweak some things, but this is pretty close to a finished game at this point. The main addition here is a pacifist bonus. If you compete a level without dying and without destroying anything, you get a bonus of 1000 points per rescue at the end of the level instead of 250.

ShatteredEarth20231022.bin

[MateusSolo]

What a great game! It has that classic-Atari-game feel that it's not easy to achieve. Thank you so much for it!

[+KaeruYojimbo]

A couple of additions. First, a certain spacefaring cephalopod has returned. Second, in a bit of a return to the original "constantly shifting debris field" concept of the game, the map layout can now change mid-level. At the beginning of each level, one room of the map is randomly chosen as the trigger room. Once per level, entering that room clears the map and level generation starts over from scratch.

ShatteredEarth20231126.bin

[MateusSolo]

On 11/26/2023 at 3:01 PM, KaeruYojimbo said:

Second, in a bit of a return to the original "constantly shifting debris field" concept of the game, the map layout can now change mid-level. At the beginning of each level, one room of the map is randomly chosen as the trigger room. Once per level, entering that room clears the map and level generation starts over from scratch.

I prefer the levels either deterministic or completely random. This half-randomization of the levels makes the gameplay feel a bit confusing to me.

[+LS650]

...

[+LS650]

I just stumbled onto this.  I really like the game concept.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

Here's the first update of 2024, if nothing else earning me a spot on the 2024 WIP list. There are two main changes. First, I removed the random level regeneration triggering room that I added in the last update. Second, rifts now appear at every level. They are stationary in the first level, so they can easily be avoided (or entered intentionally if you find yourself stuck and want to use them to jump to a different part of the level). I also updated Galactopus a little. He will now shoot at you (I can't remember if he could do that yet in the last update I posted, but he definitely can now).

 

The game is very nearly finished at this point. I don't plan on making any more major changes or additions, just tweaks and bug fixes.

Shattered Earth 20240306.bin

[+KaeruYojimbo]

So here's something that happens when you work on a game off and on over the course of four and a half years. The other day I had an idea for fixing a small but annoying bug in the game. When I sat down to try it, I saw that it was already in the game. The exact code that I thought I had just come up with I had apparently thought of a while ago and completely forgotten about.