ThrustLander - retro-inspired cave flyer (in VCS Store)

[justclaws]

Atari announced it here, but not everybody reads Medium.
https://atarivcs.medium.com/thrustlander-is-a-luxurious-modern-take-on-the-classic-cave-flyer-and-it-is-coming-to-the-atari-56923e4205fc

Later in this thread, the developer gives additional information and a game hints.



The video looks great, but you need to see the video close-up to appreciate it's beauty. ?

* I have no connection with the Atari company, the game, or the developer.

[+TrekMD]

Looks good.

[Atarick]

36 minutes ago, justclaws said:

Atari announced it here, but not everybody reads Medium.
https://atarivcs.medium.com/thrustlander-is-a-luxurious-modern-take-on-the-classic-cave-flyer-and-it-is-coming-to-the-atari-56923e4205fc

The video looks great, but you need to see the video close-up to appreciate it's beauty. ?

* I have no connection with the Atari company, the game, or the developer.

Best looking title I've seen for this so far.

[justclaws]

Thanks to CranberryFo who posted it loading from the AtariVCS menu, here's actual gameplay.
Not everybody understands a game which involves skill, patience, and not just blasting of course...

 

[Rob Capper]

Hi everyone,

 

I am the developer for ThrustLander. I just put together a let's play video for the game. I wanted to show a higher difficulty level and how the ship controls after more time in the pilot's chair. I play using the Atari Classic controller using the paddle functionality. I also showcase retro mode, timed mode and a selection of weapons for the ship.

 

I don't want to take away from CranberryFo's video at all. They put together a really nice video of a first play experience and you should check it out above too.

 

ThrustLander let's play link

 

I think ThrustLander is a really nice fit for the Atari VCS and I am hopeful that there will be people who get enjoyment out of the game, whether it is from playing on unfair or a more relaxed easy mode. It's quite a niche genre of game as well as being a high skill level game to play, so I know it might not be a game that resonates with everyone.

 

There are some planned bug fixes and updates coming in the new year if you already own the game, so please bear with me. Things have understandably slowed down a bit over the holidays.

 

If anyone has any questions at all about the game, please let me know! 

 

Edited December 28, 2020 by Rob Capper
bad youtube link

[+joeatari1]

Thanks for making this Rob.  The visuals look great.  I will have to check it out when my VCS arrives.

[Mockduck]

New Atari VCS Game Review by me - Thrustlander

 

 

 

[Cine4Home]

On 12/28/2020 at 7:37 PM, Rob Capper said:

I think ThrustLander is a really nice fit for the Atari VCS and I am hopeful that there will be people who get enjoyment out of the game, whether it is from playing on unfair or a more relaxed easy mode. It's quite a niche genre of game as well as being a high skill level game to play, so I know it might not be a game that resonates with everyone.

 

 

Hi Rob,

yeah, some levels are really, really difficult to master, but actually, that is what makes this title so addicting, at least for me.

When you miss a level over and over again, it really angers one and causes new ambition to try it again "once more". 

 

And the paddle-steering is just great also. 

Thanks for that great game, I hope many others will appreciate it also.

Regards,

Ekki

Edited January 10, 2021 by Cine4Home

[Atarishawn]

On 12/28/2020 at 12:37 PM, Rob Capper said:

Hi everyone,

 

I am the developer for ThrustLander. I just put together a let's play video for the game. I wanted to show a higher difficulty level and how the ship controls after more time in the pilot's chair. I play using the Atari Classic controller using the paddle functionality. I also showcase retro mode, timed mode and a selection of weapons for the ship.

 

I don't want to take away from CranberryFo's video at all. They put together a really nice video of a first play experience and you should check it out above too.

 

ThrustLander let's play link

 

I think ThrustLander is a really nice fit for the Atari VCS and I am hopeful that there will be people who get enjoyment out of the game, whether it is from playing on unfair or a more relaxed easy mode. It's quite a niche genre of game as well as being a high skill level game to play, so I know it might not be a game that resonates with everyone.

 

There are some planned bug fixes and updates coming in the new year if you already own the game, so please bear with me. Things have understandably slowed down a bit over the holidays.

 

If anyone has any questions at all about the game, please let me know! 

 

I have downloaded this for atari vcs and i can get neither my xbox one controller or my Nintendo switch controller to make it respond. They are both hooked up via usb  on front of console

[Rob Capper]

Thanks for all of the replies to this. I apologise for the late responses. I have subscribed to the thread and I will check in more often.

 

On 12/28/2020 at 2:59 PM, joeatari1 said:

Thanks for making this Rob.  The visuals look great.  I will have to check it out when my VCS arrives.

Thanks, I hope you will enjoy the game!

 

On 1/9/2021 at 10:20 PM, Mockduck said:

New Atari VCS Game Review by me - Thrustlander

 

This was a great review, thank you for making it. I agreed with everything you said and I have been following your other reviews with interest. ?

 

On 1/10/2021 at 8:13 AM, Cine4Home said:

 

Hi Rob,

yeah, some levels are really, really difficult to master, but actually, that is what makes this title so addicting, at least for me.

When you miss a level over and over again, it really angers one and causes new ambition to try it again "once more". 

 

And the paddle-steering is just great also. 

Thanks for that great game, I hope many others will appreciate it also.

Regards,

Ekki

Thanks Ekki. I am glad you are enjoying playing. The steep difficulty level is the number one piece of feedback that I get about the game. It tends to be quite polarising.  I am glad that you enjoy it though and you are finding it addictive, I find it the same myself.

 

I understand what you mean about getting angry when losing a mission. In my 'let's play' video I had to play one of the levels three times due to lapses in concentration. Generally, I tried really hard to reduce randomness as much as possible, so failing a level would seldom be due to random bad luck. That is why all the turrets have fixed firing arcs in the game, so the player can plan around situations. The goal was to make it so deaths would be less on the frustrating side and more towards trying a different approach, different tactics, using alternative ship weapons etc. At least, that was the aim! ?

 

On 1/16/2021 at 6:44 PM, Atarishawn said:

I have downloaded this for atari vcs and i can get neither my xbox one controller or my Nintendo switch controller to make it respond. They are both hooked up via usb  on front of console

Hi Shawn. We chatted briefly on twitter. I appreciate you reaching out about the controls and I am sorry you are having difficulty playing. Like I mentioned (and for anyone new reading this) the two supported controllers are the Atari Classic controller and the Atari Modern controller. I am sorry for any confusion caused with third party compatibility expectations. Having said all of this, I do actually have a new internal build in the works with increased third party controller support as I am sure this is going to come up again in the future with other players. It is currently getting debugged/play-tested. If all goes well I should be sending it to Atari soon.

---

 

The latest build of ThrustLander should be live on the Atari store. It fixes the known bugs in the game, some balance issues and has some visual improvements, specifically aimed at helping new players and distinguishing between enemy projectile types. If anyone encounters any bugs/issues or of there is any other feedback, please don't hesitate in letting me know! ?️

 

Cheers,

 

-Rob

 

 

 

 

[leech]

I need to buy this and a few other games, but was hoping Atari would set up a cart system so I don't have to keep putting in my info per game.  Game looks just like what I'd love to play. 

 

Though it also looks like it'd be awesome to have a few 'Vanguard' style levels

[Rob Capper]

There is a new review of ThrustLander by Retr0rob

 

 

[leech]

14 hours ago, Rob Capper said:

There is a new review of ThrustLander by Retr0rob

 

 

Sweet!  Did they fix the cart issue so we can order more than one game at a time?  That is what I have been waiting for.

[jhd]

 

I just want to point out the irony of a game being developed by a Canadian for hardware that is not (yet) available for retail purchase in this country. 

[Rob Capper]

18 minutes ago, jhd said:

 

I just want to point out the irony of a game being developed by a Canadian for hardware that is not (yet) available for retail purchase in this country. 

I don't know the intended rollout schedule by Atari for different countries but I do know that the current set of developers are from many different places in the World. I don't think this is uncommon for many systems, past and present.

 

17 hours ago, leech said:

Sweet!  Did they fix the cart issue so we can order more than one game at a time?  That is what I have been waiting for.

My VCS is set up in development mode so I cannot test this unfortunately.

 

[tripled79]

Wait a minute! This was made in Canada? Glad I own it!

[+SabertoothRetro]

Thrustlander is probably my favorite VCS game. I've easily spent the most time with it, slowly working my way through each variation of each level. It's got a ton of variety and is the best implementation of the Classic Joystick so far.  Its a great example of a retro-inspired modern game. Well worth a look if you have a VCS. 

[Mockduck]

8 hours ago, SabertoothRetro said:

Thrustlander is probably my favorite VCS game. I've easily spent the most time with it, slowly working my way through each variation of each level. It's got a ton of variety and is the best implementation of the Classic Joystick so far.  Its a great example of a retro-inspired modern game. Well worth a look if you have a VCS. 

Not mine, but only by personal preference. I think objectively (for real) the game is clearly one of the best designed and implemented games on the VCS. Looks great, plays great, sounds great, moves great, tons of options and variety, tough but fair, price is even fine, etc. It is imo an absolute MUST BUY for the new VCS. 

[leech]

51 minutes ago, Mockduck said:

Not mine, but only by personal preference. I think objectively (for real) the game is clearly one of the best designed and implemented games on the VCS. Looks great, plays great, sounds great, moves great, tons of options and variety, tough but fair, price is even fine, etc. It is imo an absolute MUST BUY for the new VCS. 

Do they still not have an online store outside of purchasing on the VCS?  This is the 'feature' I'm waiting for.  As I don't like purchasing games directly on consoles.  Hell even in Sony's case, I buy cards on Amazon so I can put the code into the playstation store to buy anything.  Just don't trust game companies with any data.  The VCS store should do the same (purchasable codes).

[justclaws]

55 minutes ago, leech said:

Do they still not have an online store outside of purchasing on the VCS?  This is the 'feature' I'm waiting for.  As I don't like purchasing games directly on consoles.  Hell even in Sony's case, I buy cards on Amazon so I can put the code into the playstation store to buy anything.  Just don't trust game companies with any data.  The VCS store should do the same (purchasable codes).

In The Netherlands, there are pre-paid cards which can be used to make payments for online services.
The cards are bought in places like newsagents, and can be topped up with cash, so are anonymous. 
People use them for online service payments, but also most online banks offer one-time credit cards.

The VCS store does not ask any more details than card verification, so maybe that's an option for you?
The purchase though is associated with your account, which is simply the email address, nothing more.

Yes, codes to redeem would be a great addition, because I then could give ThrustLander to friend, too.

[Atari_JaguarVCS]

Thrustlander is one of my favourite games thus far on the VCS I’d highly recommend it to anyone getting a new system, its a game I’ve almost completed and keep going back to excellent value for money! it’s definitely a whole lot of fun and frustration at the same time when using the Joysticks spinner to steer the ship lol. I wish Jani would update the controls for Guntech and implement the spinner to steer the ship, more games should be taking advantage of the VCS’s classic joystick controller. 

[Rob Capper]

The Atari joysticks (especially the Classic Controller) are definitely challenging to implement from a developer perspective. Getting the joysticks working as expected from just a raw input perspective is one thing but after that there are a lot of decisions with the classic controller on how to process that data and use it in a game. I have had a few developers reach out to me and I have shared my approach with them. It is oddly a new challenge (even though paddle joysticks are so old) to handle the paddle functionality. For Barrage Blocks I have added settings to handle acceleration with the paddle joystick which take some getting used to from a player perspective but then allow you to be very precise over short distance which is great for a block-breaker. I think as time goes on the best methods of wrangling the data will be figured out and shared more, it is just going to take some time.

 

Thank you everyone for the kind comments about ThrustLander. It is very gratifying to hear that people are enjoying playing!

 

 

[+swlovinist]

I love this game!   #1 For me on the VCS for me.   I am having an issue and do not know if this is just a controller issue for me or something else.   When I try to play Thrustlander with a wireless modern controller, The controller cannot move the menu on the title screen.   I have to hook up the modern controller with a USB cable and play that way.   The controller works fine on all other games that I have wireless.  

[justclaws]

18 hours ago, swlovinist said:

I love this game!   #1 For me on the VCS for me.   I am having an issue and do not know if this is just a controller issue for me or something else.   When I try to play Thrustlander with a wireless modern controller, The controller cannot move the menu on the title screen.   I have to hook up the modern controller with a USB cable and play that way.   The controller works fine on all other games that I have wireless.  

Yes, it's a bug, but I reported it to the author (Rob Capper in this thread) and I'm sure a bug-fix is coming.
I'm sure it worked originally, and then maybe in an update, it broke, not sure, but he's great with updates!

The VCS does not use a central library for controller interaction, which is something I hope will evolved too,
so a controller can work 100% in one game, but another game may have a bug, or oversight. The authors
of the individual games determine how they use the controllers, and that's why such things happen to-date.
(The Bluetooth sync etc. is done by the O/S, but not actually reading the controllers - each game does that.)

[+swlovinist]

1 hour ago, justclaws said:

Yes, it's a bug, but I reported it to the author (Rob Capper in this thread) and I'm sure a bug-fix is coming.
I'm sure it worked originally, and then maybe in an update, it broke, not sure, but he's great with updates!

The VCS does not use a central library for controller interaction, which is something I hope will evolved too,
so a controller can work 100% in one game, but another game may have a bug, or oversight. The authors
of the individual games determine how they use the controllers, and that's why such things happen to-date.
(The Bluetooth sync etc. is done by the O/S, but not actually reading the controllers - each game does that.)

Thank you for looking into this.   I love the game and am currently playing it today on my day off.   Also there is a menu overlap in the game...menus of two different screens overlap.   I am sure he is aware of this bug but just a heads up.