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darryl1970

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3 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

I would suggest something different:

  1. allow using diagonals: e.g. if the player moves right and presses right and down, then the player will continue to move right and corner down when possible. 
  2. automatically align: e.g. if the player moves right and is close to a down corner and then presses down, continue to move right until the player is over the corner and then start moving down

I would suggest testing other maze games and see how they solve the alignment and diagonals problems. The game is great, just the controls need some more improvement.

Thank you for the suggestion. #2 is pretty much how it was before. It seemed to be difficulty for James. 

 

Diagonals are not eliminated in this. The mouse still glides along when a diagonal is held. However, if both diagonal options were open, horizontal would be the dominant choice. Now, the player has an indicator that they are holding both, instead of overshooting.

 

I actually matched how "Coleco" handled the issue in 2600 Mousetrap.I believe the game still operates as you describe in 1 and 2, but I may have made it sound like I eliminated diagonals. If I am misunderstanding, feel free to correct me. :)

 

--Darryl

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1 minute ago, darryl1970 said:

Diagonals are not eliminated in this. The mouse still glides along when a diagonal is held. However, if both diagonal options were open, horizontal would be the dominant choice. Now, the player has an indicator that they are holding both, instead of overshooting.

What I suggest is, to make the dominant direction the opposite of the current direction. So when moving horizontally and both directions are open, use vertical. And vice versa.

1 minute ago, darryl1970 said:

I actually matched how "Coleco" handled the issue in 2600 Mousetrap.I believe the game still operates as you describe in 1 and 2, but I may have made it sound like I eliminated diagonals. If I am misunderstanding, feel free to correct me. :)

I only dislike the stopping.

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10 hours ago, darryl1970 said:
    1. Door Pause: This is for single joystick control. Pauses mouse when right button is held

:thumbsup:  Much better - *thank you* for adding this feature option.  Is it possible, though, to allow multiple color door changes while the right button remains pressed? 

 

Currently, if the right button is held, and a direction is pressed to change a color set of doors, another color set of doors cannot be changed, until both the direction and right button is released, which requires another press of the right mouse button and movement of the joystick in the direction of the desired color doors.

 

Can the right button remain held, the mouse remains not moving, and the player can select another direction, continuously changing different color doors/directions, until the right button is released?

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1 minute ago, Trebor said:

:thumbsup:  Much better - *thank you* for adding this feature option.  Is it possible, though, to allow multiple color door changes while the right button remains pressed? 

 

Currently, if the right button is held, and a direction is pressed to change a color set of doors, another color set of doors cannot be changed, until both the direction and right button is released, which requires another press of the right mouse button and movement of the joystick in the direction of the desired color doors.

 

Can the right button remain held, the mouse remains not moving, and the player can select another direction, continuously changing different color doors/directions, until the right button is released?

I thought about changing the debounce to the stick. That gets complicated since it is also the control stick, but I only want that to for debounce under specific conditions. It also means I need extra conditions when it is in SNES and dual joystick mode. It seemed like it could potentially add a lot of overhead and spaghetti mess. I can revisit it though. It might be easier with fresh eyes.

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1 minute ago, darryl1970 said:

It seemed like it could potentially add a lot of overhead and spaghetti mess.

Definitely don't want that, or you have to contemplate dealing with it.  Currently, it is much better anyhow. 

Having the mouse not move with the right button pressed is the important piece, and that is available as an option now. :)

 

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UPDATE: 02-15-2023

 

 

  1. In single joystick mode, holding the right button allows multiple door changes. The mouse (or rat) will be still until the button is released.
  2. Added "Corridor Forgiveness". This makes the control a little easier. This retains the wall glide, while compensating for a slight overshoot of a corridor.
  3. Small sound effect updates.
  4. SNES Reset: Select still pauses the game. While the game is paused, pressing both shoulder buttons will reset the game to the title screen. Trying for the @ZeroPage Homebrew couch compliance award. :)

RatTrap_Demo_02-15-2023.bas.a78

 

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19 hours ago, darryl1970 said:

UPDATE: 02-15-2023

 

 

  1. In single joystick mode, holding the right button allows multiple door changes. The mouse (or rat) will be still until the button is released.
  2. Added "Corridor Forgiveness". This makes the control a little easier. This retains the wall glide, while compensating for a slight overshoot of a corridor.
  3. Small sound effect updates.
  4. SNES Reset: Select still pauses the game. While the game is paused, pressing both shoulder buttons will reset the game to the title screen. Trying for the @ZeroPage Homebrew couch compliance award. :)

RatTrap_Demo_02-15-2023.bas.a78 144.13 kB · 19 downloads

 

Love your game for being hard as nails. It make it more interesting one. Cheers !

 

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1 hour ago, ALEXANDER said:

Love your game for being hard as nails. It make it more interesting one. Cheers !

 

@ALEXANDER Thanks. I really enjoy watching people play the games I create.

 

A couple things that might help:

  1. Hold the second button and move the joystick to switch doors.
    1. Left  = Red
    2. Up    = Yellow
    3. Right = Blue
  2. When the hawk is out, head for the "IN", found in the center of the screen. It teleports you to a random corner. At the point, the hawk becomes "stupid" and flies away.

 

You can also play with dual sticks. Left controller controls the character. The right controller uses the same left, up, and right. Down becomes the doggie button.

 

Thanks again for sharing! :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Update 03-04-2023

 

  1. HIGH SCORE SAVES no longer conflict with the SNES2Atari polling. Thank you @RevEng!! This is now enabled in the demo version.
  2. Extra lives are no longer limited to 30k and 60k.
    1. Novice: Every 50k (Player starts out with 5 lives, no hawk, less cats at beginning of round, and cats are slower) -- This is well balanced for this difficulty, even though it may seem counter-intuitive.
    2. Arcade & Expert: Every 30k (Player starts out with 3 lives)
  3. The arcade instructions state that a player can earn many extra lives, but only a maximum of 5 will display on-screen during the intro. I have tweaked this version to display up to 9 lives. 4 lives will wrap below the top 5. The Rat/Mouse still comes from the top row, so I leave the path on the bottom.
  4. The arcade "IN" flashes an inverted image when the hawk is out. I now flash the color of "IN".
  5. There was a safe space on the IN box. The arcade version pulls the player in as soon as they enter by one pixel. I have updated the code accordingly.
  6. Tweaked sound effects and music envelopes.
  7. Cheesy AtariVox voice on the settings/credits menu. I was testing conflicts with high score devices. I might leave it since it's hidden. However, it is a copyrighted song, and it connects my title "mix" to the original. Might get rid of this in future updates.
  8. THE NAME CAN STILL BE CHANGED TO "MOUSE", but the ability has to be unlocked by a code. I did not want that liability to be out there once it's in cartridge format. Once the code is entered on the title screen, the option to change the name and enable cheat mode is saved on any HS save device.

I have been working on this a lot since the last demo. I was waiting for the high score issue to be resolved. I am probably missing some other changes.....

 

Enjoy...

RatTrap_Demo_3-4-2023.a78

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Here's a quick play video. I had the title saved as "Mouse", so I changed it. I didn't want to record the video again.

 

This is arcade difficulty, playing today's version. I made a couple careless mistakes, but it's a good play tip guide length.

 

I used this to test for conflicts with AtariVox and SNES2Atari. I'll probably remove it, because it ties lyrics to my remixed title music. (If the title is set to Mouse, it speaks the alternate title.) It's buried in the Settings Credits page.

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
8 hours ago, christo930 said:

I guess the laughing, meowing and bark is impossible on the stock 7800?  Would it be possible with one of the new chips (I just ask out of curiosity)?

 

This era is where the 7800 really shines.  It is very good at reproducing early to early-mid 80s arcade machines.

I am not sure what "laughing" is referring to. There isn't a laugh in the arcade.

The Dragonfly is the only source of a sampling chip at the moment. That would limit release options, but it would be cool to have actual samples. Cartridges are made with the HOKEY chip currently. POKEY/HOKEY is being used for music.

3 hours ago, karri said:

The tia sound effect library has more than one laughs and barking. The meowing should also be possible.

I didn't use the sound library. I came up with the mouse eat, roar, cat meow, cat shriek, dog bark, hawk scream, transport, and door sounds from scratch. I was pretty happy with them.

I didn't try to match the door sounds exactly, but I tried to create the sounds that I felt matches a cat in distress or echoing of a hawk's scream. Kind of hard to get that echo in.

 

I am open to the possibility of updating the sound effects if somebody can come up with something better. It's the Basic sfx_data format. Let me know.

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2 hours ago, darryl1970 said:

I am not sure what "laughing" is referring to. There isn't a laugh in the arcade.

The Dragonfly is the only source of a sampling chip at the moment. That would limit release options, but it would be cool to have actual samples. Cartridges are made with the HOKEY chip currently. POKEY/HOKEY is being used for music.

I didn't use the sound library. I came up with the mouse eat, roar, cat meow, cat shriek, dog bark, hawk scream, transport, and door sounds from scratch. I was pretty happy with them.

I didn't try to match the door sounds exactly, but I tried to create the sounds that I felt matches a cat in distress or echoing of a hawk's scream. Kind of hard to get that echo in.

 

I am open to the possibility of updating the sound effects if somebody can come up with something better. It's the Basic sfx_data format. Let me know.

The sample that is played when the hawk comes onto the screen. It might not be a laugh, but it kind of sounds like one to me, so I call it a laugh.

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11 hours ago, christo930 said:

I guess the laughing, meowing and bark is impossible on the stock 7800? 

Starting with the 02-11-2023 update, sound effects were added.  Perhaps an earlier version (I.E. 01-27-2023, 01-28-2023), was being utilized in which there are missing effects.

 

The latest version 03-04-2023 is available for download.

43 minutes ago, christo930 said:

The sample that is played when the hawk comes onto the screen. It might not be a laugh, but it kind of sounds like one to me, so I call it a laugh.

Hawk laugh...

3 hours ago, darryl1970 said:

...hawk scream...

hawk scream/hawk screech, or whatever description for the sound, it is present along with all the other sound effects.  Ensure the latest version is being leveraged. :)

 

Edit: There is a 03-07-2023 dated file posted as well in another thread, to address a possible detection conflict when running under Concerto.

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2 hours ago, Trebor said:

Starting with the 02-11-2023 update, sound effects were added.  Perhaps an earlier version (I.E. 01-27-2023, 01-28-2023), was being utilized in which there are missing effects.

 

The latest version 03-04-2023 is available for download.

Hawk laugh...

hawk scream/hawk screech, or whatever description for the sound, it is present along with all the other sound effects.  Ensure the latest version is being leveraged. :)

 

Edit: There is a 03-07-2023 dated file posted as well in another thread, to address a possible detection conflict when running under Concerto.

 

The version I'm looking at is from 3-4-2023 on Daryl's youtube channel

 

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  • 1 month later...

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

 

Games:

 (WATCH AT 1080P60 FOR BEST QUALITY)

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/27/2023 at 11:15 PM, darryl1970 said:

RatTrap

 

Around January 6th, I plotted a mouse on-screen. I had a couple ideas in mind. I wanted to plot a 320-mode mouse, like the one on Exidy's MouseTrap. The game is pretty basic as far as graphics. The sprites are single color, and I thought it would look pretty cool on the 7800.

 

The mouse and dog looked great. This got me wondering if I could create a similar experience to the arcade. I had a little challenge recreating the maze, followed by the challenge of getting the mouse to follow the maze. With this, I realized that the maze would need to change, based on the doors that are switched. I thought this would be a perfect candidate for the SNES controller (SNES2Atari)!

 

At this point, I started looking at the ColecoVision port, because I figured that was the bar for home ports. I also started to think that, while 320 mode would be cool, the 7800's strength is its multi-color sprites. I decided to redraw the sprites to what I thought played to the 7800 strengths.

 

Once I did this, I got the mouse to follow the maze. Next, I worked on the switching doors. All of the maze routines were reusable for the cats, so it wasn't really too much to get the cats into the maze. I created a few sound effects to handle eating, barking, and screeching.

 

I decided to reuse the PentaGo music engine, built by Playsoft. I started picking out some of the tunes. The game just happened. I added scoring, lives, sound effects, high score saves, and some title screens.

 

The game has a way to go. Since the game was brought to light in the forums, I decided to throw a demo together. Please note that it's a very early demo, and I have a lot to add. However, there is a lot here that I am pretty happy about.

 

Game Features:

  1. 1  Player Controller Options
    1. 2-Button Joystick
      1. Left Button = Doggie Button
      2. Right Button & Left   = Red Doors
      3. Right Button & Up     = Yellow Doors
      4. Right Button & Right = Blue Doors
    2. SNES Controller (Only when Auto-Detect is triggered)
      1. SNES STANDARD
        1. B = Doggie Button (Start Button also works as Doggie Button)
        2. Y = Red Doors
        3. X = Yellow Doors
        4. A = Blue Doors
        5. Select = Pause
      2. SNES COLORBTN
        1. Greeen / Start = Doggie Button (Start Button also works as Doggie Button)
        2. Red                = Red Doors
        3. Yellow             = Yellow Doors
        4. Blue                = Blue Doors
        5. Select             = Pause
    3. Dual Joysticks (Will be disabled when a high score device is present, but HS saves are currently disabled for now.
      1. Left Stick moves mouse
      2. Right Stick Left   = Red
      3. Right Stick Up     = Yellow
      4. Right Stick Right  = Blue
      5. Right Stick Down  = Doggie
  2. 2 Player Controllers
    1. Shared Stick (Same as 2-Button above)
    2. Single Stick (Same as 2-Button)
    3. Share SNES (Auto-Detect) *P1 and P2 will share the SNES controller in port 1
  3. Difficulty Levels
    1. Novice - Starts with 4 cats (1 normal and 3 slow); Hawk doesn't come out until later in the stage
    2. Arcade - Starts with 6 cats; Similar to Arcade difficulty
    3. Expert - 2 Cats are very fast.
  4. Music
    1. Has 3 BG tunes so far, 3 prize tunes (31 different prizes to collect), level clear tune, and an Intro tune. I have other tunes and sound effects in mind.
    2. Added more music and sfx in the 02-11-2023 update below.

 

This demo allows for one or two players, and all difficulty levels are accessible. Players get two lives, but extras can be earned at 30k & 60k. However, the game ends after three mazes are cleared.

TitleCorrected.thumb.jpg.8217d74d321adca02eb7d8ae47db535b.jpg Instructions.thumb.jpg.6e1cb89fa750f70504b1bbc8808e45d4.jpg  In-Game2.thumb.jpg.ffa7a6564d8b2312a696ae26f75bf91d.jpg

 

This initial version may contain bugs. This is an early release for fun.

RatTrap_Demo_01-27-2023.a78 144.13 kB · 37 downloads

 

UPDATE 1/28/2023 - Corrected title screen spelling & added title music.

RatTrap_Demo_01-28-2023.a78 144.13 kB · 80 downloads

 

UPDATE 2/11/2023 - Major Update (See thread below for details!)

Click here for update thread!

 

UPDATE 2/15/2023 - Update (See thread below for details!)

Click here for update thread!

 

UPDATE 03/04/2023 - Update (See thread below for details!)

Click here for update thread!

 

Wonder if you looking for someone to do label art?

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  • 9 months later...
On 2/11/2023 at 10:33 AM, Thomas Jentzsch said:

What I suggest is, to make the dominant direction the opposite of the current direction. So when moving horizontally and both directions are open, use vertical. And vice versa.

I only dislike the stopping.

@Thomas Jentzsch I have been so busy with non-Atari things that I haven't had time to share this; however, I managed to implement this suggestion into the control scheme. I haven't had time for another Demo. I also didn't want to talk about improvements that were not included in the nominated version, as that would be confusing and possibly misleading.

 

Back when I updated the game to use the Mega7800, in addition to the SNES2Atari adapter, I figured out a way to make the "tie breaker" direction be the opposite of the last traveled direction. So the mouse no longer stops. Thanks for the suggestion. It was a challenge, based on all the control factors in place, but I got it. It really adds a polish to it. Thanks again.

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