Ghostbusters - Development Diary

[+OLD CS1]

11 hours ago, Ksarul said:

At present, the boards were only used in the Tex-Turbo cartridges, but I do have more of them on hand.

There will be another... promise.

[TheMole]

Okay, this is going to be the last update for a while (probably a month or so), as I'm leaving tomorrow for what is shaping up to be a proper vacation without laptops and technology!

I'd have hoped that I would've been able to finish the game before, but alas... still a few things on the todo list for me to tackle when I get back.

 

New in this version:

• Account system is implement, and compatible with the old accounts from the original game (C64 and MSX only, Speccy and CPC had a slightly different algorithm).
• The shop is there now, as are all the items the game will support
• So far, the following items are properly implemented
  • Traps
  • Vacuum (although the car graphics do not yet reflect whether or not you've purchased the ghost vacuum)
  • Image intensifier -> if you don't have this, the ghosts in the cathcing sequences will flicker in and out of existence, making it harder to catch them.
  • Different cars, with different properties (speed and capacity)
• Boss battle is there, if you manage to finish the game with more money than you started with, you will get the opportunity to sneak past the Marshmallow man. Sneak past with two of your three men, and you win the game, fail and you lose.
• Two new songs, the classic theme song throughout the majority of the game. In the shop you'll get the "Main Theme" though.

 

Still todo:

• Improved navigation on the map screen
• Karaoke-style intro
• Victory sequence: scrolling up the Zuul building, crossing the streams and defeating Gozer. This is just an animation though, so just some polish.
• Show account info after winning, so you can start with more money the next time you play.
• Marshmallow building destruction.
• Port keyboard code over to the Geneve, so no Geneve version this time around.

• Some other stuff...
  

 

Have fun! Any and all feedback welcome, after I get back I'll work on the final version and release it officially!

 

 

ghostbusters.rpk ghostbusters.bin

[+OLD CS1]

Played a long game tonight.  Driving is better, but still frustrating af.   I had a strange occurrence in which the ghost passed through a beam and escaped getting trapped (not sure if that is intentional.)  Many times I was vacuuming a ghost when the car was pulling over to a destination and the ghost either flitted around on the left side of the screen or spun around on the right, either way it was not captured.

 

I spent all but $100 getting started.  That means I would have to catch 50 ghosts to make it to Zuul.  Not an easy task, so more planning is necessary.

 

Fun game!  I am excited for its completion.  This is one of the games which has been on my TI wish list for a looooooong time, and it is shaping up to be everything I hoped.

[SteveB]

6 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

That means I would have to catch 50 ghosts to make it to Zuul.

In the original game there is another source of revenue, here from the Atari 2600 manual:

OUT OF CONTROL

Periodically you will lose all control of your ghostbusters
while on the map screen. Your vehicle (Ghostbusters symbol) will freeze up!
Also you will notice that the roamers start moving considerably faster
towards Zuul. This means that the menacing, monstrous Marshmallow Man is quickly
approaching, Your only way out is to drop bait - if you bought any.

To bait the Marshmallow Man, move the right difficulty switch.
If it is on 'A' switch it to 'B'; if it is on 'B' switch it to 'A'.


* If you're fast enough, you'll bait the Marshmallow Man and
earn $2000. He'll appear on screen but quickly run off.

* If you're not fast enough, the Marshmallow Man will stomp on
one of your blocks and you'll lose $4000.

 

[TheMole]

9 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

Played a long game tonight.  Driving is better, but still frustrating af.   I had a strange occurrence in which the ghost passed through a beam and escaped getting trapped (not sure if that is intentional.)  Many times I was vacuuming a ghost when the car was pulling over to a destination and the ghost either flitted around on the left side of the screen or spun around on the right, either way it was not captured.

 

I spent all but $100 getting started.  That means I would have to catch 50 ghosts to make it to Zuul.  Not an easy task, so more planning is necessary.

 

Fun game!  I am excited for its completion.  This is one of the games which has been on my TI wish list for a looooooong time, and it is shaping up to be everything I hoped.

Glad to hear that you find the driving to be better, but in all honesty, I haven't made any changes to that yet :). Perhaps you're starting to get used to it...?

 

Yeah, I noticed some bugs while futzing about with it on the plane, I'm taking notes on all feedback I'm getting. I must have broken something in the vacuuming mechanic, the distance calculation is all off.

 

As @SteveB pointed out, there's an important gameplay mechanic still missing, which can lead to massive earnings (and losses) in the second half of the game. Each ghost you catch can net you up to $900 depending on how quickly you get to the building. So, you should be able to win the game with about 15-20 successful catches.

 

Thanks for the feedback, and glad to hear you enjoyed it so far!

[+OLD CS1]

1 hour ago, TheMole said:

Glad to hear that you find the driving to be better, but in all honesty, I haven't made any changes to that yet :). Perhaps you're starting to get used to it...?

Different joystick.  I was using my Epyx 500XJ.  Usually I am using the keyboard (Classic99) or a different stick, like a TAC2 or Atari CX40.

[sometimes99er]

On 8/14/2023 at 7:49 PM, OLD CS1 said:

I was using my Epyx 500XJ.

My preferred joystick once on the Amiga.
 

[+OLD CS1]

Played some more last night.  I must have jinxed myself... driving around was killing me!

 

The accounting system definitely works.  A couple of the cheat accounts listed on-line give the expected results.  I noticed a couple of things about the alternate cars.  First, the car selection screen will redraw the current car if you select it, again.  That is, if you are viewing the Beetle and press "1", the screen will blank and bring the Beetle up, again.  Probably not a big deal.  Second, while driving around in the red sports car, ghosts will disappear under the front fenders, and the ghost vacuum does not show up on the car.

 

Last thing I noticed, and I cannot recall if this was in the C64 game, if you place your Ghostbusters facing the same direction, you can move them past each other without the streams crossing.

[+OLD CS1]

[cbmeeks]

On 7/31/2023 at 11:58 AM, TheMole said:

Some unrelated progress, I wanted to get working on the account and shop systems... what do you guys think, does this look work?

 

I wanted to do something a bit more polished than the original, but still keep the teletype style feeling...

 

The monitor should be a TI monitor!  I mean, that's what everyone had or wanted to have back in the day.  🙂

 

Also, for the love of all things holy, PLEASE tell me this will get a nice boxed, cart release!

 

I both loved and hated this game on my C64 back in the day.  And now I want to love and hate it on my TI today.  LOL

 

Great work!

 

[TheMole]

On 8/17/2023 at 11:14 PM, OLD CS1 said:

Played some more last night.  I must have jinxed myself... driving around was killing me!

 

The accounting system definitely works.  A couple of the cheat accounts listed on-line give the expected results.  I noticed a couple of things about the alternate cars.  First, the car selection screen will redraw the current car if you select it, again.  That is, if you are viewing the Beetle and press "1", the screen will blank and bring the Beetle up, again.  Probably not a big deal.  Second, while driving around in the red sports car, ghosts will disappear under the front fenders, and the ghost vacuum does not show up on the car.

 

Last thing I noticed, and I cannot recall if this was in the C64 game, if you place your Ghostbusters facing the same direction, you can move them past each other without the streams crossing.

 

Yeah, the other cars were a quick addition I threw in and they aren't really polished yet. Now that I'm back from vacation, that's one of the things on my todo list I'm looking forward to tackling.

I also don't know if the C64 let you move your men past each other when facing the same direction, something to figure out later today.

 

On 9/1/2023 at 8:54 PM, cbmeeks said:

 

The monitor should be a TI monitor!  I mean, that's what everyone had or wanted to have back in the day.  🙂

 

Also, for the love of all things holy, PLEASE tell me this will get a nice boxed, cart release!

 

I both loved and hated this game on my C64 back in the day.  And now I want to love and hate it on my TI today.  LOL

 

Great work!

 

Sorry for picking the wrong monitor, but it's what I had back in my day, so it's staying ;). (although I had the amber version, it's just that the TI doesn't have any good shades of amber to work with).

 

Still planning to do the boxed release. Hopefully more news on that soon...