Bomb Squad 2

[intvdave]

I am in the process of updating Bomb Squad and am looking for feedback on suggestions to make the game better. Do you have any?

[mr_me]

Combine the drop and work tool buttons so the game is played with two side buttons.

 

The way the speed is set for the three difficulty levels doesn't seem right.  Maybe the control can be improved on level three.

[intvdave]

Are you saying to have work (left bottom) button to also do drop (right bottom) button. The bottom right would be the same?

 

What do you mean in same the game would be played with two buttons? Top and Side of either side do the same thing?

[+Rick Reynolds]

When playing at its fastest speed, the game is very hard to control - particularly to make the fine adjustments necessary when moving a tool or placing a part.  I'd argue it is unplayable at that speed.  It would be nice to have the game be harder without it being a simple speed-up type of control.

[intvdave]

3 hours ago, Rick Reynolds said:

When playing at its fastest speed, the game is very hard to control - particularly to make the fine adjustments necessary when moving a tool or placing a part.  I'd argue it is unplayable at that speed.  It would be nice to have the game be harder without it being a simple speed-up type of control.

 

Consider it fixed! I am fine tuning the difficulty. Thank you for the feedback.

[+DZ-Jay]

11 hours ago, intvdave said:

I am in the process of updating Bomb Squad and am looking for feedback on suggestions to make the game better. Do you have any?

I think Bomb Squad is perfect pretty good as is, but I second everyone else's suggestions.  To me the most importing thing to address is the responsiveness of the controls.

 

    dZ.

Edited September 18, 2023 by DZ-Jay

[mr_me]

9 hours ago, Rick Reynolds said:

When playing at its fastest speed, the game is very hard to control - particularly to make the fine adjustments necessary when moving a tool or placing a part.  I'd argue it is unplayable at that speed.  It would be nice to have the game be harder without it being a simple speed-up type of control.

Level 3 is already harder with things like larger circuits, falling parts, and mistakes causing the bomb to explode rather than just losing the circuit.  Level 3 control/speed can be fixed by using level 2 control/speed.

 

edit:  If you fix the level 3 control/speed, maybe compensate by reducing time to put out fires.  Level 3 should probably made harder as Rick suggested.

Edited September 18, 2023 by mr_me

[intvdave]

5 hours ago, DZ-Jay said:

I think Bomb Squad is perfect pretty good as is, but I second everyone else's suggestions.  To me the most importing thing to address is the responsiveness of the controls.

 

    dZ.

 

Thanks for the feedback. My hacks are not for everyone but I do know some like them.

[intvdave]

5 hours ago, mr_me said:

Level 3 is already harder with things like larger circuits, falling parts, and mistakes causing the bomb to explode rather than just losing the circuit.  Level 3 control/speed can be fixed by using level 2 control/speed.

 

edit:  If you fix the level 3 control/speed, maybe compensate by reducing time to put out fires.  Level 3 should probably made harder as Rick suggested.

 

Thanks! I have set the tools speed to level 2's speed for all levels. I am probably going to make this a menu option. I have also slowed down the speed when pressing the top side button. This will probably be a menu option also.

 

I will look into the time to put out fires. Do you have other suggestions to make level 3 better tuned?

 

One thing I can look into is the frequency of "cut this out" vs "replace". The higher the level, the less "cut" comes out?

[+Gunoz]

Beside for the control issue that's been discussed, if I remember correctly there were a few known bugs listed on the BGR page. Don't know how difficult it would be to address any of them.

[intvdave]

17 minutes ago, gunoz said:

... if I remember correctly there were a few known bugs listed on the BGR page. Don't know how difficult it would be to address any of them.

 

Thanks! I did not even think to look for bugs already identified. I will fix all of them

 

[Crash7]

This sounds like a really cool game that you're doing

 

After this you have to update B-17 Bomber next. 😁

[intvdave]

19 minutes ago, Crash7 said:

After this you have to update B-17 Bomber next. 😁

 

Wooooahhhhhh..... That is the next game on my list. Did I post this already?

I owned all 4 voice games as a kid.

Space Spartans was my favorite and I can not think of anything to change in it. It is the game I never owned, Star Raiders.

Tron Solar Sailor has already been updated. I played it a lot and am hoping my hacks made it more fun.

Same for Bomb Squad. I played it a lot. I was frustrated with it as I was with Solar Sailor. I have already fixed all the frustrating points. Now... to make it better.

With this, all that is left is B-17. I played the game, after all, I spent a lot of money on it, but it did not see much play. This game is like World Series, a simulator. WS has been updated to be more of a game. I plan on doing the same for B-17. I already have ideas for B-17 and am open to suggestions to make it better.

I may release these two games as a bundle.

[Crash7]

If you did I didn't see it so now I'm even happier. 😁

 

Put me down for both LOL

[+DZ-Jay]

19 hours ago, intvdave said:

 

Wooooahhhhhh..... That is the next game on my list. Did I post this already?

I owned all 4 voice games as a kid.

Space Spartans was my favorite and I can not think of anything to change in it. It is the game I never owned, Star Raiders.

Tron Solar Sailor has already been updated. I played it a lot and am hoping my hacks made it more fun.

Same for Bomb Squad. I played it a lot. I was frustrated with it as I was with Solar Sailor. I have already fixed all the frustrating points. Now... to make it better.

With this, all that is left is B-17. I played the game, after all, I spent a lot of money on it, but it did not see much play. This game is like World Series, a simulator. WS has been updated to be more of a game. I plan on doing the same for B-17. I already have ideas for B-17 and am open to suggestions to make it better.

I may release these two games as a bundle.

I love both Bomb Squad and B-17 Bomber — they are two of my favorite games.

 

I can’t wait to see how they turn out.

You can also count me as a tester, like we did for the KotM.

 

      dZ.

[mr_me]

23 hours ago, intvdave said:

 

Thanks! I have set the tools speed to level 2's speed for all levels. I am probably going to make this a menu option. I have also slowed down the speed when pressing the top side button. This will probably be a menu option also.

 

I will look into the time to put out fires. Do you have other suggestions to make level 3 better tuned?

 

One thing I can look into is the frequency of "cut this out" vs "replace". The higher the level, the less "cut" comes out?

The accelerated clock when a player makes a mistake can be made faster.  

 

 

18 hours ago, intvdave said:

...

With this, all that is left is B-17. I played the game, after all, I spent a lot of money on it, but it did not see much play. This game is like World Series, a simulator. WS has been updated to be more of a game. I plan on doing the same for B-17. I already have ideas for B-17 and am open to suggestions to make it better.

I may release these two games as a bundle.

I like B17 Bomber but there's something not right with the way the difficulty ramps up.  Maybe the difficulty shouldn't ramp up at all.  Difficulty naturally increases as you have to fly further to reach more targets.  And if you want more difficulty choose a higher level.

[+DZ-Jay]

20 hours ago, intvdave said:

 

Wooooahhhhhh..... That is the next game on my list. Did I post this already?

I owned all 4 voice games as a kid.

Space Spartans was my favorite and I can not think of anything to change in it. It is the game I never owned, Star Raiders.

Tron Solar Sailor has already been updated. I played it a lot and am hoping my hacks made it more fun.

Same for Bomb Squad. I played it a lot. I was frustrated with it as I was with Solar Sailor. I have already fixed all the frustrating points. Now... to make it better.

With this, all that is left is B-17. I played the game, after all, I spent a lot of money on it, but it did not see much play. This game is like World Series, a simulator. WS has been updated to be more of a game. I plan on doing the same for B-17. I already have ideas for B-17 and am open to suggestions to make it better.

I may release these two games as a bundle.

Here is a wacky idea for B-17 Bomber:  day and night cycles.  A clock tracks the hour of the day (in simulated time), and the gunner and bombardier screens turn from dusk, to day, to dawn, to night — similar to Frog Bog.

 

Targets and bandits are harder to hit in the dark.

[Rickster8]

Up more, down more, left more, right more, rinse repeat... 😛 

[Rickster8]

On 9/17/2023 at 9:18 PM, Rick Reynolds said:

When playing at its fastest speed, the game is very hard to control - particularly to make the fine adjustments necessary when moving a tool or placing a part.  I'd argue it is unplayable at that speed.  It would be nice to have the game be harder without it being a simple speed-up type of control.

Agreed, the game on Level 3 is ridiculous control wise. You simply cannot use the controls and put the soldering gun in the right spot, it's quite annoying. The speed is fine, it's the controls that SUCK....

Edited September 19, 2023 by Rickster8
Wording

[intvdave]

All the settings will be configurable. I prefer the slower speed (level 1) when working on parts. With there being options when starting the game, I do not think it will be necessary to map a button to slow/speed up the controls. I need to post a video of how the game looks/plays.

[intvdave]

 

A demo of the tools on the circuit board. The changes should be obvious. The controls were sloppy due to the video recording.

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by intvdave

[First Spear]

On 9/17/2023 at 7:17 PM, intvdave said:

I am in the process of updating Bomb Squad and am looking for feedback on suggestions to make the game better. Do you have any?

 

If you have time to use additional ROM, maybe replace some of the sprites of the moving parts just to add flavor?

 

Maybe making some of the circuit boards different shapes, and moving across them makes the tooling slower? For example, if a "board" is shaped like a Nest thermostat, when a control-piece like the scissors crosses over it, it slows. That would force the player into making a decision on whether to move across the hole or around it. 

 

 

How about a coffee? Give player a choice at start time to have a number of coffees (paper cup or mug image), and it appears aside the board as an additional tool. Selecting it gives the player a jolt of caffeine and then their tool movement will n-percent faster. Scoring decreases for correct moves made during the caffeinited time, so player has to make judgement to go for points or speed in completing the game. At the end, coffee consumed is included on-screen so anyone will know if they were boosted. If not coffee, how about 80's Jolt Cola.  

 

How about a second controller ? Something else to make the game more difficult for a player, or to give a grand/kid that is nearby an opportunity to "do". Keep a running graph on-screen of the amplitude, and have it fluctuate during activity. If it gets too high, Intellivoice "amps high", same for "low" , "even" or something like that. The disc not being used to control the regular activity has to be used to vary the amps. If left unchecked, that board-module will burn out. Or maybe if it isn't a sine wave then maybe an analog gauge. Each board will show (or say) the proper amps for this module when the player enters it. At game start the player would have to declare which controller (left or right) is used for tools. Reason for this is to make the player physically switch to control the amps, adding more frenetic difficulty. I recognize this would be a ton of work.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mammothservices]

How about successful solve give you some money. Over time you can buy more sophisticated tools or tips to solve.  Makes it a different progressive game.  Maybe a little more then you were asking for. 🙂

[intvdave]

On 9/17/2023 at 8:09 PM, mr_me said:

Combine the drop and work tool buttons so the game is played with two side buttons.

 

This is now DONE! It was hard more because I suck at coding. The good news is that I fixed an issue with the controls so the side buttons respond better.

Thank you for this suggestion. I may not have thought of it.

[intvdave]

Being color blind and having a crappy memory, I was always frustrated trying to remember what piece was last removed from the board and the color of it. The game will now keep an image of it on the screen. I will have this part of the difficulty levels.