Nukey Shay Posted August 28, 2004 Author Share Posted August 28, 2004 Not yet...but I could make it possible. What this game does in the energizer routine is pick a couple numbers "randomly" right at the start. When eating fruits, I could set this number to a predetermined value and jump into the routine just past where those random numbers are picked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted August 28, 2004 Author Share Posted August 28, 2004 OK...I went one better The bluetime functions the same as Pac Plus...so if you collect a fruit, the monsters will be INVISIBLE until they begin flashing All monsters will change (unless already eyes), and the maze will remain on the screen. Note: I haven't been able to get rid of both pointers tho...so you will be able to make their vertical location if you look closely at the right edge (I switched to the "eye" bitmaps to make them harder to see). Give a yell if there is any other details that I'm missing...or if something isn't working correctly. I'll be killing off those hard-to-see eyes if possible. hack_em_.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted August 28, 2004 Author Share Posted August 28, 2004 Oops...the intermission GFX got a bit muddled. Sorry hack_em_.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted August 28, 2004 Share Posted August 28, 2004 Great Work Nukey! Looks great Now, the only two things left that I see (I know, I said I'd shut up before) is: (BTW these might be knit-picking, so I apologize in advance for this) 1) In 'normal speed' mode, the player is supposed to take corners *slightly* faster than the monsters. So the player can outrun the monsters if going around many corners. I can see this one being a real pain in the a**, so it might not be doable. 2) Again in 'normal speed' mode, once the player reaches the 9th key, all four monsters are slightly faster than the player when *not* eating dots. I promise - this is it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted August 28, 2004 Share Posted August 28, 2004 Nukey is a coding machine! And this is just the August versions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted August 28, 2004 Share Posted August 28, 2004 OK...I went one better The bluetime functions the same as Pac Plus...so if you collect a fruit, the monsters will be INVISIBLE until they begin flashing All monsters will change (unless already eyes), and the maze will remain on the screen. I haven't been playing much of the "plus" version up to now. This is partially because the original is really my favorite and partially because it is the version that I'm best at and, thus, able to keep the game playing for the longest time in order to look for glitches. Nice work here, though! The invisible ghosts make it really difficult to get to see the "3200" graphic but I did manage it a couple of times (with a lot of resets on the cherry board). Totally sweet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted August 28, 2004 Author Share Posted August 28, 2004 1) In 'normal speed' mode, the player is supposed to take corners *slightly* faster than the monsters. So the player can outrun the monsters if going around many corners. I can see this one being a real pain in the a**, so it might not be doable. You got that right. What would need to happen here is that the branch to check for player movements should be used instead of the collision checks whenever the player is moving in a direction that differs from the previous frame (i.e. a corner being taken or the player doing a 180). Initial tests with it had me running out of time way back when. Now that there is free time, I'll give it a shot again. Same story for "scared" monsters (running away from the player when blue). 2) Again in 'normal speed' mode, once the player reaches the 9th key, all four monsters are slightly faster than the player when *not* eating dots.Due to limited time, I kept the "faster monsters" confined to the red monster - and only when the long timer is high (when the siren is highest-pitched). The arcade game actually features monsters that have 16 levels of difficulty each...basically controlling their "breakaway" personalities. The slow game is already pretty difficult to complete with no bluetime on the highest levels...and no "breakaway" routines are in the game at all (the monsters are always in chase mode in the smart monster version) But again, I'll see if this can be expanded to all of them. A compromise would be just to begin the long timer at the highest pitch right at the start of those boards and keep it that way, so that the red monster is always 8% faster than the player. Methinks this might drift more into the "frustration" catagory tho...something that I've tried to avoid. From the sound of things, most people seem to be getting killed before even reaching the keys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted August 28, 2004 Author Share Posted August 28, 2004 Cornering test version...may wreck havok with collision routines (not sure about that yet)...but it seems to work. As a test, run the slow game and let red follow you. In open areas, the gap between them will grow as you take corners...proving that it works that much hack_em_.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raindog Posted August 28, 2004 Share Posted August 28, 2004 It seems to me that the easiest way to make the monsters slightly slower would just be to skip one frame whenever they reach a corner, or are you already doing that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted August 28, 2004 Author Share Posted August 28, 2004 True that...but there's nothing keeping track of the corners that they hit (when both X and Y are equally divisible by ...and to do so would require 4 bits of ram (since each of them can reach intersections at seperate times). Not only that, but they would slow down at every intersection...when the frame difference is only supposed to be on the player taking corners. I did notice that the collision routine can be foiled if you are moving at the right time...and also a slight screen jitter appeared (I pretty much used up all the time that I'd been trimming out just to implement it) Dunno if I want to keep this yet. Going through a monster I can live with...but the jitter is unacceptable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted August 28, 2004 Share Posted August 28, 2004 Going through a monster I can live with...but the jitter is unacceptable. I concur. You worked so hard to eliminate the jitters that it would seem a crime to introduce something new that might cause them to return. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted August 28, 2004 Share Posted August 28, 2004 Cornering test version... It seems to adversely affect the player's speed in the fast version of the game. Too fast; it feels weird and makes tight, quick turns difficult to control. Plus the speed seems as if it's intermittent, slowing and speeding up as the player moves through the maze. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted August 28, 2004 Author Share Posted August 28, 2004 Yeah...I messed up and the dot slowdown wasn't being cleared during cornering...this has been corrected. I also eliminated a few branches...which might take care of that INTIM-expiration jitter. Speaking of which, I ought to be checking where it's at during the collision routine (so I can waste any leftover time on it)...but I'd need to move quite a lot to get that routine above the display 87 bytes remain...last one for the day hack_em_.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted August 28, 2004 Author Share Posted August 28, 2004 Question for Pac plus gurus... If an energizer is hit and the maze turns off...does it stay off if a fruit is eaten immediately after (before the bluetime runs out)? Or does it automatically turn back on? I can fix this if needed (right now, this game will always reset the maze to "on" when the fruit is hit). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted August 29, 2004 Share Posted August 29, 2004 I just tried it, and the maze actually stays dark if you eat the fruit while the maze is dark. I would not have guessed that but that's what happened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted August 29, 2004 Author Share Posted August 29, 2004 Corrected hack_em_.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted August 30, 2004 Author Share Posted August 30, 2004 Halos corrected...sort of. In one kernal, I come put a cycle off (I think)...so some "ghost pixels" appear when drawing the maze. This is usually seen just to the left of the right column of dots. Trying to nail that problem...but hey...I dunno anything about timing! Also, I've seen a couple times where a monster had gotten stuck in the wall just to the upper-right of the box...both times it was the tan one. Anyone confirm this in the previous build? hack_em_.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted August 30, 2004 Author Share Posted August 30, 2004 Little closer... Now they only seem to appear when monsters are at the same position as the right vertical column of dots...and not all the time. hack_em_.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted August 30, 2004 Author Share Posted August 30, 2004 They appear to be "ghost images" of dots on the left side of the playfield As the left side is cleared, they don't seem to show up at all (besides the longer one seen on the upper wall in the lowest row). Dunno if I can get rid of that...but they are less annoying than the "halos" above monsters IMO. Opinions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildBillTX Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 Also, I've seen a couple times where a monster had gotten stuck in the wall just to the upper-right of the box...both times it was the tan one. Anyone confirm this in the previous build? That happened to me in one of your earlier builds (about 3 from the last one you posted). The monster was blue at the time, and I was able to eat it, so l dont know which one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retrofan Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 some little graphics suggestions? Little changes to game over, pac mans and strawberry: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted August 30, 2004 Author Share Posted August 30, 2004 Good suggestions...it does look rounder hack_em_.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted August 30, 2004 Author Share Posted August 30, 2004 "Scared" monster test. Last time I tried this, I ran real short of time. hack_em_.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retrofan Posted August 30, 2004 Share Posted August 30, 2004 Thank you. I'm happy to see my little changes in your new bin. Is it possible to put alternative (switchable) PAL colors (not the 50 Hz PAL timing) into the rom? But would there be a chance to switch between the color palette (all switches are used, aren't they)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted August 30, 2004 Author Share Posted August 30, 2004 I would lack a means to switch them. Besides that, some colors are shared with other game functions (the maze color for example is really just the game mode status with the lower bits stripped off...and the player sprite color is taken from the upper corner of the maze data bitmap). I'm sure that the PAL pallette could be used instead, but it would take quite a bit of recoding (and it would still lack a means to switch between 2 pallettes). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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