keilbaca Posted February 28, 2005 Share Posted February 28, 2005 Wow, great progress! The only thing this needs is actual scoring, sounds, and continuing to the next level and it'll be a complete game! Nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gambler172 Posted February 28, 2005 Share Posted February 28, 2005 Hallo Manuel great game.I hope it will be finished soon. :wink: greetings Gambler172 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted March 1, 2005 Author Share Posted March 1, 2005 Hi there! One thing that would be nice is some type of level indicator so you know what level you're on. Will make it a bit easier for people to talk about the different levels, and also to keep tabs on how high you've gotten in the game. Rather than having the info permanent on the screen, I think I'll have some kind of transition between the levels that'll tell you which level you're playing next Is the blowing face working? It doesn't seem to affect my balloon. I'm sorry, my fault. I posted an advanced version to [stella] on sunday, but forgot to do it here. Please check the attachment. Tried it on MacMame this weekend. The moving levels moved up/down then left/right. On some levels just a section of the maze moved. Unfortunately I can't do the horizontal movement on the VCS: Jumping the screen horizontally a complete PF pixel at once would immediately kill the player in most situations. The moving sections of spikes is the one thing I can't do either, but I will compensate for this soon with a brandnew VCS exclusive obstacle Wow, great progress! The only thing this needs is actual scoring, sounds, and continuing to the next level and it'll be a complete game! Nice work! Hehe, unfortunately my ToDo list is still a little longer, but those are the major points, indeed! -> Ok, thanks all for the great feedback! Going back to work now Greetings, Manuel crazy.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 The new version did the trick - the faces now blow the balloon around. Very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yuppicide Posted June 13, 2005 Share Posted June 13, 2005 (edited) First off, this is one incredible game. Can't wait for the final version. The face is the best part! It would be cool if you had a secret keypress you hit at the main menu to shoutout AtariAge or some secret level or something. This way when the game comes out we'll get it listed on GameFAQS for even more exposure. Questions: 1 - Do you ever clear a level in the demo?! I played teh first level and got to the end, but that was it. 2 - In the final version will you be able to select all the levels or you have to beat one to get to the next?! 'Cause I don't like to cheat and see all the levels. I'd like to play them one by one. Did the original arcade game have sound?! Edited June 13, 2005 by yuppicide Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted June 13, 2005 Author Share Posted June 13, 2005 Hi there! 1 - Do you ever clear a level in the demo?! I played teh first level and got to the end, but that was it. The demo is very limited here. I hope to have a "public beta" ready soon in 2-3 weeks, where the gameplay is complete. 2 - In the final version will you be able to select all the levels or you have to beat one to get to the next?! 'Cause I don't like to cheat and see all the levels. I'd like to play them one by one. There'll be both. You may skip a level (before it starts) if you want to, but you won't get any score for it then and you can't go back. Wether you use this feature or not is your own descission. Did the original arcade game have sound?! Yes, the arcade plays a bunch of jingles and some SFX. The 2600 version will additionally have a title tune. Greetings, Manuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercat Posted June 20, 2005 Share Posted June 20, 2005 Cute game. If you have code space, one thing that might be a nice touch would be to have two death scenes: -1- If the balloon touches the wall, use the explosion as-is -2- If the string touches the wall, have the string disappear and force the balloon to rise until it hits something (whereupon the ordinary explosion would occur. Minor improvement, but such things can help lend polish to a game. If detecting the distinction between a string touch and a balloon touch would be hard, you could force the code to always do death-scene #2 starting with the balloon in its present position. If the balloon itself touched a wall, it would still touch after the string vanished and would pop immediately. BTW, if you can spare the cycles, a different-colored string might be nice too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted June 21, 2005 Author Share Posted June 21, 2005 Hi there! Cute game. If you have code space, one thing that might be a nice touch would be to have two death scenes: Sounds very interesting, I'll see if this can be done! If detecting the distinction between a string touch and a balloon touch would be hard, you could force the code to always do death-scene #2 starting with the balloon in its present position. If the balloon itself touched a wall, it would still touch after the string vanished and would pop immediately. I think that in case you'll get rather this version. I can't think of an elegant way to determine where the balloon hit the playfield. In the end it might require checking every single pixel of the balloon vs. the playfield layout, which'd be an incredibly cycle-wasting task. (Not to forget that right now I don't even know where actually the balloon pixels are, I'd have to calculate those as well...) But yeah, using the proposed alternative will do the calculation for free in a single frame... BTW, if you can spare the cycles, a different-colored string might be nice too. 877856[/snapback] Rather not. There's two cycles in the first line and one in the second. Also I'm already past the stage of touching the kernel for this project Greetings, Manuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 I can't think of an elegant way to determine where the balloon hit the playfield. 1. Storing the collision register inside the kernel? Though that would require quite a lot of valuable cycles. 2. When you detect a collision, display only the ballon (or the string) for the next frame and check for a collision again. I think 2. should work very well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercat Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 2. When you detect a collision, display only the ballon (or the string) for the next frame and check for a collision again. I think 2. should work very well. 878076[/snapback] Bingo. If the balloon itself hits the wall, showing balloon-only for a frame won't cause any visual disruption, since the balloon-pop animation has no string anyway. And if the string hits the wall, showing balloon-only for a frame is a the right thing to do. So either way, show balloon only. Indeed, as I indicated, if you simply make it so that a collision causes you to switch to balloon only and start animating upward (but with the first frame drawn precisely where the previous frame had been) you shouldn't really have to worry about whether the balloon or string had the first collision since in either case the sequence: -1- Switch to balloon only -2- When balloon collides with anything, pop it -3- Disable user control and make ballon move upward each frame. should work fine. Note with #3 that if the balloon is being blown sideways, that may as well continue (with the balloon blowing diagonally). If the balloon drifts to the exit, I'd suggest having it drive sideways until it hits something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted June 21, 2005 Author Share Posted June 21, 2005 Hi Thomas! I can't think of an elegant way to determine where the balloon hit the playfield. 1. Storing the collision register inside the kernel? Though that would require quite a lot of valuable cycles. 878076[/snapback] Wow, that's a cool idea! Is the collision register updated that quick? (No, I don't have the cycles. But still, it's a good idea to keep in mind ) Greetings, Manuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted June 21, 2005 Author Share Posted June 21, 2005 Hi there! If the balloon drifts to the exit, I'd suggest having it drive sideways until it hits something. 878080[/snapback] Hm... I'll have to examine this behaviour carefully. The balloon won't collide with the top or bottom line, so there's indeed a chance to have it drifting to the exit or having it safely reach the top... Greetings, Manuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+batari Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 Hi Thomas! I can't think of an elegant way to determine where the balloon hit the playfield. 1. Storing the collision register inside the kernel? Though that would require quite a lot of valuable cycles. 878076[/snapback] Wow, that's a cool idea! Is the collision register updated that quick? (No, I don't have the cycles. But still, it's a good idea to keep in mind ) Greetings, Manuel 878082[/snapback] It pretty much has to be, because the TIA's data is changed so often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted June 21, 2005 Share Posted June 21, 2005 Wow, that's a cool idea! Is the collision register updated that quick? Confirmed. I did that for Splatform and River Raid is doing the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted June 21, 2005 Author Share Posted June 21, 2005 Hi there! Here comes the public beta version of Crazy Balloon! Well, it's not 100% the version I wanted to have ready for the public beta release, but very close. I'm releasing it now, since - this discussion just bubbled to the top anyway - I'm moving this weekend and I've no clue when I have my equipment ready again... This version is pretty much the OVGE one, I just added a few SFX since. Keep in mind that emulators will start the game in the (B)eginners mode. Switch it to A for (A)rcade difficulty Looking forward to YOUR feedback! (...especially if you're playing on real hardware...) Greetings, Manuel crazy.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercat Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 Here comes the public beta version of Crazy Balloon! I didn't like the title music at first, but it sorta grew on me. I do wish the Atari allowed things to be better in tune, but wotcher gonna do? The tunes for level-advance and game-over seem rather wimpy compared to the title music. If you have space, fleshing them out a little more might be nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted June 23, 2005 Author Share Posted June 23, 2005 Hi there! I didn't like the title music at first, but it sorta grew on me. I was hoping to recreate one of those 82/83 "I'm-a-video-game-tune-play-me-forever" tunes. I think it does the job and for 97 bytes one can't complain. The tunes for level-advance and game-over seem rather wimpy compared to the title music. If you have space, fleshing them out a little more might be nice. I'm trying to capture the spirit of the monophonic arcade jingles here. If someone could transcribe the original ones for me, I'd try to recreate them on the 2600. Greetings, Manuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdub_bobby Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 Hi Thomas! I can't think of an elegant way to determine where the balloon hit the playfield. 1. Storing the collision register inside the kernel? Though that would require quite a lot of valuable cycles. 878076[/snapback] Wow, that's a cool idea! Is the collision register updated that quick? I save the contents of the collision register 8 times during my Go Fish! kernel. And this is looking pretty good! -bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcrowe Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 Mac OS9...Stella...won't work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted June 24, 2005 Author Share Posted June 24, 2005 Hi there! Mac OS9...Stella...won't work 880038[/snapback] It requires Stella 1.3 or higher: http://sourceforge.net/projects/stella/ Greetings, Manuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug0909 Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 I'm a big fan of the Odyssey 2 game Looney Balloon, which until now I didn't realize was yet another O2 ripoff of an arcade game. Well, actually, I was a big fan of the O2 Looney Balloon game until I realized after 3,245 hours of play that I could not get past level 1. But the O2 game, as obscenely impossible as it is (especially for a game marketed to children), has .... Rides! Fun, fun rides! We are talking slides, "roundabouts" [merry go rounds I guess], rocking horses and trees .... and even birds and an angry deity (ok, I'm exxaggerating, the manual just describes it as a "gust of wind") to watch out for. All of which you have to go on while holding that wacky balloon. Just thought it might be a source of ideas...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted June 24, 2005 Author Share Posted June 24, 2005 Hi there! Just thought it might be a source of ideas...... 880095[/snapback] Yes, I knew about Looney Balloon. It's a good source of ideas not to use I'd say Truth to be told, I actually even stole an idea from it: The explosion of the balloon when it touches something. (Come to think about it, it was not just the idea itself, but I also based the CB explosion sprites on O2 screenshots...) I must admit I never managed to finish the first screen in Looney Balloon either. Is it possible? The rides are there, true, but they don't do anything for the game either IMO... Greetings, Manuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HermChase Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 I just played through this new version, and it's really good! It seems very complete! A few questions and notes. After level 16 (which is quite difficult, but I liked it like that! ), will the levels loop or something (the original was loop with balloon speed increased), or will that simply be the end? Will there be any background music during play? There wasn't any in the original, but I'm curious. :!: In the original game, the "START" area was a type of sanctuary of sorts. That is, when you were holding the up directional accidentally from a prior excursion, and hit the START walls, it would just place you back in the starting position. When I was playing this one, once or twice I accidentally lost two lives in a row, because I was holding a direction still and hit the START box wall. Would this be implementable as a "safe zone"? :!: The invisible finish line in Level 03 and its variations seems one box too low for me. I feel like I'm "searching" for the end even though I'm already there, just a little bit. Personally, I think it would be optimal if it was one "box" higher (referring to the boxy pixels that make up the level, of course) :!: The faces also seem to blow from behind, though that's only noticible at the end of Level 13. I really enjoyed the magnets, they were a nice touch, although they were a tad boxy shaped as compared to, say, the balloon and face shapes. Good work! I must say you really did a great job on this game. I really enjoy it a lot and appreciate your hard work! ------------- Chase Hermsen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcrowe Posted June 24, 2005 Share Posted June 24, 2005 "It requires Stella 1.3 or higher: http://sourceforge.net/projects/stella/" Thanks Manuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted June 25, 2005 Author Share Posted June 25, 2005 Hi Chase! I just played through this new version, and it's really good! It seems very complete! Cool! Thanks for your feedback! After level 16 (which is quite difficult, but I liked it like that! ), will the levels loop or something (the original was loop with balloon speed increased), or will that simply be the end? The plan is to add additional levels until the cartridge is completely filled. I'm not sure about increasing the balloon speed. For one do I think that it is a very cheap way to increase the difficulty and then 99% of feedback so far was that the game is too hard as is already. Also I'm not sure wether all levels are still playable at higher speed. Will there be any background music during play? There wasn't any in the original, but I'm curious. I'm currently thinking about adding some tick-tock sound for the balloon, but I have no intention to add more music. :!: In the original game, the "START" area was a type of sanctuary of sorts. That is, when you were holding the up directional accidentally from a prior excursion, and hit the START walls, it would just place you back in the starting position. When I was playing this one, once or twice I accidentally lost two lives in a row, because I was holding a direction still and hit the START box wall. Would this be implementable as a "safe zone"? Hm... I'll have to think about a solution for this. :!: The invisible finish line in Level 03 and its variations seems one box too low for me. I feel like I'm "searching" for the end even though I'm already there, just a little bit. Personally, I think it would be optimal if it was one "box" higher (referring to the boxy pixels that make up the level, of course) Ok, I'll fix that :!: The faces also seem to blow from behind, though that's only noticible at the end of Level 13. Uihjah! Needs to be fixed as well! I really enjoyed the magnets, they were a nice touch, although they were a tad boxy shaped as compared to, say, the balloon and face shapes. I made them double width, so they look more impresive. I had it more rounded first, but then my wife meant it didn't look like a magnet and that it should be straight angles only... I must say you really did a great job on this game. I really enjoy it a lot and appreciate your hard work! Thanks again for taking the time to playtest! Greetings, Manuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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