Colony 7 - Release Candidate!

[haroldoop]

Very nice game, although a bit too easy.

[Cybergoth]

Very nice game, although a bit too easy.

 

We'll have to see how it feels when the fighters follow the arcade movement schemes more closely. There'll be no more non-shooting fighters then, and it'll also have more than one fighter firing at the same time then, which in combination should make it some more challenging. At least I hope so

[JamesD]

Very nice game, although a bit too easy.

 

We'll have to see how it feels when the fighters follow the arcade movement schemes more closely. There'll be no more non-shooting fighters then, and it'll also have more than one fighter firing at the same time then, which in combination should make it some more challenging. At least I hope so

I have the original version on one of those joysticks with several old arcade games (this is the Space Invaders unit).

The game is a lot of fun and gets pretty difficult after a couple levels.

 

If the final game matches the arcade, you won't complain about it being too easy.

Edited February 23, 2007 by JamesD

[Cybergoth]

Newsflash! Colony 7 goes beta!

 

Well, actually there's still some things on my ToDo list I'd normally do before going into the beta phase, yet since this is supposed to be available in time for the AA X-Mas sale I'm trying to parallelize tasks, by gathering feedback and communicate on a beta version and working through the remaining ToDos at the same time

 

I'll try to finish the game within the next 2-3 weeks, so anyone interested in this project can help me right here, right now by giving it a try and test it.

 

I'm not yet calling it a feature stop, but I have to excuse in advance that I'm down to the last page of ROM, so I will rather focus on bugfixes and smaller stuff than say adding AVox support or programming a Hiscore list.

 

Since I know you were all following the progress happening in the last handfull of versions in my blog , here's just the changes from the last blog version:

 

- Added some sound & vision to the bonus screen.

- You now get an extra life at 30.000 points.

- Fixed several bugs (Heya! )

 

Changes are becoming really tough jobs, that little bonus counting thing took the whole day to implement, with most of the work being code rearranging and finding RAM or ROM at impossible places...

colony7.zip

[Albert]

Newsflash! Colony 7 goes beta!

Woo hoo!! :D

 

I will be playtesting this later today!

 

..Al

[birdie3]

Newsflash! Colony 7 goes beta!

 

Well, actually there's still some things on my ToDo list I'd normally do before going into the beta phase, yet since this is supposed to be available in time for the AA X-Mas sale I'm trying to parallelize tasks, by gathering feedback and communicate on a beta version and working through the remaining ToDos at the same time

 

I'll try to finish the game within the next 2-3 weeks, so anyone interested in this project can help me right here, right now by giving it a try and test it.

 

I'm not yet calling it a feature stop, but I have to excuse in advance that I'm down to the last page of ROM, so I will rather focus on bugfixes and smaller stuff than say adding AVox support or programming a Hiscore list.

 

Since I know you were all following the progress happening in the last handfull of versions in my blog , here's just the changes from the last blog version:

 

- Added some sound & vision to the bonus screen.

- You now get an extra life at 30.000 points.

- Fixed several bugs (Heya! )

 

Changes are becoming really tough jobs, that little bonus counting thing took the whole day to implement, with most of the work being code rearranging and finding RAM or ROM at impossible places...

 

 

This game requires a controller with two buttons, right? How does one do this in emulation using Stella?

[+Nathan Strum]

It's great to see Colony 7 heading for release!

 

Got up to Squad "11" on my second game. 176,450.

 

Any chance of making the squad numbers go past 9?

 

Also a suggestion - it would be nice if there were a reason to try to hang onto both guns. What I do, is just hang out in the bottom left corner of the screen, and pick off anything that comes near that gun. I don't even bother trying to defend anything else.

 

What if using both guns had some benefit? Either scoring you more points, or giving you more firepower? (For example, having a larger target area for two guns, than for one.)

 

Also - does the Advisor actually do anything? The Scout increases the level duration, the Fighters attack, the Bummer zeros in on your gun. How about if the Advisor "advised" - made the Fighters smarter, while it was onscreen. So they'd go straight after the smart bomb towers, or head straight for your cannons, or any remaining buildings directly, instead of flying their normal patterns?

[+Nathan Strum]

This game requires a controller with two buttons, right? How does one do this in emulation using Stella?

 

Not anymore. The cannons autofire, and the fire button is used for the smart bomb.

[Cybergoth]

I will be playtesting this later today!

 

Thanks, hope you liked it!

 

It's great to see Colony 7 heading for release!

 

Thanks!

 

Got up to Squad "11" on my second game. 176,450.

 

Any chance of making the squad numbers go past 9?

 

So you're actually saying it's still to easy

 

As for the numbers, the game totally relies on them stopping at 9. All my tables end there and at ~10 different locations I use the value straight as is, like for scoring calculations or for indexing tables.

 

I guess I took a false turn very early here, based on my experience of the Arcade usually kicking me out around level 5 or 6 already, so I basically have to try to make the VCS version harder now.

 

What if using both guns had some benefit? Either scoring you more points, or giving you more firepower? (For example, having a larger target area for two guns, than for one.)

 

Giving the player more firepower would make it even easier, so that's a step in the wrong direction now. (BTW: I think the arcade actually did that when you where feeding it with two coins!!)

 

The scoring of the enemies is also fixed, but I could at least include the cannons for the bonus inbetween rounds.

 

Also - does the Advisor actually do anything? The Scout increases the level duration, the Fighters attack, the Bummer zeros in on your gun. How about if the Advisor "advised" - made the Fighters smarter, while it was onscreen. So they'd go straight after the smart bomb towers, or head straight for your cannons, or any remaining buildings directly, instead of flying their normal patterns?

 

Yes, that's a good one. I'm still toying with the idea of making it responsible for repairs, but as is would repairs also make the game easier

 

This game requires a controller with two buttons, right? How does one do this in emulation using Stella?

Not anymore. The cannons autofire, and the fire button is used for the smart bomb.

 

Yup, this has changed, the defense system is fully operational with a stock controller now

 

Oh, and how about posting a small teaser?

 

[+Nathan Strum]

So you're actually saying it's still to easy

It's just that it doesn't seem to get much harder. It's certainly fun to play, but it seems to level off well before squad 9.

 

Giving the player more firepower would make it even easier, so that's a step in the wrong direction now.

Ah... but what about giving the player less firepower with one cannon? Perhaps by making the cross-hairs and the target area a little smaller?

 

Oh, and how about posting a small teaser?

Cool! Looking forward to another of Dave Exton's awesome labels.

[Cybergoth]

It's just that it doesn't seem to get much harder. It's certainly fun to play, but it seems to level off well before squad 9.

 

That's true, right now it will only spawn faster in higher levels.

 

Ah... but what about giving the player less firepower with one cannon? Perhaps by making the cross-hairs and the target area a little smaller?

 

What I could possibly do for a similar effect, would be reducing the shot frequency. I will try what impact that has on the gameplay

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Grr, I suck at this game.

 

How about a cursor wrap around option for lamers like me?

[Cybergoth]

How about a cursor wrap around option for lamers like me?

 

I just tried, but on the right side it breaks the kernel timing and on the left it'll get striped from the HMOVE lines

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I just tried, but on the right side it breaks the kernel timing and on the left it'll get striped from the HMOVE lines

I wouldn't mind if it jumps.

[Cybergoth]

I wouldn't mind if it jumps.

 

That I can do

[sandmountainslim]

Any chance this could see cart by Christmas or wishful thinking on my part?

WP

[Cybergoth]

Any chance this could see cart by Christmas or wishful thinking on my part?

 

It will be ready in time

[gambler172]

Hallo Manuel

Spielt sich ganz gut;ist nur etwas zu leicht.Ich habe beim ersten mal gleich über 140000 Punkte erreicht.

Ansonsten bleibt zu sagen;gute Arbeit....

Gruss Walter

[Cybergoth]

Danke erstmal!

 

Am Schwierigkeitsgrad wird noch gefeilt, im Moment ist es wirklich viel zu leicht.

[sandmountainslim]

Any chance this could see cart by Christmas or wishful thinking on my part?

 

It will be ready in time

 

Great! Count me in as always when u release a game.

WP

[r_type2600]

Great to see this progressing along, love the cool new features

- the added bonus audio & visuals are perfect - much better than hopped for! With this, there's also no need anymore for a vicory jingle, the counting audio delivers perfect accoustic gratification

- good decision to colour the alien counter blue. As it shares the same color as the cursor, it nicely integrates into the defense "system".

* * * * *

Exhaustive list of suggestions: (I hope I'll be forgiven )

 

- I would still prefer the enemy counter not to reset after loss of a life. It remains a bit frustrating to have to restart a wave from the beginning. Enemy counter reset yes/no might make for a good difficulty switch option though! (default should be no reset )

 

- talking about difficulty switches: I am personally not so keen on having the cursor wrap (would further ease the game), but can understand other might like it. What about including it as the second difficulty switch selectable option (default = non-wrap)?

 

- level counting, etc.: here's an approach which could hit several flies with one swap:

Colour-code the levels. Recolour the ground (every new wave) and then the "atmosphere" above the shields (every 9th wave - the counter should thus only go to 8.)

Positive effects:

a) level indicator. Players could deduct the level they're on just by looking at the combined color of the ground + atmosphere. For instance, yellow + black = level 1, yellow + dark blue = level 9 (1blue)

b) no need to display the last level reached at the game over screen! Players can now simply deduct it.

c) additional difficulty factor in later waves: the different coloured background (dark blue, dark green, grey, etc. ) will reduce visibility of enemies, thus increasing the challenge.

d) added motivation for the player to continue gaming in order to discover the new color combinations.

 

- repairs (still think this is needed, as the player currently is still doomed to loose no matter how good he plays.)

Maybe an alternative approach would be to award the player with some repair at each bonus screen? That should hopefully be simpler to implement than the advisor...

After every round rebuild, at random, either a quarter of the shields or one of the buildings (incl. the smartbomb silos). Every fourth round would then rebuild one cannon. If both cannons are still operating, revert to standard bonus rebuild scheme.

Well, something like that, that could be fine-tuned for optimal difficulty-balance...

 

- presentation

Would be great if you could display the game screen (with colours of last achieved stage) after one full loop of the title tune. Two effects: breaks the static of the title screen (perfect for display on a show floor), and displays game stats of last game.

One final observation: the enemy score display shows the multiplier set a the max of 5. Would it be possible to have it loop from 1 to 5? Would be nice...(no big issue though)

 

* * * * *

 

Love the teaser

Looks like a perfect fit for another must-have in the 2600 library

Cheers, Eric

Edited November 18, 2007 by r_type2600

[Cybergoth]

Hi Eric,

 

thanks for the kind words

 

Exhaustive list of suggestions: (I hope I'll be forgiven )

 

Appreciated as always, bring it on!

 

I have several points from your suggestions more or less 1:1 on my Todo list, especially regarding the difficulty switches and the title screen alternating with the game screen. Repairing something at the bonus screen is also a good idea. I'm not sure regarding all the suggested color changes, I'll have to see wether something like this can be done

 

One final observation: the enemy score display shows the multiplier set a the max of 5. Would it be possible to have it loop from 1 to 5? Would be nice...(no big issue though)

 

It's actually a bit better already. The multiplier is not '5', but 'S' - for Squadron

 

Love the teaser

 

It's brilliant, Dave really outdid himself once again!

[Albert]

I grabbed the latest binary and played several rounds a few minutes ago.. Some comments:

• It would be nice if maybe the screen flashed white or some other color when using the bomb, to give it a more visual impact.
  
• When you destroy one of the bombs dropped by the ships at the top of the screen, there is no sound or explosion. Would be nice if there was at least sound, and if it could explode in some fashion that would be nice (it is a big bomb).
  
• I think the game could be made a touch more difficult, as I am able to get to Squad 9 without any problems, and beyond that for several waves.
  
• Is there any reason why the Squad number no longer increases after 9?
  
• How about a version that supports a Trak-Ball / ST Mouse? (like what Thomas did with Missile Command TB)
  

Colony 7 is a fun game and has that quality where you want to play again to see if you can beat your previous score. Although I suspect the difficulty will get nearly impossible at a certain point! I can also see that my hands will cramp up if I play this for a long time with a CX-40. The graphics and audio are all very well done, and I like the music as well as the sharp title screen.

 

I would not really like to see the screen wraparound as I think that will make the game easier. That's part of the risk of the game--if you get over too far on one side of the screen, your cannon on the other side stands a greater chance of being destroyed. If this was a difficulty switch option, I would not be opposed to it.

 

..Al

[r_type2600]

I have several points from your suggestions more or less 1:1 on my Todo list, especially regarding the difficulty switches and the title screen alternating with the game screen.

Cool - looking forward to it!

 

Repairing something at the bonus screen is also a good idea.

Sounds promising!

Main (design) challenge here, I guess, would be to find the best balance of boni. Maybe only award a bonus every second screen?

 

I'm not sure regarding all the suggested color changes, I'll have to see wether something like this can be done

Would really hope to see this implemented in some way. I have a feeling especially the "atmosphere" changes could add quite some lasting power to the game...(aside addressing the cited issues)

Regarding the ground colour changes, a more decent approach could be to just change the bottom line colour with every new wave. That way the characteristic ochre ground tone would be kept throughout the whole game; yet every wave would now gain a distinct colour code, allowing to identify it a glance...

 

It's actually a bit better already. The multiplier is not '5', but 'S' - for Squadron

Uh, my blunder

Though you must admit the s can be easily taken for a 5

Maybe you could make it a bit rounder ...?

Other than that, the presentation is set to become as perfect as it can get

[Albert]

Uh, my blunder

Though you must admit the s can be easily taken for a 5

Maybe you could make it a bit rounder ...?

Other than that, the presentation is set to become as perfect as it can get

I have to agree, I was a bit confused by this also, until I remember seeing mention of it in the thread here.

 

..Al