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Marble Game Finished


Zach

What would you like to see in final version of Marble Jumper?  

20 members have voted

  1. 1. What would you like to see in final version of Marble Jumper?

    • More easy puzzles
      2
    • More medium puzzles
      6
    • More hard-core puzzles
      3
    • Nothing: It's fine the way it is.
      9

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The 1K solitaire game will be submitted to the MiniGame contest soon. The new title is Marble Jumper.

 

I've tripled the number of puzzles from the first version posted, and added a musical reward for winning. (thanks to Paul and Wolfgang ;))

 

If you missed the first post, this game is an implementation of the classic Peg Solitaire. You play by jumping marbles over each other, like in checkers, except the jumps are only horizontal or vertical. You win if you get the last piece in the center. To jump, move the cursor the the desired marble, hold down the button, and push the joystick in the desired direction. You can also reset the board and select the 24 puzzles.

 

Now I'm just seeking feedback on the difficulty of the puzzle set. One I decide the final puzzles, I'll be ready to submit it to the contest.

 

EDIT: Original title of this thread was Marble Game Almost Finished.

post-2163-1127772225_thumb.png

marbtair_sep26.bin

Edited by Zach
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How about:

 

More puzzles that look like Atari 2600 sprites like the Space Invaders and such...  :D

938652[/snapback]

I won't include any copyright-protected artwork, but if anyone would like to submit a sprite in the style of space-invaders, I can test whether it is solvable. In fact, I'll accept any design for consideration. Keep in mind that there is only room for 24 puzzles, and the slots are obviously filled right now.

 

Please post a design in this format:

   ---   
  -0-   
--000-- 
-00-00- 
--000-- 
  -0-   
  ---

(those are zeros, not O's)

Edited by Zach
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Thanks again to everyone who voted. Here are the current (and final) results:

 

More easy puzzles [ 1 ]

More medium puzzles [ 3 ]

More hard-core puzzles [ 1 ]

Nothing: It's fine the way it is. [ 6 ]

 

I'll use this information to help decide what the final puzzle set will be and then submit to the contest. :)

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  • 1 month later...
Looks good to me the way it is now. Looking forward to this on a cart.  :cool:

944094[/snapback]

Marble Jumper is now available from AtariAge as part of the 2005 Minigame Multicart. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank cd-w, batari, and vdub-bobby for allowing this game to be included.

968712[/snapback]

You're very welcome! :D

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Marble Jumper is now available from AtariAge as part of the 2005 Minigame Multicart. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank cd-w, batari, and vdub-bobby for allowing this game to be included.

968712[/snapback]

You're very welcome! :D

 

Likewise! Marble jumper is a nice little puzzle game. I am looking forward to seeing Four-Play complete (with AI players) in the future.

 

Chris

Edited by cd-w
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  • 2 weeks later...
I almost hate to say this, but I got my Minigame Multicart about a week ago and, when playing Marble Jumper on my 4-switch, every time I move a marble the screen shifts down by I think one scanline.  Looks like something is taking too long in VBLANK.

973787[/snapback]

That's a surprise. I have played both the multicart and the stand-alone version on my four-switch many times, and I did not see any shifting.

 

Who else has played this on a console?

Edited by Zach
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I almost hate to say this, but I got my Minigame Multicart about a week ago and, when playing Marble Jumper on my 4-switch, every time I move a marble the screen shifts down by I think one scanline.  Looks like something is taking too long in VBLANK.

973787[/snapback]

That's a surprise. I have played both the multicart and the stand-alone version on my four-switch many times, and I did not see any shifting.

 

Who else has played this on a console?

974585[/snapback]

Arrgh. I just realized: I wasn't playing it on my 4-switch when I saw the shift...I think it was on my brother's Jr.

 

Maybe. Have to go back and check.

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  • 2 weeks later...

By running z26 in slow motion, I've found that the scanline count sometimes becomes 263 for one frame during a jump. This might account for the skipping Bob observed. It's interesting that the scanline increase did not affect the screen on my TV.

 

I am working on stablizing the scanline count for the switchable NTSC/PAL version.

Edited by Zach
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Okay, I have been able to do a little more testing:

 

On my 4-switch, on my 10+ yr old 13-inch TV, the screen does not move when jumping or moving the cursor.

 

But it does shift by what looks like a single scanline when pressing RESET. It's pretty easy to see.

 

The shift when jumping, if I wasn't imagining things, must have been on my brother's Jr., on a much newer, giant TV. I haven't had a chance to confirm this, but I'm pretty sure I saw something like this.

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Okay, I have been able to do a little more testing:

 

On my 4-switch, on my 10+ yr old 13-inch TV, the screen does not move when jumping or moving the cursor. 

 

But it does shift by what looks like a single scanline when pressing RESET.  It's pretty easy to see.

 

The shift when jumping, if I wasn't imagining things, must have been on my brother's Jr., on a much newer, giant TV.  I haven't had a chance to confirm this, but I'm pretty sure I saw something like this.

981564[/snapback]

The shift during reset doesn't appear on my TV (a Sony Wega, 2 yrs old), but z26 clearly shows 261 lines. The lesson here is not to rely on just one TV while testing.

 

I recently finished the PAL/NTSC version of Marble Jumper and have tested the scanline count extensively with z26. I've not seen any deviation from 262 or 312 lines.

 

BTW, has anyone solved all the puzzles yet? I'm up to 20 myself.

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