GoSub Maze Contest

[+atari2600land]

You've probably heard about GoSub. Well, here's your chance to design mazes for it. The best ones (or the only ones) will be put in the actual game I'm making. And, if people actually like the finished product, it just might be in the store! Here's the rules:

the best 10 mazes will be picked.

All mazes should be in this format:

playfield:
 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
 X..............................X
 X..............................X
 X..............................X
 X..............................X
 X..............................X
 X..............................X
 X..............................X
 X..............................X
 X..............................X
 X..............................X
end 

Don't worry about the bottom border, for some strange reason, bBasic puts it in as a 12th skinny line.

Also, while you're at it, vote for the mazes you like the best. Post a screenshot of the maze(s) you enjoy so I'll be sure to keep them in the game. That's right, I'm gonna have to remove some to put yours in (that is, if there are any entries to this contest.)

 

Basically, it's like the Combat Redux contest, only using Batari BASIC, and a different game.

 

I want this to be my best game ever, so I'm adding some stuff like 2 player modes, optional enemies in 1-player-mode, etc. R Jones gave me some great ideas on how to improve on what I have now.

 

And, if you haven't heard of it, there's a binary file of what I have now down at the bottom there.

 

Contest ends 1/1/07.

gosub120306.bas.bin

Edited December 4, 2006 by atari2600land

[SeaGtGruff]

You've probably heard about GoSub. Well, here's your chance to design mazes for it. The best ones (or the only ones) will be put in the actual game I'm making.

That's a nice idea! We can all be fiendishly evil and design some hard-to-navigate mazes with teeny-tiny, twisty passages.

 

Michael

[Zach]

I'm interested. I'll have more time to contribute around the end of the month.

[gambler172]

Hi Chris

great idea .

I will try at weekend to create some screens.But i have some questions.

How many space uses the sub?

Is there anything special,i should know,when creating screens?

What is the best way to create screens?A Text editor?

greetings Walter

[+atari2600land]

Hi Chris

great idea .

I will try at weekend to create some screens.But i have some questions.

How many space uses the sub?

Is there anything special,i should know,when creating screens?

What is the best way to create screens?A Text editor?

greetings Walter

The submarine is 6 pixels high and 7 pixels wide. I don't know how big a playfield pixel is (someone else will probably say), but not counting the borders, the maze should be 11 playfield pixels high and 30 playfield pixels wide. The best way to do this is to either use Batari Basic (so you can see how the maze will look) or if you don't have that, just Notepad will do.

The Batari Basic language for making playfields is using . for a blank space and X for a playfield pixel, so it'd be best if you used the template that I created in the first post.

 

Also, please tell me where the sub should start and where the treasure chest should be when you send in the mazes. I can't wait to see 'em.

[SeaGtGruff]

I don't know how big a playfield pixel is (someone else will probably say)

Assuming you're using the narrowest player size (which, in fact, you are doing in this game), a playfield pixel is half as wide as a player-- i.e., 1 playfield pixel is exactly as wide as 4 player pixels; or, since a player is 8 pixels wide, a player is exactly as wide as 2 playfield pixels. So if the sub is 7 pixels wide, the passages in the maze will need to be at least 2 playfield pixels wide, or the sub won't be able to squeeze through-- and it will be a pretty tight squeeze, because there will be only 1 pixel to spare. (Idea for a game enhancement: Make some of the passages less than 2 playfield pixels wide, but using the missile to make the passage narrower, and then require the sub to blast the passage open wider using torpedos.)

 

As for the height, the standard bB playfield is 192 scan lines tall, and are divided up into 12 rows (although the 12th row is used for the score instead of for drawing the playfield per se). So if we divide 192 by 12, we see that each of the rows in the standard bB playfield are 16 scan lines tall. However, bB uses a "double-line" kernel, meaning it draws every pair of two consecutive scan lines using the same graphics data, so the effective "vertical resolution" is really 96 instead of 192. Thus, a standard bB playfield pixel is the same height as 8 player lines. So if the sub is 6 pixels tall, the maze passageways can be as narrow as 1 row of playfield pixels.

 

Michael

[+atari2600land]

Hey, gang, I got an entry for the contest. gambler172 sent in this level (which I've modified the game so it will start at.) So, whaddya all think?

gosub120906.bas.bin

[SeaGtGruff]

Hey, gang, I got an entry for the contest. gambler172 sent in this level (which I've modified the game so it will start at.) So, whaddya all think?

Wow, that's hard! Make sure it's one of the later mazes, so the player can work their way up to it. I like the fuji design.

 

Michael

[gambler172]

Hi Chris

Great,that you posted it so fast..I tried out my level.It is hard,but not impossible.I will do some more levels soon.

greetings Walter

[+atari2600land]

Would it be OK if I modified it just a little bit (like this) to make it easier?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......................X.......X
X......................X.......X
XXXXXXXXXX...X.XX.X....X...X...X
X............X.XX.X....X...X...X
X...........X..XX..X...X...X...X
X.T.XXXX....X..XX..X.......X...X
XXXXXXXX...X...XX...X......X...X
X........X.....XX.....X.XXXX...X
X..............................X
X.S..X.........................X

Edited December 10, 2006 by atari2600land

[gambler172]

Would it be OK if I modified it just a little bit (like this) to make it easier?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
X......................X.......X
X......................X.......X
XXXXXXXXXX...X.XX.X....X...X...X
X............X.XX.X....X...X...X
X...........X..XX..X...X...X...X
X.T.XXXX....X..XX..X.......X...X
XXXXXXXX...X...XX...X......X...X
X........X.....XX.....X.XXXX...X
X..............................X
X.S..X.........................X

Hi Chris

feel free,to modify it.

greetings Walter

 

Ps:Did you get the other 2 mazes?

[+atari2600land]

Another hard one from gambler172. I've implimented one of two mazes he sent me today into the game (because I like it better.) Depending on how many other entries I get, I might put the second one into the game. And remember, please show me some screenshots of your favorite mazes so I know which ones to keep in the game. I'm just deleting the mazes I like least, but my opinion is probably different from yours.

gosub121006.bas.bin

[gambler172]

Another hard one from gambler172. I've implimented one of two mazes he sent me today into the game (because I like it better.) Depending on how many other entries I get, I might put the second one into the game. And remember, please show me some screenshots of your favorite mazes so I know which ones to keep in the game. I'm just deleting the mazes I like least, but my opinion is probably different from yours.

Hi Chris

i tried this new version on Z26 emulator,but after the 3rd screen it crashes and i get a a message"Jam instruction b2"

Please check this?I do not know anything about this message.

greetings Walter

[gambler172]

Hey, gang, I got an entry for the contest. gambler172 sent in this level (which I've modified the game so it will start at.) So, whaddya all think?

Hi Chris

And this version crashes on Z26 after the 4th screen.I got the same message.Jam instruction b2

greetings Walter

[+atari2600land]

I'm working on it. The problem is I can't get it to go back to the title screen. Whenever I put in "if v=17 then goto 4 bank1" it goes to the minigame screen instead, which is weird. Here's a temporary solution until I get it fixed. This version will (hopefully) start at the beginning and repeat the last level over and over again. Also attached is the .bas version if someone wants to help me with this.

 

EDIT: Typo. . But the beep is shorter and it still won't go to line 4 in bank 1.

 

Another Edit: I screwed the whole program up, and I didn't even do anything. I'll have to work deeper into this. I'm taking the binary file down because it won't work, but I'll leave the bas file up in case someone wants to help me get this thing back to where it was.

gosub121006.bas

Edited December 10, 2006 by atari2600land

[+atari2600land]

I think there should be a limit on how many times you can edit a post. Anyway, it turns out I accidentally erased a line of programming that told the beep to go one more screencount, therefore that's why the beep was shorter and it didn't go back to the title screen. Duh. So this version SHOULD work in Z26. I tried it in Stella and it works fine.

gosub121006b.bas.bin

[gambler172]

I think there should be a limit on how many times you can edit a post. Anyway, it turns out I accidentally erased a line of programming that told the beep to go one more screencount, therefore that's why the beep was shorter and it didn't go back to the title screen. Duh. So this version SHOULD work in Z26. I tried it in Stella and it works fine.

Hi Chris

i tried it and it works great now.More mazes from me at weekend.

greetings Walter