For the ColecoVision: Frantic

[ScottHuggins]

Hi!

 

Myself and Joe teamed up for this one. It's an original game loosely based on the Frenzy game for the ColecoVision. When attract screen comes up, press left FIRE button to start game. Pressing '4' will pause the game at any time. If you get into trouble, you can press '7' (only once) to warp to next room. Bonus life after you clear a level (5 randomly chosen rooms per level). Use joystick to move the man and left controller will fire. Any and all comments are greatly appreciated!

 

THE STORY

5 words took 240 hours to travel across space. "Landing party captured on Mazeon" was all it said but it only took 5 hours for the mission to get started. This was the third Interstellar Organization ship to go to Mazeon to try and establish an embassy with the Automazeons but it seems to have suffered the same fate as the first two. Capture and imprisonment at the hands of the Automazeon robots called Eviscerators.

 

Based upon your skill and rank you've been picked to lead the rescue mission in prison complex Rallok 96. You're equipped with a hand laser and teleportation tags for the prisoners. Blast open the prisoner cells and tag the prisoners to immediately teleport them to the rescue ship in orbit around Mazeon. There are 25 rooms spread out over 5 levels in Rallok 96 and you'll need to get all 3 keys to exit a room after saving the prisoners. You can leave prisoners behind but you'll be sacrificing them to the Eviscerators. There are five generations of Eviscerators guarding Rallock 96 on the various levels. The IO recuse ship will communicate with you between levels regarding your progress.

 

Key points to survive your mission:

 

1.Speed is of the essence. Although the stationary canons can be destroyed permanently, the Eviscerators will regenerate after a laser blast. The Eviscerators

are controlled by an Omnibot nicknamed Heinous Hank. Hank is the tech-evolution of the original Mazeon ruler Evil Otto and he will attack if you stay in a oom

too long. 5 shots will temporarily disable Heinous Hank.

 

2.You can shoot through the blue walls but the green sections will cause your laser to rebound. Do not touch the green rebound walls because they contain a

lethal jolt of energy.

 

3.You must leave a room through the exit door. Do not try to exit a room through any holes you make. The rooms in Rallok 96 are linked by pressurized

hallways but going anywhere outside of the room or hallway will cause a massive lethal depressurization.

 

4.The prisoners may be disoriented and try to run away. You may need to chase them down. Your hand laser will destroy Eviscerators but it will also kill

prisoners.

F.zip

Edited August 9, 2008 by ScottHuggins

[+Psionic]

It's an original game loosely based on the Frenzy game for the ColecoVision.

Loosely?

 

[joeybastard]

It's an original game loosely based on the Frenzy game for the ColecoVision.

Loosely?

 

 

Play it. It's definitely based on Frenzy but there's other objectives besides killing robots in this. Our idea on this was kind of a Super Frenzy.

[+Psionic]

Play it. It's definitely based on Frenzy but there's other objectives besides killing robots in this. Our idea on this was kind of a Super Frenzy.

It looks good. I'l try it later tonight.

[jetset]

One cart please.

[ScottHuggins]

Ha! It's still got a little bit to go, but we'll see how it all turns out.

 

 

One cart please.

[Nognir]

I'm not so familiar with the Colecovision so forgive me my maybe stupid questions

 

Frenzy is the Colecovision version of Berzerk right?

my second questions is: Do I get problems If I play US Games on my PAL console?

 

I'm getting my (hopefully working) Colecovision this weekend

 

And if this will work, Frantic will be MY favorite game. Looks really great!

[joeybastard]

I'm not so familiar with the Colecovision so forgive me my maybe stupid questions

 

Frenzy is the Colecovision version of Berzerk right?

my second questions is: Do I get problems If I play US Games on my PAL console?

 

I'm getting my (hopefully working) Colecovision this weekend

 

And if this will work, Frantic will be MY favorite game. Looks really great!

 

Frenzy was the sequel to Berzerk. While Berzerk was ported to a few different home consoles, I think Colecovision is the only one to get Frenzy. Frenzy plays similar to Berzerk except it has walls you can shoot through, rebounding shot walls and Otto can be killed temporaily. Frantic has all of those extra features too and some new ones.

 

I don't know if you can play NTSC games on a PAL console. You can try it emulated on your computer though.

Edited April 8, 2008 by joeybastard

[Kripto]

Great Job! It's always good to see Human VS Killer Robot action!

[+Psionic]

Frenzy was the sequel to Berzerk. While Berzerk was ported to a few different home consoles, I think Colecovision is the only one to get Frenzy.

There was a 2600 version of Frenzy in development, but it was never released and nothing has turned up.

 

I don't know if you can play NTSC games on a PAL console. You can try it emulated on your computer though.

American NTSC ColecoVision games will generally play fine on a European PAL console.

Edited April 8, 2008 by PingvinBlueJeans

[duncantoml]

Great to see you working on a another CV game.

 

Looks pretty cool.

[Ikrananka]

I don't know if you can play NTSC games on a PAL console. You can try it emulated on your computer though.

American NTSC ColecoVision games will generally play fine on a European PAL console.

I'm from the UK and played US sourced carts all the time on my PAL console. AFAIK there is no difference in the cart electronics hardware between US/Canada (NTSC) releases and UK/Europe (PAL/SECAM) releases and so all CV carts should be compatible with any CV console regardless of NTSC/PAL/SECAM designation. Funnily there was a weak attempt to regionalise UK carts - they stated on the label that they are "DESIGNED FOR USE ON PAL (U.K.) TV SYSTEM". Despite this statement they appear to play exactly the same on my NTSC console as the US edition of the same game. Go figure!!

[oesii]

Great looking and great playing game. I think I was having too much fun killing prisoners so I never made it past the 1st board. Will try again soon

[Pixelboy]

This is an awesome game! A little unfair in some spots, but very good in general. It really feels like a worthy sequel to Frenzy.

 

One thing I found confusing is how you can go through a door, but appear along a different wall in the next room. For example, I go through a door on the left side, but I start at the bottom in the next room. A bit non-sensical if you ask me, but if it's a feature deliberately included to add difficulty to the game, do keep it.

 

As a game, Frantic seems rather complete to me, except perhaps for some possible adjustments. Is there anything you're planning to add, Scott?

[Shannon]

Did the arcade Frenzy have voice like it's predecessor Berzerk?

[joeybastard]

Did the arcade Frenzy have voice like it's predecessor Berzerk?

 

I think so, I've never seen an actual Frenzy coin-op in person.

[ScottHuggins]

Luc,

That was by design. Joe and I discussed it and decided to make everything happening in the rooms random. Random door placement and exit door placement, every screen. So, you're right, the "flow" from one room to next isn't there. Could it be done that way? Sure. If enough want it that way, maybe we should do it.

 

Anything else to do? Well, if you let the attract mode go long enough, music will play as it randomly shows you different rooms. Need to work more on that music. Maybe a hi-score feature.

 

oesii,

Thanks a bunch for the compliments and stop killing those innocent dudes! That's where you get the huge points once you clear the five 'rooms' in level one. The more prisoners you rescue the bigger your bonus.

 

duncantoml,

I hope you try this out. I'm sure you will roll the score.

 

nognir,

Get yourself a ColecoVision! It's a neat little machine.

[joeybastard]

The door thing doesn't bother me either way and I think both ways could work but Scott's right, if it bugs people, we'll change it. My original thought on it was to keep the replay value as high as possible by keeping things as random as we could. That's why even though there are 25 rooms (5 to each level), they are chosen in random order for each level so it wouldn't just be a linear experience every time.

 

Any other opinion/suggestions are deeply appreciated by both of us. That doesn't mean all of the suggestions will definitely be implemented but any help in improving the game is welcome.

Edited April 8, 2008 by joeybastard

[uosipa llamxew]

This looks and plays great. I agree with Pixelboy that it feels odd to be placed at a different spot when changing rooms. I can totally understand why you want to keep things random though. Perhaps "flow" and "random" could be an option on the title screen?

 

Anyways, I dig it a lot! Cheers!

[Kripto]

Just got finished playing a few more rounds (On the Mac in the 'Mugrat' emulator. Runs great.). Since you've requested some suggestions for improvement-

 

-Make the sounds more "hostile". While this is of course a matter of taste, I think the game would benefit from a more stressful type of audio environment, similar to Millipede, Robotron, etc. (My spellcheck just flagged me on 'Robotron', oh, but 'spellcheck' is a 'real' word... )

 

-Make it so the player can click through the intro text

 

- The lead character looks a little 'thick' at points in his run cycle.

 

-Robot Re-spawn. Is this needed due to limited screen space or processing restrictions or just choice? I prefer the original Berserk's method of having all enemies (except Evil Otto) on screen at the level's start.

 

Some random ideas-

 

Maybe a power-up which would make the player invincible for a very short time (Force-Field Suit)? He could wreak major destruction in just a few seconds and possibly be able to kill your Evil Otto-type character if timed correctly...

 

Other comments-

 

-Love the premise and general execution.

 

-Creature design is top-knotch

 

Just my 2.53 Space Cents...

[joeybastard]

Interesting, I'll have to look at the sprites for the player again. I pretty much just took an AVI of Frenzy and went through it frame by frame to recreate the running. Maybe I made a mistake somewhere in it.

 

The robot regeneration was added for a few reasons. We found that the game was little too easy when you could just kill all of the robots, destroy the canons and just grab the keys/prisoners with no threat in the room. Even though Heinous Hank will eventually come out after you, we thought it was a little slow with him being the only enemy on screen. Having the Robot Regen also gives this a little something different from Berzerk/Frenzy. For me the hardest screen on Frenzy is the Robot Factory when I can't get a clear shot to stop the machine from building them. I see your point though, let's see what Scott thinks.

 

Being able to skip the communicator might be cool. I don't mind the wait for it but maybe I'm in the minority. I wonder how other folks feel about it? Good? Bad?

Edited April 8, 2008 by joeybastard

[Pixelboy]

Being able to skip the communicator might be cool. I don't mind the wait for it but maybe I'm in the minority. I wonder how other folks feel about it? Good? Bad?

Definately starts to get annoying after a few play sessions. It should be skippable.

[ScottHuggins]

Kripto, first off, awesome suggestions. Thanks a bunch.

 

>Robot Re-spawn. Is this needed due to limited screen space or processing restrictions or just choice? I prefer the original Berserk's

>method of having all enemies (except Evil Otto) on screen at the level's start.

 

Well, I believe the robots (they are really called killbots) are always on the screen at the start. It takes about 5 seconds before they start to come after you. When you shoot one, he will re-spawn in 8 seconds. If you kill three right in a row, then the game will randomly choose one of the "dead" robots to re-spawn. 8 seconds later, it checks for another robot to re-spawn. Maybe I am missing the point of your question (I think I probably am).

 

About skipping the communicator. Alright, Consider it done...but only on the intro to the game. I will make it to where left fire button will skip it. However, have you guys cleared level one yet? The communicator is good for telling you your bonus (I think so, at least).

 

>Make the sounds more "hostile". While this is of course a matter of taste, I think the game would benefit from a more stressful type >of audio environment, similar to Millipede, Robotron, etc. (My spellcheck just flagged me on 'Robotron', oh, but 'spellcheck' is a 'real' >word... )

 

Interesting. I wonder if you mean just a general hostile melody going on in the background or just when robots repawn, or just in general? I might be able to just do a low thump - thump sound like in Millipede.

 

>Maybe a power-up which would make the player invincible for a very short time (Force-Field Suit)? He could wreak major destruction >in just a few seconds and possibly be able to kill your Evil Otto-type character if timed correctly...

 

How's about (Joe what do you think?) at random times in a random location a "vest" shows up (only for a little bit). You grab the vest and are then invincible for 10 seconds... you can crash through walls, run over robots...anything like that. Also, you can move at double speed. So you can literally fly about the screen.

 

>Love the premise and general execution.

 

Joe's the man. I had nothing to do with that.

 

>Creature design is top-knotch

 

Joe's the man. I had nothing to do with that.

Edited April 8, 2008 by ScottHuggins

[joeybastard]

I forgot, they are named Killbots. You'd think I'd remember since I made it up

 

I think what Kripto means with the Killbots is that he would prefer it if that a set number appear on screen all at once with no regeneration. So instead of 4 killbots that can regenerate, 8 Killbots right from the start that stay dead like in Berzerk/Frenzy. Personally I really like the regeneration way but let's see how other people feel about it. I think if we went with a set number of Killbots, Hank will have to make an appearance much sooner to keep things more interesting.

 

Also, I have to agree with Scott on the Communicator skip. It's fine in the beginning to skip it but the message between levels(every 5 screens) is cool and a nice breather between levels.

 

And thanks for the pat on the back but all of the stuff I did is just talk without a programmer to make it actually come into being so really: Scott's the man

Edited April 8, 2008 by joeybastard

[Shannon]

I'm just curious being that you captured the animation from an avi. How do you handle "moving" objects. I've been trying to do something similar with various games where the animated character moves using a GIF animator program.