Minigame, 3rd try

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Hi,

this is a still quite early version of shall become my 3rd minigame. While you can play around a bit, the game is still missing most gameplay elements.

 

The basic idea is, that our yellow splatform hero Toto has to escape from a collapsing tower in a limited amount of time (or something else restricting). While he falls down, he can either crash through platforms of various thicknesses, gaining bonus points or, if he is too slow, bounce back up from them (loosing valuable time).

 

I haven't decided the final gameplay yet, so I am looking for suggestions:

- Maybe I should change the controls from joystick to paddle control , this would turn the game more a reaction game like Kaboom or SCSicide

- Maybe the player should get some influence on the vertical speed.

- Currently the player is slowed down when crashing, maybe I should reduce or completely remove that, so the gameplay will accelerate a lot.

- etc. pp.

 

IMO currently the game is not very addicting, so I am looking for some good, but not too complicated (1K!) ideas.

 

BTW: Yes, game name is also WIP, but I will look for a name after the gameplay is final.

crashndive__v0.21_.zip

[Rocko]

Great game! The slowing down adds to the fact that you failed. At first I was confused (I thought I had to go up, cause splatform!) but I got addicted! I am confused how the scoring works.

[pmpddytim]

Probably a stupid idea.

 

Since Splatform and this new one both use "toto" as the character maybe once this new one is done you could put all three of your minigames together and call it the "Adventures of Toto" . All you would have to do is add a small cut scene of Toto getting into the Helicopter from the Cave minigame.

 

Just an idea.

 

-Tim

[pmpddytim]

Since he is escaping from a tower could the tower be on fire? Some of the platforms could be flaming and dangerous to land on. Also things could be falling from the roof that you have to dodge, you could say they were hunks of wood that have broken off do to the fire.

 

I am also confused by the scoring.

 

-Tim

[birdie3]

Cool game!! How about a time limit to get to the bottom and a bonus for getting there quicker?

[bjk7382]

I do like the idea of this turning out to be a paddle game that goes along the same gameplay as kaboom and scsicide. Then you would have to have the platforms in a certain sequence as to not make it impossible to get past them, but also get harder as the game progresses.

 

Maybe also make levels like in splatform, but instaid of having multaple lives, there would be an energy bar that gets depleated when the platforms are hit. (maybe have energy powerups also)

[uosipa llamxew]

I really like the speed of the game... very smooth scrolling.

 

I had a different idea for the gameplay. Playing the game, I had the sense that "Toto" was falling and out of control as if in some sort of pit fall. Given that idea, maybe instead of being in a rush to get to the bottom, Toto must try and position himself to land on the platforms to slow and gain more control over his fall.

 

In the beginning, platforms would start out pretty dense, but as each level progresses, the platforms become more sparse while others move back and forth horizontally. (Perhaps the thickness of each platform could coincide with the amount of times that Toto can jump on them... a layer each time he drops).

 

If Toto has built up too much speed, the thinner platforms break away completely and only slightly slow his speed. If Toto falls too far without breaking his fall... he dies (or loses a life point) upon impact with the next platform. When and if Toto reaches the bottom of the pit, the next level begins.

 

It kind of reminds me of a mix of Cave1k and Splatform. Perhaps it's the missing link...

 

Splatform Toto adventures carefree. His luck runs out and he falls into a pit.

Splatform II - Toto Tumbles... Toto tries to break and slow his fall as he falls endlessly into the vast cavern.

Cave1k - Toto has taken a nasty spill and the paramedics have flown down into the cavern to save him. On the way into the pit, the vibration from the helicopter's blades cause the cave's opening to implode on itself, sealing the opening. The pilot must find another way out - Toto's survival depends on it!!!

 

Cave1k would be like the Donkey Kong 3 of the series. Great game, but quite different from the others. Okay, I'm a dork. HAHAH!

[Susuwatari]

An unusual game. I defiantly agree with other about using paddle.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I am confused how the scoring works.

Currently it's preliminary, but quite simple: The thicker the platform you crash, the more points you get (1, 5, 25 and 50)

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I do like the idea of this turning out to be a paddle game that goes along the same gameplay as kaboom and scsicide. Then you would have to have the platforms in a certain sequence as to not make it impossible to get past them, but also get harder as the game progresses.

I have thought about this idea too. The scoring could depend on the sequence you pickup the platforms. E.g. there are basically three platform colors Blue, Green and Red.

For Blue platforms you get 1 points each, for Green ones 2 points for the first, for the 2nd in row(!) 4 and then 8 and Red give 3, 9, 27 points (plus maybe a superbonus for a longer sequence like 1 Green, 2 Blue, 3 Red).

 

There are far more Blue than Green platforms and even less Red platforms.

 

You can break through all thin platforms (maybe with a minor slowdown), from thicker platforms you bounce (decreasing their thickness step by step). So you always know exactly what happens when you hit a platform. Again there are more thin than thick platforms.

 

So you would have to pick up only selected platforms and avoid others for a good score.

 

Then I might some deadly platforms (getting more when the game progresses), rare bonus life platforms (those could be hidden "inside" thicker platforms) and maybe neutral platfroms that only slow you down (so you can control your speed) or bounce but without breaking the scoring sequences.

 

In higher levels, the tower would get smaller, the gravity would increase and the number of deadly platforms too.

 

Hm... I guess I have to code it first before I know if it works...

[bjk7382]

That sounds like it could work.

 

I was thinking more along the lines of kaboom. No sequence involved, just a "zone-in" kind of game that speeds up faster and faster; but the energy bar would be critical for that to work. Hit the larger platforms it takes more energy away, hit the smaller ones, it doesn't take hardly any. But as it speeds up it would still be hard to keep the energy full. Maybe energy powerups involved also?

 

Just some ideas to throw around. I will probly like it no matter how you implement the gameplay.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Given that idea, maybe instead of being in a rush to get to the bottom, Toto must try and position himself to land on the platforms to slow and gain more control over his fall.

I was thinking about that idea too, but I am not sure if it will work nicely. I don't have real arguments against it, but subjectively I don't think it would work well.

 

(Perhaps the thickness of each platform could coincide with the amount of times that Toto can jump on them...  a layer each time he drops).

That's an idea I will probably use.

 

If Toto falls too far without breaking his fall... he dies (or loses a life point) upon impact with the next platform.

This would require some kind of speedometer, else the player wouldn't know the spped limit. And I don't know how to implement that nicely inside the restrictions I have.

 

It kind of reminds me of a mix of Cave1k and Splatform.  Perhaps it's the missing link...

 

Splatform Toto adventures carefree.  His luck runs out and he falls into a pit.

Splatform II - Toto Tumbles...  Toto tries to break and slow his fall as he falls endlessly into the vast cavern.  

Cave1k - Toto has taken a nasty spill and the paramedics have flown down into the cavern to save him.  On the way into the pit, the vibration from the helicopter's blades cause the cave's opening to implode on itself, sealing the opening.  The pilot must find another way out - Toto's survival depends on it!!!

Nice storyline, maybe I should color the helicopter red and white.

 

Splatform II, not a bad name suggestion...

[salstadt]

IMO currently the game is not very addicting, so I am looking for some good, but not too complicated (1K!) ideas.

 

I love it, lotsa fun.,

 

Give him a little more personality. The sprite right now looks like he's about 7x12 so you have a little more room to play with. I would either give him a little body that flails around or make the head a little bigger so you can get in some great expression as he falls.

 

The only thing the game really lacks is a sense of urgency. It scrolls by very leisurly at this stage. There should be something of impending doom. What if you had a huge block across the top of the level that was falling down, shattering platforms as it fell? Something that would, even though not always onscreen, give the player an enemy of sorts, something foreboding about the whole experience. So that the player could hop around happily and grab platforems but they know that if they take too long at a section the rumbling tower of rubble will come down on them. It won't kill the player if they simply touch the big falling block, but if the block squishes them down against another platform they're a gonner.

 

I think that would work well, especially if you c ould get some limited animation with the falling block -- really have it shake and rumble as it falls, maybe increase volume of the sound effect the closer it gets and have a burst animation of each platform it crushes.

 

- Adam

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Give him a little more personality. The sprite right now looks like he's about 7x12 so you have a little more room to play with. I would either give him a little body that flails around or make the head a little bigger so you can get in some great expression as he falls.

Nice idea, but since I am limiting this game to just 1K, animation is something I can only add when there is enough space left after all game elements are implemented.

 

The only thing the game really lacks is a sense of urgency. It scrolls by very leisurly at this stage. There should be something of impending doom. What if you had a huge block across the top of the level that was falling down, shattering platforms as it fell? Something that would, even though not always onscreen, give the player an enemy of sorts, something foreboding about the whole experience.

I like that idea.

 

I am not sure if I can implement it inside my restrictions, but if I make it a game against the time, then I'll check what I can implement. But first I will try a maximum points collecting variation.

 

I think that would work well, especially if you c ould get some limited animation with the falling block -- really have it shake and rumble as it falls, maybe increase volume of the sound effect the closer it gets and have a burst animation of each platform it crushes.

Again, animation is probably consuming too much space for 1K. But maybe I'll make a bigger version later.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Give him a little more personality. The sprite right now looks like he's about 7x12 so you have a little more room to play with. I would either give him a little body that flails around or make the head a little bigger so you can get in some great expression as he falls.

Nice idea, but since I am limiting this game to just 1K, animation is something I can only add when there is enough space left after all game elements are implemented.

 

The only thing the game really lacks is a sense of urgency. It scrolls by very leisurly at this stage. There should be something of impending doom. What if you had a huge block across the top of the level that was falling down, shattering platforms as it fell? Something that would, even though not always onscreen, give the player an enemy of sorts, something foreboding about the whole experience.

I like that idea.

 

I am not sure if I can implement it inside my restrictions, but if I make it a game against the time, then I'll check what I can use. But first I will try a maximum points collecting variation.

 

I think that would work well, especially if you c ould get some limited animation with the falling block -- really have it shake and rumble as it falls, maybe increase volume of the sound effect the closer it gets and have a burst animation of each platform it crushes.

Again, animation is probably consuming too much space for 1K. But maybe I'll make a bigger version later.

[salstadt]

Jeez, 1k, ouch. I must have missed that part. Although if you could spare it, one thing that would add an incredible amount of personality to him is drawing 1 other frame, perhaps slightly squished with his smile and eyes pressed flat, displayed each time he impacts. Right now he's more or less an object but giving him any movement (even 1 more frame) creates life.

 

Eh, but that's probably just the artist in me being noisy. Anywho, I made an example.

 

- Adam

[salstadt]

Or even something like this (I'll stop after this one, I promise). By angling his face to one side, and flipping it depending on which direction the player is headed, he'll have the appearance of facing his objectives rather than just looking at the camer.

 

- Adam

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Or even something like this (I'll stop after this one, I promise). By angling his face to one side, and flipping it depending on which direction the player is headed, he'll have the appearance of facing his objectives rather than just looking at the camer.

That can be implemented very ROM effective, since the 2600 can reflect (=mirror) player graphics. So if I have ~20-30 bytes space left, I'll definitely do that (and/or the squished one).

 

BTW: If you look at the latest version of Splatform 2600, I already had implemented some minimal animation (player looking up and down) there.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Now, after a long pause, I think I finally found a working gameplay for it. It's a paddle game now, so make sure to tell your emulator, e.g.:

-)PC

for z26 (windows version).

 

You have to score by hitting sequences of identical colored platforms.

 

Green scores: 1,2,9,9,9... points

Yellow scores: 2,4,20,20,20... points

Red scores: 4,8,44,44,44... points

Grey always scores 0 points, but also doesn't break the sequence.

 

When you hit a different color (except grey, blue and magenta), you break the sequence and restart a new one. For maximum points, you should not switch between the colors too often.

 

For each new platfrom entering from below you loose 4 points, so try not to miss any platforms of your sequence. Else you will soon reach 0 points and the game will be over.

 

But don't worry, the game keeps track of the highest score you reached during you last try. If you broke the current absolute high score, your score will turn from white to orange. The highscore is displayed in red, both scores are displayed alternatively.

 

About 1/2 of the platforms are green, 1/4 are yellow and 1/8 are red. The remaining 1/8 are mainly grey and a few special bonus (Blue, -100 points) platforms.

 

All scores are multiplied with the difficulty level, which increases after a few platforms. Then the playfield gets narrowed, the gravity increases and the chances for malus platforms too.

 

Hitting a thin platform lets you score and slowes you down. Use that to control your fall. A thick platform lets you bounce, so it gives you a short break and also a chance to hit a missed platform above.

 

Hint: You should try to score red platforms first, because they will give you the most points on average. But eventually you will have to switch to yellow and then green, else you won't be able to control you fall.

 

That's all. I know it sounds a bit complicated, but you will soon get used to it. I hope you like it!

 

BTW: I am down to 12 free bytes now before breaking the 1K limit, so I will use those for bugfixing and maybe some fine tuning. Here is where I need your help.

crash__n_dive__v0.90_.zip

[Thomas Jentzsch]

BTW: As you may have already noticed, I have used some ideas suggested above. Thanks a lot!

[bjk7382]

I like it.

 

At first I really didn't like it because I didn't think it was going to get any faster, but the difficulty actually ramps up quite nicely.

 

Do the walls stop closing in at any certain point?

 

btw, my high score so far is 697

[Rob Mitchell]

I love paddle games!

 

I'll play it later today when I get home and plug it into the CC2.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[Thomas Jentzsch]

At first I really didn't like it because I didn't think it was going to get any faster, but the difficulty actually ramps up quite nicely.

Do you think it should start a bit faster (=more gravity)?

 

Do the walls stop closing in at any certain point?

Yup, the difficulty goes from 0 to 8. Then it should be tough enough. Well, maybe expect for Todd.

 

Unfortunately the game is not as polished as I wish it would, but the 1K limit was very tough to meet here. Especially the backward scrolling costs a lot of space.

[bjk7382]

At first I really didn't like it because I didn't think it was going to get any faster, but the difficulty actually ramps up quite nicely.

Do you think it should start a bit faster (=more gravity)?

 

I was thinking that one color should speed you up instaid of slowing you down. Because if you are going for the yellow or green ones, you can get it down to just about a complete stop, even with the walls halfway in.

 

So if the green ones speed you up, it would make people want to go for the higher scoring colors (yellow and red)

 

I don't know it could be a bad idea also, since I am just thinking of how it would feel to play.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I was thinking that one color should speed you up instaid of slowing you down. Because if you are going for the yellow or green ones, you can get it down to just about a complete stop, even with the walls halfway in.

I know, but red gives more points, so people should try to score with red as long as possible and then they will fall quite fast. Later on the gravity is (or should be) high enough, so that they have to switch to yellow and then green anyway.