28 replies to this topic

[Random Terrain]

Schizophretard, on Mon Dec 5, 2011 11:17 PM, said:

. . . there could be times where there isn't a force field on screen yet and you will lose a sense of movement. There needs to be stuff on the edges to give a sense of movement. I recommend trying small "spikes" of force fields. That way there would always be a sense of movement and speed. Something kind of like this:

Except at the very beginning, a force field or wall or whatever we want to call them will always be on the screen. And later in the game, they will also get closer together.

Since this game will be made without using the DPC+ version of bB that has the 10 multicolored sprites and other goodies, all I have are two sprites, a multicolored playfield, a ball, and no missiles. Thanks to a trick that MausGames told me about, although I can't have a normal missile, I can have an invisible missile that is as high as the playfield and displays the colors of the player's sprite. The bonus item you see in the test version is actually a very tall missile that is showing the colors of the player's sprite. If you could move the sprite up and down, you'd see that the bonus item would also seem to move (it's as if there is a mirror at the side, reflecting the colors of the sprite). So, I'm using a missile trick for the bonus item and another trick for the thin lines on the screen.

As you can see, I have nothing to make small spikes with. All I could do is turn on the PF0 side borders, but it wouldn't look very pretty, especially when the bonus item appears and makes part of the border disappear. Here is an example:

 gyvolver_2011y_12m_09d_0106t_pf0_test.bin   4K   22 downloads

Schizophretard, on Mon Dec 5, 2011 11:17 PM, said:

Since speed is important, how about rewarding points for each time you go through a hole and the faster you go through the higher the points?

Sounds like a good idea if I could figure out when the player has successfully moved through a hole. I almost broke my brain trying to figure out how to make collision detection work with the icing on the cake trick as the screen is scrolling. Although you're only seeing a thin line, the sprite is actually hitting a thick playfield pixel.

If pfread works correctly with a scrolling screen, maybe I could have a collision bit that turns on if the player hits a wall. If pfread sees that a wall is at a certain spot below the player and the collision bit is not on, I could give the player points based on speed. (If pfread sees that a wall is at a certain spot below the player and the collision bit has been turned on, no points will be added and the collision bit will be cleared.)

Schizophretard, on Mon Dec 5, 2011 11:17 PM, said:

Could the force fields change colors? I was thinking that maybe you could use the lines as the bonus item/s based on the color and/or flashing. That way you don't have to worry about the bad guy interfering with the bonus item and can always have the bad guy on screen chasing you at the bottom. You could have it that the faster you go the farther you are from the bottom and the slower you go the closer you are to the bottom so, if you just stop you will go down and the bad guy would get you. If you go as fast as you can then you would be near the top. That way you have to manage your speed by deciding if you want to be near the top and have less time to maneuver when you see a hole but get more points or be near the bottom and have a greater chance of the bad guy grabbing you.

The way the program is now, the rows flip colors at a specific time to keep the illusion of smooth movement. Here is what it would look like if I didn't flip between black and whatever color I want to use for the walls:

 gyvolver_2011y_12m_09d_0143t_pf0_test_illusion.bin   4K   18 downloads


Here is another test where the color flip uses different colors:

 gyvolver_2011y_12m_09d_0115t_pf0_test_with_color.bin   4K   24 downloads



Speaking of changing colors, here is one where the wall/force field flashes red when you hit it:

 gyvolver_2011y_12m_09d_0205t_collision_flash_test.bin   4K   23 downloads


If I want to keep that last change, the player won't be able to move up or down the screen. The player would also need to stay at the same position on the screen if I want to be able to know if he or she moved through a hole without colliding.

Schizophretard, on Mon Dec 5, 2011 11:17 PM, said:

That's funny you brought up Fantastic Voyage. I was thinking about that game when I was writing about nanobots. I can't wait for the Video Game Critic to play this for five seconds and then compare it to Fantastic Voyage. Eventually he will compare all your games to every Fox game.

I wouldn't doubt that.

[Schizophretard]

There isn't a way to just make the walls one after the other but have the ones for the border tiny? In other words, make a border out of force fields that have really big openings?

Could you make different colored walls? Like right after a blue wall there is a black wall with no opening touching it so, it would be invisible but there will be something to hit to detect that you went through a hole? You could make the blue wall subtract points and the invisible black wall add the same points so, if you hit both no points are gained but if you hit just the invisible black one you gain points?

[Random Terrain]

Schizophretard, on Sat Dec 10, 2011 2:03 AM, said:

There isn't a way to just make the walls one after the other but have the ones for the border tiny? In other words, make a border out of force fields that have really big openings?

Remember that I'm using the icing on the cake trick, so there has to be a black row for the icing to sit on (to create the illusion that there is only a thin line). Although I'm using a multicolored playfield, I can only have one color for each row. I just put playfield pixels on the side and made the black rows white so you can see what I'm talking about:

 gyvolver_2011y_12m_10d_1345t_collision_flash_test_with_sides.bin   4K   33 downloads

Schizophretard, on Sat Dec 10, 2011 2:03 AM, said:

Could you make different colored walls? Like right after a blue wall there is a black wall with no opening touching it so, it would be invisible but there will be something to hit to detect that you went through a hole? You could make the blue wall subtract points and the invisible black wall add the same points so, if you hit both no points are gained but if you hit just the invisible black one you gain points?

You can't detect collisions using colors. You either hit a playfield pixel or you don't (whether it is 'invisible' by making it the same color as the background or not). The collision that is happening when you hit a thin line is a trick. You are actually colliding with the black playfield pixel below the thin line and I'm ignoring it until playfieldpos equals 8.

[Random Terrain]

reo, on Sun Jan 29, 2012 3:55 PM, said:

Hey R.T. Long time first time.

I gave your game a run. Did you know that once the force fields are just about directly even with the yellow part near the top of the bug, you can pass through them? I found this trick to be an easy way to grab the prizes on the sides, even when I'm going pretty fast. I'm guessing you want it this way?? XD XD Looks good!

Yep, it's kind of on purpose. It's a side effect of how I'm doing the collision. If you're not having a head-on collision, it doesn't count for the most part.

Since this has been brought up, I've been thinking about making this more of a game that I'd want to play. I like speed and I hate to be slowed down. I've been thinking about having the game scroll at full speed (without letting the player speed up or slow down). The bonus item will appear at the side for some reason to be determined later and it will probably give the player energy. Other items will drop from the top of the screen (some will be bonus items and others will cause damage if touched and it will be obvious at a glance which ones are good and which ones are bad).

It won't be a complicated game. You'll just go through the holes in the 'walls' while also avoiding some items and trying to get whatever bonus items you can grab. And over time, the holes in the 'walls' will get smaller and the placement of the holes will become more random.