23 replies to this topic

[LMSB]

My first game This was made using Atari Basic. What a great software it is.

LMSB is kind of like a cross between space invaders and yar's revenge. I guess.

It tested successfuly on PC Stella and also on Stella for the Sega Dreamcast. For some reason, it doesn't work on Stellax.

Dos-man
author

Attached Files

•  LMSB.zip   11.31K   51 downloads

[Impaler_26]

When i tried to compile the game i got a "Branch out of range" Error. You have to set smartbranching on at the beginning of your code when you use "then" instead of "then goto".

Also the player-colors needs to be updated before every call to drawscreen, otherwise they will have the same color as the score. That can simply be fixed by placing the player-colors directly after the "gameloop"-label like this:

 rem Main loop for program
gameloop
 COLUP0 = 30 : COLUP1 = 158
  z{0} = 0
  if switchreset then reboot

All in all the game is already not bad, hope you keep on working on it.

Edited by Impaler_26, Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:55 PM.

[gambler172]

Hi LMSB
Not bad for a first effort.A little bit like a vertical "OUTLAW"
greetings Walter

[LMSB]

gambler172, on Fri Jul 25, 2008 12:25 PM, said:

Hi LMSB
Not bad for a first effort.A little bit like a vertical "OUTLAW"
greetings Walter

Walter, I was thinking that too. Am I correct that Outlaw is not a 1 player game? Has anyone created a version of outlaw that is one player against the computer.

Phillip

[Impaler_26]

LMSB, on Sat Jul 26, 2008 2:51 AM, said:

Has anyone created a version of outlaw that is one player against the computer.

Yes, check out Gunfight.

EDIT: Or did you mean a hack of the original Outlaw?

Edited by Impaler_26, Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:02 PM.

[Random Terrain]

Is it supposed to make that constant, irritating noise that sounds like a mosquito is choking on a fire alarm or is something wrong with my emulator?

[LMSB]

Random Terrain, on Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:46 AM, said:

Is it supposed to make that constant, irritating noise that sounds like a mosquito is choking on a fire alarm or is something wrong with my emulator?

Yup, that's the sound effects
That and the cannons firing.

[LMSB]

Impaler_26, on Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:55 PM, said:

When i tried to compile the game i got a "Branch out of range" Error. You have to set smartbranching on at the beginning of your code when you use "then" instead of "then goto".

Also the player-colors needs to be updated before every call to drawscreen, otherwise they will have the same color as the score. That can simply be fixed by placing the player-colors directly after the "gameloop"-label like this:

 rem Main loop for program
gameloop
 COLUP0 = 30 : COLUP1 = 158
  z{0} = 0
  if switchreset then reboot

All in all the game is already not bad, hope you keep on working on it.

Thank you for the advice. I will try it. However, there shouldn't be any real need for you to compile this since the ROM is distributed with the game. I'd like to keep working on this, but I'm finding Batari Basic to be pretty sensitive. Don't get me wrong; it's a wonderful RAD tool, but some things don't work as expected and other things "break" it for no apparent reason.

Phillip

[LMSB]

Impaler_26, on Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:59 PM, said:

LMSB, on Sat Jul 26, 2008 2:51 AM, said:

Has anyone created a version of outlaw that is one player against the computer.

Yes, check out Gunfight.

EDIT: Or did you mean a hack of the original Outlaw?

Either really. Although I guess with the simplistic graphics of the game, a hack and a clone would be pretty much indistinguishable from each other.

Phil

[Impaler_26]

LMSB, on Sun Jul 27, 2008 1:39 AM, said:

Impaler_26, on Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:55 PM, said:

When i tried to compile the game i got a "Branch out of range" Error. You have to set smartbranching on at the beginning of your code when you use "then" instead of "then goto".

Also the player-colors needs to be updated before every call to drawscreen, otherwise they will have the same color as the score. That can simply be fixed by placing the player-colors directly after the "gameloop"-label like this:

 rem Main loop for program
gameloop
 COLUP0 = 30 : COLUP1 = 158
  z{0} = 0
  if switchreset then reboot

All in all the game is already not bad, hope you keep on working on it.

Thank you for the advice. I will try it. However, there shouldn't be any real need for you to compile this since the ROM is distributed with the game. I'd like to keep working on this, but I'm finding Batari Basic to be pretty sensitive. Don't get me wrong; it's a wonderful RAD tool, but some things don't work as expected and other things "break" it for no apparent reason.

Phillip

When i tried the game i was just wondering why the player and the spaceship have the same color as the score. So i took a look at the code and thought i'll mention it.

If you wanna continue working on your game you'll find a lot of nice people here who can help you when you have a problem with something.

You can also find some good code-examples and a lot of code from other games to take a look at (this helped me understand at least a little bit of what's possible with bB and what not).

Edited by Impaler_26, Sun Jul 27, 2008 6:19 PM.

[LMSB]

Impaler_26, on Sun Jul 27, 2008 7:18 PM, said:

LMSB, on Sun Jul 27, 2008 1:39 AM, said:

Impaler_26, on Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:55 PM, said:

When i tried to compile the game i got a "Branch out of range" Error. You have to set smartbranching on at the beginning of your code when you use "then" instead of "then goto".

Also the player-colors needs to be updated before every call to drawscreen, otherwise they will have the same color as the score. That can simply be fixed by placing the player-colors directly after the "gameloop"-label like this:

 rem Main loop for program
gameloop
 COLUP0 = 30 : COLUP1 = 158
  z{0} = 0
  if switchreset then reboot

All in all the game is already not bad, hope you keep on working on it.

Thank you for the advice. I will try it. However, there shouldn't be any real need for you to compile this since the ROM is distributed with the game. I'd like to keep working on this, but I'm finding Batari Basic to be pretty sensitive. Don't get me wrong; it's a wonderful RAD tool, but some things don't work as expected and other things "break" it for no apparent reason.

Phillip

When i tried the game i was just wondering why the player and the spaceship have the same color as the score. So i took a look at the code and thought i'll mention it.

If you wanna continue working on your game you'll find a lot of nice people here who can help you when you have a problem with something.

You can also find some good code-examples and a lot of code from other games to take a look at (this helped me understand at least a little bit of what's possible with bB and what not).

Cool, the advice really worked. I was able to do a lot of the things that I wasn't able to do before. I got a wider shots for the alien and scrolling satellites. Also got an end to the game (when player gets hit you hear a beep, then you see laser beams.) Also got rid of the compilation error. Thanks.

The link is the same. Just download again and try out the improved game. Let me know what you think.

Phillip

Attached Files

•  LMSB.zip   13.31K   48 downloads

[Impaler_26]

LMSB, on Mon Jul 28, 2008 2:35 AM, said:

Cool, the advice really worked. I was able to do a lot of the things that I wasn't able to do before. I got a wider shots for the alien and scrolling satellites. Also got an end to the game (when player gets hit you hear a beep, then you see laser beams.) Also got rid of the compilation error. Thanks.

The link is the same. Just download again and try out the improved game. Let me know what you think.

Phillip

I like the changes you made to the game, the scrolling satellites are a good idea and the game is now more fun to play. IMO it would be nice to see the final score on the game over screen...

[LMSB]

Impaler_26, on Mon Jul 28, 2008 5:01 PM, said:

LMSB, on Mon Jul 28, 2008 2:35 AM, said:

Cool, the advice really worked. I was able to do a lot of the things that I wasn't able to do before. I got a wider shots for the alien and scrolling satellites. Also got an end to the game (when player gets hit you hear a beep, then you see laser beams.) Also got rid of the compilation error. Thanks.

The link is the same. Just download again and try out the improved game. Let me know what you think.

Phillip

I like the changes you made to the game, the scrolling satellites are a good idea and the game is now more fun to play. IMO it would be nice to see the final score on the game over screen...

Cool. Did you download binary 2 or binary 3? Binary 3 was put up in another post. My not being able to upload files to my website anymore is really a disaster Maybe I can find a free site hoster, but I'm not holding my breath. It's only a 8kb zip file for God's sake.

Your idea to keep the score showing makes good sense. Also, I used a for loop to play a long beep and turn the player's ship red b4 blanking the screen. I'm finding the bonus levels to be really challenging. To correct some misinfo I gave earlier, the bonus levels are at 2000, 4000, and 6000 points.

Anyhow, here is the fourth binary ROM.

I guess the only question I have is how to create a title screen. I'm thinking something like that might be possible to do using 2 main loops instead of just 1.

55
loop
draw title screen
on switchreset goto 59
drawscreen
goto 55

59
loop
play the game
drawscreen
goto 59

Maybe it won't work, I'm not sure. Anyway, I don't think I can give a title screen to LMSB because of the resolution. However, it's something I will probably try when I eventually make a 2nd game.

Phillip

Attached Files

•  LMSB.zip   4.67K   38 downloads

[Impaler_26]

I tried binary #2, i'll check out the 2 newer versions later. It sucks that you can't use your website anymore but if you post your bB-games here they'll be online forever.

The easiest way to add a title-screen to your game is to place it at the begining of your code, that way you won't have to change anything else. Here's a quick'n'dirty example:

1 set smartbranching on

title
 COLUPF = 132

 playfield:
 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
 X..............................X
 X....X.....X...X.XXXXX.XXXX....X
 X....X.....XX.XX.X.....X...X...X
 X....X.....XXXXX.X.....X...X...X
 X....X.....X.X.X.XXXXX.XXXX....X
 X....X.....X...X.....X.X...X...X
 X....X.....X...X.....X.X...X...X
 X....XXXXX.X...X.XXXXX.XXXX....X
 X..............................X
 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
end

 drawscreen
 if !joy0fire then title

2	rem blue playing field (the satellites)
3	COLUPF = 158
4	 g{6} = 0

This ugly title is just for testing, i'm sure you can make a better looking one.

[LMSB]

Impaler_26, on Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:43 PM, said:

I tried binary #2, i'll check out the 2 newer versions later. It sucks that you can't use your website anymore but if you post your bB-games here they'll be online forever.

The easiest way to add a title-screen to your game is to place it at the begining of your code, that way you won't have to change anything else. Here's a quick'n'dirty example:

1 set smartbranching on

title
 COLUPF = 132

 playfield:
 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
W X..............................X
 X....X.....X...X.XXXXX.XXXX....X
 X....X.....XX.XX.X.....X...X...X
 X....X.....XXXXX.X.....X...X...X
 X....X.....X.X.X.XXXXX.XXXX....X
 X....X.....X...X.....X.X...X...X
 X....X.....X...X.....X.X...X...X
 X....XXXXX.X...X.XXXXX.XXXX....X
 X..............................X
 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
end

 drawscreen
 if !joy0fire then title

2	rem blue playing field (the satellites)
3	COLUPF = 158
4	 g{6} = 0

This ugly title is just for testing, i'm sure you can make a better looking one.

Well, you can really skip 3 since 4 is the same thing with some visual and audio improvements.
You'll find 4 much more playable than 2. Reduced flickering, easier on the eyes. A better looking sprite for the alien ship. The scrolling speed for the satellites was reduced, and the scrolling code was placed in the extra VScroll section of the program's code.

I wouldn't be so sure of that The huge pixels (each satellite is composed of just 8 pixels!) make it difficult to compose any sort of a real title screen for this particular game. I'll try it though. It'll be a must-have item for my next game.

dos-man

[LMSB]

Random Terrain, on Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:46 AM, said:

Is it supposed to make that constant, irritating noise that sounds like a mosquito is choking on a fire alarm or is something wrong with my emulator?

I had some luck putting in some better background audio. It has a real x-fles/ufo sound. It doesn't quite qualify as "background music", but it's close. I had to change the sound of the cannons firing to match the new background. Let me know what you think of the changes.

Phillip

Attached Files

•  LMSB.zip   4.67K   43 downloads

[Random Terrain]

LMSB, on Tue Jul 29, 2008 3:24 AM, said:

Random Terrain, on Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:46 AM, said:

Is it supposed to make that constant, irritating noise that sounds like a mosquito is choking on a fire alarm or is something wrong with my emulator?

I had some luck putting in some better background audio. It has a real x-fles/ufo sound. It doesn't quite qualify as "background music", but it's close. I had to change the sound of the cannons firing to match the new background. Let me know what you think of the changes.

Phillip

Thanks, but it's almost as irritating as the old sound. Maybe slowing the sound down and doing an adjustment or two would make it more pleasing to the ears?

[LMSB]

Random Terrain, on Tue Jul 29, 2008 2:59 PM, said:

LMSB, on Tue Jul 29, 2008 3:24 AM, said:

Random Terrain, on Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:46 AM, said:

Is it supposed to make that constant, irritating noise that sounds like a mosquito is choking on a fire alarm or is something wrong with my emulator?

I had some luck putting in some better background audio. It has a real x-fles/ufo sound. It doesn't quite qualify as "background music", but it's close. I had to change the sound of the cannons firing to match the new background. Let me know what you think of the changes.

Phillip

Thanks, but it's almost as irritating as the old sound. Maybe slowing the sound down and doing an adjustment or two would make it more pleasing to the ears?

I'll work on it tonight, and early next week when I'm off work. It's a lot of trial and error.

Phillip

[Random Terrain]

LMSB, on Tue Jul 29, 2008 4:43 PM, said:

I'll work on it tonight, and early next week when I'm off work. It's a lot of trial and error.

Yep. Same for me. I just goof around with Tone Toy 2008 until I find something I like.

[LMSB]

Random Terrain, on Tue Jul 29, 2008 4:58 PM, said:

LMSB, on Tue Jul 29, 2008 4:43 PM, said:

I'll work on it tonight, and early next week when I'm off work. It's a lot of trial and error.

Yep. Same for me. I just goof around with Tone Toy 2008 until I find something I like.

Try this one out. It's actual music with varying tones, based on the other one.
This is the last section of the game I'm going to fix or improve, so make it count

Phillip

Attached Files

•  LMSB.zip   4.75K   40 downloads

[Impaler_26]

I tried out binaries #3-6, with the latest changes the game comes along nicely! It's pretty challenging but therefor it doesn't get boring too fast.
I'm not sure about the sounds though, IMO the sounds in #6 are not really better than in the earlier ones, they could be "spacier" for my taste. I also think the "game over"-sound takes too long.

[Random Terrain]

LMSB, on Tue Jul 29, 2008 7:55 PM, said:

Random Terrain, on Tue Jul 29, 2008 4:58 PM, said:

LMSB, on Tue Jul 29, 2008 4:43 PM, said:

I'll work on it tonight, and early next week when I'm off work. It's a lot of trial and error.

Yep. Same for me. I just goof around with Tone Toy 2008 until I find something I like.

Try this one out. It's actual music with varying tones, based on the other one.
This is the last section of the game I'm going to fix or improve, so make it count

It's better now that that the sound changes. It's less irritating. Thanks.

[LMSB]

Impaler_26, on Tue Jul 29, 2008 8:58 PM, said:

I tried out binaries #3-6, with the latest changes the game comes along nicely! It's pretty challenging but therefor it doesn't get boring too fast.

I'm not sure about the sounds though, IMO the sounds in #6 are not really better than in the earlier ones, they could be "spacier" for my taste. I also think the "game over"-sound takes too long.

Thanks, I'm glad to hear it.

I consider the sound to be a huge improvement over version 1. Not having downloaded any sound-production utilities of any kind at this point, that was definitely my best shot. I do worry that it distracts a bit from the game, but I haven't really played with the new sounds yet to know for sure.

Well, Peter Norton said it best in his assembly language guide: a computer program is never done, but we must stop somewhere. I leave this game in the hands of Atari fans. I'll be interested to see if it spawns any offshoots. I reserve no rights to the source code. Anyone can recompile a new version provided that they do not distribute it under the LMSB or Last Mobile Space Battallion names. Perhaps someone can put out something with improved sound effects, or something that allows changing sound effects with the options switch.

I'll be back in a few weeks or perhaps months with a new game. I don't have any ideas or concepts yet, but I'm sure something will come. I'm also intersted in seeing if it's possible to create a Sega Genesis game using similar tools. This was quite a fun project.

Regards,
Phillip

[LMSB]

One last bit of fun here with LMSB...

The code at line 107 moves the UFO around. Just from memory, it looks something like this.

107	  v = rand
		  if v < 127 then player1x = player1x + 7
		  if v > 127 then player1x = player1x - 7

This makes the UFO

Quote

wiggle

a lot. He moves back and forth, but doesn't go real far from his original starting point, usually.

To make the UFO do a lot less

Quote

wiggling

, try replacing the code at 107 with the following code:

107		  v = rand
		  if v < 50 then player1x = player1x - 7
		  if v > 50 && v < 100 then player1x = player1x + 7
		  if v > 100 && v < 150 then player1x = player1x - 7
		  if v > 150 && v < 200 then player1x = player1x + 7
		  if v > 200 && v < 225 then player1x = player1x - 7
		  if v > 225 && v < 250 then player1x = player1x + 7

Now he's really traversing back and forth across the screen. But it gets worse. Add the following code onto the end of the new code, and he'll start occasionally firing on you!

	  if v > 5 then goto 108
		  missile1y = player1y+4
			missile1x = player1x + 8
		gosub fireshot

That's in addition to firing whenever you fire. The line

if v > 5 then goto 108

is what makes him fire. Replace the 5 with a smaller value for less frequent firing. A number larger than 5 would cause him to fire more often.

Man, that's rough. You end up having to hide

Quote

behind

the satellites, but you still don't last too long

Phillip