176 replies to this topic

[Nathan Strum]

Also better. I don't miss the flashing. I managed 100 rows with this version. Nice rocket.

A few more suggestions:

• Could you allow the player to choose between clockwise and counter-clockwise rotation? At the moment, the game is "backwards" from what I'm used to.
  
• For one-player games, could you use player 2's (unused) line counter as an actual score for player 1? Without scoring, there's little incentive to risk clearing out multiple rows since you always get 1 point per row now matter how you clear them. Variable scoring, even just in the one-player games, would help. Even something as simple as double points for each row over 1 would work. (1 row = 1 pt., 2 rows = 4, 3 rows = 6, 4 rows = 8 )
  
• A sound effect when a row is cleared would be nice. Maybe make each tone slightly higher when clearing multiple rows, like going up a scale (so one note for one row, two notes for two, etc.).

Edited by Nathan Strum, Tue Jul 12, 2011 8:41 PM.

[atari2600land]

I discovered a serious flaw in the new way the lines are discovered, so I guess I'll go back to the old way. It has to do with line skipping (i.e. line, no line, line, line for an I block placement.) Just so you know. This means that the line flashing will return and once I figure out which version is which, I will begin to rebuild upon what I had last done.

[atari2600land]

ACK! It's present in the old one, too! Maybe someone can help me out here? I've posted the code. Player 1's line clearing routine is in bank 4.

Attached Files

•  2600tris20110714.bas   42.22K   51 downloads

[atari2600land]

It doesn't seem to be present in this version. Like I said before, tell me if you see any bugs or it doesn't work on a Harmony cart.

Attached Files

•  2600tris20110716.bas.bin   32K   53 downloads
•  2600tris20110716.bas   41.59K   38 downloads

[atari2600land]

Hey, all. Now you can turn the next shape feature on and off mid-game.

Attached Files

•  2600tris20110717.bas.bin   32K   48 downloads
•  2600tris20110717.bas   42.08K   34 downloads

[atari2600land]

Bug discovered and taken care of in the 2-player version.

Attached Files

•  2600tris20110824.bas.bin   32K   46 downloads
•  2600tris20110824.bas   42.17K   33 downloads

[atari2600land]

I finally think I got it working so it clears lines in one go instead of going through the well multiple times. Next-Shape turning on and off has been disabled (for now.) Tell me if you see any bugs or anything.

Attached Files

•  2600tris20110828.bas.bin   32K   35 downloads
•  2600tris20110828.bas   42.78K   36 downloads

Edited by atari2600land, Sun Aug 28, 2011 2:09 PM.

[atari2600land]

Next shape toggling turned back on, plus a very minor code change.

Attached Files

•  2600tris20110828b.bas.bin   32K   53 downloads

[Nateo]

Are you going to change the scoring? As in a multiplier for however many lines are cleared at one time? Becuase if you just get one point per line cleared, there's not much reason to go for multiple line plays.

But I gotta tell ya, this is turning out wonderful!

[atari2600land]

The problem is I only have 6 digits for both a score and a line counter, which isn't very much. I didn't think a three-digit score counter would be enough digits for one, plus there would be no score for the two-player version because all 6 digits would be used for the line counter (in case both players get more than 99 lines.) It would be neat if it was possible to have two 6-digit scores, but I don't think it's possible in bB (although batari is free to correct me if I'm wrong.) Thanks for the compliment.

[Nathan Strum]

I'm not sure if this is possible in batariBasic, but could you use those three digits to make a six-digit score? So you'd use each sprite for two digits instead of one.

2600tris screenshot:


Mockup - each six-digit score is made up of just three sprites (Juno First's high-score board does this, for example):


Also, could you re-use the score routine to include both a line counter and a score?

Edited by Nathan Strum, Sun Aug 28, 2011 8:04 PM.

[atari2600land]

I don't think that would be possible. The score digits in bB have to be less than 9 pixels tall.

Anyway, I found a way to make the game faster when the blocks are clearing. As usual, let me know if there's any bugs, especially in the 2-player mode.

Attached Files

•  2600tris20110830.bas.bin   32K   35 downloads
•  2600tris20110830.bas   43.69K   28 downloads

[atari2600land]

Hi all, apparently the score was all wacked out in two-player mode when player two got a line or more. I fixed that. Tell me if you run into any bugs in this version, especially the two player mode.

Attached Files

•  2600tris20110923.bas.bin   32K   27 downloads
•  2600tris20110923.bas   43.7K   23 downloads

[atari2600land]

There was a bug in the last version about the top row acting funny when a line got cleared. This has been fixed (I think.) As usual, let me know if there are any bugs.

Attached Files

•  2600tris20110930.bas.bin   32K   22 downloads
•  2600tris20110930.bas   43.81K   17 downloads

[atari2600land]

Hi all. There was a bug about getting 100 or more lines and affected the playfield. I think i fixed it. I also went ahead and made it so before you get a line cleared it goes much quicker. As usual, tell me if there's any bugs.

Attached Files

•  2600tris20111001.bas.bin   32K   20 downloads
•  2600tris20111001.bas   43.82K   16 downloads

[atari2600land]

There was a bug with the demo screen that I fixed. I also put in SFX for line clearing and made it easier to reset a game when pressing the reset button. As usual, please let me know if there are any bugs, and, if you have a Harmony cart, please let me know how it works on an actual 2600.

Attached Files

•  2600tris20111002.bas.bin   32K   33 downloads

[KevinMos3]

Played it for a while on the Harmony Cart. It's looking good. Some nice improvements lately.
Once I got up to about 94 lines it got pretty crazy and I couldn't move the pieces fast enough. That's not a complaint though, just commentary on my playing.

[Nathan Strum]

The speed of lines clearing out is really good now - nice work! Comparing it with the older versions is like night and day.

I got up to 105, I probably could've gone higher, but the speed to move the pieces left and right needs to be just a little bit faster at that level.

Any thoughts on an option to be able to rotate the pieces the other way? (see earlier post)

[atari2600land]

Nathan Strum, on Sun Oct 2, 2011 5:25 PM, said:

The speed of lines clearing out is really good now - nice work! Comparing it with the older versions is like night and day.

I got up to 105, I probably could've gone higher, but the speed to move the pieces left and right needs to be just a little bit faster at that level.

Any thoughts on an option to be able to rotate the pieces the other way? (see earlier post)

I guess I could use the left difficulty switch, but before I do, I'd like to hear other people's opinions on this.

[Nerf Herder73]

Lots of nice improvements! The line clearing is perfect.

[DT Kofoed]

Nateo, on Sun Aug 28, 2011 6:04 PM, said:

Are you going to change the scoring? As in a multiplier for however many lines are cleared at one time? Becuase if you just get one point per line cleared, there's not much reason to go for multiple line plays.

But I gotta tell ya, this is turning out wonderful!

I'd have to agree with this sentiment. What if the score was exponential 1-2-4-8, rather than 1-2-3-4? A line counter is fine for survival-type play, but I think everyone who thinks in tetrinos really wants that proper 4-line Tetris. Just a thought...

[atari2600land]

I'd have to have two variables of keeping track of the score, one for the actual number of lines so the speed can change every ten lines, and another to tell the computer to change the scoring differently than what it used to do (i.e. make it four points instead of three for a three-line clearing.) If someone would like to help me out by making a kernel in bB that supports two scores (which I bet can happen because I got a version of two scores working in GoSub 3, only using two two digit scores and one six digit score, both displayed at the same time), then I would be less apprehensive about changing the score. Another reason I wouldn't really want to is because it wouldn't be the actual number of lines if I changed it without two scores being displayed.

[atari2600land]

Bug fix for B mode. Also, I changed the way the block looks for being able to go down or not. This results in the block not flashing a lot when it sets into place. This also means that there's less time to figure out if you want to move it or not. Let me know if there's any bugs or it doesn't work on a Harmony or anything else.

Attached Files

•  2600tris20111030.bas.bin   32K   31 downloads

[atari2600land]

The change you guys have been clamoring for has been made, except only in one-player A mode. I have made it so the right 3-digit part of the score is the score (the left 3-digit part is the line counter. I wonder what happens if someone gets over 999 points or lines, though.) Two player game counts only lines for both players.

Attached Thumbnails

• 

Attached Files

•  2600tris20120121.bas.bin   32K   8 downloads
•  2600tris20120121.bas   45.23K   10 downloads

[atari2600land]

Fixed a bug having to do with the demo, and I also made the pieces not flash when they fall, but I don't know how many cycles I'm using so if someone could please try the 20120121b version on real hardware and tell me if it works or not, that'd be really nice.

EDIT: It uses the Superchip in case you want to try it on Harmony.

Attached Files

•  2600tris20120121b.bas.bin   32K   14 downloads
•  2600tris20120121b.bas   45.2K   7 downloads

Edited by atari2600land, Sat Jan 21, 2012 2:47 PM.