Seaweed Assault

[Schizophretard]

The main loop had to be spread out over 3 banks. I have 621 bytes of ROM space left in one bank, 291 bytes of ROM space left in another bank, and 651 bytes of ROM space left in the other bank. So there is a little room for small changes and an Easter egg.

 

I also have 2 unused banks, but they can't be jumped to every frame, so they are useless in the game. I could use those 2 banks for a mini game or something that could be secretly accessed from the title screen, but do I want to spend more months working on a mini game?

 

Wrothopod on top, Manatee at bottom, seaweed in between, tentacle keeps you from moving if you stay still, and one torpedo is bouncing between Manatee and Wrothopod. Seaweed Assault Pong!

[Schizophretard]

Maybe an Easter Egg where if you hit select on the demo screen the Manatee will change colors and then when you hit fire that is the color in the game? The best eggs are the ones you can paint.

[+Random Terrain]

I was thinking about what I suggested about having either the falling or homing canister randomly drop at every 100 pieces and the 16 slots for a variety of wrothopods you're using. Would something like this be possible?:

 

Have 8 types of canisters that drop randomly at 100 pieces:

 

The changing color falling canister.

A blue falling canister.

A yellow falling canister.

A red falling canister.

The changing color homing canister.

A blue homing canister.

A yellow homing canister.

A red homing canister.

 

That way even though you know you will receive a canister you won't know which one and the game will be different every time. You will be surprised each time just like you are surprised when you find a corroded canister or when a random wrothopod shows. Sometimes you will be very lucky and get a blue homing canister and sometimes you will be very unlucky and get a red falling canister but overall it will balance out and you will always have a 50/50 chance that it will either be falling or homing.

 

I don't know how you would have to do it. Maybe use the 16 slots thing like the wrothopods but put all 8 in twice?

Have you looked at the updated descriptions yet:

 

Health Canisters

 

Homing Health Canisters

 

 

I like controlled randomness, but giving the player a fighting chance seems to be more fair. The player earned that canister and if he or she can't get to it in time to get the full bonus, that's too bad, but at least they were given a chance. Maybe next time they'll clear a path. Randomly screwing the player doesn't seem like it would be much fun. It would be like a boss paying you what you're owed one week, then giving you 5 dollars the next week, then 17 dollars and 25 cents the week after that . . .

[Schizophretard]

Point taken but I tried that because the falling canister every other 100 pieces(100, 300, 500...) and regular homing canister every other 200 pieces(200,400,600...) idea you didn't seem interested in. The 500 piece blue homing canister was added in as the reward before the power burst. Now that the power burst is in it seems like it would feel more balanced if you got a homing canister every other one. If someone is in a high level and keeps missing their falling canisters they will at least be able to get a homing one when the next canister falls. A falling canister is worth 100 pieces and the homing canister is worth a little more because it is the same thing but with homing, so it seems like it should be worth 200 pieces. It doesn't seem like you should get a 16 unit energy burst before your first 3 unit homing canister.

 

The 8 canisters idea doesn't seem much different than the energy burst. Some times you are very lucky and get it when you have one unit left and sometimes you are very unlucky when all 1000 points are wasted because your health is already full. It would make more sense to me if you got a falling canister every other 100 pieces, a homing canister every other 200 pieces, not get the energy burst until a score that would be near 1,500 pieces(because they fought their way up to maximum reproduction only on canisters), and then the energy burst goes into a reserve and isn't used to fill up until the last unit is lost. On their next 1,500 pieces is where the real challenge will begin because now they have to do it all with maximum reproduction but if they had their last energy burst in reserve they would have more of a fighting chance. If they are good enough to make it to the next energy burst without losing all units then they will have 2 reserves. I would say more that 2 or 3 reserves would be excessive. Anyway, my point is that the energy burst would feel more rewarding if you climbed all the way up with falling and homing canisters and then the energy burst was like an extra life.

[+Random Terrain]

Point taken but I tried that because the falling canister every other 100 pieces(100, 300, 500...) and regular homing canister every other 200 pieces(200,400,600...) idea you didn't seem interested in. The 500 piece blue homing canister was added in as the reward before the power burst. Now that the power burst is in it seems like it would feel more balanced if you got a homing canister every other one. If someone is in a high level and keeps missing their falling canisters they will at least be able to get a homing one when the next canister falls. A falling canister is worth 100 pieces and the homing canister is worth a little more because it is the same thing but with homing, so it seems like it should be worth 200 pieces. It doesn't seem like you should get a 16 unit energy burst before your first 3 unit homing canister.

 

The 8 canisters idea doesn't seem much different than the energy burst. Some times you are very lucky and get it when you have one unit left and sometimes you are very unlucky when all 1000 points are wasted because your health is already full. It would make more sense to me if you got a falling canister every other 100 pieces, a homing canister every other 200 pieces, not get the energy burst until a score that would be near 1,500 pieces(because they fought their way up to maximum reproduction only on canisters), and then the energy burst goes into a reserve and isn't used to fill up until the last unit is lost. On their next 1,500 pieces is where the real challenge will begin because now they have to do it all with maximum reproduction but if they had their last energy burst in reserve they would have more of a fighting chance. If they are good enough to make it to the next energy burst without losing all units then they will have 2 reserves. I would say more that 2 or 3 reserves would be excessive. Anyway, my point is that the energy burst would feel more rewarding if you climbed all the way up with falling and homing canisters and then the energy burst was like an extra life.

I'll read this in more detail tonight when I won't be so sleepy.

[Schizophretard]

I know the feeling. I'm so tired that I don't know what I said. It has to do with what I was talking about with making a test version that kills me off at 1,500 pieces.

[KevinMos3]

This is looking really good! I played for quite a while on the Harmony Cart. This is definitely more fun when played with a joystick instead of a keyboard (which was my only previous experience with playing it).

 

I eventually got stuck on a single piece of seaweed. No matter what direction I tried to move, it made me hit that piece, (I was on the lower left of it)... and I wasn't in a position where I could shoot it either.

[+Random Terrain]

I eventually got stuck on a single piece of seaweed. No matter what direction I tried to move, it made me hit that piece, (I was on the lower left of it)... and I wasn't in a position where I could shoot it either.

There's a tip for that:

 

http://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-program-seaweed-assault.html#tips

[+Random Terrain]

Point taken but I tried that because the falling canister every other 100 pieces(100, 300, 500...) and regular homing canister every other 200 pieces(200,400,600...) idea you didn't seem interested in. The 500 piece blue homing canister was added in as the reward before the power burst. Now that the power burst is in it seems like it would feel more balanced if you got a homing canister every other one. If someone is in a high level and keeps missing their falling canisters they will at least be able to get a homing one when the next canister falls. A falling canister is worth 100 pieces and the homing canister is worth a little more because it is the same thing but with homing, so it seems like it should be worth 200 pieces. It doesn't seem like you should get a 16 unit energy burst before your first 3 unit homing canister.

 

The 8 canisters idea doesn't seem much different than the energy burst. Some times you are very lucky and get it when you have one unit left and sometimes you are very unlucky when all 1000 points are wasted because your health is already full. It would make more sense to me if you got a falling canister every other 100 pieces, a homing canister every other 200 pieces, not get the energy burst until a score that would be near 1,500 pieces(because they fought their way up to maximum reproduction only on canisters), and then the energy burst goes into a reserve and isn't used to fill up until the last unit is lost. On their next 1,500 pieces is where the real challenge will begin because now they have to do it all with maximum reproduction but if they had their last energy burst in reserve they would have more of a fighting chance. If they are good enough to make it to the next energy burst without losing all units then they will have 2 reserves. I would say more that 2 or 3 reserves would be excessive. Anyway, my point is that the energy burst would feel more rewarding if you climbed all the way up with falling and homing canisters and then the energy burst was like an extra life.

OK, how about this. What if I change the story so that your leaders always intend to send down a Homing Health Canister? Sometimes it will be defective and have the usual point and health energy loss. I'll make it random, so you never know which one you're going to get.

 

So instead of this:

 

Health Canisters

 

Homing Health Canisters

 

Corroded Homing Health Canisters

 

 

You'll have this:

 

Homing Health Canisters

 

Defective Homing Health Canisters

 

Corroded Homing Health Canisters

 

 

I could also change the 1,000 Point Energy Burst to a 2,000 Point Energy Burst if you want.

[Schizophretard]

I was writing this big reply, went to Stella to check the game, and it locked up my mouse in the corner of the screen. I almost lost it all. I gave up, went to restart my computer, luckily when it asked to save my session it closed Stella, and I got my mouse back. Is there a setting in Stella that does that? Anyway, I'll finish it now.

[+Random Terrain]

I was writing this big reply, went to Stella to check the game, and it locked up my mouse in the corner of the screen. I almost lost it all. I gave up, went to restart my computer, luckily when it asked to save my session it closed Stella, and I got my mouse back. Is there a setting in Stella that does that? Anyway, I'll finish it now.

Any time I use Stella, I have to either hit the Tab key, Esc key, or ` key (above Tab) to make Stella let me use my mouse again. It's a new feature that keeps you in the game when using a mouse as a paddle. It's nice for paddle games, but irritating if you want to let a game run for a couple of hours in auto-play mode while you do other things. As far as I know, unless there's some special button to press that I don't know about, Stella won't let you run a game and do other things anymore.

Edited October 3, 2011 by Random Terrain

[Schizophretard]

If you mean at each 100 pieces they send a homing canister, half the time it fails to activate and becomes a defective falling canister, and the corroded canisters are just lost defective homing canisters, then I think that is worth testing out. I'm not saying to officially change it just yet but make a test version to see how it works.

 

 

The different places we have tested the homing canister have seemed kind of arbitrary. It started at 1000 points because it sounds like a nice round number. It didn't seem to show up enough, so another nice round number of 500 was chosen. It showed up enough but it interfered too much and made it hard to tell if the canister that is falling is the one triggered by the 100 pieces or the 500 points. So, you moved it to 500 pieces and made it a permanent blue with it's own blinking score bar color. That eliminated the interference problem but now it is farther away then it was at 1000 points. So, you invented the energy burst(Genius!) as the point reward but now it is taking the place of the homing canister when it was at 1,000 points and a lesser reward of the permanent blue homing canister happens after you get your first energy burst. If feels kind of odd because the homing canister is playing a lesser role than it ever has and the energy burst is not playing an as big role as it could.

 

 

The homing canister felt right when it was showing up a lot. The interference was the problem and not how often it showed up. Making it based on seaweed points was on the right track but it seems like it would play like before and even better if every time you shoot 100 pieces of seaweed the score bar blinked blue and then the changing colored falling canister or changing color homing canister randomly dropped because of how the game play changes as the reproduction rate increases.

 

 

In the lower levels things are slow. If you don't catch the falling canister most of the time it is your fault, the falling canister feels like the main canister, and when you get a homing canister it feels like a bonus. When you get to the higher levels it is reversed. If you don't catch the falling canister most of the time it isn't your fault because you get in a rhythm of going up and down the screen clearing the rows of seaweed and even though you are doing everything correct you could be working on the bottom and the falling canister could be falling through rows of seaweed above you. So, they switch roles. In the higher levels the homing canister becomes your main canister and if you manage to catch a falling canister while it is blue then it is a bonus.

 

 

If they randomly dropped each 100 pieces of seaweed like a flip of the coin then they would be in perfect positions to switch roles smoothly. Also, if the score bar only blinked blue to mean energy then you not knowing which is coming would make you treat both canisters as if they were falling canisters(Grab it as quick as possible!) and the next time you play it would be just as balanced as before but a little different.

 

 

 

Moving the energy burst from 1,000 points to 2,000 points would just be doing what we did with the homing canister by just picking a round number to move it to. At 2,000 points it would be doing the same thing as it is now but only showing up half as much. It looks really cool when it scrolls down and is awesome that it rewards you by filling you all the way up but most of the time it shows isn't when you are about to die. It shows up when all you need is the next canister. So, it is almost like throwing another canister in there. For it to be a reward on a different level than the canisters that is something you really want to save points up to then it needs to be a guaranteed full health recharge when all energy has been lost like an extra life.

 

 

I know I have suggested using different shades of blue on the Manatee to be indicators for more units of health or even extra lives but it isn't absolutely necessary. As long as there is an indicator I think this will work. Maybe the indicator could be your energy health indicator? The light blue that it is now could turn as dark a blue as the water when you get the energy burst or maybe have the indicator start as gray like the Manatee and when the energy burst scrolls all the way down the walls of seaweed the indicator turns into the blue of the burst and it appears that it shot into it?

 

 

Anyway, this is what would make sense to me. The energy burst becomes a full energy recharge that is stored for when you lose your last energy unit. When you get the energy burst it shows up on an indicator and when it is used the indicator changes back to normal. Before I brought up being able to store 2 or 3 but maybe that is over doing it. Having one including your normal indicator is already equal to 32 units of health. A good player should be able to survive long enough to get to the next energy burst if it needs refilled. It would be too much if the Manatee was made immortal by too many extra lives. So, I suggest we try out just one. If someone is good enough to make it to the next energy burst without using their other one then maybe have it do as it does now by filling up their energy but not adding another reserve and maybe give them bonus points for it?

 

 

Now where to put it? Another life(16 units) is a big reward. If it was every 1,000 or 2,000 points the Manatee would be immortal. It should be somewhere that they have to work hard for it and not an arbitrary place but still a round number. The best place for that is 1,500 pieces of seaweed because at that point they have proven themselves worthy. They have survived all 14 reproduction rates and are now at maximum difficulty. But it can't be 1,500 pieces of seaweed because it is a points based reward. That is why I asked before for a test version with no energy burst and it gives me an instant game over or just stops giving me points at 1,500 pieces. That way I can write down my exact score at 1,500 pieces of seaweed, play maybe 10 times, and figure out the average score. Then from there we would have a guide to pick a nice round number that we know would be around 1,500 pieces. Good players could get it early and not so good players could get it late but on an average it would be around 1,500 pieces.

 

 

So, here is what I suggest as a test:

 

 

1)Make the score bar blue at every 100 pieces.

 

2)At every 100 pieces either a changing color homing canister or changing color falling canister drops and they both have the same points based on color.

 

3)No energy burst ,so we can test out where to put it.

 

4)Instant game over or score stops when 1,500 pieces have been reached to figure out average score.

 

5)When average score is determined we find a nice round number near there. For an example, the average score at 1,500 pieces was determined to be 11,267. 10,000 is a nice round number near that, so that is where we put the energy burst.

 

6)We subtract out the instant game over from the test and add in the energy burst at the determined score.

 

7)Make the energy burst go into a reserve so that when the last unit of health is lost it fills up the energy health indicator.

 

8)Make an indicator for the reserve. I suggest changing the color of the energy health indicator from a Manatee gray to an energy burst blue.

 

9)Make it that if someone gets an energy burst but already has one in reserve then it behaves as it does now by just topping off their energy health indicator and maybe give them bonus points. Maybe the highest nice round number that doesn't mess with your 255 point limit?

 

 

I think the above should at least be tested out because I predict that it will be even more balanced than it is, the point reward would be something really worth working for, and other than small tinkering and new bugs found I predict the game will be done. After that you can move on to your new problem of everyone begging you even more than they are now to put it on cart.

[+Random Terrain]

If you mean at each 100 pieces they send a homing canister, half the time it fails to activate and becomes a defective falling canister, and the corroded canisters are just lost defective homing canisters, then I think that is worth testing out. I'm not saying to officially change it just yet but make a test version to see how it works.

Yeah, everything is a homing health canister. Some work correctly, some are defective and lose power as they fall and won't move toward you, and some are corroded and lost.

 

Every time you shoot 100 bits of seaweed, you'd either get a fully working homing health canister or a defective one (based on a random number, mixed with the rate of reproduction, and possibly your health indicator color).

 

 

 

 

 

Now where to put it? Another life (16 units) is a big reward. If it was every 1,000 or 2,000 points the Manatee would be immortal. It should be somewhere that they have to work hard for it and not an arbitrary place but still a round number. The best place for that is 1,500 pieces of seaweed because at that point they have proven themselves worthy. They have survived all 14 reproduction rates and are now at maximum difficulty. But it can't be 1,500 pieces of seaweed because it is a points based reward. That is why I asked before for a test version with no energy burst and it gives me an instant game over or just stops giving me points at 1,500 pieces. That way I can write down my exact score at 1,500 pieces of seaweed, play maybe 10 times, and figure out the average score. Then from there we would have a guide to pick a nice round number that we know would be around 1,500 pieces. Good players could get it early and not so good players could get it late but on an average it would be around 1,500 pieces.

You'd be writing forever. Take a look at this:

 

http://www.randomter...lt.html#scoring

If you shoot more than 10 bits of seaweed with the same torpedo, each one past the 10th bit of seaweed will be worth 10 points. For example, if you'd shoot 10 individual bits of seaweed, you'd only get 10 points, but if you'd shoot 10 in a row with the same torpedo, you'd get 55 points. And if you'd shoot 30 bits of seaweed separately, you'd only get 30 points, but 30 shot with the same torpedo would get you 255 points.

 

The points depend on the personality of the player:

 

255 (for 30) + 255 (for 30) + 255 (for 30) + 55 ( for 10) = 820 points for 100 bits of seaweed

 

 

1 x 100 = 100 points for 100 bits of seaweed

 

There's no way to know what the average might be.

 

 

 

 

 

1) Make the score bar blue at every 100 pieces.

That would be easy to do and getting rid of the yellow code would make more room for other things.

 

 

 

 

 

2) At every 100 pieces either a changing color homing canister or changing color falling canister drops and they both have the same points based on color.

In other words, put the behavior back the way it was. I can compare older code with the latest code and see what I changed, so I can put it back the way it was without creating more bugs.

 

 

 

 

 

4) Instant game over or score stops when 1,500 pieces have been reached to figure out average score.

 

5) When average score is determined we find a nice round number near there. For an example, the average score at 1,500 pieces was determined to be 11,267. 10,000 is a nice round number near that, so that is where we put the energy burst.

That would probably be a waste of time. What about players who can can barely reach 1,000 points? They'd never see the energy burst.

 

 

 

 

 

7) Make the energy burst go into a reserve so that when the last unit of health is lost it fills up the energy health indicator.

 

Make an indicator for the reserve. I suggest changing the color of the energy health indicator from a Manatee gray to an energy burst blue.

The whole point of the Health Energy Indicator is so players will know exactly how much health energy they have left. Once it turns yellow, then red, if they don't remember if it was blue or gray before that, it would feel like they are walking naked through a dark room full of furniture covered in razorblades.

 

 

 

 

 

9) Make it that if someone gets an energy burst but already has one in reserve then it behaves as it does now by just topping off their energy health indicator and maybe give them bonus points. Maybe the highest nice round number that doesn't mess with your 255 point limit?

I don't know if it was here or in a PM, but you already didn't like the idea of a bonus item giving points when that bonus item was earned by getting points.

 

 

 

I can go back to homing health canisters losing energy and points as they fall and semi-randomly appearing every time the player shoots 100 bits of seaweed, but the player now has 16 units of energy instead of 8, so that should be enough. With canisters falling and corroded canisters popping up all over the place, the game is easier than ever before. If their health is full when an energy burst happens, I don't want it stored beyond the 16 units, but I could give the player some kind of bonus. Maybe the Manatee could glow blue and have a few seconds of invincibility?

 

That last part just gave me an idea about the energy burst. Instead of giving health energy, how about it giving just a few seconds of invincibility? You'll still bounce off seaweed and get stuck, but it won't do any damage for 3 or 4 seconds? I'm guessing 3 seconds would be good.

Edited October 3, 2011 by Random Terrain

[KevinMos3]

As far as I know, unless there's some special button to press that I don't know about, Stella won't let you run a game and do other things anymore.

I'm using Stella 3.3.01 and in the "Options" menu, under "Input Settings", then the "Devices & Ports" tab, there's a box you can uncheck that says "Use mouse as a controller". That should fix your problem.

[Schizophretard]

I got to get to bed but I'll respond later.

[+Random Terrain]

As far as I know, unless there's some special button to press that I don't know about, Stella won't let you run a game and do other things anymore.

I'm using Stella 3.3.01 and in the "Options" menu, under "Input Settings", then the "Devices & Ports" tab, there's a box you can uncheck that says "Use mouse as a controller". That should fix your problem.

I'm using 3.4.1 and that doesn't work, but unchecking "Grab Mouse in Emulation Mode" under "Use mouse as a controller" works.

 

 

Thanks.

[Gorfy]

Hey RT, what's your high score on this game?

[+Random Terrain]

Hey RT, what's your high score on this game?

The last time i played it instead of just testing parts of it, the points were different.

[Schizophretard]

If you mean at each 100 pieces they send a homing canister, half the time it fails to activate and becomes a defective falling canister, and the corroded canisters are just lost defective homing canisters, then I think that is worth testing out. I'm not saying to officially change it just yet but make a test version to see how it works.

Yeah, everything is a homing health canister. Some work correctly, some are defective and lose power as they fall and won't move toward you, and some are corroded and lost.

 

Every time you shoot 100 bits of seaweed, you'd either get a fully working homing health canister or a defective one (based on a random number, mixed with the rate of reproduction, and possibly your health indicator color).

 

Can you explain more about "based on a random number, mixed with the rate of reproduction, and possibly your health indicator color"? I doubt it needs to be complex. Being a 50% chance of one or the other dropping or they rotate every other 100 pieces should work.

 

Now where to put it? Another life (16 units) is a big reward. If it was every 1,000 or 2,000 points the Manatee would be immortal. It should be somewhere that they have to work hard for it and not an arbitrary place but still a round number. The best place for that is 1,500 pieces of seaweed because at that point they have proven themselves worthy. They have survived all 14 reproduction rates and are now at maximum difficulty. But it can't be 1,500 pieces of seaweed because it is a points based reward. That is why I asked before for a test version with no energy burst and it gives me an instant game over or just stops giving me points at 1,500 pieces. That way I can write down my exact score at 1,500 pieces of seaweed, play maybe 10 times, and figure out the average score. Then from there we would have a guide to pick a nice round number that we know would be around 1,500 pieces. Good players could get it early and not so good players could get it late but on an average it would be around 1,500 pieces.

You'd be writing forever. Take a look at this:

 

http://www.randomter...lt.html#scoring

If you shoot more than 10 bits of seaweed with the same torpedo, each one past the 10th bit of seaweed will be worth 10 points. For example, if you'd shoot 10 individual bits of seaweed, you'd only get 10 points, but if you'd shoot 10 in a row with the same torpedo, you'd get 55 points. And if you'd shoot 30 bits of seaweed separately, you'd only get 30 points, but 30 shot with the same torpedo would get you 255 points.

 

The points depend on the personality of the player:

 

255 (for 30) + 255 (for 30) + 255 (for 30) + 55 ( for 10) = 820 points for 100 bits of seaweed

 

 

1 x 100 = 100 points for 100 bits of seaweed

 

There's no way to know what the average might be.

 

If you think about it the highest possible points and the lowest possible points at 1,500 pieces would take very skilled players. To get the most points, every shot they make would shoot 30 pieces of seaweed. That would only be 50 torpedoes. To get the lowest possible points they would have to shoot 1,500 torpedoes but only hit one piece of seaweed with each one. Those would be very hard to do.

 

I think you can get a close estimate about what the average score would be because even though people have different personalities most would play a similar way. For an example, the way I have always played breakout was to try to work on one side until the ball gets to the top and bounces around. No one taught me to do this. I didn't use this method because I saw someone else doing it. I just played the game and figured out that it is the most fun and best way to do it. I bet if you done a poll you would find out that most people do the same. It would be the same thing with Seaweed Assault. Most people won't just wait around to shoot 50 torpedoes or try to only hit one at a time with 1,500 torpedoes. Most people will hold the fire button down, try to keep the screen as clear as possible, and get into a rhythm of going up and down the screen taking out each row. They might not do that the first time they play but once they get good enough to reach 1,500 pieces fairly consistently they would be using that method. How they start playing would depend on their personality but reaching 1,500 pieces would depend on their ability to learn how to play.

 

It isn't important to learn the exact average anyway. If that is what I am suggesting then I might as well suggest that you make the energy burst happen at 1,500 pieces. I'm just suggesting to find a score near maximum difficulty, so that when they get good enough to play at maximum difficulty they would have a sense of accomplishment when they get the reward and the reward would help them survive to make it at maximum difficulty to the next energy burst.

 

1) Make the score bar blue at every 100 pieces.

That would be easy to do and getting rid of the yellow code would make more room for other things.

 

How much room would removing the yellow code make?

 

2) At every 100 pieces either a changing color homing canister or changing color falling canister drops and they both have the same points based on color.

In other words, put the behavior back the way it was. I can compare older code with the latest code and see what I changed, so I can put it back the way it was without creating more bugs.

 

Basically, It would be the same behavior but appear they are one canister. The homing canister would change colors and have the same points for each color as the falling canister does now. The only difference between them would be the homing. If there was a 50% chance that the 100 piece canister could just fall or have homing then it would appear that half the time the guidance system failed to activate. It would play nicely with the corroded canisters because they are canisters that have a defective guidance system. It would make it seem like the corroded canisters were once the falling canisters.

 

4) Instant game over or score stops when 1,500 pieces have been reached to figure out average score.

 

5) When average score is determined we find a nice round number near there. For an example, the average score at 1,500 pieces was determined to be 11,267. 10,000 is a nice round number near that, so that is where we put the energy burst.

That would probably be a waste of time. What about players who can can barely reach 1,000 points? They'd never see the energy burst.

 

The players that can barely reach 1,000 points are either beginners or people without thumbs. When I started I could barely reach 1,000 points but now I can make it to maximum difficulty. When you learn the game, the canisters are all you need to reach maximum difficulty. It is after 1,500 pieces that you could use a little extra help because the next 1,500 pieces would all be at maximum difficulty. If it were easy for beginners to get then it would only be a big reward for beginners but for someone that isn't a beginner at every 1,000 points it would feel just a little bit better than a canister because most of the time their energy health indicator would either be full or not almost empty.

 

7) Make the energy burst go into a reserve so that when the last unit of health is lost it fills up the energy health indicator.

 

Make an indicator for the reserve. I suggest changing the color of the energy health indicator from a Manatee gray to an energy burst blue.

The whole point of the Health Energy Indicator is so players will know exactly how much health energy they have left. Once it turns yellow, then red, if they don't remember if it was blue or gray before that, it would feel like they are walking naked through a dark room full of furniture covered in razorblades.

 

I had to be told that it was 16 units and when it is less than 16 units I don't know the exact amount unless it is red because there is only one red unit. After someone earns the energy burst and feels the sense of accomplishment I doubt they would forget they have it. Besides, that seems like an easy fix. It could be blue all the way down and only have it turn yellow and red when the indicator is gray. Also, there could be other things used as indicators.

 

9) Make it that if someone gets an energy burst but already has one in reserve then it behaves as it does now by just topping off their energy health indicator and maybe give them bonus points. Maybe the highest nice round number that doesn't mess with your 255 point limit?

I don't know if it was here or in a PM, but you already didn't like the idea of a bonus item giving points when that bonus item was earned by getting points.

 

True. If part of a points based reward is more points then it feels like an unnecessary refund to help you get the reward again sooner, so that you can get another refund... But if a reward doesn't get used to it's full potential then it feels necessary to get a refund. For an example, when the homing canister was a points based reward it felt like an unnecessary refund to have more points as the reward but if you grab the homing canister when your energy is full it feels necessary get a refund because you didn't receive any energy. If someone already has a stored energy burst and gets another one it seems like they should get something for it as a refund because it wasn't used, so just topping off the indicator and giving bonus points would be a refund similar to unused energy in canisters being converted to points.

 

Here is a made up conversation as an example:

 

Me: This 5,000 point super canister would be more rewarding and cool if you did this...

 

You: How about I add 1,000 points to the super canister?

 

Me: If you are going to refund 1,000 points it might as well be a 4,000 point canister but if you did that it would change the balance of the game. How about you try this...?

 

You: That wouldn't work because of this...

 

Me: Well, if it has to work as is can I at least have a partial refund of my points if I don't receive the full benefits of the super canister but no points refunded if I receive all the benefits?

 

I can go back to homing health canisters losing energy and points as they fall and semi-randomly appearing every time the player shoots 100 bits of seaweed, but the player now has 16 units of energy instead of 8, so that should be enough. With canisters falling and corroded canisters popping up all over the place, the game is easier than ever before. If their health is full when an energy burst happens, I don't want it stored beyond the 16 units, but I could give the player some kind of bonus. Maybe the Manatee could glow blue and have a few seconds of invincibility?

 

That last part just gave me an idea about the energy burst. Instead of giving health energy, how about it giving just a few seconds of invincibility? You'll still bounce off seaweed and get stuck, but it won't do any damage for 3 or 4 seconds? I'm guessing 3 seconds would be good.

 

Okay, but I don't understand why only semi-randomly. If it was completely random they would easily change roles as the reproduction rate increases. Explain what you mean by semi-randomly?

 

I don't know if a few seconds of invincibility would be very helpful. Maybe if you were stuck in seaweed when the energy burst happens it would be. If you became invincible you might let your guard down, start slamming into seaweed, and then when it is over you find yourself stuck in seaweed. Since you don't want to use the putting it in a reserve idea then how about this?:

 

When the energy burst is triggered it randomly picks 3 pieces of seaweed for each 16 units of the burst. The burst scrolls down, the indicator fills up, and then it scrolls back up to give the effect that the Manatee is full and is bouncing the extra energy back out. As it scrolls back up it destroys 3 pieces of seaweed for every unit not used for energy. If your indicator is red 1 unit won't be used for health, so as it scrolls back up it randomly destroys 3 pieces of seaweed. If your indicator was already full then there would be 3 pieces for all 16 unused(48 pieces). It can range from 3 to 48 pieces of seaweed being destroyed depending on how full your health is. There would be no points rewarded or the pieces counted towards the next canister or anything like that. It would just be eye candy to look like the more full you are the more seaweed gets destroyed as the energy not used bounces off of you. The number doesn't have to be 3 for each unit. That is just an example number. It is just that a range from 1 to 16 pieces wouldn't look like much.

 

Anyway, no matter what you decide on that can you please make a test version with your energy burst as is, only a blinking blue score bar, 100 piece canister randomly has homing or falls, and add your new children?

[+Random Terrain]

Can you explain more about "based on a random number, mixed with the rate of reproduction, and possibly your health indicator color"? I doubt it needs to be complex. Being a 50% chance of one or the other dropping or they rotate every other 100 pieces should work.

With a flip of a coin, you could have 10 non-defective homing canisters in a row. With semi-intelligent controlled randomness, the coin flip could be influenced by reproduction rate (I could make it more likely that a certain type of canister appears), and make it more likely that a non-defective homing canister will drop if your health energy indicator has turned yellow or red.

 

 

 

 

Most people will hold the fire button down, try to keep the screen as clear as possible, and get into a rhythm of going up and down the screen taking out each row. They might not do that the first time they play but once they get good enough to reach 1,500 pieces fairly consistently they would be using that method. How they start playing would depend on their personality but reaching 1,500 pieces would depend on their ability to learn how to play.

I don't know if most people would hold down the fire button. It's better to shoot with a purpose in this game. Holding down the fire button would be like wildly flailing your arms in a Kung Fu fight. I don't press the fire button unless i have something lined up.

 

 

 

 

How much room would removing the yellow code make?

I don't know, but every bit helps.

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, but I don't understand why only semi-randomly. If it was completely random they would easily change roles as the reproduction rate increases. Explain what you mean by semi-randomly?

Any time I say semi-randomly about anything, I usually mean semi-intelligent randomness. There is a random number, but it can be influenced by time elapsed, actions made by the player, level of difficulty, amount of health left, number of lives left, and so on (depending on the type of game). It's under the Controlled Randomness umbrella.

 

 

 

 

Anyway, no matter what you decide on that can you please make a test version with your energy burst as is, only a blinking blue score bar, 100 piece canister randomly has homing or falls, and add your new children?

I can do that. I have to mow the backyard first, then eat, but I should have that test version ready between midnight and 6 in the morning.

[Schizophretard]

I think I get it. How about something like this? There is a 2 out of 3 chance a canister would be falling on level 1, there is a 2 out of 3 chance a canister would be homing on level 2, there is a 2 out of 3 chance a canister would be falling on level 3... That way they would be semi-random but their chances would rotate to keep them from making them fall 10 times in a row. Plus what you said about the yellow or red health energy meter.

 

I hold the button down while shooting with a purpose. I get into the rhythm of moving into position for my next shot while the last torpedo is still taking out a row of seaweed. When a canister drops I know I can't shoot a wrothopod, so I hold down the fire button to take out whatever is in my way and most of my diagonal shots are made while going after the canister. The only time I let off the button is when the wrothopod shows but sometimes I still don't let off because I time my movements around him with the shots. The sounds of the torpedoes shooting and of the seaweed combos are my metronome to keep me in rhythm. If I didn't hold the fire button down or had the sound muted it would affect my performance negatively. I also increase my adrenaline to slow down the game a little. It doesn't feel like wildly flailing my arms in a Kung Fu fight. It feels more like taking a machine gun to a Kung Fu fight while being surrounded by 1,000 ninjas and spinning around at a pace that each bullet hits a ninja.

[+Random Terrain]

I think I get it. How about something like this? There is a 2 out of 3 chance a canister would be falling on level 1, there is a 2 out of 3 chance a canister would be homing on level 2, there is a 2 out of 3 chance a canister would be falling on level 3... That way they would be semi-random but their chances would rotate to keep them from making them fall 10 times in a row. Plus what you said about the yellow or red health energy meter.

Should the little tune be changed so it's the same for both types of canisters? If they should be the same, I'm thinking about keeping the tune with the extra note (4 notes instead of 3).

[Schizophretard]

In my opinion, it should have both tunes. I don't know how this would sound but the first note is what is most important, so instead of both 1,2,3 and 1,2,3,4 could you see how it sounds if you do 2,3,4 and 1,2,3,4? In other words, use the same tunes but make them different at the beginning instead of the end.

[+Random Terrain]

In my opinion, it should have both tunes. I don't know how this would sound but the first note is what is most important, so instead of both 1,2,3 and 1,2,3,4 could you see how it sounds if you do 2,3,4 and 1,2,3,4? In other words, use the same tunes but make them different at the beginning instead of the end.

The way it is now, the tune has 4 notes. The homing health canister plays all 4 (1, 2,3, 4). The one that drops straight down plays the last 3 (2, 3, 4). The last 3 notes are the same ones played by the seaweed tentacle, just higher and more cheerful.

 

I can get rid of the first note, but the last note has to stay. I can either leave things as they are or remove the first note.

Edited October 5, 2011 by Random Terrain

[Schizophretard]

For some reason I thought it was the opposite. I would just keep them as is then. Unless you can come up with something cooler. I wonder what it would be like if after the tones the falling canister did the beep beep beep before a corroded canister launches sound all the way down and if the homing canister did the sound of the launch. You think that would sound right?