9 replies to this topic

[Bountybob]

Just thinking Laser Blast would be a lot more fun and dynamic if there was an enemy saucer to avoid or maybe if
the ground came up higher and there was less room to maneuver I was wondering if that would be a difficult hack ?

Edited by Bountybob, Fri Apr 15, 2011 2:47 PM.

[Nukey Shay]

Enemy plane/saucer...not difficult. You'd only need to keep track of the enemy horizontal and vertical location (and the ball sprite to use as a bullet...if you wanted). The original game even has unused ram to allow such an addition ($85, $99, $9A, and $FD)...and a couple more could easily be reclaimed by moving the printing temps to the end of ram (so stack space is shared with them). The scrolling ground effect wastes a whopping 49 bytes (!). There's not even any conflicts for printing an additional sprite to the screen - since the upper portion is only occupied by the player's saucer and the 2 missiles.


The main issue is that Laser Blast is a crappy game

[AtariLeaf]

Nukey Shay, on Tue May 17, 2011 7:32 AM, said:

The main issue is that Laser Blast is a crappy game

This man speaks truth

[Bountybob]

AtariLeaf, on Tue May 17, 2011 11:44 AM, said:

Nukey Shay, on Tue May 17, 2011 7:32 AM, said:

The main issue is that Laser Blast is a crappy game

This man speaks truth

I disagree I think it was more of an unfinished game.If a couple of small things had been added in
it could have been a much better game.

[AtariLeaf]

Bountybob, on Tue Sep 6, 2011 6:54 PM, said:

AtariLeaf, on Tue May 17, 2011 11:44 AM, said:

Nukey Shay, on Tue May 17, 2011 7:32 AM, said:

The main issue is that Laser Blast is a crappy game

This man speaks truth

I disagree I think it was more of an unfinished game. If a couple of small things had been added in
it could have been a much better game.

If "Ifs and buts were candy and nuts".

Sure they could have done this or they could have done that, and MAYBE it would have been a better game. But they didn't and as it is, its a crappy game.

[jrok]

AtariLeaf, on Tue Sep 6, 2011 8:16 PM, said:

If "Ifs and buts were candy and nuts".

Sure they could have done this or they could have done that, and MAYBE it would have been a better game. But they didn't and as it is, its a crappy game.

Yeah. It always struck me as a sort of "eh, good enough" effort. They came up with a special effect and one mindlessly simple game mechanic and then kicked it out the door.

Not sure if it was lazy programming or a ridiculous delivery schedule or both, but the difficulty curve in Laser Blast is so flat it makes Mary Tyler Moore look like Dolly Parton. You could just play and play until you starve to death or go insane.

[esplonky]

it's better than what i can program i can tell you that~

[retrorussell]

It is the sole definition of REPETITIVE or MONOTONOUS. Ugh!

[esplonky]

if rebecca black could program she would program Laser Blast

[Bountybob]

There was something nice about the games colorful graphics and sound effects.