49 replies to this topic

[Wickeycolumbus]

Here is a game I've been working on for a little while. It's gotten to the remotely fun point, so I thought I'd share it to get some feedback. You play as a yellow square and your goal is to "eat" the red squares while avoiding aliens. There are currently four game modes:

Game 1 - one enemy bouncing off the walls
Game 2 - one "smart" enemy
Game 3 - two enemies bouncing off the walls
Game 4 - one "smart" enemy, one bouncing off the walls

I'm trying to keep this one at 2K but it wouldn't be too big of a deal to go with 4K. I have about 512 bytes free. Let me know what you think!



 Muncher.bin   2K   115 downloads

Latest ROM

http://www.atariage....ost__p__2358245

Edited by Wickeycolumbus, Fri Aug 26, 2011 3:24 PM.

[Brian O]

This a pretty fun, addictive little game. I am going to continue playing it. I'll let you know if I run into any issues.

Two things:

• Noticed you can move the yellow pixel outside of the red area. You should consider deducting points for every move outside of the red box. This would, hopefully, make the player want to stay inside the red box area.
  
  
• I'm not sure how I feel about having to keep pushing in a direction to move. I think if you hold the joystick in a certain direction, the dot should continue to move (even if it's one space at a time) without having to then keep nudging it.

Just my two cents. Other than that, looks good. Reminds me a little of Qix.

-B

[Brian O]

Bump -- This game deserves more love.

-B

[Random Terrain]

Brian O, on Mon Jul 25, 2011 1:59 PM, said:

I'm not sure how I feel about having to keep pushing in a direction to move. I think if you hold the joystick in a certain direction, the dot should continue to move (even if it's one space at a time) without having to then keep nudging it.

To me, that makes it 100 percent irritating and 0 percent fun. I'm not a fan of joystick jerker games.

[Brian O]

Random Terrain, on Tue Jul 26, 2011 2:46 PM, said:

[I'm not a fan of joystick jerker games.

There's a joke in there somewhere...

-B

[Wickeycolumbus]

Yeah, I was thinking about changing the controls. How's this? I think it may be a bit too fast.

 Muncher.bin   2K   71 downloads

[Brian O]

Wickeycolumbus, on Tue Jul 26, 2011 4:45 PM, said:

Yeah, I was thinking about changing the controls. How's this? I think it may be a bit too fast.

Muncher.bin

Yeah, definitely a bit too fast, but definitely and improvement over having to continuously nudge the joystick.

I was thinking what might make the game a little tougher in the later rounds is to have the dots start to refresh if you take too long to move. This way, you're forced to keep moving.

Looking good, though!

-B

[RevEng]

I'm thinking that game variation 3 and 4 should switch places with 1 and 2... it's a more interesting game where there are multiple enemies to dodge.

A spitball idea... if you could only move where squares are it would add another element to the game. You'd have be be more careful about creating gaps, and as the game progressed you'd have less maneuvering room. Different levels could have different shaped territory to grab.

Excellent start!

[atari2600land]

Plays a little like my Gimme! game I had started programming, except yours is better. It would be really cool if you could keep this at 2k and put it in the store.

[Wickeycolumbus]

Finally got around to doing an update. I think the speeds are a bit better now. Every few seconds you spend out of the red you get a 10 point deduction. I'll probably decrease the amount of time for that to happen when you clear a board. I have a couple ideas for more modes too.

 Muncher.bin   2K   49 downloads

Edited by Wickeycolumbus, Fri Jul 29, 2011 2:20 PM.

[atari2600land]

I've noticed a bug: Sometimes (but not all the time) when you die, the board doesn't clear and you keep playing with the score you have, it's like you have a life left. You are only supposed to get one chance, right?

[Wickeycolumbus]

atari2600land, on Fri Jul 29, 2011 4:44 PM, said:

I've noticed a bug: Sometimes (but not all the time) when you die, the board doesn't clear and you keep playing with the score you have, it's like you have a life left. You are only supposed to get one chance, right?

Yeah, I haven't gotten around to fixing that yet. Thanks for pointing it out though! There's also a bug where the score keeps subtracting 10 every few seconds even after a game over. They should both be (hopefully) pretty easy fixes. By the way, Gimme! is pretty cool, didn't see that before. I don't mean to drive you away from your project, please continue if you wish!

[atari2600land]

A title for this game for consideration: "Squared Away." I would definitely buy this if it makes it to the store if you keep it at 2k.

Edited by atari2600land, Fri Jul 29, 2011 7:23 PM.

[Brian O]

atari2600land, on Fri Jul 29, 2011 7:22 PM, said:

A title for this game for consideration: "Squared Away." I would definitely buy this if it makes it to the store if you keep it at 2k.

I like that.

-B

[Brian O]

Wickeycolumbus, on Fri Jul 29, 2011 5:03 PM, said:

atari2600land, on Fri Jul 29, 2011 4:44 PM, said:

I've noticed a bug: Sometimes (but not all the time) when you die, the board doesn't clear and you keep playing with the score you have, it's like you have a life left. You are only supposed to get one chance, right?

Yeah, I haven't gotten around to fixing that yet. Thanks for pointing it out though! There's also a bug where the score keeps subtracting 10 every few seconds even after a game over. They should both be (hopefully) pretty easy fixes. By the way, Gimme! is pretty cool, didn't see that before. I don't mean to drive you away from your project, please continue if you wish!

Any chance of adding extra lives, or do you want to keep it one and done?

-B

[Wickeycolumbus]

Brian O, on Fri Jul 29, 2011 7:36 PM, said:

Wickeycolumbus, on Fri Jul 29, 2011 5:03 PM, said:

atari2600land, on Fri Jul 29, 2011 4:44 PM, said:

I've noticed a bug: Sometimes (but not all the time) when you die, the board doesn't clear and you keep playing with the score you have, it's like you have a life left. You are only supposed to get one chance, right?

Yeah, I haven't gotten around to fixing that yet. Thanks for pointing it out though! There's also a bug where the score keeps subtracting 10 every few seconds even after a game over. They should both be (hopefully) pretty easy fixes. By the way, Gimme! is pretty cool, didn't see that before. I don't mean to drive you away from your project, please continue if you wish!

Any chance of adding extra lives, or do you want to keep it one and done?

-B

Extra lives is probably a good idea

[atari2600land]

I like it the way it is now, with no extra lives. It's more of a "see what you can do in one shot only" thing.

[atari2600land]

By the way, I like this game so much I mentioned it on the front page of my website.

[Brian O]

atari2600land, on Fri Jul 29, 2011 8:09 PM, said:

By the way, I like this game so much I mentioned it on the front page of my website.

[Wickeycolumbus]

atari2600land, on Fri Jul 29, 2011 8:09 PM, said:

By the way, I like this game so much I mentioned it on the front page of my website.

Thanks! I'm glad you like it

[c_t_f]

Addictive! Hard, yes, but very addictive! Keep up the good work!


@CTF@

[Jr. Pac]

I love it! Is is indeed a bit too fast, though. It's very addicting!

[Wickeycolumbus]

Here is a new ROM with a few things added. There are now 8 variations, 5-8 being the same as 1-4 but without extra lives. I plan on making the game go faster/make you loose points faster as you clear boards. There will also be extra lives in games 1-4 every couple thousand points.

 Muncher.bin   2K   48 downloads

[Legend]

what about adding some simple obstacles like walls in some of the game variations? Nothing too "Mazey" but just a small handful of walls to get in your way.

Maybe have going outside the border make you lose points so you have to be careful to stay within the square. If you get down to zero points, then you also lose a life?

Edited by Legend, Sun Jul 31, 2011 1:41 PM.

[Wickeycolumbus]

Legend, on Sun Jul 31, 2011 1:39 PM, said:

what about adding some simple obstacles like walls in some of the game variations? Nothing too "Mazey" but just a small handful of walls to get in your way.

Maybe have going outside the border make you lose points so you have to be careful to stay within the square. If you get down to zero points, then you also lose a life?

Unfortunately it would be pretty hard to add more objects on screen. I could flicker the playfield but that would look bad and use a lot of ROM. Flickered enemies wouldn't be as big a deal though. Going outside the red already subtracts points, but it's not really a threat at the moment.