49 replies to this topic

[sandmountainslim]

I LIKE it! Reminds me of mowing the lawn.
Wp

[radiohead]

It has potential, but it's hard.

It's not enticing enough right now for me as the player to try to improve. I played about 8 straight rounds of losing my 3 men one right after another, only improving slightly each time. Even my 13 yr old video game wizard son took a crack at it. But ultimately, we didn't even complete the 1st level. I lost interest and just I gave up.

Other than just trying to clear the board, I didn't feel much reward to continue. The other games variations, while good ideas, just make a hard game that much more frustrating.

Maybe you could have the enemy stalk you slower in the first round, giving the player a better chance to win the level (maybe at the same slower speed used by the "smart enemy" in the Game 2.) Then with each completed level, the enemy gets a little faster, or more obstacles appear, etc. Build the challenge up. That way, a player can complete the first couple of screens and feel that they're making progress. The current speed of the enemy should be considered level 3 or 4.

If you don't want to change up the speed, can you add hidden items in the red area that when uncovered, the enemy "freezes", reverses course, or disappears to another part of the screen away from you?

Can the player move diagonally for a better chance to avoid the enemy? I know you're trying to keep it under 2K, so I don't know if any of this is possible.

To me, it's like a carnival barker letting you make the first 2 shots into the basket, before you try for the winning 3rd shot. If you can't make the first shots, you're not going to stay and play his game for the prize. Unfortunately, that's how I feel with your game at the moment.

Otherwise, it's a really clever game idea and I look forward to seeing more!

Thanks!

Edited by radiohead, Wed Aug 3, 2011 5:11 PM.

[Wickeycolumbus]

Thanks for the input! I still have a lot to do with adjusting the speeds and all that, but I just added diagonal support just to try it out. I think I may make it so you go faster when holding the button and get reduced points, dropping diagonal movement.

 Muncher.bin   2K   92 downloads

[Brian O]

Wickeycolumbus, on Sat Aug 6, 2011 2:58 PM, said:

Thanks for the input! I still have a lot to do with adjusting the speeds and all that, but I just added diagonal support just to try it out. I think I may make it so you go faster when holding the button and get reduced points, dropping diagonal movement.

Muncher.bin

Lookin' good!

My high score so far:



-B

[BrianC]

Neat game! Plays kind of like a reverse Qix.

[LS_Dracon]

I like the speed now.

How about to increase the enemy number (NUSIZx) every new level?

Edited by LS_Dracon, Sun Aug 7, 2011 11:18 AM.

[radiohead]

Moving diagonally helped tremendously for me. It became more playable. After clearing 2 boards, I then selected the more difficult games selections, which I wasn't inspired to do before.

I think there still needs to be some subtle game/graphic change after clearing boards (Space Invaders get lower after each round, Pac-Man adds new fruit, Centipede & Missle Command change board colors, etc.) Maybe combine the other game variations as part of the level advances (game 2 is level 3, game 3 is level 5, and so on.)

But just adding diagonal moves is a great fix.

Keep up the good work!

[Wickeycolumbus]

I've added the ability to move faster by pressing the joystick button. There is now a meter at the bottom left indicating how much longer you can move fast. You can replenish the meter by collecting more red while going slow.



 Muncher.bin   2K   64 downloads

[atari2600land]

Wickeycolumbus, on Mon Aug 8, 2011 3:53 PM, said:

I've added the ability to move faster by pressing the joystick button. There is now a meter at the bottom left indicating how much longer you can move fast. You can replenish the meter by collecting more red while going slow.

Looking good! I suggest that the red changes color each time you clear the board and enter a new level (i.e. blue for level 2...)

[DT Kofoed]

I like the basic gameplay and concept, but it would be nice if the player sprite was anything, you know, other than a box

[Wickeycolumbus]

Changes:

* board changes color every level
* enemies get stretched to double width at the fourth board
* the amount of time you can go fast decreases as you clear boards
* you get another life every four boards in games 1-4

I'm about out of ROM now but there are always optimizations to be made. Let me know what you think

 Muncher.bin   2K   79 downloads

Edited by Wickeycolumbus, Sun Aug 14, 2011 1:38 PM.

[Impaler_26]

Nice little game, i like it!

Could you make it so that the game waits a few seconds before you can restart it with the fire-button after you die? A few times i lost my last life while i had the fire-button pressed and the game immediately restarted and i couldn't see my final score.

[LS_Dracon]

2k is a challenge? Why not use 4kb?
How about use a color background? A dark luminance ($x2 or $x4). Acording Atari, game with color background sell better.

Edited by LS_Dracon, Tue Aug 16, 2011 8:05 AM.

[atari2600land]

I wondered if the same game could be done in 2k using batari Basic. Press the select switch to toggle between 1 enemy, 2 enemies bouncing, and 1 enemy bouncing and 1 enemy chasing you simultaneously. Granted, it's not as nice as Wickeycolumbus's, but I got bored.

Attached Files

•  bBiter.bas.bin   2K   61 downloads

[Godzilla]

very cool! thanks for sharing!

[Wickeycolumbus]

LS_Dracon, on Tue Aug 16, 2011 8:04 AM, said:

2k is a challenge? Why not use 4kb?
How about use a color background? A dark luminance ($x2 or $x4). Acording Atari, game with color background sell better.

I kind of like the black background, but I'll play around with other colors. I'm not sure what else I can do with the gameplay, but I might go 4K to include a title screen and SaveKey support.

Impaler_26, on Mon Aug 15, 2011 7:51 PM, said:

Nice little game, i like it!

Could you make it so that the game waits a few seconds before you can restart it with the fire-button after you die? A few times i lost my last life while i had the fire-button pressed and the game immediately restarted and i couldn't see my final score.

Thanks! Let me know what you think about this ROM.

 Muncher.bin   2K   105 downloads

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

[r_type2600]

That's one great little game!
Smooth original gameplay and very addictive!
Also like how it somehow manages to feel like an early Atari effort (graphics) and play like an early Activision classic (intense gameplay)

The game variations already provide a number of logical additional game elements, but I think it would be better to merge them into one full-fletched game with increasingly difficult levels.
That would really boost the long-term appeal of the game.
This game has the stuff of a classic, so I think you should really consider 4k to max out its potential (even if you only end up needing 3k).
Only for additional game elements tough - presentation extras (like a title screen etc.) would only water down the raw charm of this little gem.
A few small suggestions:
- a couple more "dumb" enemies with different bouncing patterns.
- more (than 2) on-screen enemies in later levels
- the different type of enemies should be distinguishable. Different (invaders) graphics for the various "dumb" moving patterns, different colors for different speeds. The smart enemy could then look like the invaders UFO.

Don't really see the necessity for color backgrounds, the "food" surface changes color with every new level anyway, so that already provides enough variation, without getting confusing.
And I love the player "block" sprite

[Wickeycolumbus]

r_type2600, on Sun Aug 28, 2011 3:43 AM, said:

That's one great little game!
Smooth original gameplay and very addictive!
Also like how it somehow manages to feel like an early Atari effort (graphics) and play like an early Activision classic (intense gameplay)

The game variations already provide a number of logical additional game elements, but I think it would be better to merge them into one full-fletched game with increasingly difficult levels.
That would really boost the long-term appeal of the game.
This game has the stuff of a classic, so I think you should really consider 4k to max out its potential (even if you only end up needing 3k).
Only for additional game elements tough - presentation extras (like a title screen etc.) would only water down the raw charm of this little gem.
A few small suggestions:
- a couple more "dumb" enemies with different bouncing patterns.
- more (than 2) on-screen enemies in later levels
- the different type of enemies should be distinguishable. Different (invaders) graphics for the various "dumb" moving patterns, different colors for different speeds. The smart enemy could then look like the invaders UFO.

Don't really see the necessity for color backgrounds, the "food" surface changes color with every new level anyway, so that already provides enough variation, without getting confusing.
And I love the player "block" sprite

Thanks for the kind words! I'm using this 2K version for the 2011 mini game compo, but will work on a 4K version for later release. Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll do my best to incorporate them into the final game.

[ls650]

Nice game. A couple of comments:
- The colours seem really garish: bright green, yellow, red. Is this a Christmas release or something? I dunno, the colour slection could be better.
- I think you need a more original looking alien - it looks like a copy of one of the aliens in Space Invaders...

Other than that no negatives - it is fun to play.

[Tony The 2600]

I like this game alot and cant wait to see a 4k version ,really fun

[keilbaca]

Why can't you add the difficulty switch to switch control schemes? B being you hold the stick to move in that direction, and A to just tap it and it keeps moving.

I would like to play on a Sanwa stick, that I use for shoot em ups, so I would like the option to have the character only move when you're pressing a direction of the stick.

This definitely looks like my kind of game, I'll fire it up on the harmony cart tonight.

[Impaler_26]

Wickeycolumbus, on Fri Aug 26, 2011 3:23 PM, said:

...
Thanks! Let me know what you think about this ROM.
...

Very nice, that's much better! Now i was finally able to take a snap of my best score (so far):



How about animating the enemy sprite (if you have enough bytes left)? Even a simple 2-frame animation would be neat.

[atari2600land]

I would really like to see a 2k homebrew game be successful enough to be in the store. And I think this is the one to do just that. What I'm saying is: please keep the game at 2k! We need more of them!

[atari2600land]

So, are you going to work on this some more, or is it finished?

[Wickeycolumbus]

atari2600land, on Thu Feb 9, 2012 1:01 AM, said:

So, are you going to work on this some more, or is it finished?

Work on it some more when I get the chance I've had a couple ideas on how to improve the game, just no time to implement them.