12 replies to this topic

[Random Terrain]

The movement has improved, the look of the 'ship' has changed a little, and there was a problem that I didn't notice in the animation that has now been fixed.


Latest Version with Thin Lines Only

Here's the .bin file to use with an emulator or Harmony cart:

 ex_rapid_fire_scrolling_while_moving_2011y_08m_10d_2016t.bin   4K   25 downloads





Latest Version with Thin Lines and a Tail

Here's the .bin file to use with an emulator or Harmony cart:

 ex_rapid_fire_scrolling_while_moving_thick_2011y_08m_10d_2119t.bin   4K   25 downloads





Please post which version you like better.



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I finally figured out how to let the player move and shoot at the same time without smearing the butter:


Here's the .bin file to use with an emulator or Harmony cart:

 ex_rapid_fire_scrolling_while_moving_2011y_08m_10d_1526t.bin   4K   30 downloads



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Original Post:

Before turning this into an example program or a game, I thought I'd see if there is any interest in this style of shooting. I'm using a scrolling playfield and the icing trick to simulate rapid-fire.

The objects that you shoot are short and thin, so for this test, I decided that you're shooting butter. Move the Extruder left and right with the joystick and press the fire button to shoot. It takes too much power for the Extruder to move and shoot at the same time, so you must stop to fire the butter.

There are no enemies or anything else to shoot at for this test.


Here's the .bin file to use with an emulator or Harmony cart:

 ex_rapid_fire_scrolling_2011y_08m_10d_0515t.bin   4K   31 downloads


Let me know if you like this type of rapid-fire. If you don't think it looks too stupid, I'll turn it into something.



Thanks.

Edited by Random Terrain, Thu Aug 11, 2011 7:40 AM.

[Philsan]

Excellent idea!

[Brian O]

[jrok]

Nice.

It doesn't seem to work when the extruder is in motion, though. Not sure if that's intentional or not. Personally, I like to jiggle my joystick and move around a lot when I'm hosing something down with my butter.

[Random Terrain]

jrok, on Wed Aug 10, 2011 11:45 AM, said:

Nice.

It doesn't seem to work when the extruder is in motion, though. Not sure if that's intentional or not. Personally, I like to jiggle my joystick and move around a lot when I'm hosing something down with my butter.

The excuse for that was that it takes too much power for the Extruder to move and shoot at the same time, so you must stop to fire the butter. The reason for the excuse was that I was getting smeared butter if I let the player move and shoot at the same time:

 ex_rapid_fire_scrolling_smeared_2011y_08m_10d_1521t.bin   4K   23 downloads

But I just remembered that I can use if playfieldpos <> 8 . . . to fix that problem, so I'll put the fixed version where you can move and shoot at the same time in the first post.

[jrok]

Random Terrain, on Wed Aug 10, 2011 1:24 PM, said:

jrok, on Wed Aug 10, 2011 11:45 AM, said:

Nice.

It doesn't seem to work when the extruder is in motion, though. Not sure if that's intentional or not. Personally, I like to jiggle my joystick and move around a lot when I'm hosing something down with my butter.

The excuse for that was that it takes too much power for the Extruder to move and shoot at the same time, so you must stop to fire the butter. The reason for the excuse was that I was getting smeared butter if I let the player move and shoot at the same time:

 ex_rapid_fire_scrolling_smeared_2011y_08m_10d_1521t.bin   4K   23 downloads

But I just remembered that I can use if playfieldpos <> 8 . . . to fix that problem, so I'll put the fixed version where you can move and shoot at the same time in the first post.

Works great now.

[Random Terrain]

jrok, on Wed Aug 10, 2011 1:42 PM, said:

Works great now.

Thanks. If batari can get rid of the score jitter, maybe this can be turned into some kind of game.

[jrok]

Random Terrain, on Wed Aug 10, 2011 2:04 PM, said:

jrok, on Wed Aug 10, 2011 1:42 PM, said:

Works great now.

Thanks. If batari can get rid of the score jitter, maybe this can be turned into some kind of game.

You know, the extruder looks a little like a top-down view of a pig's head. Maybe it could shoot truffles???

I haven't experienced the score jitter. Does it happen in emulation?

[Random Terrain]

jrok, on Wed Aug 10, 2011 2:49 PM, said:

I haven't experienced the score jitter. Does it happen in emulation?

If you try the test program in the link below with Stella, you'll see that the score bounces when the screen is scrolled:

http://www.atariage....80#entry2344880

[Random Terrain]

jrok, on Wed Aug 10, 2011 2:49 PM, said:

You know, the extruder looks a little like a top-down view of a pig's head. Maybe it could shoot truffles???

There are all kinds of things that could be done with this. If I make a game out of it instead of just turning it into an example program, I'd like the shots to represent something other than butter. I'm just having trouble coming up with a list of possibilities. What can you shoot that is basically facing the wrong way? The color doesn't have to be yellow. It can be gray, yellow, brown, red, purple, blue, green, or the color could change as the shot moves up the screen.

Speaking of changing colors, did anyone notice that the 'butter' changes to a darker shade of yellow as it moves up the screen?

Anyway, a new version is in the first post.

Edited by Random Terrain, Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:42 PM.

[jrok]

Random Terrain, on Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:31 PM, said:

What can you shoot that is basically facing the wrong way?

Well, most of these VCS games are pretty abstract. You could call them "Plasmatronic Inverter Rays" or "Cyanide Canisters" or whatever, and I don't think anyone would mind. Although, I imagine that with a little futzing you could make them longer than they are wide, by drawing a few pf pixels in front of each bullet. It's tough to make 4px look "laser-like" though. I remember with the earlier builds Circus Galacticus when I was still using the playfield to draw the beams, I was always hoping that someone would figure out a way to multiplex the ball, to allow for less-chunky diagonal beams.

But either way, I think the playfield works pretty well with a vertical shooter.

Random Terrain, on Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:31 PM, said:

Speaking of changing colors, did anyone notice that the 'butter' changes to a darker shade of yellow as it moves up the screen?

I thought that was on purpose, to represent the natural meltiness of butter!

[Random Terrain]

jrok, on Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:48 PM, said:

Although, I imagine that with a little futzing you could make them longer than they are wide, by drawing a few pf pixels in front of each bullet.

I can do this:

 ex_rapid_fire_scrolling_while_moving_thick_2011y_08m_10d_2119t.bin   4K   19 downloads

Instead of shooting up just thin lines, you'd be shooting up thin lines with a long-ish tail. Is that better or worse?

[jrok]

Random Terrain, on Wed Aug 10, 2011 7:26 PM, said:

jrok, on Wed Aug 10, 2011 6:48 PM, said:

Although, I imagine that with a little futzing you could make them longer than they are wide, by drawing a few pf pixels in front of each bullet.

I can do this:

 ex_rapid_fire_scrolling_while_moving_thick_2011y_08m_10d_2119t.bin   4K   19 downloads

Instead of shooting up just thin lines, you'd be shooting up thin lines with a long-ish tail. Is that better or worse?

I like it!