368 replies to this topic

[Kepone]

I gave it a shot and yes, it is addicting. Lots of strategy needed in order to land on the platforms at just the right angle.

I think we have a winner here.

[kisrael]

Kepone said:

I gave it a shot and yes, it is addicting. Lots of strategy needed in order to land on the platforms at just the right angle.

I think we have a winner here.

It does have a great feel.

I think it's more evidence for my observation that one way simple games can be a lot of fun is with a decent simple physics model. This one is simply intertia plus a little friction...I don't know about the friction ('d guess it's a bit "handwavy" and simplified...at least for the "static friction", if any) but the intertia is very simple to program, you just need sub-pixel positioning. JoustPong really is just an exercise in that theory, actually.

[StanJr]

Oh my god, this game is SICK.

Amazing. I cannot stop playing it, and my best score is a lousy 15!

We have the makings of a BIG TIME winner here.

Great work. Awesome stuff. The Stan Awards Judges have their eye on you....

[StanJr]

Make that 50 and I found the skateboard. OH MAN this is GOOD.

[Jess Ragan]

Catch me, I'm falling... in love with this game! I tried it last night and it's a whole lot of fun. It forces you to achieve a delicate balance to survive... if you act too impulsively, you'll plummet to your death, but if you hesitate too much, you'll be crushed as the platforms rise to the top of the screen.

My only suggestion would be to lose the icky color swapped backgrounds that happen after you've finished so many floors. Replace them with signs planted on every tenth floor, or at least make the color changes more subtle.

JR

[Big Player]

Are there any known cures for an addiction to this game?

[SS]

Big Player said:

Are there any known cures for an addiction to this game?

Leaving your house.

My highest score so far is 57.

[Big Player]

SS said:

Big Player said:

Are there any known cures for an addiction to this game?

Leaving your house.

That doesn't work. I'm playing it on a laptop.

[StanJr]

I cannot stop playing this game. It seems simple at first, but the more you play, the more strategy and reflex you have to develop to survive.

I hit 57 today, but I average about 36 per game. Around 50 points the game is just TOO hard unless you are getting constant "!" to slow things down.

WONDERFUL game.

[Alex H]

Cheers for the great feedback everyone!

I have an updated binary for you to try out. Not too much has changed since the last version. The biggest difference is the addition of a power-up. If you liked the skateboard then hopefully you'll find this fun too. This one makes use of the button too.

Also, now you only get one power-up for each set of fruit collected. This of course makes it hard to pick up many within the restricted game length, so I have included a cheat to allow quick access to the new power-up. Just flick the Select switch to change the current fruit. (This of course won't be in the final version.)


Alex

Attached Files

•  mgd_160704.zip   2.66K   223 downloads

[SS]

Alex H said:

The biggest difference is the addition of a power-up.  If you liked the skateboard then hopefully you'll find this fun too.  This one makes use of the button too.

Funky!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Great little game!

Any chance for making it 4K? Then it could compete in the 2004 Minigame Competition.

[Random Terrain]

I just tried it out and it is pretty good so far. I like how smooth the animation of the guy is and the colors of everything. I'd like to see that little guy in other games where you can jump and do other things.

[kisrael]

SS said:

Alex H said:

The biggest difference is the addition of a power-up.  If you liked the skateboard then hopefully you'll find this fun too.  This one makes use of the button too.

Funky!

Excellent. Cameos from other games are always welcome.

That said, back to critiquing mode: maybe it should be timed?
With something flashing colors to tell you it's about to go away...
that way you could also get rid of the "hack" of not having the new powerup start until the peson runs off the side of a platform...

[Jess Ragan]

I think my high score is 73, although keep in mind that this was an early version of the game, with no power ups at all. I kept picking up question marks, but nothing ever happened.

We're going to have to do something about the name, though. Going Down sounds remarkably like sexual innuendo... don't you think something like Rapid Descent or Downward Spiral would work better?

JR

[StanJr]

Am LOVING this game, still. can't stop playing.

Some questions (bear in mind I have NOT played the latest ver.)

Why are some of the ?'s gray and do nothing? Are they placeholders for later stuff?

Could you add walls along the side so I don't keep trying to run off the farthest edges and end up getting scrolled?

What is the down arrow? Far as I can tell it does nothing?


Thanks for creating such an incredible game!

[StanJr]

oh, and for any who care, my top score is 67, and that stupid Blue Area is just too stupid hard.

[Big Player]

Love the new power up. How did you know that was my favorite 2600 game?

This game is rapidly becoming one of my favorites. I play it every day now and for much longer than I plan on playing.

Thomas Jentzsch said:

Any chance for making it 4K? Then it could compete in the 2004 Minigame Competition.

It would be great if you and other stella list members could help with optimization--if Alex wants it of course. But as a player, I would hate to see any features go away to fit into a certain ROM size. I would love to have even more options with the game. Let the ROM be 32k or 64k, I just want the game to be the best it can be.

[SS]

Big Player said:

I just want the game to be the best it can be.  

I'll second.

[StanJr]

The heli-pack is pretty cool. However, there is something intrinsic in the nature of the game about falling, the heli-pack kind of defeats that a bit. I was hoping for something more along the lines of the parachute from Raiders of the Lost Ark. It slows your fall, but you are still essentially falling, which is the backbone of the gameplay.

Just a thought.

[Alex H]

kisrael said:

Excellent. Cameos from other games are always welcome.

That said, back to critiquing mode: maybe it should be timed?  
With something flashing colors to tell you it's about to go away...
that way you could also get rid of the "hack" of not having the new powerup start until the peson runs off the side of a platform...

Yeah, it's pretty obvious the heli-pack was an afterthought. I coded most of the stuff assuming that the man would only move downwards relative to the platforms, so putting this in has made things very cludgy. The original plan was to make it timed like the skateboard but I had to deal with the plaform collisions - I took the easy way out and just cancelled the power-up. This kind of made the need for a timer redundant. I actually quite like the way it's potentially endless. I can design the stages to account for this, making some easier to negotiate on foot, thus removing the incentive to try and fly the whole time.

Big Player said:

Thomas Jentzsch said:

Any chance for making it 4K? Then it could compete in the 2004 Minigame Competition.

It would be great if you and other stella list members could help with optimization--if Alex wants it of course. But as a player, I would hate to see any features go away to fit into a certain ROM size. I would love to have even more options with the game. Let the ROM be 32k or 64k, I just want the game to be the best it can be.

At the moment it could fit in 4k and there's still plenty of room for optimization. But there's still stuff to add and ultimately I'm thinking about a cartridge release. I want to include a PAL mode (especially since I'm in a PAL teritory) and it would be easiest just to put that in a different bank. (I'll probably include PAL60 too.) The final ROM will probably be 16k.

But if it's possible to trim it back to 4k and still keep most of the game elements then I may enter it into the compo. If I get it done in time, of course. (I have a bunch of Vectrex projects on the go too.)

Jess Ragan said:

We're going to have to do something about the name, though.  Going Down sounds remarkably like sexual innuendo...

Well I am English, what do you expect?

StanJr said:

Why are some of the ?'s gray and do nothing?  Are they placeholders for later stuff?

Yes, they have been replaced by the heli-pack now.

StanJr said:

The heli-pack is pretty cool.  However, there is something intrinsic in the nature of the game about falling, the heli-pack kind of defeats that a bit.  I was hoping for something more along the lines of the parachute from Raiders of the Lost Ark.  It slows your fall, but you are still essentially falling, which is the backbone of the gameplay.

Just a thought.

I agree, it does seem to go against the whole nature of the game, and against the nature of the code. Yet it is kind of fun. But I'm not entirely happy with the way it is, so it might end up being closer to how you envisioned it.


Alex

[StanJr]

the main place I get squished by the sides is in the Blue Area, because the platforms generally take up 90% of the horizontal and it can be tough to judge, on the fly, if there is enough room to squeeze.

My best score, with the heli-pack is 72.

I like the idea of the gravity arrows, but as you said, it takes a few to notice any change (I chalked the increased speed up to the level progressing, and not the arrows at first)

Again, wonderful game you have here. It gets about 2 hours of play a day around this house and would get more if I had less will power.

[kisrael]

Alex H said:

Quote

Could you add walls along the side so I don't keep trying to run off the farthest edges and end up getting scrolled?

Maybe. I was actually expecting this to be something that people would complain about and was surprised that no one picked up on it right away.

Why, I think I was griping about that as early as last Monday :-P :-)

Are you using reflected or repeated PF graphics? Would it be easy to "fill in the dead space" w/ PF?

[Rob Mitchell]

Newest version playable on the Cuttle Cart 2/ 7800.

High score today: 80 without skateboard or jetpack.

Played Vectrex Spike Goes Down also; High score today: 770.

If you decide to add music make it switchable off with a difficulty switch. Music really is not necessary at all. Maybe some feet sound effects and maybe a falling whistle .. switchable also?

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Rob Mitchell said:

Played Vectrex Spike Goes Down also;  High score today:  770.

Is that ROM public available? I really would like to try the original.