11 replies to this topic

[Random Terrain]

After 7 days, here is my really rough work in progress 'game.' It's not much of a game and I don't know if it ever will be, so I don't know if it should be called a game. I called this RUINS because the random 'maze' kind of looks like old ruins to me.

I wanted to see if I could fake a random maze and I pretty much got the job done. The hardest part was adding a sprite that you could move around the 'maze' and adding a ghost that will move around by itself.

I fixed it so that you can only see the ghost if you are facing him. If there is a wall between you, you will not see him. I'll probably use that in a better game in the future because it works great.

If I turn this into a real game, I don't know if you will shoot or not, so for now, the fire button speeds you up. And for the heck of it, holding down the fire button also lets you see a faint image of the ghost. I don't know if that's because of mental powers or a device, but either way, it lowers your health (the score). I don't know how to stop the score at zero, so it wraps around.

I included an object that you can get to increase your energy, but I don't know if I will keep it in. Having another sprite would be helpful so I could draw a shape for it.

Right now there is only one sound effect. I don't understand how to use sounds yet without slowing down the game or using a million variables, so that will have to wait.

Please let me know if you have any ideas on how to improve the 'maze' or how to crunch the code and so on.


Thanks.


Note: You can hit the reset button for a new 'maze.'






Newest version here:
http://www.atariage....s...t&p=1586075

Attached Files

•  ruins_y2005m09d29e01.bas   11.04K   153 downloads
•  ruins_y2005m09d29e01.bin   4K   170 downloads

Edited by Random Terrain, Fri Sep 12, 2008 5:07 PM.

[vdub_bobby]

Nice looking WIP. That is a nice ghost sprite; it is creepy as hell to catch fleeting glimpses of him.

Things are moving maybe too fast, though.

Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

Here's a few screenshots.

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by vdub_bobby, Fri Sep 30, 2005 9:12 AM.

[Random Terrain]

vdub_bobby, on Fri Sep 30, 2005 10:11 AM, said:

Things are moving maybe too fast, though.

Thanks. I wondered if it would be too fast for other people (it's OK for me since I play E.T. at high speed). I'm not so hot with math, so once someone helps me learn how to move the sprites more smoothly and be able to stay in line within the walls, I could allow people to choose any speed they want with the select button.

And oh yeah, I guess I should include some screenshots in my original post.

Edited by Random Terrain, Fri Sep 30, 2005 1:59 PM.

[vdub_bobby]

Random Terrain, on Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:57 PM, said:

vdub_bobby, on Fri Sep 30, 2005 10:11 AM, said:

Things are moving maybe too fast, though.

Thanks. I wondered if it would be too fast for other people (it's OK for me since I play E.T. at high speed). I'm not so hot with math, so once someone helps me learn how to move the sprites more smoothly and be able to stay in line within the walls, I could allow people to choose any speed they want with the select button.

It isn't really too fast to move the little bugger, but things are moving too fast in general: once you catch a glimpse of the ghost it is almost too late to react.

[batari]

Random Terrain, on Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:47 PM, said:

After 7 days, here is my really rough work in progress 'game.' It's not much of a game and I don't know if it ever will be, so I don't know if it should be called a game.

I like the concept - it's not quite like anything else out there. I think the movement speed is fine, at least in the horizontal direction. It seems a little fast vertically, though.

I do wonder one thing though, under what conditions does the enemy appear? It seems that he pops up right on top of you sometimes and there's not much you can do to avoid him.

[Random Terrain]

batari, on Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:29 PM, said:

I do wonder one thing though, under what conditions does the enemy appear?  It seems that he pops up right on top of you sometimes and there's not much you can do to avoid him.

You can see him if you hold down the fire button, but here's a special version where the ghost is always visible. He'll just get brighter when your character sees him (your character cannot see the ghost unless he is facing the ghost and no wall is in the way).

Attached Files

•  ruins_y2005m09d30e01_special_green.bin   4K   143 downloads
•  ruins_y2005m09d30e01_special_green.bas   11.06K   100 downloads

Edited by Random Terrain, Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:39 PM.

[Random Terrain]

vdub_bobby, on Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:27 PM, said:

It isn't really too fast to move the little bugger, but things are moving too fast in general: once you catch a glimpse of the ghost it is almost too late to react.

After I figure out how to make the ghost's movement smoother, I'll be able to slow him down. I'm converting pfpixel coordinates to sprite coordinates so that the sprites will stay perfectly within the walls, so that makes their movement look strange once you slow either one of them down too much.

Wait a minute, I think a possible solution just popped into my head. I'll see if it works and if it does, I'll post the new version.

[Random Terrain]

OK, here is a newer version where the movement is smoother. I also changed the fire button from turbo to a thing similar to Asteroids' hyperspace. You can also choose to have the ghost visible or invisible.

Fire Button = Leap of Faith

Left Difficulty A = invisible ghost

Left Difficulty B = visible ghost

Attached Files

•  ruins_y2005m10d01e06.bin   4K   157 downloads
•  ruins_y2005m10d01e06.bas   11.21K   107 downloads

[Random Terrain]

I don't want to waste anyone's time, but I think I might be able to create a random Pac-Man type maze using pfpixel and pfvline. The idea has been bubbling at the back of my brain and the solution has almost pushed forward. I don't want to try it until the pfvline bug is fixed though since it might be too hard to go back and change everything. Once we have the next version of bB, I'll see if I can do it.

[gambler172]

Wow
nice little game.I wished,i could program in batari basic too.
greetings Gambler172

[Random Terrain]

I'm almost done changing my web site over to the new look, and if I get to move soon, I might have some offline time to work on this program, so does anyone have any preferences for how you'd like me to go with this 'game'? Do you think I should I keep messing around with it or should I just move on and try something else until the next version of batari Basic?

[Random Terrain]

Although the code is embarrassing to look at, I updated it so it will now work with the latest version of batari Basic. The code is unnecessarily bloated and hard to understand, so I'll try to fix it up one of these days, but until then, at least the .bas file will run now.


Here's the .bin file to use with your favorite emulator:
 ruins_2008y_09m_012d_1854t.bin   4K   81 downloads

Here's the .bas file if you want to look at the code:
 ruins_2008y_09m_012d_1854t.bas   10.87K   68 downloads