Subject: [stella] Programming "Mindsets"?!? From: Ruffin Bailey <rufbo@xxxxxxxxxxx> Date: Fri, 2 Jan 98 14:27:09 -0500 |
>Have you noticed that when you're cycling through the biplane games, >only one player's planes are reset every time you press SELECT? I can remember that just from "memory burn-in"! Guess there should have been a brain-saver as well as a screen saver routine built into the games... between that and Adventure, I could probably sue! (if there was anything resembling Atari left to sue. ;) I have to admit after reading that article that I don't know the name of but everyone has read by now that details the 2600's genesis (oh, bad pun!), I have newfound respect for both Combat and Space Invaders. The first because that was what the Atari was explicitly designed to do, and the second as it, by doing something that the 2600 was not explicitly designed for, saved the console and perhaps started console gaming as we know it today. It certainly aids me in mentally dissembling many games today to get ideas for programming. As I've discussed with Matt, there are two "schools of thought" that I put each part of a game into... games that are dictated by the hardware, and games that are truly creative. Football would be one of the first, assuming each team is a player and the ball's a ball. There's two digit scores, and the timer is used for the clock. Pac-Man is another; basically Football imo where one player isn't repeated with a playfield-player collison check thrown in. What a hack! Things like Chopper Command where another player is coaxed out of the pf, as I understand it, and Space Invaders with rows and rows of non-flickering objects (though a non-flickering Commie Mutants might be a better example) are truly creative. So in planning for my Jumpman clone, I am letting the hardware, for the most part, dictate the first few things that I'll do. The start is simply player running around colliding with another stationary player, repeated several times down the screen, on a basically perpendicular playfield, ie all horizontal platforms and ladders. Then I'm trying to throw in fancy, truly creative aspects (for me anyway!) like diagonal platforms, roving missiles, and other less Combat-ive characteristics. Anyway, I was just wondering what kinds of _mindsets_, not merely approaches, you more experienced programmers take when beginning a project? Thanks, Ruffin "Horribly Verbal" Bailey rufbo@xxxxxxxxxxx -- Stella list is Administered by krishna@xxxxxxxxxxxx <Glenn Saunders> Archives (includes files) at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/archives/ Unsub & more at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/stella.html +-shameless plugs-------------------------------------------------------+ | Stella documentary at http://www.primenet.com/~krishna | | Nick's VCS links via http://www.primenet.com/~nickb/atariprg.htm | | Write the best game, win framed autographs of famous Atari alumni!! | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
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