Antwort auf: [stella] Thrust!

Subject: Antwort auf: [stella] Thrust!
From: kurt.woloch@xxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 08:38:03 +0100
Hello to all!

>in the last months, i have followed the list. Soon i
>got the idea to write my own game. This should be a
>vcs clone of one of my favourite C-64 games, called
>thrust!

Great idea! In fact, the fact that the playfield, also in the original
version, isn't displayed on every scanline, makes it possible to do other
things on the other scanlines, e.g. to update the players! Why didn't I
think of this? ;-)

>I've nearly reached the 4k limit, but the game will
>need at least 2k more. So i just started to implement
>the standard atari bankswitching (may be i will change
>this to the supercharger format).

Er... do you already compress the playfield somehow? Maybe it could be
compressed further?

>You must complete this project. There will be a lot of playtesting, level
>design and fine tuning to be done, but it looks too good to be abandoned.

Playtesting? This thing looks like a pretty exact copy of the C-64 version
of Thrust! So if the levels did work on the C-64, they should work here too!
No playtesting needed... incidently, did you copy some of the code of the
C-64 version?

>For the moment, the game is a bit too difficult. Maybe it's just too fast,

Yes, I think so too... incidently, I played the C-64 version some days ago,
and this one's really much faster.

>It seems like the biggest thing missing is also the hardest thing...
>the ball physics. Do you have a good idea how those were done? Could
>be a deal-breaker if you don't...

Well, you could just look at the code of the C-64 version... if you find out
how.

>>pushing the stick upwards. Also, limited ammo and fuel could be options to
>>consider.
>
>Fuel IS limited. And in the current version, it isn't replenished when you
>die. D'oh!

OK, I think I'll explain the game a bit, for those who don't know it...
in the original game, when you push the "Shield" button while flying close
over a Fuel station (these are the things that look like grave stones with
an "F" on them), you'll gain some fuel. But after gaining about 200-250
units of fuel, that station will disappear and you can't take any more fuel
from this one.
On some stages, there are multiple fuel stations in a row (which could be
done here with repeated players), so you can gain a bigger amount of fuel.

>>How big is the "world"? I can't go very far into the pit :)
>
>Not too huge. Have you tried the other levels? Some of them are
>surface-only.

The levels all look very much like those on the C-64 version. On the level
you get when you turn on the system (which isn't the first one on the C-64),
even all objects are where they should be (as far as I could tell). I only
couldn't get beyond those "half-circles". Exactly on this position, I also
lost my last life when I played the C-64 version some days ago. ;-) I
suppose you have to shoot them to open the small wall beneath them.
(Instead, I crashed into the upper one, and of course, in this version, you
can't shoot them). On the other levels, some objects seem to be positioned
wrong, and some seem to miss. But otherwise, very accurate conversion,
probably as close as you can get on the 2600!

With love (and many ships to crash)
Kurt Woloch

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