Re: [stella] Have kernel, need game!

Subject: Re: [stella] Have kernel, need game!
From: KirkIsrael@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: 21 Jun 2003 21:22:42 -0000
> Kirk wrote:
> > Actually, what exactly is "helicopter" control?
> > I understand "rocket", kind of like lunar lander
> > and "flap", like Joust. Both of those use just the 
> > single button.  Does the Helicopter have any kind
> > of up and down intertia?
> 
> Yes, because the turbine needs some time to power up. So when you press
> the button you don't get the full power immediately (unlike a rocket).

Hrm...
Part of the appeal of SFCave (and Lunar Lander, which it's in
some ways based on) is it doesn't feel like you get "full power"
immediately...you may instantly be "at full thrust", but because
of intertia, you're still heading down.  (Wait, I'm telling this
to the guy who did such a port of Thrust?)

Anyway, combined with a "spin up" delay, that might be too frustrating.

Once full speed rotation was achieved, did you see the copter as moving
up at a steady rate, or steadily accelerating?

> And you could also use the joystick to make the helicopter dive and gain
> extra speed which can then be used to climb faster. But maybe that kind
> of control would get to difficult.

Hrrm...maybe, but it brings to mind an intriguing other idea...
it might be interesting to have like a steadily thrusting helicopter,
but the player can angle the copter so that the thrust is anywhere
from straight down to straight left to straight right.  Ideally there
might be like 8 or 16 positions between...
this is about what I mean:
http://www.kisrael.com/journal.aux/2003.06.21.copter.g.gif
of course, in or near the full left or full right position,
gravity quickly becomes a problem
(incidentally, this is why in the real world, copters aren't that
fast, you have to trade thrusting up against gravity vs thrusting
forward for speed. You get a good feel for this in the game 
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

In this case, it might be better if the game wasn't a "fixed
scroller", scrolling at a constant speed, but maybe some kind 
of race against the clock, or just an obstacle course.

Actually, this might work even with the idea of "hold the button
to spin", and there's some rotational intertia to deal with.

Interesting! I've always had the belief that even a little bit
of physics can be the basis of interesting little games.

-- 
KirkIsrael@xxxxxxxxxxxxx    http://kisrael.com
 "Anyone who says life is short really isn't paying attention." --March 4 2001 


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