It's been a long while since I've played the game but to me, right now, it
looks like the flap controls are too sensitive. Maybe you deliberately did
it this way but for players who are used to Joust, it seems way too
touchy. You only have to flap like 3 times in quick succession to send
your guy bouncing off the top wall. In the coinop Joust you have to flap
quite a few times just to get your guy to take off. I'm more used to the
Atari 400/800 Joust which is a bit less trigger-intense.
I tried changing settings and the closest ideal settings I could find were:
FLAP_STRENGTH = #1;how strong up is a flap?
GRAV_DELAY = #18
STRENGTH_OF_CEILING_REBOUND = #0;
plus defeating bounce on the floor.
As is the game is very hard to control. I understand that's the challenge
but we've all been playing Joust for ages so I think we'll have an easier
time of it if you tried to match the Joust physics as closely as possible.
Right now they move more like squids in the ocean. The upward motion is
too linear, and doesn't accel/decel gracefully.
I know, easier said than done. I have my own issues in that area to cover.
But I just think you should focus on this, rewriting it if necessary, and
only move onto the wall and other features until the player movement is
perfected. I know it's not glamorous work, but since the game has such a
simple control scheme, how responsive the player object is to user input is
critical to making this thing fun.
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