Hi everyone-
Attached is a playble version of my game concept..
I've made a decent amount of progress.. Here are some notes:
o Increased bit counter to 10 bits (for the 10 tracks)
o If data bit is read, score and bit counter increase, and next required
color is randomly selected
o If no bit is read (e.g. button is pressed and no data exists), latency
buffer decreases
o If latency buffer is empty, game over
o If wrong color data bit is read, game over
o When 10 bits read, go to next level. Bonus points at the end of each
level (the more latency buffer you have left, the more points you get)
o Currently cycles through 4 levels (of hard-coded data bit speed
configurations)
To play, hit Reset to start the game.. You need to read (with the fire
button on the joystick) the data bit whose color is specified by the score
color. When the game is over, hit Reset to start again..
I need to make a few decisions about game play (keeping in mind I want this
to be fairly simple yet fun):
1) Make the latency buffer time dependent instead of depending on if a bit
is read or not. This will increase the urgency to finish a level as quickly
as possible (e.g. before time runs out)
2) Random data bit speed (e.g. between 1 and currentLevel) - this will
prevent patterns and having to hard-code levels
3) I have not implemented the changing of bit sizes (smaller) as levels
increase
4) I was originally planning to make all data bits have the same speed on
each level and make use of the initial horizontal position of the data bits
(to offset positions a little bit)? Do people like the varying speeds
better? Physically, that wouldn't be possible for a hard drive...
The 4 levels I currently have are for testing purposes to show the various
speeds the data bits can achieve. After the 4th level, it will cycle back
to the 1st (but you can continue to play and get more points :) Warning:
Levels 3 and 4 are pretty fast!
I'm still using StellaX to test things, but finally setup a little
development system right next to my computer using wplaybin, 2600 jr. w/
Supercharger, and 13" color TV.. There are some timing/flicker issues on
the TV that I will deal with later on..
As always, attached is a screenshot, binary, and source.. I'd love to hear
any gripes, comments, etc. about the game.. Now is the time to start
criticizing it! :)
Joe
http://www.mindspring.com/~jgrand/atari
Attachment:
jg-6.zip
Description: Zip archive
Attachment:
jg-6.gif
Description: GIF image
Attachment:
jg-6.bin
Description: Binary data
