At 05:31 AM 8/30/2001 +0200, you wrote:
I bet that you'll think different, when you start
the calculation routines that have to determine wether
one of your objects can or cannot move into the desired
direction... :-)
It's a pretty simple game when it comes to that.
Since there is no sprite reuse and no flicker, I'll be able to rely on the
hardware collision detection exclusively.
If collision with the playfield is detected, I'll just push the object back
in the direction it came from (like Adventure). Sounds like that will work
as long as the cars can't get TOO stuck in corners and stuff.
Not only that, but assuming that killing your own guy vs. the other
person's guy means two different things, it's a relatively easy task to
split up the code based on M0 collision with P0 vs. P1.
That's why I think the game fits well into the 2600 hardware. There is no
need for any sprite reuse where P0 could be several different game objects
across the screen. P0 is car0, P1 is car1, M0 is Pedestrian0, and M1 is
Pedestrian1. And if I want a grenade/mine, then it's the ball and I just
limit the game to only allowing one active mine at a time.
The trickier stuff will be handling the acceleration and deceleration
code. I want the cars to feel like cars. I don't want the movement to be
too instantaneous. There needs to be some slide and some inertia. Since
there isn't an analog foot pedal the way the arcade game had it, I need to
find an acceptable fixed acceleration curve. And since I'm going to
support reverse with the console switches, I need to decide how to handle
the car if you throw it in reverse really quickly.
I also want to make the pedestrian AI relatively smart, and that will be
tough. I'm hoping you'll be able to help me with that part as you already
covered similar territory in Gunfight.
The tuning of the game is really going to be all about the control on the
cars and the AI...
I also want to spend a lot of time on the sound code so that there will not
only be engine noise and screams, but tire squeals and thuds and
crunches. There will have to be a lot of prioritization code on the 2
sound channels. And I want the sound to generally follow the Combat model
where P0/M0 uses one channel and P1/M1 uses the other, so at least as long
as both stay on their own side, you get a stereo effect with the
dual-channel A/V mod.
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