Space Invaders / Connect-4

[Lechuck]

Amazing!

Look and plays identical to the original to my eyes.

Thanks!

[kokkiklhs]

Thank you for both games, simply excellent!!!

[Lechuck]

Thank you for both games, simply excellent!!!

Thanks a lot! I’m very glad you like them.

Cheers

[Miklós]

Hi all.

INVADERS 3K PAL-NTSC
NTSC centered.

[Lechuck]

Hi all.

INVADERS 3K PAL-NTSC
NTSC centered.

Thanks for that, Miklós. I don’t have a NTSC VIC-20 so couldn’t try it. But I included the option to center the screen by using the cursor keys. Not sure if that is working properly in NTSC, though.

Cheers

[MysticSword]

I just gave the Invaders game a go (using VICE emulator). Wow! This is right up there in quality with the Vic Avenger game.
Excellent job.

[Lechuck]

I just gave the Invaders game a go (using VICE emulator). Wow! This is right up there in quality with the Vic Avenger game.
Excellent job.

Thanks a lot for the feedback!. And for trying it. I’m glad you liked it.

Cheers

[highinfidelity]

Good afternoon everybody!

I have tried to load the "invaders" game by saving it on a SD card, and then put it into an FE3. I then load it by typing LOAD "INVADERS.PRG",8 The program is apparently loaded but then it crashes badly reporting a syntax error. I'm not much deep into these things and I'm sure I'm doing wrong something very obvious, but what? Thank you.

[Mike]

You are supposed to load the game with a +3K RAM expansion and with LOAD"...",8,1 - some parts of it are loaded below the actual BASIC start. A load with "...",8 will not work here.

[highinfidelity]

Thanks a lot, will try again following your hint!

[Lechuck]

Thanks a lot, will try again following your hint!

Did you get it working? I haven’t tried it with FE3, but works OK with Penultimate cartridge, configured with 3k expansion and, as Mike said, loading it with …,8,1

Cheers

[highinfidelity]

I didn't have time to try it yet, but I will let you know!

[highinfidelity]

Hello again Lechuck! Positive: the program runs perfectly on the FE3 by following Mike's hints.

Do you consider the game still "under developement", or are you on new projects? In case, I'd have a pair of comments to share, but I'll keep them for myself if the invaders project is definitively "closed". You gave to us a great and amusing piece of software I joined this conversation late and I wouldn't like my comments to be potentially taken as useless criticism.

[Lechuck]

Hello again Lechuck! Positive: the program runs perfectly on the FE3 by following Mike's hints.

Good to know!

Do you consider the game still "under developement", or are you on new projects? In case, I'd have a pair of comments to share, but I'll keep them for myself if the invaders project is definitively "closed". You gave to us a great and amusing piece of software I joined this conversation late and I wouldn't like my comments to be potentially taken as useless criticism.

Thanks for the feedback!. Project is not closed. That would be the end of the fun . I'm currently working on a new version (8k expansion) that will provide 1/2 players modes, better sound effects and some other changes to get it closer to the original (will upload it here when completed). So, your comments, suggestions are more than welcome! (they would be welcome, anyway, although the project were closed)

Cheers

[highinfidelity]

Being a *huge* Space Invaders fanatic (all times' best game in my opinion - despite its simplicity) this is great news indeed! If you're currently upgrading it to 8K RAM, you may have already addressed these points, however here they are...

- when the player sweeps the "base" across the screen and shoots at the same time, the base halts, shoots, and then begins to move again after a while. To be honest I didn't have time to re-check this on the arcade game, but I'm nearly sure that the base keeps going as you shoot "on the fly".

- the "mother ship" at the top of the screen moves in a very blocky way (don't know if anything can be actually done about this) but most of all definitely moves too fast. In the arcade game, when the "mother ship" appears, it moves deliberately slow and you can easily reach its perpendicular even if you're running after it coming from the same direction. I suppose the idea is that it has to "tempt you" to go for it, and then being killed while you loose control of the rest of game (which happens to me quite frequently, I have to admit ). In your 3K conversion you either hit it by mere chance, otherwise there are almost no chances to effectively pursue it: you just let it go, which I believe doesn't convey the spirit of this detail of the game.

- you have written that you are are already reviewing the sound effects, so the following may be outdated already, however... I truly appreciate the way in which you tried to deliver an arcade-grade "shoot" sound of the missiles - no other programmer that I know ever even cared to get remotely close to it. That's really great! However, at least judging by the speaker of my monitor, the pitch is so high I seem to be barely able to hear the sound. Perhaps the effect would sound better, should the pitch be lowered slightly, but really very slightly. Also, there is room for improvements in the sound of the "mother ship" when it crosses the screen, but again I ignore if touching the mother ship routine is feasible at all without messing up the rest of the game.

Thank you once again for all the work that went into this, I agree with all other posters that this is by far the best attempt ever made to deliver an arcade-correct conversion of Space Invaders! Thumbs up!!!