Omega Fury

English Invader · Post by **English Invader** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:02 am

Fantastic. Way too good for VICE

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darkatx · Post by **darkatx** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 9:19 am

I'm going to give this one a whirl real soon after the weekend - the handling is great and I love the charged firing system...real cool!

rhurst · Post by **rhurst** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 3:15 pm

You just knew it had to happen eventually, but I added 10 more bytes of code to relax a "feature" that was annoying me -- the sonic boomer's wave won't traverse the center objective any longer -- it was pissing me off to have my ship's computer navigational controls go offline when subjected to the alien resonance pulse, making my ship fly "aimlessly" into mines and phaser shots . . .

The usual file links have been updated.

I got a lot of great feedback for a job well done, and I really do appreciate that. I was wondering if I could be so pushy and solicit another kind of feedback -- and please feel free to PM me if you think that is more appropriate than this thread.

I'd like to know what people think about it in terms of two things, outside the game's technical aspects and more towards the play itself, and that is:

1) Does it feel like a "genuine" continuation of the Omega Race theme, in terms of what a sequel is suppose to accomplish? It is 7 years after the galaxy renowned Omegan warrior training being put to the test with an unproven, new star fighter, yada-yada ... does the game and storyline make that "believable"? Or is it more towards the negative-side sequels generally fall short of as a cheap knock-off of the original?

2) The game rules and scenarios themselves -- is it fair and varied enough to have the staying playing power a good space-shooter can accomplish? Or does it lose that initial luster quickly after a few rounds?

I'm my worst critic -- but unlike a comedian that can't laugh at his own jokes -- I still "like" to play the games I create. I find myself liking this game, but I am unsure if it has any of the same appeal to other retro-gamers out there.

That said, I am thinking about another game: I haven't come across a good Missile Command game on the VIC 20 -- or is there one already? Battle Zone, Rip Off, and Missile Command were a grouped set of favorites of mine to invest quarters while in high school, so I am leaning towards one of them.

I know some have lobbied for an asteroids game -- and I love playing it on all platforms -- but I am not that keen on it to want to write one. And while I would rather write a Space War (Federation battle cruiser vs Klingon warbird within a star system), I find two player games don't lend itself easily to interface on VIC 20 (with the exception of paddles and turn-based games). Playing solo against the computer in that scenario is a bit ho-hum.

As always, this forum has been a great resource to me to embrace this retro-programming fun and experience -- thanks again!

English Invader · Post by **English Invader** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 6:12 pm

The Red-Alert at the beginning of each level and the over-elaborate music on level completion can get a bit tedious. This is a lot of interruption for a fast-paced arcade game.

rhurst · Post by **rhurst** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 7:22 pm

Agreed on both points. Here's my reasoning behind that:

1) The MISSION display with "red alert" klaxons between levels is a background filler while the cassette buffer (192-bytes) is filled with pre-generated random numbers from 0-99 -- used throughout to keep the AI fresh. NOTE: the overall elapsed time may be improved -- I'll look into that.

2) Unlike Omega Race, I keep the elaborate tune to only when you progress to the next rank, and not on the completion of each mission. There is a bonus added, too, I suppose the tune would be more welcomed if that scoring bonus was more pronounced as part of that event, rather than simply adding it to the bottom-right total.

Not documented (but easy to discover) is that for those "experienced" in the game and wishing to skip the easy levels, ypu can start at a higher rank (F1, F3, F5, F7). Also, if you "die" on any game level, you can press 'F1' to advance to next mission, before your final rank is displayed.

Thanks for the feedback.

EDITED: I updated the binaries to (1) shorten the time between missions, after academy training; and (2) the increase in rank victory tune is no longer repeated after obtaining Protector.

brighty · Post by **brighty** » Sun Jun 28, 2009 10:01 am

rhurst wrote:I got a lot of great feedback for a job well done, and I really do appreciate that.

Firstly, and publicly.... kudos! You inspired me to the efforts I am making, not to mention that Omega Fury is a great game! It's refreshing to see somebody who cares about the background as well as the game mechanics.

rhurst wrote:I haven't come across a good Missile Command game on the VIC 20 -- or is there one already? Battle Zone, Rip Off, and Missile Command were a grouped set of favorites of mine to invest quarters while in high school, so I am leaning towards one of them.

There is *no* good Missile Command on the VIC. There is no technical reason why a good version should not be implemented, and it's one of my faves from the '80's too, although it really screams for a trackball control....

There is a Battle Zone, IIRC. Dunno about Rip Off, don't recall that game.

rhurst wrote:I know some have lobbied for an asteroids game -- and I love playing it on all platforms -- but I am not that keen on it to want to write one.

I find myself agreeing here. I love Asteroids, it introduced me to the whole video game scene in the early 80's, but does the VIC need yet another version? I think we can do better than that...

I think it'd be a good idea to solicit new game design ideas from the wider community and look at refining them. There're some very innovative thinkers out there and I, for one, am itching to do something new. So, come on guys, feed us some game designs and see if it floats and develops....

rhurst · Post by **rhurst** » Fri Jul 03, 2009 3:39 pm

Another rainy day ...

I had some unused address space in the 16k bank, so I re-made the title screen to have a more familiar look to it.

Download and enjoy!

EDITED: I updated its manual today, July 4th, to spice it up a bit.

rhurst · Post by **rhurst** » Sun Jul 12, 2009 7:09 am

There is *no* good Missile Command on the VIC ... although it really screams for a trackball control ...

FYI, my new WICO trackball arrived. Hmmm, time to write a driver moving a target hair around the screen ...

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Tue Jul 14, 2009 3:23 pm

rhurst wrote:FYI, my new WICO trackball arrived.

If the ball has gone yellow, and I've yet to see one that hasn't, remove it and go to a billiards supply shop and ask for a ball of identical weight and size. I got a red one for $10 and now my trackball looks snappy.

rhurst · Post by **rhurst** » Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:18 am

At that age, it's acceptable for a little yellowing -- just like my teeth.

And it's really not worth pulling just to have pearly whites again.

rhurst · Post by **rhurst** » Thu Jul 23, 2009 2:22 pm

FYI, I edited the VIDEO link in the releases thread to reflect the update:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bX1uz-rQEk

eslapion · Post by **eslapion** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:07 am

Correct me if I'm wrong but the word Thargoids seems to be inspired by some creatures originally documented in the game "Elite".

rhurst · Post by **rhurst** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 12:02 pm

No correction required!

... but what about the "twin city"?

Kweepa · Post by **Kweepa** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 2:24 pm

Elite was probably inspired by Kenny Everett's sci-fi parody Captain Kremmen, so I wouldn't worry about being sued

Twin City... Minneapolis-St.Paul?

rhurst · Post by **rhurst** » Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:25 pm

I wouldn't worry about being sued

They can have every nickel made on it.

Twin City... Minneapolis-St.Paul?

Uh ....... no.

Since eslapion got the Thargoid reference right, I was just wondering if anyone eagle-eyed reader got where the twin city Ramok came from?