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2D All the way! / Space Invaders

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TDK
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Posted: 10th Dec 2005 05:18
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I've written a beginners tutorial which covers many aspects of 2D, including amongst other things:

Sprites
Firing multiple bullets
Creating and saving a hiscore table
Timer-based animation

I decided to write a program to go with it and decided on Space Invaders because a) it's nice and simple and b) I've never written it before, so I would get something out of it myself.



I've now basically finished the program and have provided a download link below (1MB), but would appreciate a little help with the fine tuning as I've never played it much before as I don't particularly like the game.

I just need your opinions on the following:

Does the general speed feel right?
Do you get a free life after each screen is cleared, or after a certain amount of points?
Can you get more than 3 lives?

In this version, you get a free life after clearing every screen, but only 3 lives show - meaning that you actually have more than three and when you get killed, there's no change to the lives left display. This must be wrong, but I'm not sure which way it should be done.

It's not meant to be a 100% accurate remake, but I'd like it to play more or less the same if I can.

If you want an 'authentic' game, leave multi-firing off. If you want a simple blast and rack up the points, turn it on!

http://www.computechtenerife.com/spcinv.zip

Thanks for any comments...

TDK_Man

DB Tutorials, Hints & Tips, Utils and lots more...
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Kevin Picone
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Posted: 10th Dec 2005 07:09
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Quote: "Does the general speed feel right?"


Nah, It runs too slowly here..

Kevin Picone
[url]www.underwaredesign.com[/url]
Play Nice!Play Basic (Release V1.089 Out Now)- Play Extreme with Play Basic FX {TBA}
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Grog Grueslayer
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Posted: 10th Dec 2005 09:08
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Looks good and sounds good.

The speed is about right (the way I remember it at least).

You can always put a picture of the character and have the number of lives... the actual number not *'s.


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Scraggle
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Posted: 10th Dec 2005 12:57
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The speed of the aliens starts off about right but they should get faster. When there is only one left he should be whizzing across the screen.

Your ships bullets are about right but the aliens were always about half the speed of your own.

Your ships movement is way too fast. I remember it being only slightly (by a tiny amount) faster than the flying saucer that goes acros the top. So if you missed it, is was very unlikely that you would get a second attempt.

Extra lives ... I don't recall there ever being the opportunity to get any extra lives.

Sprites ... there were three types. I think I have an image somewhere.

Apart from that (and you did ask) it plays very well




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TDK
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Posted: 10th Dec 2005 16:29
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Thanks Scraggle.

I did a bit of Googling and found that you got 'extended play' when you hit 10000 points, but not sure exactly what that would be.

I don't actually like the game to be honest so i don't really fancy playing it on an emulator until I get 10000 points!

ATM the alien speed increases as they drop down each time - hadn't realised that it got faster the more aliens you killed.

As it's to go with a tutorial, it doesn't have to be perfectly true to the original as long as it plays OK and includes the features I wanted to cover in the tutorial.

I guess the main thing is to create a game which looks good enough for a newcomer to want to know how it's done.

TDK_Man

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Scraggle
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Posted: 10th Dec 2005 17:58
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Quote: "the main thing is to create a game which looks good enough for a newcomer to want to know how it's done."


I would say you have achieved that is it stands. Maybe you could even have a footnote on the tutorial that points out the differences to the original and see if the user/reader can improve it themselves.

Nice job


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UFO
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Posted: 10th Dec 2005 23:37
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I think it is too slow too.
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TDK
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Posted: 11th Dec 2005 02:09
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UFO

What is too slow? You mean 'generally' on your computer, or just the alien movement or the bullets or the base? If it's your machine, I'm not able to do much about it.

But... I've justt uploaded V2 which has the following changes:

* Slows down the base to more like the speed of the original SI.

* Aliens speed up, the more of them you shoot.

* You don't win extra lives.

* You can shoot the aliens laser fire.

* Your bullets are now twice the speed of the aliens.

* Fixed the 'silent' crash-to-desktop bug.

http://www.computechtenerife.com/spcinv.zip (1MB)

TDK_Man

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UFO
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Posted: 11th Dec 2005 02:22
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Sorry. I meant the player and the aliens move too slowly. You should make them go faster. I know that the original space invaders was not that slow. At least the ship is alot faster in the original version.
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Tapewormz
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Posted: 12th Dec 2005 19:16 Edited at: 12th Dec 2005 19:17
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Do the aliens squiggly bombs leave squiggly holes in the shields? A secure highscore data would be cool too.

Tutorial looks like it's gonna be good.

MILKSHAPE3D VIDEO TUTORIALS
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Tone Dialer
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Posted: 18th Dec 2005 12:38
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Just want to say, the Version 2 is a great improvment, and is fun to play, mor importantly it has spured me on to write more programs.

Keep up the good work.

Press key '1' at anytime to re-record your message.....
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D Ogre
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Posted: 23rd Dec 2005 02:06 Edited at: 23rd Dec 2005 02:08
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There is another thread here in this forum on a variation of this classic retro game. I was helping another guy flesh it out a little. I don't know if it will help you or not. The code is not complete, but it might be used to give you some ideas. Just look for a Posted by David_M. I believe it was call SPACE INVADER CLONE.
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BaZko
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Posted: 23rd Dec 2005 23:03 Edited at: 23rd Dec 2005 23:07
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Maybe the player/alien speed should be increased a little,but except for that,great game.
When are you going to finish the tutorial?

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Gilden
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Posted: 25th Jan 2006 23:18
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Theres a really cool space invaders clone at http://www.roencia.com. You can buy the game cheap and they give you all the material in the game royalty free to make your own game. Your game looks awsome so far, keep up the good work
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Acolyte Entertainment
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Posted: 26th Jan 2006 03:08
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Gilden that is the 5th time you have told people to go the that website. it acually doesent have anything that usefull. so stop spamming it all over the forums

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Computer Nerd
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Posted: 27th Feb 2006 12:57
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Nice tutorial TDK, I'm a beginner i'll try it out to see if it helps me with some stuff! Thanks!


Current Project - Dark Icon: Icon Making App
Progress - 45%
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Fuzzzy Piggy
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Posted: 3rd Mar 2006 06:38
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Nice work, when's the tutorial coming out?

The aliens seem about right to me, but I would say that the mother ship needs to be a little quicker amd harder to catch. The other thing is that on some of the SI games I played when you fired and the bullet was in motion, if you fired again, it would clear current bullet and start a new one, I think Gorf is an example of this.

All it needs now is a Rush mix-tape playing the background! (One of the Futurama fans there!)
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