Spectrum Computing

Progress update!

- Game finished and submitted! (Don't get too excited...)
- Jukebox well underway (yes, I'm doing it again!)

Who else is in?

Bit more progress. More graphics, title screen, can move around and lob things.
Need to add things to lob things at.

In the previous years I helped with Woot but not this time unfortunately.
I'll be releasing my new game on Xmas and another one probably on New Year so Woot would be too much for me.

Good luck with your projects guys!

I am not gonna make it in time.

I’ve got a small thing in the works. Not really a game but a bit (hopefully) of festive fun.

Nearly there. More fancy titles, added a background, got the things to lob things at moving round, and colliding with the player. Got a couple of sound FX in too. Now need to make the things know when they're shot and make some more noises and scores.

Thanks for all the updates. I plan to release sometime on Friday 22nd. I could hang on till the 23rd is some people need it - I'd rather not, but if that is the case then keep me posting.

CHeersszzzzz

Looking forward to this, just like being 9 again!

Going to be tricky. I have to work this week so only got Wednesday and Thursday evenings to work on it. We might all get sent home Friday afternoon but I'm not sure.

I will not finish on time, so I will release the game with Woot 24.

catmeows wrote: ↑Tue Dec 19, 2023 10:47 am I will not finish on time, so I will release the game with Woot 24.

That is forward thinking.

EdToo wrote: ↑Tue Dec 19, 2023 10:49 am That is forward thinking.

'Forward Thinking' would have been starting earlier!!!

I will do something cool for woot'24.
But wake me up in October. God's sake!

Looking forward very much to this year's

I have a bit of space left for a last minute idea. If anyone can think of any (short) famous philosophical quotes that can be given a ZX twist, can they PM them to me. I'd need them sometime tomorrow if you're doing one

R-Tape wrote: ↑Tue Dec 19, 2023 9:49 pm I have a bit of space left for a last minute idea. If anyone can think of any (short) famous philosophical quotes that can be given a ZX twist, can they PM them to me. I'd need them sometime tomorrow if you're doing one

I've got enough now ta! Thanks everyone.

Woot will be released this Saturday (hopefully morning)

Spoiler

OK, got some more done last night. You can now win, lose, move on levels, and run out of lives.

Beeper sound effects are working well, despite being incredibly simple in how they're generated. I put a byte like 01010101 or 00001111 in a spare register, then after each row of the main drawing function, I rotate that register, AND it with 16, then OUT it to 254. There are two stages to that drawing function - one is much shorter and runs around 1/3 faster than the other - and I can program a different sound byte pattern to use during each stage. Separate counters count down the number of frames of the main game loop, then set the sound byte to 0 when it has played for long enough. It'll never play a tune, but I can get a fair variety of odd spot effects just out of those two bytes, for very little extra CPU time. Higher and quieter taps and squeaks from the first stage; louder honks and rasps from the second stage.

I now need to add scoring (with a score multiplier), random closing of 'flaps', and then some faster movement data for later levels.

Joefish wrote: ↑Thu Dec 21, 2023 11:41 am random closing of 'flaps'.

As long as it's not crushers.

R-Tape wrote: ↑Wed Dec 20, 2023 6:33 pm Woot will be released this Saturday (hopefully morning)

(drumroll)

Happy Wootmas Eve to all who celebrate.

Daveysloan wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2023 9:26 am Happy Wootmas Eve to all who celebrate.

Looking forward to what Wooty Claus drops down the chimney.

Some elves are still particularly busy right now...

Just had two big bugs show up out of nowhere last night. I suddenly realised I'd never seen a particular one of a set of randomised objects appear ever, and when I fixed that so that it did show up, and I got a hit on it in the game, random graphics started appearing all over the screen!
(That is now fixed too. And scoring and score multiplier seems to work. Just need to record and compare score and high score and display the high score on the title screen and give it a bit of a test).

By the way, I've been playing this game as I wrote it and I can barely get to round 3 regularly. Some people might breeze through it but others are going to find it brutal!

There's a couple of very promising submissions that are being polished up. Keep me posted, as I really want to release this early Saturday (and then do my xmas shopping!).