Drone Patrol [Release Candidate 5]

[+Atarius Maximus]

Here's my latest project, Drone Patrol.  I've been playing around with horizontal parallax scrolling and used some example code from @mksmith (many thanks!).  I'm far enough along that I thought I'd share my progress.  This is definitely a WIP as there is a lot left to do and many things will likely change.  There is no music (although there are sound effects), no level progression, and the menu options currently don't do anything.  Some graphics will likely be changed.  When your health reaches zero, the game ends and you must reset the game to start over.

 

You control the drone and the goal is to take out as many of the enemy vehicles moving through the cityscape below as you can.  Press the left fire to shoot your laser downward towards the city.  Your laser is not infinite, and must be recharged with a powerup that hovers at the top of the screen when your battery is low.  Avoid the missiles and the city defense beam.  Getting hit by either will slowly drain your health - when it reaches zero the game is over.  You score 100 points for each enemy vehicle taken out.  Also note that you can't shoot when the city defense beam is firing (it jams the signal), and if you're too high up above the city.

 

I'm open to any thoughts, suggestions, and feedback on this project.  I don't have a master plan for the game, it's just been a playground to try things out so far.  I will share the code and graphics at some point in the future. 

 

Latest Version:

drone_patrol_v84_RC5.a78drone_patrol_v84_RC5.bin

 

Old Versions:

drone_patrol_v0.25.a78

drone_patrol_v0.27.a78

drone_patrol_v0.30.a78

drone_patrol_v0.32.a78

drone_patrol_v0.39.a78

drone_patrol_v0.43.a78

drone_patrol_v0.58.a78

drone_patrol_v0.62.a78

drone_patrol_v0.64.a78

drone_patrol_v0.66.a78

drone_patrol_v0.68.a78

drone_patrol_v0.73.a78

drone_patrol_v0.75.a78

drone_patrol_v0.76.a78

 

 

[SlidellMan]

If you need Pokey tunes, I can provide some.

[TrekMD]

That looks nice!

[+cjherr]

Very cool! Nice concept, executed beautifully!

[+Atarius Maximus]

Thanks everyone.  Here is today's build.  I put the current score and high score on the main screen, I fixed the game over subroutine, I added four difficulty levels (selectable from the main menu), I added a few more sound effects, I added a splash screen with the AA logo and my name, and I added a "get ready" pause before the game starts.  There's lots more to do.  

drone_patrol_v0.27.a78

[+Atarius Maximus]

I made a few more changes.  There is now a level progression based on your score.  The game will get progressively faster and you will gain a full health recharge when you level up. You increase in level at 5,000, 10,000, and every 10,000 points thereafter (currently capping at level 12) and there is a pause screen when you reach the next level. There is also now a crosshair on the screen that shows where your laser will hit in the city below, making a bit easier to target enemy vehicles.  I also tweaked the title screen graphics as that is still a work in progress. I made some behind the scenes collision detection changes as well as the boxcollision statments were just taking up too many cycles.  Collision detection is now area based. I did some basic testing and all the additions appear to be working fine.  I'll be spending some time playing the game now to try and catch any bugs that might be in there.  There is still a whole lot more I want to add to the game.

 

Edit:  There are some issues with Collision detection, I'm working through that now.  I'll wait to post another update until that's all sorted out.  

 

drone_patrol_v0.30.a78

[+Atarius Maximus]

Here is the current WIP build.  With a little help from RevEng the collision code is now optimized and working as it should.  I also updated some graphics, and added a new cannon at the bottom of the city for the advanced & expert difficulty levels.  Here's the difference between the difficulty levels right now:

 

Easy - Only one missile, no bottom city defense cannon.
Standard - All three missiles, no bottom city defense cannon.
Advanced - All three missiles, both top and bottom city defense cannons, game speed increased.
Expert - All three missiles, both top and bottom cannons, top cannon now moves faster, game speed further increased.

 

I still have some ideas for further additions to the game, so this is far from complete.

drone_patrol_v0.32.a78

[+Atarius Maximus]

Here's my weekend WIP build.

 

•   There are now animated soldiers that run across the bottom of the screen to take out with your drone.
•   The scoring changed a bit, 125 points for soldiers, 75 points for tanks.
•   The starting laser charge changed, 99 for easy, 75 for standard, 50 for advanced, 25 for expert.
•   The Level up screen changed with new graphics, animation and messages. Your health and Laser recharges fully on level up.
•   There is a flicker effect for the drone's beam and for the city defense beam.  It looks cool, and also helped with some slowdown issues I was having.
•   Your rank is displayed on game over screen.
•   The scrolling message will update you when you have low health, low laser charge, or both.  
•   Some graphics were tweaked a bit.
•   Variable speeds implemented for missiles, soldiers, and tanks.  Speeds gradually increase as you level up.

 

I'm still looking at different ideas to use the right fire button.  Maybe a horizontal shot, smart bomb, status screen, shield... I"m not sure yet.  I'm also pondering ideas for powerups, difficulty progression, boss battles, further graphics changes on level up, and others.  I've got a long list of things I'm going to try out.

 

 

 

 

 

drone_patrol_v35.a78

[+Atarius Maximus]

I have been posting the source code and graphics archives on github if anyone would like to look at them.  All of my Atari related projects are here, Drone Patrol is here.

 

Here's a few more screenshots...

[+Atarius Maximus]

Here's the latest WIP build.

• Variable speeds fully implemented for tanks, soliders, and missiles.  
• Missile sprites and movement/repositioning code updated.
• Difficulty progression updated - progessive speed increases with each level now.
• Drone sprite animation updated, it now leans left and right when you move.
• Added drone "shake" when you are hit by a missile or the defense beam 
• Limit set on how long you can fire the laser while holding the button down.
• City defense beam no longer fires or makes sound effects when it's off screen.
• Lots of bug fixes behind the scenes after play testing.
• There's still a graphical glitch early on, especially if you fire immediately when the game starts.  Working on that.

 

 

drone_patrol_v36.a78

[+saxmeister]

This is looking great! I can't wait to see the end product of this. It's like Missile Command meets Defender. An original idea. Very nice!!!!

[+Atarius Maximus]

Thanks Saxmeister.

 

Here are the changes in the current build:

• I changed some of the colors. Just trying out some new combinations.
• I added a fadein/fadeout to the opening logo and get ready screens.
• An ambulance was added to screen and you lose health if you shoot it.  It cannot be destroyed.
• I changed the tank explosion animation and changed the laser powerup to a battery icon.
• The level up and game over screens changed so you need to press right fire to continue instead of left fire.  I found myself accidently bypassing them from mashing the left button during gameplay.
• I changed the font to have a shadow effect.
• I added a smart bomb that is activated by pressing the right fire button. You get three per game, how many you have left is indicated on the status bar, and it will destroy everything on the screen (you are awarded the points).
• Status bar graphics changed.
• The laser and crosshair are now only one pixel wide. 
• You can only fire when the drone is not moving.
• Missiles will slowly (randomly) track the position of the drone.  If you stay still for too long they will hit you.

 

There are still some relatively minor graphical glitches that I'm having a hard time figuring out how to fix.  You'll notice some artifacts occasionally when you fire the laser, and occasionally in the middle of the area of playfield where you fly your drone.  It's not so bad that it takes away from gameplay, but well, it's there.

 

Edit:  I noticed that in the easy level, where there is only one missile, the two missiles that were removed still have the collision detection enabled even though they are not visible on the screen. You can get hit by the invisible missiles on that skill level. I'll fix that in the next build.

 

drone_patrol_v0.37.a78

[+Atarius Maximus]

I'm working on developing some boss levels next, the plan is for them to appear on each level up.  It looks like I can squeeze in at least 10 of these if I bump up the ROM to 272k.  The attached brief video shows only a few hours of effort just to make sure my idea worked.  I'm sure it will change quite a bit before it's done.  This is going to take a while, it's kind of like developing new mini-games within the existing game.   I should have some progress to share sometime next week.

 

[+Atarius Maximus]

Here's the latest version.  It includes a boss battle with each level up.  Each battle is a separate subroutine in a different bank (it's been bumped up to a 272k ROM), however.... they are all currently exactly the same (same code copied 10 times), and the first one is not done yet.  The transition to the boss is completed, it appears and fires at you and it can kill you, however you can easily take it out with a few quick shots and move on.  I need to work on audio, actual boss gameplay, animations, the difficulty level of the battle, and a transition sequence back to the game after you kill it (right now it just drops you back in the game abruptly), etc.  I'm sharing this just in case someone would like to see it as it is now.  Score 5,000 points to get to the first boss, 10,000 for the second, and every 10,000 thereafter.  I bumped up the points you score to make it a little faster getting there.  Source code and graphics files were updated on my github page.

 

 

drone_patrol_v0.38.a78

[SlidellMan]

Hey, I wanted to say that I have started working on a few more songs for your new game.

[+Atarius Maximus]

I'm ready to share the latest build.  Most of my time was spent creating a password system for the game.  You will receive a password after defeating a boss on each of the four difficulty levels.  Well, you will once all the boss battles are completed, as of right now only the first encounter is finished.  You can enter the password from a main menu option, and the "get ready" screen will indicate if the password was accepted or not.  When entering the password, hold the left button down while pushing up or down on the joystick to scroll through the values faster, release the button to scroll slower.  All of the password code is completed and the proper codes will be added in once I finish each of the 9 remaining boss battles.  This version also up some of the graphical glitches during gameplay and transition screens.  At the moment I only see an occasional glitch when you're firing the laser in the main game - hopefully I'll be able to fix that too at some point.

 

The boss battle is like a separate mini-game in-between levels.  You will start the battle with full health, you do not have to recharge your laser, and your starting health and the enemy starting health will vary depending on the encounter.  After you beat the boss, your health will be restored to full again for the next level.

 

Right now I have a debug password set to "01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00" that you can use to jump directly to the first boss battle on the easy difficulty level.  Note that the boss fight is exactly the same regardless of difficulty level at the moment. 

 

It looks like I'm going to be using a minimum of 260k of the 272k of ROM space, this game got big quick.

 

Steve

 

Select the new 'Enter Password' option on the main menu to get to the entry screen.

 

Hold the fire button down to scroll faster when you're entering a code.

 

You'll know if the password you entered worked or not.

 

This screenshot was doctored a bit, the big laser beam flickers.

drone_patrol_v0.39.a78

[+Atarius Maximus]

I'm going to wait on sharing a new binary until the boss fights are a bit more polished but I wanted to share a screenshot of my progress with those.  I've made a lot of behind the scenes improvements and bug fixes.  The basic game engine functions how I want it to now, it's probably 95% complete.  Making each boss battle unique and fun to play are what I'm working on now, they're probably 5% complete.  And of course, because it's my weakest skill, any kind of music is 0% complete.  Graphics are likely to evolve too as I come up with new ideas.

 

 

[+Atarius Maximus]

Here's the latest work in progress build.  It includes lots of bug fixes as well as changes to many of the boss battles.  They are starting to incorporate some "extras" as I start working on the gameplay for each one.  Each boss can still be easily killed with just a shot or two, and collision detection isn't completely set up yet for all of them, so keep in mind it's still very much a work in progress.  You can access each boss battle with a password of "01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00", 02, 03, (up to 10) to get to each boss.  Those passwords will be removed in the final version, they're there now just for testing.  I'm still open to suggestions if anyone has any!

drone_patrol_v0.43.a78

[+Atarius Maximus]

Lots of changes in this version.  Most of my time in the past few weeks has been spent working on the 10 boss battles.   The basics for the game are done, now It's just a whole lot of work on adding all of the extra polish - graphics and color tweaks, sound effects and music, and lots and lots of gameplay testing for balance and playability.  Some boss battles may still be a little too difficult.  Just for fun I came up with a new 'Maximus Games' logo for the intro screen.

 

[+Atarius Maximus]

The version I posted last night had a bug introduced with a last minute change, the screen would black out during the transition to a new level after beating a boss.  This fixes that, and I removed the version I added in the prior post.

 

If anyone would like to play test this for a while and offer some feedback I'd appreciate it.  I know it needs more work.  You can still go directly to each boss and skip levels with a password, as I mentioned a few weeks ago.

 

 

drone_patrol_v46.a78

[Trebor]

A lot of activity is going on in this title, and love all the work being put into it. 

 

I think it would be a great benefit for anyone just picking it up and giving it a quick try to perhaps have an instructions screen of objectives and main points.  I can see how an individual may not be certain how to approach playing this game without becoming either confused or frustrated while trying to figure out some of the details.

 

Something such as what was succinctly stated in the O.P. would suffice:

 

"You control the drone and the goal is to take out as many of the enemy vehicles moving through the cityscape below as you can.  Press the left fire to shoot your laser downward towards the city.  Your laser is not infinite, and must be recharged with a powerup that hovers at the top of the screen when your battery is low.  Avoid the missiles and the city defense beam.  Getting hit by either will slowly drain your health - when it reaches zero the game is over.  You score 100 points for each enemy vehicle taken out.  Also note that you can't shoot when the city defense beam is firing (it jams the signal), and if you're too high up above the city."

 

Nonetheless, great work is being done here - the bosses look quite excellent - and looking forward to seeing it officially completely and placed on cart!

[+Atarius Maximus]

Thank you Trebor.  I appreciate the kind words.  I've already got over 100 hours of programming time put into this game.  I love this hobby, I wouldn't do it if I didn't love it.    That's an excellent idea to include instructions for the game within the game, I haven't done that before.  I'll have to bump the ROM up to 528k to add that in, but I suppose that's not a big deal.   

[+Atarius Maximus]

This version includes a user's guide, or "mission briefing", selectable from the main menu.  While I maybe could have squeezed this in to the existing 272k ROM with some creative bankswitching and dma hole usage it was easier to simply expand the ROM to 528k.  That also gives me plenty of additional space should I come up with any more ideas for the game.

 

Unfortunately, the Concerto currently does not support this ROM size, and the Cuttle Cart 2 does not support ROMs larger than 512k.  As a result I don't have any way to test this on real hardware, and adding AtariVox support would be difficult for me because of that.  It will work on the Dragonfly for those of you that have one.  It runs great in emulation with A7800.

drone_patrol_v0.47.a78

[Trebor]

5 hours ago, Atarius Maximus said:

Unfortunately, the Concerto currently does not support this ROM size, and the Cuttle Cart 2 does not support ROMs larger than 512k.  As a result I don't have any way to test this on real hardware, and adding AtariVox support would be difficult for me because of that.  It will work on the Dragonfly for those of you that have one.  It runs great in emulation with A7800.

Tested and it runs great under the MiSTer FPGA too.

[+Muddyfunster]

I love this, talk about needing eyes up your backside with the missile enemies!

 

I tested on my NTSC console, works fine, but as you can see, I need practice