TO LOAD THIS CART in Pico-8 immediate mode, type:
load #as] |
(12-31-19) Added youtube video comparison.
It's difficult to emulate some of the wondrous things that are done in arcade games. One of which I was especially fond of is when Galaxian first made the scene as a space shooter. It had tiny stars that were colored and they flickered perfectly.
Here now is one function to do just that for you. Include in any of your space shooters. Just add to _draw() or _update(). Fire and forget. You don't even need code to initialize the stars as this is also covered in my one function.
Compare with original:
HOPE THIS HELPS !
I remember these! Or are these different? I have a question about something not on PICO, so uh, how do I make a table in Blitz max? Something like Potato={x=0,y=0,butter=true}.
Blitzmax, here now you're gonna get me in trouble for that, Scrub.
It's a secret so keep it to yourself. :)
I think you'll do better in PICO-8 though as the community is strong. What little of the BlitzMAX community I was in years ago has since disbanded.
Really good recreation. I have never seen Galaxian, but I have played Galaga (I believe it is the sequel) and the effect is very similar. I do remember that the Orion constellation is visible. I always thought that was a nice touch.
Hey ! Glad you like it. Orion ? I'm not up on my stars.
I think it would be possible to map it in as permanent - but the way the code is here it would change the colors for it.
I really live for old-style arcade games, especially those carts who do a tribute. I'm hoping my rainbow stars may get used in one of them. Thanks for the comment !
Hi there!
Excellent recreation and clever implementation!
I've been working on a space shooter and just implemented a basic star scroll where faster (closer) stars are brighter and further (slower) stars are dimmer. I've thought about implementing something like this, more varied color and a flickering effect. I think my game may be a little busy with other particle effects and tracking and discerning particles from projectiles will be important, so I think the less distracting the better in my case.
Thanks, ShredBird.
A few things you should know. Few home-videogames from the past were very well done. Arcade games were.
Why ?
Money. It's all about them quarters. Programmers would work difficult hours and days writing and programming videogames whose sole purpose was to suck out as many quarters from the wallets and purses of every boy and girl that it could.
So YES these games were entertaining. They were carefully thought out. And they were FUN.
Usually when a copycat "for home" videogame came along they missed some of the key elements that made the original game so fantastic.
You see this especially in many early home videogame systems like the Atari 2600, Intellivision, and even good old 8-bit Nintendo.
If they were modeling a game after an arcade favorite there is a good chance they left out something. This especially seen for Atari 2600's Pac-Man game. Nothing like the original.
Today this is not true. With literally billions of polygons and systems as advanced as NEXT and PS4 there will never be a shortage of superior graphics, audio, and, we hope, gameplay.
It's always a pleasure to find someone do a tribute to an arcade classic and get the "magic" in it just right so the person playing is reminded of their youth and happy times growing up around the videogame and arcade in where it and their friends were.
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