UPDATES:
(10-18-18)
-- + now have infinite bombs -- + time limit now set to -- 60-seconds -- + fixed to stop all sounds -- at the end of the game -- + locked the bomber controls -- if the player's time is up -- + added short period of -- rest when timer reaches -- zero -- + added venetian effect -- before showing final score -- and values |
(10-16-18)
Add tank option to reappear in reverse
Add tank option to go faster than before
Added optional sound effects (see code to disable or press CTRL-M during runtime)
(09-13-18) ... Improved accuracy, should be able to hit tank if on edge of screen now.
(09-12-18) ... Released cart
Back in the early days of Apple ][, Robert C. Clardy, Bill Budge, and Bob Bishop ruled the roost.
Robert C. Clardy for his fantastic INTEGER HIRES and LORES adventure games and Bill Budge and Bob Bishop for their incredible machine-language games which included, Bomber, as you see the tribute here, but also, Space War, Night Driver, Raster Blaster Pinball, Lunar Lander, and Pinball Construction Set.
They were the great pioneers of early video game programmers working directly in the 6502 assembly programming language whereas most other game programmers, myself included, chose to work in the simpler languages of Integer Basic and Applesoft Basic.
Perhaps the one game that struck me the most fascinating as a boy was his 20k machine-language BOMBER game. It was a simple premise. You had one key to press that launched a bomb from your plane that moves from one side of the screen to the next.
What I especially liked was the fact if you watched carefully, and I did, that every single pixel that made up the tank image exploded outward when your bomb contacted the tank. It was a real treat to see as many games back then only dreamed of having fragmentary explosions.
The tank initially started out as half that speed so it was a pretty easy target for the jet. After that, the tank changed speeds which made the game more challenging. That and the tricky curve of the bomb as it starts out slow in its descent and accelerates as it falls.
Here now is my tribute to him and his game, the graphics, mechanics, mathematics, and hopefully physics are very close to what he wrote those many years ago.
With options in the source to change from B&W to color and even add flickering of the sprites which is what his original game had in it.
How many tanks can you hit before the time runs out ?
Very cool! I agree that the explosion effect is the most impressive/satisfying part :-) The tanks seem to sometimes "pop in" right in the middle of the X axis though, which means (depending on where the plane is at the time) that some cannot be hit. Is that intentional? NB: I was playing in a browser...
I hadn't realised the same tank keeps going until destroyed (periodic boundary conditions). Neat. But I still think it would be more intuitive if new tanks appeared on the left hand side.
Really cool history lesson here too. The explosions are very satisfying, what he said.
Hi guys:
This is a tribute game so it's supposed to run like the original. Only one tank per customer, please. :)
And yes, I'm having a little difficulty in the code where the bomb is on one side of the screen and the tank is in the other - for them to connect.
I made an update that should fix this. If not, feel free to do so yourself and please let me know what you did to make it work !
Will post my update now.
Fuchikoma71, can you please record a video in PICO of this phenomenon happening where the tank blinks ? If you didn't know PICO could record video, let me know and I'll assist. Thanks !
I was wrong, as I tried to explain in my second comment: what I meant is: sometimes the (new) tank cannot be hit before it exits the screen on the right. But since it's re-entering on the left, we're all good! ;-)
Hi Fuchikoma71:
Is it still giving difficulties ? Can the tank still be hit on the right-side when it's exiting ?
What error is that, Hendini ? I added scrolling and timer to it, aren't they still working ?
yes but you told me about how at the end it doesn't display your time how do I fix that, and still keep the game from stopping?
also thus far my best has been 7. The explosion is very nice by the way.
Hmm ... I've made some changes to it. Might be harder to get 7 now. :)
Not now but later (tomorrow) I was going to remove the limit on bombs and let you fend as well as you can for the timer.
It ends if you run out of bombs or the time runs out. Prolly tomorrow I'll take out the number of bombs and then its just bomb to your hearts content till timer runs out. May set it to 60-seconds.
I got 6 again
Good deal ! I was working on PAINT but I'll go to update this cart now.
Memmmmooorriiiiiieeeeeeees!
Thanks for the blast from the past!
My bomb-drop keys stopped working in last few seconds though?
Anyway, I had a great flashback to my Apple ][+ in 1980! Thanks much!
Glad you like it, @thattomhall. :)
Can you record a video please so I can track this bug ? Pico-8 has this built in if you didn't know.
The bomb key will not work on 2-conditions.
- The bomb is in the air.
- The tank is exploding.
I like how the bomb reappears underneath the bomber once it hits the ground :D it seems to come out of the plane, very cute!
I tried to match the game pretty closely. I did want sound though and that wasn't in the original. I still think it turned out pretty nicely.
Strangely I never found out about the scoring, timer, and number of bombs launched until I looked it up in Youtube.
The version I remember from audio-cassette had no score, sound, or any other information. Just hit a key to bomb the tank and it ran forever.
Glad you like it, @Yesyoor. Sunday is tomorrow - I will definitely be posting a new challenge then. Hope to see you there !
@dw817 jeah nice I am excited ;)
How about the other timers? First round I played after hitting the first tank the speed increased. On the second try after hitting the first tank the next tank would move in Opposite Direction. Is it random how the next lvl will turn out? Unfortunately I never knew an orginal existed until I came across your version :D
Yep. Well the version =I= played didn't have score or anything, @Yesyoor. Hmm ... No but this version is like the one shown on Youtube where apparently he took his game and beefed it up a bit with number of bombs, timer, and number of hits.
So, yep, it is indeed supposed to go in the opposite direction according to a random number after you hit it for the first time.
[Please log in to post a comment]
