VCS: Space Rocks

[MacDLSA]

Right... the shield.
Don't wanna say other bul....t more than I just did, but thisis what I see:
we could assume that when we activate the shield then a counter starts to count inside the program.
Well, does SR's shield counter go back to "0" when the player releases the downposition of the stick ?
I say this because in the "original" Asteroids game seems that this counter has a kind of "delay" which determinates how long you can keep the shield activate again after you de-activate it . This is to prevent the ship to be protected for too long time (easy: activate the shield, wait until counter reach its minimum value before ship's explosion, then re-activate shield ! ... If you do it in "Asteroids" your ship explodes after less than a second...)

[SpiceWare]

Shields are set to 180 (3 seconds) and are decremented every frame if you're holding DOWN. When it hits zero you explode.

If you're not holding down, shields are incremented every-other-frame. As such, it takes twice as long to recharge as it does to use.

- Initial shield level, 3 seconds remain
- Use for 1 second, 2 seconds remain
- don't use for 1 second, 2.5 seconds remain
- use for 1 second, 1.5 seconds remain
- don't use for 1 second, 2 seconds remain
- use for 1 second, 1 second remains
- don't use for 4 seconds, 3 seconds remain (full strength)

[MacDLSA]

Yep, this is how it should work (and as Asteroids does).
But, Darrell, I'm tryin' it right now, and to me seems that the "recharge" counter does not work
I can keep pushed the stick down for 2.99sec, release it and then re-push immediately down for other 2.99sec and go on this way...

[ I'm using Stella 3.7.2 and spacerocks20120930 (both NTSC &/or PAL) ]

[edit: in the very first line of this post I say "Asteroids" referring to the VCS'. In the arcade version (Asteroids Deluxe) your shields could be activated remaining at full strenght for several time, but collisions with asteroids cause a loss of shield power: 3 "contacts" are enough to lose it definitively... and it does not recharge until ship is destroyed and player can use another "life"...(if he has it ]

[SpiceWare]

shield recharging was added in the most recent release candidate, 20121023. Thomas Jentzsch suggested it, but I was out of room, so he found some space savings in the 6507 code that made it possible to fit it in.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/blog/148/entry-9689-release-candidate-4/

[MacDLSA]

Ahhh... that's why !
I'm playin' with the rev.20121023 and shield's OK now !

[SpiceWare]

Another update, this one's posted in my blog though as I wanted a "roll back" point. While there are some bug fixes and other visible changes like the menu, most of the update is for ROM optimizations. With the help of Thomas Jentzsch and Nathan Strum, we've managed to free up another 400 bytes that I'll be using for a final round of updates.

http://www.atariage.com/forums/blog/148/entry-9728-menu-updates/

[MacDLSA]

Quite good changes and... 400bytes saved !!!

Great job !

[ ... and I think Thomas "Thrust" Jentzsch is a genius ! Space Rocks couldn't go in better hands ]

[ note: Darrell, I sent to Al a .rar package with revised BOX artworks (then, ONLY box art... I carelessly sent him "older revisions" . Cartridge labels are always the same. ), but he didn't answered me, yet... So, if you possibly care of these works then please "overwrite" them above the older, since they have the same name and extension... ]

[another note: seems that for this year's X-Mas I could finally catch an Harmony cartridge, but I saw Fred had NOT put a PayPal payment method on his web page, yet ! Never bought anything with Google Wallett, though... ]

[Philsan]

Il gioco è adesso in vendita su AtariAge: http://atariage.com/store/index.php?..._detail&p=1026

[Philsan]

Space Rocks arrivato (insieme a Chetiry).
FB_IMG_13839349230414358.jpg

[Philsan]

Easter egg...

Space Rocks (2012) (Darrell Spice) (NTSC).bin_4.jpg

[SpiceWare]

That'll look better if you turn on Stella's Phosphor mode.

Space Rocks_19.jpg