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Things for new people

fix minibuffer docs

add M-p as pause toggle keybinding

better error handling during halo actions

upgrade PATHFINDING code

document stuff like percent-of-time <— other gen tools

scroll level in editor with mouse wheel?* TODO helping new people

should initialize%super be called something else?

create alias called (invoke-next-method)

fix autoload nonsense, use .asd? or allow loading blocky as lib…

[#A] Blocky basics list

startup and general options

frame-rate, dt, height/width, sensible defaults

handling input etc

how to specify keys

important functions

[#A] Block basics

methods: pos, heading, create, destroy, move, resize, draw, play-sound, collide

distance-to-thing, heading-to-thing, etc

document all important fields: opacity etc

[#A] world basics: define, create, generate, scroll

don’t require player existence

how to categorize objects with tags and simple predicates

defining new def-foo macros for consistently overriding something

i should come up with extra help inside emacs. like M-x blocky-apropos

i.e. M-x blocky-apropos RET collision-type RET [14:10]

making sure to super-initialize

document plist-ish short form of define-block

improve error handling when :initform keyword is missing

properly scale coords when window is stretched

document what :collision-type does

[#B] allow this: (play-project “foo” :with-database “shipped-game.blx” :with-variables …)

[#B] Scale pointer-x and pointer-y when window is resized

indestructible colored particles magnetize (left-hand cling) to walls or float, do not break bricks

they kill you too

you have to dig them out from behind brick gaps

you can only steer them with puck of same color

channels for them to go to VENTS!

[#B] grab/use bricks as bomb weapons?

[#B] switch to arrows and ZX for pick up / throw?

method menus

making new lisp files for a new creature

menu for choosing methods

[#C] primitive looking character talk balloon, i.e. reason for dying etc

[#C] multi size/color brick areas

[#A] win condition: (while (some #’enemyp....

Original plong ideas (before football )

zanac bestiary

LEGEND TOLD OF ONE WHO WOULD DEFEAT “THE SYSTEM” WITHOUT BEING HIT BY A SINGLE ENEMY BULLET.

[#C] tall levels, the way is always up. generate another level.

[#C] you start in bottom left corner, and must reach top right on each level, defeating all enemies. sometimes color match required.

[#C] quickie twirly fleeing guy who fires heaps of bullets.

[#C] monitors should be able to eat through bricks (grow when they eat?)

[#A] theme colors are not useful for locks; locks are always plain “8 crayon pack” colors as in original xong.

green always radioactive? and

[#B] delay after catch, can’t fire.

[#B] Puck should return seek to center of guy, not corner.

[#B] various color patterns in enemy end zone, you must fill it up by striking lock bricks

[#B] when puck is destroyed, puck returns (after penalty delay)

[#B] enemy team players (occasional light blue good guy AI)… you must defend your goal!?

[#B] Goal is gated room in center, instead of endzone?

[#B] soccer goal at top or bottom of level, guarded by colored goalie(s), whistle+fireworks2600. must clear all 3.

[#C] read gamefaqs and other design critiques of 8-bit games

[#C] lines / tickmarks/ numbers on field. (use goals on left/right as in M-network Superchallenge football? “Future Football?”

[#C] some way to minesweeper-psychically tell where exit is? maybe arrow blocks that tell you where exit is when you bustem?

[#C] Stationary lock-bricks surrounded by blobs of one (different) color brick.

[#C] one of them is the exit! (how to tell?) you can choose to go in, or look for items etc

[#B] Black holes

[#C] need database of named worlds (snippets, vaults, whole levels) to paste together as generated levels

[#C] rescue sequence where you must defend a base or something, from incoming missiles

[#C] show paren match in terminal

[#C] Falling block levels (the blocks are locks)

[#C] Boss vaults with internal brick-shields

[#C] Radioactive deadly bricks

[#C] Growing corruption freex

[#C] warlords: gold, purple, green, wedgewd blue. then 3 shades of orange/brown for bricks

Blocky Demoscene Livecoding Synthesis with VM’s

OBSOOLETE DESIGN

seek the ball, contact it

contact bricks, you can bash them with the button or throw them at the ball carrier or other competitors for the ball

can’t pick up colored base bricks, must break with ball

if i just kicked the ball, i’m the ball carrier, whose name is displayed

if i run into another player, choose a new direction (how?)

seek the ball carrier and try to bump him

fumble! ball carrier sends ball flying and staggers a little

[#B] don’t require world to have player

[#B] bricks should speed up the ball so that it’s easier to get the ball back and tunnel thru.

ball speed indicated by pitch of beep at kick time

[#C] omega race corner bumpers for the ball

[#C] better kick sounds (one normal, one strong)

[#C] player can “block” other player to slow him down (keep him from getting ball carrier). press button

Implement goals, offense/defense

GREEN: follow QB (simple seek for now, pathfinding later)

[#B] a player’s “base” is his pile of bricks with the goal inside.

parts of the goal can be exposed by attacks.

[#B] when a player’s goal is hit 3 times, he is out for the rest of the game.

[#B] finish porting path.lisp; any player can have a path

[#B] when both players on a team are knocked out of the game, they lose the game.

GOLD: PLAYER 1

GREEN: PLAYER 2 or, FRIEND AI

BLUE AND PURPLE: AI only (until netplay is implemented)

[#C] later: rain/snow play with inertia, parts of field turning to mush

[#C] two human player versus each other (each with AI teammate)

[#A] camera follows ball

[#A] refine auto-kick to work better when player is on top of ball.

kick causes ball to ignore kicker collisions for a limited time

[#C] analyze what the 2600 AI does by playing game 28 or 43 (difficult)

imitate referee lines on side of tv

there is only one football, a white square

the football can break any brick and it bounces like puck, but slows down over time like a 2600 kick

auto-kick when push against ball

dude foot sounds

work with only green field for now.

green background like a field

[#A] control-r for reset

Archived Entries

indicate (paused) in listener

Reactopong

Reactopong is a game of quick reactions and think-ahead strategy. An overheating particle reactor must be shut down. From a remote control viewing station, you guide unmanned robotic probes that can safely enter the reactor—one at a time. All nine procedurally-generated reactor chambers (i.e. game levels) must be shut down in order to avert nuclear disaster and complete the game.

Various high-energy particles (alpha, beta, and gamma) are bouncing through the reactor; after a set number of bounces, a particle splits into two particles of the same type, both of which are moving a bit faster, and so on.

Particle types don’t mix; each level is divided into up to three chambers, each with one type of particle reacting in it. If too many particles build up in any one chamber of the reactor, the reaction goes out of control, and you lose a life.

If the probe comes into contact with any object or surface, it is immediately destroyed from heat. If all three available robotic probes are destroyed, there will be no way to stop the meltdown, and it’s Game Over.

The probe will be destroyed if it becomes too hot. The heat gauge will normally decrease slowly on its own, but it can be drained more quickly at a cooling vent (if any.) Colliding with a particle increases heat by about 35% of the gauge’s width, meaning that you can only survive one or two occasional bumps. “Hot zones” are floating regions of intense temperature, and will increase heat relatively quickly as long as the player is in contact with them; passing through these clouds should be nearly a last resort. These clouds can overlap for additive effect.

Your probe is trailed by a positronic filament (represented by a yellow line following your probe) designed to capture the bouncing particles. By sweeping the filament across the path of an oncoming particle, you can annihilate them and reduce the danger level. The tail is not overly long (this would make the game too easy) and cannot be extended. And, the particle still hurts you (with heat) if it collides with the robot probe (instead of the trail.)

Each level takes up the entire screen; the only status displays are a row of three squares at the bottom left corner whose coloring indicates how many robotic arms are left, and a heat gauge. The central column is present in all levels, and so the center of the screen is both the entrance and exit point.

The particles move faster than your probe, so you have to watch their (mostly) deterministic behavior and plan out your moves in advance.

A level is mostly empty space with particles bouncing in it, but chamber sizes and positions will vary. New particles come periodically from guns, with one gun located in each chamber. The player must move dynamically between different chambers, avoiding walls and guns, in order to keep grabbing particles and preventing any chamber from going critical. If the player survives 2 minutes of particles without a meltdown, the level is completed, and the reactor doors begin (very slowly) closing as the level shuts down and an alarm sounds. The player must race to the exit (in the center of the screen) to move on to the next level.

5200Xpong

5200Xpong is a retro-remake of XONG with graphics, sound, and controls similar to those of an Intellivison or Atari 5200 game from the bygone era of 8-bit games, but with OpenGL transparency and scaling added to the mix.

You are a vulnerable white square that can move only in the four cardinal directions (using the arrow keys, numpad, or gamepad). Using the spacebar (or joystick button) you can fire a bullet in the direction you last moved. (This direction is indicated by a little dot on the player’s sprite.)

One hit kills you, and completely ends your game—to win at MicroXONG you must reach the end without taking a single bullet from an enemy or touching a single hot zone. A successful game of SuperXONG should be able to be completed in less than 20 minutes. Player lives are disposable, and pressing ESCAPE after death will instantly begin a new game.

You must infiltrate an enemy research facility with four increasingly difficult levels. Each level is semi-randomly generated as in a roguelike, but levels are not entirely grid-based. Your goal is to defeat all enemies, retrieve one or more encrypted data files, and transmit them back to your home base at a terminal located somewhere on each level. Each transmission results in a random bit of story being shown to the player in the form of a fictional email, and a story could be sketched in this way with a small library of these emails.

Your character is trailed by a positronic filament “tail” (represented by a yellow line following your square) which can destroy bullets and certain other moving objects. By sweeping the filament across the path of an oncoming particle or bullet, you can annihilate them and reduce the danger level. The tail is not overly long (this would make the game too easy) and cannot be extended.

An energy meter is shown at the bottom corner of the game window as a segmented horizontal bar with an E next to it. Energy is required to fire your bullets, and when your energy is too low, the tail shield will not function and you will be more vulnerable.

You can regain energy by grabbing an “E” powerup (these should be somewhat scarce) or by absorbing particles with your tail.

Your bullets bounce back and forth along a line (either horizontal or vertical.) You can catch your own bullets, which restores an equivalent amount of energy. So part of the strategy will be in destroying colorful blocks and/or objects in paddle-and-brick-game fashion.

Your bullets don’t directly kill enemies—instead you must trigger bombs when they pass by, or direct the enemies into incinerators.

There are forcefield doors between some rooms that open when shot with a bullet, and close after a few seconds. Colliding with the forcefield kills you.

Player speed should be 1 pixel when shift is held (use in danger areas.)

Voronoids

In the game of Voronoids, a single player controls an interstellar combat ship from a 2-D overhead perspective. The world map is a “galactic grid” with each square having one of a number of procedurally generated level types (empty space, planet surface, clouds, enemy convoy, enemy star cruiser, starbase/trading post). (Levels can be simple, mostly open.)

A randomly generated mission (between 10-30 minutes depending on difficulty) will have you visiting one or more areas, defeating enemies, or retrieving specific objects in order to win.

The arrow keys (or WSAD) move the ship, and the mouse is used to aim and fire the weapon (as in Paradroid). Left clicking fires at the point under the mouse cursor; right-clicking (or shift-clicking) instead activates any object under the cursor. Objects can be picked up by flying over them.

There are two resources that must be managed. ENERGY is used when you fire weapons or travel between sectors, and is also needed to activate certain objects in the game world. The game will end if your SHIELD rating drops to zero. In addition, a limited number of special items may be carried.

There are three difficulty levels: BASIC, ADVANCED, and EXPERT. For BASIC, a mission should be about 10 minutes long; EXPERT games may be as long as 30 minutes. (Your character is not saved—the point is to experience different stories with disposable characters, with each story having a few discrete goals and an objectively scored outcome.)

The sound will consist of subtle engine hisses and hums and quiet drones with contextual musical clues. I’m planning to use FM synthesis (Hexter) and also Milkytracker. Alarm sounds, flashing, status, deep bass engines.

Collecting items, energy, and minerals will be a significant play activity, along with dogfights against 1-3 enemies at a time.

Infltr8r