Hi there,
I decided to release this version of Pong Multiplayer, although I am not really happy with the current state.
But it is really hard to test alone, since it is a multiplayer game only.
It is basically the code from the VUEngine Showcase, I only extracted the Pong state and reworked it a bit (and deleted lots of stuff). So all credits go to the Team VUE.
I would appreciate input from other users, which can play the game with a friend. I don´t really know if the playfield is too small, the paddles too slow, the ball too fast etc… But as I said, it is very hard to test this alone, and testing a multiplayer game alone is a pain.
Know bugs:
– if you play it alone, you can´t play anything. And the preview screen is not showing the real setup, so don´t worry (see 2nd screenshot)
– pressing RT or LT breaks the game, so please don´t press those buttons, unless you are loosing and want to rage-quit 😉
– the paddles does not reach the walls, at least it looks like. But I can not find any errors in the collision code, so I assume (and Jorgeche also) that this is only a visual artifact (see screenshot 3).
I attach two ROM versions to this post, one is padded for use on Flashboy (+). Thanks to Force81 for padding this!
Again: I would appreciate any feedback on playability, tweaking possibilities etc. Thanks.
I have updated the game a bit:
– RT- + LT-button crash fixed
– paddle speed increased from 2 -> 6, paddle bounce added
– field size increased (upper border moved higher)
– obstacles added
Plays quite well as far as I can test it.
Attachments:
A side project:
singleplayer version for those, who can´t play the multiplayer version.
UPDATE: an updated version with player and cpu writing:
Attachments:
An updated version of the Pong Singleplayer is completed.
Changenotes:
– Win Screen added
– Lose Screen added
– Score based winning / losing implemented
– 2nd stage added
The 2nd stage is a quick and dirty test to see if it actually works, will modify it in the near future.
So you have to win 2 stages with 5 points against the CPU to see the winning screen.
Another one for the singleplayer version, this time:
– rumble effects reimplemented
– stage 2 completely reworked to up side down
– cheat implemented (to skip to stage 2 immediately).
Know bugs:
– stage 1: if you hit the obstacles in a specific angle, the ball just keeps bumping from the upper to the lower wall without reaching one of the paddles
– stage 2: if you hit the obstacles in a specific angle, the ball slows down quite significantly.
To be implemented:
– pause
– possibility of restarting a stage
– music
Have fun!
EDIT: thanks to Fwow13 there is now also a BW label for HF32 for this singleplayer version! I have added it to this post.
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Attachments:
I have updated my Pong Singleplayer version with two more stages, playable via pressing “Select” in the main screen (called “hard mode”).
The disk and paddles are faster, there are more obstacles and you need more points to win.
Bugs:
– still no pause screen since I don´t get the controls to work after coming back from Pause
– disk slows down sometimes, but now gets faster again if it hits anything
– in rare cases the disk protrudes the walls
Nevertheless, it is quite playable, or at least it is playable.
Really only minor updates to the Pong Singleplayer version (rumble effects to losing and winning screen added as well as author name listed in title screen and clearing for normal mode stage 1 is now 6 points).
Also there is now a png-file for the label available thanks to Fwow13.
It is not the hell of a game but I will let me make a reprocard nevertheless.
Attachments:
To jump on the today´s release train I upload my current built of Pong Extended:
Pong Singleplayer and Pong Multiplayer are combined to one ROM.
As I mentioned on Discord: the multiplayer is quite buggy.
The singleplayer is the same like in the last PONG singleplayer release.
For playing the multiplayer mode: ideally the two players press RT+LT approx. 1 second after each other on the title screen, then you should get the “connected” writing and one can play against each other. It is an endless mode without any ending though.
It is sure not comparable to any other releases of today, but perhaps someone has a few fun minutes with this release.
EDIT: I nearly forgot to thank SylvainRx for his printer-extension files which made the vertical text in the title screen possible. Thank you 🙂
Here it is: Pong Ultimate!
It has the four singleplayer stages implemented and one working (!) multiplayer stage (thanks to Jorgeche for updating the code on Pong tutorial in this regard).
So compared to Pong Extended there is:
– updated title screen with connection status
– updated multiplayer stage with new sprites and one play mode until 20 points
– multiplayer stage works also with one player against the cpu (but is not really balanced)
– two new winning screens for either player 1 or player 2.
Only negative point I could find is:
when playing singleplayer first and then going into the multiplayer stage the stage freezes after one point. So when someone wants to player multiplayer start the two VBs, go into the title screen and then press “RT+LT” on both VBs.
I have added an updated label, but sadly no HF32 label. The .label-file created with Thunderstruck´s Hyperstudio 1.2.0 does not really look good.
Another release:
Pong Ultimate 1.1
New:
2nd multiplayer stage (top to bottom mode)
I tested it 15 minutes, it plays quite well in my opinion. I could not find severe communication errors or bugs.
It is still the case that the ball sometimes slows down, but gets fast again when hitting paddles and obstacles, and in very rare cases (when the ball hits the wall in a veeery flat angle) the ball passes the wall.
But looking at the small collection of multiplayer games this is nevertheless a good addition imho.
I have another release:
Pong Ultimate 1.2
New:
Post-processing-effects added!
Version added to title screen
This release has “items” in the stages which enables post-processing effects like dwarf mode, wobble mode or tilt mode.
One box per stage enables the effect, one box (the one with the cross) disables the effect.
In the multiplayer stages there is only the dwarf effect since the other effects are too heavy on the poor Virtual Boy.
Besides that the release is identical to 1.1, so if someone does not look like the effects one should choose this version.
Know bugs:
-the tilt disable box sometimes disappears when tilt mode is enabled, but it still disables the effect when the disc passes through (the invisible box).
– the effects lower the FPS rate, but everything is still well playable in my opinion.
A tiny update:
Pong Ultimate V1.22
Changes:
The post-process effect boxes now spawn randomly with each start of a stage.
They should not spawn in walls, paddles or obstacles though (if I calculated everything correctly).
Unfortunately I have encountered two crashes during multiplayer test. I am not sure if this is because of the newly added bits of code or if this was also the case and I was only lucky during testing of the previous version.
Nevertheless, I hope that one has fun with this new version.
And of course thanks to Jorgeche and SylvainRx for helping me again with the coding 🙂
I have tested the V1.22 with a friend over one hour in multiplayer mode.
We came to the conclusion that it is not very stable with dwarf mode enabled.
That is why I will make a V1.2X where dwarf mode in multiplayer is disabled.
But instead it shall spawn new obstacles, to make the stages harder and harder the longer you play.
In short: the most stable version at the moment (in multiplayer mode) is V1.1
EDIT: I have learnt the following: randomly spawning boxes spawn differently in multiplayer mode, i.e. player 1 has different box locations than player 2. That leads to activating and disabling of post-process effects at different times, which then creates artifacts and crashes during play in multiplayer. Hence V1.2 should also be stable, because there the boxes have fixed positions.
EDIT: V1.2 was also not stable.. But see new version V1.3 🙂
A new release!
Pong Ultimate V1.3
Change notes:
– Multiplayer stage left to right and top to bottom have no dwarf boxes anymore, instead after 90 seconds (60 seconds for the top to bottom stage) arbitrarily spawned invisible obstacles are added (two in total per stage, not near the paddles but in the half nearer to the obstacles which are already present from the beginning). A sound is introducing the new obstacles, and in the left to right multiplayer stage a note says “invisible obstacles added!”.
– New multiplayer stage! Now with two controllable paddles. Player 1 defends left and upper left area, player 2 right and lower right.
– Reworked title screen
I have tested all three multipayer stages and they are stable as far as I could test them.
The singleplayer stages still have the arbitrarily spawning post-process effect boxes, since there the effects are working.
I have added a padded ROM with 16Mbit for flashboy users.
Have fun!
