Last Starfighter video game project - COMPLETED

[Rook 3]

Will post new screen grabs soon-

Thoughts?

Yeah, I think it's a good idea to post screen shots.

(though in the flick, it looks like the game was meant to be played start to finish on a single quarter and subsequent quarters would start anew).

That makes sense really, but it was around that time period (1982-1984) that designers added the continue option, allowing a given game to make even more money. But classics such as Pac Man, Joust, etc. released only a couple years earlier didn't have a continue option. Perhaps if you don't want to add a "continue" option (which, as you said seems in the spirit of the film seen game) it should drop back to the attract mode after 4-5 seconds of "Insert coin."

Since you like adding so many additional functions for us freebie seeking slackers ( ), maybe you could have the continue as a dip switch selectible option. I don't know how it would affect gameplay, if at all, but I can go either way on the idea. If it's too much of a bother, leave it out. The more I think about it, the more I agree with your earlier thought.

I agree on the clunky reticle- I will rework that for sure- Thinking of mapping everything to keys as well as mouse (mapped keys will be smooth for sure as opposed to a geographic field effect from the mouse)- On the fixit list

Why is mouse control clunky as opposed to keyboard control? Is it a technical issue relating to the mouse function itself? Most mice have good dpi accuracy these days. I think my optical is "accurate" to 800 dpi. Useful for Photoshop... or Unreal Tournament 2004.

Also, decided to abandon the Xurian Meteor gun model for a few reasons- (1) looks bad in the break in the frontier when realized (2) it was my own design and not at all in the movie (3) difficulties and visual snafus on the firing-

Good reasons for axing it.

I am working the level with the command ship so you actually face the command ship at a distance and have to blow up a bunch of meteor bombs then disable the meteor gun on the command ship.

Sounds like a good approach to the finale.

It flees to be faced later in the last level-
This seemed to make more sense to me, remain truer to the game/movie, and should be visually preferable-

I agree. Stay as close to the screen seen gameplay, while adding your own interpretation in certain questionable areas. Which you've done thus far nicely.

Rook

 

[eaviii]

Cool- I definitely favor staying close to the game in the flick with the added features mirroring parts of the film as game footage not seen (there is clearly a fair amount of gametime not seen when he talks with Otis).

The mouse problem has to do with how I mapped it and not with the mouse itself- I will try to enable dual smooth controls for keyboard and mouse- I like the idea of mapped keys for the sake of using an iPac in the cab.

I think a continue dipswitch makes good sense and would be easy to do.

Working on it- The command ship does look better in the break in the frontier- Got it cutting then firing meteors-

Doc

 

[Rook 3]

And for something totally unrelated... proof that Area 51 does exist...

Let's just say, hand cutting stencils... is for the birds. 10 hours worth of
work in those stupid stencils alone.

And then hauling the cabinet into the house, when I reconnected the right gun, I flipped the cable over... and smoked it. I blame the fact that I had to make a 1 foot extension cable to reach the boards, and it wasn't real clear which side was "up."

Oh well, live and learn. The side art is also an "in" joke, as the cabinet is supposed to have an A51/Max Force conversion kit in it, but the hard drive for the kit is toast I discovered last week. It's always something in this hobby. :confused

Rook

 

[eaviii]

COOL multicab man-
Doc

 

[Dishnu]

just a quick question will this be able to use a joystick combo in the future I found it hard to control the ball and fire weapons at the same time other then that I really liked it

 

[Rook 3]

Doc's "ideal" is to make it operate like the movie version, which means it will have 2 joysticks for operation, one controlling chair/turret movement, the other controlling targeting.

Keep in mind that the version you can download right now is a work in progress so features such as keyboard remapping do not exist yet.

Rook

 

[eaviii]

Originally posted by Rook 3@Jun 2 2005, 12:55 PM
Doc's "ideal" is to make it operate like the movie version, which means it will have 2 joysticks for operation, one controlling chair/turret movement, the other controlling targeting.

Keep in mind that the version you can download right now is a work in progress so features such as keyboard remapping do not exist yet.

Rook

[snapback]1002160[/snapback]​

Yes indeed- Thanks Rook-

Doc

 

[eaviii]

Just a few screen caps and a bump-

The frontier level against the command ship- Pretty pleased, the frontier does seem to extend into infinity (beyond the visual limits of the software- parallax trick from a fixed point)

Burrowing a hole in the frontier-
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=20826&t=i[/image]
Hole complete . . .
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=20827&t=i[/image]


[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=672&in=20828&t=i[/image]
Bishop of Battle saucer. How did that get in there?

(I was on call this weekend so I'm a little punchy)

Doc

 

[eaviii]

Just a post and bump- Posted a huge number of better cab pics and measurements on BYOAC for the guys who volunteered to do blueprints and hires vectorized sideart- Rather then retag all the image files to this thread-

The BYOAC thread is:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,35405.0.html

The Fotoheap album is public and is:
http://www.fotoheap.com/gallery.php?on=207&an=1940

Continuing to work on the software- Project coming along-

Doc

 

[Rook 3]

Thanks for the pics Doc, looking forward to the actual plans being released.

Do you have a pic of the "instructions" on the panel? Just curious what they say.

As an aside, where do you take your custom cabinet graphics to have them printed? I've had things printed locally at a print shop, but the printer they use doesn't do a great job overall.

Rook

 

[eaviii]

Originally posted by Rook 3@Jun 18 2005, 02:12 AM
Thanks for the pics Doc, looking forward to the actual plans being released.

Do you have a pic of the "instructions" on the panel? Just curious what they say.

As an aside, where do you take your custom cabinet graphics to have them printed? I've had things printed locally at a print shop, but the printer they use doesn't do a great job overall.

Rook

[snapback]1014947[/snapback]​

Cool- I go here locally to a place called Creative Type and they do an excellent job- The instruction sheet on the game was actually a sign we put on for a party that said it was a prop cabinet and not to try to play the game- You'd be amazed at the number of folks who still vigorously shook the controls before reading the sign-

Doc

 

[Rook 3]

Le requisite bump.

I just picked up a copy of Adobe Illustrator, and I'm half tempted to try vectorizing the cabinet graphics since nobody has stepped to the fore to do so.

Unless someone HAS stepped to the fore... and not said anything.

Also, would it be possible for you to take another "high res" photo of the Starfighter Command symbol from the side of your cab? The first image you have up on your photo server is the right size, but it's blurred. The second one is clear, but you cropped off the sides and bottom of the circle.

Thanks,

Rook

 

[eaviii]

Originally posted by Rook 3@Jul 8 2005, 02:08 AM
Le requisite bump.

I just picked up a copy of Adobe Illustrator, and I'm half tempted to try vectorizing the cabinet graphics since nobody has stepped to the fore to do so.

Unless someone HAS stepped to the fore... and not said anything.

Also, would it be possible for you to take another "high res" photo of the Starfighter Command symbol from the side of your cab? The first image you have up on your photo server is the right size, but it's blurred. The second one is clear, but you cropped off the sides and bottom of the circle.

Thanks,

Rook

[snapback]1028869[/snapback]​

No problem man but I did think there was someone interested in doing it on the BYOAC- I will post another full shot- Give me a day or so-

Doc

 

[Rook 3]

More dumb questions...

Doc, is the marquee really only 4 3/4" tall? Does the edge of the marquee end with the white band, or is there black beyond that? Is the top edge width and bottom edge width the width of the marquee itself, or does that include the cabinet frame as well?

Another thing... I had some OLD screen caps from the DVD (photos taken of the tv screen actually. ) and on the cabinet as Lance quest is standing by it there IS a set of instructions in that empty space between the L/R controls.

Did you get that piece of art when you got the cabinet?

Thanks,

Rook

 

[GeorgeC]

Be careful and don't get too good at this game, guys, OR the Alliance may draft you for the war effort. :lol





Seriously, though, everybody's heard the Pentagon has used videogames to train Marines for embassy guard duty (Doom) and Army enlisted for tanks (BattleZone).

There's been a rumor since the late 1970s/early 1980s that the Pentagon might have been looking for the best Missile Command players to draft them for an SDI-like project. I think it's hokum, myself, but it's one of those urban myths that refuses to die... and that's given support by the fact that Doom and BattleZone have been adapted for training purposes.

 

[Rook 3]

Pretty quiet in here. Anyone doing anything? Me, I'm grillin' hot dogs tomorrow.
Fixed the grandkids PS2 tonight, but that's not arcade related.

Rook

 

[eaviii]

A bit slow on the development front-

My realworld work comes in 5 month cycles (3 mos of "on service" and 2mos not- Thin cattle eating fat cattle and all of that)- July was my third month of conscription so things should be moving along again very soon- The problem is the integration phase of things which requires a few 9 hour marathons to move forward (hence the weird burst of forward movement in April)- The models are easy pick up (no time relearning where you were) which is why they seemed to have moved the most over the past couple of months- Also finished the first series of the Bishop of Battle models (need to redo the arena- currently just sloppy)-

It is moving forward however- The "last" 2 levels are the command ship levels and they require me to just figure out the arrays/variable assignments- Then fixing up sounds and attract mode should be pretty fast (all relatively isolated code snippets)-

Still owe you a clear logo photo-

Doc

 

[Rook 3]

Originally posted by eaviii@Aug 2 2005, 10:38 AM
A bit slow on the development front-

My realworld work comes in 5 month cycles (3 mos of "on service" and 2mos not- Thin cattle eating fat cattle and all of that)- July was my third month of conscription so things should be moving along again very soon-

Sounds good. Whenever you get to it. I'm still trying to decide which of my MAME'd projects I want to finish/start first, My generic MAME cab (have the cab, need all the important bits...), my Visual Pinball cab (concept stage), My DL/Laserdisk cab (concept stage) or Starfighter (concept stage).

Still owe you a clear logo photo-

Doc

[snapback]1047796[/snapback]​

No problem, whenever you get to it. I still haven't figured Illustrator out yet. Like you, work (and life) has been kepping me from fun lately.

Rook

 

[eaviii]

Originally posted by Rook 3@Aug 3 2005, 12:12 AM
No problem, whenever you get to it. I still haven't figured Illustrator out yet. Like you, work (and life) has been kepping me from fun lately.

Rook

[snapback]1048284[/snapback]​

Grabbed some photos- Sorry about the washout with the second 2 but lighting in the game room is understandably dark-

[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=1851&in=23935&t=i[/image]
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=1851&in=23936&t=i[/image]
[image]http://www.fotoheap.com/image.php?on=207&an=1851&in=23937&t=i[/image]

-Doc

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

Hu-BBA ...

Man that is awesome, awesome, awesome ...

I think I´ll have to reread the thread to get to some technical info.

One thing thoug, the airbubbles in the sticker are a shame, have you tried using a little water/dish washing stuff-mix under the sticker ? it lets you reposition the sticker, and wipe out those bubbles easily. When the dishwashing-solution dries away, it will look perfect. Well, at least as perfect as it can be on such a perfect prop

Michael