Post by Itizso in Tomy Sky Attack

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Your input is greatly appreciated mate. Especially given how familiar (and insanely skilled) you are with the game. I especially like your suggestion of having one rate at which the speed increases from level 1 to 7, and then have a different (faster) rate after level 7 which will ramp up the speed much quicker.

I've updated the dev build so you can try it out. I've increased the speed between level 1 and 7 so that by the time you get to level 7 it's a little faster than it was in the previous build. I've also made the rate of the player's shots faster to balance out the increase in the speed for novice players. After level 7, you should notice the enemy attack speed increase a lot quicker with each level since I can now set a different rate from that of level 1 to 7. Just let me if you think the speed in the levels after level 7 ramps up enough, or if I should increase the rate some more. Should be lot easier to increase the rate now if needed since it won't affect the speed for levels 1 to 7.

I didn't change anything specific to fix the issue where sharks in the left and right channel sometimes don't attack upwards, but I didn't get it while testing the latest changes. Perhaps I changed something inadvertently with the latest updates, or maybe it still happens but I just didn't notice. Let me know if you still find some sharks don't attack upward when they should.

If all goes well I'm hoping to release Shark Attack on Monday.

Cosmoguy2k26 days ago (2 edits)

Hiya, had 4 to 5 goes at it, i really like this change but lol:

1. Because of the increased fire rate I can literally stay on one side and stop 90% of the sharks coming up so I think the speed of the sharks need increasing by about 20% at level 12 then staying at that speed.

2. I've really noticed the speed increase of the sharks coming at the player and I feel the speed they come up at level 11 is perfect, anything past that and even I can't react in time lol

3. The font on the original game with the number 7's they are like hooked over the top (See image) Also the score usually starts with one "0" and yours starts at "00"

Conclusion, what I think may be best
Levels 1 > 7 are fine the way they are. From 8 > 11 the sharks swimming towards the diver is increased upto level 11 as this is plenty fast enough. At level 12 the sharks at the bottom speed up by 20% ish but stay at that speed throughout if this can be done :)

Cheers

7 font in the original game

Itizso26 days ago

Thanks for testing. Sounds like we're much closer now. Yeah, it should be possible to increase the speed of the sharks at the bottom by 20% at level 12 and then remain constant. And thanks for the note on the number 7. As for the score having a minimum of 2 digits displayed, this is only on the RetroFab enhanced artwork mode so it's more visually balanced with the added level display. If you switch to the original artwork mode it always starts with 1 digit as per the original game.

Cosmoguy2k25 days ago

Ah that makes sense, when I test it I will let you know if the increased speed of the sharks at the bottom is not enough or too much or who knows just right lol

Itizso25 days ago

Okay, I've uploaded a new build for you to test. I tried your suggestion of bumping up the speed of the bottom sharks by 20% at level 12 and it worked great to allow more sharks to get pass the line of fire forcing the player to move out of the corner. However, it obviously doesn't solve the problem in the levels leading up to level 12. So I got to thinking, what if instead I compensated for the increased player fire rate (which is the root cause of the problem) by adding a small delay before they can fire again. And it looks like that does the trick. Now after level 7 a lot more sharks at the bottom get through the line of fire even if the player is spamming the fire button.

The only question remaining now is at what level to cap the speed of the sharks rising up to attack the player after which they will remain constant. It should probably still be around level 11 or 12, based on the previous build, but I've set it at level 14 in this build, just so you can test out level 13 and 14 if you want to see how it feels. Then again, it might need to be even earlier than level 12. It's your call.

Overall though I'm feeling good about the build. I still can't make it past level 7 without cheating, but on the plus side I'm doing much better in the bonus rounds. Almost certainly because of the faster fire rate, but I'm telling myself its because I'm getting better ;-)

Cosmoguy2k25 days ago

Wow! We are soo close to getting this right on! I love the slower fire rate but because now i can't keep hold of fire it hurts my wrist so if you can do it where i can still keep hold of the fire button with the equivelent fire rate that will be amazing.

Seems 20% increase wasn't enough but thats just down to my skill level then anything and almost made level 20 (3,895) so maybe another 15 - 20% increase of the sharks at the bottom will do the trick.

The speed of the sharks coming up on level 14 is absolutely right on target as I can react in time but very challanging especially now I can't just stay on 1 side as I like a challange, plus just staying on one side in a challange video is a bit lame lol.

Another thing I noticed some of the sharks seem to disappear for good or just re-appear, however on the original game when they are at level 6 & 7 sometimes they disappear when they start coming up towards the player which can throw the player off and this is pretty much the same difference and I like that :D

Conclusion:
Increase speed of the sharks on the bottom by another 15-20%
Hold fire button for constant fire at the same rate it is now as its about right
Cap game speed at level 12 with sharks coming up at the player same speed as level 14 in this build

Itizso25 days ago (1 edit)

Thanks for the feedback. New build with latest updates now uploaded.

Auto repeat on fire button turned back on. Redistributed the speed of the attacking sharks between level 8 and 12 so the speed at level 12 now matches level 14 from the previous build. And increased the rate of the bottom sharks speed between level 8 and 12 to be 20% faster. All speeds remain constant from level 12 onwards. Everything between levels 1 to 7 remain unchanged. Let me know if all feels right now. And thanks again for your contributions to make this simulation possible! It is much appreciated.

Cosmoguy2k24 days ago (1 edit)

It's been a priviledge in helping you with this as it's a game thats really close to my heart as I've been playing it for 31 years and counting lol. This build is really good mate! I would suggest turning the players fire rate down a little as it's faster than the previous build and thats it I think the rest is spot on :) Cheers

Itizso24 days ago

Thanks. That's great! I think the auto repeat on the fire button makes it a bit faster than firing manually so I'll add a slight delay on the auto repeat. I'll let you when the release is live!

Cosmoguy2k24 days ago

Nice one thankyou for all your hard work in this, I really appreciate it! I've been searching for years to see if anyone had built this game for pc and it made me so happy to be involved in the development, your coding skills with my knowledge of the game make a good team :D

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