1. New StarThief Beta
I've got a new beta for StarThief (.4) on my Euphoria site. I need to get
feedback from as many of you as possible. I'm hoping to wrap up
production of StarThief by monday. I apologize to those of you who get
this message multiple times. My distribution lists overlap.
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Lord Generic Productions
Project: StarThief
Subject: StarThief Beta .4 Whatsup.doc 3/6/97
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Greetings! This is the fourth beta of StarThief. The game is playable
with no crash bugs as far as I'm aware. Check the Bug List at the
end of this document.
If you find something that isn't on the list, please try and explain how you
got it as best as you can, and send me the ex.err file if the program
crashes in ways not listed.
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=Important News:=
=================
Due to forthcoming marketing promotions, I need to get this game finished
by March 14. I need you playtesters to really hammer on this thing and
give me a steady stream of bug reports. I need player feedback too, so
let as many people play it as possible and let me know what they think.
So far, the reaction to StarThief have been VERY positive. That's a good
thing.
Game Description:
You did such a great job clearing the OidZone that your boss has
promoted you to night watchman over a collection of StarStuff. You need
to keep it safe from the StarThieves, a wandering band of thieves who like
to steal StarStuff right under the nose of a careless night watchman.
Every once in awhile a couple of StarThieves will rush in and each
will try and take a container of StarStuff. If they take all six
containers, you are unemployed.
Beware: When you shoot a StarThief, he will release a DestroyerDrone
which will hunt you down like the dog you are. You need to shoot
each one to destroy it. The StarThief will drop the container
when you shoot him, but any other StarThief in the area with nothing to do
will try and get the container while you are busy dispatching with the
Destroyer Drones. They are sneaky that way.
Game controls are exactly the same as OidZone.
Left Ctrl - Thrust
Left Alt - Fire
Left Shift - Slow Down - This was in the last version too, I forgot to
mention it.
Space - Hyperspace
Right Crtl - Rotate left
Right Alt - Rotate Right
F - Flip Rotate keys
A - Arcade Controls - Switch left and right hand.
Version History=
New in Version .4
* The transition between players is more fair now. I have everyone
sit and wait for the player to warp in before going for the stuff.
* I retarget everyone after every explosion, which gives the player
a chance to "get into" the game again by slowing down the thieves
closest to containers. The player gets almost 3 seconds to start
blasting before the thieves take off with the containers.
I needed to retarget all the containers and thieves every once in awhile,
since some of the thieves forgot what they were doing. An interesting
side effect is that sometimes a thief will let go of the container it is
carrying and go for another one. If they don't let go, they'll change
the direction they were traveling in and go off the screen somewhere else.
It looks kinda cool, so I'm keeping both of these for the time being.
* The "Player 1" and "Player 2" are color cycled text now during the
transitions between players. The HERE COME and GAMEOVER anims still
have the "Old" graphic, that should change eventually.
* The Guitar solo plays during the transition between players.
* The DestroyerDrones are slower now.
* Misc bug fixes.
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New in version .3:
* 2 player games work correctly now, as far as I can tell.
* The About Starthief information is correct now.
* The DestroyerDrones are very fast now, but you only get one of them.
* The Thieves grab the containers in a different order now. It looked
funny to have them grab the containers counterclockwise in order. It's
not random, but it looks better now.
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New in Version .2:
* I added the new sfx for StarThief. They are very funny.
* The Intro and About music switches randomly between the rhythm track and
the guitar solo. The switchoff is better this version than before.
Yes that IS me playing both parts.
* It doesn't crash anymore, at least not like last time. =)
* The Thieves come on more often now. There were times when it lagged.
a bit before sending new thieves. Now a new thief appears whenever
you pop one, so you almost always have 2 big thieves going for your
stuff.
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Things that aren't working yet:
* The end of the game is too abrupt. I think I'll destroy the player's
ship when he runs out of containers, then gameover.
* I may make the containers move around onscreen. I was thinking of having
them move in a circle around the center of the screen. If I can make it
work and the thieves can find their targets, I'll add it.
Bugs List 3/6/97
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!@#$CRASH$#@!
NO CRASH BUGS AT ALL. If you find one, it's a figment of your imagination,
but just to be on the safe side, you might as well send me the ex.err file.
BugBugBugBugBugBug
Sometimes when something hits you, you don't explode, you just dissappear.
beats me why.
Have fun.
Michael Packard
Lord Generic Productions
lgp at exo.com http://exo.com/~lgp
