Re: Review: Bobobot preview

[Bill Kendrick <nbs@sonic.net>]

On Wed, Oct 30, 2002 at 06:57:27PM +0100, Francesco Orsenigo, Xarvh Project wrote:
> This one is nice.

Thanks :^)


> I had to reduce video resolution to 640x480 to obtain a gaming surface large 
> enough to play -Xlib seems not a great choice- but i must admit it worked 
> flawlessly and neatly.

Yeah - One of the reasons I stopped working on Bobobot is because I discovered
SDL and found it WAY easier to use.  I'd like to eventually convert it to
SDL.


> (I played it without audio).

The sound/music is pretty good, I think.  Maybe it's nostalgia.
(Heh - nostalgia for something I wrote 4 years ago?)


> About the gameplay: special weapons are not very exciting,

Yeah. :^(  I found it hard to make them as interesting as MegaMan II
(the game I was trying to simulate).


> and they get 
> depleted too quickly (it would be nice to be ablte to reload them somewhat).

Playing it again today, I've really noticed that.  Especially the freeze gun.


> Also, they're not worth it, as the best tactic against bosses is stand there, 
> hit 'z' like crazy, and *sometimes* try to avoid being hit.

Yeah - The bosses are unimpressive.  It was fun coding them, though. :^)


> I'd liked to see the character wield the weapon it uses and maybe do 
> something other than jumping and shooting.

In games like Bobobot and (my other unfinished titled) SuperTux,
I really wanted to stay as close to the original game I was cloning as
possible.  I didn't want to start getting TOO complicated.
(Like in SuperTux, I don't want there to be multiple weapons and so forth.
Super Mario Bros. had only the fire flower thing; that was it.)


> I could not fight the final boss (dunno if this is a bug).

Hmm - I forget how the last preview release was rigged up, but that sounds
right.  Sorry for frustrating you.  I was _planning_ on doing 4 more levels
and then finishing off the final boss level.

(The final boss character is a cliche - a videogame/sci-fi gag, if you will.)


> Should you need some gfx or small animation, i'd gladly help.

Time and interest, really. ;^)  My lame c0ding skillz back then really
made the project difficult to work on (it was getting a little... big,
especially for GCC on my P133)

I vow to get back to it one day (I whip it out and play a few levels
every now and then).  I've been a LITTLE busy lately, though ;^)

  http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/tuxpaint/
  http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/wedding/ *


-bill!
* It was great, BTW. :^)  And I didn't vomit or nothin'!