Thomas G. Sontowski, Cologne, 2022





Welcome to Rocks'n'Saucers for the Vectrex !


SHORT INFO:

- for best output the game allows calibration for a given Vectrex

during attract
- 2: immediately shows the hiscores
- 3: enters the options and
- 4: starts a game
and several control input options, brightness settings and game modes are available.
Default input is the Asteroids panel setup: 1:/2: buttons to rotate, 3: for thrust, 4: for fire
and triggering the joystick any which way for hyperspace.

The calibrations and options are stored on a DS3231 one-wire chip  if present.
The game also works w/o one in which case the calibration page always pops up when the game is started.




LONGER BACKGROUND INFO:

This is my fifth 6809 Vectrexgame and was written to be able to play a decent Asteroids game on
the Vectrex a few years ago. Only a very few standalone cart. were built back then.
Also because shortly afterwards (after finishing the Vectrex-native Deluxe variant) I realized that I could
actually output the original Asteroids vectors on the Vectrex via streaming them to the Vectrex directly.
And then get the arcade code even to run directly on my dev.cart - the VecFever.

Which probably gives you a major clue right there: I might have an ongoing Asteroids problem.
Obviously I can stop obsessing about Asteroids anytime. Any day, honest. But yes: had to program
a 6809 version there. Or stream it to the Vectrex. Or get it to run natively. Or by now own every single
Asteroids cabinet-style by Atari (even am using an Asteroids cocktail table just as a side-table
next to my computer here while I'm writing this). But I can stop anyday. Trust me. No Asty problem here.

So.. when programming Rocks'n'Saucers after the heady rush at the very start when I realized just
how near to Asteroids I could get with the basic Vectrex hw I not only felt that it not only needed to be quite
near to the original; ideally some improvements would be nice besides scratching my Asteroids itch.

The gameplay itself I would not ever want to change, it is just perfect.
So how can you improve upon the perfect game ? And if you are still not clued in: to me Asteroids is
perfect for its time, the best vector arcade game, period.

So.. well.. you can't improve upon it.

But maybe you can try to make it more accessible for new players. And put in some help for people
who want to get better at the game. So this is why there are more input options and game modes:
e.g. there is an input option now using the analog joystick where you just point your ship somewhere
and it swivels toward this direction, which seems to be more natural for modern players.
And there are more game modes. Esp. asteroids fields w/o UFOs and 'one on one' w/o asteroids
so that you can figure out strategies to deal with these game elements without having to deal with the other.
Which is crucial. Or at least to become comfortable with these challenges, before tackling both
at the same time in the normal game.

So: years later now and by now having spent so much more time with the Atari Asteroids code and game
how do I think RnS still holds up, I hear you ask ?

Very well I've got to say. Extremely well, even, thanks for asking ! I do see some smaller differences to the
original game, like the lack of >8 bit positional accuracy compared to 10-bits with the Atari original. But I do
remember that I've tried to implement a greater accuracy at one point and it's just not something feasible using a
6809 cpu whilst needing to do geometry calibrations.

Other differences which I can feel are e.g. the contact calculation boundaries for asteroids are a bit wider.
The velocity changes after hits are slightly different than the original - and faster in earlier waves.
So the game might be a tiny bit harder than the original to newbies.

Asteroids is a about a lot of things. The monochrome visuals including the fantastic shots, which the Vectrex
is able to display after all, luckily. And of course the gameplay, which is actually less challenging for a golden age arcade game
to master than almost anything come after it, once you get into the game.

Being on top of the game however isn't utterly easy: you need to figure out the game mechanics first here. Whittling down
the asteroids intelligently at first or in other words managing the asteroids field is important. Not just surviving.
Here's some help: get rid of fast movers first. destroy asteroids diligently -not hitting any (for a time depending on how
many asteroids are present) will spawn a pesky UFO which makes it harder. Or in other words aim for having a manageable asteroids
setup available once the small UFO needs to appear to be able to dance with it. And yes, it's a dance - so staying in the middle w/o
moving and destroying stuff isn't cutting it here.

There are actually reasonably easy ways to deal with the small UFO in principle: flying in and out of the screen perpendicular to the
UFO at max. speed for example, half a screen away, and it'll never be able to hit you. Hitting it while keeping that distance and staying
at max. speed isn't all that easy - hitting it, keeping away from the borders for the next one to appear - isn't all that hard in principle.
But there are remaining asteroids floating around and the next UFO might spawn near to you so it all adds up and eventually something
will likely get you. Still, this is an easier strategy to deal with the small UFO so it's worth mentioning to give you one idea of what you
can do to stay on top here. And you don't need to be perfect here - just don't die more than earning a bonus ship is all one needs
to aim for here and you can play the game literally forever. Well, until you drop because of Asteroids-induced sleep deprivation,

--Thomas

