Posted February 07, 2022 by mj.Jernigan
Yeah, I know this is a small bump in the version number to 0.9.2, but this really is a major update (I just didn't anticipate a major feature add after declaring 0.9, and don't care to go to 0.10.)
Anyhow, I wasn't expecting to add a single-player mode to this retro-mod of River Raid (since you can just play River Raid for that) but I kept trying to see how far I could escort Player 2 while testing... so I eventually gave in and built an autopilot for P2 and now I have a bonafide 1P mode. Who saw that coming? Welcome to the new 1P Escort Mode! Everything here should still be doable on the Atari 7800 should I ever take this that far (well, the audio here has more layers than the 7800, to be precise).
I made a few tweaks from the basics for the 1P game, to tune it better for the difficulties of escorting. Refueling is twice as fast. Blowing up the bridge is worth twice as much. This has turned out to be a terribly fun mod so far... but I feel like at least one more tweak is needed to make it great. That is, I need to somehow make it fair when an enemy crosses from just above an island to kill the escorted B-25-like airship. Well, more fair than just learning the map well enough to know where the best path with the best odds is. Thus, I'm considering firing a missile to the rear as well... but that just feels funny. I'll dwell on it more. Suggestions welcome.