Mind Boggler (Mattel Electronics, 1978) is now available to playtest on RetroLab.
Please report any bugs or issues.
Mind Boggler (Mattel Electronics, 1978) is now available to playtest on RetroLab.
Please report any bugs or issues.
That's quite a cool little game, have never seen that before. Basically the same style of logic as the physical mastermind board game but with more possible variations however you don't get a running record of your hits and near hits as you do with the board game.
The subtle little effects such as the pulsating display are what really make your creations stand out.
On the topic of displays, do these devices generally use a gas discharge display or a vacuum fluorescent display? I've started to do a little reading about both types.
Yeah, I'd never seen it before either until I saw a playthrough on YouTube. And thanks for noticing the pulsating display effect. It's nice to know the extra time spent adding these little details is appreciated :) As for the display, like most Mattel games from this period, it uses a vacuum fluorescent display.
Guessing it was this video you watched?
On the topic of the display pulsing/flickering, my guess is that this may be an effect that is really only evident in videos rather than seeing it in person, I suspect that the refresh rate of the VFD is different to the frame rate of the video recording and hence you see a flickering effect when viewed through the camera. I could be totally wrong of course, I've just asked the question of the owner in that video, awaiting a reply.
I had some type of submarine/battleship style game back in the 80's that had what was probably a VFD display and I don't really recall it flickering very much.
That being said, I really like the pulsating effect even if it does prove to not be totally accurate.
I got a reply back from the guy who posted the video and he did say that the pulsating is not visible in person, just a result of the camera frame rate vs refresh rate of the display.
You could perhaps include an option to disable the effect for true to life accuracy but I personally would leave the effect on as it looks great. I guess you could also try increasing the pulse frequency to a faster speed and that may still provide just enough flicker to be barely detectable to the eye but more true to life?