Boxing Bugs game description

Here is most (although I seem to recall not _all_) of the Boxing Bugs
game description that is taken from the backup source floppies. Note
that it still has the working title of 'Outpost'...

---------------
 ******** NEW GAME IDEA: BUGBOMB ********* Jack Ritter Jan. 30,
1981
   (A descendent of OUTPOST)
 
 GENERAL: You are at the center of the screen. You are a cannon that
(can rotate in any direction. You control the direction by
(pushing the LEFT or RIGHT button, which rotates the cannon
(counter clockwise or clockwise. You fire the cannon by hitting
(the FIRE button. This sends a sparkling energy ball out of
(the barrel. In a close ring around the cannon is a segmented
(wall of protection, e.g., an octagon. The next outer ring
(surrounding this is a detonation zone (e.g., a larger octagon).
(Along the outer periphery of the screen are scattered various time
(bombs. Little bugs, your enemy, randomly appear from the edge
(of the screen. They will try to push a bomb from the peripheral
(area up into the detonation zone. Once a bomb enters the
(detonation zone, it starts ticking. Ticking is clearly visible
(by dots appearing in the bomb, filling up a 3 by 3 grid. This
(thus started, IT IS GOING TO GO OFF IN 9 TICKS, the only
(question is, WHERE. If it goes off in the detonation zone, it
(will blow out the nearest segment in your protection ring.
(Subsequently, a bomb going off in that unprotected sector
(will destroy you. You can push a ticking bomb out of the detonation
(zone by blasting it with the cannon. The energy ball
(will explode against it and knock it outward a given distance.
(A well-placed energy ball or 2 from the cannon will knock it back
(out of the detonation zone. Then a nearby bug will try to
(push it back at you, as it would with any bomb. Ticking bombs can
(thus be pushed back and forth, like HOT POTATOES. If a bomb goes
(off outside the detonation zone, it will not harm you, but it
(will wipe out any nearby bugs. You can also blast bugs directly
(with the cannon. Hitting such a bug gives an explosion.
(Bugs will try to hide behind bombs, so they can push them in,
(outward by the force of a ball. The round ends when a bomb
(finally goes off in an unprotected sector (segment previously
(blown away). As a final defense, you can protect yourself
(from exploding bombs (even if your segments are mostly gone)
(by aiming AWAY from a bomb about to go off, as the back
(of the cannon has armor plating. There is of course an IRA:
(a special bug which comes in at you, weaving deviously,
(and stealing an important segment.
 

 SCORING: Hitting a bomb being pushed in at you will knock it out a
ways,
)and it will totally knock the bug away from it and off the screen.
)Doing this to a bug scores low points. Hitting a bug directly
)and blowing it up will score more points. Getting a bomb to
)blow up in outer bug territory will score the most points,
)and will score for each bug taken out in the bomb's explosion.
)Destroying an IRA will of course score mucho el points-o.

 STRATEGY: It's good to wait until a bomb is almost ready to go off,
then
)pushing it out at bugs, who will have no time to respond, and
)get blown up. When the game progresses and there are multiple
)ticking bombs in the detonation zone, dont worry about the ones that
)have recently started to tick unless you have time. Also,
)worry about bombs near an open segment before ones with
)a segment between them and you. Bugs will tend to cluster at
)certain places (probably via the mechanism of bugs that get
)knocked while pushing will spin and bounce around, as if
)disoriented, and collect in a cluster). Thus, having a bomb
)go off near such a cluster will take out lots of bugs and
)score big. You can hit a bomb dead center or at a glance.
)It is possible to intentionally knock a bomb toward a cluster
)by hitting it at a glance (with "english") if there is not
)a straight shot. Biginners of course could be effective
)could use good timing and english to push imminently
)explosive bombs into high population bug zones.

 GAME PROGRESSION: A round ends when your cannon is blown up by a time
)bomb. There are several rounds per game. As your score gets better,
)difficulty level increases by having the bugs move faster,
)and be smarter, ie, by pushing bombs up to an unprotected
)sector, rather than just pushing them radially inward.
)If you knock out all the bugs on the screen, another flurry
)appears.

 SOUND: There is a low, prolonged rumble when an exploding energy ball
pushes
)a bomb outward, a sharper rumble when a ball hits an
)unprotected bug, and a super rumble when any timg bomb
)goes off. A travelling energy ball makes a sparkling hiss.
)A moving IRA of course makes the famous IRA sound.
)When a bomb first starts ticking, a voice (if there is vocal
)circuitry) could say "bomb will go off in x seconds". A voice

 ATTACHED FIGURES: FIG. 1 shows a game scenario. Three protective
)segments have previously been blown away by time bombs.
)There are currently four bombs in the detonation zone:
)bombs A,B,C,and D. Cannon is blasting back bomb A, which
)is in an unprotected zone, and about to go off (eight ticks).
)Bomb C is equally dangerous, but back of cannon will get
)the blast, which is protected by plates. Bomb B is a threat,
)but can wait, as it is only up to 2 ticks. Bomb D will of
)course go off soon, but will only take out a segment, not
)wipe out cannon. Also shown is bug E (unprotected) and
)bug F (maneuvering another bomb inward). IRA is shown
)weaving inward toward a segment. If bomb A is sucessfully
)made to go off out of zone, (shown as bomb A1), it will
)take out the three bugs nearby, including the one hiding
)behind a bomb.

(FIG 2: Shows the 2 types of energy ball explosions. type

(This is followed by the bomb sliding out a fixed distance,
(and the bug pushing it (if there is one) being knocked off
(the screen is a random direction.

(FIG 3: Shows the ticking scheme of a time bomb, going from
(1 tick to 9 ticks (about to go off).

 GRAPHIC CONSIDERATIONS: Bugs are circular, thus need only
(translation, and no rotation. Bombs are square, but are
(always orthogonal, i.e., never rotated. All figures are
(minimal number of lines. Bugs could push bombs and walk up to bombs
(in straight paths, if implementation simplicity dictated.
(A bug can walk through a bomb or another bug, so no proximity
(check need be made in these cases. The 180 degree energy
(ball explosion is done so that the half circle depicted
(is on the cannon side of the bomb being pushed.
(The 180 form of the explosion can probably be coded
(as a simple case of the full 360 degree explosion. Sparkly
(during explosion) can be accomplished by randomly drawing
(radial streaks of a random length, always ending at the
(enclosing and defining circle. The explosion radius of a
(time bomb exploding will be bigger and mightier than an
(exploding energy ball from the cannon.

IMPROVEMENTS: A relatively easy future enhancemenmt to the game
(would be more visually pleasing bugs, and bombs. See FIG. 4.
(Also, an additional control could be added, as currently only
(3 buttons are used: LEFT, RIGHT, and FIRE.

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Received on Mon Feb 9 19:31:04 2004