From: zimmy@kalman.eng.ohio-state.edu (Michael Zimmerman)
Subject: Re: ARASHI 1.0a on sumex-aim
Keywords: Arashi Storm Tempest
Organization: The Ohio State University Dept of Electrical Engineering
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 21:15:55 GMT

In article <00WQ03VRc6TW00@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com> jsp@pls.amdahl.com writes:
>
>First, let me say that I really love Arashi.  If those who've worked on
>it are worried that some netters might get on their case for reasons 
>similar to the current Maelstrom flap, I can say that I think the two
>cases are totally different.  The whole purpose of Arashi is to duplicate
>the arcade game, so the more copying it does the better as far as I'm
>concerned.
>
>So please, guys, keep up the good work.

Thanks :-) Planning to.

>
>klui@corp.hp.com (Kenneth K.F. Lui) writes:
>
>}In article <1992Dec22.182109.18982@nntp.hut.fi> jmunkki@vipunen.hut.fi (Juri Munkki) writes:
>}>I kind of like the way fuseballs work now.
>}[...]
>}>                                  Arashi is probably a bit more
>}>difficult in this respect.
>}>
>}Yes, it's a _lot_ more difficult than the arcade version.  I'm
>}having a difficult time getting past the yellow Star.
>
>I would really like to see this brought more in line with the arcade
>game.  I often find myself with two fuseballs approaching me from 
>opposite sides.  In that case, there is *nothing* that I can do except 
>die (assuming that I've used up my mega-blast, or whatever the spacebar 
>command is called).  This seems rather unfair.
>
>Of course, if there's something that I've missed, and there is some way
>to kill a fuseball when it's on the outer rim, please tell me now!

I am in the middle of version 1.1.  One of the things I have "corrected"
is the ability (albeit hard) to slide under fuseballs that are on a vertex
on the edge.  I believe the arcade version worked this way.

>
>}>I had a lot of trouble remembering how pulsars should work... I'm
>}>still not sure hwo they work, because my memories are clouded from
>}>the amount of testing that I did with Arashi/STORM.
>}>
>}It appears as though pulsars are always pulsing except for a
>}fraction of the time when they are changing lanes in Arashi.  In
>}Tempest, the pulsars pulsate at a different rate than their rate
>}in which they're changing lanes.  i.e. There's a long-enough
>}period of time when all pulsars aren't pulsing and are either
>}changing lanes or moving up/down a tube.  All pulsars pulse at
>}the same time.  The only "safe" method of killing pulsars is to
>}constantly fire at an adjacent lane and wait for it to move into
>}your lane in Arashi.  'Course, this method also works for Tempest.
>
>Here, too, I'd like to vote for the arcade way.  Until I read this,
>I thought that my memory of the arcade game was faulty; I hadn't
>remembered pulsars being *that* much trouble.  In Arashi, once the
>pulsars appear, my whole style of play has to change drastically or
>I just keep getting zapped by those things.  They just take way too
>much of my attention.  And on the invisible levels, the Arashi pulsars
>are almost impossible to deal with (at least for me), because without
>the lane lines, it's just too difficult to get exactly one lane over
>from them.
>

I can look into this more.  I also made the pulsars more like the fuseballs
so you can also "slide" under them while they are hinging on the edge.
No promises :-)

Anyway, I will be gone for a week, but hope to have a good solid beta
of 1.1 being tested while I am gone, so it can be ready soon after I get
back.

Glad you are enjoying it,
Mike

-- 
                                               zimmy@ee.eng.ohio-state.edu
 Humpty Dumpty was pushed...                   PADI AOW/drift/deep