Version 1.0.0 Released... FINALLY!

After a long long loooooooooooooooong hiatus, I have finally returned to this PC-prototype-of-a-7800-game adventure... and finished it!  Now I can start thinking seriously about the production work for the Atari 7800 port.

To be clear, this does not mean that the Atari 7800 port is done, or even started (other than the art assets and 2600 code analysis this prototype work generated).  Thus far, I have only 4 requests for the 7800 port.  If that does not include you, then voice your support for it here: https://itch.io/t/966159/where-is-the-atari-7800-build.  The deal is that once I reach 50 requests, I'll move the port to somewhere near the top of my priority list.  While that still doesn't guarantee anything, it does make it very likely.  It is, after all, the slow trickle of interest that prompted me to keep working on this on rare occasion.  On the other hand, I might find some time between my other game-dev work and feed my urge to port it regardless of 50 votes or not.  You never know.  But I generally go where the most interest from others is.

I did, after all, stay true to my comment that I would try to get back to this during the last NM game jam.  I even started and finished the "Unidentified Countermeasure Device" (UCD) feature during one day of that jam.  It took, however, several more days of work (~80 hours) to finish the rest of my todo list to make this Version One release.  It is often still surprising to me how many of those tiny, little, polish things you save for last, can take so much time to build.  But that's why you saved them for last, right?  You just know in the back of your head that this nice-to-have won't affect playtesting in the slightest, but will require significant code kung foo to implement, so you push it to the back of the mad bicycle pack in your endless mind.

While I did (painfully, admittedly) tick everything off my todo list... for v1... I didn't tick absolutely everything off my todo list.  There are still a few minor things I have saved for testing/tweaking on the 7800 port.

Also, just because this is version 1, that doesn't mean there won't be a version 1.1.  I, personally, doubt it.  I think this is ready for porting.  But you never know when someone is gonna find some issue or suggest something better.  For instance, I'm not good enough at this game to thoroughly test it myself.  The new 1P Escort mode is very tough (and quite fun in spite of that).  Thus, I'm hoping for feedback on that and the 5 UCDs I give for each dark-green level.  On that note, if anyone does find an escort level that is not winnable with 5 UCDs, screenshoot the end screen, share it, and I'll check it out.

Added

• Completed the 1P Escort mode, namely by adding an "Unidentified Countermeasure Device" (UCD) feature to button 2.  (Huge regrets on using a second button, but... sigh... double sigh... it is what it is.)  Note that UCDs score at 1/10th point value.
• Hold last frame of splash down (out of fuel, B-25 killed) for a bit of nice polish.
  
• Block input for 1/2 second when a menu pops up (pause, game over, etc.) to avoid accidental selection.
  
• Added support for WASD (et al) in addition to Arrows (etc.) in 1P mode.
• Added a readme.txt (for those who don't itch.io).
• Added something else you've always wanted to do in the original River Raid but could not.  I'm not telling, though.  I'll leave that for you all to figure out.  Whoever announces it first, that honor was meant for you.  Congratulations!

Changed

• Both planes now die if they collide with the same object at the same time (dividing the score where it matters).
• Both missiles now hit if they hit the same object at the same time (dividing the score where it matters).  An undamaged bridge in 2P mode, however, will be completely destroyed if hit by both missiles simultaneously.
• Changed the high-score data format yet again (don't worry, it still reads the old formats).  Blame the UCDs.
• Lowered the pitch of the beeps for P2 during initials entry for high score.  Just a silly thing.
• Changed the instrument panel from gray to black because, well, cockpits are black!
• Changed the fuel gauge art (not just the color either).
• Changed the barracks windows from black to blue (because that sprite had room for a 3rd color still).

Fixed

• Game now properly ends when you win it (not that anyone other than a bot has -- thus, not really broken before -- just undone).  That is, when you hit the score of "!!!!!!".  That is, the score of 1,000,000.  It ends with a similar FX to the original... only better.  I considered letting the game go higher... but why?  Thus, no reason to make the UI (and data storage) space for it either.
  

Known Issues

• Dying can very rarely put you in a different land (has happened in both dev env and Windows YYC compile).  I haven't been able to reproduce this bug reliably in order to fix it.  It seems to have something to do with dying near the end of a level -- perhaps, especially, a dark-green level (ditto on that, even in 1P mode; first game after launch but not later games this last time).

Trivia Question:  This game uses two sounds sampled from two other Activision 2600 cartridges.  Anyone know what they are?