Can I win the game?
No. This is a survival game just like the original TDD, Tetris, Space Invaders, and many other games that get increasingly harder until you die. You keep accumulating more points as long as you can survive. The only way to win is to get a higher score than anyone else you know.
Why did you make this game?
This is my first attempt at making a PC game since the days of Apple II Basic. Thanks to GameMaker, I was able to skip the tediuous parts of graphics programming and go straight to the game design. As a fan of games like Smash TV and Abuse, I wanted to make a 2D game with independent walking and shooting. For my first game, I wanted to keep things simple with a single room and few enemies. Remaking Tron Deadly Discs is the perfect choice.
Why is my character Blue?
If you played the original TDD, you may notice that your character in this game is blue while in the original, you controlled a red guy. I did this because it always bugged me that the video game had red good guys and blue bad guys when the movie was the other way around. It turns out that production of the game started before the movie was released, and the color of the sprites was based on a pre-production poster. The makers of the video-game NEVER SAW THE MOVIE! Since this is my game, and I have seen the movie, I'm using a blue guy.
Why do the characters look like Megaman?
The main character and enemies look like Megaman because the ARE Megaman. The sprites I used for the main character are taken from MegamanEXE for Gameboy Advanced. I made some changes for blocking and colorized the enemies. Putting minimum effort into graphics is one reason I was able to put this game together in just a few months. A single character requires tons of sprites for animated running, getting hit, materializing, and dying, as well as 8 sprites for simply standing or blocking. If I drew all these sprites myself, I’d still be drawing sprites and you wouldn’t be playing the game. I plan on making my own sprites some day, but for now I want to focus on the gameplay.
Where did the sound effects come from?
I really liked the sound in the Intellivision version of TDD. Hearing the De-Rez of a defeated foe was very statisfying. I planned on making new sounds that were based on the original but took advantage of a high quality WAV. However, I found wavs of some of the original sounds and don't think any change is needed. I plan on using the original BUZZ of throwing a disc, THWACK of getting hit, and BZZUU of de-rezzing.
Where the heck is the Recognizer?
So far, I haven’t made a recognizer. Mostly because I haven’t gotten that far yet, but also because I haven’t decided how I want to implement it. In the Intellivision version, a Recognizer comes out and closes all the doors every once in a while. You can kill it by hitting its white eye at the right time. If I left the recognizer the same, he would be too easy to kill because you could just place your cursor on its eye and click as soon as it turns white. I haven't figured out how I want to implement the recognizer yet and am considering having some other large enemies as well. I could use suggestions here.
Why do the doors close behind me after going through them?
In the Intellivision version of TDD, once you opened a door it would stay open for you to regain energy until a Recognizer came and closed them. Since I don’t have a Recognizer yet, I needed a way to close the doors so that you couldn’t use their health regeneration indefinitely. The Atari 2600 version of TDD provided the best solution. Once you go through a door, it closes so that you can’t get your energy back until opening it again. When I put a Recognizer in the game, I’ll leave the doors open, but I might put health items in the doors so that you can’t just keep refreshing your health.
Why doesn’t anybody get stunned after getting hit?
Another difference from the original TDD is that neither you nor the enemies get stunned after getting hit. I decided that it would be too easy to just pound on a stunned enemy, so I have them simply get knocked back and be able to run away immediately to add a little challenge. To be fair, your character reacts to hits the same way as the enemies. However, I did get rid of the 1 second of invincibility that I had in the previous demo so that you could get pummeled by several consecutive disc like the original TDD.
Why is my score red?
If you die then continue, you can’t get a high score. Your score will turn red to indicate that it won’t count as a high score. I put a continue in the game for people who wanted to get new items and fight new enemies without having to be really good. However, only the best should get high scores.
My Joystick doesn't work.
If you get an "external function definition" error when trying to select or configure a joystick in the options menu, make sure the file "joybuttons.dll" is either in the same folder as the executable, or in your Windows/System folder.
If you get the "No Joystick Found" message, make sure you have a joystick or gamepad connected to your computer that is recognized by Windows. Also make sure that the joystick's ID is 1.
If your character is moving when you aren't touching the gamepad, or doesn't go the direction you want, first simply quit the game and start over so that it can re-calibrate. If the joystick still doesn't work, go into the Windows Control panels and calibrate the joystick or gamepad from there.