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The houses are very cute, and it's nice to see people walking by. The trees could be improved a bit though. They look too much like ice cream, only in a tube rather than a cone...!

Those have to be some of the smallest animated sprites I've seen!


There won't be any restrictions. Everyone has total control of anything they make whether it is put on the multicart or not. Unless the submitter specifically asks us not to, the roms will be put up for distribution on the website as well. I should note that by submitting the game and not wanting it on the website, doesn't disqualify it for the multicart either. I know the rules aren't perfect (next year things will be more organized and solid BEFORE starting the competition).

Yeah, the houses are incredibly charming!

Though... what kind of script could this game have?

"Why hello there Margaret!"
"Good morning indeed, Thomas!"
"I say! Stuff is blowing up! Look at all of the stuff blowing up!"
"Indeed, things are indeed blowing up! This indeed has been a smashing morning!"
"Right oh!"

I read that in my mind as Terrance and Philip.

LOL! So did I

Thwaite 0.01 is out

Download from the compo page.


There are actually two scripts. Each game starts on the perfect script and sticks with it as long as the player keeps 100%ing it, meaning no houses get blown up. Then it switches to the imperfect script.

In case you haven't managed to get very far in the game since the release of the compo entries, here's a sample of the perfect script:

<Justin> It's like we get a fireworks show every night! We don't even have to wait for July.
<Briar> Cool it, Justin.

The next night:

<Justin> Last night's show was even more impressive!
<Isca> You know what, Justin? I'm starting to think you're right. Because if it weren't just a show, something would have been blown up by now.
<Briar> I don't know, but it makes me so nervous I can't sleep.

And a sample of the imperfect script, which focuses around investigation:

<Gnivad> I was looking in the wreckage of Torben's house when I noticed something. Look at this.
<Meg> It's half melted. What's that supposed to be?
<Gnivad> I'm not sure. There's some writing on it, but I can't make it out.
<Torben> Could be a guitar pick. Someone has a strange taste in shrapnel.

Finally, a tech note: How Thwaite aims player missiles

For player missiles, normal enemy missiles, and MIRV missiles, the game first calculates the atan2 function:

1. Find the displacement from the missile silo to the target.
2. Reflect the displacement into the first octant: 0-45 degrees, or 0 to τ/8 radians, where τ represents one turn (as suggested by Michael Hartl). Remember which reflections were performed.
3. Divide the smaller by the larger to produce the slope, in the range 0/256 to 255/256.
4. Search a 1-octant tangent table for the arctangent, or the angle whose tangent is closest to this slope.
5. Undo the reflections. This gives the missile's heading as 0 to 31, in units of τ/32 radians (360/32 degrees). This heading is used to determine which sprite cel to draw for the missile and how to reflect it.

These additional steps are taken for player missiles only:

• Look up the unit vector (x=cosine, y=sine) of this angle, and compute the dot product (2 multiplies) with the displacement. This will be very close to the actual length and can be computed without a square root.
• Compute this length to a travel time using a speed factor that differs between NTSC and PAL.
• Divide the displacement by the travel time to produce the velocity.

Damn man, this game is great! It looks fantastic and game play is smooth. It kicked my butt though I've never been good a Missile Command games.

I won the NROM division, and you get this prize: Thwaite 0.02

0.02 (2011-08-26)

• Includes source code, partly under GPLv3 and partly under an all-permissive license
• Added HTML5 manual
• Added music for 04:00 and daytime
• Dual channel drums for stronger kick and snare
• Villagers warp to houses after each hour, making it clearer that an hour has passed

Sweet!

It's crazy! The explosions sound grand! I'm terrible at this game.

Thwaite 0.03 is out

• Fixed crosshair braking failure
• Can play game with a Super NES Mouse in either controller port
• Switched to non-DPCM-safe controller reading code because the mouse needs it
• A button icon blinks after cut scenes dialogue finishes drawing
• Practice mode to start on any level
• Draws much of 3x3-tile explosions with sprite flipping to save CHR
• CHR rearranged to allow for more distinct tiles in cut scenes
• Music for 05:00
• Two ! alert sounds don't play at the same time
• Some later levels are harder
• I am within 256 bytes of filling PRG ROM

Download Thwaite 0.03

unreg: You might do better if you can use a mouse.

It just keeps getting better!

Is there any chance this build could be presented on the nesdev compo cart? I know it wasn't the official contest entry but I can't imagine who wouldn't want it in there.

Pretty fun! And it's NROM-128? NROM-256 is nothing to go on to, do it man!

As soon as Memblers gives me the word that he's ready to make carts, I'll whip out a new build of the compo ROM with this version.

Tepples, Are you going to demo Thwaite this at the 2012 MGC?

My current plans:

• Returning: LJ65 0.41; Concentration Room 0.02
• Improved: Thwaite 0.03
• New: Zap Ruder; Who's Cuter; Something else
• Controllers to bring: 2 Zappers, 1 Super NES Mouse

I might leave off Zap Ruder if it offends you the way [redacted].