This week the major work has been with the bonus screen which is an integral part of the game and where the majority of the scoring comes from. 

This relatively simple sequence required some changes to the game code; the base of the game still had remnants of the original 4k version, with use of lots of macros such as if_intro, if_game and if_not_game. These macros served their purpose but with some of the complexities of the new version this was resulting in some unmanageable code. In light of this, I decided to implement some code that had been designed for our next game which lets us move everything into separate modules which are activated by changing the game state. 

Having changed the game in this way the bonus sequence proceeded fairly smoothly and is now working as shown in the accompanying video - I am very pleased with how it turned out.

Other fixes this week have included:

• Updates to the collision detection routines when dealing with expanded sprites.
• Timing out and hiding the visible raster and sprite glitches.
• Adjusted timings for NTSC so the game plays at the same speed.
• Pause mode using the Run/Stop key.
• Extra energy after 5000 points.

The game engine is now almost complete, with the next work to be done being the final definitions of the fish, level definitions, some new sound effects and final music. A couple of additional features to the pseudo-random level generator (which we call 'biosphere') are also on the cards to improve the variety in later levels.

Work continues...