20 replies to this topic

[Smiley]

Hi guys.

Long time no see.
For those who don't know me, I spent about 18 months around here a few years ago, and created a few Full Screen DXs (Rocky Horror, Crystal Maze, among others).

DOWNLOAD FROM smileydesign

But much further back than that (1999) I released Smiley Fruit Machine as shareware. It did really well for me, but that's besides the point.
I have released Smiley Fruit Machine 1.6, a much updated fruit machine, which as well as having new sound and graphics, has many new features too.
And it's now FREEWARE!

For more information, pop over to my website (via link)
and take a look at it.

There will be a few minor updates to it in the future, but there'll be no time frame on this.

Merry Christmas,
Smiley.

Attached Files

•  ns2.jpg   31.15KB   235 downloads

[jamesb99_1999]

Can't wait to take a look mate

happy xmas

[jamesb99_1999]

This is really good to be fair I could never get to grips with MMF (although I am sure it's very powerful when you do) You thought about releasing this Open source?? I'll reinstall Fusion for that!! . But then again I am more C and VB/NET myself, although the time you must have put in to this obviously shows.

Thanks very much. And thanks very much for releasing it for free.

looking forward to your TDAC as well! I can't wait for that as even though I was writing games on the Spec/ CPC464 at the same time as you I used to love anything that made it quicker - lol... I loved STOS/ AMOS on the ST and Amiga, as well as the Adventure Creator kit and Quills or whatever they were called........... Memories I even think I remember your Chopper game... I had one of my versions of Hunchback on a sinclair user/ Your sinclair (can never remember which) cover tape. I used to love it when people would say how do you do that and I would say give me a potato and I will show you

[ritdav]

nice one thanks

[Smiley]

Thanks Guys.

Good to see you're still around here Alth.
It's funny how easy it is to drift away from a community without meaning to, and then suddenly realise how long ago it was.

James,
MMF2 has come a long way since the early days.
You can even program your own extensions in C++ and include them in the exe file of the finished product.
And hardware acceleration is just around the corner.

Actually, up until about 2 months ago, Smiley Fruit Machine 1.6 was half finished, written entirely in C++ and DirectX, and it was a shame when I decided to rewrite it MMF2, but it does cut the development time considerably.
Life's too short to spend it sat at the computer.

I've always worked in C++ (and even Z80 back in the day ), but anything that saves time and can deliver the same power required for a project is worth it. Especially as I can still code anything that MMF2 isn't capable of in C++, and use it in the compiled program.
And with DirectX hardware acceleration included in the next patch, I get the best of both worlds.

Now, I'm off for a Christmas drink before I go to bed.

Have a nice Christmas all,
Smiley.

[cashbox1]

cheers smiley-merry christmas mate !

[Liverpool2008]

Bloody Fab ... one of my all time favories !! i still play the old one but is more updated


the old snooker , The Graffiti features etc

never forget them all

[Liverpool2008]

Oh yeah what about the old spectrum fruit machines games and Booty game

Loved them both as i have seen ya site !!! very Imressive ( Pms Sent )

Attached Files

•  booty2.JPG   34.15KB   129 downloads
•  Foto+Fruit+Machine+Simulator+2.jpg   34.82KB   41 downloads

[richardpen]

WOW!! simley back. i purchased the original game in 1999 and have been fascinated by it to this day. hope the new one doesn't overwrite the old one as i love some of those old tunes. all original and not take from other machines.

i've wondered how you managed to get all those little games into that machine. that space invader one is a nasty one!! i found it hard to get much off that.

i'll be off and have a go at the new one. thanks

richard

[joebee1966]

wow wot a machine with loads of diffarent feature's.thanks smiley and have a great xmas

[richardpen]

i've played this over the last day, probably around 40 - 50 games.

impressed with the self contained file with no instalation etc and that this 13mg game runs with reasonable ease on my old computer - apart from when my anti virus scanner starts scanning, no prob, shut the anti virus scanner down!!

nice to seethe old features and the old tunes intact. sad to find that those nasty bomb dropping space invaders havn't got any kinder! lol

the cash valt feature doesn't work on my computer. two of a kind adds to the pot fine and the amount i think displays correctly. but when you land on it in tyhe feature, it lights for a couple of seconds and returns you to the reels screen but hasn't addedthe amount to the bank nor does it deduct the amount from the valt so stays at 100. i have landed on this feature around 6 times and does the same thing every time. is anyone else having the same problem?

i notice that on some occasions the smileys don't light when they are on the pay line or are nudged onto the payline. this is only occasional.

when the volt is full and therefore two of q kind os worth nothing, any reason why it can't pay the feature when you get two of a kind with smileys on reels one and two and a simley on reel 3?

i can't figure out some of the new features:

1. the skill snooker or is it pool, where you can move the white ball around but if another ball hits it you lose enegery until you have none left when the white ball explodes. how do you gain points ??

2. you start on the right side of the screen, there are money bags on the left with a thing bouncing up and down over them firing at you. do you gain points by collecting the money bags or do you have to drop them off somewhere once you've picked them up ??

3. theresanother feature i can't figure out at all but can't really describe it.

i like the santa feature presumably you left in when it was going to be a christmas themed machine. didley diddler seems to be more generous than the original one. that chompy didler one is interesting, had very mixed fortunes with that one and like the catchy little tune. can the high low cards feature only go up to five cards? i was on a roll in one game the last card was a queen but the game stopped.

i am impressed by all these little games in this machine. where do they come from?

am i right in thinking that this game runs better with a sound card rather than onboard sound? i remember when i put a sound card in my original machine in 1999 it fixed a crash problem with this game where it would occasionally random crash during features in particular the superhold feature. onboard aound has come a long way since then but i still notice that after playing the game in one session for several hours, the first signs that things are going to go wrong is that the midi tunes stop playing. i also notice that with a couple of the tunes, with onboard sound a piano plays where as when i had a soundcard the tunes were synthasized. e.g. snooker, didley didler and £30 win.

OTHER REQUESTS

could you bring back the dancing smileys back when the 50 credit sequence ends?

can you re implement the choice of keyboard or joystick options on the credits screen? it was ctrl 'Y' to do this, or is there another way to do it? this option also had an option screen in it so you could change the key you used.

can you bring back the keyboard functionalaty to the screen where you enter your name on the scoreboard?

is it not possible to be able to use keyboard keys or mouse to hold/nudge/start etc?

could a ram be inbuilt into this game so you can play from where you left off rather than go back to the beginning?

is there any way a collect button could be created?

thanks for reviving this machine again, i have always been fascinated by this machine ever since i came accross the original in 1999.

richard

[Liverpool2008]

i've played this over the last day, probably around 40 - 50 games.

impressed with the self contained file with no instalation etc and that this 13mg game runs with reasonable ease on my old computer - apart from when my anti virus scanner starts scanning, no prob, shut the anti virus scanner down!!

nice to seethe old features and the old tunes intact. sad to find that those nasty bomb dropping space invaders havn't got any kinder! lol

the cash valt feature doesn't work on my computer. two of a kind adds to the pot fine and the amount i think displays correctly. but when you land on it in tyhe feature, it lights for a couple of seconds and returns you to the reels screen but hasn't addedthe amount to the bank nor does it deduct the amount from the valt so stays at 100. i have landed on this feature around 6 times and does the same thing every time. is anyone else having the same problem?

i notice that on some occasions the smileys don't light when they are on the pay line or are nudged onto the payline. this is only occasional.

when the volt is full and therefore two of q kind os worth nothing, any reason why it can't pay the feature when you get two of a kind with smileys on reels one and two and a simley on reel 3?

i can't figure out some of the new features:

1. the skill snooker or is it pool, where you can move the white ball around but if another ball hits it you lose enegery until you have none left when the white ball explodes. how do you gain points ??

2. you start on the right side of the screen, there are money bags on the left with a thing bouncing up and down over them firing at you. do you gain points by collecting the money bags or do you have to drop them off somewhere once you've picked them up ??

3. theresanother feature i can't figure out at all but can't really describe it.

i like the santa feature presumably you left in when it was going to be a christmas themed machine. didley diddler seems to be more generous than the original one. that chompy didler one is interesting, had very mixed fortunes with that one and like the catchy little tune. can the high low cards feature only go up to five cards? i was on a roll in one game the last card was a queen but the game stopped.

i am impressed by all these little games in this machine. where do they come from?

am i right in thinking that this game runs better with a sound card rather than onboard sound? i remember when i put a sound card in my original machine in 1999 it fixed a crash problem with this game where it would occasionally random crash during features in particular the superhold feature. onboard aound has come a long way since then but i still notice that after playing the game in one session for several hours, the first signs that things are going to go wrong is that the midi tunes stop playing. i also notice that with a couple of the tunes, with onboard sound a piano plays where as when i had a soundcard the tunes were synthasized. e.g. snooker, didley didler and £30 win.

OTHER REQUESTS

could you bring back the dancing smileys back when the 50 credit sequence ends?

can you re implement the choice of keyboard or joystick options on the credits screen? it was ctrl 'Y' to do this, or is there another way to do it? this option also had an option screen in it so you could change the key you used.

can you bring back the keyboard functionalaty to the screen where you enter your name on the scoreboard?

is it not possible to be able to use keyboard keys or mouse to hold/nudge/start etc?

could a ram be inbuilt into this game so you can play from where you left off rather than go back to the beginning?

is there any way a collect button could be created?

thanks for reviving this machine again, i have always been fascinated by this machine ever since i came accross the original in 1999.

richard

All these Requests ... Blimey ... I would leave as it is for now to give the bloke a break

one error i did find that a BAR on the 3rd reels should have a smiley

Otherwise perfect

[Smiley]

All these Requests ... Blimey ... I would leave as it is for now to give the bloke a break

Lol Mate.
BTW, the missing smileys on the Bars on the end reel are meant.
It's mentioned on the Completed Project page for Smiley on the website (the section after the last picture).
You'd be surprised how often you'll forget to hold that invisible smiley.

------------------------------------------

Richard, I'll try and answer your questions:

:::: "the cash valt feature doesn't work on my computer. two of a kind adds to the pot fine and the amount i think displays correctly. but when you land on it in tyhe feature, it lights for a couple of seconds and returns you to the reels screen but hasn't addedthe amount to the bank nor does it deduct the amount from the valt so stays at 100. i have landed on this feature around 6 times and does the same thing every time. is anyone else having the same problem?"

There was a little problem with this feature when I first added it, and it was easy enough to fix, which I did. Not sure why it's broken again, but I'll look into it.

----------

:::: "i notice that on some occasions the smileys don't light when they are on the pay line or are nudged onto the payline. this is only occasional."

Yes, this is an annoying little bug. Not because it spoils the enjoyment, but because it only happens now and then, making it hard to find. This one is still being chased.

----------

:::: "when the volt is full and therefore two of q kind os worth nothing, any reason why it can't pay the feature when you get two of a kind with smileys on reels one and two and a simley on reel 3?"

This is intentional. The bug about the Cash Vault not emptying would make this annoying, agreed, but I like to see people scream when they have 3 smileys on the screen, only to realise they have a 2 or 3 reel win underneath them. I programmed a win to always override a feature from the very first release, and it still seems to be the fairest way to go.

----------

:::: "the skill snooker or is it pool, where you can move the white ball around but if another ball hits it you lose enegery until you have none left when the white ball explodes. how do you gain points ??"

If I'd had time to get some documentation out with the game, or up on the website, then a lot of things would be clearer.
Until then, I'll gladly explain the more obscure features.
In HateBall, you control the white, which starts off in the D (where you're safe from attack). In each of the 6 pockets you should see a bag of money. You need to pick up a bag of money (which will be shown as "carrying" at the bottom of the screen) and take it back to the D where you will bank the cash.
Bank as much as you can before you lose all your energy. HINT: When you've banked the 4th bag, an extra item will appear on the table. Pick that up for a surprise.

----------

:::: "you start on the right side of the screen, there are money bags on the left with a thing bouncing up and down over them firing at you. do you gain points by collecting the money bags or do you have to drop them off somewhere once you've picked them up ??"

I think this feature still needs tidying up a bit.
It's very similar to the one mentioned above, but in a much simpler form.
You pick up the cash bag and take it back to the right hand side of the screen. The fireballs coming from Chompy get faster and more accurate as you go on.

----------

:::: "theresanother feature i can't figure out at all but can't really describe it."

LOL, can't help you out on that one until you can describe it in some way.

----------

:::: "can the high low cards feature only go up to five cards? i was on a roll in one game the last card was a queen but the game stopped."

Yes, you only get 5 cards in this feature. Again, this feature could do with updating, and may even get a re-design so that all cards are visible in a line, so you know how many you have to go.

----------

:::: "i am impressed by all these little games in this machine. where do they come from?"

They all come from my mind, but you can see the influence that real fruit machines and arcade games have had on me over the years.
There are many features that I thought up that didn't quite live up to what I thought they could be, so it's a long process to find something that's fun and doesn't steal too much from existing ideas.

----------

:::: "am i right in thinking that this game runs better with a sound card rather than onboard sound? i remember when i put a sound card in my original machine in 1999 it fixed a crash problem with this game where it would occasionally random crash during features in particular the superhold feature. onboard aound has come a long way since then but i still notice that after playing the game in one session for several hours, the first signs that things are going to go wrong is that the midi tunes stop playing. i also notice that with a couple of the tunes, with onboard sound a piano plays where as when i had a soundcard the tunes were synthasized. e.g. snooker, didley didler and £30 win."

This shouldn't be a problem these days.
I run Smiley on my Laptop connected to the TV without problems.
And the Laptop only has onboard sound.
One thing I should mention is that I intend to convert all the midi music to MP3 or OGG files. This will mean an increase in the file size, but I'm not bothered about that. If it goes up to 20-30Mb, it's still nothing by todays standards, and it will at least mean that the music will sound the same on everyones computer. Also, when I do this, I will be adjusting the volumes of all sounds that are either too quiet or too loud. At the moment, there are a few sounds that fit into this category, and the midi playback just makes it more noticeable.
Of course, the format of the music and sound files makes no difference to the end user, as they are all embedded into the exe, but I just wanted to state that the sound balance will be greatly improved in the next build.

----------

:::: "could you bring back the dancing smileys back when the 50 credit sequence ends?"

Not really. I didn't think they added much. You can now move the score around on that screen though.

----------

:::: "can you re implement the choice of keyboard or joystick options on the credits screen? it was ctrl 'Y' to do this, or is there another way to do it? this option also had an option screen in it so you could change the key you used."

This is still in there. Just hit CTRL+Y to bring it up. Be aware that the default control setup is the arrow keys and the main fire button that the game uses (button 2) is set for the CTRL key, so when you press CTRL+Y you'll start the game. This doesn't really matter as the game is paused when the menu comes up anyway. Also, you can hit CTRL+Y at time during the game, not just on the title screen.
As for using the keyboard to control it, you can redefine the keys using the same menu.

----------

:::: "can you bring back the keyboard functionalaty to the screen where you enter your name on the scoreboard?"

Unfortunately not. This was taken out quite recently, and the arcade style entry system was put in its place. Again, this was to allow people to sit back and play it away from their computer keyboard. Until I did this, I had to get up and enter the name on the Laptop each time someone got a high score.

----------

:::: "is it not possible to be able to use keyboard keys or mouse to hold/nudge/start etc?"

If you mean like the Emulators do, then the answer is No and Yes.
No to complete control over the machine with just keypresses.
No to using the mouse at all.
Yes to being able to speed gameplay along by using the shortcuts for the hold buttons. This only allows you to hold the reels without you having to move the hand left and right, but it's a great time-saver. As an example, simply go into the keyboard define menu (CTRL+Y) click on Keyboard/player 1 and define the keys as follows: Button 2 to whatever button you want to represent the hand being pressed down, and buttons 1,3 and 4 as the hold buttons you want to create shortcuts to. For example, set up buttons 1,3 and 4 as Numpad 1, Numpad 2 and Numpad 3 respectively, and when you get hold, you can use the numpad 1,2 and 3 to hold them without moving the hand.

----------

:::: "could a ram be inbuilt into this game so you can play from where you left off rather than go back to the beginning?"

The gameplay is completely random, so there's no value in saving anything in that respect. The reel positions could be saved, but again, because of the random gameplay, there wouldn't be value in it. The only thing that I can think of that would be worth saving is the Cash Vault, which I may implement at some point.

----------

:::: "is there any way a collect button could be created?"

The collect button/feature was left out from the beginning so that the player was forced to gamble what they had. This is why the three-life gamble was created. It can create some interesting scenarios.

Phew!
Hope that helps.

Over the next week or so I'll add the bug list/to-do list to the site, and some time after that I'll be looking to get some decent documentation done too.

Cheers,
Smiley.

[richardpen]

thanks smiley

when i first loaded the game and i tried the ctrl y command it didn't seem to work but i've tried it again and its excellent. i now program button 1 as '1' botton 3 as '3' and button 4 as '2'. this enables me to use 123 to hold reels 123. works a treat.

thanks to you telling me how the hateball game works, i have managed to collect and deliver 3 money bags, a very challenging game.

attached is a picture of the feature i can't describe. no matter what key i press, nothing seems to happen. things do move up and drop down but this happens whether i press keys or not.

having played it more and more i tend to agree with you regarding the ram idea. on the original version, i seemed to get farely poor gameplay within the first two or three rounds, improving as i played. the new one however, does fel a little more random on start up. seems to be more generous on giving the feature board. perhaps theres a few more smileys on the reels!!

i've kept a closer eye on the smileys that light on the left hand side and i think that they don't light up when you nudge them in rather than them not lighting up when the reels stop on them from spinning. but not really a problem. and i never forget to hold that 3rd reel bar!!

once again, thanks for the game.

richard

Attached Files

•  smiley FM feature..jpg   108.8KB   26 downloads

[Smiley]

Hi Richard.

Thanks for the feedback.
It's appreciated.

The feature that you show in the pic is "Chopper Rescue"
Before you read on, you may want to take a look at this page on my website:

--- www.smileydesign.co.uk ---

That Future Project page is all about a game I had published in 1986, and if you look at the screenshot of the first level, you might find it familiar.

I needed one more feature to fill out the feature board, and decided that I'd remake the first level, adapting it to making money as a feature.
If you look at the screenshot you posted, in the top right hand corner is the helicopter. You need to use this to pick up the crates (displayed one at a time) and place on the wall where the water is rising.
If you keep ahead of the rising water, then all those little people screaming for help down the bottom will be safe, but if you let the water rise above the current level of the wall, then it's floodsville and game over.

If you look at the very top right of the screen, you will see a number (4 to start with).
This is the number of energy blasts you have.
These are activated by pressing fire, and if any of the yellow mines are caught in the blast, they will be destroyed.

To pick up a crate, just pass over it, and to drop it just fly near the top of the flood wall.

One good tip is that if there is a mine floating around near where the wall will need to be built, destroy it early to make life easier.

I think that's about it.
Hope that helps.

Cheers.

[cardie]

Never played this before tarr mate ill give it a go later

[richardpen]

Hi Richard.

Thanks for the feedback.
It's appreciated.

The feature that you show in the pic is "Chopper Rescue"
Before you read on, you may want to take a look at this page on my website:

--- www.smileydesign.co.uk ---

That Future Project page is all about a game I had published in 1986, and if you look at the screenshot of the first level, you might find it familiar.

I needed one more feature to fill out the feature board, and decided that I'd remake the first level, adapting it to making money as a feature.
If you look at the screenshot you posted, in the top right hand corner is the helicopter. You need to use this to pick up the crates (displayed one at a time) and place on the wall where the water is rising.
If you keep ahead of the rising water, then all those little people screaming for help down the bottom will be safe, but if you let the water rise above the current level of the wall, then it's floodsville and game over.

If you look at the very top right of the screen, you will see a number (4 to start with).
This is the number of energy blasts you have.
These are activated by pressing fire, and if any of the yellow mines are caught in the blast, they will be destroyed.

To pick up a crate, just pass over it, and to drop it just fly near the top of the flood wall.

One good tip is that if there is a mine floating around near where the wall will need to be built, destroy it early to make life easier.

I think that's about it.
Hope that helps.

Cheers.

thanks for that, sounds very hard but next time i'll see how i go.

another pic for you, has anyone else managed to do this or is it just me gone over the edge with this one?

got hateball feature, so decided to go straight in, as soon as the game started, left the D went diagonally up to the top right hand pocket, didn't quite get there and managed to fly over the edge of the table into outer space!!! very safe as nothing could hit me. the game was running fine with all the balls bouncing - except mine - the music was fine and i could open the keyboard/joystick options menu but as there was no way to make me lose my energy i had to quit the game. heres the pic

richard

Attached Files

•  smiley FM hateball qball off the table.jpg   123.36KB   18 downloads

[Fruity_Goodness]

Lol Mate.
BTW, the missing smileys on the Bars on the end reel are meant.
It's mentioned on the Completed Project page for Smiley on the website (the section after the last picture).
You'd be surprised how often you'll forget to hold that invisible smiley.

Well, I got 3 Smiley's on the winline once and guess what? Yep, NO FEATURE entry ... so there's work to be done. Also a read me to accompany the exe explaining all the features wouldn't go amiss. And wouldn't it be good idea to replace the Smileys with Adolf Hitler Smileys?

Otherwise, good work.

[richardpen]

Well, I got 3 Smiley's on the winline once and guess what? Yep, NO FEATURE entry ... so there's work to be done. Also a read me to accompany the exe explaining all the features wouldn't go amiss. And wouldn't it be good idea to replace the Smileys with Adolf Hitler Smileys?

Otherwise, good work.

when you got the 3 smileys, were there two of the same on reels 1 and 2? if the cash volt is full and you get 3 smileys with two of the same on reel 1 and 2, nothing happens.

i think smiley said in a previous post a 'read me'/documentation will be posted on his site in due course.