Trackball support? Side art optional?

[Tempest]

I have Centipede and Millipede on Atari Vault but there the support for trackball controllers is poor, making the games unplayable. Is there precise, accurate support for trackballs, such as the Logitech Marble Mouse, for this game? From the store page, the side art is distracting. Is there an option to replace the side art with black bars?

[mrozdoba]

An option for no side art would be good if the selected mode is in portrait. Has anyone tried playing the game on such a mode & if so how is the game rendered? If it works properly with no side art I'll dig out an old monitor & set it up just for this game; I really dislike portrait style games that can only be played on the central section of a monitor in landscape. OTOH, I did love centipede :-)

[kriswd40]

Good ideas! I will add an option to turn off the side art with an update soon. I have a few other new options people want too.

We don't have many resolution options, just windowed and full screen, but I've been getting some requests so will look into more. No promises but I'll check into it.

I don't know how trackballs work, I don't have one myself. Do they just act like a mouse or is there something else to them? Bad Caterpillar does support mouse controls.

[Tempest]

Trackballs, at least the ones that I use, again, the Logitech Marble Mouse, function exactly as a mouse. For some reason the kind developers at Atari Vault were able to faithfully recreate trackball support to be used as a spinner for games like Tempest and Breakout, but they failed to recreate trackball support for Centipede, Millepede, and Missile Command.

In Windows, the trackball works exactly like a mouse.

[kriswd40]

I added an update that allows you to turn the side art off in the options screen.

The game has standard mouse control. If a trackball works like that, I can't see why it wouldn't work well in this game either, I just don't own a trackball to test with to verify that. If you do have issues please let me know though I really don't think you will.

[Tempest]

Dear Developer,

Thank you. I will test this out.

[Tempest]

I'm happy to report that the trackball controls accurately but there is no inertia. That is probably ok, though. I noticed that no matter how I change the sensitivity of the mouse input in the settings, the trackball still controls the player at the same, namely, quite sensitive and fast.

[kriswd40]

I'm glad they work.

That's odd the sensitivity isn't working for you. Maybe the track ball works in some way differently than the mouse, or moves fast enough at all times that the change isn't noticeable.

[Tempest]

I think that because the trackball control is precise, I am fine with not being able to control the sensitivity. The player moves where I want it to move, so that is the main thing. I may be able to adjust the sensitivity using global settings in the Windows 10 settings.

[Carm3D]

It's worth mentioning that using the Steam Controller with this game has a nice trackball feel.

[karenw215]

I got an inexpensive ergonomic mouse that has a roller ball before I joined Steam. It was not much use as a mouse for the work I wanted to do but it works great as a trackball for Bad Caterpillar :-) It would be nice if it was full screen, Centipede was and is one of my favorite games. Bad Caterpillar is even better.

I don't know if this has been asked but could there be an option not to have the GRADE break between levels? I know pressing the X key skips it but having to click the X on the keyboard each time is very distracting from focusing on the game. I tried making an old keyboard keep the key pushed down but it didn't work. :-( I like to stay focused and keep playing instead of pausing to get a grade or thinking about if its time to press the key to skip.

[Spacejack_2084]

I use an arcade trackball as well as more conventional Logitech style ones to play BC and it works just fine.

[kriswd40]

@karenw215 - Does your trackball / ergonomic mouse have any other buttons, like a 3rd mouse button? The simplest solution would be to add skipping to something on the mouse.

@Spacejack - Nice! I should get a trackball myself sometimes to try it out.