ZX Collection Vol #1

Qube · January 28, 2019, 18:46:33

The vic-20 and spectrum didn't have any dedicated graphics chips unlike the C64. Mind you, could be worse and do a ZX-81 game

@col - Thankfully I'm not going into that much detail emulating the general look of a speccy game

Xerra · January 28, 2019, 18:51:54

Sure, but even with a computer that had no in-built hires graphics like the ZX81, you could do some great stuff.

The picture attached is a classic example. Because these machines were so limited, the people working on them had to find clever ways to make the most of what they did have.

At the end of its life-span I seem to remember that there were a couple of games that even managed to get custom defined characters on a ZX81. I was sure that was impossible.

Qube · February 01, 2019, 22:48:25

Super early screen shot of a very small part of the planned game.

Look at those glorious hand crafted speccy graphics, I'm really pushing the boat out on this one

. The cheesy CRT effect and colour clash will be optional via the main menu.

blinkok · February 01, 2019, 23:20:07

Superb!

Steve Elliott · February 01, 2019, 23:24:24

Looks good.

therevills · February 01, 2019, 23:41:30

Looking good!

Qube · February 01, 2019, 23:53:09

Yup, you can clearly see the PBR HDR render pipeline in action

- Actually it's quite cute what you can fit into 256x192, you just have to think small and keep things basic.

Loads of graphics and things to do yet though as the above is just a tiny bit of what I have planned

iWasAdam · February 02, 2019, 06:28:53

oooh, very nice

GaborD · February 02, 2019, 06:42:32

Looks great!
Nicely captures the feel of the good old times.

Steve Elliott · February 04, 2019, 09:15:20

That CRT effect, surely that's adding a colour the Speccy never had?

Qube · February 04, 2019, 10:26:35

Quote from: Steve Elliott on February 04, 2019, 09:15:20
That CRT effect, surely that's adding a colour the Speccy never had?

Technically you could say it's creating subtle shades of the colours but this is just an optional toggle effect in the menu which will be off by default. Colour clash will be on by default but with the option to turn it off too. So by default it'll be as close visually to how a Speccy would look on a modern TFT

Qube · February 15, 2019, 04:39:57

Hmm, so I've been working on a part of my game which is taking far longer than I anticipated. The player side took a couple of days more than I wanted but that side now works flawless thanks to a twist on a recursive fill routine ( keeping it vague ). However I've hit a stumbling block as one side requires pretty decent AI and I'm absolutely crap at AI coding beyond the very very basics.

Luckily it's the weekend so I've set myself a goal to either figure it out or ditch this segment if it's not working by Sunday night. I know what the AI should do but getting that into code is a total biatch

. It's not my area but I like a challenge, even if I am falling asleep at nights wondering how to do it

Woot woot, that's the end of my worklog update

- Hopefully I'll be able to share things much quicker soon but for now I'm stubbornly refusing to give up and will figure it out, grr.

Derron · February 15, 2019, 07:15:59

Do you have trouble to do a certain aspect of the AI (simply said "run towards the player") or on the decision making of the AI?

If your entities in the game have abilities then it does not matter how the abilities are executed - via keyboard, gamepad - or AI.

Decision making is a bit harder - in TVTower the "default AI" (you can create your own - each AI takes a folder of Lua scripts) uses a "priority" system. Priorities are given for a multitude of tasks. In your game the task could be "guard the diamond" (lurk around the diamond item) or "chase the player". In an RPG game the tasks could be split into various things the NPC would do in its normal "life". Visit other NPCs, work on the farm, go to bed, ...
After a task is done the priorities are reevaluated and the best is the next (after a nap/sleep other things could be more important than working on the farm -> eg. going to toilet).
Also each task can adjust it priority each "tick" (or just on events...). This allows for "emergency priorities" ("the closer the player the more important 'guard the diamond' becomes").

If you explain a bit where you have issues with your AI (without going into the gameplay detail) the more likely we might be able to help out with ideas.

bye
Ron

Qube · February 15, 2019, 15:01:01

QuoteDo you have trouble to do a certain aspect of the AI (simply said "run towards the player") or on the decision making of the AI?

It's not the "run towards a player" but more of the AI actually playing part of the game to a decent standard.

QuoteIf you explain a bit where you have issues with your AI (without going into the gameplay detail) the more likely we might be able to help out with ideas.

Thanks but I'm stubborn and like to keep at it until I figure it out

Steve Elliott · February 15, 2019, 15:28:34

Ooo AI. I've just gone for a simple fun quirky game I liked on the old Speccy - and re-visited it; so no need for such coding. Good luck with the problem, I'm sure you'll crack it.