I'm super busy and really shouldn't enter the 8 bit-wars comp... but how can I not?! I had an Amstrad CPC 464, the champion of the 8 bit computers! ;)
One of my favorite games back then was Rick Dangerous 2, a classic try again platformer! So for the comp I've decided on doing my own take on it called "Jack Deadly".
I've started the graphics, first by copying the Amstrad version of Rick in 1x1 pixels which made him to really skinny, then I copied the Amiga version using the Amstrad colours... and now I've created Jack in the same style.
For the game screen resolution I'm going to use 320×200 since I'm using 1x1 pixels not the double width 2x1 for mode 0.
Cool. I was going to do a Rick Dangerous style game but changed my mind.
Looks excellent Therevills. 8)
I'm going for a platformer/shooter (c64) but more minimalist.
Rick Dangerous !!! I remember playing that game and being really bad at it but it was a really good game.
Good choice and good luck with it. Nice to see someone else isn't going with that Klinklair Klectrum thingy ;-)
Yes! Bonus voting points from me for choosing Rick Dangerous Jack Deadly. :)
One of my old time favorites. Best of luck for the project!
Nice work on the character graphics 8)
Quote from: GaborD on February 09, 2019, 05:07:21
Yes! Bonus voting points from me for choosing Rick Dangerous Jack Deadly. :)
Ya can't vote based on that :P
OK people, sshhh *covert mode and shifty eyes enabled*, PM me your favourite games and cash reward requests ;D
:P
Jack Deadly, reminds me of Jack Skellington. Loved the Rick Dangerous game, looking forward to your incarnation. 8)
never got to play rick dangerous ... but played Montezuma more times than I care to remember.
all & all ... very nice sprite work.
Thanks for the comments guys :)
Quick update:
- Done graphics for Jack for Running, Standing, Crawling, Climbing, Dying, Jump, Shooting, Punching
- Created sprite sheet and set up the base project
- Created prototype in MX2 for Jack running around
Lol, love the crawling animation ;D
The animations are spot on. Really nice :)
Thanks guys :)
Update:
* Basic tile map loading and rendering
* Created a small subset tile-set based off the first Hyde Park screen
* Basic collision detection of Jack and the collision layer
Loving the grass and the shadows at the top of the girders 8)
That is really well done so far. Can't believe an Amstrad game would look that good.
Quote from: Xerra on February 14, 2019, 21:39:36
That is really well done so far. Can't believe an Amstrad game would look that good.
To be fair I am not limiting myself to 16 colours and not doing the double width horizontal pixels for Mode 0, but saying that the Amstrad could produce some great looking games! Just a shame quite a few games were poor Spectrum ports.
SwitchBlade:
(https://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/502252-switchblade-amstrad-cpc-screenshot-in-game-amstrad-cpc.png)
Rick Dangerous 2 (to compare with my version):
(https://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/322401-rick-dangerous-2-amstrad-cpc-screenshot-starting-location.png)
(https://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/322403-rick-dangerous-2-amstrad-cpc-screenshot-starting-location.png)
Barbarian:
(https://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/347221-death-sword-amstrad-cpc-screenshot-clean-up-crew.png)
* Crawling now works
* Refined collision detection
* Added Robby the Robot
* Created more graphics
It really look and feels great, <and here it comes....>
But (please correct me if i'm wrong)
QuoteTo be fair I am not limiting myself to 16 colours
Doesn't the competition have one explicit limit:
Quote
The only real limit is the colour palette and primarily making a game that wouldn't look out of place on your chosen computer.
CPC Graphical limits : Had a palette of 27 colours but only a maximum of 16 could be used on screen.
Well at the moment the number of colours in the sprites used are 16, but I didnt keep count of them.... and the tileset is using 9 atm, combined they are still using 16! LOL!
How I read the rules is that I could create a game with 1920x1680 resolution and have use of all 27 colours of the CPC... but let's gets Qube's opinion :)
lol you can bend the rules mate, but not break them. Details are up to you, but on-screen palette limitations must be used, as Adam pointed out.
QuoteHow I read the rules is that I could create a game with 1920x1680 resolution and have use of all 27 colours of the CPC... but let's gets Qube's opinion
The main focus is it looks like it could be a X computer game. There are no hard fast rules apart from everyone sticking with the colour palettes provided as the main primary palettes ( just as there are variations out there ). For example, I'm doing a Speccy game but use colour 0,0,1 to emulate a black outline. Visually it looks exactly the same. I'm also going for a more chip tune for the music, aka, ZX Spectrum 128-ish.
So overall, don't produce a PBR shaded 3D extravaganza say it's a C64 game :P
I'm now doing a 256 colour Speccy game ::)
Don't get me wrong I won't be adding Speccy colour clash and block colour restrictions (that goes too far IMO). But no 8-bit system could display more than 16 colours.
Quote from: Steve Elliott on February 16, 2019, 19:34:35
I'm now doing a 256 colour Speccy game ::)
Authenticity vote = nil points :P
Just to be clear. If your chosen computer could only do 16 colours on screen then don't stretch too far by adding 16+ more colours. If you end up with 18 colours because a subtle shade helped a lot then you won't get your entry refused but if you use 32+ colours on screen for a C64 games then nope.
Quote from: Steve Elliott on February 16, 2019, 19:34:35
But no 8-bit system could display more than 16 colours.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_8-bit_computer_hardware_graphics
Edit: I think you meant: "no 8 bit system of the competition list ...".
bye
Ron
Quote
I'm now doing a 256 colour Speccy game ::)
Authenticity vote = nil points :P
lol just exaggerating for effect.
Quote
If you end up with 18 colours because a subtle shade helped a lot then you won't get your entry refused but if you use 32+ colours on screen for a C64 games then nope.
Like I said, restrictions can be too harsh and spoil graphics. I always hated the speccy colour clash and block colour - rather than pixel colour. Plus the awful sound until the 128. But no computer in the 80's could ever use more than 16 colours on-screen. Seems a shame to not at least stick to one rule.
QuoteLike I said, restrictions can be too harsh and spoil graphics. I always hated the speccy colour clash and block colour - rather than pixel colour. Plus the awful sound until the 128. But no computer here could ever use more than 16 colours on-screen. Seems a shame to not at least stick to one rule.
The rules do say to use the palettes provided and I think entrants should accept that as the real colour limit. But if users "accidentally" or " inadvertently" use a couple of colours more then they won't be shot :P. As said I'm cheating a little by using 0,0,1 as a black outline. You can't tell it's not black visually so I'm happy with that :)
Looks like better 'scan lines' effects are therefore acceptable. ;D
(//)Now we all know the rules :P
Climbing is in, so is dying and shooting! 8)
(GifCam was messing up on the colours so had record a video instead)
Frickin Laser Beams! 8)
(https://www.syntaxbomb.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.quickmeme.com%2Fimg%2Ff1%2Ff19cda1fbbf7b65182fb4761e2eb845fd9dbf59d4dfc7466a148ba6d1aa164ab.jpg&hash=69abb0eeb99e858e3b12b4926dcdaa6dac462afc)
And bombs! And explosions! :P
Now it's looking like a RD2 game :)
(Please ignore the dodgy colours at the start of the GIF, not sure why GifCam is playing up there...)
Quote from: Steve Elliott on February 16, 2019, 19:49:15
But no computer in the 80's could ever use more than 16 colours on-screen.
Cough! My Amiga 500 I bought in 1988 could !
Quote from: therevills on February 21, 2019, 21:52:45
Frickin Laser Beams! 8)
And bombs! And explosions! :P
Now it's looking like a RD2 game :)
(Please ignore the dodgy colours at the start of the GIF, not sure why GifCam is playing up there...)
That looks excellent. This competition is going to be the hardest to judge, I reckon. Glad we have a three choice voting system.
@therevills - Cor blimey that looks good, nice work! :)
Kind of makes me regret going down the monochromatic Speccy graphic route ::) - Ah well, too late to change now.... Or is it? hmm, idea brewing.
Looking very swish.
Quote
Kind of makes me regret going down the monochromatic Speccy graphic route ::) - Ah well, too late to change now.... Or is it? hmm, idea brewing.
Ooo, sneaky lol. ;)
Nice, it's looking very solid now with addition of the extra props n stuff.
Quoteme regret going down the monochromatic Speccy graphic route
But.... you have the added bonus with the 'authenticity' routines you've invoked to create genuine speccy colour clash! Anyway, any Speccy version trumps a C64 game (.... what me, a Speccy fan boy - oh okay maybe!) :))
You're Jack Deadly is looking triple AAA already - kudos. I'm really gonna have to pull out all the stops to beat spyhunter/jack deadly and all the other quality in this compo to have any chance with my hobbit-esque 2D adventure. I wonder what my line counts up to so far....
Your graphics are a treat to the old eye.
Thanks guys :)
Still working on the event/trigger system. Really impressive how they managed to do these kind of games back then!
Trigger/Event system kind of working...
It's all looking super impressive - love the death part where he flies at the screen :)
Quote from: iWasAdam on February 23, 2019, 10:21:02
It's all looking super impressive - love the death part where he flies at the screen :)
Me too. It's excellent. Looking forward to having a go on this one. The flying towards the screen bit made me think of Little Computer people where the little man would stop what he was doing and look straight out of the screen at you then bonk the screen with his fist expanding in and out when he thought you weren't paying attention. I laughed so hard when I first saw that.
Do not forget to keep pixal ratio correct when "dying" (no simple "scaling" except you use "non filtered" and a virtual resolution so no extra-ordinary pixels are created during scaling).
Else as said by others: looks great and colorful/vibrant.
bye
Ron
Quote from: Derron on February 23, 2019, 11:23:10
Do not forget to keep pixal ratio correct when "dying" (no simple "scaling" except you use "non filtered" and a virtual resolution so no extra-ordinary pixels are created during scaling).
Else as said by others: looks great and colorful/vibrant.
I was thinking about this for when making an object move towards the screen and simulating 3d to an extent in case I put in a jumping mechanism for the player car in my game. If you want to be authentic then you'd need to probably animate in jumps so the speed would be accurate, if it's an Amstrad machine, as I don't believe the machine would have been quick enough to animate that smoothly. I would probably have just pretended to use the double width and double height modes of a sprite if i was doing it on a C64. Wouldn't look great but you wouldn't be able to do anything looking that great on a C64 either unless you had loads of spare memory to animate the player character increasing in size gradually. And that's a lot of graphic data in bytes for a machine with not much memory.
Then again, if you're not that worried about the authenticity then ignore Derron and just leave it the way it is :-)
QuoteDo not forget to keep pixal ratio correct when "dying" (no simple "scaling" except you use "non filtered" and a virtual resolution so no extra-ordinary pixels are created during scaling).
Else as said by others: looks great and colorful/vibrant.
Yep, its this kinda stuff that eats at me slightly. I modified an image (eventually) in MSPaint, as GIMP simply would not let me change the file - I need to ask my wife why (she's a GIMP Guru - not the Die Hard type...) .
After I made the light in the cell cast a glow on the floor, I realised, bugger, thats not in the spectrum pallette, still loving hanging together stuff for this compo - Qube's Ace. I'll get there, rules are there for a reason!
We're all doing this for the fun, I think minor inadvertent pallette infringements should be tolerated with a maximum 15 percent deficit in overall points scored - being 'barred' from scoring any points seems harsh bearing in mind, here, we code mostly at night.
Quote from: 3DzForMe on February 23, 2019, 17:09:12
We're all doing this for the fun, I think minor inadvertent pallette infringements should be tolerated with a maximum 15 percent deficit in overall points scored - being 'barred' from scoring any points seems harsh bearing in mind, here, we code mostly at night.
See, I'm going to disagree with that. The only hard rule was respecting the colour palette of the original machine you're writing a game to look like. If we go down the route of casually dumbing down that then there's basically no rules at all for what kind of game you come up with. Decide you're not going to bother with the authentic vote and just concentrate on making an unrestricted game that's going to register high for the other two categories.
We're doing this competition for the challenge so shouldn't we be doing exactly that?
Quote from: Derron on February 23, 2019, 11:23:10
Do not forget to keep pixal ratio correct when "dying"
Thanks Ron, that was meant to be on by default for this project - its on now :)
Quote
Else as said by others: looks great and colorful/vibrant.
Thanks - That's why the Amstrad won the 8-bit wars!
It was commodore 64 that won out where i'm from .... around the time due to being bundled with so many games.
the Amstrad was never a thing here ... even the sinclair ZX spectrum got a bit of light over here. with that said if the amstrad was completely used to it's full potential right from the go instead of receiving speccy ports, it would have done way better.
... The BBC forget about it, no one knew It existed. :P
Quote from: MrmediamanX on February 24, 2019, 00:34:41
t was commodore 64 that won out where i'm from ... the Amstrad was never a thing here
Where is "here"? Amstrad was huge in the UK and Europe (esp. France).
Quoteinstead of receiving speccy ports
Agree! Way too many speccy ports!
Apart from the Speccy ports, name one game that looked better on the C64? :P
Quote
... The BBC forget about it, no one knew It existed. :P
Over in the UK, every school received BBCs to "teach" computers...
QuoteWhere is "here"? Amstrad was huge in the UK and Europe (esp. France).
in the oceania region it was all Commodore 64
QuoteApart from the Speccy ports, name one game that looked better on the C64? :P
altered beast, ran better as well. ;D
The BBC must have dropped out of sight quicker than quick, due to it's high cost or rebranding as the Acorn Electron.
something like that.
Not knocking the old Am CPC ... it's a little nifty piece of kit.
QuoteIt was commodore 64 that won out where i'm from
In the UK it was a constant battle between the C64 and ZX Spectrum. Sure the C64 was superior in both graphics and sound but the ZX's games were higher resolution and it just had a charm that those of the era loved. I was lucky to own a Vic20, C64, Spectrum, CPC 464 / 6128 and Atari 800 XL, loved them all and have fond memories of each and everyone.
I spent many many hours playing Bruce Lee and IK ( International Karate ) on the Atari 800XL and from what I remember it was the exact same versions as the C64. JetPac on the ZX was a phenomenal game that I enjoyed for weeks. On the Vic20 I spent a huge amount of time with Hoppit, Blitz and Space Snake. On the C64 I completed GhostBusters many times over and no other 8-bit port came close. The 800 XL port of GhostBusters was shocking, especially as it was capable of matching the C64's version.
The 8-bit era was a great time and I could waffle for a long time about the games played on each format. One of the oddities of the time was the TI-99/4A. Strangely for the time it was an actual 16-bit machine but didn't out perform 8-bit machines. The TI-99/4A had the best keyboard ever and with the Extended BASIC cartridge you had hardware sprites which you could code "CALL MOTION( sprite, X, Y )" ( I think that's right ) and it would update the sprite each frame to match the parameters set. Very clever for its time. On the CPC I was more into Rainbird Art Studio and Rainbird Music System than gaming.
Sorry for the thread hijack.. I'm off to whip a tear from my eye ;D
QuoteApart from the Speccy ports, name one game that looked better on the C64? :P
Ghostbusters and Bruce Lee - Both of those were better on the C64. Granted the CPC version of Bruce Lee was pretty good but the C64 version did look and perform better.
But big up for the CPC.. Roland on the ropes anyone?. No 8-bit wanting to take that on?, nah, thought not ;D
Quote from: MrmediamanX on February 24, 2019, 02:08:17
in the oceania region it was all Commodore 64
I live in Oz now and when I talk about the Amstrad over here no-one had heard of it :(
QuoteApart from the Speccy ports, name one game that looked better on the C64? :P
altered beast, ran better as well.
Bloody hardware sprites :P And I said "game", not sure if Altered beast could be classed as one ;)
Quote from: Qube on February 24, 2019, 02:16:20
QuoteIt was commodore 64 that won out where i'm from
In the UK it was a constant battle between the C64 and ZX Spectrum.
In my school it was the 3 way battle: C64 v ZX v CPC
Quote
I was lucky to own a Vic20, C64, Spectrum, CPC 464 / 6128 and Atari 800 XL, loved them all and have fond memories of each and everyone.
Ah, you were one of the rich kids!
Quote
Sorry for the thread hijack.. I'm off to whip a tear from my eye ;D
No problem, its a great to remember this stuff! When games were games!
Quote
But big up for the CPC.. Roland on the ropes anyone?. No 8-bit wanting to take that on?, nah, thought not ;D
I nearly did select Roland on the Ropes... but then I remembered Rick!
Mocked up a fake Amstrad loading screen for Jack Deadly :))
Quote from: Qube on February 24, 2019, 02:16:20
On the Vic20 I spent a huge amount of time with Hoppit, Blitz and Space Snake.
Blasphemy! No true Vic 20 gamer could ever forget Omega Race, Radar Rat Race, Myriad, Bongo, Gridrunner, Matrix, Revenge of the Quadra, Rockman and Envahi !!!!!!!!!!
Quote from: therevills on February 24, 2019, 04:34:00
Mocked up a fake Amstrad loading screen for Jack Deadly :))
He-he, cool ;D
QuoteBlasphemy! No true Vic 20 gamer could ever forget Omega Race, Radar Rat Race, Myriad, Bongo, Gridrunner, Matrix, Revenge of the Quadra, Rockman and Envahi !!!!!!!!!!
Lol, I spent more time on the ones mentioned than on that list.
QuoteAh, you were one of the rich kids!
Crickey no, far from it :o - I used to sell a computer first and then with stuff like Birthday / Christmas money get another one. Sometimes my Dad would sell bits of his Hi-Fi setup to help out as he was super cool like that. I'm a council estate boy born a bred and never ever a rich kid.
Quote from: Qube on February 25, 2019, 01:07:48
QuoteAh, you were one of the rich kids!
Crickey no, far from it :o
Fair enough :) We were lucky to have the Amstrad, our parents were pretty well strapped for cash too.
Refined the loading screen to be more like the Amstrad one and added electric trap:
Loading screen looks spot on ;D - I have a mini version for this comps game but nothing like I did for the retro comp. Nice work and very well done :)
QuoteFair enough :) We were lucky to have the Amstrad, our parents were pretty well strapped for cash too.
I think that made a lot of us appreciate the times more. Having such machines was not a breeze so we enjoyed and made the most of it. Each 8-bit I owned was a slog to get and made many happy memories :)
Quote
love the death part where he flies at the screen :)
lol that makes me chuckle. Nice loader too.
Loading screen looks ace, I've a little work to do with mine...
Yep, I was council housed also until 16 when I left to start a career with a service industry. I think the spectrum might've been a little cheaper than the 64 back in the day? Anyhoo, happy coding!
Quote from: Qube on February 24, 2019, 02:16:20
QuoteIt was commodore 64 that won out where i'm from
In the UK it was a constant battle between the C64 and ZX Spectrum. Sure the C64 was superior in both graphics and sound but the ZX's games were higher resolution and it just had a charm that those of the era loved. I was lucky to own a Vic20, C64, Spectrum, CPC 464 / 6128 and Atari 800 XL, loved them all and have fond memories of each and everyone.
In Finland everybody had a C64. Except me, I had a C16 and Vic20. I learned basic with the C16. I rarely used Vic20, I think C16 was a lot nicer machine. I took a job as a paperboy so I could get a better computer. I got a used IBM PS/2 386sx, 20mhz, 2Mb, 40Mb, 14" MCGA. Had to get 4Mb of ram and a Sound Blaster when Doom came out. Qbasic was really nice, and got a lot better after I bought a real VGA card with 256k memory -- you could fit 4 screens worth of colorfull graphics in there. I dabbled with turbo pascal and borland c++ until I settled for Quick Basic 4.5 ;D . And that's what I'm still using in the form of QB64.
Sorry about that. I was going to compliment your loading screen but got overwhelmed by memories and nostalgia. I was going to do something similar. I think I already have a C64 looking terminal emulator somewhere.
Small update:
- Collectables: Lasers, Bombs and Score
- Lift Platforms: A bugger to get just right ???
- Fixed scrolling: It was only working "correcly" because the whole map was just 640x400... but messed up when extended
- Converted JSON map reader to XML reader due to how slow MX2 parsed the JSON
- Simple in-game GUI
That looks awesome
Note to self: Never do a 8x8 game again... level design is so slow.
Two levels done...
I feel your pain...
2 more levels than me lol. Yeah looks awesome.
Nice! I'd have bought this back in the day. Very authentic looking.
Quote from: therevills on March 15, 2019, 03:37:22
Note to self: Never do a 8x8 game again... level design is so slow.
Two levels done...
Agreed. 1 level complete - I think. 3 levels are currently blank templates really. Even having brushes available it's a lot of work to create good background tiled areas for the game to play on. Next game hopefully play from a single screen with random elements instead just to keep my sanity.
Finished! 8)
Game Title: | Jack Deadly |
Download link: | https://therevillsgames.itch.io/jack-deadly (https://therevillsgames.itch.io/jack-deadly) |
OS requirements: | Windows |
Required dependencies: | OpenGL |
Info: | Jack Deadly is a homage to the classic Rick Dangerous games for the Syntax Bomb's 8-bit Wars competition, using the palette of the greatest 8-bit computer ever: The Amstrad CPC 464! Guide Jack around dangerous locations and watch out for deadly enemies! |
Media information: | Music by Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech) |
Congrats! Downloading... :D
also downloading .... and followed on itch.io :D
Looks... interesting, promising, wanna-play!
Will try after compo deadline.
bye
Ron
Congrats, looking forward to trying the games out in April, after the deadline :D
Just a heads up that something's not right when playing your game. I'm getting murdered on the second screen and probably at least 50% of the time the first screen is coming back up but no player character so the game is essentially locked up until I press esc to restart. The problem is intermittent (the worst type) and can happen after losing a couple of lives or not happen at all. Can't see if problem is present any further than where I am because I've only been able to get onto the second screen because I suck at it :)
Quote from: Xerra on March 29, 2019, 00:59:43
Just a heads up that something's not right when playing your game.
Thanks for the heads up - What hardware/software are you running it on?
Hmmm - wondering if I uploaded the debug version, instead of the release version...
Woohoo, you finished the game ;D - All that effort doing 8x8 tiles paid off and now you can have a nice rest. Game downloaded and ready to play along with the other entries after the comp closes :)
Quote from: therevills on March 29, 2019, 03:08:15
Quote from: Xerra on March 29, 2019, 00:59:43
Just a heads up that something's not right when playing your game.
Thanks for the heads up - What hardware/software are you running it on?
Hmmm - wondering if I uploaded the debug version, instead of the release version...
I'm running it on my Mac via Parallels if that helps.
Quote from: Xerra on March 29, 2019, 06:57:45
I'm running it on my Mac via Parallels if that helps.
Ta... so not "proper" native... have you had any issues with any previous games?
Uploaded a new version with "release" flag set. Could you please try again... if the bug happens again could you please create a GIF or video of it.
Quote from: therevills on March 29, 2019, 08:17:10
Quote from: Xerra on March 29, 2019, 06:57:45
I'm running it on my Mac via Parallels if that helps.
Ta... so not "proper" native... have you had any issues with any previous games?
Uploaded a new version with "release" flag set. Could you please try again... if the bug happens again could you please create a GIF or video of it.
Yep, I'll see what I can do. Never had a problem with any other compo game so far running it via parallels but mostly i've used my cheap,crap laptop to run the games until the last couple of competitions. I'll see if i can replicate it in your updated version.
I can't replicate :( hopefully it was just a one off in the old version.
Sorry for the language in advance but.... Fuck me!!! this is one hard game, it's driving me nuts, I love it ;D
Quote from: Qube on March 31, 2019, 02:28:34
this is one hard game, it's driving me nuts, I love it ;D
LOL! Can't have it too easy... I remember these 8-bit games being very hard to complete!
Did you ever play the originals?
Quote
LOL! Can't have it too easy... I remember these 8-bit games being very hard to complete!
Very true, and yes I've only had a quick couple of goes so far, but I thought ooo this is a tricky game.
Sorry to say the problem still seems to be there. Randomly it just goes back to the first room after death and there's no player on screen so you have to quit the game. I took a screenshot if it helps. If I'm the only person who's having the problem then maybe it's just a parallels/Mac thing. On the plus side, when I have been able to play, I've almost managed to get to the 3rd screen...... Almost :)
Quote from: Xerra on March 31, 2019, 18:38:48
Sorry to say the problem still seems to be there. Randomly it just goes back to the first room after death and there's no player on screen so you have to quit the game.
Dam :( Sorry that is happening... (or maybe you have unlocked Jack's secret invisibility mode ;))
If you want to alter the level data to see if you get a better results, please go ahead and alter assets\levels\level1data.json and change the player's x and y values:
"objects": {
"player": {
"x": 8,
"y": 350,
"x_direction": "1",
"endx": 0,
"endy": 60
},
Maybe something like:
"objects": {
"player": {
"x": 20,
"y": 350,
"x_direction": "1",
"endx": 0,
"endy": 60
},
But get ready to run straight away!
The camera in the game follows the player and the player gets recreated everytime you die... this is a strange bug... gahhh!!
Quote
this is a strange bug... gahhh!!
But at least we are entering...bug week. ;)
So has anyone completed this yet? :P
Quote from: therevills on April 02, 2019, 22:38:25
So has anyone completed this yet? :P
Sorry, not had chance to play any of the entries properly so far. Hopefully towards the end of this week I'll be able to leap into the game more :)
Quote
Sorry, not had chance to play any of the entries properly so far.
Same here.
Quote from: therevills on April 02, 2019, 22:38:25
So has anyone completed this yet? :P
I've managed to make the third screen after discovering that you can get past that nasty lazer that shoots at you on the ladder. That screen I just can't get beyond the electric sparks though. I'm useless at these type of games though, so don't judge it's difficulty on me. Would love to see a bit more of the game, though.
Top tip in case you missed it:
In the this screenie:
(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMzk2NDY1LzE5NjYwMTMucG5n/original/VU0a02.png)
Near the score collectible (the green object) to the right there is a little red switch embedded into the wall - you can punch these to active things.
Great, but one (tiny) niggle is about the controls ::)
You use space as a fire (all over the place), so one assumes that space is the default fire - NOPE it's Z or possibly X?
why not just keep things nice and simple and use space OR the defined keys
OK, next niggle is bombs
You have to go down then fire, or is it fire then down, but fire and space are not the same things?
Why not just have space/fire and it plants a bomb - simples :)
I'm sure there is a gun or maybe jump, so then that would use the fire2?
finger gymnastics (just for the sake of them - however well planned and well meaning), just becomes an irritation. when a simple single fire would do the same thing quicker and simpler
I know there is place bomb and 'kick it'. Again why not just use 3 keys. E.G. Z,X,C Where X is place bomb, Z is kick bomb to left, C is kick bomb to right :)
Yeah I'm with Adam on this, controls are far from intuitive.
I guess you guys have never played the originals! The controls are the same as Rick 2, I spent quite a bit of time getting them just right too :(
I even added a "How to Play" screen - did you read it.
Quotewhen a simple single fire would do the same thing quicker and simpler
The controls are actually one thing I liked in the originals, it was a single fire you had to actually do the action, eg to fire your gun you need to bring it "up", you need to "drop" a bomb...
Can I "fix" the controls or would that be a feature? (Thinking of adding two controls schemes: Classic and Simple)....
Played the originals or not, the controls kinda suck mate.
We're looking for authenticity, but I would suggest we improve on those games, or what is the point? We might as well use an emulator.
Qube has been criticised for a retro game that looked authentic, but ran too smoothly?! How far do you take a remake/retro look? I am certainly not interested in producing poor scrolling for a start. But I love the pixel retro look.
Smooth scrolling is not retro - I explained that in Qube's thread (as the visuals needed to take the "blocky movement" into account - eg. by speed to trick the eyes/brains). As the usage of the original resolution was not a must (so in AGK the "render 2 texture"-method + scaling up) I won't downvote it - except maybe a tiny bit for authenticity (which my game is far away from I know).
But I go d'accord that we should bring "old techniques" together with new gameplay ideas, modernize comfort (mouse, reconfigurable joypads, localization, customizability, ... save wherever you want).
@ controls in the game
I did not play it yet. Developers have to take care that they are not getting too "used" to their controls. I often think that a certain game control works great the way I planned it - until someone else is playing it and blames then how uncomfortable something is.
I understand that splitting up functions to multiple keys allow fine grained control - and also gameplay wise this differs a bit (more finger control needed).
Now we have to decide: is the game dev the one who decides - or the (potential) users?
Regarding a "fix" this is ... hmm unclear for me too. On the one hand it does not offer a new (gameplay) feature and should be allowed - but on the other hand it is not fixing an issue (missing image, broken savegames, no audio, ...). Yet I would not vote against adding another control scheme (the same way I suggested the Fireball Dungeon-entry should rework the sprite-tinting to show 16 colors, not 60). They are smaller nearly neglectable things which should create no hassle amonst the other contestants.
All in all: do not forget that the compos are made for ... fun!
bye
Ron
QuoteCan I "fix" the controls or would that be a feature? (Thinking of adding two controls schemes: Classic and Simple)....
As the controls are as intended then to introduce another control system would be classed as a new feature and not a bug. It certainly something you should add and release after the voting is complete though. Personally I don't mind the controls as there were some hellish controls back in the day but even though you're being authentic with the controls an improvement over that original system would be an improvement for your game. I think having the option of old / new control system would work well :)
QuoteQube has been criticised for a retro game that looked authentic, but ran too smoothly?!
I'll come on to that in a mo ;D
QuoteHow far do you take a remake/retro look?
I could have gone for the poor spectrum games of having really naff sprite refresh + terrible artefact scrolling but that would just look terrible on modern hardware.
QuoteSmooth scrolling is not retro - I explained that in Qube's thread (as the visuals needed to take the "blocky movement" into account - eg. by speed to trick the eyes/brains).
Actually smooth scrolling was the golden crown of 8-bit games that the C64 excelled at on TV screens. You can not recreate that via strict authenticity on modern LCD screens as their pixel density and refresh rates differ so you have to "cheat" a little. There were many silky smooth scrolling C64 games and even today some genius has figured out how to do the Amiga game Pinball Dreams on the Amstrad CPC also with silky smooth scrolling ( youtube for proof ).
Spent the last couple of hours adding "Simple Controls", "Classic Controls" are still there but you need to disable "Simple Controls" via the options.
v1.02 uploaded to Itch which has simple controls:
Z: Shoot Laser
X: Roll Bomb
Down + X: Place Bomb
C: Punch
https://therevillsgames.itch.io/jack-deadly
I'll leave v1.01 if you just want to judge that version.
There is nothing stopping anyone downloading the new version and using that during voting.
For the comp, please remove version 1.02 as it has new features which are against the rules. Feel free to release 1.02 after voting is complete, thanks.
Quote
Smooth scrolling is not retro
Smooth scrolling was very much possible. Screens have come on a long way, but you still have to pick your monitor with a 1ms delay to get near the smooth refresh rate of a CRT. And CRT's enabled the limited colour palettes to give a natural anti aliasing. Plus the hardware was fixed, so you could optimize for it. On modern hardware trying to emulate old hardware you could very easily do it a disservice.
Quote from: Qube on April 06, 2019, 01:32:35
For the comp, please remove version 1.02 as it has new features which are against the rules. Feel free to release 1.02 after voting is complete, thanks.
Fair enough, just hope that I wont lose votes because people think the game is too hard to control :( I spent quite a bit of time getting the controls to be the same as back in the 8-bit days it was rare to have a joystick with more than one button.
Quote from: Derron on April 05, 2019, 23:20:39
@ controls in the game
I did not play it yet. Developers have to take care that they are not getting too "used" to their controls. I often think that a certain game control works great the way I planned it - until someone else is playing it and blames then how uncomfortable something is.
True - but this control scheme has been tested with lots of 8-bit players back in the day.
Fuck, I've been doing it all wrong. So glad you posted this. I hadn't noticed the switches, didn't think of dropping a bomb to get the pick-ups, didn't realise you could duck. I'm going to go back and give it another play now I've seen this.
Think we should all take note because sometimes people don't say when they don't get on with a game, or can't work it out. Watch a video for enlightenment :)
Quote. Fair enough, just hope that I wont lose votes because people think the game is too hard to control :( I spent quite a bit of time getting the controls to be the same as back in the 8-bit days it was rare to have a joystick with more than one button.
I'd like to make an appeal to allow jack deadly to have easier controls, don't want to put the cat amongst the pigeons. Anyway, my daughters playing it at the moment and says it's Really good, I concur, such polish ^-^
We've just used the level 1 walkthrough, to quote my 17 year old daughter 'this is actually really clever' Kudos!
Quote from: 3DzForMe on April 06, 2019, 19:36:09
I'd like to make an appeal to allow jack deadly to have easier controls, don't want to put the cat amongst the pigeons. Anyway, my daughters playing it at the moment and says it's Really good, I concur, such polish ^-^
We've just used the level 1 walkthrough, to quote my 17 year old daughter 'this is actually really clever' Kudos!
Lol, of course he can add them but after the voting has closed. It'll be a new feature if added before which becomes unfair for other who also want to add new features.
Quote. Fair enough, just hope that I wont lose votes because people think the game is too hard to control :( I spent quite a bit of time getting the controls to be the same as back in the 8-bit days it was rare to have a joystick with more than one button.
Fair do s!
Level 2 (I was actually out of practice as I hadnt played the game in over a week :))):
Wow, that was hard! But also fun! I really like the level design and graphics. Can also confirm it works great under WINE in Linux. :)
Glad you like it - so did you complete it? How many lives did you lose? :))
Now I understand what they moaned about the "confusing/needs-to-get-used-to" controls :-)
PS: You use screen fading in a palette limited game ... tzt ;D
bye
Ron
QuoteGlad you like it - so did you complete it? How many lives did you lose? :))
Not yet, it was indeed challenging. But in a quite fair way once you figured out what to do. I did lose many lives just to get through a bunch of screens into the first level though. But it was satisfying to prevail, so I'll probably go back and try to get further! :)
Should I wait for the laser and "move back" or just rush through? Most of the time such lasers in games are there to force you to "run and don't stop" - somehow this didn't work out everytime in my tries ;-)
PS: do not do screenshots of the "throw to screen death animation", poor boy scales ugly as hell (pixel-meat-mashup) :-)
bye
Ron
Quote from: Imerion on April 12, 2019, 23:18:01
But it was satisfying to prevail, so I'll probably go back and try to get further! :)
Great to hear :) Yeah these type of "try-again" platformer are challenging but once you get further it is satisfying.
Quote from: Derron on April 12, 2019, 20:53:58
Now I understand what they moaned about the "confusing/needs-to-get-used-to" controls :-)
You guys! You wouldn't even stand a chance with the originals!
Quote from: Derron on April 12, 2019, 20:53:58
PS: You use screen fading in a palette limited game ... tzt ;D
True... but the spirit of the game is still there :P
QuoteShould I wait for the laser and "move back" or just rush through?
Whatever works ;D
QuoteYou guys! You wouldn't even stand a chance with the originals!
Give it another decade and you'll be hearing ( in a whiny child's voice ) "This games is too hard... It want's me to move around and do stuff"
Quote from: Qube on April 13, 2019, 03:10:34
Give it another decade and you'll be hearing ( in a whiny child's voice ) "This games is too hard... It want's me to move around and do stuff"
Generation T(witch).
.. let others play for me.
Bye
Ron
Thanks to all that voted for my little (hard) game ;D
With the comp over, v1.02 is re-released!
Added simple control mode, as some players found the classic controls too hard!
Z: Shoot Laser
X: Roll Bomb
Down + X: Place Bomb
C: Punch
https://therevillsgames.itch.io/jack-deadly