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General Category => Showcase => Topic started by: therevills on January 20, 2018, 12:25:20

Title: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: therevills on January 20, 2018, 12:25:20
(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjE1NjI2LzEwMTY4NDkucG5n/original/lU141G.png)

Here is my "finished" entry to the Retro Game Competition Entry. The entry version has 6 levels, I wanted to add so much more!

Mostly inspired by the Amiga game:  Apocalypse.

Developed in Monkey2!

*** TOP SECRET ***

OPERATION: DA CHOPPA

You are a special agent of a top secret organisation. Your mission is to rescue all the hostages and recover the intel.

Good Luck!

Controls (keyboard customisable):

Cursor keys to move

Keyboard Z / Button A = Shoot

Keyboard X / Button B = Seeker Rockets

Keyboard C / Button X = Enter/Exit Choppa

https://therevillsgames.itch.io/get-to-da-choppa (https://therevillsgames.itch.io/get-to-da-choppa)

(https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjE1NjI2LzEwMTY4NTMucG5n/original/d%2B%2BIQL.png)
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: iWasAdam on January 20, 2018, 12:55:24
I'm loving the look of this. Can't wait to get my hands on dat chopper!
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: STEVIE G on January 20, 2018, 13:40:33
Fantastic - love it!!  Still trying to get past level 3 - though I'm shite at shoot-em ups!

* Love the graphics - especially the animation on the chopper, your wee Rambo guy and the soldiers. 
* Great gameplay - get's pretty hardcore quickly.  Red choppers are a bit too good for me - I'm sure there's a trick to it though.   
* The music is excellent (reminds me of Cannon Fodder) as are the 8bit retro sounds.
* Great particle effects.
* Excellent attention to detail - graves, background animation, flag waving and that the wee guy can get out at any height and wander around the buildings.
* CRT effect is great - is this done using shaders?

Only very minor negative is that I think the enemies are too accurate too quickly, it didn't take long for them blow up my gunship most of the time.  Unlimited continues helps though  ;D

Very impressive!  Out of everything so far this one gets my vote!
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: TomToad on January 20, 2018, 15:29:32
Nice game. Made it through level 3 after several tries.  Only negative I have is I don't like the default key bindings. Fortunately, you provide a way to change them.
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: therevills on January 20, 2018, 22:50:29
Thanks guys! A lot of hobby hours went into this! I had so many ideas which didnt get into the game:

* More enemies: Jets, Anti Aircraft vehicles, ships, different soliders
* Different tilesets: City, water, jungle
* Different objectives: Destroy buildings etc
* More animations

Known bugs:

* Scrolling isnt perfect for objects and they jump between the ints
* Collision isnt perfect

Quote from: STEVIE G on January 20, 2018, 13:40:33
Fantastic - love it!!  Still trying to get past level 3 - though I'm shite at shoot-em ups!

The game is completable!

Quote* Great gameplay - get's pretty hardcore quickly.  Red choppers are a bit too good for me - I'm sure there's a trick to it though.   

You need to use your seeker rockets at the right time (before yesterday they werent seekers and the game was rock hard!) ;D

Quote* The music is excellent (reminds me of Cannon Fodder) as are the 8bit retro sounds.

That track fits the game so much, we are a bit brain washed with it! If you listen to the high notes we actually made up words to go with it:

"Get to"
"Get to da choppa"
"Get to"
"Get to da choppa"

Quote* Excellent attention to detail - graves, background animation, flag waving and that the wee guy can get out at any height and wander around the buildings.
I wanted to add more! Grass blowing the wind when the choppa takes off and when the player move thru it.

Quote
* CRT effect is great - is this done using shaders?
Yep, but not by me... PixelPaladin did a great job: https://github.com/PixelPaladin/mx2-crt

Quote
Only very minor negative is that I think the enemies are too accurate too quickly, it didn't take long for them blow up my gunship most of the time.  Unlimited continues helps though  ;D
I wanted it to feel like the games of old which when I was a kid they were hard... if I had time I was going to add an easy mode but that'll have to be after the comp now.

Quote
Very impressive!  Out of everything so far this one gets my vote!

Thanks Stevie :)

Quote from: TomToad on January 20, 2018, 15:29:32
Nice game. Only negative I have is I don't like the default key bindings.

Thanks Mr Toad!

I played with few different defaults, starting with WASD but for some reason it didnt feel right with the 3 action buttons. What did you end up setting them too?
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: TomToad on January 20, 2018, 23:36:26
It was the action buttons themselves I didn't like.  Kept wanting to fire with my index finger, kept jumping out of the copter to my death instead.  Just switched the Z and C keys around, much more natural.  If I ever figure out where I placed my joypad, might give that a try.
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: Conjured Entertainment on January 21, 2018, 01:50:27
SWEET!!!

QuoteVery impressive!  Out of everything so far this one gets my vote!
I like FUNGICIDE too, so its a tough decision for me at this point.  8)
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: therevills on January 21, 2018, 04:03:16
Quote from: Conjured Entertainment on January 21, 2018, 01:50:27
SWEET!!!

Congrats on beating the game! Glad you liked it :)
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: therevills on January 21, 2018, 21:59:09
Any one else manage to complete it yet?  :P
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: GaborD on January 22, 2018, 05:18:36
Really fun!
Quite a few great entries. Hard to decide :)
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: iWasAdam on January 22, 2018, 08:07:03
Brilliant. I felt at home immediately.
Went for a nice walk and hot shot at... went back to the chopper and blew the 'bits' out of them!
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: RemiD on January 22, 2018, 20:27:35
I have just tested your game.

it works well on my computer/os (Windows 7 64bits)

Graphics : nice, consistant style.
Sounds : cool effects, thanks for the option to configure the volume
Controls : easy enough to understand how to play, thanks for the option to configure the action keys
Gameplay : fun and addictive, but too difficult for me. Maybe add a progressive difficulty ? Also maybe add a way to oriente the aim of the helicopter independantly from its movement (with the mouse maybe ?), it would be easier to aim).
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: therevills on January 22, 2018, 23:16:09
Quote from: GaborD on January 22, 2018, 05:18:36
Really fun!
Quite a few great entries. Hard to decide :)

Quote from: iWasAdam on January 22, 2018, 08:07:03
Brilliant. I felt at home immediately.
Went for a nice walk and hot shot at... went back to the chopper and blew the 'bits' out of them!

Quote from: RemiD on January 22, 2018, 20:27:35
I have just tested your game.

Thanks for trying out the game guys and your comments  8)

Quote
Gameplay : fun and addictive, but too difficult for me. Maybe add a progressive difficulty ? Also maybe add a way to oriente the aim of the helicopter independantly from its movement (with the mouse maybe ?), it would be easier to aim).

It was designed to be hard, as I remember playing those kind of games on the Amstrad and they were really really hard! And I wanted it to have that kind of feel :P

Also I wanted to keep the controls to a classic style too, yeah adding moving aiming would make it easier and more modern but it would change the gameplay I was after. If I did an updated version it would have aiming controls.

Oh, the rockets on the choppa are homing missiles so as long as you get close enough they should hit targets themselves - that was a last minute change as the game was way too hard before! Also landing back at HQ will refuel and heal you.
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: Conjured Entertainment on January 23, 2018, 03:09:59
Quote* CRT effect is great - is this done using shaders?
That is a really cool feature for this retro competition.

I have not played much with 2d shaders, but a post shader like that is tempting.
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: Qube on January 23, 2018, 03:28:02
Don't use the crt shader as it breaks the comp rules. Pretend it's not an option until afterwards :P.. glad it's off by default though, good choice ;D - I left the crt shader out of mine completely because it creates extra colours and resolution that breaks de rulez.

It is a great game and I'm playing it along with two others before deciding my top three.

Great choice of palette :P same as mine I see. The DB16 :)
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: therevills on January 25, 2018, 02:07:29
Quote from: Qube on January 23, 2018, 03:28:02
Don't use the crt shader as it breaks the comp rules. Pretend it's not an option until afterwards :P.. glad it's off by default though, good choice ;D - I left the crt shader out of mine completely because it creates extra colours and resolution that breaks de rulez.

Hopefully keeping it in is okay, it definitely adds to the retro look  :)

Quote
It is a great game and I'm playing it along with two others before deciding my top three.
Thanks Qube, when I finish my next big game I'm going to go back to this and add more features/level etc.

Quote
Great choice of palette :P same as mine I see. The DB16 :)
Yeah the DB16 is nice, I really enjoyed using the limited palette but I think if I did another retro game it would be 32 colours! :D
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: Qube on January 25, 2018, 02:44:29
QuoteHopefully keeping it in is okay, it definitely adds to the retro look  :)
It's off by default so not to effect the colours / resolution of your game so it's all good :) - Besides you fixed the resolution and movement stuff early on when someone *cough* brought it up :P

Quotewhen I finish my next big game I'm going to go back to this and add more features/level etc.
Cool, don't forget the napalm weapon for sheer pixel mayhem ;D

QuoteYeah the DB16 is nice, I really enjoyed using the limited palette but I think if I did another retro game it would be 32 colours! :D
I agree with you on that one. I think I would keep the DB16 and have the other 16 colours as shades of the more vibrant ones.

I did really enjoy the retro comp but unfortunately had an avalanche of other work dumped on me just before Christmas which meant almost a month of very little time on my game. In the end I had 2 days to just make it work as a game. Ah well, that's how it goes sometimes.

But once again, great game, nicely done :)
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: TomToad on January 25, 2018, 09:34:35
Quote from: therevills on January 25, 2018, 02:07:29
Quote from: Qube on January 23, 2018, 03:28:02
Don't use the crt shader as it breaks the comp rules. Pretend it's not an option until afterwards :P.. glad it's off by default though, good choice ;D - I left the crt shader out of mine completely because it creates extra colours and resolution that breaks de rulez.

Hopefully keeping it in is okay, it definitely adds to the retro look  :)
I don't think it looks retro at all.  Forst of all, I have owned computers since the Commodore 64, and I never had a monitor with that much curvature.  Secondly, CRT monitors have circuitry  that will compensate for the curvature of the tube so squares still look somewhat square.  Notice how in this image
(https://www.c64-wiki.com/images/thumb/4/49/C1084-Stuetzbuegel.jpg/300px-C1084-Stuetzbuegel.jpg)
The graphics border does not follow the edge of the tube so it still looks square.  You can still see a small amount of curvature, especially when viewing at an angle, but it is nowhere near as distorted as this "retro" look gives.
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: Qube on January 25, 2018, 09:53:28
For monitors I agree but on 14" cheap potable TV's the bend could be quite dramatic.
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: therevills on January 26, 2018, 00:06:53
Quote from: Qube on January 25, 2018, 02:44:29
I agree with you on that one. I think I would keep the DB16 and have the other 16 colours as shades of the more vibrant ones.
Have you seen DB32, lots of nice colours and range in that palette. http://opp.opengameart.org/index.php/DB32

Quote
I did really enjoy the retro comp but unfortunately had an avalanche of other work dumped on me just before Christmas which meant almost a month of very little time on my game. In the end I had 2 days to just make it work as a game. Ah well, that's how it goes sometimes.
Well for 2 days to finish it you made a cool little game! :)

Quote
But once again, great game, nicely done :)

Ta :)
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: Qube on January 26, 2018, 09:06:48
QuoteHave you seen DB32, lots of nice colours and range in that palette. http://opp.opengameart.org/index.php/DB32
Oo, I didn't know he'd did a 32 colour version, very nice indeed. Complete geek fest but that is a real nice palette, thanks for that.

QuoteWell for 2 days to finish it you made a cool little game! :)
lol, thanks. I had resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to finish it due to the crap fest of work that came in. Then on Thursday evening before the comp deadline it worked out that I had two days completely free so I went from :

A game with one level, broken enemies, no sound, no title screen, no high score, no transition between levels etc etc. I had written a couple of sound tracks but planned to do more. So I decided to just go nuts and spend the two days going like mad to turn what I had into a game. In the end it was about 30 hours over two days of complete hammering away. Sure my game is missing a hell of a lot of planned stuff but after all the early work I put into it I just wanted to give it my best to at least present something.

In the end I managed to submit within 4 minutes of the deadline. My head was buzzing and afterwards I slept like a log :P
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: therevills on January 26, 2018, 23:10:03
Quote from: TomToad on January 25, 2018, 09:34:35
I don't think it looks retro at all.  Forst of all, I have owned computers since the Commodore 64, and I never had a monitor with that much curvature.

The CRT code does allow for a lot of options including altering the curvature.

My first computer was the Amstrad CPC 464, where we did have a green screen monitor but we connected it up to a small TV and I do recall the curvature was pretty large.
Title: Re: Get to Da Choppa - Retro Game Competition Entry
Post by: round157 on January 28, 2018, 08:28:16
Hello, I have played your game. Quite good!
:)