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Alias Medron
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 39 |
coder for new game needed!
Hi all..
I was thinking to start working again on an old game project of mine but i need to find a coder first.
the game will be a jump n shoot contra - turrican like but with better gfx and some fresh ideas..
check out this little preview and tell me what you think
Earth 3 Preview |
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cadaver
Registered: Feb 2002
Posts: 1160 |
Sorry to be a bit negativistic, but bitmapmode alone won't necessarily make for better graphics. Turrican etc. mix also the singlecolor chars there for extra sharpness. Plus considering it's AGSP you want, you'll have those lovely 8-char wide empty stretches wherever the spritepointers appear, unless you like flashing graphics :) (I guess you knew this, but anyway..) |
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Alias Medron
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 39 |
i know about the empty chars due to spritepointers but it is no problemm with some clever level design..
i never said that i want to make a turrican clone or improve its gfx.. i mentioned turrican because it is close to the game concept.. and no, i don't think that the hires chars are that important.. i have seen wonderfull detailed gfx in games using bitmap gfx (mayhem for example).. |
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cadaver
Registered: Feb 2002
Posts: 1160 |
Ah yeah, now I get it.. those gfx in the preview are probably not very representative :)
IMO, I've yet to see a scrolling game where bitmapmode really was used to an advantage, I guess graphicians go a bit astray with the freedom of colors. Something like Fred's Back has nice cutesy colors and all, but there are no huge awe-inspiring designs or formations, because it's all so simple and basic design-wise. That is of course not to say you couldn't do it...
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Alias Medron
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 39 |
well.. the gfx in the preview are from 1994 and they have improoved 'till now :) maybe i should make a new preview..
and yep.. fred's back isn't impressive.. it's just colourful |
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T.M.R
Account closed
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 749 |
Could do a double-buffered VSP scroller instead of AGSP...? Not that i'm volunteering to code it, just offering suggestions. =-) |
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Cybernator
Registered: Jun 2002
Posts: 154 |
What's the difference between VSP and AGSP? What does AGSP stand for? |
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hollowman
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 474 |
from what i've heard vsp + linecruncher = AGSP = Any Given Screen Position |
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Oswald
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 5086 |
well, mayhem in char mode beats hands down fred's back with its bitmap mode. Not too long ago I was playing with the idea of writing a Zool clone, and as coder I decided that it should be an "AGSP" scroller but in char mode. You dont have the freedom of software bullets/sprites in bitmap mode, also collisions is harder to track down, you cant simply read directly the screen data to check that. Its not really the screenmode that counts, but that how clever you use it. Take a look at Mayhem and learn... |
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Alias Medron
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 39 |
Actually i don't care about the mode i will use in the game aslong i can use the colors i want (more that 3).. mayhem looks great indeed (and i thought it's bitmap mode)..
the thing is that the only level editor i have is the one from freds back..
if someone could help me with another editor i would be a happy man (and the coders too i guess :) |
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Alias Medron
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 39 |
i took a look at the metal warrior level editor.. it could be used to make some nice levels with quite some colours...
i'll give it a try.. |
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T.M.R
Account closed
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 749 |
Sorry, forgot about this thread; what Hollowman said, VSP is just a shunt sideways by up to 40 characters (anything goes off the right comes back on one char line down on the left) so after that screen distance a buffer flip is needed. Mayhem In Monsterland and Creatures both use it for scrolling char screens but it will work for bitmap too as long as two bitmap buffers are dedicated to it and either $d800 stays as a set colour or a good colour scroll routine is used. |
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Alias Medron
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 39 |
here are some sprites (newer ones that those in the preview) for the game.. http://www.geocities.com/aliasmedron/game/earth3.htm |
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Cybernator
Registered: Jun 2002
Posts: 154 |
@TMR: VSP is clear. I thought VSP and AGSP were the same thing, until you said "VSP instead of AGSP". :)
With bitmaps, wouldn't it take too much memory? I guess you can't load bitmaps continuously because you'd need quite some rastertime for the game-flow routines. Actually, one possibility is to use blocks, but you'd have to _copy_ them onto the bitmap (8 times slower than using chars). 256 4x4 blocks would take half the available RAM! As for free-directional scrolling, that would be too much for a bitmap mode, wouldn't it?
I think this is pretty limiting, and could have impact on the playability. |
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T.M.R
Account closed
Registered: Dec 2001
Posts: 749 |
Yup, you only store the active screens as bitmaps, everything else is compressed into a font and a couple of colour tables and expanded out from the tile map. Since you only have to write one column in per every X frames (depending on speed) that's 192 bytes of bitmap and 48 bytes of colour - easy enough in a frame. |
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cadaver
Registered: Feb 2002
Posts: 1160 |
As long as you're careful with modifying all relevant parts :) it's probably quite easy to modify some of the MW/BOFH/etc. editors to give 3 unique colors per char. That is if you don't want more than 256 chars... |
