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BARNEY - Redux'd [seuck] [2010] |
AKA :
The Cow Fish
Credits :
SIDs used in this release :
Download :
Look for downloads on external sites:
Pokefinder.org
Production Info
Submitted by Wile Coyote on 6 May 2010
Production Info
Submitted by Wile Coyote on 6 May 2010
I always said Id never touch SEUCK again, after exhausting all possible ideas, or at least ideas I could come up with, SEUCK is after all, quite limiting. After 360° Arm, Id lost all interest in SEUCK. During 2008 Jon Wells released Sideways SEUCK. I couldnt resist downloading it, if only to see if it really could do what it said on the tin. I was impressed. Scrolling left to right, opposed to the usual right to left adopted by popular SEUs, felt almost as weird as booting up the original SEUCK in 1987 and fully expecting it scroll horizontally.
Ideas for a Sideways SEUCK game were thin in the ground. Id really gone off the whole idea of making a whole game, and wanted more to focus more on a single level. The original idea was to have an R-Type style level, that would stop and start, forcing the player to negotiate a huge ship, set in space. The idea was abandoned.
[rant]
I could never understand why SEUCK used 5x5 blocks. 4x4 blocks or 2x2 blocks would have been more user friendly. It never made much sense why huge levels could be built, with so few attack wave movements available. Not so sensible.
Horizontal bands of colour became high priority if I was to make something that looked colourful with the 5x5 block colour limitation. I always wanted to play a decent version of Choplifter on C64. The idea of collecting / rescuing hostages is quite appealing. Choplifter/SEGA [1985] complete with its hostage speech worked really well. All thoughts of helicopters were abandoned, although clouds and pick ups remained on board.
[info]
Choplifter is a 1982 Apple game developed by Dan Gorlin and published by Brøderbund. It was ported to other home computers and, in 1985, Sega released a coin-operated arcade game version. While many arcade games have been ported to home computers and consumer consoles, Choplifter was one of the few games to take the reverse route: first appearing on a home system and being ported to the arcade. - Wiki
Well I never. I bet Dan Gorlin raked it in. The full interview can be found here:
http://www.dadgum.com/halcyon/BOOK/GORLIN.HTM
[sideways seuck]
Using as few character squares as possible, without sacrificing quality, a band of clouds that tiled horizontally seamlessly were created. The idea of shooting was dropped, as collecting pick ups felt like the right direction to take (the picks would later emerge as pearls). Bored by space, and land, the idea of a water setting became interesting. Time to sit down and watch Jaws/Steven Spielberg [1975] the DVD, Special 25th Anniversary Edition. Its such a great film. Theres a billboard that appears during Jaws, and this provided the inspiration for the title screen.
Brainstorming: sharks, eels, crabs, lobsters, boats, helicopters, rafts, blood, water, waves, buoys, fish, sea creatures, shells, starfish, mermaids, shipwrecks, coral, bubbles, danger..
For a moment, the plan was to have a submarine, a mini submarine, that rescues divers, complete with great white sharks. A type of Choplifter set under water. Sharks are difficult to pixel. After various experiments, a large great white shark was created, although it was too big for the C64s sprite limits. Back the drawing board.
The idea of creating a Sideways SEUCK game was abandoned.
During Jan 2010 Richard/TND announced Sideways SEUCK Compo 2010. For some inexplicable reason this reignited my interest in creating a Sideways SEUCK. Id stick with the underwater theme, and focus on creating a coral landscape, that tiled to an acceptable standard. Then came Barney the Cowfish, followed by various other sea creatures.
Attempting to created things from as few characters as possible always presents a challenge, and the ship wreck was probably a bit too ambitious, although it turned out ok, although a few more characters could have improved things. With 20 characters spare, a light house was created. The light house presented the biggest pain in the butt during the whole backdrop creation process, so much so, it was almost deleted. In the end, I found some love for it, and have grown to like it. With the addition of a blonde babe, and a chequered flag, its kind of passable.
[reference material]
[bugs]
Discovered a couple of problems with Sideways SEUCK. Not major crash inducing bugs, just a few niggles that were possibly over looked, or imported from the original SEUCK.
1. Position an enemy sprite at the top of the screen, so that only the lower 8 pixels of the sprite are visible. Then attempt to delete the enemy / sprite. Not possible.
Solution: Reload previous save point.
2. Set the movement speed of an enemy to 1 (slowest). Position the enemy to the far right of the playing area. Give the enemy a movement pattern that requires it to move from right to left across the screen. If the play area are scrolls during game play, there are not enough enemy movements available to allow the enemy to exit the screen to the left of the screen.
Solution: Design levels that do not require enemies to make such movements.
[audio]
In game only SFX play. The idea was to create the ambience of life under water. The results are ok, taking into account the limits of the SEUCK SFX editor. Title screen music is a cover / remix of the Under Water Theme from Donkey Kong Country, converted to Sid by Richard. Thanks to Richard, as he did a good job.
[motivation]
Dont ask me why, but during the final 2 weeks, during which most of the decisions were made, and visuals created, Lady GaGas - The Fame: Monster was played on loop. There was something about the synthpop sounds that very uplifting, and happy like.
When ever I hear Lady Gaga - Alejandro I think of the blue waters that feature during Barney.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niqrrmev4mA |
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![BARNEY - Redux'd [seuck]](/gfx/releases/91000/91390.gif)
