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Crystal Castles on ColecoVision


Pixelboy

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Following my comment in the Kangaroo thread, I suddently felt the urge to finish my ColecoVision mockups of Crystal Castles. I added the corresponding arcade screens for comparison. :D

 

This is not a plea for any homebrew programmer to port the arcade game, I just wanted to show my work to you guys. Those screens are perfectly doable on a real ColecoVision, given the use of a special rendering function that draws each level (in bitmap mode) just like the arcade version does. This means that the layout of each level could be stored in ROM as a simple table of elevations.

 

Oh, and in case you're wondering why the playfield is so elevated in the CV mockups, it's because I had to take into account the graphic limitations of the machine (namely only two colors per scanline, per tile). If I were to make the graphics closer to the arcade version, I could find myself with three colours within a tile on the same scanline, something that must be avoided to prevent graphic glitches.

 

Looking at those mockups, there are probably things I would adjust in terms of colors and layouts, if I were to actually code it. But they're just mockups, they convey the concepts I wanted to demonstrate. :)

post-7743-1159899980_thumb.png

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Ah this was my favorite game back in the day. Even now I still want a 7800 version of Crystal Castle. Nice mockups by the way. I think with the current rendings, you would have problems making the last level of this game.

 

I wonder how the home ports handle that level. I know the 2600 one loops after a certain point and doesn't end.

Edited by BrianC
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Alright, here is revised set of mockups. I like those a lot better than the first ones I made. :)

 

I had to make the southern part of the final level less elevated because doing it like the arcade version just didn't work (I had no choice but to make most of the jewels black, and it looked like crap). I think what I did is a good compromise, IMHO.

 

EDIT: Forgot to set the floors to white in the final level.

post-7743-1160326057_thumb.png

Edited by Pixelboy
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Hey Luc,

 

Wow, most impressive. Bitmapped games aren't that easy to port to the CV, but I think you managed to reach a good compromise. As a suggestion, I think you could improve sprites a bit. I suspect all characters in this game are taller than 16 pixels, so you can use two sprites for the "head" and two sprites for the body, with each pair using different colors.

Keep the mockups coming! :D

 

Eduardo

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Nice mockups, I figured that you would design the last level like that. I though just making it "just like the arcade" wasn't practical.

 

Okay, here's a another problem level you have to deal with:

 

Again, how do the home ports (C64 Atarisoft, C64 Thundersoft, 800 near complete proto, XL/XE) handle those levels?

Edited by BrianC
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Nice mockups, I figured that you would design the last level like that. I though just making it "just like the arcade" wasn't practical.

 

Okay, here's a another problem level you have to deal with:

I don't see anything that's graphically impossible to do on the CV, although to reproduce the upgoing-to-infinity staircase accurately, I would probably need to patch the graphics after the level has been rendered.

 

I think I've done enough mockups for this game, so sorry if you were expecting me to rise to the challenge. ;)

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Hey Luc,

 

Wow, most impressive. Bitmapped games aren't that easy to port to the CV, but I think you managed to reach a good compromise. As a suggestion, I think you could improve sprites a bit. I suspect all characters in this game are taller than 16 pixels, so you can use two sprites for the "head" and two sprites for the body, with each pair using different colors.

Keep the mockups coming! :D

 

Eduardo

I wouldn't want to handle the coding necessary to hide parts of the sprites when they go behind stuff.

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I wouldn't want to handle the coding necessary to hide parts of the sprites when they go behind stuff.

The arcade version had a very basic solution for that (just show Bentley Bear's red belt when he walks behind scenery, for example), and it would be equally simplistic in the CV version. As for detecting when a character goes behind a visual obstacle, that could prove to be a bit of a challenge, but nothing impossible.

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