24 replies to this topic

[ls650]

Tursi, one of the guys who developed the Jaguar Skunkboard, recently put up a beta for a ColecoVision game he's working on...
Check it out:
http://www.harmlessl.../onesoft.cgi?64

[triverse]

Looks pretty nice.  Thanks for posting this.

[King_Salamon]

Any chance of this making into a cartridge in the future? I suppose I could get a flashcart one day but I enjoy getting carts in the mail with new games! Looks like an impressive shooter!

[Tursi]

Thanks for the praise. I also mentioned this in this other thread: http://www.atariage....per-space-acer/

But probably not everyone visits the programming section, I mentioned it there cause I want to talk about the updates as I do them. I appreciate the cross post, anyway!

This was one of my very first C projects, and my first (and it turns out only) full-scale game for the TI-99/4A, and I started this almost 20 years ago. The ColecoVision port was a late night experiment to see how hard it would be.

I do not want this version of the game on cartridge, as now that the port is over, I want to clean the code up and make a slightly better experience of the game. I thought it'd be fun to spruce it up a little. When it's done, we can talk cart. I need to clean a few issues off my plate before I can play with it, though.

[Tursi]

I'm not sure which thread I should really update.. this one or the one in the programming thread? Maybe I'll just use this one from now on?

Anyway, have posted an update to Super Space Acer Coleco -- this one implements the old random number generator so that the difficulty is closer to where it's meant to be, reduces the rate of fire of the weakest weapon, fixes some minor bugs, and implements a nice new title screen. None of the other game graphics are updated yet.

http://www.harmlessl.../onesoft.cgi?64

Edited by Tursi, Fri Oct 30, 2009 11:24 PM.

[Tursi]

I've posted a new update to the ColecoVision port of Super Space Acer - lots of little changes, the most important are that the enemies are capable of aiming now, and the bosses have improved graphics courtesy of the sprite set released by Tyrian artist "DanC" (http://lostgarden.co...-ships-and.html). The gameplay dynamic is changed a bit by that, plus the fact you have to shoot through the bosses now Not fully done gameplay or sprite changes yet!

Note the screenshots on that page are no longer valid for the Coleco version, except for ingame. The title page is now:


And the final boss (third pic on the download page) is now:


http://www.harmlessl.../onesoft.cgi?64

[retroclouds]

Tursi, on Sun Dec 6, 2009 11:23 PM, said:

Note the screenshots on that page are no longer valid for the Coleco version, except for ingame. The title page is now:
ssa1.jpg

Like the title screen. The fighter reminds me of Battlestar Galactica. Very nice

[rmaerz]

Looks very nice. Could you give us a synopsis of what the game play is for the uninitiated?

You can skip the part about "You are a vulcan warrior in charge of defending the confederation..." stuff. : ]

[RayXambeR]

Are you considering a two-player mode?
The game seems great with very big sprites.

[Tursi]

rmaerz, on Mon Dec 7, 2009 11:13 AM, said:

Looks very nice. Could you give us a synopsis of what the game play is for the uninitiated?
You can skip the part about "You are a vulcan warrior in charge of defending the confederation..." stuff. : ]

Hehehe... actually, you're a decoy. You fly, enemies come down at you (randomly for now, will put them into formations before I'm done) and shoot at you. Shoot back at them and blow them up. Every so often, you face a boss ship (there are five of increasing difficulty). Each stage adds a new enemy and is slightly longer. There are three levels of weapon power-up and you can also pick up time-limited shields.

I don't think I'll add two player support.. the screen will get cluttered pretty quickly and flicker will be continuous. I'd have to rewrite a fair bit of code, too, that assumes single player, and that much rewriting wasn't in my plans. I'll stick to 'Something Fishy' being my two player shooter.

(any chance of a moderator fixing the title of this thread? I don't want it confused with Space Ace )

Edited by Tursi, Mon Dec 7, 2009 5:27 PM.

[newcoleco]

I've tried the new version, I did reach the third boss, but I was unlucky somehow. I'll try again later.

[remowilliams]

Tursi, on Sun Dec 6, 2009 11:23 PM, said:

I've posted a new update to the ColecoVision port of Super Space Acer

I just tried the TI-99/4A version for the first time (on real hardware) and it's really quite cool. Will you be updating the TI version as well?

[Tursi]

I'll finish the Coleco version first. Porting back to the TI is something I want to do, but I am hindered by the lack of a decent compiler (c99 won't compile it now that I've cleaned it up and updated it to ANSI C). But I'm sort of hoping it might convince me to work some more on my own C compiler (either the GCC port which half works today, or from scratch). Eventually it'd be ideal to have it there as well.

[Tursi]

Posted a new update! Gameplay changes:

-Increased player shots from 3 to 9
-fix glitches when dying during a boss battle
-shows you the sprite that killed you now

The biggest game-changing update is the tripling of the number of player shots onscreen. This really turns it into more of the shooter I'm used to - where the player seriously outguns the enemies. Still a fair bit to do, but we're getting there.

http://www.harmlessl.../onesoft.cgi?64

(any chance of a moderator fixing the title of this thread? I don't want it confused with Space Ace)

[Tursi]

I can't believe it's been a year since I've posted an update... well, I did work on it during the year!

Should still expect the weapons systems to change once more, I think I've finally decided what I want them to do. After that mostly tuning left. Here's the abridged changelist:

-Added mine tip animation
-Added boss explosion animations
-Added separate Pulse Wave and 3Way powerups
-tweaked random number generator
-lots of code cleanup and optimization
-Implemented smooth boss horizontal scroll
-added auto-music looping
-removed hard coded delays, framerate is much higher and smoother
-made 3-way shot continue until all bullets hit something
-interleaved processing for scrolling boss (hiding it in the setup motion)
-Fix graphical error on last boss movement
-Fix boss engine alignment
-Change boss firing speed
-Boss explosion sound tweak
-Move background animation to its own function
-Do the boss processing in silence
-Make the boss processing update the background if it detects via the VDP that it's taking too long
-Split player bullet collision check into two unequal halves
-optimized use of vblank time
-reset framerate to 20fps, tweaked player and boss segments for that (stars still at 60fps)
-added phase to wait for enemies to leave screen before presenting boss
-delete sprites on game over
-remove extra music call in game over
-update sprite pattern comments, tested new max pulse cannon sprite
-make mines leave screen during boss approaching phase
-print text for boss approaching
-made centr() take 0-based row
-straighten player ship when preparing for boss
-put scoring onscreen and updated score code
-updated VDP map to account for Boss negative wraparound
-erase sprite table on bitmap display
-display score in sprites on title page
-decrease enemy shot frequency
-fix bugs in player collision detection, reduce size of hitbox to ignore nose
-made boss scroll in from the top
-Updated code for SDCC 3.0

http://www.harmlessl.../onesoft.cgi?64

(EDIT: Thank you for fixing the title!)).

Edited by Tursi, Fri Dec 17, 2010 4:11 AM.

[newcoleco]

I've tried the new version (december 2010) and it's really difficult. Did you notice that the fire upgrade is a 3 not E, and what you are shooting is 666?

[Tursi]

Why would it be an "E"? '3' stands for '3-way'. The other weapon is a 'P' for 'Pulse Cannon'. (And still 'S' for 'Shields').

I'm surprised people think the new version is harder than the old one, interesting. I guess I'm getting better at it.

I think reading the swirls as 6s is going a tad too far, but that graphic is going to change with the new weapons system anyway.

[newcoleco]

Another question, is it normal that I can fly directly over the boss space ship to shoot only the back parts to kill it?

[Tursi]

Hehe. You found one of the ways to cheat. Yeah, it's normal. Wasn't the plan but it's just fine. If everyone is taking advantage of it I can add a cockpit sprite to handle collisions against.

[ChuckH]

This is a nice game but really hard. It would be nice if this started out easier. I would add sounds for firing weapons. Otherwise, it's a pretty good game.

[Tursi]

There will be sound effects and hopefully better music. I haven't touched any of that yet. I'll take the difficulty comments into consideration, but remember that the current game doesn't allow for any pattern memorization, which artificially raises the difficulty.

Check the other thread (mentioned in my first reply here) for details about where the game came from and why it's changing piece by piece.

[Tursi]

-Fixed graphical glitch in explosion animation
-added lives counter
-Removed some unused graphics
-Made power up change periodically
-removed medium size stars (replaced with third speed of small stars)
-added collision check against center of bosses to make it harder to ride on them
-simplified cheat code, slight change in how to use it
-added three skill levels - 1 is easy, 2 is normal, 3 is hard (3 is the old setting)
-fair bit more code optimization, mostly for space now rather than speed
-added wipe effect when clearing title page
-changed ship to red with yellow flame to better match title page
-no longer invincible when 'boss approaching' is up
-GAME OVER waits for you to release fire button, but still allows fast restart
-fix sprites during boss entrance

http://www.harmlessl.../onesoft.cgi?64

[ChuckH]

Tursi, on Sun Jan 9, 2011 4:44 AM, said:

-Fixed graphical glitch in explosion animation
-added lives counter
-Removed some unused graphics
-Made power up change periodically
-removed medium size stars (replaced with third speed of small stars)
-added collision check against center of bosses to make it harder to ride on them
-simplified cheat code, slight change in how to use it
-added three skill levels - 1 is easy, 2 is normal, 3 is hard (3 is the old setting)
-fair bit more code optimization, mostly for space now rather than speed
-added wipe effect when clearing title page
-changed ship to red with yellow flame to better match title page
-no longer invincible when 'boss approaching' is up
-GAME OVER waits for you to release fire button, but still allows fast restart
-fix sprites during boss entrance

http://www.harmlessl.../onesoft.cgi?64

Ok, now your getting somewhere, at least with me. Level One is now doable for me. I made it to three or four bosses before I stopped, using the easy level. About 80,00. I could play it fine in BlueMSX and Mekaw but it wouldn't get beyond the select level screen in VirtualADAM and my spaceship would disappear fighting the second boss in MESS. Still no sounds but it's coming along nicely. Oh yeah, a high scores screen would be good.

[Tursi]

I guess I'll have to burn an EPROM and make sure it plays on real hardware, but I'm not doing any fancy tricks that should prevent it. On the other hand, some people noted that Mario Bros didn't work right on the Adam either, and I never got any details about why that might be.

[Tursi]

Posted a new update.

Also posted a YouTube Video of the WIP here:

-Implemented new final weapons systems - three versions of wide gun and three versions of pulse cannon (still need to make shield a separate powerup and fix the wide gun icon)
-Fixed boss cockpit sprite to be hidden as intended
-added post-boss bonus tally
-Made boss flash white when engines hit using second color table
-made fat character set out of BIOS character set (idea by Sometimes99er)
-made enemy shots flash to call them out more
-changed screen color reset for bombs
-tweaked scoring

http://www.harmlessl.../onesoft.cgi?64