22 replies to this topic

[Philsan]

I always liked The Rocky Horror Show game for C128 (not the versions for C64 and ZX Spectrum), in particular music and sprites animation.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_4UUHqfWyk"]http://www.youtube.c...h?v=1_4UUHqfWyk[/url]
Thanks to PAC-MAN-RED sprites design, I've decided to start programming a game for Atari 2600 VCS with Visual batariBasic.

Diogoandrei is composing titlescreen's music (I attach his latest work).
I don't know if I will be able to make a fun game or if I'll have the time to complete it.
Anyway, I will post in this topic my efforts.
A special thank to RevEng for his invaluable programming help.
BTW, he found a method to change priorities so sprites are in front or behind according to their Y positions.

Attached Files

•  Rocky16.bas.bin   16K   59 downloads
•  rocky_horror_show_T4.bas.bin   4K   59 downloads
•  rocky_horror_show_CHORUS_T4.bas.bin   4K   45 downloads

[diogoandrei]

Wow, this is looking awesome, congratulations Philsan!

I am currently looking for an emulator to play the C128 version, because it really looks like a good game. Besides, their version of Time Warp is really nice indeed, with an extra counter melody going together with the bass line.

By the way, I came in to drop a new tuning (4th version, plus chorus this time) for the titlescreen music that sounds a bit better than my last one, IMHO. The bass is lower, still some notes are a bit off key. On the chorus part they are all in tune, though.

All suggestions are welcome

Attached Files

•  rocky_horror_show_T4.bas.bin   4K   45 downloads

Edited by diogoandrei, Sun Jan 30, 2011 5:04 PM.

[GroovyBee]

Good looking sprites. The player sometimes has jerky movement in my version of Stella when you are in the top half of the screen. It doesn't seem to happen in the lower half of the screen.

[Philsan]

GroovyBee, on Sun Jan 30, 2011 4:59 PM, said:

Good looking sprites. The player sometimes has jerky movement in my version of Stella when you are in the top half of the screen. It doesn't seem to happen in the lower half of the screen.

Thank you.
Do you mean when the player is near the upper edge of the room?
The problem is that Janet's head, when she walks, sometimes touches the wall and a collision is detected.

[riffraff]

I remember this game on the c-64. Cool that you are trying a go at a 2600 one. Can you show a screenshot of what you have so far? Edit: thanks! =)

I wonder why they left out the "picture" in Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Also if Pac-Man Red makes a Riff Raff sprite I might just have to steal it =)

Edit again: That title screen looks sick!

Edited by riffraff, Sun Jan 30, 2011 6:28 PM.

[GroovyBee]

Philsan, on Sun Jan 30, 2011 5:09 PM, said:

Do you mean when the player is near the upper edge of the room?
The problem is that Janet's head, when she walks, sometimes touches the wall and a collision is detected.

I see. Its the head bobbing on the sprite. Maybe you should add a small tuft of hair onto the animation's head so that the sprite's maximum height is always the same. Either that or use a Y coordinate check instead.

[Philsan]

GroovyBee, on Sun Jan 30, 2011 5:19 PM, said:

I see. Its the head bobbing on the sprite. Maybe you should add a small tuft of hair onto the animation's head so that the sprite's maximum height is always the same. Either that or use a Y coordinate check instead.

I've the same problem when the player is near left/right edge and walks up/down.
Janet movement involves the same problem.
I would like to use collision check instead of X/Y coordinates to simplify exiting from rooms.
Perhaps there are clever solutions...

[GroovyBee]

Philsan, on Sun Jan 30, 2011 5:24 PM, said:

I would like to use collision check instead of X/Y coordinates to simplify exiting from rooms.
Perhaps there are clever solutions...

How are you handling collision detection at the moment?

[Philsan]

riffraff, on Sun Jan 30, 2011 5:12 PM, said:

I remember this game on the c-64. Cool that you are trying a go at a 2600 one. Can you show a screenshot of what you have so far?
I wonder why they left out the "picture" in Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Also if Pac-Man Red makes a Riff Raff sprite I might just have to steal it =)

Screenshots added!
I think "picture" isn't in game's title because it is based on the musical, not the film.
In fact in the film Janet is blond.
My idea was to ask PAC-MAN-RED to design Riff Raff, Rocky and Frank N. Further sprites only if the game progresses.
But I think you have a particular interest in seeing Riff Raff sprites...

[Philsan]

GroovyBee, on Sun Jan 30, 2011 5:31 PM, said:

How are you handling collision detection at the moment?

Yes.
If a collision with playground is detected, player jumps back.

[GroovyBee]

Philsan, on Sun Jan 30, 2011 5:38 PM, said:

If a collision with playground is detected, player jumps back.

Jumps back how far? To the last good x and y coordinates or a fixed distance?

[Philsan]

GroovyBee, on Sun Jan 30, 2011 5:39 PM, said:

Jumps back how far? To the last good x and y coordinates or a fixed distance?

It jumps back 1 pixel.
I've tried 2 pixels but there are problems.

[Philsan]

diogoandrei, on Sun Jan 30, 2011 4:56 PM, said:

Wow, this is looking awesome, congratulations Philsan!

I am currently looking for an emulator to play the C128 version, because it really looks like a good game. Besides, their version of Time Warp is really nice indeed, with an extra counter melody going together with the bass line.

By the way, I came in to drop a new tuning (4th version, plus chorus this time) for the titlescreen music that sounds a bit better than my last one, IMHO. The bass is lower, still some notes are a bit off key. On the chorus part they are all in tune, though.

All suggestions are welcome

Diogo, your music is wonderful!

[GroovyBee]

Can you not use the ball or a missile for doors and check collisions with that? That would enable to you to do coordinate checks for walls.

[Philsan]

GroovyBee, on Sun Jan 30, 2011 6:12 PM, said:

Can you not use the ball or a missile for doors and check collisions with that? That would enable to you to do coordinate checks for walls.

Unfortunately, with 2 multicolor sprites, I lose the missiles.
Only the ball remains.

[GroovyBee]

Implementing walls where the player can "slide" past them instead of colliding with them can be done (my 7800 Halloween themed game does it). Its all coordinate checks in that game because there is no hardware collision detection. Using hardware collision checks when combined with variable height/width sprites I think you'll end up with sprites that "jitter" too much.

[RevEng]

Philsan, on Sun Jan 30, 2011 5:24 PM, said:

I've the same problem when the player is near left/right edge and walks up/down.
Janet movement involves the same problem.
I would like to use collision check instead of X/Y coordinates to simplify exiting from rooms.
Perhaps there are clever solutions...

Provided all of the backgrounds will be black, you could the row of pixels under her feet as %11111111 and set the color to black.

That would guard against side-wall sticking, but wouldn't help on the top. (You don't want to do the same for her head, as that would show up when she's in front of another character.)

You'd also want to give the playfield display priority over the players, so the black dots won't show up.

There's a side-effect from this approach, though; any downward collisions would stop her one pixel short of the wall.

[diogoandrei]

Philsan, on Sun Jan 30, 2011 6:17 PM, said:

GroovyBee, on Sun Jan 30, 2011 6:12 PM, said:

Can you not use the ball or a missile for doors and check collisions with that? That would enable to you to do coordinate checks for walls.

Unfortunately, with 2 multicolor sprites, I lose the missiles.
Only the ball remains.

Hm, just an ideia, don't know how "do-able" would this be... but how about using the ball for collisions check up (for exiting rooms) and flicker the ball around for rooms with more than one door/exit?

[Philsan]

Your ideas are interesting but I think that I have to chose gameplay first.
Moreover, the new bB v1.1 will have awesome new features to be considered.

[diogoandrei]

Philsan, on Mon Jan 31, 2011 6:58 AM, said:

Your ideas are interesting but I think that I have to chose gameplay first.
Moreover, the new bB v1.1 will have awesome new features to be considered.

Doesn't it feel like perfect timing? New bB and Rocky Horror Show?

[Philsan]

New version added:
- Titlescreen corrected by hand (old - new):

- fixed near border movement (using x/y coordinates, when new bB v1.1 will be released and gameplay will defined I will think about it).

[diogoandrei]

Here's the working chorus for the titlescreen music. It's a mixture of the original melody with some arrangements from the C128 version (which is really a nice version of the song). There's a hihat now helping to keep the beat. The bass also does a small and gentle "bass walk" as the chorus repeats itself, giving a small feeling of development inside the music (at least that's what I aimed for!).

This is probably the final version of the chorus and my work will now focus on the other parts of the song. I am still a bit concerned with the verse... and also worried with the size of the music data, which is getting huge!

Hope you enjoy!

Attached Files

•  rocky_horror_show_CHORUS_T4.bas.bin   4K   57 downloads

[PAC-MAN-RED]

diogoandrei, on Tue Feb 8, 2011 8:11 AM, said:

Here's the working chorus for the titlescreen music. It's a mixture of the original melody with some arrangements from the C128 version (which is really a nice version of the song). There's a hihat now helping to keep the beat. The bass also does a small and gentle "bass walk" as the chorus repeats itself, giving a small feeling of development inside the music (at least that's what I aimed for!).

This is probably the final version of the chorus and my work will now focus on the other parts of the song. I am still a bit concerned with the verse... and also worried with the size of the music data, which is getting huge!

Hope you enjoy!

Nice work! You really know your way around music.

Can't wait to hear more tunes.

Illya