15 replies to this topic

[Master_Programmer]

Aside from some polishing, 1 or two bugfixes, a title victory and game over screens, and some very simple sound and music, this game's almost done.

I dub it for the time being, "Radiant Force".

basically, you're a little dude, trying to kill evil robots.

the controls are the joystick moves you around the map.

during battle, fire attacks, joystick right defends, and joystick left runs(so long as you aren't fighting the boss.).

in the battle, when you see the enemy turn white, you should hold block until the enemy changes back to normal color, to reduce any damage you take to 1 point.

You can't block, and attack at the same time


the way the game works, is you run around the world, looking for the boss to kill.

when you're within 16 screens of the boss screen, the background color changes to a brownish color.

the boss's screen location is random, being any number for both x, and y, from 0-255.

so yeah, huge map...I'll make an easy mode sooner or later, that makes it around like...128 instead, or 64.

when you're at the boss screen, it turns red.

moving around counts down a timer

when the timer hits 0, a random number is made, and depending on the number, you'll go into a random battle.

when you're on the boss(red) screen, you can't fight any enemy other than the boss.


after the battle, if you won, there's a chance you'll pick up a weapon.

you're always healed 1-8 hp, every time a battle is won, with two exceptions.

#1, your hp is at 90
#2, you beat the boss.


when you're dead, or won against the boss, you can't do anything, and have to reset the game with the reset switch


you know you're going into a battle, because the screen will flash different colors before the battle.


your character is always the color of the weapon you have, and each weapon has a different strength.

the colors and weapons, are as follows


Dark yellow - Power of 1 - base weapon
White - power of 2 - Machine gun
kinda brownish - power of 3 - Bazooka
blue - power of 4 - Laser
light yellow - power of 5 - Radiant Sword

weapons weaker than the one you have will never show up after a battle, so you can't lose your hyper strong sword, to a machine gun.


there is one bug I know of, and it's that the enemy hp is always a bit garbled.

I was originally going to try to do this in 2k, but I couldn't, so yeah.


expect a completed version within a day or two.

If i remember anything else I might have forgot, then i'll add it later.

Attached Files

•  default.bas.bin   4K   12 downloads

[Master_Programmer]

by the by.

battles are real-time.

[Master_Programmer]

I think, I'm going to make it so that the left difficulty switch toggles a boss radar, and the right one toggles wither or not you can pick up weaker weapons that the one you have, as you're forced to gain a weapon after winning a battle, provided the enemy drops one.

[Master_Programmer]

Okay, switch left b, turns on the boss radar, and switch right a, means any weapon can be dropped by an enemy after battle, regardless of wither it's weaker than your current one or not.

the radar, is dots on the playfield...any direction there's a dot, is a direction you need to go to get to the boss.

so if there's 2 dots, one to your north, and one to your east, then you need to head northeast, until the dots change, or you get to the boss.

With any luck, that'll make the game able to be easier for everyone, who doesn't want to spend hours trying to find that damn red screen. XD

Attached Files

•  Radiant Force V08.bin   4K   13 downloads

[Master_Programmer]

Also, I'll post screenshot when I actually have a finished game.

[Master_Programmer]

Okay, I found a pretty nasty goofup.

when you go to the bottom of the screen, you go up one screen on the map, instead of down, as I forgot to change a minus to a plus.

so here's a fixed version.

Attached Files

•  Radiant Force V08(Fixed).bin   4K   17 downloads

[Master_Programmer]

Would anyone out there be willing to help me compose some very simple 1-channel music?

I'd like to have the following:

1 - Title Theme
2 - World Map Theme
3 - Normal Battle Theme
4 - (Final) Boss Theme
5 - Victory Jingle
6 - Ending Theme
7 - Game Over Theme

I need them all to be fairly small and simple, as to fit in around 1487 to 1024 bytes.

the music engine is going to be simple.

the variables for the music is as follows:
note
song
duration

So yeah, if someone could pitch in and lend a hand, I'd happily give credit.


(Edit)

I might need a Secret Final Boss theme too.

Edited by Master_Programmer, Tue May 22, 2012 12:27 PM.

[Master_Programmer]

coming in the next update:

#1 - Critical hits for both you and the enemies.
#2 - First strikes, where you get a second or two where you can hit the enemy before their attack timer starts
#3 - Back attack...Like the above, except the enemy gets the first hits on you.

*MAYBE* coming in the next update
#4 - Pincer attack, Like in ff6 for the snes, where you're surrounded from the left and right sides.

If the battle is a back attack, or pincer battle, things just get even worse, because not only does the enemy get the first hit, but you can't run either.

[rockfistus]

I tried 2 of the versions and all I get is a little dude to control, I've played with all the switches and that's pretty much it... ? Am I missing something?

[Master_Programmer]

You haven't run into any battles?
It does take a little while to run into a battle sometimes...I made the battles a bit on the sparse side, so that you're not running into a battle every single flippin' step like in most RPGs. DX

And soon, I'll have the next version up, which will have more to it, including secrets hidden in fixed locations across the 255 by 255 screen world.

rockfistus, on Tue May 22, 2012 8:24 PM, said:

I tried 2 of the versions and all I get is a little dude to control, I've played with all the switches and that's pretty much it... ? Am I missing something?

[Master_Programmer]

How do you all like the test version of the weak battle theme?

Yes, this is the battle theme from Dragon Warrior 3, but don't worry, if someone helps me out with music, that'll be replaced.


this is more of a tech-demo of my sound engine.

Attached Files

•  music.bas.bin   4K   8 downloads

[Master_Programmer]

I'll send the sound engine source-code to the guy/girl willing to be my main musician...Basically, it's a plain 1 channel note/duration/song engine, with 2 special characters for the sound data.

One which loops back to a certain spot, a specified amount of times, and one that restarts the whole song.


(EDIT)
Due to my utmost regrets, I might have to bump this up to 8k.

Edited by Master_Programmer, Wed May 23, 2012 11:36 AM.

[Master_Programmer]

Okay, so my biggest question, is, is my music less....I dunno....ear-rape than in my game "split second"?

Has my musical talent actually improved since then?

[KevinMos3]

Master_Programmer, on Wed May 23, 2012 3:48 PM, said:

Okay, so my biggest question, is, is my music less....I dunno....ear-rape than in my game "split second"?

Has my musical talent actually improved since then?

I'd say it falls shy of ear-rape... maybe ear harassment.

Actually, it's not all that bad. Just make sure the volume is low, especially compared to any sound effects. A good example to look at for what the volume of background music should be like is Secret Quest. It's there, it adds to the atmosphere, but it's quiet enough that it doesn't distract.

[Master_Programmer]

KevinMos3, on Fri May 25, 2012 8:20 AM, said:

Master_Programmer, on Wed May 23, 2012 3:48 PM, said:

Okay, so my biggest question, is, is my music less....I dunno....ear-rape than in my game "split second"?

Has my musical talent actually improved since then?

I'd say it falls shy of ear-rape... maybe ear harassment.

Actually, it's not all that bad. Just make sure the volume is low, especially compared to any sound effects. A good example to look at for what the volume of background music should be like is Secret Quest. It's there, it adds to the atmosphere, but it's quiet enough that it doesn't distract.

*nods*

I'm gonna bump this project up to 8KB, so that I have enough room for the tracks planned for the game.


Also, I have to ask, should I keep the battle music, despite it being from another game, or Should I take a "Leap of faith", and try to compose my own?

[KevinMos3]

Master_Programmer, on Sat May 26, 2012 10:46 AM, said:

...should I keep the battle music, despite it being from another game, or Should I take a "Leap of faith", and try to compose my own?

I didn't recognize it because I've never been into Dragon Warrior, but for some people it may be nostalgic. I say, go with what you like.

Also, what if you added some background graphics to break up the monotony a bit. I don't know how you have your code set up, but I would think you could add -- say for example: two playfield patterns that alternate each screen like a checkerboard -- without taking up too much ROM space. So screen 1 would use pattern A, screen 2 pattern B, screen 3 pattern A, etc. That would give more of a feeling of traveling to a different screen. As it is, it kinda feels like you're just wrapping around to the other side of the screen.

I've attached a mockup where I just kinda randomly darkened certain blocks on two screens, then checkerboarded 16 screens together. Of course you could do something much better... this was just a quick example to illustrate what I'm saying.

Attached Thumbnails

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