Area 88 (U.N. Squadron SE) [100% complete!]

[viddi]

Originally Posted by earok

I had a quick look at it recently, and managed to crack the enemy patterns (so I can slow them down too).

Each pattern is ten bytes long (ie five words).

* 1st Word = The behaviour type. I think: 1 = normal, 2 = change pattern, such as try to ram the player when close, 5 = foreground decoration. Not sure of other settings.
* 2nd Word = Countdown in frames. Eg this counts down by 1 every frame, and when it reaches 0 it goes to the next pattern.
* 3rd Word = XSpeed. Self explanatory
* 4th Word = YSpeed. Self explanatory.
* 5th Word = Animation index. By fiddling with this variable you can make a helicopter turn into a plane, or a tank turn into a power pole etc.

So I can slow it down by decreasing X/Y speed and increasing the number of frames. To be honest most vehicles probably don't need to be slowed down much, but the helicopters in particular look bad since the frame rate's so slow and they're moving so fast..

But the real pain of it is the data isn't stored in a single table or file, it's stored very randomly all over the executable so there's no easy way to find where the patterns are other than watch variables in the WinUAE debugger. As such, I've only been bothered to slow down level 1 so far. (I also deleted the foreground power poles just to reduce slow down)


At some stage I may finish this as a minor SE - no sprite fixes, probably a new title screen and maybe new palettes. No promises though, it's still not a fantastic game.

Edit: Oh, and I made the player slightly slower too, down from 3 pixels/frame movement to 2 - makes it feel a bit smoother.

Sounds cool!

[earok]

Originally Posted by viddi

Sounds cool!

Cheers

Proposed new loading screen.



It's from some Japanese mobile game based on the Area 88 franchise. Not all of the characters in the image are in the game but three are (Shin, Mickey and commander Saki). Sadly it's dithered to hell due to the 16 colour limitation. Replacing it was a small nightmare due to how they use the copper to change the palette at least three different times, as well as the palette being Atari ST 0777 format, as well as the image being stored in ST format..!

[Gzegzolka]

That is still great work You have done

[saimon69]

@earok

Probablly looking for some Area 88 tankobon (paperback volumes) covers and converting those in ilbm should make a better result

[nobody]

[earok]

Done! Apart from final testing, this project is complete - I've already spent far more time on this than the project justified. "Area 88" is in the zone for testing.

Changes from U.N. Squadron:

- Replaced loading screen.



- Replaced "U.N. Squadron" title.



- The game has been slowed down and smoothed out where possible to make the
game a more fluid experience.

- Minor story tweaks to bring the game more in line with the original Anime.

[DamienD]

Great, thanks Earok

Love that you used the Japanese title / shots to differentiate from the original Amiga

<sigh>

...you've given me another reason to add to my *who knows when* next Update Pack

[earok]

Originally Posted by DamienD

Great, thanks Earok

Love that you used the Japanese title / shots to differentiate from the original Amiga

Cheers mate!

Originally Posted by DamienD

<sigh>

...you've given me another reason to add to my *who knows when* next Update Pack

Oops haha. Maybe I'll have a few more random bits and pieces before then!

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by earok

Oops haha. Maybe I'll have a few more random bits and pieces before then!

I'm still playing *catch up*

Hmmm, another "Road Avengers" update and soon to be announced "Highway Sprint".

Can you wait until the European summer is over please? ...from one antipodean to another

[earok]

Originally Posted by DamienD

I'm still playing *catch up*
Hmmm, another "Road Avengers" update

Ah yeah, I should go ahead and officially publish that!

Originally Posted by DamienD

and soon to be announced "Highway Sprint".

I might be a little slow on that one! I had planned to make one or two more tiny tweaks for prototype 3, but I'll hold off and do more substantial ones for prototype 4 (or maybe "demo 1"). JMD and Koyot have both given me new stuff to play with

[Gzegzolka]

Wow, cool to see You have fix that game You are awesome.

[earok]

Originally Posted by Gzegzolka

Wow, cool to see You have fix that game You are awesome.

Cheers! I hope I've improved on it at least heh.

[Gzegzolka]

Now this game is much more enjoyable, that is how amiga port of this game should look from start, it plays perfect.

[DanyPPC]

Thank you very much Earok

[DamienD]

Heya earok,

I added your "readme.txt" to be displayed on the .ADF when booting:



File in The Zone!

[earok]

Thanks guys, all appreciated

I can't remember seeing a basic text file display that supports colors like that, very cool. I'll steal that ADF Damien will also see if I can make a second ADF based on a trained crack before publishing it officially.

[DamienD]

Hehehe; I did something similar with your Space Man - The Ultimate Game .ADF

[earok]

Eeep. That's another project I should maybe just finish off properly and be done with.

ANYWAY. Final release of Area 88 is zoned, I'll push it to my own site in the next day or so. Same as before but includes DamienD's readme text version, AND a trained ADF (also using the readme text setup).

One minor note about the trained version - the title screen still retains the "U.N. SQUADRON" title rather than the Japanese graphic. This is because I couldn't make it fit on the disk - the original file was crunched in a bespoke format (to rip it, I had to copy it from a memory dump rather than using a pre-existing decrunch tool) and my hacked version is uncrunched, so the extra size meant I couldn't fit both it and the trainer on the disk at once.


Incidentally, @DamienD can you please change the title of this thread to "Area 88 (UN Squadron SE) [100% complete!]" or the like?

Edit: Now available via my site - http://earok.net/game/area-88-un-squadron-se

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by earok

Incidentally, @DamienD can you please change the title of this thread to "Area 88 (UN Squadron SE) [100% complete!]" or the like?

Edit: Now available via my site - http://earok.net/game/area-88-un-squadron-se

Done

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by earok

One minor note about the trained version - the title screen still retains the "U.N. SQUADRON" title rather than the Japanese graphic. This is because I couldn't make it fit on the disk - the original file was crunched in a bespoke format (to rip it, I had to copy it from a memory dump rather than using a pre-existing decrunch tool) and my hacked version is uncrunched, so the extra size meant I couldn't fit both it and the trainer on the disk at once.

Hmmm, I see what you mean

To be honest, I've always used this trained version: U.N. Squadron (1990)(U.S. Gold)[cr Genesis - Angels][t +7 SR - Valhalla].adf

With this file all your changes fit onto the disk

Finally, I also noticed you lost the formatting / colours from the modified "readme.txt" file on the disks... this has now been fixed.

So in The Zone! you will find Area 88 - Trained & Untrained.zip which contains:

• Area 88 (1990)(U.S. Gold)[cr Genesis - Angels][h Earok].adf
• Area 88 (1990)(U.S. Gold)[cr Genesis - Angels][h Earok][t +7 SR - Valhalla].adf