Advanced enemy paths and connected sprites on old hardware

[MickGyver]

TL;DR : How were these things made back then?

Hi! In a game I'm currently making, I made a sea monster with tentacles built up of several sprites. I'm using GameMaker Studio and the available tools to create paths helped a lot.



On old hardware (like the Amiga), this wouldn't be as easy. I have done some research on how these things could have been made, and these are some ideas:

• Arrays with relative x and y coordinates that directly sets the position of an object, or work as waypoints that the object moves between.
• Lookup tables or approximation functions for trigonometric functions.

Examples of this are some of the bosses in R-Type, the snakes in First Samurai and the enemy flying patterns in Galaga. The snake in R-Type has a quite advanced moving pattern, flying into and out of holes, so positioning needs to be exact. From the looks of it, it either moves in a straight line or an arc (@ 3:30 in the video):

[ Show youtube player ]

It would be great to hear your thoughts on techniques used to create these things, maybe you even have direct experience and have done something similar on the Amiga!

Examples:
[ Show youtube player ] (@ 2:05 in the video)
[ Show youtube player ] (@ 20:35 in the video)

[zero]

In R-Type I think it is all just lookup tables with the coordinates predefined. Same in Galaga, but with the ability to specify an offset and mirroring etc.

For First Samurai it looks like they use a simple spline algorithm. You can do them pretty efficiently in assembler with integer maths and some lookup tables. An even simpler option is to have every object in the chain move slowly towards a straight line between the base and the anchor, which with movement will create nice curves.

[Old_Bob]

Originally Posted by witchmaster

On old hardware (like the Amiga), this wouldn't be as easy. I have done some research on how these things could have been made, and these are some ideas:

• Arrays with relative x and y coordinates that directly sets the position of an object, or work as waypoints that the object moves between.
• Lookup tables or approximation functions for trigonometric functions.

For something like the big snake in R-Type, or the attack patterns in Galaga, I'd think a simple array would be both the easiest to program, and the fastest to execute. You have to blow a bunch of memory, of course, but there's no time consuming calculations to be done and if everything behaves the same way, every time, i'm thinking it would be the best method.

What has puzzled me for a while is stuff like the tentacle type things coming out of the Huge-Brain-With-Eyeball boss at the end of the first level of Salamander that follow you around the screen. Very mysterious. Possibly some of this trigonometry witchcraft, of which you speak?

B

[zero]

If you look at Galaga is seems that the enemies are programmed with a simple Logo like language. "Move x+1, y-2, repeat 25 times" kind of thing. That way only the changes in direction need to be stored.

At the time they would likely have been hand coded by the programmers, as I doubt there were any prototyping tools available.

[invent]

Hi Witchmaster, you may be able to use software like this. https://phaser.io/tutorials/coding-tips-008

coders here will be able to say if this tool or others like it are useful. Good thread as it will be one of our issues for next Amiga game.

[MickGyver]

Thanks so far @zero, @Old_Bob and @invent, I appreciate the input. I like that simple idea of moving the sprites towards a line between the base and anchor.

About that Salamander boss, yeah, the arms are slowly changing direction towards the player. The video below shows the MSX version and by the looks of it, the parts of the boss are not updated every frame to ease up the work for the processor.
[ Show youtube player ] (@ 5:44 in the video)

@invent, that tools seems useful, I was working all yesterday on something similar for GameMaker. Good tutorial also btw.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by Old_Bob

What has puzzled me for a while is stuff like the tentacle type things coming out of the Huge-Brain-With-Eyeball boss at the end of the first level of Salamander that follow you around the screen. Very mysterious. Possibly some of trigonometry witchcraft, of which you speak?

Wasn't there an Amiga game that did something similar?
I'm thinking of a Turrican boss or something, maybe. But can't quite place it.

Interesting thread all round! Looking forward to learn more.

[OmegaMax]

Originally Posted by zero

If you look at Galaga is seems that the enemies are programmed with a simple Logo like language. "Move x+1, y-2, repeat 25 times" kind of thing.

This is from Section Z,Capcom nes game.

;================================================== 
;Data 
;Byte 1 = NmeXVelocity
;Byte 2 = NmeYVelocity
;Byte 3 = NmeMovementPatternTimer
;==================================================
MansaLogicTable: 
 06:871A:FE 02 05            ;Move x-2, y+2, repeat 5 times
 06:871D:FE 02 05            ;Move x-2, y+2, repeat 5 times
 06:8720:FE FE 05            ;Move x-2, y-2, repeat 5 times 
 06:8723:FE FE 85            ;Move x-2, y-2, repeat 5 times ,Reset Marker
;================================================== 
LeagoLogicTable: 
 06:8CE6:FE 00 0A            ;Move x-2, y+0, repeat 10 times
 06:8CE9:FE 03 0A            ;Move x-2, y+3, repeat 10 times
 06:8CEC:FE 05 0A            ;Move x-2, y+5, repeat 10 times
 06:8CEF:FE 09 0A            ;Move x-2, y+9, repeat 10 times 
 06:8CF2:FE 05 0A            ;Move x-2, y+5, repeat 10 times
 06:8CF5:FE 03 0A            ;Move x-2, y+3, repeat 10 times
 06:8CF8:FE 00 0A            ;Move x-2, y+0, repeat 10 times
 06:8CFB:FE FD 0A            ;Move x-2, y-3, repeat 10 times
 06:8CFE:FE FB 0A            ;Move x-2, y-5, repeat 10 times
 06:8D01:FE F7 0A            ;Move x-2, y-9, repeat 10 times
 06:8D04:FE FB 0A            ;Move x-2, y-5, repeat 10 times
 06:8D07:FE FD 8A            ;Move x-2, y-3, repeat 10 times ,Reset Marker

Sorry for replying to an old thread but maybe someone would be interested in this.