[released] Tiny Little Slug

[Slamy]

Hello fellows,

my name is Slamy and I'm rather new to this board, so hello to all of you.
I've spent some time on a1k.org as german is my main language but now I would also like to introduce the international amiga community into my current project. I'm sorry for all the grammar problems that might follow.

I'm currently developing a metroidvanian style 2D platformer with a leopard slug as the main character.
Development started on August 2018 and I'm planning to release this game either in late 2019 or early 2020 if everything goes as expected.
Here are some videos in chronological order on YouTube so you get an idea on how this game looks like:

This is very early and represents experiments with a tilemap scrolling engine and some sprite parallax in the background.
[ Show youtube player ]

This is the second video and introduces a second world with an ice theme and also a test for a title screen.
[ Show youtube player ]

At this point in time XplrA joined the team as a pixel artist and made the game look a lot better. The video also compares the old style to the new one.
[ Show youtube player ]

Then there is also a last video which is only weeks old and shows the current graphical style of the third world in a fire cave scenario.
[ Show youtube player ]

The game is targeted at an unexpanded Amiga 500 which means I've taken the burden to work with only 512kB of RAM. (I'll never do that again)
The game is completely written in C and the engine was written from scratch. As compiler I use m68k-amigaos-gcc from bebbo and a selfcompiled m68k-elf-gcc with a reduced newlib as libc for smaller footprint.
For sound I use the ptplayer library from phx and as track loader I currently use trackdisk.asm from phx as well. Both are awesome and a great relief in the development!

I've developed the game with AmigaDOS / NDOS portability in mind and this means that this game can be built as a NDOS floppy disk image and as an AmigaDOS binary (for 1MB machines) as well. Without NDOS this would never run with 512kB to be honest.

Of course I'm interested in what you think about this and maybe suggestions.
I've attached the last released alpha version from december 2018 to this post so you can try the game out for yourself.
This early version lets you play the earth and ice world of the game.
Since then development continued but the current state is not very releasable so I guess the next available version for all of you is probably the final one.
The game will feature 5 sections with different theme or playstyle and probably 3 bosses fitting to the theme.

I'm pretty new to the Amiga community as I'm a rather introvert guy. But we share the same love for this old machine so I decided to give this a go as I always wanted to develop for this computer of my youth.

Persons working on this project:
Slamy - Program, Music, Dev Tools, Leveldesign
XplrA - Graphics for Tiles and BOBs

Have a nice weekend.
Slamy

EDIT: Sorry, I had to edit this post multiple times so the YouTube links were working....
EDIT2: The years were wrong. Of course this can't be released on 2018 any more :-D

[malko]

First, welcome to the forum @Slamy.

Second, on your post, you are mentioning several video but you have only linked one (also you have mentioned 2018 and since we are already in 08.2019, it's a bit strange).

Then, only based on the video, this is a nice little game that put a big smile on my face (positive comment).
I do like the idea to play a "leopard slug". So far, I didn't have seen any score and only a "99" on the top of the screen so I think that there will be a timer and that we will have to reach check-points to continue ?

Maybe if you can give more information : What is the story of the game ?
What is making this "leopard slug" running ? Is there a big monster that has kidnapped the 'sluggette' ?

Edit: Just see that you have updated your post. Will read it again then.

[Slamy]

Originally Posted by malko

First, welcome to the forum @Slamy.

Second, on your post, you are mentioning several video but you have only linked one (also you have mentioned 2018 and since we are already in 08.2019, it's a bit strange).

Then, only based on the video, this is a nice little game that put a big smile on my face (positive comment).
I do like the idea to play a "leopard slug". So far, I didn't have seen any score and only a "99" on the top of the screen so I think that there will be a timer and that we will have to reach check-points to continue ?

Maybe if you can give more information : What is the story of the game ?
What is making this "leopard slug" running ? Is there a big monster that has kidnapped the 'sluggette' ?

Edit: Just see that you have updated your post. Will read it again then.

Hello malko,
yeah this was quite unlucky with the post. Even the post preview was alright. It was broken as soon as I've submitted it..

The game doesn't have a score of points you gain during the gameplay directly. I was inspired by Super Metroid and the score of the game is the time you needed to complete it.
The game also encrypts this score as a string you can enter online.
At least this is what I'm trying to archive in the end.

The website for that is not very good but for an experiment it's okay:
https://steady-shard-225518.appspot.com/

Also this game doesn't has any weapons for the main character. For this genre this is quite unusual but also fun as you need to work you way around the enemies and defeat the bosses with their own stupidity.

The story of this game is nearly absent:
"The slug want's to eat a strawberry but falls into a cave by trying to reach it. Then the slug has to find a way out to finally reach their goal."
I'm not a story writer....

The "99" on the top of the screen is the health and counts down in Turrican and Metroid 1 style.

There is no timer counting down. Only up. You have the time you need.
There is no game over either.
Check points protect you from starting all over. This is inspired by the game VVVVVV.

[Shatterhand]

Hey! This looks pretty good! Very polished, gameplay looks intersting, graphics are very nice.... overall everything looks great!

[malko]

You say you are not a story teller, but the story of finding his way out from a cave to eat a strawberry is cool (the stomach call) .
By the way, congratulation to you for the code and to XplrA for the gfx.
Same game but such an improvement between video 1 & (3 + 4)
No need to mention it, but the gfx does a lot in a game.
Also, turning the rhombs enemies into bees was a good idea

[DamienD]

Hi there Slamy,

Welcome to EAB

I saw this posted on Indie Retro News a few weeks back

Look great, keep up the good work!!!

[JudasEZT]

It is very fast and smooth. With the last graphics it looks even better.
Another good retrogame for Amiga, .. this new era ¨post-Amiten¨, ¨post -jojo bubbleheads¨ is coming really good.

[lovebus5]

Great job! Pixel art looks great and is obviously better!

[zzbylu]

and little gameplay:
[ Show youtube player ]

[Slamy]

Originally Posted by JudasEZT

It is very fast and smooth. With the last graphics it looks even better.
Another good retrogame for Amiga, .. this new era ¨post-Amiten¨, ¨post -jojo bubbleheads¨ is coming really good.

Smoothness is very important to me and is one of the top requirements for my game. I like the 50fps Amiga games more than the 25fps ones. But it surely limits the number of BOBs on the screen.
It seems that current development on the Amiga is also done using prefabricated engines. But they seem sometimes not that optimized.

This is also the first time I've heard about Amiten. Thanks for pointing that out. "The Dream of Rowan" looks interesting.

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by Slamy

This is also the first time I've heard about Amiten. Thanks for pointing that out. "The Dream of Rowan" looks interesting.

I'd keep it that way... avoid anything "Amiten" at all costs

...his Coco Banana debacle where he asked for donations to create a free game / then charged crazy amounts upon completion; not to mention ripped graphics off an arcade game yet said he did them himself is absolutely shameless.

[Predseda]

I like it, platformer is my favourite genre and Globdule is my favourite game

BTW: why there is a trend to bring Amiten to all the new games threads? Can not you guys resist?

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by Predseda

BTW: why there is a trend to bring Amiten to all the new games threads?

Yeah, let's not discuss the "shame of the Amiga community".

I guess originally JudasEZT mentioned his name:

Originally Posted by JudasEZT

Another good retrogame for Amiga, .. this new era ¨post-Amiten¨, ¨post -jojo bubbleheads¨ is coming really good.

Slamy then mentioned one of his games:

Originally Posted by Slamy

This is also the first time I've heard about Amiten. Thanks for pointing that out. "The Dream of Rowan" looks interesting.

So I gave a one line overview; which sums it up really...

[Predseda]

I'd like some moderator could moderate this thread not to turn to a flamewar again.

Please.

[DamienD]

No, it's fine; no flamewars are going to occur... I just answered some posts.

...nothing more needs to be said on Amiten; Slamy can do his own research if he feels inclined and make his own judgement.

Let's get back to the topic at hand

[xboxown]

Originally Posted by DamienD

Hi there Slamy,

Welcome to EAB

I saw this posted on Indie Retro News a few weeks back

Look great, keep up the good work!!!

* Was about to open mouth but then looks at DamienD then immediately closes my mouth again *

[Predseda]

I have seen the new version of the game on Neil's page today and I really like all those changes. Good work, want it boxed

[Slamy]

Originally Posted by Predseda

I have seen the new version of the game on Neil's page today and I really like all those changes. Good work, want it boxed

I'm kinda sorry that I don't have the time to manage multiple boards.
I've started this thread here so that also the english speaking Amiga fans have a chance to get news on this topic. But most of the stuff is only written by me at a1k.


I've recently uploaded a [ Show youtube player ] of the game for you to check out.
And yes, a boxed edition is also my ultimate goal

[DamienD]

Looks absolutely friggin' amazing Slamy, well done!!!

Now that's what a proper / original Amiga game looks and plays like

...can't wait to purchase this via "digital download" and have a bash

[Gzegzolka]

Awesome progress looks like we will have another great professional game on Powerglove level.