GRIND : a Doom-like, first person shooter for a500!

[Tsak]

Fresh and (very) important news :

I'm pleased to inform everyone that we had another arrival in the team today!
Amiga coder 'Remz' has joined and is currently tasked to bring to Grind the final missing piece of code (in regards to engine features for the Amiga version) : And that is music support!!!
Along with the rest of the team's coders, he will also help with other tasks, including extra features, bugfixing and further engine optimizations!
With this addition, searching for external coding help (at least in regards to the Amiga version and the base engine in general) has -officially- come full circle, as I feel we have now sufficient coding firepower to tackle every single task in our coding roadmap!

As for introductions (and for those of you who don't know), @Remz also happens to be the author behind the amazing 'Hamulet' engine, one of the most impressive brand-new coding and audio/visual feats I've seen on vanilla a500! Check it out :

https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php...hlight=hamulet
https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php...hlight=hamulet

[DisasterIncarna]

nice progress, does this mean the code to get variable height maps will appear at some point?

[Mathesar]

Wow, I have seen the Hamulet demo. Super impressive stuff!
What a talented group of people working on Grind now!

Music next?

[Tsak]

Originally Posted by DisasterIncarna

nice progress, does this mean the code to get variable height maps will appear at some point?

Well, don't get your hopes up yet
There are a ton of more important stuff the game needs first. Variable heights are in my wishlist as well but also at the very bottom of our priorities. I want to make sure the project has all the basics. Once it has, we might explore the possibility (and what it will take in terms of time or compromises).

Originally Posted by Mathesar

Music next?

Yup, at some point at least. Cannot tell how soon as this work has just started.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Tsak

Fresh and (very) important news :

I'm pleased to inform everyone that we had another arrival in the team today!
Amiga coder 'Remz' has joined and is currently tasked to bring to Grind the final missing piece of code (in regards to engine features for the Amiga version) : And that is music support!!!

That is indeed important and great news

[RenegadeFTL]

'TestArena v0.3' Amiga binary release!

„New binary release! This map showcases some of the exciting new features added recently, including Music and Secondary Weapon attacks!“

https://www.patreon.com/Grind_Amiga

[Tsak]

Thanks
I guess it's time for a proper EAB update!
In the last couple months we had several exciting milestones completed, the most important of them being:

1) The engine now FULLY SUPPORTS AMIGA MUSIC!!!
We have added 2 brand new tracks (Menus and in-game) and -as expected- the game has received a massive boost in presentation, mood & atmosphere!
The two new tracks were made by me and Christoffer Magdalus, who recently joined us to help with the game's OST.
On the technical side it is worth noting that Remz managed to make the complete system to run as efficiently as possible, meaning the player poses no extra burden to performance, plus the tracks are far less costly than a typical mod (reaching p61 levels)!



2) The game now features a more elaborate and expanded particle effects system (with options to increase the amount of particles on beefier setups)!
Blood now properly (and plentifully) spills from enemies and barrels produce fiery debris when exploding! Overall, these additions have made shooting targets a lot more satisfying! The system currently applies only to hitscan attacks (and has some limitations) but we plan to expand and polish it further later on.



3) And last (but not least), we finally also have the COMPLETE weapons roster (including secondary weapon attacks via RMB) FULLY IMPLEMENTED!
Lets break this down a bit:

- The pistol now has 2 modes (you can switch between them by pressing 1): the default is the 'unlimited' mode which has infinite ammo but is slower and does low damage. And the 'loaded' mode which uses a new ammo type and has much more firepower and better speed (essentially being almost as lethal and effective now as the other weapons).
- All 4 weapons have received secondary attacks which can be triggered via RMB! These secondary attacks use the same ammo type per weapon and pack more firepower (or other strategic benefits) in exchange for faster ammo consumption. With this addition we have (in essence) doubled the options for the player, adding to the weapons roster a hand cannon, a super shotgun, a grenade launcher and a BFG!

The gif above showcases the following:

- Pistol unlimited
- Pistol, LMB shot
- Pistol, RMB shot (explosive round)
- Shotgun, LMB shot
- Shotgun, RMB shot (double rapid fire)
- Chaingun, LMB shot
- Chaingun, RMB shot (explosive grenade)
- Rocket Launcher, LMB shot
- Rocket Launcher, RMB shot (supercharged explosive cluster)

[Karlos]

Damn that looks slick!

One tiny art nitpick. Can the crescent moon in the backdrop be removed? It shouldn't scroll along with the clouds.

[Tsak]

Originally Posted by Karlos

Damn that looks slick!

One tiny art nitpick. Can the crescent moon in the backdrop be removed? It shouldn't scroll along with the clouds.

Yup, I have already removed that.
This was just an experiment which I hadn't bothered to take out (looked nice in stills). Up until recently.

[demoniac]

Looks really nice!

[samo79]

We missing a nice plasma cannon :-D
Great job guys!

[DisasterIncarna]

[Snoopy1234]

Solid effort.

[Reido]

Super stuff!

[Aladin]

Cool. But why does the sky (the moon) move all the time and in a jerky way?

[Reynolds]

Looks stunning. Please, pleeeeeease tell that the tracks are not chiptunes, but made with real samples!
Other thing is, will be there setting option for gamma? just because it looks a bit dark for my taste.

[Reynolds]

Are we getting closer to a release date, in the near future?

[Whitesnake]

Originally Posted by Reynolds

Are we getting closer to a release date, in the near future?

I think multiple floor heights are still to come last time I checked?

I wonder if it would be possible to add something similar to the chase cam from Doom later on? It basically puts the player sprite in front and pulls the view back a little bit to give you a 3rd person experience.

[roondar]

Still looking amazing

[klx300r]

Originally Posted by samo79

@Tsak

As like Doom, when we run out of ammunition it might be interesting to add a bare-handed mode :-)

+1 and just WoW of a Game for lower spec miggies