I will create a Batman the Movie Clone

[goncalo]

Hello all, I just signed up in this board.


And I would appreciate some feedback from you.


I love the Amiga since the 80s, and I still nowadays play some of its games on FS-UAE, one of them is Batman The Movie (the 1st and 5th levels only).


I'm a software developer and am creating a Game Engine from scratch on Linux that I'll use to create games for Linux, Windows, Mac OS, etc (Amiga not there (YET)).


It would be of course a free game, and it would be great if others would create levels for that game (the platform levels).


I've seen in a web search that some would love to have a new version of that game on this post: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=1139255.


But would people like to play it on modern PCs, of should we only speak about real Amiga games here?


For the clone I would create it exactly equal, but maybe with a 640*480 resolution. Should I try to perfect the pixelart?


I would probably release a different version later but without the Batman stuff as that's a trademark, but at least the clone would be done.


Does anyone find this a good idea? I have videos but I haven't posted them as I'm not sure if I should post those things here.


Thanks.

[Valken]

Welcome and a good intro.

Would be great for an Ultimate or anniversary edition with all the fixings and maybe enhancements if possible.

You can check out a thorough review of all game versions here:

https://frgcb.blogspot.com/2014/10/b...cean-1989.html

You can find the map of the NES version here:

https://www.vgmaps.com/Atlas/NES/index.htm#Batman

I could not find a fully mapped version from the Amiga or Atari ST version, but you can run an emulator in pixel perfect resolution, no scaling or filters, enabled infinite lives cheat and just run the maps to compare.

Maybe add some bloom, parallax, depth shading, with global illumination and it would look great as a neo retro game.

[goncalo]

Thanks for the feedback!

I have the first level already on my Game Engine's testing map, you can see it here:



Nevermind the anime screen, I usually have the habbit to put a frame from the current animations series I'm watching on each screenshot, this one was from November.

You can see that I've walked through those 1st level platforms with Erik the Viking (from Lost Vikings) for testing purposes, and even Sonit the HedgeHog:



I uploaded the level but am currently testing some water works (I'm finishing but still not online), this video is old (3 weeks now with waves, etc):



Once I finish doing perfect waves (which have nothing to do with Batman), I can start working with Batman the Movie related stuff, like:

- Shooting batarangs;
- Shooting bombs;
- Gas traps;
- Throwing the rope and balancing;
- Etc.

I can easily create later a clone of Batman the Movie's first and fifth levels (I won't create the other levels as I just play the platform ones).

I'll then find a way to let people create their own levels to share among us.

I would like to release a free version of this (obviously as I don't own Batman's copyrights and it's a game clone so it can only be free).

I'm a software developer, and I can easily create games from scratch, I'm creating now my own game engine from scratchin C and C++, because I plan to start creating my own games (to sell them later on Steam), but as kind of an excercise, I'll probably clone some Amiga games, at least Batman The Movie.

I'm thinking even creating a game similar to Batman the Movie (probably that could even use the same levels), but with different characters, etc.

But my free version of Batman the Movie would be more complete, with more traps, new stuff, so I'm curious to see if other players are still interested in this game 30 years later.

The only thing is that it would be for Windows or Linux.

I migrated the Amiga levels, and I plan to maybe perfect their sprites and tiles.

I plan to do more realistic water splashes, gas traps (or water vapor traps?), etc. But not escape from the original too much, at least on the beginner levels.

What do you think about this?

I know I'll play a lot this game clone once I finish it (as I love playing the original one), but am curious to see if others would like to also.

I could create a perfect clone, with very realistic stuff, but am not sure if I should stray too much from the original one.

Thanks!

[SSJTrunks69]

Is it hard to program game? and how much does it take for you to study it?

[gimbal]

@SSJTrunks69: that would be a question better served in its own thread, it is an opinionated question that would cause a derailment discussion in this thread.

[goncalo]

Originally Posted by SSJTrunks69

Is it hard to program game? and how much does it take for you to study it?

Well, @gimbal is right that would require a long answer. Anyway I can tell you that I don't use any game engine (I'm creating my own from scratch), so it's harder than if you would grab a game engine from the internet and start creating games (that would be slower, you could do less stuff in them, etc). And I can tell you also that I'm creating them using C and C++, languages that require for example that you do your own memory management and understand well how a computer works.

What for one person can look simple to another can look complex, so it's hard to answer that. I can only tell you that it's a lot harder than using simpler languages like C# or Java, etc, and that the game engine has already 200 classes, lots of abstraction in OOP, etc, don't know if this answers the question. I program computers since I was a small child.

I can tell you also that a good game developer should understand not only about programming but also Mathematics and Physics, specially if applying some laws of Physics to the game. For example, in this animated gif you can see some splash simulation on the water, this is done using Math and some Physics, I'm testing it still. Then it's applied to the game map using your abstraction abilities and problem solving capabilities (imagining how to make all this work), etc. But it's a lot of fun, for those who like it.



(Graphics were taken from the Amiga versions, and Sonic from Megadrive of course).

The important thing is that one day I'll clone Batman the Movie platformer levels and finally start playing some newer levels, I'm tired of the old ones.

[gimbal]

I did not say long answer, I said that it would cause a derailment discussion...