Entry: Pumpkin Bros

LeCaravage · 05 September 2018, 13:21

Title:
Pumpkin Bros.

Genre:
Platformer.

Original concept:
Yes.

Expected game size:
30 levels.

Team members:
Me (Le Caravage) -code/design/gfx
JMD - music/sfx
Ralph -Gfx

Targeted spec:
Amiga 500 OCS (512/512).
Will make my possible to make it AGA compatible aswell.

Tools to be used:
DiskMaster 1.4,
Seka,
IffMaster,
DeluxePaint 3,
and Diskdoctor.

Description of game:
Snow Bros like game.

LeCaravage · 06 September 2018, 18:57

Now the little orange monster is able to explode and launch a horizontal electric bolt.
This happens only if the hero is on the same level and also the the monster must see him.
Need to tweak all random monster mvts. Like pacman, I mean, one monster is chasing you, the other go random around, one go up and down etc...
Was curious, but cool news as I tested how much 32x32 bobs could run without frame rate slow down.
15 bobs. But, but, if you count all little side bobs blits (dust, bonus items, smoke trail of flying items etc...) I will probably be around 8 may be 9. That's more than I expected, implementing the blit operations within the IRQ was a wise option, for this project at least.
I must finish little details about blue monster.

Next to be done :

Makes appear the monsters at the start of the level. Making warping is kind cool I hope, we will see if it's good when it's done.

Used my phone to fastly record the running test with one hand and the other hand the joystick (sorry for the bad quality video) :

[ Show youtube player ]

LeCaravage · 01 October 2018, 13:44

Fast little update :

-Bobs routine display optimisations.
-All behaviours and distinguishing features of ennemis are now written/drawn all on paper.
This part was far more fun and interesting than coding.
In the near future, need to write monsters code and see if my expectations are good.
Probably some of this features will be removed/modified depending if it adds to the game design.
Game design is also more interesting than technical struggle.

Here is a sample of one of monsters sketch & descrption :

LeCaravage · 12 October 2018, 22:14

Slowing down a little bit.
Here is a fast gif of an ennemi attak :

LeCaravage · 29 December 2018, 17:15

After laborious debug sessions I have something that don't crash after few seconds.

The collision detection now works fine. The bottom screen flashes when a detection occurs (just a test feature). Red screen for a projectile hitting an ennemy and a green one when the hero is touched by a dangerous bob.

The way, our hero elimates an ennemy is described like this :

Hit ennemy with tomatoes, after several hits the ennemy turns into a big red ball. To finish him, you may pass through the ball and it will be ejected, slams against the walls and disappear.

Need to make the smoke trail a little bit more bigger. Carefull because if the player decide to hit 3 or 4 big balls in a row, it will add a lot of bobs during the next frames. The risk is a slowdown, but I'll try to avoid it.
The ennemy turned into a big red ball stays levitating during few seconds before returning to normal state if nothing happens.

[ Show youtube player ]

LeCaravage · 30 December 2018, 15:44

Slowed down a little bit (33% slower) big red ball mvt's speed.
Added random differents angles of big ball mvt (amongst 16 possible vectors).
Display a bigger score points at the place where the big ball disappear (the previous was 5 pixels high and now it's 10).
Added a little background flash when the hero pass through a big ball.
Added a little background flash when the big ball disappear (when the little 50pts appears).

Looks more dynamic this way. Pleased.

This looks more and more like a game, I mean when I play I'm starting having fun. This is the first time this impression I have during tests sessions.

Next to be done :

Adding monsters warp in.
Flying hearts to pick (should be easy collision routine already ready).
Dynamic transition between 2 maps level.

[ Show youtube player ]

LeCaravage · 04 January 2019, 13:06

Added the warp in sequence of monsters.
Every time new monsters appear in game scenery, they will have this "Star Trek apparition mode".
Need to tweak this effect to make it more dynamic.

Next to be done : Dynamic transitions between 2 levels.

Soory for the poor video quality.
[ Show youtube player ]

PLEASE DON'T ADD COMMENTS HERE, IF YOU WANT TO, PLEASE WRITE IN THE DISCUSSION THREAD. THANKS.

LeCaravage · 27 January 2019, 16:37

- Improved the warp appearing of ennemies. More pleased by this new version.
- Added falling hearts. You must collect them before they disappear. If they reach the ground, after a certain time, a warning message appears : 'Booom!!!'. If you wait too long (6 seconds), the heart disappear and you lose a life.

Next to do :

- When the hero grab a heart I need to add an animation, so the player understand he catch a heart.
- Dynamic transition between 2 levels.
- Mega Bomb released by hero.
- Invincibility bonus for hero.

[ Show youtube player ]

LeCaravage · 01 February 2019, 20:08

- Now when hero picks a flying heart, it bounces against the wall before disapearing and let a +1 item behind it. The hero's colors also flashes from normal to a blue tone. So the player understand well he picked up a heart.
- The number of hearts to be collected in order to go to next stage is displayed in the bottom panel and decreased in real time. When reaching zero, the level is completed.
- Score is now working and updated in bottom panel.
- Different scores per ennemy added, now each killed monster gives you different score. Drawn all points items (I used Deluxe Paint 3 with the good old tank mouse).
- Speed up flash color of flying heart.
- Corrected lots of bugs (damn, when I was sure I fixed almost all bugs, I discover other ones...).
- Now the struct of a monster's occurrence is 64 bytes long, when I started, I was sure 16 byte was enough.
- Tweaked hero vs monster collision. Since I was unable to understand the clxdat and clxcon registers I need to make the box method more forgiving.
- Added copper rainbow in the bottom panel (score panel).
- Added 3 empty box icons in the bottom panel : Every time you pick a bonus, it will be displayed in this box. If all 3 symbols are same you win this bonus (super bomb, invincibility, points).

LeCaravage · 07 February 2019, 18:42

Transition effect between 2 levels finished. Pain in the ass to finalize. I used the bad option, Copper each lines instead of hardcoding (cpu) the effect.

Next in line, the mega bomb and invincibility.
Invincibility should be very easy.
Mega bomb, less easy, but doable.
The mega bomb can be triggered by pressing the fire button during 1 or 2 sec.

LeCaravage · 09 February 2019, 11:43

Saperlipopette !
The transition between 2 levels is something not indispensable for the ingame but after unlocking ingame again (I locked the ingame in order to go fast to transition part coding and test) I realize the transition made the game behave strange. All the game works perfect except no bobs or objects is present, it's a sort of invisible game.
After losing too much time (several days) I decided to go back (Hi McGeezer ^^).
I removed the transition part and now the game crash. The screen crash and stranges copper colors appears.
We all have our off days.

LeCaravage · 15 February 2019, 11:20

After JMD, it's now Ralph joining the team. Making a band of 3 guys.
I have no choice, I have to finish this project.
Now I have the pressure

LeCaravage · 20 February 2019, 21:35

Added death sequence of hero. He bounces on the walls before disapearing. He reappears by falling again from the top of the scenary.
Lethal touches for hero makes me think totally differently about the game design. I mean, it's more easy to find out what's wrong in the gameplay or difficulty. For instance, I noticed that the max time allowed for player to pick a dying heart (on the ground) is too short. I changed also the collision when the character touches a lethargic monster (the monster enters in freeze/lethargic mode when a tomato hits him), now if the hero touches him, he dies. Makes the game more balanced, before was too easy.
Changed also the "Booom!!!" flashing speed, slow at first, medium and then very fast just before heart dies.
Have a chat with graphic man, we came to an agreement that game doesn't need a scenario.

I need to prioritize tasks and choose what features need to be done before deadline. Because it becomes obvious that I'll not manage to complete the game in time.

So the main tasks left to after deadline :

- Transition effect between 2 levels.
- Game over message when last life lost.
- # level when scenary appears.
- "Bravo" when last heart collected.
- End sector Big bosses.
- Hi score.
- Attract mode.
- Mega Bomb.
- End sequence.
- Adding colors background flash/cycling to emphasize and make more dynamic some game phases (starting level, time alert, level completed etc...).
- Bonus appearing after killing monster, the more monsters you kill at the same time, the more intersting the bonus could be.

To do before deadline :

- Collision of falling hearts with some tiles.
- Ingame Music.
- Sfx.
- A monster appears and chase you if you take too much time without killing a monster.
- Press fire message before starting game.

And of course the more bugs removing as possible.

LeCaravage · 25 February 2019, 11:08

I'm also afraid I can't present a valid entry at deadline time. Looks more like a bugged tech demo for the moment. It's not a problem of delay but I'm just too slow. So I'll continue working on the game and release a fully preview after deadline.

Good luck to other dudes, I can't wait to see your creations !

05 September 2018, 13:21	#1
LeCaravage Registered User Join Date: May 2017 Location: AmigaLand Posts: 456	Entry: Pumpkin Bros Title: Pumpkin Bros. Genre: Platformer. Original concept: Yes. Expected game size: 30 levels. Team members: Me (Le Caravage) -code/design/gfx JMD - music/sfx Ralph -Gfx Targeted spec: Amiga 500 OCS (512/512). Will make my possible to make it AGA compatible aswell. Tools to be used: DiskMaster 1.4, Seka, IffMaster, DeluxePaint 3, and Diskdoctor. Description of game: Snow Bros like game. Last edited by LeCaravage; 15 February 2019 at 11:17.

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06 September 2018, 18:57	#2
LeCaravage Registered User Join Date: May 2017 Location: AmigaLand Posts: 456	Now the little orange monster is able to explode and launch a horizontal electric bolt. This happens only if the hero is on the same level and also the the monster must see him. Need to tweak all random monster mvts. Like pacman, I mean, one monster is chasing you, the other go random around, one go up and down etc... Was curious, but cool news as I tested how much 32x32 bobs could run without frame rate slow down. 15 bobs. But, but, if you count all little side bobs blits (dust, bonus items, smoke trail of flying items etc...) I will probably be around 8 may be 9. That's more than I expected, implementing the blit operations within the IRQ was a wise option, for this project at least. I must finish little details about blue monster. Next to be done : Makes appear the monsters at the start of the level. Making warping is kind cool I hope, we will see if it's good when it's done. Used my phone to fastly record the running test with one hand and the other hand the joystick (sorry for the bad quality video) : [ Show youtube player ]

01 October 2018, 13:44	#3
LeCaravage Registered User Join Date: May 2017 Location: AmigaLand Posts: 456	Fast little update : -Bobs routine display optimisations. -All behaviours and distinguishing features of ennemis are now written/drawn all on paper. This part was far more fun and interesting than coding. In the near future, need to write monsters code and see if my expectations are good. Probably some of this features will be removed/modified depending if it adds to the game design. Game design is also more interesting than technical struggle. Here is a sample of one of monsters sketch & descrption :

12 October 2018, 22:14	#4
LeCaravage Registered User Join Date: May 2017 Location: AmigaLand Posts: 456	Slowing down a little bit. Here is a fast gif of an ennemi attak :

29 December 2018, 17:15	#5
LeCaravage Registered User Join Date: May 2017 Location: AmigaLand Posts: 456	After laborious debug sessions I have something that don't crash after few seconds. The collision detection now works fine. The bottom screen flashes when a detection occurs (just a test feature). Red screen for a projectile hitting an ennemy and a green one when the hero is touched by a dangerous bob. The way, our hero elimates an ennemy is described like this : Hit ennemy with tomatoes, after several hits the ennemy turns into a big red ball. To finish him, you may pass through the ball and it will be ejected, slams against the walls and disappear. Need to make the smoke trail a little bit more bigger. Carefull because if the player decide to hit 3 or 4 big balls in a row, it will add a lot of bobs during the next frames. The risk is a slowdown, but I'll try to avoid it. The ennemy turned into a big red ball stays levitating during few seconds before returning to normal state if nothing happens. [ Show youtube player ]

30 December 2018, 15:44	#6
LeCaravage Registered User Join Date: May 2017 Location: AmigaLand Posts: 456	Slowed down a little bit (33% slower) big red ball mvt's speed. Added random differents angles of big ball mvt (amongst 16 possible vectors). Display a bigger score points at the place where the big ball disappear (the previous was 5 pixels high and now it's 10). Added a little background flash when the hero pass through a big ball. Added a little background flash when the big ball disappear (when the little 50pts appears). Looks more dynamic this way. Pleased. This looks more and more like a game, I mean when I play I'm starting having fun. This is the first time this impression I have during tests sessions. Next to be done : Adding monsters warp in. Flying hearts to pick (should be easy collision routine already ready). Dynamic transition between 2 maps level. [ Show youtube player ]

04 January 2019, 13:06	#7
LeCaravage Registered User Join Date: May 2017 Location: AmigaLand Posts: 456	Added the warp in sequence of monsters. Every time new monsters appear in game scenery, they will have this "Star Trek apparition mode". Need to tweak this effect to make it more dynamic. Next to be done : Dynamic transitions between 2 levels. Soory for the poor video quality. [ Show youtube player ] PLEASE DON'T ADD COMMENTS HERE, IF YOU WANT TO, PLEASE WRITE IN THE DISCUSSION THREAD. THANKS.

27 January 2019, 16:37	#8
LeCaravage Registered User Join Date: May 2017 Location: AmigaLand Posts: 456	- Improved the warp appearing of ennemies. More pleased by this new version. - Added falling hearts. You must collect them before they disappear. If they reach the ground, after a certain time, a warning message appears : 'Booom!!!'. If you wait too long (6 seconds), the heart disappear and you lose a life. Next to do : - When the hero grab a heart I need to add an animation, so the player understand he catch a heart. - Dynamic transition between 2 levels. - Mega Bomb released by hero. - Invincibility bonus for hero. [ Show youtube player ]

01 February 2019, 20:08	#9
LeCaravage Registered User Join Date: May 2017 Location: AmigaLand Posts: 456	- Now when hero picks a flying heart, it bounces against the wall before disapearing and let a +1 item behind it. The hero's colors also flashes from normal to a blue tone. So the player understand well he picked up a heart. - The number of hearts to be collected in order to go to next stage is displayed in the bottom panel and decreased in real time. When reaching zero, the level is completed. - Score is now working and updated in bottom panel. - Different scores per ennemy added, now each killed monster gives you different score. Drawn all points items (I used Deluxe Paint 3 with the good old tank mouse). - Speed up flash color of flying heart. - Corrected lots of bugs (damn, when I was sure I fixed almost all bugs, I discover other ones...). - Now the struct of a monster's occurrence is 64 bytes long, when I started, I was sure 16 byte was enough. - Tweaked hero vs monster collision. Since I was unable to understand the clxdat and clxcon registers I need to make the box method more forgiving. - Added copper rainbow in the bottom panel (score panel). - Added 3 empty box icons in the bottom panel : Every time you pick a bonus, it will be displayed in this box. If all 3 symbols are same you win this bonus (super bomb, invincibility, points).

07 February 2019, 18:42	#10
LeCaravage Registered User Join Date: May 2017 Location: AmigaLand Posts: 456	Transition effect between 2 levels finished. Pain in the ass to finalize. I used the bad option, Copper each lines instead of hardcoding (cpu) the effect. Next in line, the mega bomb and invincibility. Invincibility should be very easy. Mega bomb, less easy, but doable. The mega bomb can be triggered by pressing the fire button during 1 or 2 sec.

09 February 2019, 11:43	#11
LeCaravage Registered User Join Date: May 2017 Location: AmigaLand Posts: 456	Saperlipopette ! The transition between 2 levels is something not indispensable for the ingame but after unlocking ingame again (I locked the ingame in order to go fast to transition part coding and test) I realize the transition made the game behave strange. All the game works perfect except no bobs or objects is present, it's a sort of invisible game. After losing too much time (several days) I decided to go back (Hi McGeezer ^^). I removed the transition part and now the game crash. The screen crash and stranges copper colors appears. We all have our off days.

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)

15 February 2019, 11:20	#12
LeCaravage Registered User Join Date: May 2017 Location: AmigaLand Posts: 456	After JMD, it's now Ralph joining the team. Making a band of 3 guys. I have no choice, I have to finish this project. Now I have the pressure

20 February 2019, 21:35	#13
LeCaravage Registered User Join Date: May 2017 Location: AmigaLand Posts: 456	Added death sequence of hero. He bounces on the walls before disapearing. He reappears by falling again from the top of the scenary. Lethal touches for hero makes me think totally differently about the game design. I mean, it's more easy to find out what's wrong in the gameplay or difficulty. For instance, I noticed that the max time allowed for player to pick a dying heart (on the ground) is too short. I changed also the collision when the character touches a lethargic monster (the monster enters in freeze/lethargic mode when a tomato hits him), now if the hero touches him, he dies. Makes the game more balanced, before was too easy. Changed also the "Booom!!!" flashing speed, slow at first, medium and then very fast just before heart dies. Have a chat with graphic man, we came to an agreement that game doesn't need a scenario. I need to prioritize tasks and choose what features need to be done before deadline. Because it becomes obvious that I'll not manage to complete the game in time. So the main tasks left to after deadline : - Transition effect between 2 levels. - Game over message when last life lost. - # level when scenary appears. - "Bravo" when last heart collected. - End sector Big bosses. - Hi score. - Attract mode. - Mega Bomb. - End sequence. - Adding colors background flash/cycling to emphasize and make more dynamic some game phases (starting level, time alert, level completed etc...). - Bonus appearing after killing monster, the more monsters you kill at the same time, the more intersting the bonus could be. To do before deadline : - Collision of falling hearts with some tiles. - Ingame Music. - Sfx. - A monster appears and chase you if you take too much time without killing a monster. - Press fire message before starting game. And of course the more bugs removing as possible.

25 February 2019, 11:08	#14
LeCaravage Registered User Join Date: May 2017 Location: AmigaLand Posts: 456	I'm also afraid I can't present a valid entry at deadline time. Looks more like a bugged tech demo for the moment. It's not a problem of delay but I'm just too slow. So I'll continue working on the game and release a fully preview after deadline. Good luck to other dudes, I can't wait to see your creations !