Creating games with Backbone - Step by Step for beginners!

[Rebel-CD32]

I Love Boxx 2, it improves on the original in all the ways a sequel should, and thanks heaps for adding joypad controls to both games. Boxx 2 does run slower on the A500 than the original Boxx, of course due to the screen size and graphical panel. I don't see the harm in releasing a couple of different versions of the same game, with the ADF version (aimed at A500s/A600s) using the smaller screen size and text-based panel, and the Lha version (for hard drive users, generally with Fast RAM) using the larger sized screen and full panel.

Personally, when I finally finish my own Backbone game I'll release an ADF, Lha and ISO image for CD32 and CDTV. The Lha and ISO versions would include three different executable files, one with the small screen and text-based panel for A500, A600 and CDTV, a mid-sized screen version with graphical panel for CD32 and stock A1200s, and a full-screen version with graphical panel for accelerated Amigas and UAE.

I may even go further as to include chip tune versions of mods in the ADF version if we need to save space, and if the game has animated intros the ADF version will just have still pictures with text.

This is still very much a Work-in-progress shot, and the game may end up being coded rather than done in Backbone in the end (but I'll still make a full Backbone game anyway). Keeping it in 16 colours for speed and Atari Lynx compatibility (we'd love to port it to the Lynx some day).

[Gzegzolka]

Those pixels looks awesome

[Lemming880]

Thanks alot Rebel. And great looking game. Did you do all the graphics yourself? Lots of work I can tell.

I'm afraid I can't change the screen size since Boxx is designed around it. Making it bigger would reveal blocks you're not supposed to see. And if I make it smaller, enemies and projectiles would move into the screen too late. And also some bosses would stop moving since they run out of the screen.

Yet it's a shame I can't make the game faster and it's holding me back to make another backbone game. I've looked into Reality but although it's faster it lacks other stuff (like no mod support). I also checked out SEUCK but it seems hard to make unique gameplay with it. So my amiga game making career seems to stall here. Well if I make another backbone game it would be single screen and maybe one day I'll make Boxx 3. I'll see.

[Rebel-CD32]

Originally Posted by Lemming880

Thanks alot Rebel. And great looking game. Did you do all the graphics yourself? Lots of work I can tell.

I'm afraid I can't change the screen size since Boxx is designed around it. Making it bigger would reveal blocks you're not supposed to see. And if I make it smaller, enemies and projectiles would move into the screen too late. And also some bosses would stop moving since they run out of the screen.

Yet it's a shame I can't make the game faster and it's demotivating me to make another backbone game. I've looked into Reality but although it's faster it lacks other stuff (like no mod support). I also checked out SEUCK but it seems hard to make unique gameplay with it. So my amiga game making career seems to die an early death. Well if I would ever make another backbone game it would be single screen and maybe one day I'll make Boxx 3. I'll see.

Thanks, I did do the graphics and it has been pretty time consuming, trying to get it looking smooth in 16 colours.

I totally understand about Boxx 2, changing the screen size for something designed a certain way can change the gameplay a bit too much, which happens even when I increase the screen size of the Super Mario Bros clone I started making, which needs to stick with the NES/SNES's 256-wide screen.

For single-screen platformers, Backbone isn't really that great. Each level starts off slowly with a screen packed full of bad guys and gets faster as you kill them off... unless you made that part of the gimmick, it can be a little annoying. Also loading times between each screen can break the flow of it unless you planned on teleporting the player through several "screens" on the same map. I've wanted to make a game like this for years but Backbone just isn't the right tool for it (we even came up with a unique enemy-killing gimmick that we haven't seen before).

I don't think you should give up on your game making just yet. We'll have other, better game creator programs eventually, and for now there are still plenty of ideas that haven't really been done right in Backbone. Even a standard side-scrolling run & gun like Contra or Metal Slug could be done easily enough, but you don't see people attempting it often in Backbone.

[Lemming880]

Yeah single screen is also pretty useless then. Shame though.

I'm not giving up game making yet. Maybe a bit off topic but the reviewer of Boxx 2 in Amiga Future said he could see the game on Steam. As a matter of fact I had already given a try to port Boxx 2 in GameMaker but man all the code is exploding my brain. I actually got as far as getting the player character to move just like in Backbone. But now I have to find out the code for all the other thing like enemies, ladders, coins, etc. which will take me forever to figure out. Besides, as soon as there's a bug in the code I won't be able to fix it and I want complete control over my game so GameMaker is not for me.

Then I looked into Construct 2 which works without code but still has alot of options. I also made a moving character just like Boxx and I actually made a patrolling enemy. So I'm focussing on this program for now but it's still a long shot to actually get a game on steam haha. I'll keep dreaming.

So if this all fails I'll be back for making Amiga games.

[Lemming880]

All failed so I'm back for Amiga! Well I progressed somewhat in Construct 2 but I'm taking a break. I want to get back to the fun part of making games: editing levels! And after trying Reality and Seuck I can only conclude Backbone is the most fun to build with! So I jumped back into the editor and I'm now making a simple shoot 'em up.

And seeing there's not much activity here lately I hope noone got demotivated by reading the last couple of pages in this thread. Yes I also got to a point where I was frustrated with Backbone. It has it's bugs and limitations but once you know how to work around them it's a very powerful tool. And most importantly, it's fun! Try it.

Edit. Xenopew is finished.
Info here.
Video [ Show youtube player ].

[Rebel-CD32]

Nice work on Xenopew, I love that you keep making these games playable on the A500. I'm aiming to fit my current game on a floppy disk as well, although it'll run a little slower on the A500 due to using 16 colours. I was wondering if anyone has tried using PowerPacker or something to squeeze more onto the disk? I might need to use some sort of cruncher method to fit my whole game in there.

I haven't really worked on any levels that will be in the full game yet, only a few test levels to try a few ideas out. The character needs a lot of animation frames drawn, in the full game she'll have a variety of weapons and costumes to go with them as she progresses through the game. I had the idea to put a branching path through the game, with a map screen to select the path, but it turns out Backbone ignores menu selections between levels and only obeys the "next level" selection from the level editor. You can have a menu before the first level to select which level you want to start on, but that's all. So the game will be linear after the initial level selection.

I've uploaded a very early, very messy test demo of the game if anyone would like to check it out and maybe let me know how it runs or what they'd improve (other than obvious stuff like more animation frames, better music and sound or better levels). Does she jump high enough, walk fast enough, are the enemies too easy or too hard? Would anyone like to join the team and help out? Cammy will be working on level and character designs as well as the story, but we'll definitely need a musician or two, some playtesters and perhaps extra level designers. I'm writing up a design document for the game now so we have a clear outline of what needs to be done.

I just want to finally finish making a nicely polished game using Backbone, not getting overly ambitious but using all the features of the program and any tricks we've discovered along the way.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4aaf0c9owl...eGame.adf?dl=0

[s2325]

Maybe it's possible to use extended ADF?

[Rebel-CD32]

That's possible but I was thinking of releasing it on actual floppy disks for collectors and those who wish to play it on real hardware. I'll make an extended version of the game for hard drive users, CD32/CDTV and UAE users which includes an intro animation and other extras.

[Lemming880]

Cheers rebel. Good thing you're trying to put in on a single floppy. It will reach a wider audience.

I tested Imploder to crunch the exe of Boxx 2 and it sized it down from 245 kB to 93 kB so that's quite good. Just place explode.library in the adf's Libs folder and voila.

I did a little test with the menu's. It's possible to have a menu in between levels. In the level editor select: Scenes > Complete > Scene Number > then select a scene that shows a menu. If you want the menu to start with the yellow dot on the next level then you'll have to make a menu for every level with the right order of options. But multiple menus will take extra data. Edit. it doesn't work indeed.

I tried the game and it's fun! The graphics look great and nice level design so far. Further I would like to shoot in mid air with the bow like you can do with the axe. The jumping distance feels a tiny bit too short but I'm not sure, maybe it's a matter of getting used to. I will have to do some more testing but great work so far. You guys really have set a high standard so keep up the motivation and it'll be a great game I'm sure.

[Rebel-CD32]

That's the way I set it up, by setting the Complete Scene to a menu, but just say I select level 3 from the menu after finishing level 1, it will still just go to level 2 because the Next Level setting over-rules the menu selection. It may be a bug that I'm only experiencing in this project, and I will end up starting a new project from scratch when I'm ready to start putting the full game together so maybe it'll work then. It seems the more I fiddle around with a game in Backbone, the more bugs it starts having.

Even if I can't get the menus to work between levels, I'll still have a menu with the map and a dot on the next level to indicate the player's progress, and by using a menu with an object for the dot I won't have to save out several copies of the same image with a dot in different places as I would if it was just an image, filling up my disk. I think this is a good way to put in-between scenes like "World 1 - Act 2" without using up too much space. There's just one image with the background details, and objects make up the text and any images that might change.

Cheers for the info on Imploder, sounds like it'll do the job, hopefully it'll work for all of the data files as well as the executable.

[Lemming880]

Seems the level number is already set back to 1 inside the menu editor. When I change the level number and go out and back in, the level number is back to 1 again. Shame but it sounds like you've found a clever solution. Oh and unfortunately Imploder only crunches exes.

[Rebel-CD32]

Yeah, it's a bit of a bummer we can't make it branch out more but then again it would probably make the game too big for the disk. We decided the initial level selection menu will act in a way as a difficulty selection. There will be three paths to take, each through a different area, but one will be easy and another will be much harder but more rewarding. I figure this will help add some replay value to the game, because people won't have to replay the same first levels every time they play the game, but of course the later levels will always be the same ones.

[hipoonios]

I would consider to use Backbone again if you could do a single screen/flip-screen game

But seems not be possible The only working way i have found is to open a bigger screen than needed. Like 320x240 and only use like 256x256 for the game itself. But that is a lame way to do it, and there will be a big space between the game and panel.

[amiman99]

My new Backbone game "Jump Block Jump!"

News coming soon if it gets approved
Get it here:
CD32 ISO https://www.dropbox.com/s/8w0v6o3xuu...UMPR7.ISO?dl=0

LHA https://www.dropbox.com/s/qeu5psbkhz...umpR7.lha?dl=0

[Lemming880]

I made a video about how to make a coin box in Backbone.
[ Show youtube player ]

[trydowave]

Is it possible to make bigger sprites in backbone? Say, about the size of the arcade Strider sprite?

[viddi]

Originally Posted by trydowave

Is it possible to make bigger sprites in backbone? Say, about the size of the arcade Strider sprite?

Yes!

[Amigajay]

Just started a game using Backbone, nothing concrete regarding game details, just eyeing things up, does anyone have any handy hints using this program that might come in handy, or suggestions of things to avoid doing?!

[Lemming880]

Well plenty bugs with workarounds, some explained in this thread, if not just ask. If you want the game to run on a vanilla amiga do some resolution tests. Everything in backbone works alot faster if you emulate it on A4000 speed. Mind you that this affects the level design. Because you test the game on high speed but once run on a vanilla amiga it can feel very different. For instance it was no problem for my platform game since that gameplay is very flexible but my side scrolling shooter felt way too slow. Last thing, there is negativity towards backbone for years so the hardest thing about backbone is keeping up the motivation. Good luck.