[WIP] Crysis Prototype

[lifeschool]

Here we are with the 3rd Update Pack for Beta 2.
https://lifeschool22.itch.io/crysis-...teractive-demo

It is a bit earlier than expected, but I've put a lot of effort in to it today, trying to iron out some annoying bugs!

Please copy all of the files in the update pack to your install, as some of them have changed recently.

The game is now 90% done. So just the very small bugs left (???) to fix now before release!

Some recently changes:

• Wave noises added to left and right speakers
• Map added, with danger bars and enemy pinpoints
• Tried to clean up the map HUD, by adding bars to cut off the bleed
• Tried to use clips of the background to stop sprite bleed (not very successfully)
• Spent ages and ages getting a bird to move over the screen (mostly successfully).
• "Game Over Man!" sample from Test Drive 2 added to death screen
• Death screen is now an image instead of a black screen
• Death and Mission Complete screen game looping now mostly fixed
• Enemy Moan added with random duration
• 4 different enemy gunfire noises during jeep section
• Bullets and Ammo for Easy, Medium and Hard
• Grenades! - Press Right Mouse Button to kill 1 enemy
• Game Complete text is now correct for the current game mode
• Easy game over text changed
• Enemies now Pop Up, or slide on to the screen.
• More screen shaking when using the jeep chain gun, and uses 4 ammo
• The submachine gun now uses x2 ammo per shot
• Pistol now has 1 Bullet icon, to show single bullet mode is active.
• Easy, Normal and Hard damage modes and health
• Added "Visit Lemon Amiga" to quit text in menu
• More bugs fixed.

Please write in with your feedback. The game is now harder, and enemies are more hidden. They appear faster on hard mode. The birds flap away from grenade explosions if they are not caught in the blast. Birds fly backwards on game over screen by design (well, I thought it was funny). Maybe I will remove the shield, as having shield and health dropping together looks a bit silly?

[ransom1122]

Overall Very good and some major progress there. Well done...

Two minor things

1. Why is there a need for a streak of gfx with the birds? streak looks unnecessary imo.




2. Enemies near or on map hud is weird, Hard to see at times. I wouldnt put any there if possible

[lifeschool]

Thanks again!

Do the birds always have those streaks, or is this only an issue sometimes? I think initiating a new bird on a new screen can do this, otherwise they are not meant to appear. This is the background of the bird, stamped behind it, instead of a screen refresh. Maybe sometimes it makes a streak if the bird was already on the previous screen? In my tests, I cant reproduce this.

With the enemies in the HUD, it is a tricky one. If I limit the width of the enemys to avoids the Huds, then I cant place them on the left or right of the screen. If I limit the screen height, then all the enemies will spawn above the height of the map, which limits the screen area. I wanted to have enemies up close on the final section, but maybe having them hidden in the hud looks bad?

btw, for any willing play testers out there, there is a CHEAT mode built in to the main game. Just click on the first pixel in the top left corner (0,0), and the word "Cheat" will appear on the map. Now you have unlimited energy. Ciick on 0,0 again to switch this off.

[lifeschool]

I think the duck thing only happens rarely, when an error comes up, it branches to reset the duck.
Here is my code for the ducks. If there is anything obvious, please let me know.

Init Duck, on timer routine:
==================

If Duckstart<>1
	Let duck=duck+1
	If duck=duckcount
		Let Duckstart=1
		Let PutDucky=Random(5,155)
		Let Duckfly=Random (4,20)
		

		If duckflip=0
			Let moveduck=0
			Let putduckx=-10
			
			If DuckReDuck=0
				ClipBrush 0,putducky,31,17,"clip"
				ShowBrush "flapR1",putduckx,putducky
			EndIf
			If DuckReDuck=1
				ClipBrush putduckx,putducky,31,17,"clip"
			EndIf
		EndIf
		
		If duckflip=1
			Let moveduck=windowwidth
			Let putduckx=windowwidth-10
			;If dead<>1
			ClipBrush windowwidth-31,putducky,31,17,"clip"
			;EndIf
			ShowBrush "flapL1",putduckx,putducky
			
		EndIf
		
		ReattachObject "ducktimer"
	EndIf
EndIf




Duck Timer:
==========
Let flap=flap+1

If flap=3
	Let flap=1
EndIf


; if the duck is already flapping, moving right

If Duckflip=0
	;If MoveDuck<0
	;	ShowBrush "clip",0,putducky
	;endif
	
	If DuckReDuck=0
		ShowBrush "clip",Moveduck,putducky
	IfError
		Do "startbird"
	EndIf
	Endif
	
	If DuckReDuck=1
		Let DuckReDuck=0
	EndIf
	
	Let MoveDuck=MoveDuck+duckfly
	ClipBrush Moveduck,putducky,31,17,"clip"
	
EndIf


; if duck is moving from right to left, stamp background

If duckflip=1
	If Moveduck=>windowwidth
		ShowBrush "clip",windowwidth-31,putducky
	EndIf

	If DuckReDuck=0
		ShowBrush "clip",Moveduck,putducky
	EndIf
	
	If DuckReDuck=1
		Let DuckReDuck=0
	EndIf
	
	ClipBrush Moveduck,putducky,31,17,"clip"
	ShowBrush "clip",Moveduck,putducky
	Let Moveduck=Moveduck-duckfly
	ClipBrush Moveduck,putducky,31,17,"clip"
EndIf


; draw the duck on screen at the new position

If duckflip=0 and flap=2
	ShowBrush "flapR1",moveduck,putducky
EndIf

If duckflip=0 and flap=1
	ShowBrush "flapR2",moveduck,putducky
EndIf

If duckflip=1 and flap=2
	ShowBrush "flapL1",moveduck,putducky
EndIf

If duckflip=1 and flap=1
	ShowBrush "flapL2",moveduck,putducky
EndIf

Variables
======
DuckReDuck = The duck is now respawning after a new screen is created, if DuckReDuck =0 then the duck is not respawning
MoveDuck - the location of the new duck position
duckfly - the gap between flaps to the new duck position
Ducky - the horizontal line to draw the duck on
PutDuckX = The new position of the duck
DuckCount = Duck timer used to trigger spawning.
DuckFlip = 0 is draw flight from left to right, Flip = 1 is move duck right to left
DuckFlap = wings up or down

[lifeschool]

Can anyone else confirm the duck flight is broken? And when does it happen? I'm thinking maybe the package needs CanDoGFX library??

btw, I updated my code above, as I'd copied the wrong version of the code.

[ransom1122]

All birds have streaks, but streak is only removed once another enemy is shot...

Also the HUD seems to fade in and out on every shot.. makes it look like the game is broken... Most games keep HUD intact all the time..

...Bird Streaks


...Fade in/out HUD

[lifeschool]

Originally Posted by ransom1122

All birds have streaks, but streak is only removed once another enemy is shot...

Also the HUD seems to fade in and out on every shot.. makes it look like the game is broken... Most games keep HUD intact all the time..

Yeah, I mean I'm having a hard time reproducing your error. If this affects ALL birds on all screens, I am wondering if you have some quirk in your setup which CanDo does not like. After renaming the CanDoGFX library, the game stopped working, so this is needed it seems.

Possible options why it is not working?

* - CPU is 040, 060 ?
* - JIT on?
* - Cycle Exacts are NOT on?
* - Fastest Possible CPU mode is selected instead of approximate
* - CPU caches are on?
* - setpatch not running?
* - Roms which are from Cloanto?
* - Roms which are not 3.0 or 3.1?

Here is a video showing this build on my system. No errors. The delay and quick flash when loading up the new quick menu is because the software takes a photo of the options panel, and then scrolls that photo over the screen.
For some reason, OBS captured this footage very darkly??

[ Show youtube player ]

[ransom1122]

I was running a default a1200 winuae quickstart... but I'll double check all other settings in startup tomorrow.

[ransom1122]

The bird Streak does not happen on A1200 Quickstart 2MB Chip / 4MB Fast
but happens on a
A3000 Quickstart KS31 2MB Chip / 8MB Fast
A4000 Quickstart KS31 2MB Chip / 8MB Fast

Long story short I figured out Quickstart for A3000/4000 does not enable Cycle-Exact Wheras A1200 does..

And... Cycle Exact Disabled casues the Bird Streak

[lifeschool]

Originally Posted by ransom1122

The bird Streak does not happen on A1200
Long story short I figured out Quickstart for A3000/4000 does not enable Cycle-Exact Wheras A1200 does..

And... Cycle Exact Disabled causes the Bird Streak

Thank you for your efforts to help me.

I was going to suggest hold down both mouse buttons for the pre-boot menu on reset, and disable CPU caches.

I am so happy that the issue is not with the game.

That means I can now move on to Version 0.9 and get this ready for release.

[ransom1122]

That's right

[lifeschool]

Originally Posted by ransom1122

That's right

Here is the latest, and probably final, update of the game - give or take the last few tweaks for difficulty with 0.9x.

I added a debug menu to the game, by clicking in the top right corner (pixel 319, 0). I know it seems very silly to add this as the very last feature, when it could have been used to debug the game itself during development. But the game didn't really need the debugger, as everything seems to just work. But it has helped me fix the broken timers at Game Over point, and now the player can't use grenades on the game over screen anymore.
Perhaps if there are any further issues, I can ask people to show the debug menu in their screenshots?

I also added a HAM Bleed buffer, to try to stop the large enemies bleeding lines of colours to the right so much. The HAM bleeds now flicker on and off, but at least they are less annoying than having huge streaks of colours all over the place. With the small background guys on ropes I didn't bother to add the buffer, so they appear with random streaks as before.

Next week is a case of playing the levels, and then making a HDF, so that I know the package runs in isolation without nagging for dependencies. Once this is done, the final package can be put together and released.

[lifeschool]

btw, you might notice I got the shield working as well, so now the player energy goes down, instead of both the shield and the energy.

https://img.itch.zone/aW1hZ2UvMjc3MT...nal/yhLl9I.png

[ransom1122]

Crysis V0.8H

1... After a bird is shot the damage remains on the screen until you shoot the next enemy . It doesn't disappear like normal enemies



2... A Few times i noticed the bird gfx go corrupt



3... This screen i kept instantly rapidly dying (even with cheat on) on 1st enemy.. Only way I passed it was just spamming fire button as soon as level loaded



4... Seems some more missing files or is this the limit of the development?

Originally Posted by lifeschool

btw, you might notice I got the shield working as well, so now the player energy goes down, instead of both the shield and the energy.

Yes Very good. Well Done...

Feedback...

1... Could you at times put more then one enemy on screen at the same time 2 or even 3, which is then most likely the best time to use a grenade (Im thinking in the same gameplay of Take 'em out ) I don't see a need for 1 grenade for 1 person when you can really just shoot the person with your gun instead

2... Everything else is pretty good

[lifeschool]

Thanks for the HDF. I've now got your files. Great job. I never imagined anyone would help me with this project like this. There have been very few people interested in my game, and perhaps a handful are following my thread. Hopefully you have seen the progression of this game in development, and you got to see a bare bones skeleton of an idea take shape, and get some flesh on the bones.

You saved me at least a day making the HDF, and now I can drop files on there and test them.

Originally Posted by ransom1122

Crysis V0.8H

1... After a bird is shot the damage remains on the screen until you shoot the next enemy . It doesn't disappear like normal enemies

Thats ok, this is normal. In the real game, blood dries up slowly on the screen, so it lingers. I wasn't able to do this with the normal blood. The bird remains will disappear after the next enemy.

2... A Few times i noticed the bird gfx go corrupt

That's perhaps sometimes going to happen. This is fine. As long as there are no ghosts or trailers.

3... This screen i kept instantly rapidly dying (even with cheat on) on 1st enemy.. Only way I passed it was just spamming fire button as soon as level loaded

I noticed I kept dying on that screen, so this is a bug for sure.

4... Seems some more missing files or is this the limit of the development?

I can see this is a later level, a pity the file requester covered up my stats box! lol.

This seems to happen mainly when players press left mouse to skip the cut scenes, and this somehow means the first enemy pops up before all of the gfx files have been loaded. There is no reason (I can find) for the game to do this at random, but I guess I should add delays so that the game code is not tripping over itself at random. The Flap files the game is looking for are in Pics, as Bird4a, Bird4b (to fly left to right), Bird4c and Bird4d (if flying right to left). Any of those files are fine to choose if the error comes up again.

1... Could you at times put more then one enemy on screen at the same time 2 or even 3,

It would mean players take x2 or x3 damage with 2 or 3 on screen. Considering damage is already very sensitive to hits, I figured having more than one enemy on the screen would just kill the player instantly. If I made the damage much lighter to allow for x3 enemies, the single enemies on their own would be very weak and pathetic. The demo was only ever intended for one hit box on the screen, (I added a second one for the birds, as a moving hit box experiment), and it would take some effort to re-write the game for multiple enemies. Of course it can be done, but I cant do it because of the damge, and also at this stage I'd rather make a demo of some other game. The code is tangled up and I'm a bit bored with it, when I have 2 other games in development.

which is then most likely the best time to use a grenade (Im thinking in the same gameplay of Take 'em out ) I don't see a need for 1 grenade for 1 person when you can really just shoot the person with your gun instead

Thats true. But that is just a bonus feature. I didn't intend to put grenades in but a combination of red ovals and the screen wobble gives the illusion. Yes, 1 vs 1 seems patheric, but sometimes an enemy can get lost in the background, and a grenade helps.

2... Everything else is pretty good

I spent most of my time yesterday writing a FAQ for the itch.io page. I think there are 33 FAQ items on there, but I could keep adding more. Hopefully it covers some of the feedback on this thread.

I honestly cant think of anything I want to add or fix in the game now, apart from your point 3 and 4 above., so the only thing now is to add more health help for easy mode, and to make sure the game is completable.

[ransom1122]

#3 happens when you don't skip cut scenes as well

Wow that FAQ on itch is huuuge... I've read it all and it gives a good insight to the game and its development...

[Seiya]

@Ransom1122 is one the best beta tester around.
after my initial interest to try this game i take 10 days of 39,5 °C fever and so i lost interest in everything.
Now i waiting your final version