coders wanted for shenandoah

[derSammler]

Donating via PayPal is now possible as well. Though I want to emphasize that donations will just be used to cover the costs for the webspace, etc. Not that someone starts to think that I'll not complete the game without donations, the game will be completed anyway.

[starlord]

Now THAT would be funny!

This would have made even bigger scandals than the questions regarding the possible emulation of battlesphere for the jaguar in the future on atariage(never thought this would be possible, LOL).

But seriously, I've been thinking, knowing clickboom still sells games (T-ZerO), why not make this game a shareware? It might be interesting for you and olandrobo and the other shenandoah programmer (should they have the right to do this, that is).

[derSammler]

But seriously, I've been thinking, knowing clickboom still sells games (T-ZerO), why not make this game a shareware?

We better let it be freeware. Shareware games for PC were popular in the 90s, but those times are over, I guess. I don't want to make money with it anyway.

However, I thought about doing a limited special edition (professionally pressed CD with jewel case, manual and all, maybe even signed by Krister ) which could be ordered for a few bucks. But that would only work if there's enough interest.

[olandrobo]

I have some people I'm gonna show this to when it's done, and we'll see what happens after that...
Most importantly is to get is as wide spread as possible.

[killergorilla]

Make it "puzzle-ware".

You have to solve a small puzzle in order to get access to the full game.

Something simple like the Rubik's Revenge

[starlord]

All right: Seems good then, I like the idea of the special edition.

[derSammler]

Some progress update: Postponed that again and again, but I've finally implemented the level 1 endboss. All other level 1 enemies are in place as well, so a public playable demo can be expected very soon.

[DamienD]

Can't wait to try this out

Thanks for all your hard work WindowsKiller and olandrobo

[derSammler]

Almost forgot, here's a quick capture of the level 1 endboss fight:

http://www.retro-net.de/shen1endboss.avi

I think the endboss is still a bit easy to defeat, but not as easy as in the Amiga demo.

[Konrad]

The game looks great . But where is the obligatory big endboss-explosion ? It's definately too simple right now, it seems as if you shot down just another simple enemy. I recommend something bigger.
If you don't want to draw new explosion graphics you could handle it as in Turrican1 when you destroy the flying fist. Or as in Turrican3, the Level1 boss. There's also a nice screenflash at the end.
But that's just suggestions. Great work anyway .

[derSammler]

I can implement a screenflash, bigger explosion (or multiple explosions) and even a slow-motion effect as soon as the endboss flag is being parsed. Currently, the endboss flag is set when spawning an endboss, but doesn't have any effect yet.

[olandrobo]

Agreed, some more "fireworks" are needed. All the different types of explosions can be used on top of each other and maybe a screenflash as well. Can we shake the screen? Small rocks could be flying in all directions from the boss as well when it's destroyed. (We can use the same rocks that are in the 'gas field' and just change them to brown.)
Good point Konrad!

[derSammler]

Can we shake the screen?

Most likely not, as I'm not using a 2d camera; the playfield only consists of what you currently see on screen. It's probably possible by making a screenshot on-the-fly, lay it over the screen and shake it, but the scene would be static then.

[derSammler]

Nothing that special, but Shenandoah finally got a nice debugging console. Makes bug-hunting much easier, and entering cheats of course as well.

The demo should be ready on Sunday.

[olandrobo]

Woah, the debugger even has a nice graphical frame and a background image - sweet.
Looking forward to sunday...

[starlord]

won't be there to try it though: I'm going seaside (mediterranean), then up to newcastle: It's high time I took a break!

So long guys!

[derSammler]

Hehe, I hope I haven't promised too much. I have to completely rewrite the collision code to work correctly with 16-bit modes, as I don't want to release a demo that works with 32-bit modes only. Shouldn't be a problem, though.

//edit:
Done. Was indeed no problem to add support for 16-bit modes.

[derSammler]

So, here it is, the demo:

http://www.retro-net.de/downloads/Shenandoah_Demo.rar

Had to make a few compromises in order to get it done on time, but I'm quite happy with it. Please let me know how (or if at all) you like it. I'm especially interested to know if the difficulty level is okay. The difficulty level in the Amiga demo was rather unbalanced. I've tried to fix that by making some parts easier and others harder. I can't really evaluate it myself, for obvious reasons.

[Graham Humphrey]

I like it, however is it possible to have an option to play with a joypad as I really really suck using a keyboard in shoot-em-ups?

I personally think the first section is a bit too tough (far too many bullets) but that's only my opinion. Sterling work overall though.

[derSammler]

Joypad support will be added at some point, I just didn't care about it so far. But I fully agree that playing a shoot'em up via keyboard sucks.

Funny that you think the first section is too tough, as I thought the opposite. That shows once again how different people's opinions can be. The small bullets don't cause much damage, however.