New Amiga game WIP - Dizzy-type game (currently untitled)

[Predseda]

I am not sure about the limits of the hardware sprites, maybe it is suitable for the main character "as is" at the moment, but now we are pondering about inflating of the hero in about 1/3, which could look better at the game. He could be lets say 16x26 pixels. Still hw sprite friendly?

[kriz]

Great stuff in progress, looking forward to follow this one !!

[Mrs Beanbag]

Hardware sprites can be any height but are always 16 pixels wide on OCS/ECS. To do wider objects, use more than one sprite. I don't know how Blitz Basic handles sprites. AMOS will join them together for you if they are too wide, you don't have to worry about it. But anyway that gives you a maximum total width of 64 pixels at 15 colours, or 128 pixels at 3 colours.

[Predseda]

okay, 16 is enough

[Graham Humphrey]

Originally Posted by Mrs Beanbag

You might be right about the info panel for a dizzy-style game, but I'd definitely recommend using a hardware sprite for the main character. Will there be many other moving objects? Bad guys to avoid?

At a maximum there will only be three other moving objects on screen at once - all enemies and they are quite small. Most screens will have between 0 and 2 though. Also of course there is no scrolling either. I might switch to using a sprite at some point but I'm not sure there's going to be too much advantage in performance compared to, say, a scrolling shoot-em-up. But if it turns out it will make things better then I will do it.

We also use a 32 colour palette which I assume the sprite will take from the upper 16 colours of that rather than using its own.

How will you store the data? I can share compression algorithms if you like.

Blitz uses its own shape files for storing graphics, and I will chuck in the occasional IFF picture too. The map files are produced in a map editor with a Blitz add-on and are saved as raw data. I am not too hot on compression stuff and it would probably be a hassle for Blitz to deal with but thank you anyway

I'm also a bit of a dab hand on the old ProTracker.

Thanks! I will bear it in mind - someone else already has voluntered to produce music some time ago but will see how that goes. Mind you after the experience I had with putting music in Downfall I might go for OctaMED instead - the commands for handling ProTracker modules are extremely buggy and the later alternative commands that were released only work on machines with KS2 or later.

[Mrs Beanbag]

If you have any docs about how to write Blitz Basic extensions I can take a look if there is any extra functionality you think you'd like, be it Protracker commands (I have the playroutines for this), compressed data loading/saving commands.

I've never actually used Blitz myself but I might have to try it.

p.s. yes sprites use the upper 15 palette entries. 3 colour sprites use different subsets of the palette though. For your information:
Sprites 0,1 use colours 17-19
Sprites 2,3 use colours 21-23
Sprites 3,4 use colours 25-27
Sprites 5,6 use colours 29-31
(colours 16,20,24,28 would be transparent but 20,24,28 are course used by 15 colour sprites)

[Graham Humphrey]

Thanks for that offer. I'm afraid in terms of writing extra commands I have absolutely no info or knowledge on that I am afraid

Thanks for the sprite info too. I suspected it worked along those lines but I haven't ever made extensive use of sprites so wasn't totally familiar.

[Lonewolf10]

Looks good so far. I'm curious as to what the book and diamond are for (the key is obvious... though no doors appear to be in there yet)

Will there be a way to kill bad guys, or do we just avoid them?

[s2325]

or maybe something like in Miracle Girls? [ Show youtube player ]

[Graham Humphrey]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf10

Looks good so far. I'm curious as to what the book and diamond are for (the key is obvious... though no doors appear to be in there yet)

The book doesn't have a use and is just there to demonstrate picking things up... you can use the diamond though - give it to that fish-type thing and he'll give you a floppy disk with a new Amiga game on it (I admit there are one or two plot holes so far). You are right there are no doors currently but there will be.

Will there be a way to kill bad guys, or do we just avoid them?

It'll just be a matter of avoiding them. Hopefully it will add a bit of a challenge and a bit of variety from just picking up objects and giving them to someone else.

[Predseda]

It is just an alpha demo of the engine, not a real demo level yet. So it probably doesn't make sense at the moment, but we will try to invent something for the proper demo

I think we will add few destroyable enemies, too. But you will need some special items that you will have to use on correct places etc.

Anyway, we now try to increase the main sprite size for 20 percent. I have drawn it and Graham is just implementing the graphics to the game. I hope it will look better.

[Graham Humphrey]

Second WIP available.

Changes:

- New bigger sprite added
- Delay added between exiting inventory and game resuming to help prevent accidental jumping
- Inertia massively reduced
- Bug spotted by Ze Emulatron fixed - if you are in the air when changing screens you can now go straight back without having to land first

I don't intend to do any more of these... next time I upload something it will hopefully be a 'proper' demo you can properly play

[s2325]

If you are searching for music for this game someone made tiny but excellent tunes here:
http://amp.dascene.net/detail.php?de...ules&view=8491 Try a little bear_1b, a little bear_1c, a little bear_1e, a little bear_1f2, bigstrum, chargement, chateau.

[Graham Humphrey]

Thanks but I'll be getting music created specifically for the game at some point

On another note, if anyone out there wants to follow us on Facebook you can find us here. I don't post that frequently but anything interesting or new usually goes there first so might be worth liking us for when we do post.

[Predseda]

Also animation of the main sprite was adjusted a bit since last WIP.

[leathered]

I think the only time I really got into Dizzy was on the C64, I'm sure I didn't finish it - probably a bit too cerebral for me! If I could suggest anything, perhaps I found in those games the item/ progression was a little random at times; a bit far removed, but probably my favourite Dizzy game is Monkey Island, mentioned purely because it has a similar item/story based approach to gameplay although the implementation is quite different - but I found that a lot more logical for the most part. I guess part of the Dizzy appeal is the quirkiness though.
As a demonstration of the engine this wip is very good. The control of the character is responsive and the functions are working well. It's also very nippy!
The main character is appealing and I much prefer a mouse with shades and a rucksack to an egg bouncing around the place. It's got the buzz of exploration going on already with just a few screens, platforms just in/out of reach, and the beginnings of the wtf do I do now factor. Good luck with this and look forward to the progress.
The guys at remainder have a good handle on what you should be doing in Blitz!

[Graham Humphrey]

Thanks for the comments!

I think one of the most important things is making sure the puzzles are reasonably logical whilst not being a pushover to solve, so there is a balance to find and I think this is the hardest bit - making sure the levels as a whole are balanced correctly so it will doubtless require lots of fine-tuning and playtesting. The majority of the actual engine code is now in place and functioning as it should be (one or two minor issues to tidy up aside; mostly cosmetic though) so apart from maybe a couple of extra small bits to go in it's getting to the point where we can concentrate on making the levels as good as they can be. Although our demo level will probably be ever-so-slightly easier as a 'real' demonstration of what the game will be about, but that will no doubt end up being tweaked and changed a million times before it goes out!

I was quite keen to get the character moving fairly quickly as one of the things I didn't like about Dizzy was how slow and plodding it could be when you need to move back and forth between a number of screens, especially when you know exactly what you have to do. And one of the things I am keen to replicate is that buzz of exploration which you mention - I used to love just wandering around seeing what the screens look like and any bits that were tantalisingly out of reach just made me more determined to find a way through - who knows what's over that big gap, or through that locked door...? You can use your imagination when playing... and when designing too

[Predseda]

I think we will need a lot of special design blocks, Graham. Just to make each screen unique. Wells, fountains, statues, strange bushes... just to let player recall: "Where did I see that? Aaah, it was in the screen with a hive!" Nothing is more boring in platform game than screens that are almost the same, only with different tiles layout.

[Graham Humphrey]

Yes, I think we will need quite a number. I don't think we need different ones for every screen though but as long as we have enough to mix it up a bit. Obviously there will be certain scenes that having different blocks is essential (i.e. if you're in a house or a shop). I do agree it would look a bit boring if we didn't have any, or very few.

[spud]

Perhaps you could let the player pick up an item that'll let him recall to a specific point on the map to save some time later on in the game to prevent the "What I have to trudge back though half the map yet again!?" Better still, let the player set the recall point of said magic item.