SkillGrid - new AGA game in the works

[S. Campbell]

Originally Posted by saimo

* Windows: http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/lha.htm

Not a clue what to do with that

[saimo]

1. Extract the directory SkillGrid from SkillGrid-WM.lha to your Desktop.
2. Download lha-1.14i-1-bin from http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/down...ha-bin-zip.php
3. Extract the file bin/lha.exe to your Desktop.
4. Open a Command Prompt shell and, from there, do the following.
5. Enter the Desktop directory with: cd Desktop (if it does not work, delete "Desktop" and drag&drop the Desktop folder on the shell).
6. Run this command: lha a SkillGrid.lha SkillGrid

At the end, you'll have the SkillGrid.lha file on your Desktop.

[S. Campbell]

Originally Posted by saimo

1. Extract the directory SkillGrid from SkillGrid-WM.lha to your Desktop.
2. Download lha-1.14i-1-bin from http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/down...ha-bin-zip.php
3. Extract the file bin/lha.exe to your Desktop.
4. Open a Command Prompt shell and, from there, do the following.
5. Enter the Desktop directory with: cd Desktop (if it does not work, delete "Desktop" and drag&drop the Desktop folder on the shell).
6. Run this command: lha a SkillGrid.lha SkillGrid

At the end, you'll have the SkillGrid.lha file on your Desktop.

Nope. That does create a file, but inside the file is just the SkillGrid folder. Every working LHA file I have contains a folder AND the .info file. When I try to run this it still says there are no files to load.

For clarity, an example. This is the Minskies LHA file I have. Inside the LHA is a game folder and an .info file:



Then inside the "MinskiesAGA" folder is a "data" folder and some other files:



Inside the SkillGrid LHA, though, is just a game folder, no .info file:



Inside the SkillGrid folder is again, a "data" folder and some other files:



Every working LHA file I have (of many dozens) looks exactly like the Minskies one - a game folder and an .info file.

[saimo]

The .info file is just the icon of the folder, and should not matter at all.
I see that the MinskiesAGA folder contains a WHDLoad slave: does Amiberry support non-WHDLoad software at all?

[S. Campbell]

Originally Posted by saimo

The .info file is just the icon of the folder, and should not matter at all.
I see that the MinskiesAGA folder contains a WHDLoad slave: does Amiberry support non-WHDLoad software at all?

Not a clue, I'm afraid. I didn't know there was any other HD format.

[saimo]

The .lha archives are not HD formats: they are simply archives of directories (like .zip files).
WHDLoad is a tool that allows to run software on a machine / in an environment where the software would not run or would run with issues; however, to be able to run under WHDLoad, each piece of software must come with a "slave" file (which is specifically produced by means of the hard work of some programmer).
From what you report, it looks like Amiberry supports WHDLoad-ready software, but not regular software - or maybe regular software needs to be launched in a different way.
If Amiberry supports .adf files, you could use those, instead.
Otherwise, I suggest you ask for support to the Amiberry users/developers.

[S. Campbell]

Sadly SkillGrid doesn't seem to support extra floppy drives, and virtual disk-changing is way too much of an arseache. I shall just pass, sorry, thanks for the help.

[saimo]

SkillGrid does support multiple drives, so you can put each floppy image in a specific drive and have the game boot without it requesting any disk change. Moreover, even with one drive only, the game accesses the floppies only at boot, so there won't be any disk swapping after the initial load.
You're experiencing emulation problems, so you should get help from the documentation/users/developers of Amiberry.

[saimo]

Somebody on itch.io reported that SkillGrid hangs on his/her A4000 (with 68060), but provided no details. Luckily, one of my friends/testers has an A4000 equipped with a 68060 and managed to reproduce the problem (if not exactly the same, I hope a strictly related one).
What he found out is that if he had Roadshow running, the game would hang in the title screen shortly after starting up. Given that SkillGrid takes over the system entirely, the first thing that came to mind was that his network board (an X-Surf-100), after being activated/used by RoadShow before the startup of the game, was triggering an INT2 interrupt and keeping on doing so continuously as it was not getting an ack due to the fact that my level 2 interrupt handler, which only cares about the keyboard, simply cleared the INTREQ.PORTS bit and returned. I searched for information about the X-Surf-100 on the net and I got confirmation that it uses the INT2 line (and seemingly also the INT6 one, but that is not relevant to SkillGrid as it has the level 6 interrupt disabled). I provided him with a version of the game with the level 2 interrupt disabled and it turned out to work just fine, even with RoadShow running at startup.
Therefore, I have now prepared a new version (1.3) which handles the keyboard through the level 3 interrupt and which is thus immune to any expansion hardware (except for hardware that continuously triggers NMIs, that is).

Doing this work got me started once again, and so I also made some other improvements - you can find the details in the changelog at the bottom of this post, but here's the most important one:



For who is not familiar with the game: the addition is the BEAM/ULTRA cell, which makes the spaceship weapon exceptionally powerful (getting rid of the bosses with it is extra easy).

I seized the occasion to also add this little paragraph to the manual which clarifies how beams work (it has been so since day 1, but it had never been explained):



The new version is practically ready, but before releasing it I'd really really really like to get the Amiga CD32 NVRAM issue fixed! In fact, hiscore loading/saving is still disabled for the version that boots on Amiga CD32 directly from CD. Unfortunately, having no such machine, I can't test my code, so I need help. More precisely, I need someone with an Amiga CD32 equipped with an HD/CF/SD to run this test suite and report the result (it's all very simple - basically: download the archive, unpack it on the drive, run the script from shell, follow the on-screen instructions and report the result).
Thanks in advance to the good souls who will help!

Changelog

v1.3 (unreleased)
1. Added the BEAM/ULTRA cell (shoots a big beam that is equivalent to 5 beams).
2. Moved lateral beams of the triple beam one pixel down (to match the shape of the ultra beam).
3. Reduced by 16.7% the occurrences of the DAMAGE cell.
4. Worked on the music playback: optimized the decoding; optimized the handling of the state; removed the pairing of channels on the same side (which caused the title and game over screens music to play louder than the in-game music - an originally intended effect which I have changed my mind about - and did not really work for channel 3 as that channel cannot sustain 28836.5 Hz).
5. Changed the keyboard handling so that it executes from a level 3 interrupt handler instead of a level 2 interrupt handler, in order to work around issues/lockups caused by expansion hardware sending INT2 interrupt requests.
6. Replaced [SPACE] with [LEFT ALT] and [RIGHT ALT] keys as [FIRE] button.
7. Made the startup procedure more robust (especially against audio playback performed with direct hardware access by other programs concurrently).
8. Made various little optimizations.
9. Worked on cells graphics: fixed colors of beams on BEAM/DOUBLE and BEAM/TRIPLE cells; fixed a pixel on the border of the ASTEROIDS, BEAM/DOUBLE and BEAM/TRIPLE cells.
10. Worked on manual and stragegy guide: renamed DOUBLE BEAM and TRIPLE BEAM as BEAMS/DOUBLE and BEAMS/TRIPLE, respectively; added the information for the BEAMS/ULTRA cell; adapted the information for the other BEAMS/* cells; added the BEAMS paragraph; updated the ASTEROIDS, BEAM/DOUBLE and BEAM/TRIPLE cells images; updated the controls table; fixed the outer antialiasing of the BEAM/TRIPLE, BOOST and BRAKE cells images; fixed the kerning of the last character of the italic strings.
11. Set default tool of manual and strategy guide icons to "Apdf".
12. Updated artwork to reflect the new beams graphics.

[saimo]

SkillGrid v1.3 is out!

This short video shows the new weapon:

[ Show youtube player ]

Moreover, in addition to the other various improvements, I have given Amiga CD³² users the possibility to enable the hiscore loading/saving from/to NVRAM (I haven't received any feedback relatively to that, so the feature is completely experimental - see readme.txt on the CD).

https://retream.itch.io/SkillGrid

Changelog

v1.3 (21.05.2022)
1. Added the BEAM/ULTRA cell (shoots a big beam that is equivalent to 5 beams).
2. Moved the lateral beams of the triple beam one pixel down (to match the shape of the ultra beam).
3. Reduced by 16.7% the occurrences of the DAMAGE cell.
4. Worked on the music playback:
· optimized the decoding;
· optimized the handling of the state;
· removed the pairing of channels on the same side (which caused the title and game over screens music to play louder than the in-game music - an originally intended effect which I have changed my mind about - and did not really work for channel 3 as that channel cannot sustain 28836.5 Hz).
5. Slightly improved the standard music quality by re-downsampling the data after improving the amplification.
6. Changed the keyboard handling so that it executes from a level 3 interrupt handler instead of a level 2 interrupt handler, in order to work around issues/lockups caused by expansion hardware sending INT2 interrupt requests.
7. Replaced [SPACE] with [LEFT ALT] and [RIGHT ALT] as [FIRE] button.
8. Made the startup procedure more robust (especially against audio playback performed with direct hardware access by other programs concurrently).
9. Made various little optimizations.
10. Added the possibility of enabling the loading/saving of the hiscore from/to the NVRAM in the Amiga CD³² bootable version - EXPERIMENTAL FEATURE: CHECK OUT THE README ON THE CD FIRST!
11. Worked on cells graphics:
· fixed colors of beams on BEAM/DOUBLE and BEAM/TRIPLE cells;
· fixed a pixel on the border of the ASTEROIDS, BEAM/DOUBLE and BEAM/TRIPLE cells.
12. Worked on manual and stragegy guide:
· renamed DOUBLE BEAM and TRIPLE BEAM as BEAMS/DOUBLE and BEAMS/TRIPLE, respectively;
· added the information for the BEAMS/ULTRA cell;
· adapted the information for the other BEAMS/* cells;
· added the BEAMS paragraph;
· updated the ASTEROIDS, BEAM/DOUBLE and BEAM/TRIPLE cells images;
· updated the CONTROLS table;
· fixed the outer antialiasing of the BEAM/TRIPLE, BOOST and BRAKE cells images;
· fixed the kerning of the last character of the italic strings.
13. Set the default tool of the manual and strategy guide icons to "Apdf".
14. Updated the artwork to reflect the new beams graphics.

[TCD]

Just had a quick go in WinUAE with three drives and it worked without a problem. Thank you for the making this game I had to read up on what the goal is, but for now just shooting stuff was fine If I can I'll create a HOL entry for it.

[saimo]

Originally Posted by TCD

Just had a quick go in WinUAE with three drives and it worked without a problem. Thank you for the making this game

My pleasure, and thanks for playing it!
If you plan to play it more, I suggest you use the installed version, as it loads much faster.

I had to read up on what the goal is, but for now just shooting stuff was fine

Well, shooting is only a minor component of the game, so I'm glad that you're satisfied even with just that
The real fun comes from taming the chaotic gameplay by learning all the game mechanics and developing strategies, though. If you haven't already, give the manual and the strategy guide a good look (especially the PDF versions on the CD image, as they're easier to read).

If I can I'll create a HOL entry for it.

That would be nice, thanks. If you need information, I'm happy to help.
(To be honest, I had planned to do that after fixing the already existing entries of the other games of mine, but the thread I had opened for such purpose got stuck.)

[TCD]

Originally Posted by saimo

That would be nice, thanks. If you need information, I'm happy to help.
(To be honest, I had planned to do that after fixing the already existing entries of the other games of mine, but the thread I had opened for such purpose got stuck.)

I will get back to you once my side is sorted.

[klx300r]

@ saimo

Thanks again for the update! Both versions running great on my miggies

[TCD]

I have created a HOL entry for the game: https://hol.abime.net/6525

I let you fill in the blanks and then I create the CD entry

[saimo]

Originally Posted by TCD

I have created a HOL entry for the game: https://hol.abime.net/6525

I let you fill in the blanks and then I create the CD entry

Cool, thanks! I'll provide you with information as soon as I can (hopefully by the end of the day).

[saimo]

Screenshots: archive
Manual: manual and strategy guide
Language in manual: English
HD install: yes
Publisher: the physical edition has been published by RGCD; the digital edition has been released on itch.io
Category: hard to say! It's a vertical shoot'em up with puzzle/strategy/arcade elements
Quickmatch: Coding - 68000 Assembly Language (68K ASM)

Additional information:
* website: https://www.retream.com/SkillGrid
* also for Amiga CD32;
* distributed in three forms: pre-installed copy (in an .lha archive); floppy images (in an .lha archive); CD image, which boots the game directly on Amiga CD32 and contains also the pre-installed copy, the floppy images and bonus materials;
* since v1.2 there is also an alternative edition called "PRESS PLAY ON TAPE edition", which uses "Man with the Gun" song by PRESS PLAY ON TAPE as soundtrack (this edition comes only in pre-installed form, and is also included on the CD image).

I can't think of anything else at the moment.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by saimo

Screenshots: archive
Manual: manual and strategy guide
Language in manual: English
HD install: yes
Publisher: the physical edition has been published by RGCD; the digital edition has been released on itch.io
Category: hard to say! It's a vertical shoot'em up with puzzle/strategy/arcade elements
Quickmatch: Coding - 68000 Assembly Language (68K ASM)

Additional information:
* website: https://www.retream.com/SkillGrid
* also for Amiga CD32;
* distributed in three forms: pre-installed copy (in an .lha archive); floppy images (in an .lha archive); CD image, which boots the game directly on Amiga CD32 and contains also the pre-installed copy, the floppy images and bonus materials;
* since v1.2 there is also an alternative edition called "PRESS PLAY ON TAPE edition", which uses "Man with the Gun" song by PRESS PLAY ON TAPE as soundtrack (this edition comes only in pre-installed form, and is also included on the CD image).

I can't think of anything else at the moment.

Perfect! I'll add the info and images on Thursday and create the CD version. Thank you for making the games and for all the info

[saimo]

@klx300r

Originally Posted by klx300r

@ saimo

Thanks again for the update! Both versions running great on my miggies

I had missed this post of yours...
It's me who has to thank you for your continued support!


@TCD

Originally Posted by TCD

Perfect! I'll add the info and images on Thursday and create the CD version. Thank you for making the games and for all the info

Nice. I'll have a look at, if anything else comes to mind, I'll let you know.

[saimo]

@TCD

Originally Posted by TCD

Perfect! I'll add the info and images on Thursday and create the CD version. Thank you for making the games and for all the info

I just thought of one more piece of information: maybe it would be good to add to the notes that the game was originally commercial?