Scorpion Engine - Page 2

earok · 28 May 2019, 02:58

Just a quick note about what I've been working on. I've been working on a secondary sample game to test and expand the capabilities of the underlying virtual machine. This sample game doesn't actually use any real time gameplay, it's purely driven through dialogue options and menus.

Some new features for the engine include:

- Ability to set the talkpad at the bottom of the screen
- Conditional dialogue options, example:

Code:

+ Mia Fey -> victim_miafey
+ Cinder Block -> victim_cinderblock
+ {seen_cindy_profile} Cindy Stone -> victim_cindystone
+ View Court Record -> victim_courtrecord

For these dialogue options, the "Cindy Stone" option is invisible and unavailable until the "seen_cindy_profile" variable is set to true.

- Implemented the 'tunnelling' functionality from Ink script. This is akin to gosub in basic or bsr/jsr in ASM, in that it allows you to jump to a different part of the script, and later return to the place that you called from.

Code:

-> court_phoenix_thinking ->
Phoenix:<br>Um... Mia Fey?
-> court_mia_shocked ->
Mia:<br>W-W-What!? How can I be<br>the victim!?
-> end

== court_phoenix_thinking
~camerax = 17 * 16 * 2
~cameray = 14 * 16 * 2
->->

== court_mia_shocked
~camerax = 17 * 16 * 3
~cameray = 14 * 16 * 2
->->

gimbal · 28 May 2019, 13:03

"You shouldn't port Ace Attorney to the Amiga, wah wah wah!"

(sorry, I just thought I'd make fun of the numbskulls as early as possible and get it out of the way)

UltraNarwhal · 29 May 2019, 16:27

This is amazing!

With this and RedPill maybe the Amiga will see many more new games, much like what has happened with AGD/NESmaker (ZX Spectrum/NES) and the removal of the complex coding barrier.

Look forward to seeing what I can create in the future with this once it's ready.

DancingWolf · 30 May 2019, 13:40

The engine looks fantastic and very usable, Maybe people can't overlook the demo art assets.

that last screenshot though...Snatcher port for the Amiga anyone?

Great work.

saimon69 · 30 May 2019, 17:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by DancingWolf

The engine looks fantastic and very usable, Maybe people can't overlook the demo art assets.

that last screenshot though...Snatcher port for the Amiga anyone?

Great work.

Last week was about to propose a Policenauts port, but it seems the parser is pretty complicated, so more than a port we might need a full rewrite and i dropped the idea...

redblade · 31 May 2019, 01:01

Would this engine be ok for horizontal scrollers i.e SNES Clocktower?

earok · 31 May 2019, 02:30

I think, point and click adventures are more or less not going to be able to be created with this engine (and to be fair, IIRC there's mature Adventure Game creators on Amiga already).

A game that plays akin to say Project Firestart or a side scrolling 2D version of Resident Evil 1 could work, though objects that you can walk around (and hence require Z-Buffering) could be an issue from a performance point of view. Objects that are always either behind or in front of the player should be fine.

The engine as it is should be 100% capable of completing a Phoenix Wright 1 port (including the 'hidden object' scenes, but excluding save/load functionality). I'm not super sure about Policenauts or Snatcher port, but I suspect it could handle those.

earok · 10 June 2019, 09:27

http://earok.net/games/ScorpionTest002.lha

Scorpion Test pack 2 is up.

Includes partial port of the first case of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, this was to test out and expand the branching dialogue features of the engine. Although I've only adapted a small amount of the game, in principle it'd be possible to port the entire game (and well, practically any visual novel) with the engine as it currently is.

Due to the amount of large (almost full screen) graphical assets, 1MB chip + 512KB any is needed. Most of the game is in 32 colors, though the courtroom scene is in 16 colors in an attempt to save RAM.

The Zelda ROTH demo has had a couple of minor tweaks (fix for foreground rendering when walking through tree on a high end system, dialogue is at bottom of the screen).

Going to start looking at NPC/enemy stuff next.

alpine9000 · 10 June 2019, 10:10

Just checked them both out, looking really good!

Amigajay · 10 June 2019, 11:31

More great work Earok, love the look of the Zelda engine part.

Clydos · 10 June 2019, 15:50

(sorry for OT, but ... AMIGAJAY! Great to see you back, buddy! We all hope that you are ok!?)

Scorpion: Will have a look at this later. I am really looking forward to this, earok! Thanks for your work!

earok · 11 June 2019, 07:56

Cheers guys! Also glad to see you here @AmigaJay, hope all is well.

xboxown · 11 June 2019, 22:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by earok

http://earok.net/games/ScorpionTest002.lha

Scorpion Test pack 2 is up.

Includes partial port of the first case of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, this was to test out and expand the branching dialogue features of the engine. Although I've only adapted a small amount of the game, in principle it'd be possible to port the entire game (and well, practically any visual novel) with the engine as it currently is.

Due to the amount of large (almost full screen) graphical assets, 1MB chip + 512KB any is needed. Most of the game is in 32 colors, though the courtroom scene is in 16 colors in an attempt to save RAM.

The Zelda ROTH demo has had a couple of minor tweaks (fix for foreground rendering when walking through tree on a high end system, dialogue is at bottom of the screen).

Going to start looking at NPC/enemy stuff next.

Can I say that even with stock Amiga we have enough ram! Can the court room be 32 colors please?!

PLEASE!

earok · 12 June 2019, 07:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by xboxown

Can I say that even with stock Amiga we have enough ram! Can the court room be 32 colors please?!

PLEASE!

Yeah, why not

http://earok.net/games/ScorpionTest002B.lha

Courtroom now 32 colors, as well as some other random fixes for the engine.

(I've attempted to fix an issue on some expanded Amigas where the Zelda game can't get past the title screen. I haven't been able to duplicate this issue myself, so please let me know if you had this previously and if it now works)

malko · 12 June 2019, 14:16

The link to v2b is not working...

could you fix it ?

earok · 12 June 2019, 14:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by malko

The link to v2b is not working...

could you fix it ?

Whoops, that was embarrassing. Fixed.

malko · 12 June 2019, 14:27

Bigger mistakes exist (yes, yes

) so no need to be embarrassed

Thanks, now working

earok · 13 June 2019, 11:19

Great

Today's task was to work on some import tools for the Scorpion compiler. This one takes an existing image of a map, converts into into a tiled map (with the layers required by the Scorpion engine) and generates a palette from it (it happens that this map appears to be 16 colors, so unless there's additional colors needed for the player sprites and such, it'd be a four bitplane game).

Tigerskunk · 13 June 2019, 12:05

Nice stuff!

Clydos · 14 June 2019, 12:57

@earok: Cool stuff!

How does the process "converts into into a tiled map" work? Is that an automated process? Semi-automated? Manually? Would be interested in this process.

28 May 2019, 02:58	#21
earok Registered User Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Auckland Posts: 3,449	Just a quick note about what I've been working on. I've been working on a secondary sample game to test and expand the capabilities of the underlying virtual machine. This sample game doesn't actually use any real time gameplay, it's purely driven through dialogue options and menus. Some new features for the engine include: - Ability to set the talkpad at the bottom of the screen - Conditional dialogue options, example: Code: + Mia Fey -> victim_miafey + Cinder Block -> victim_cinderblock + {seen_cindy_profile} Cindy Stone -> victim_cindystone + View Court Record -> victim_courtrecord For these dialogue options, the "Cindy Stone" option is invisible and unavailable until the "seen_cindy_profile" variable is set to true. - Implemented the 'tunnelling' functionality from Ink script. This is akin to gosub in basic or bsr/jsr in ASM, in that it allows you to jump to a different part of the script, and later return to the place that you called from. Code: -> court_phoenix_thinking -> Phoenix:<br>Um... Mia Fey? -> court_mia_shocked -> Mia:<br>W-W-What!? How can I be<br>the victim!? -> end == court_phoenix_thinking ~camerax = 17 * 16 * 2 ~cameray = 14 * 16 * 2 ->-> == court_mia_shocked ~camerax = 17 * 16 * 3 ~cameray = 14 * 16 * 2 ->->

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28 May 2019, 13:03	#22
gimbal cheeky scoundrel Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Spijkenisse/Netherlands Age: 42 Posts: 6,629	"You shouldn't port Ace Attorney to the Amiga, wah wah wah!" (sorry, I just thought I'd make fun of the numbskulls as early as possible and get it out of the way)

29 May 2019, 16:27	#23
UltraNarwhal Registered User Join Date: Apr 2019 Location: UK Posts: 256	This is amazing! With this and RedPill maybe the Amiga will see many more new games, much like what has happened with AGD/NESmaker (ZX Spectrum/NES) and the removal of the complex coding barrier. Look forward to seeing what I can create in the future with this once it's ready.

30 May 2019, 13:40	#24
DancingWolf Registered User Join Date: May 2019 Location: Liverpool Posts: 8	The engine looks fantastic and very usable, Maybe people can't overlook the demo art assets. that last screenshot though...Snatcher port for the Amiga anyone? Great work.

31 May 2019, 01:01	#26
redblade Zone Friend Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Middle Earth Age: 39 Posts: 2,067	Would this engine be ok for horizontal scrollers i.e SNES Clocktower?

31 May 2019, 02:30	#27
earok Registered User Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Auckland Posts: 3,449	I think, point and click adventures are more or less not going to be able to be created with this engine (and to be fair, IIRC there's mature Adventure Game creators on Amiga already). A game that plays akin to say Project Firestart or a side scrolling 2D version of Resident Evil 1 could work, though objects that you can walk around (and hence require Z-Buffering) could be an issue from a performance point of view. Objects that are always either behind or in front of the player should be fine. The engine as it is should be 100% capable of completing a Phoenix Wright 1 port (including the 'hidden object' scenes, but excluding save/load functionality). I'm not super sure about Policenauts or Snatcher port, but I suspect it could handle those.

10 June 2019, 09:27	#28
earok Registered User Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Auckland Posts: 3,449	http://earok.net/games/ScorpionTest002.lha Scorpion Test pack 2 is up. Includes partial port of the first case of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, this was to test out and expand the branching dialogue features of the engine. Although I've only adapted a small amount of the game, in principle it'd be possible to port the entire game (and well, practically any visual novel) with the engine as it currently is. Due to the amount of large (almost full screen) graphical assets, 1MB chip + 512KB any is needed. Most of the game is in 32 colors, though the courtroom scene is in 16 colors in an attempt to save RAM. The Zelda ROTH demo has had a couple of minor tweaks (fix for foreground rendering when walking through tree on a high end system, dialogue is at bottom of the screen). Going to start looking at NPC/enemy stuff next.

10 June 2019, 10:10	#29
alpine9000 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: Australia Posts: 880	Just checked them both out, looking really good!

10 June 2019, 11:31	#30
Amigajay Registered User Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: > Posts: 2,673	More great work Earok, love the look of the Zelda engine part.

10 June 2019, 15:50	#31
Clydos aka (Cpt)JohnArcher Join Date: May 2018 Location: Dresden / Germany Posts: 192	(sorry for OT, but ... AMIGAJAY! Great to see you back, buddy! We all hope that you are ok!?) Scorpion: Will have a look at this later. I am really looking forward to this, earok! Thanks for your work!

11 June 2019, 07:56	#32
earok Registered User Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Auckland Posts: 3,449	Cheers guys! Also glad to see you here @AmigaJay, hope all is well.

12 June 2019, 14:16	#35
malko Ex nihilo nihil Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: CH Posts: 4,655	The link to v2b is not working... could you fix it ?

12 June 2019, 14:27	#37
malko Ex nihilo nihil Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: CH Posts: 4,655	Bigger mistakes exist (yes, yes ) so no need to be embarrassed Thanks, now working

13 June 2019, 11:19	#38
earok Registered User Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Auckland Posts: 3,449	Great Today's task was to work on some import tools for the Scorpion compiler. This one takes an existing image of a map, converts into into a tiled map (with the layers required by the Scorpion engine) and generates a palette from it (it happens that this map appears to be 16 colors, so unless there's additional colors needed for the player sprites and such, it'd be a four bitplane game).

13 June 2019, 12:05	#39
Tigerskunk Inviyya Dude! Join Date: Sep 2016 Location: Amiga Island Posts: 2,616	Nice stuff!

14 June 2019, 12:57	#40
Clydos aka (Cpt)JohnArcher Join Date: May 2018 Location: Dresden / Germany Posts: 192	@earok: Cool stuff! How does the process "converts into into a tiled map" work? Is that an automated process? Semi-automated? Manually? Would be interested in this process.

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