Green Beret for Amiga

[DanyPPC]

I think it's a little fast respect the original arcade.

But, great work !

[nikosidis]

I tried it and working great

Only problem I noticed is that 2nd button did not do anything. Did I miss something?

[Fiery Phoenix]

Not had a chance to play, just seen the YouTube clip. Looks nice / sounds nice. Noticed the siren only sounds once though at the start and before end of 1st level - needs a few tonks on the horn like the original!

[Lisko]

We only need a trained whdload install now and/or hope the author balances the difficulty, it's a very hard game!

[Tigerskunk]

Originally Posted by Lisko

We only need a trained whdload install now and/or hope the author balances the difficulty, it's a very hard game!

or how about you get good at it?

[Superman]

Originally Posted by Lisko

We only need a trained whdload install now and/or hope the author balances the difficulty, it's a very hard game!

When I downloaded it yesterday there were 2 adf files. One with trainer and one without so he must have updated it.

[BarryB]

I only ever played the C64 version so comparing:

The 3 sirens at the very start of the level are missing, the Amiga only has one siren and it's a very short sounding siren!

The transition from the starting animation/music to the actual game is too long, the C64 transition is instant, so the wait on the Amiga kind of kills the atmosphere a bit.

No loading screen with music.

No title screen music.

Couldn't actually play the game as it's too f**king hard

[nikosidis]

Ah, I think I know why 2nd button on controller did not work. I tried the game now on my A1200 and there it did work. If you are using CD32 config I guess you need ROM 3 or better. Lowlevel.lib?
The thing is that Wonderboy, Scoprion Engine game is also using 2nd button and there it work with ROM 1.3
I also think that 2nd button should not be jump but to fire special weapon.

[Fiery Phoenix]

Ok just downloaded it and gave it a go.

Difficulty ok, got to 2nd level on first attempt.

Agree about speed, some of the enemy soldiers are much faster than the arcade original

As I mentioned before, defo miss the additional siren sounds - gives more of an emergency feel

One thing I noticed (correct me if I am wrong) no sound fx for the flame thrower? I think I only heard it when it hit an enemy - sure it made a sound before in the arcade when you fired it.

Do like the option to keep hold of fire for the flame thrower by the way

[TjLaZer]

Excellent! Hard as hell just like the others! Top port!

[Fiery Phoenix]

Just seen disclaimer on download page - basically saying this is not supposed to be arcade perfect port and mirrors more of the NES version

fair play

[BarryB]

Never played the NES version only C64, so watched a YouTube longplay and:

NES has no Loading Screen with Music (at least not in the longplay or shown in Arcade longplays).

NES has no Title Screen music.

NES has different Intro Animation: parachuting in rather than 2 soldiers running like Arcade / C64, NES also takes a while to load the first level like the Amiga conversion

NES only has 2 sirens at the start of the level (C64 / Arcade has 3)

Seems the C64 has a better all round experience

[Aarbron]

Originally Posted by Lisko

We only need a trained whdload install now and/or hope the author balances the difficulty, it's a very hard game!

I did adjusted following criticism of being unfair, so in the link below you'll find adjusted collision and hitboxes.
It's an experiment with "instant knife" just like C64 and NES, instead of animation frames like arcade. I like the feel of the NES better than arcade (it's a case of "Contra" where the NES version is more beloved) and tried to get that feeling into Amiga Green Beret.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HNfrzieBdUuGuDLYwWdtPwjQEbpIU110/view?usp=sharing


Also added a ~2 seconds tolerance time for the player to get away from the back of the truck before it starts dropping soldiers. Please tell me what you guys think.

BarryB:
Yes, the siren issue. The whole problem is to try to squeeze it into 512KB Chip A500 OCS, samples are short, I can make it repeat many types by code (and will possibly do) but that was not top priority. Priority is game balanced, as most people are complaining that the game is too hard. Despite the disclaimer I put that it's supposed to be hard. It's my first Amiga game and I am not pretending I'd "compare" to the professional C64 devs from back then that did Green Beret... so, be gentle lol.

Had some harsh feedback from Per-Ola Eriksson on YouTube too but that was more related to polishing stuff like level 1 ends suddenly/bad, sometimes dogs master doesn't appear on level 2, color of dogs isn't varied, and so on. I knew of all these issues but in the extreme situation of doing this whole game in just a couple of months basically alone and on "stolen family time" I had to do compromises and focus in game-breaking issues rather than color of dogs and things like that. But he also said it's *unstable*... that's a serious issue, anyone is experiencing stability issues?

Lastly and overall, Green Beret's reception here has been positive, thank you guys!

[Fiery Phoenix]

Great job and the time and effort put in for a free release - 2 thumbs up

Yeah explanation around siren makes since - was just the first thing I noticed when I watched the YouTube clip. I am guessing the same for the flamethrower sound? Given explanation about memory, etc, I agree it is not a priority.

For first Amiga game - WOW!

[SquawkBox]

@Aarbron
I don't want to sound like Mr. bad link watchdog, but that Google link you posted requires a password to access the ADF bearing the modifications.

[BarryB]

Originally Posted by Aarbron

I did adjusted following criticism of being unfair, so in the link below you'll find adjusted collision and hitboxes.
It's an experiment with "instant knife" just like C64 and NES, instead of animation frames like arcade. I like the feel of the NES better than arcade (it's a case of "Contra" where the NES version is more beloved) and tried to get that feeling into Amiga Green Beret.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HNfrzieBdUuGuDLYwWdtPwjQEbpIU110/view?usp=sharing


Also added a ~2 seconds tolerance time for the player to get away from the back of the truck before it starts dropping soldiers. Please tell me what you guys think.

BarryB:
Yes, the siren issue. The whole problem is to try to squeeze it into 512KB Chip A500 OCS, samples are short, I can make it repeat many types by code (and will possibly do) but that was not top priority. Priority is game balanced, as most people are complaining that the game is too hard. Despite the disclaimer I put that it's supposed to be hard. It's my first Amiga game and I am not pretending I'd "compare" to the professional C64 devs from back then that did Green Beret... so, be gentle lol.

Had some harsh feedback from Per-Ola Eriksson on YouTube too but that was more related to polishing stuff like level 1 ends suddenly/bad, sometimes dogs master doesn't appear on level 2, color of dogs isn't varied, and so on. I knew of all these issues but in the extreme situation of doing this whole game in just a couple of months basically alone and on "stolen family time" I had to do compromises and focus in game-breaking issues rather than color of dogs and things like that. But he also said it's *unstable*... that's a serious issue, anyone is experiencing stability issues?

Lastly and overall, Green Beret's reception here has been positive, thank you guys!

I think as long as the game play is there and it's not rock hard and any major bugs fixed then you've achieved your mission

The A1200 has 2mb chip, so if you detect that load bigger/better samples as there's 283K left on the disk

You'll always get comparisons/criticism given how well known this particular game is, doesn't in any way mean the conversion is bad, just what people 'think' it should have included/excluded.

[Aladin]

A very big thank you. This game is finally a reality on Amiga.

[Aarbron]

Originally Posted by SquawkBox

@Aarbron
I don't want to sound like Mr. bad link watchdog, but that Google link you posted requires a password to access the ADF bearing the modifications.

Sorry, now it's open for anyone with the link.

But try this new one, it has INFINITE WEAPON SHOTS for player so you guys will be able to complete the game in the next 30 minutes or less:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1maYLwzE2IfAoW0Jirgur7d6aO3ZDLj-C/view?usp=sharing

[Aarbron]

Originally Posted by Fiery Phoenix

Great job and the time and effort put in for a free release - 2 thumbs up

Yeah explanation around siren makes since - was just the first thing I noticed when I watched the YouTube clip. I am guessing the same for the flamethrower sound? Given explanation about memory, etc, I agree it is not a priority.

For first Amiga game - WOW!

Thank you very much!

I just did the code for the siren 3 times, the sire still sounds very silly because such short sample so that I may end just sampling the C64 chiptune siren sound for the sake of it, and replace it there.

Also a version with INFINITE WEAPON SHOTS. Get the flamethrower and fry everyone recklessly. Link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1maY...ew?usp=sharing

Green Beret as first Amiga game is a problem, that's why it's rough in the edges on the first release. But I'll try to keep polishing until most people are happy (some will never be) lol.

It's worth saying that another Green Beret for the Amiga from a few years ago, never saw the light of day... And apparently from a team, not a solo guy like me.

It's too much of a game that covers all run and gun tropes, it only looks deceptively "simple" because of it's dated graphics but if you switch the sprites for that of Contra and add infinite ammo (like I just did in link above, but with a faster rate of firing) you got a mini Contra running. The game covers a lot of side-scrolling ground/techniques.

ABOUT THE GAME SPEED AND PACE:

That's an interesting discussion. The game was initially meant for A500 OCS 68000 equipped machines and most of tests done in such specs.
The video below shows how it plays in an Amiga 500, it's quite "chill" to look at:
[ Show youtube player ]

However, the game gets very fast on A1200, and even faster on accelerated A1200, being actually harder. Let's try to forget frames per second for an instant as all machines mentioned above are set (by engine) to run at 50Hz.

On the Amiga 500, a typical level if you run straight, will be covered in ~2 minutes from left of first screen to the right of last screen, for example. On the A1200, it'd take 1 minute and 39 seconds (let's say). On A1200 with accelerator (030) it'll take 1 mute and 22 seconds (for example).

Do you guys understand that it's getting actually faster overall, not smoother in the sense of displaying more frames in one given second? And that's what is causing the mixed feedback ranging from "it's too hard" to "it's difficult is OK". Scorpion Engine is fab but its interpolation and frame rate control (25Hz to 50Hz, interpolation) are relatively new and we might be missing something here. Or there are certain code bits in Green Beret that will pick way too much speed if 020 or FastRAM are present, I'll have to check them bit by bit in different configs.

After all that said, I'd hate to create Wait Loops and stuff like that because the game is running too fast in fast configurations.

[Fiery Phoenix]

Mate - you have set the bar high for next release if that the is the standard of your first Amiga game

Awesome