Bubble Bobble remake? (BB4CPC)

[mr_lou]

I like how the dark backgrounds kinda enhances the platform graphics. Makes it easier for the eyes.

[cngsoft]

A possible attempt at keeping the graphics' footprint low:

(Keiten-Robo-DX, from Giant Star)

Five different sprites that only store the parts that are different, resulting in 1152 bytes of CPC pixels for two animations:

(airborne) (landing)

[TotO]

Hehe. Funny.
Nice if you can keep the background for this game, w/o any slowdown.

[Gryzor]

Actually I prefer the Amiga palette version. It's much more vivid and colourful, just the way I remember it from childhood!


And TotO is right, it's much closer to the CPC palette!

[cngsoft]

Thanks to the thread Proof of concept: adaptive software sprite renderer PS4CPC has developed a new sprite:

[Gryzor]

Awww ain't this cute... (NOT!)

[TFM]

Just started work at 9 a.m. Started BB4CPC, whoaaaa, suddenly it was 10:23, uuups.... This game is great!!!

[cngsoft]

I'm pondering publishing a sixth version of BB4CPC because I noticed the "continue?" screen had a nasty bug: the counter didn't reset if you continued more than once in one game! But right now I'm kinda busy, getting ready for the exams of February (yes, I'm in the university, once again). What shall I do? I'm also pondering changing a couple of things. Does everyone like the behavior of the following powerups: the clock, the ring, the oil lamp and the necklace? Do you have any opinions on the following alternative fonts?

[db6128]

Personally, I think the font in the top-right picture looks the best by far.

The only thing is that the forward slashes still look jagged (as in all the fonts), but I don't know whether this is fixable by changing some more pixels to grey?

[mr_lou]

I prefer one of the fonts on the left. I like the top left one the most.

[Sykobee (Briggsy)]

Top right I think is the best. With the forward slash from the bottom right.

[MaV]

I'd prefer the top-left font.

[db6128]

Top right I think is the best. With the forward slash from the bottom right.

Oh wait! Why didn't I check the other screenshots before asking if there was a way to fix the slash?    Although my vote is the font from the top-right image with the slash from the bottom-left, not right.

[TotO]

The bottom left look more "space free" and stay readable (less than top left) on a PC.
What about on a CTM ?

[Sykobee (Briggsy)]

Oh wait! Why didn't I check the other screenshots before asking if there was a way to fix the slash?    Although my vote is the font from the top-right image with the slash from the bottom-left, not right.

Actually, yeah, the slash on the bottom left is better.

[cngsoft]

Alright then, so it's down to the top left font with the more dithered forward slash used in the other fonts.

For the curious, the top left font is the one used in BB4CPC since the beginning, itself being a variation on the one I used years ago in Justin, that in place was inspired by the fonts from Probe Software games such as Beyond the Ice Palace, Savage, Solomon's Key and Trantor. Top right font tries to look like the one used in the original Bubble Bobble for CPC, with hints from the similarly thick font from Probe's Golden Axe and Smash TV. Bottom left is a variant of the top left font where I made each character one pixel shorter, and where certain details have changed following the style of Animagic's font for Aaargh, Bronx or Xenon. Bottom right is an attempt at making a "curly" font, similar to what Probe (yes, I'm a fan of their works, I can't hide it) did in Extreme.

So here comes (again) the other question, the one about the items. Because of space constraints, I couldn't feature all the powerups from Bubble Bobble, but I could "merge" several of them together. For example, the original game has three rings (cyan, purple and red), each one giving you 10/100/500 points for each step you walk, time you jump or bubble you shoot until you're killed or you finish the current stage, but BB4CPC has just one cyan ring whose effect is chosen depending on how many enemies are still on screen. Something similar happened to the six candy canes, merged into one that generates different giant bonuses depending on the current game, to the treasure chest, to the umbrella and the potion. With other items I had to get more creative:

* the clock: rather than freezing all enemies for several seconds, as in the original game, it calms them down, turning all "angry" baddies into "calm" ones, as in the arcade bootleg "Bobble Bobble". Similarly, the skull of BB4CPC makes all baddies angry (like in the bootleg) rather than spawning a shooting star that makes the baddies it touches angry.
* the oil lamp: there were four oil lamps in the game, each one with a different effect (from giving you all the three candies at once to killing all baddies) but here it gives you all the candies and rings.
* the necklace: it merges two items from the arcade, the pearl necklace (that summons an Arkanoid-like ball that bounces everywhere, kills enemies and stuns players) and the tiara (that makes stars rain and kills all baddies): the necklace in BB4CPC spawns a bouncing star that kills baddies and stuns players.
* the jingle bell: it behaves more like the crystal ball (that made the powerups appear just one second after the beginning of the round, rather than ten seconds later) than like the original bell (that played a jingle and flashed the screen when the next powerup could kill all enemies)

Many of these choices were taken because the room for code was extremely limited, but five versions later I've learned that there's always room for a tweak here and there. Any thoughts?

[TFM]

Maybe it's really time to move on to a BB4CPC 128 KB edition. 99% of all CPC sceners habe access to a 128 KB machine. It would be a pity to loose all that good thingies just because the game must fit into 64 KB!

Well, and I think I'm not the only one who hopes for a 128 KB version. But it's left too you to decide 

[sigh]

You really have done a spectacular job on this remake.

Top left font

[Ace]

...top right font off course, that imitates the original. Also I would like the clock behavior, just like the original that stuns the enemies, cause the bootleg's Bobble Bobble behavior, was actually a copy protection glitch.

[cngsoft]

Ace, I've just changed the clock's behavior, and in a nice surprise, the new code isn't heavier than the old, so there's still room for more changes. If anything, even if the original CPC port of BB had thick fat letters, I'm inclined to believe that BB4CPC looks closer to the original arcade machine text:

[TotO]

I've just changed the clock's behavior, and in a nice surprise, the new code isn't heavier than the old, so there's still room for more changes. If anything, even if the original CPC port of BB had thick fat letters, I'm inclined to believe that BB4CPC looks closer to the original arcade machine text:

In this case, if you want to look close to the arcade machine, has your honor because you are doing the best 8-bit port of this game, you may use MODE 1 with rasters for the score part.

Title picture in full MODE 1:

[attachimg=1]

Ingame with mixed MODE 0:

[attachimg=2]

[sigh]

I really like this idea. Having the the title screen split into 4 different mode 1 screens:)

[fano]

In this case, if you want to look close to the arcade machine, has your honor because you are doing the best 8-bit port of this game, you may use MODE 1 with rasters for the score part.

Title picture in full MODE 1:

[attachimg=1]

Ingame with mixed MODE 0:

[attachimg=2]

Where is the "LIKE" button ?!!!!!

[Gryzor]

Believe me, still trying to restore it, but yes, I wanted to LIKE that too

[ralferoo]

I'm not sure I've said this yet, but I adore BB4CPC so much!

And I guess I'm used to the fonts as they've always been, so anything else feels wrong now. That said, the mode 1 idea for the title screen does seem like a really good idea. Personally I always thought the red bubble just looked a bit too chunky in mode 0 even though the game itself is fine and surprising the font is perfectly readable at 4 pixels wide!