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Chibi Akumas Episode 2: Confrontation! - a little 'chibi' update

Started by keith56, 02:10, 02 July 17

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keith56

I've reached a bit of a milestone today, so I thought I'd do a bit of a announcement!

All the levels are now complete - this means all the shared 'core' game code is pretty much done (with 79 bytes of free memory!), all the level graphics are finished,  all the boss battles are programmed!
This means I'm now able to pretty confidently tell you what IS in the game, not what I HOPE will be in there!

In 'celebration' of this milestone, I have set up the official website for the new game!  Right now there's just some 'teaser' content on there to give google something to link to - and so people who haven't played  EP1 know the staggering stupidity that they're in for! but please take a look, and maybe you'll get a laugh out of it!

http://www.chibiakumas.com/ep2/
and in Japanese:
http://www.chibiakuma.com/ep2/

the game will be DEFINATELY be released in 2017 - and I expect it to be relased in a couple of months - I had aimed for a July release, and I've not been slacking, but I don't want to rush and release something that is not as good as it could have been - I have been working like crazy on this game, and want to see it released as the best thing I can do.

Finally I know people will want screenshots and videos and the like - and I will release all that kind of stuff over the coming weeks/months, but please wait a little longer - and I will explain why...
I still have *months* of hard work to do on this game, I have worked hours a day, at least 9 days out of 10, the whole year on this game (EP2 is based on the code from EP1 - when EP1 was finished, I just kept on coding without stopping)
The tough thing about coding a game of this scale is not coming up with an idea, it's not drawing the graphic or even writing the code - the tough bit is keeping working at it, and keeping motivation when it get boring, or when there are problems, or when it seems no one gives a sh*t... and right now I need to keep it all the 'magic' secret so there's no chance my motivation will run out before the last stretch and the finish line is in sight

From here on I will work on the game music (Unique on all 5 levels), the Intro/Cutscenes and other incidental graphics (Bigger and Far more than EP1) - and test the thing like crazy (Much more to test now the game supports 1 or 2 players ), so I'm not done yet, but I'm hoping all the seemingly 'impossible' stuff is now done!
Chibi Akumas: Comedy-Horror 8-bit Bullet Hell shooter!
Learn ARM, 8086, Z80, 6502 or 68000 with my tutorials: www.assemblytutorial.com
My Assembly programming book is available now on amazon!

villain

Quote from: keith56 on 02:10, 02 July 17
I have worked hours a day, at least 9 days out of 10, the whole year on this game (EP2 is based on the code from EP1 - when EP1 was finished, I just kept on coding without stopping)

You are crazy, but in a very likeable way. :-) I don't have enough thumbs to show. I still wonder where one could find so much spare time.

genesis8

Quote from: keith56 on 02:10, 02 July 17
From here on I will work on the game music (Unique on all 5 levels), the Intro/Cutscenes and other incidental graphics (Bigger and Far more than EP1) - and test the thing like crazy (Much more to test now the game supports 1 or 2 players ), so I'm not done yet, but I'm hoping all the seemingly 'impossible' stuff is now done!


Subliminal hint : I can do some testing, and if well payed, I wont release screenshots and videos.


P.S. : forgot about the payment, I can do it for free, I am a nice guy (almost).


P.P.S. : I posted on my web site, just quoting the source and the text as I am lazy (not so, I had to translate it in french though).
____________
Amstrad news site at Genesis8 Amstrad Page

keith56

Thanks for the offer, but it's quicker if I do the testing myself, I know the code better than anyone, so I can spot and fix a problem faster than if someone else tested for me.

When I'm testing on emulators I do most of the play through at 4x speed, so I play through many times quickly to can check for crashes.

I pretty much have a full compliment of CPC's over here now (464, 6128, 6128+) so I'm good for real hardware testing too.

Chibi Akumas: Comedy-Horror 8-bit Bullet Hell shooter!
Learn ARM, 8086, Z80, 6502 or 68000 with my tutorials: www.assemblytutorial.com
My Assembly programming book is available now on amazon!

keith56

I've been working on the gameplay options this week, so I'll take the opportunity to update people on the new finished features of Episode 2!

1. TotO's Multiplay is supported for 2 player controls without Keyclash problems - each joystick supports up to 3 fire buttons, but you can use a combination of Multiplay and keys if you only have 1/2 fire button joysticks.

2. EP1 had an 'easy' mode for bullet hell haters... but it's improved in EP2 - Easy now reduces the enemy fire rate, AND the size of the enemy fire bursts.

3. there are two configuration modes for 2 player 'continues'
        A - Co-Existance: Both players share one continue stock - so you need your 'sibling' to stay alive!
        B - Brood Reduction: Both players have a separate continue stock, as powerups are limited, and the game is harder with 2 players - it's in your interest to get all the powerups for yourself, and leave your 'sibling' to die!

3. Secret new mode! - The last level has a different gameplay mechanic to the first 4 levels - as a bonus, once you complete the game - you can replay the game entirely in 'special mode'


Chibi Akumas: Comedy-Horror 8-bit Bullet Hell shooter!
Learn ARM, 8086, Z80, 6502 or 68000 with my tutorials: www.assemblytutorial.com
My Assembly programming book is available now on amazon!

keith56

Ok, Here's another update for the week!

I've been working out the dialog for the cartoon sequences in the game, and it seems I'm going to have to draw up about 4x the cartoon frames as I did for EP1, so it's going to be  busy over the next few weeks... I've also been working on the new music files (each level in the new game has different music now)

Well anyway, to give you all something to look at I've taken a break from developing to make a little teaser video:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX_eTjhMi90

it shows the new ingame dialog... known as 'interactive insults' - as the characters mostly whine and argue with each other! also the new 2 player plus sprites, and how drones affect the two players.

Note the improved backgrounds in the new game! I had wanted a full tile array, but the speed drop was too great, so I've settled for this repeating 32pixel tile - which does not cause much slowdown, and looks a lot better than ep1's gradient backgrounds

I'm going to do a Lets Play video of Epsiode 1 soon... if anyone has any questions about the games they would like answering, please let me know, and I will try to answer them in the Vid!

Thanks for following my progress!
Chibi Akumas: Comedy-Horror 8-bit Bullet Hell shooter!
Learn ARM, 8086, Z80, 6502 or 68000 with my tutorials: www.assemblytutorial.com
My Assembly programming book is available now on amazon!

tjohnson

Looks great, how many colours have you got displayed onscreen at the same time there?

keith56

The background is Mode 1 = 4 colors , 2 of those colors are changed 3 times during the raster update, giving a total of 8 onscreen colors in the background

The character sprites and icons are all plus sprites, so 15 colors total - of course the game still works on non plus systems
Chibi Akumas: Comedy-Horror 8-bit Bullet Hell shooter!
Learn ARM, 8086, Z80, 6502 or 68000 with my tutorials: www.assemblytutorial.com
My Assembly programming book is available now on amazon!

Sykobee (Briggsy)

It is looking good, I like the colour changes and repeating background.
I count 22 sprites? I guess you reset the heart and power? sprites to repeat them for the P2 area?


It's good you are keeping it compatible on all systems. I would have been tempted by the Plus smooth scroll!


Arnaud

Quite as good ! I like the idea of a transparent "HUD".

Morri

Looks to be shaping up quite nicely. I don't know how you manage to have so much happening on the screen at one time. 2 player, enemy movement and ALL THOSE BULLETS!!! Very well done and I can't wait to give it a try.

While I don't have any specific questions for your Youtube lets play, I would just like to hear you talk about development in terms of the tools you used, for graphics, sound and code.
I also make games for the CPC, mainly BASIC - as that was my level when I owned my original 6128 and it's what gives me the most nostalgia, so I like to use tools that are compatible with BASIC. i.e. Sprites Alive (RSX extensions), CPCBASIC3 (compiler) etc...
Also the challenges these tools presented and how you got around any problems.

Much appreciated and keep up the good work.

EDIT: I thought of something else... I would love to hear the story of how a CPC'er made there way to Japan. If you have any good stories around that, I would love to hear.  :)
Keeping it Kiwi since 1977

SRS

And you are absolutely sure this is running on a cpc ? (ah, its a Plus ...!)

It looks like a SEGA Console game to me. Great !

CraigsBar

Seriously looking forward to this.

Sent from my ONEPLUS 3t using Tapatalk

IRC:  #Retro4All on Freenode

keith56

Thanks for the replies.
Yes this version is running on a PLUS, but it works on regular 6128 too... only the player and HUD sprites are different... the backgrounds are all regular CPC
It also works on a 464... but the enemy sprite animation is inferior... the gameplay will be the same however.

Morri... questions noted. will be answered in the video

I've been working on the cartoon cutscenes this week, which has been killing my motivation, because I'm not a good artist... and making it look like it wasn't drawn by a 5 year old takes time... but it's coming slowly.

yes Sykobee, 22 sprites onscreen, I move the HUD sprites half way down the screen... that' why the Life & Smartbomb sprites are flipped for Player2 !
In case you've not guessed, Player 2 is usually a different character! The Dual Chibiko game you see here is only for 64k systems (not enough memory for a second set of sprites)...
I'll be announcing the new characters soon, there are two playable characters (Chibiko and her brother) and 3 rival characters.

The game can be played in 3 modes... Chibiko only... Chibiko and 'Brother' ... and 'Brother' only...
The three configurations all have the same basic plot, but the dialog,jokes  and cutscense are different! It seemed like a good idea at the time... but it means I'm having to do more cartoon graphics, dialog and testing!

The game also has secret 'Achievements'... in each level there's something special you can do (it varies wildly each level), that will unlock an 'achievement'... which lets you view a full screen 'poster' from the title menu, with some info about the characters backstory! (another reason why the cartoon art is taking so much work)
Chibi Akumas: Comedy-Horror 8-bit Bullet Hell shooter!
Learn ARM, 8086, Z80, 6502 or 68000 with my tutorials: www.assemblytutorial.com
My Assembly programming book is available now on amazon!

Sykobee (Briggsy)

Sounds good - nice to have additional depth in the gameplay such as secrets that unlock stuff.

CraigsBar

Console games have arrived on the cpc.
[emoji16]
Awesome!

Sent from my ONEPLUS 3t using Tapatalk

IRC:  #Retro4All on Freenode

Xifos

I find it impressive, that you're doing several versions of your game for each cpc model.
(following their different capabilities, memory, hardware sprites when available...)
Does it work on gx4000 too ?

And multiplexing hardware sprites (even if they keep the same pattern), i find it interesting.
:)

Maniac

Sounds great and a lot of work/effort! First good looked great, looking forward to this one even if bullet hell isnt my thing!!

ASiC

The amount of detail you put into this is astounding!
Never seen this before on 8 bit apart from some MSX games.


Thank you and please keep going strong  :D

tjohnson

At times the whole screen seems filled with bullets and no way to dodge them, im not really sure why i lose lives at times and not others.    I would prefer chibi to move at full speed when firing rather than the pedestrian pace, maybe a difficulty mode could allow that.

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk


AxelStone

Yeah it seems really a MSX game, really a nice work!  ;)

pelrun

Quote from: tjohnson on 07:35, 22 July 17
At times the whole screen seems filled with bullets and no way to dodge them, im not really sure why i lose lives at times and not others.


The trick with bullet hell games is that your character hitbox is only a tiny area in the centre of the sprite, not the whole sprite. Learning where the hitbox is and how to accurately squeeze it through tiny gaps is part of the challenge. It's also why movement speed slows down whilst shooting - you need the slower speed to precisely position yourself. Check out the player guide at http://www.chibiakumas.com/guide/ which explains this in more detail.

tjohnson


Quote from: pelrun on 08:49, 22 July 17

The trick with bullet hell games is that your character hitbox is only a tiny area in the centre of the sprite, not the whole sprite. Learning where the hitbox is and how to accurately squeeze it through tiny gaps is part of the challenge. It's also why movement speed slows down whilst shooting - you need the slower speed to precisely position yourself. Check out the player guide at http://www.chibiakumas.com/guide/ which explains this in more detail.


Cheers, I didn't actually see the guide on the website.  I have seen a lets play mentioned a few times, where is that?

sigh

I was playing this yesterday, but I really do need to get myself a joystick/joypad. It's a fun game and very difficult which give it that Cave/Raizing game feeling.
What I feel is missing is the ability to hold down the fire button to slowdown the movement of the sprite. This would help immensely in dodging the bullets.
Also - a personal opinion is that I feel that the main sprite is far too big. Even though I'm watching the hitbox on the sprite, the giant sprite surrounding it makes the play are feel very small.


Anyway - this a nice game to play! I would like to see some more variation of bullet patterns in the next one too if possible:)

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