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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

Weekly Update!
Things are coming together nicely... the last of the graphics are in (the gameover screens, new loading screen etc), the new music files are hopefully done - unless one starts annoying me and I decide to redo it!

Dialog is looking good, but I'll keep tweaking it until release. I played the game all the way through for the first time this week - I usually start the game from the level I'm testing - but there's always the risk Level X will cause a bug in level X+1... a small bug occured - the player credits changed for no apparent reason, so I need to look into what happened there - but there were no crashes, and the game was playable - so there's no major problems there! I'm testing on an emulator for now - because I can run the game at 200% speed for quicker testing (and with a dualshock controller - so I can play as both players at once!), but once I'm reasonably happy everything is OK, I'll move onto real hardware.

Sooo, anyway, here is the new Teaser poster... this time with the Full Story! I'll be posting details of new characters on twitter and the website over the next week - so stay tuned!

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!

ervin

Quote from: keith56 on 11:05, 01 September 17
Weekly Update!
Things are coming together nicely... the last of the graphics are in (the gameover screens, new loading screen etc), the new music files are hopefully done - unless one starts annoying me and I decide to redo it!

Dialog is looking good, but I'll keep tweaking it until release. I played the game all the way through for the first time this week - I usually start the game from the level I'm testing - but there's always the risk Level X will cause a bug in level X+1... a small bug occured - the player credits changed for no apparent reason, so I need to look into what happened there - but there were no crashes, and the game was playable - so there's no major problems there! I'm testing on an emulator for now - because I can run the game at 200% speed for quicker testing (and with a dualshock controller - so I can play as both players at once!), but once I'm reasonably happy everything is OK, I'll move onto real hardware.

Sooo, anyway, here is the new Teaser poster... this time with the Full Story! I'll be posting details of new characters on twitter and the website over the next week - so stay tuned!

Hmmm, playing as 2 players at once sounds fun!

keith56

So here's the weekly update!
So, a lot of emulator testing, debugging and the like!

The continue problem was just a display issue, 03 continues should show as 3, but a bug was causing 203 continues to show as 23.. doh!
Also fixed a crash if the player was in the top corner when talking - the text would render offscreen and corrupt the game code!
a bug in the compiled backgrounds during the last boss on 64k systems has been fixed too - 64k has no compiled backgrounds but it is supposed to show a black background (128k has 3, 256k has about 20)

Other general fixes, fixed some cosmetic sprite glitches - I've also started 'upgrading' the Episode 1 levels - the new game-engine is 99% backward compatible with the old one - so there will be a re-release of the old game - with 2 player support a bit of extra speed, nicer backgrounds and some other bits - I'm aiming for around Xmas or new year for that one. I'm thinking it should be called 'Chibi Akumas - Resurrection' or 'Chibi akumas V1.666'  but if anyone has any wittier titles - please suggest them!!!

I'm hoping to do some 'real hardware' testing this weekend - testing the new game all the way through takes a lot of time - the new game is much bigger than the old one - there are more levels, and they are longer - level 5 in episode 2 is about 4x the length (and about 2x the enemy type count) of level 1 of episode 1.

I uploaded the 'developer lets play' of the first game this week, posted on the other thread, if you have time, please take a look...

https://youtu.be/N1cIBoufwsw
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

Great video, watched about half of it so far.  I'm tinkering around in ASM but its not exactly coming naturally to me, so interested in any tips you have?

keith56

I just made this little Gif to show the 3 difficulty modes in the new game - they existed in the old game too - but 'easy' mode works better in epsiode 2, as it reduces the fire spread as well as speed.

Note, though I doubt anyone will be crazy enough to play it 'Difficult' mode may not actually have more bullets in places - as the 255 onscreen bullet limit will stop enemies firing!
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

As I know everyone loves animated gifs, I've done one of the first level 2 player gameplay!
feel free to redistribute it as you wish!
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!

ervin

Quote from: keith56 on 00:01, 14 September 17
As I know everyone loves animated gifs, I've done one of the first level 2 player gameplay!
feel free to redistribute it as you wish!

I don't know how you managed to achieve such a great frame rate.
Very impressive indeed!

keith56

Testing went OK last weekend, although my 6128+ developed a hardware failure, which wasted a lot of my time.

I've spent much of this week compressing the game files down for release, the game will be released as 4 180k amsdos compatible images - I will do larger images for Parados users later, but having multiple versions out there makes my troubleshooting and rebuilding harder, so I will only do the other version once I'm happy the bugs are out.
The game uses Roudoudou's excellent LZ48 compressor, without which the game would probably be 8 disks!

Polyplay are now selling a Chibi Akumas poster! I'm hoping they will do a physical release of the game later, but I'm sure that will depend on how many posters are sold, so please consider buying one!
https://www.polyplay.xyz/Poster-Chibi-Akumas_1

I've been posting character cards on Twitter - but in case you missed that, you can see them all on the Chibi Akuma(s) website:
http://www.chibiakumas.com/ep2/characters/

The game itself has a more detailed 'bio' and full-screen poster of each character - but you'll have to find all 5 of the unlockable achievements to see them!

Finally, What the heck! there's 6 weeks to go, so I will reveal the final title graphic!
Here's the raster switched version from the game, and an 'enhanced color' preview poster you can use on your windows wallpaper if you're insane or something!

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


Weekly update!


It's been a busy week - and I'm hoping now the only coding changes will be happening from now on are debugging!


I've added a new feature... the first time you play the game an 'age verification' system will run (based on the one in the leisure suit larry games)- which asks you questions to prove you're mature enough to play the game - it may not be entirely serious!... this was an idea I had months ago, but I wasn't sure would make it into the game - well it did!


I've made a last minute change to the bullet code - and slowed down the default bullet speed by 1/3rd... the game was too hard on the last levels! the old game speed is still available in 'Hyper Akuma' difficulty mode... but I think people will prefer this new mode - as it makes weaving between the bullets more possible, and makes the game feel more fair.


The ChibiAkumas website now has a countdown timer! when it reaches zero on Halloween morning Japan time the download links will be revealed! So no matter what, the game IS coming out on time!... and don't think you can nick the links from the HTML source, it's server side!  >:(
The timer is here:
http://www.chibiakumas.com/ep2/

Here's another AniGif... this time the Level 1 boss...
It's called (drumroll)... the Trojan Bunny Combat Tank!


This was supposed to be based on the Monty Python 'Trojan Rabbit' and the 'over tall' tanks that Metal Slug often has - I wanted to really push the new sprite capabilities with the biggest and best sprite I could!
The tank sprite has 2 damage stages (the first it is intact, the second shown here, shows the internal gears), and the caterpillar tracks have 4 frames of animation - this is far more sprite data than the original game was capable of... even on 64k Chibi Akumas Ep2 has more memory available to sprite data than the last game (1 bank, about 12k) - and on 128k it has a total of 4 sprite banks, allowing up to around 40k of sprite data.


The game is nearly done! and will be released in a few weeks!
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!

ervin

Looking great!
All those new features sound like fun too - this seems as if it be one of the most "complete" shooters ever released on the CPC, if you know what I mean.

Maniac

This is looking superb! Even though bullet hell is not really my thing I'm looking forward to this.

remax

Brain Radioactivity

keith56

Quote from: ervin on 04:25, 22 September 17
this seems as if it be one of the most "complete" shooters ever released on the CPC, if you know what I mean.
Did I mention there's a big secret feature on level 5? well there is... a BIG SECRET FEATURE! (I'm not telling what it is!  :P :P ) - I'm not talking about the 256k support either!

Quote from: Maniac on 06:50, 22 September 17
This is looking superb! Even though bullet hell is not really my thing I'm looking forward to this.
See the AniGif below... Here's the game in 'easy mode' - it reduces the fire rate, and fire spread, does this look more to your taste?
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!

ervin

Quote from: keith56 on 11:35, 22 September 17
Did I mention there's a big secret feature on level 5? well there is... a BIG SECRET FEATURE! (I'm not telling what it is!  :P :P ) - I'm not talking about the 256k support either!
See the AniGif below... Here's the game in 'easy mode' - it reduces the fire rate, and fire spread, does this look more to your taste?

Oh go on... what's the BIG SECRET FEATURE?!?!
Eh?

XeNoMoRPH

your amstrad news source in spanish language : https://auamstrad.es

Maniac

Quote from: keith56 on 11:35, 22 September 17
Did I mention there's a big secret feature on level 5? well there is... a BIG SECRET FEATURE! (I'm not telling what it is!  :P :P ) - I'm not talking about the 256k support either!
See the AniGif below... Here's the game in 'easy mode' - it reduces the fire rate, and fire spread, does this look more to your taste?
That's probably more my thing but I will try it in the 'normal' mode!

keith56

I'll take this opportunity to explain how TotO's MultiPlay works in Chibi Akumas Episode 2, as it does not work the same as the normal joystick and keys.

Chibi Akumas Episode 2 supports simulatious 2 player play - and each player can move in 4 directions, and has 3 firebuttons - one for FireLeft, one for FireRight, and one for smartbomb...

The default keys for player 1 are cursor keys for Up, Down Left and Right... i for fire Left and o for fire right... [return] is Smart Bomb , and P is pause

The default keys for player 2 are W, S, A, D for Up, Down Left and Right... v for fire Left and b for fire right... [space] is Smart Bomb , and P is pause

These keys have been chosen to avoid Keyclash, You can use one or two standard joysticks, and configure the controls however you wish using the Redefine option

In addition there is a special option which uses a hardware upgrade by TotO called 'MultiPlay' This is an external controler which supports two 3 button Joysticks and is not suceptable to KeyClash

Chibi Akumas supports this device for 2 players, however there are some limitations (due to memory limitations in the game engine, and the fact I think very few people will use this device!!)

To switch Multiplay support on go to the 'settings menu' and change the 'Use TotO MultiPlay' setting to 'On'

Please note - the Game Engine does not reconfigure until a Level Reload, so the multiplay connected joystick will not work until the game starts, after that it will work during gameplay, and when you return to the main menu.

Joystick 1 always controls Chibiko
Joystick 2 always controls Bochan

Fire 1 is FireRight
Fire 2 is FireLeft
Fire 3 is Smartbomb

Multiplay Joysticks don't work in the same way as the keyboard & internal joystick - for this reason It is not possible to redefine MultiPlay buttons, however it is possible to swap Fire1 and Fire2 - so if Fire1 is to the left of Fire2 you can orientate them correctly!

To swap the fire buttons go to the 'Configre Settings' and change the 'Use TotO MultiPlay' setting to 'On+SwapFires'

If your Joystick only has 1 or 2 fires you can still use key controls, so use the Multiplay Joystick, and use some keys for firing!
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

Weekly update!

This may be the last weekly update, because hopefully the game is done!  I just finished testing on my (real) Amstrad 6128 - I played the game all the way through without problem, I did 6128 Plus with Xmem and Multiplay last week, and I will do 464 next week!

I'm hoping there are no bugs left and the game is finished! I'm afraid you're still going to have to wait though, as I'm sticking to the 'Halloween' Release date! that mean's the game will come out in 29 Days!

The latest build has been uploaded to the website, and the download links will automatically go live at midnight on the 30'th Japan time, so you'll be able to download it Halloween morning UK time if you want!

I have a little trailer video I'll be releasing in a week or so, to try to build up some excitement!

I've currently shifted my priority to porting the first game to the MSX and Spectrum - which I'll be posting about elsewhere! if you're interested, please keep an eye on the msx.org forum, and worldofspectrum... as well as my twitter-feed and the Chibi Akumas website!

I've not finished on the CPC though! Quite the opposite!  I can't do any more work on the CPC version of the game engine without having to redo all my testing, so I'm working on other things in this 'lull'

Once Episode 2 is released and bugfree - I'll start upgrading Episode 1 to the new game engine - so it will gain 2 player, new game modes, better backgrounds... and hopefully a new super-special feature that even Episode 2 does not have!!! - I'm not telling what it is yet! watch my twitter feed over the coming months to find out more!
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!

jesusdelmas

Quote from: keith56 on 13:18, 01 October 17
Weekly update!

This may be the last weekly update, because hopefully the game is done!  I just finished testing on my (real) Amstrad 6128 - I played the game all the way through without problem, I did 6128 Plus with Xmem and Multiplay last week, and I will do 464 next week!

I'm hoping there are no bugs left and the game is finished! I'm afraid you're still going to have to wait though, as I'm sticking to the 'Halloween' Release date! that mean's the game will come out in 29 Days!

The latest build has been uploaded to the website, and the download links will automatically go live at midnight on the 30'th Japan time, so you'll be able to download it Halloween morning UK time if you want!

I have a little trailer video I'll be releasing in a week or so, to try to build up some excitement!

I've currently shifted my priority to porting the first game to the MSX and Spectrum - which I'll be posting about elsewhere! if you're interested, please keep an eye on the msx.org forum, and worldofspectrum... as well as my twitter-feed and the Chibi Akumas website!

I've not finished on the CPC though! Quite the opposite!  I can't do any more work on the CPC version of the game engine without having to redo all my testing, so I'm working on other things in this 'lull'

Once Episode 2 is released and bugfree - I'll start upgrading Episode 1 to the new game engine - so it will gain 2 player, new game modes, better backgrounds... and hopefully a new super-special feature that even Episode 2 does not have!!! - I'm not telling what it is yet! watch my twitter feed over the coming months to find out more!


Awesome!!!! Cant wait to play it :D

grouik1er

Quote from: keith56 on 10:41, 15 September 17
Polyplay are now selling a Chibi Akumas poster! I'm hoping they will do a physical release of the game later, but I'm sure that will depend on how many posters are sold, so please consider buying one!


Done, nice A3 poster.

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