The upgraded version of ChibiAkumas Episode 1 is in the final stages of testing!... based on the improved 'Episode 2' game engine... which has been optimized and improved, with CPC+ Raster switched color palette, more player firepower, and better background graphics... as well as being expanded to support ZX spectrum 128k, MSX2 and MSX+V9990
Join me as I beta test the 6128 CPC today, the video includes an introduction to the CPC hardware, as I'm doing these for all my systems as part of my programming tutorials, for those who aren't familiar with the system!
https://youtu.be/DdRlo4VtxTo
The 464 and CPC+ versions will follow very soon... the videos of the spectrum version are already on my website!
Once beta-tesing is done, it's planned there will be a physical release of the game, followed by the digital release - when you'll be able to download the game, sourcecode and development tools for free!
You're crazy :).
Quote from: keith56 on 14:53, 25 April 18
The upgraded version of ChibiAkumas Episode 1 is in the final stages of testing!... based on the improved 'Episode 2' game engine... which has been optimized and improved, with CPC+ Raster switched color palette, more player firepower, and better background graphics... as well as being expanded to support ZX spectrum 128k, MSX2 and MSX+V9990
Join me as I beta test the 6128 CPC today, the video includes an introduction to the CPC hardware, as I'm doing these for all my systems as part of my programming tutorials, for those who aren't familiar with the system!
https://youtu.be/DdRlo4VtxTo
The 464 and CPC+ versions will follow very soon... the videos of the spectrum version are already on my website!
Once beta-tesing is done, it's planned there will be a physical release of the game, followed by the digital release - when you'll be able to download the game, sourcecode and development tools for free!
Hopefully your next game will involve space ships [emoji573] and 16 colour. Great work though, it's great to see such dedication on old computers.
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Quote from: ukmarkh on 17:51, 25 April 18
Hopefully your next game will involve space ships [emoji573] and 16 colour. Great work though, it's great to see such dedication on old computers.
I have no plans for games involving space ships - that genre is done and boring to me... but 16 color is possible, but it's a serious question for the CPC community...
If I use 16 color on the CPC, then it will be HALF the resolution of the MSX version, and will look a lot more blocky than that version as a result, would people prefer that to 4 color graphics at MSX resolution?... also you should remember that ChibiAkumas on the CPC has 10 colors onscreen most of the time because of raster switching...in most cases the CPC+ version looks about as good as the MSX 16 color version - and the CPC version has a larger screen!
Quote from: keith56 on 22:32, 25 April 18
I have no plans for games involving space ships - that genre is done and boring to me... but 16 color is possible, but it's a serious question for the CPC community...
If I use 16 color on the CPC, then it will be HALF the resolution of the MSX version, and will look a lot more blocky than that version as a result, would people prefer that to 4 color graphics at MSX resolution?... also you should remember that ChibiAkumas on the CPC has 10 colors onscreen most of the time because of raster switching...in most cases the CPC+ version looks about as good as the MSX 16 color version - and the CPC version has a larger screen!
IMPO - Look at Renegade, Gryzor, ChaseHQ, Combat School, Prince of Persia and Operation Wolf, to name but a few, things of beauty in Mode 0 with 16 colour. I find games that use the higher res lose that Amstrad appeal, can you imagine how ugly Barbarian would look outside of Mode 0?
It's a shame that you have no interest in space shooters, with your attention to detail, the possibilities really excite me. But just out of interest, what genre do you think hasn't been done to death?
As a kid, we had the Toshiba MSX, still have good memories of playing games on that computer. We had some great shoot-em-ups and a game called Turmoil that was fun. Happy memories.
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Quote from: keith56 on 22:32, 25 April 18
I have no plans for games involving space ships - that genre is done and boring to me... but 16 color is possible, but it's a serious question for the CPC community...
If I use 16 color on the CPC, then it will be HALF the resolution of the MSX version, and will look a lot more blocky than that version as a result, would people prefer that to 4 color graphics at MSX resolution?... also you should remember that ChibiAkumas on the CPC has 10 colors onscreen most of the time because of raster switching...in most cases the CPC+ version looks about as good as the MSX 16 color version - and the CPC version has a larger screen!
I think a 16 colour mode 0 game would have a more authentic Amstrad CPC feel to me.
yes, I certainly agree that mode 1 can look good, my concern is simply that the Amstrad will not look as good as the MSX, because they will both be using the same color palette and basically the same sprites, just the amstrad version will be half the horizontal resolution
Quote from: ukmarkh on 23:19, 25 April 18
It's a shame that you have no interest in space shooters, with your attention to detail, the possibilities really excite me. But just out of interest, what genre do you think hasn't been done to death?
You're right, but it's not that 'shooters' have been overdone... it's the 'space-ship' shooters that I see no potential for creativity in... I mean, how can I make something that won't immediately look a bit like gradious or R-type, or Xenon 2... can I really make something better than those games in the eyes of people who are already fans of those games?... now... how many gothic-comedy bullet hell shooters have the 8 bits seen?
While I do plan a few 'mini shooter games' using the current game engine these will be 'minigames' which will have a 'few month' development budget, designed to eek the most potential out of the current game engine I can, while I work on a new game engine for a totally new game for 2019...
What genre's haven't been done to death? well if you ask me satirical ones... and dark 'adult themed' ones, because everyone in the 80s saw gaming as a childrens thing and were too scared to do anything risky (just look at the 'outrage' of htbacb covertape or the barbarian artwork)... well I don't need to worry about popularity,sales figure, whining parents, people getting my jokes, or my PEGI rating... so I think I have plenty of unique stuff I can do that no one else has yet!
What are the genre's I don't think have done to death? We'll I'm going to give away my ideas by telling you!... I'm going to work my a$$ off making the games, and bring them to existence!
Just to say again... the next 'big' ChibiAkumas game will definately NOT be a shooter... but that's all you're getting until it's done!
Hi Keith,
Thanks for supporting creativity and not go straight for the low-hanging fruit. Sure I'd love more space shooters in the vein of R-Type, but I do enjoy something completely off the wall a lot more.
Some of my favourite games include The Sentinel, Spindizzy, Skweek, XOR, Trailblazer, so definitely one-offs, games that tried something new(ish). We have so much choice these days, why redo what has been done to death?
At any rate, thanks for putting so much effort in making games, it is very much appreciated. I have my eyes set firmly on that Chibi Akuma on preorder at Polyplay (well, to be fair, I buy everything they put out).
Cheers,
Loic
Quote from: keith56 on 00:14, 26 April 18
While I do plan a few 'mini shooter games' using the current game engine these will be 'minigames' which will have a 'few month' development budget, designed to eek the most potential out of the current game engine I can, while I work on a new game engine for a totally new game for 2019...
What genre's haven't been done to death? well if you ask me satirical ones... and dark 'adult themed' ones, because everyone in the 80s saw gaming as a childrens thing and were too scared to do anything risky (just look at the 'outrage' of htbacb covertape or the barbarian artwork)... well I don't need to worry about popularity,sales figure, whining parents, people getting my jokes, or my PEGI rating... so I think I have plenty of unique stuff I can do that no one else has yet!
I liked a lot adventure/
labyrinth games like "AbadÃa del Crimen", or "Zombi (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Zombi)". I think some movies from the 80s, like Labyrinth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth_(film)), and others can be a source of inspiration...
BIG CHIBI NEWS!!!1
The physical release of the game is now available to pre-order on Amstrad CPC (Or Speccy / MSX if you're feeling treacherous!)
https://www.polyplay.xyz/Chibi-Akumas-Collectors-Edition-CPC-35-Diskette_1
https://www.polyplay.xyz/Chibi-Akumas-Collectors-Edition-CPC-3-Diskette_1
Yes, so ldaneels beat me to announcing it, but I only found out it was on there at lunchtime when I spotted it on Google's search results!
Hi Keith,
Yep, sorry about that. Truth be told, it has been available for preorder since Tuesday afternoon, but I completely forgot to post the info :)
At any rate, congratulations on getting Chibi Akuma published, I hope it gets plenty of attention, we need more high quality games like this.
Cheers,
Loic
Quote from: ldaneels on 12:00, 26 April 18
Yep, sorry about that.
I was only joking! it's just great to see it on there!
Quote from: keith56 on 09:53, 26 April 18
BIG CHIBI NEWS!!!1
The physical release of the game is now available to pre-order on Amstrad CPC (Or Speccy / MSX if you're feeling treacherous!)
https://www.polyplay.xyz/Chibi-Akumas-Collectors-Edition-CPC-35-Diskette_1
https://www.polyplay.xyz/Chibi-Akumas-Collectors-Edition-CPC-3-Diskette_1
Yes, so ldaneels beat me to announcing it, but I only found out it was on there at lunchtime when I spotted it on Google's search results!
Is this the latest and greatest all singing and all dancing version?
Any idea why the 3" version will take 72 days to deliver?
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Quote from: ukmarkh on 20:27, 26 April 18
Is this the latest and greatest all singing and all dancing version?
Any idea why the 3" version will take 72 days to deliver?
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Maybe because the release date is in july? 8)
Quote from: ukmarkh on 20:27, 26 April 18
Is this the latest and greatest all singing and all dancing version?
Yes, this is the latest version (V1.666) of Chibi Akumas Ep1
Quote from: ukmarkh on 20:27, 26 April 18
Any idea why the 3" version will take 72 days to deliver?
The game is undergoing final testing from my side, which I hope will complete in the next 10 days, after that I'll pass the disk images to Polyplay... I have no idea of how long it takes them, or what their other commitments are which may impact release date
For those who are interested, See below for a comparison between the old version, the new version on normal CPC, and the new version with the CPC+ palette... graphics aside, the new version has faster sprite code, 2 player support, burst fire mode (hold both fire buttons), and the player can shoot up to 128 bullets onscreen (up from 36)... of course various other tweaks and bugfixes!
Quote from: villain on 21:57, 26 April 18
Maybe because the release date is in july? [emoji41]
I missed the preorder bit out of excitement [emoji23]
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I've uploaded another 'Beta testing' video... this time showing the CPC464...
The video shows the game, how I have my 464 set up, and discusses the way the game was designed to work on 128k and 64k systems...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9j53a0imZA
Quote from: keith56 on 08:29, 29 April 18
I've uploaded another 'Beta testing' video... this time showing the CPC464...
The video shows the game, how I have my 464 set up, and discusses the way the game was designed to work on 128k and 64k systems...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9j53a0imZA
Just want to add, it's amazing that you're doing this, you should definitely be rewarded for your time. Thanks also for sticking with the CPC 464 64k, this was also the system I had in the early days.
There's actually nothing wrong with building a game around 64k, yes it's nice if we can have extra bells and whistles, but for me if the core gameplay is solid, then the game has it in buckets where it counts. It's a must though for a game to feature music whilst playing in game, thanks again for realising this, so many CPC games over the years would have benefited in this area on the CPC with music included.
Does the addition of music or sound effects or a combination of both massively slow things down?
Hope I'm making sense [emoji23]
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Quote from: ukmarkh on 08:56, 30 April 18
Does the addition of music or sound effects or a combination of both massively slow things down?
I've not done any testing recently, but I seem to recall there was a speed difference of around 20% - it was noticably slower when the music was enabled.
I did do some testing of a 'turbo switch' that could turn of music, raster colors and even backgrounds to make the game run faster (but of course look awful)... in the end I abandoned it, it was too much extra testing.... and made the game look awful!
The cover art is superb. As good or better than most of covers produced when commercial games were being released back in the eighties or nineties.
One sold (even though I was going to buy it already) :D
Cheers,
Peter
You can see more of the art by the artist here:
https://www.instagram.com/capstandesign/
There's lots of great art on there, it's all pretty creepy!
Quote from: keith56 on 11:40, 01 May 18
You can see more of the art by the artist here:
https://www.instagram.com/capstandesign/ (https://www.instagram.com/capstandesign/)
There's lots of great art on there, it's all pretty creepy!
Wow... some of that art is really... wrong...
it's a live...
https://www.facebook.com/patrice.brochard/videos/1358465167616801/?notif_id=1525176355292659¬if_t=live_video
Preordered my copy on 3.5 inch disc [emoji2]
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Join me for Live Beta testing on the 6128+!
https://youtu.be/L2Vx1aVcoiY
The video covers how I went about solving some annoying bugs I came across that did not occur on emulators!
Yep, you ran into the "external memory expansions don't understand the Plus properly" issue. I had a suspicion that was going to be your problem the minute you showed your XMEM hanging off the back. Essentially writes to the ASIC will end up affecting both the ASIC registers and any paged in external memory. It doesn't happen with the built in memory of a 6128+ (because it understands about the ASIC) and theoretically you could build an expansion which paid attention to the ASIC unlock sequence and additional paging operations so that it behaved correctly, but I don't believe such a thing currently exists.
Well thanks for confirming it! I had never heard of that as a problem, so it's certainly one to remember!
I've now put the CPC version of the trailer online:
https://youtu.be/vGxXKLcg_ik
Quote from: keith56 on 09:51, 05 May 18
Well thanks for confirming it! I had never heard of that as a problem, so it's certainly one to remember!
I've now put the CPC version of the trailer online:
https://youtu.be/vGxXKLcg_ik
I have to say, this game has grown on me, I didn't like it at first, but with the updates and a few other additions, mainly the Plus additions, it's actually growing on me. There's no doubt if this had of been released back in the day, Amstrad Action would have awarded it 'AA Mastergame'. [emoji1303]
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I've finally got round to updating the 'CPC Version webpage' on the website,
also there's a new teaser poster below!
http://www.chibiakumas.com/cpc/
I'll definitely be buying the physical release of this game. :D Hopefully the 3" disk version when it comes out. I never knew you could still get stuff on 3" disks... is someone still producing them? :o
Quote from: blackdalek on 14:52, 14 May 18
I'll definitely be buying the physical release of this game. :D Hopefully the 3" disk version when it comes out. I never knew you could still get stuff on 3" disks... is someone still producing them? :o
https://www.polyplay.xyz/Chibi-Akumas-Collectors-Edition-CPC-3-Diskette_1 (https://www.polyplay.xyz/Chibi-Akumas-Collectors-Edition-CPC-3-Diskette_1) ;D
Well replied asertus!
It's my understanding that people still selling games on 3" disk are able to do so because they still have them in 'store' since the 90s! from what I hear, *if* you can find them, 3" disks cost 7 pounds each now on ebay.
It's a real problem for selling physical copies , so devices like the dandanator could be essential for people wanting to do physical releases soon.
I just tried to place an pre-order through this polyplay site.
I am not sure if it worked....
I received no order confirmation email. I received no payment notification on paypal. And my account on Polyplay site shows up nothing under "Orders" section.
Has anyone else had issues using that site?
** EDIT: never mind. I worked out I left the site before confirming the order. Apparently I have to click a "BUY" button after the PayPal login.
Now that people who bought the boxed copy of the game are now receiving it, I think it's time to announce the public release of ChibiAkumas V1.666!
ChibiAkumas V1.666 will be Free and Open Source on Oct 26th (in time for halloween!), for the Amstrad CPC, MSX, ZX Spectrum and Enterprise 128.
Improvements over the old Ep1 are... CPC+ raster colors, 2 player support, better backgrounds and general game-engine improvements!
Check out the CPC Version trailer below:
https://youtu.be/vGxXKLcg_ik
Hello everyone! As promised, ChibiAkumas V1.666 is now available for FREE download (with sourcecode!) for all systems (CPC,MSX,ZX Speccy and Enterprise) from the website
http://www.chibiakumas.com
Coincidentally, my Youtube channel reached 500 subscribers today, so I've made a quick 'Thankyou' video discussing, and showing, the projects I'm working on now that I'm hoping to bring out over the next 6-12 months!
https://youtu.be/paK8y22g8J4
Quote from: keith56 on 14:54, 25 October 18
Hello everyone! As promised, ChibiAkumas V1.666 is now available for FREE download (with sourcecode!) for all systems (CPC,MSX,ZX Speccy and Enterprise) from the website
http://www.chibiakumas.com
Coincidentally, my Youtube channel reached 500 subscribers today, so I've made a quick 'Thankyou' video discussing, and showing, the projects I'm working on now that I'm hoping to bring out over the next 6-12 months!
https://youtu.be/paK8y22g8J4
Will a blatant rip off of Outrun be one of them? I'd pay a lot of money for a decent Outrun on the CPC [emoji6]
I'd also like to add, well done on '500' subscribers and for all your hard work.
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Quote from: keith56 on 14:54, 25 October 18
Hello everyone! As promised, ChibiAkumas V1.666 is now available for FREE download (with sourcecode!) for all systems (CPC,MSX,ZX Speccy and Enterprise) from the website
http://www.chibiakumas.com (http://www.chibiakumas.com)
Thanks for your hard work and continuing to contribute to the CPC scene.
Fwiw. runs fine on M4 with the 1 disc version on regular CPC, only had a quick glance, will try it out proper on a CPC+ soon.
Hi keith,I think I've not congratulated you before for your great contribution to the CPC scene. Great game concept and effort, I personally would have appreciated a higher fps but it seems a good result for the amount of shots there are.
Thanks for your continuous updates and motivation, it really is something!