Uwol 2 (Quest for Money) a new game from Mojon Twins on 2011.

[Cpcmaniaco]

The first CPC game on 2011.

Uwol 2 (Quest for Money).

From Mojon Twins :

http://www.mojontwins.com/juegos_mojonos/uwol-2-cpc/

Enjoy it.

[MacDeath]

Nice, but is it again a "mod" of the last games ?

(Lala Prologue andSir Ababol)


BTW the mode1 graphics are still quite good.


Sad... those games could use amstrad Plus' harwired sprites...

[Metr]

It's rather similar, maybe a "mod", but so improved in my opinion.
There's a wink to Ghouls'n Ghost, you can get hit once and you lose your t-shirt. You get naked and if you get hit again you lose one life.
The t-shirt randomly appears in a location of the screen and remains there no matter you change screen or whatever (and sometimes you must come back some screens to get it from another side).
There's another wink to the Mario series with the pipes and coins, you can enter areas through them to get the coins you got in the previous uwol suposed to be lost in this one. There are phantoms that haunts you directly in every of those screens, and they are hard to avoid until you get used to them.
Pretty nice improvements that makes this game (or "mod" if you prefer it that way) more funny, larger, and harder to play.
As usual I like the design of the screens and the nice use of mode 1, I think they are getting better on this.
Maybe they are trying to "upgrade" the same game idea from the previous games, but that would remind me a lot of games like Mario or Sonic for example, same idea of the game but with new "upgrades" in the sequels
And not bad to start the year with a new game for the cpc. I'm still willing to see some of their spectrum titles ported to Amstrad that seems rather different and original from this one (The Nanako in Classic Japanese Monster Castle port to cpc surprised me a lot).


Anyways I'm uploading right now a video with the full walkthrough of the game that just finished, (17% atm), so you can judge by yourself better

[MacDeath]

Well, I just meant "with a similar engine basis"... but this wasn't a heavy reproach.
But whatever, a good recipe is not that bad to re-use a byte...

Also the job on graphics and Musics may be good (this looks good from the pics).

And yeah, keeping such a good number of productions is always better than nothing.

As I told, they should try to upgrade their engine into a PLUS engine...

a Game like Switchblade prouved that even a mode1 game can make good use of Rasters interuptions and Hardwired sprite to greatly increase the visual aspect...

Perhaps even without being that heavy for the Amstrad, CPU or RAM wise...



According to the pictures, the sprites and tiles are 16x16 pixels sized...
Also the title (upper screen) and HUD (lower screen) are horizontal...

Getting this on PLUS (pehaps in 128 version) may "easily" enable to get the title with it's own 3 colours (+black perhaps), the game with it's own 3 colours (+black) and the HUD again with more 3 colours...
And also add a large amount of colours from the 16 Hardware sprites just perfectly sized (16x16...) and actually inside a special memory stocked into the ASIC...


Just all this could really increase the visual aspect even further.


There... a simple rushed mock up... using CPC colours yet PLUS upgrades (rasters interrupts and HardSprites...)

Just to tell peoples "look, there are 10+ colours on the screen with no attributes clashes, take this speccy user !!!"

BTW, from what I saw from Abadol and Lala...
each screen has 3 Baddies sprites using 2 frames each...
this would be something like 6 Hardware sprites max...

The hero may have like a total of 8 frames perhaps (left oriented and right oriented...

Also the monsters can actually share a few hardsprites : a pair of identical monsters can actually use the same set of Hardwired sprite, just alternate their frames...

May then even enable more monsters per screen...

And said monsters (and hero) get quite different colours from the background = we can betterly differenciate then...
And... no need for masking sprites : they are already !!!


Well, just suggesting.

[Metr]

I see your point (that mock up looks great).



As far as I know or remember, "their machine" is the spectrum, and these games started appearing on the Amstrad thanks to the C libraries released for it. So I supose you can't expect to fully "squeeze?" the computer hardware that way.
They issue the source code of the games, so if it can be improved, the code, idea, etc is there for the people to do it.


In my opinion to achieve that kind of results, you need computer oriented programmers willing to show the full potential instead "all terrain" ones.
A good example could be the Nanako in Classic Japanese Monster Castle, the c64 conversion from Inside or Uwol 1 for Amstrad (in process) from Dadman and Syx that is starting to look so good and I'm sure they will try to show what the Amstrad can do:





That's just my opinion, in any case, it's so good to see people spending their time, enjoying and moving the Amstrad or the retro scene in 2011


Here's the vid of the game:

Uwol 2 for Amstrad cpc


Regards !

[fano]

Is this a joke ? Uwol first of the name is still in progress and Uwol 2 is out 

[trocoloco]

thats good news! good start for 2011.


Yes, it's a bit weird that the second game is released earlier, obviously it's because the game are developed  by different teams. But who cares! as long as they care about our cpc and give us new games to enjoy.  So thanks mojon twins!


MacDeath you got a point and your mock up looks good indeed, it would be great that some programmers with enough knowledge of plus hardware charasteristics would be interested in doing a conversion for these computers.

[Targhan]

@MacDeath : maybe you should understand that some people don't *want* to code on Plus. Maybe because they don't have one. Maybe because that isn't the machine they grew up with, so it means nothing to them. Everytimes something is realeased you seem to say "it would be better on Plus", and you're probably right, but to some people, it would be exactly like saying "it would be better on PC with real gfxs".
I would rather be frustrated to see a Plus game released, because I personnally don't care a lot about the Plus (though I still think it has a great potential) and would rather see it released on Old...

[arnoldemu]

I see your point (that mock up looks great).



As far as I know or remember, "their machine" is the spectrum, and these games started appearing on the Amstrad thanks to the C libraries released for it. So I supose you can't expect to fully "squeeze? " the computer hardware that way.

I agree.

I think they probably re-coloured the spectrum gfx to make this.

But to be honest they have done a good job, and again it is another new game for cpc.

Any new game is good I think.

Think, they could have just reduced the colour palette of the speccy, and ported it directly and made no effort. But in fact they embraced cpc mode 1 and made a nice game.

I remember in Amstrad Action that Gremlin said they preferred cpc's mode 1 and a lot of their later software was mostly mode 1.


EDIT: @MacDeath: The mojon twins probably don't know the plus, and also as far as I know there are no easy to use C libraries for doing the sprites. (I didn't find any when I was coding blue angel 69). In addition to code to code for the plus you have to modify your code structure because the + hardware is paged into &4000-&7ffff. so you need to work around that. I know this because I am supporting the + in my new game I am making.

Would it be better on plus? Possibly.. but it's also good to have pure  cpc games too

[mr_lou]

I've been playing a bit now. Here's my comments.

When playing Sir Ababol and Lala Prologue, I always felt something was missing. That missing part seems to be present in Uwol 2 though. Going underground to collect coins and go up again another place is neat. I also like that you're able to take your shirt back if you lose it.

Music and graphics are high quality in my opinion.

But there are small annoying things, like you need to stand precisely vertically placed with the tube before you can step down/up from the underground, and that really pulls down on the whole experience.

Otherwise I think this is a great game for the CPC.

I've found a few bugs in the game though.
1) Seems to me when I play the game more than once, then all the coins are gone. They don't seem to re-appear in each game.
2) Sometimes (in 3rd screen) when you jump out on the "elevator", you go right through it.
3) If you go back to screen 2 from screen 3, you can't re-enter screen 3 again. It's like the door is there again, only invisible.

I simply love it when you can code a game for one platform, and then relatively easy port it to another platform. So I think it's great what The Mojon Twins are doing.

[redbox]

I think it's great that the Mojon Twins make the effort to release games on the CPC and make use of the classic CPC palette rather than just doing a straight speccy port.

But I also like MacDeath's Plus mock-up because it shows what could be possible (and gives me some nice ideas!) on a machine that doesn't have many titles for it and is under utilised.

So we have the best of both worlds here 

[MacDeath]

Well I wasn't asking for PLUS exclusive games...
 
  But I think the simple so efficient engine would fit very well for a few PLUS features.
 
  Just like the switchblade case...
 
 
  This wouldn't offer a radically better game, just cosmetic extra colours for perhaps not that much CPU loss.
 
  But Assome said, those games are done in C...
 
  So got to check wether it is possible/easy or not.
 
 
 
  My mockups are really simple, I didn't spent a lot of time on those. and it is easier to mockup than to do proper real codes...
 
  But from what I know, the really few PLUS features needed are not really that heavy CPU wise.
 
  The simple animation system and the 16x16 could enable a full HardSprite option. 16 sprite slots may actually be quite enough.
 
  Also just getting a few extra colours for HUD and Title wouldn't be as   heavy as they were in traditionnal speccy ports (PacMania, RType, Deflektor or  BlackTiger... come to mind.)
 
But it is to notice that they are doing speccy port the right way !
A real Mode1 when as well used looks good IMO (= graphic completely re-drawn and re-coded in 2bits...).


So the aim is not to get exclusively CPC or PLUS, but both...

[arnoldemu]

From experience (with my current game development):

to support + I had to move some code to another place.
I used &4000-&7ffff as one of my screens for double buffering &c000-&ffff is the other.
This means my code and data is now outside of &4000-&7ffff range.

using plus colours is easy too, but you may need seperate assets, depending on your game.

as for sprites, there is extra work there, but once it's done it's not that bad.

Well, the current game I am working on uses + colours, + sprites, and actually has different gfx for plus.

I don't recolour cpc graphics.

I double buffer the sprites too for better update (main char uses 2 sprites in vertical). So when game is running 4 sprites are used (2 are shown, 2 I update, and then I swap).

With +, I will probably be able to do different status panels that look nicer, so this already adds colour.

So making a game for plus does involve more work.. but if you plan for it, it can be minimized.

[MacDeath]

As the Hardsprite may be quite enough for such game, the PLUS sprite routine could replace (sort of) the soft one.


16x16 mode1 sprites (2 bit per pixels) + mask (1 bit per pixel ?)
Well, the Data "weight" for the hardsprite would be only 1 more bit per pixel (concerning pure graphics)...

Also Raster colour changes don't really meanss more Datas, just rechoose the inks...

As the engine is quite similar for quite a good amount of games, geting a standard PLUS mod would work for more than just one game, but this is entirely speculation from me...


Post Edition :

Ok I watched the Video...(And will try the game on my CPC too...)
From what I saw, the engine could really be really improved by the PLUS features...

The sprites are moved yet not "frame animated"...(compaired to LaLaprologue or sir AbaBol...)
This mean that with Hardwired sprites, you would need very few of each slots and no slot changes (loading new spritesfor animation purpose)

This mean a HardSprite based version of the engine could even get smoother sprite moving, and even more sprite (flying platforms per example...)...
Or even a few multiple framed sprites (2 frames may be quite enough actually for such game...)

Also the collectible items (T-shirt...) could be in HardSprite... masked... and with different colours from the background...


Yet if no routines library for the PLUS feature actyually exist in C... ok... need some coders then.

But i suppose getting those plus features may also screw with the overall code or memory... and need more re-work then expected.

[Silvier]

Ok I watched the Video...(And will try the game on my CPC too...)
From what I saw, the engine could really be really improved by the PLUS features...

You don't need an Amstrad CPC+ to improve this engine. A good Amstrad CPC assembler programmer is all this engine needs... 

[robcfg]

Yes, but imagine what could be achieved by a great cpc+ assembler programmer! Hehehe...

[norecess]

Great little game. Congrats to the author !

[mr_lou]

....not knowing nothing.... is that the same as knowing everything?

No seriously, cut it. ASM vs C is oooooooooooolld.

[redbox]

No seriously, cut it. ASM vs C is oooooooooooolld.

I agree.

Having said that, I am impressed that they do it in C because it obviously works for the type of game they're developing (speed isn't essential) and it obviously cuts their development time considerably.

But I always prefer assembler.  Maybe it's just because I don't know C 

[Silvier]

Having said that, I am impressed that they do it in C because it obviously works for the type of game they're developing (speed isn't essential) and it obviously cuts their development time considerably.

Only main body loop is C code. All important routines like sprites printing are in an Z88DK ASM library made by espsoft (it's not Mojon Twins code)
.
All Mojon Twins games are made with the same engine; a ZX Spectrum based engine. Only four animated sprites on screen (a bit dissapointing) and slow and chunky movements (have you seen diagonal enemies movements on uwol 2?). Anyway our hero's control when jumping throught platforms is the worst thing in the game.


But more important is the buggy mojon's production itself. "Mojon Twins" released untested games, with a lot of bugs all of them. A direct consecuence of using the same untested engine and routines ever. All "Mojon Twins" games needed bugfixes (and uwol 2 isn't an exception). "It obviously cuts their development time considerably" 


I'd like less but "better", tested and "playable" games to be released for Amstrad CPC, don't you?


Uwol 2 can be a fun game, maybe (I don't like it, it's more or less the ever same thing: Sir Adabol, Lala Prologue...), but technically is full of buggy and slow code; It's like eighties spanish games    (one more time). We are on the 2011 year guys! And there are a lot of tools and technical information online to make things better than in the past.


Cheers.

[Metr]

All important routines like sprites printing are in an Z88DK ASM library made by espsoft (it's not Mojon Twins code)

The Mojon Twins members were collaborators of the espsoft team and took part in the creation of some of their games.

(have you seen diagonal enemies movements on uwol 2?)

I did

[/size]our hero's control when jumping throught platforms is the worst thing in the game
[/size][/size][/font]

[/size]I think the acceleration idea and the application in the the jumps are one of the strongest points of the game O_o[/size][/font]
[/font][/size][/font]
[/font][/size][/font]

[/size]But more important is the buggy mojon's production itself. "Mojon Twins" released untested games, with a lot of bugs all of them. A direct consecuence of using the same untested engine and routines ever. All "Mojon Twins" games needed bugfixes (and uwol 2 isn't an exception).[/size][/font]
[/font][/size][/font]

I have to agree in that point, but usually are the same 2-3 bugs.

[/size]I'd like less but "better", tested and "playable" games to be released for Amstrad CPC, don't you?
[/size]but technically is full of buggy and slow code
[/size]And there are a lot of tools and technical information online to make things better than in the past.
[/size][/size][/font]

There are people that are enjoying these games besides their "bugs" and the slow codes. Anyways they share the code so people is free to port-update-remake the game better. Also you can see people motivated in porting these games from scratch to another computer (like NCJMC for c64 or Uwol 1 for the cpc). So I guess is just people's choice. I prefer to see movement on the scene

[/size] It's like eighties spanish games    (one more time).
[/size][/size][/font]

This sentence hurts but you should check some of them or I didn't get your point

[norecess]

Just to let you know, I'm currently writing a series of tutorial dealing with C programming for the Amstrad CPC. Make sure to check www.norecess.net ! 

[Silvier]

[size=78%]The Mojon Twins members were collaborators of the espsoft team and took part in the creation of some of their games.[/size]


................
You should check some of them or I didn't get your point

[size=78%]Mojon Twins has not written[/size][size=78%] ASM code in any of their games (as you said, they publish their sources and we can review them if you want). All assembler routines are from Artaburu's Z88DK sprite pack library (and WYZ Player from WYZ are included on it too).[/size]

[size=78%]..............[/size]

I checked them, sure.

Anyway, don't worry. It's only my point of view.

Cheers.

[MacDeath]

I would be more than interested...

I also wanted to get my hands on those Mojon engine C library and sources if possible...

I just recieved my Arduino Mega 1280... and you programm those little bad boyswith some sort of C/C++...

Those kind of C library would help me to learn this language...

[trocoloco]

It's good to see well written games and bug free, but hey I appreciate more their effort on making it. The  point is to keep the cpc alive, I couldn't care less about the technical part of a game if I enjoy it.

Silvier, it seems that you didn't like Spanish games, but hey I did enjoy cosa nostra, capitan sevilla, game over, la abadia del crimen, navy moves, freddy hardest among others, I hope u did too if not you should give them a go just for the fun of it.