The Dawn of Kernel (Development)

[ukmarkh]

Great work, I'm really excited about playing this game, what a great time to be a CPC'er

[reidrac]

The web for the game is up: https://www.usebox.net/jjm/dawn-of-kernel/

It is "the manual" I guess; although the physical edition will have more about the frame story etc.

[ukmarkh]

Hi,


Would it be possible to provide a .CPR download as well so people can run it through their C4CPC?


I work away a lot and take my GX4000 with me...


Thx

[reidrac]

Hi,


Would it be possible to provide a .CPR download as well so people can run it through their C4CPC?


I work away a lot and take my GX4000 with me...


Thx

When I released Magica I tried to make a Gx4000 specific version, but it wasn't trivial. I don't think I'll have time to make it.

In theory I always try that is mostly GX4000 "compatible"; 64K only and you can start and play the game fully pressing fire and without a keyboard. I even support the two buttons of the GX4000 controller.

I can give it a go with nocart and see if it works; but I can't promise anything at this point!

EDIT: I gave a go to nocart and seems to work, so I may do it; but I would appreciate help testing it once released.

[ukmarkh]

Hi,


Would it be possible to provide a .CPR download as well so people can run it through their C4CPC?


I work away a lot and take my GX4000 with me...


Thx

More than happy to help test...

[reidrac]

Quick update

The BETA 1 is out with some testers!

I'm quite happy with the result, although "in game" music still needs finishing and, if there's space left, probably add a tune for the end of game.

Actually, the end of game looks a bit basic at the moment, so I want to revisit that too.

So this is looking good!

[Axelay]

One thing I'm curious about after reading 'the manual' is that you mention supporting the second fire button on joystick for changing the secondary weapon.


Obviously I'm not familiar with the game, but in general terms I tend to think having secondary weapon fire would be the more intuitive function to put on there?  Since that's something I would imagine you'd want the precision of a single button press, especially with limited ammo.  Changing secondary weapon sounds more like the sort of thing you could get away with being a more awkward button sequence or combination without adverse impact?

[reidrac]

One thing I'm curious about after reading 'the manual' is that you mention supporting the second fire button on joystick for changing the secondary weapon.


Obviously I'm not familiar with the game, but in general terms I tend to think having secondary weapon fire would be the more intuitive function to put on there?  Since that's something I would imagine you'd want the precision of a single button press, especially with limited ammo.  Changing secondary weapon sounds more like the sort of thing you could get away with being a more awkward button sequence or combination without adverse impact?

It was a compromise. For me the most awkward move is down - down to change weapon. Given that down is not used for movement and only the beam pads, firing the secondary weapon with fire + down is easy. So button 2 to change weapon removes the awkwardness of the control.

Also the controls with keyboard are the same, although I could add more keys. This can be controversial, but after lots of thinking this is what I decided. It may need a bit to get used to, but IMHO it works fine.

[reidrac]

Final update?

Today I built the first release candidate. I did a play-through and all is good, so the version is now with the testers (that have been doing an amazing job, btw).

I have 289 bytes left for bugfixes (hah!), and I managed to squeeze in three songs (plus intro, menu, game over and end game).

I'm exhausted and looking forward to release the game. If the testers are happy with this build, it'll be the one I'm using as master for the physical release and the free download.

So close!

[ervin]

Fantastic!!!
Really looking forward to the release.

[mr_lou]

Wouldn't it be worth "saving" this game for release till the CPCretrodev?

[reidrac]

Wouldn't it be worth "saving" this game for release till the CPCretrodev?

I don't plan to submit any game to the competition.

[reidrac]

I streamed a couple of games when I was testing on my 464.

1. Don't watch if you don't want ANY spoilers, because these are screens from the final game (although I didn't last long anyway).
2. I suck at playing my games. It's OK .

https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1021469835862200321

(it was a Periscope stream, I don't know if you can watch it without Twitter account etc; so it may not work for you, sorry)

EDIT: if you watch it embedded, remember to unmute the video!

[ervin]

2. I suck at playing my games. It's OK .

That may be, but you are great at making them!
This game looks really really good.

[reidrac]

OK, release candidate is final and ready to prepare physical copies in time for GamesCom. You know that there will be a free download anyway, so no worries if you don't want the collector's edition. Less than a month now!

This one took longer than expected, but I think the results are worth it, and the engine will be perfect to continue with Kitsune's Curse in due time.

So far the feedback from the testers has been all positive and they all love the game, I hope you love it too

I'm officially not updating this thread anymore and I'll open a new one in the games section when I release the game. Thanks for your support here during development, it really helps!

[reidrac]

Release date: 21/08/2018

And I made a teaser video. I'm not good with Blender, but it is done. And that's all

[Neil79]

Well it looks as if the developer isn't taking any time off, as after a more recent tweet he's back to the Amstrad CPC and making an incredible looking game called 'The Dawn of Kernel' which is due to be released 21/08/2018!

http://www.indieretronews.com/2018/07/the-dawn-of-kernel-high-quality-amstrad.html

[Phantomz]

@reidrac

I can't believe I didn't notice this thread earlier. 

Great work, really looking forward to checking this game out.