Magica (Development)

[reidrac]

Let me introduce you my newest project: Magica.

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This may be my entry for CPC Retro Dev 2016, and if that's finally the case, the game won't be available until the competition is over. Good news is that the deadline is in one month and the results will be by the beginning of November; so you won't have to wait too long to play the game - I'm not entering the competition, see: http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/programming/magica-(development)/msg135133/#msg135133

I've been thinking for some time about making a classic one-screen arcade; where you're supposed to navigate the screen to perform some actions before moving to the next screen. I think this type of game would play nicely on the CPC.

After studying different games I'm implementing the stun-hit-collect mechanic that, as you all know, was successfully implemented by many games, including Bubble Bobble, Snow Bros, Tumble Pop, Chip-chan Kick, and many others.

I've spend most of the time working on the game engine, so there are bits in the frame story that I still don't know what's going to be... but so far I know that you play a sorceress that has to recover all the potions stolen from her laboratory by creatures sent from different worlds.

The potions are distributed in several dungeons. She can use her magic to stun the enemies, then hit them, and when they're sent back to their original world, collect the potion they leave behind.

When all potions are collected, a portal opens and she can travel to the next dungeon.

The enemies have different properties that you must take into account when you're fighting them. For example, the knight will use his shield and you won't be able to stun him in a frontal attack, the wizard can conjure magic to kill you, etc.

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Besides the screens may have other challenges, and you must find the right way to navigate them and dispose of the enemies before the time runs out. I still need to think if I'm going to include power ups and bonuses; it all will depend on how much memory I have left.

All this trying my best to make it all run smoothly on the CPC, mode 0 and 64K in one single load (I like that).

I still don't know if I'll manage to squeeze in everything I'd like to put in, but so far looks like it will be a fun game.

As I've mentioned in other occasions, I broadcast about development in my Twitter account (Juan (@reidrac) | Twitter), so if you want to know more about the game as I'm making it, follow me on Twitter!

This is a video testing the sound effects:

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Lovely game, graphics and mechanics!! I really like it!! 

[dub]

Very nice

[reidrac]

That video shows a bug: the wizard was using magic even when it was stunned. That's why one of them killed me twice at the end of the video

[TFM]

That seems to be a great game concept! However the players avatar looks a lot like the baddies, it's hard to follow (at least for me). But the games seems to be awesome. You're really super productive! 


A question: Assuming you're using cpctelera, does it have a lib for sound effects or did you make them by yourself?

[reidrac]

That seems to be a great game concept! However the players avatar looks a lot like the baddies, it's hard to follow (at least for me). But the games seems to be awesome. You're really super productive! 


A question: Assuming you're using cpctelera, does it have a lib for sound effects or did you make them by yourself?

Thanks for the feedback. I think the player character looks alright, although I see what you mean. Unfortunately I don't think I can make it so it uses different colours.

I don't use cpctelera.

I'm using the WYZ player. It allows 1 channel for effects, and the rest for BG music. The effects themselves were designed with ayefx or something like that (for the speccy, but is easy to change them to CPC frequencies when I convert them to the WYZ format).

[fano]

Very nice project , keep up the good work !

[Gryzor]

Oh the cuteness!

[VincentGR]

Oh! this looks terrific.

[Kitty]

Looks Lovely

[Xifos]

Reidrac, i am a big fan of your games !

[reidrac]

Reidrac, i am a big fan of your games !

Thanks! First time ever I have a fan

I'll try to live up to the expectations!

[VincentGR]

Thanks! First time ever I have a fan

I'll try to live up to the expectations!

Make them two.

[TFM]

Three!!! 

[villain]

Three!!! 

I'd also join the club. Any plans for merchandising? :-)

[arnoldemu]

And me

[reidrac]

Thanks folks! 

[SRS]

Looks promising !

The Wizards look like good old Sandmännchen

[TFM]

That video shows a bug: the wizard was using magic even when it was stunned. That's why one of them killed me twice at the end of the video

But isn't that what makes a true wizard? 

[reidrac]

Quick update!

I keep adding enemies (since my first post: Witches and Ghosts), and I have 5 different tilesets (3 of them final, the other two may need review).

Example of the "winter" tileset (showing a ghost going through the walls).

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I've improved a little bit the performance of the engine and I can manage 6 enemies fine if I don't add too many of the ones using "heavy" AI, and 8 if they're simple ones; but I don't think 8 enemies is realistic to keep it smooth.

I'd like to get to 8 enemy types ASAP so I know how much memory I have left and I can concentrate in the "pack the map" problem so I can include as many screens as possible.

I'm still thinking on the frame story; and perhaps if I can make sense of the tilesets, I could add "world map" as you progress the different stages.

The clock is ticking!

[reidrac]

Testing in-game tune!

It is quite expensive, almost like a new enemy; and still... will be repetitive I guess.

Not completely sure I like it yet, may tweak it later.

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I really like it! and the peek at the new level too! 

[reidrac]

I really like it! and the peek at the new level too! 

Thanks! This tune is really difficult because I'm not specially good with up-beat. I tried to not make it too repetitive, but being in-game means I can't really compress it so it can't be too long.

Currently is around 800 bytes; and I still need menu, game over and stage complete (probably); but these can be compressed so there's a chance they use less space than the in-game music

[reidrac]

Quick update!

I've been testing the game in the real hardware and runs beautifully, better than in the emulator. I don't know why, but I suspect that the way I run the emulators is not ideal (windows apps with WINE in Linux).

I tried it with the CRT, and it really makes a difference (I mostly use an LCD screen and I keep my colour CRT on storage). Some things look unexpectedly different, but in a good way. I like it!

I've progressed a bit this week, and now my TODO list is shorter: menu music, probably two more enemies, and level design. Also I'd like to add power ups, but by the looks of it I don't think I'll have space for them

On top of that I need a loading screen and an intro; but those are in another list of things to do because I have plenty of memory for them.

Two weeks plus 3 days until the deadline!

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Great! If you like to send it to me to be tried in a 464 Plus upgraded to a 6128 Plus with the original CRT, just tell me