(https://barjack.fr/perso/cover.png)
Hello everyone,
Some news for those who follow the development of Bubble Quest on CPC+ and GX4000.
I'm about to finish all the gfx of the levels, which were very numerous because of their animations and complex for having made the most of mode 1 with rasters for the backgrounds in addition to hard sprites.
Roudoudou will be happy to finally be able to integrate all this into his incredible engine which has already been in place for a while 😉
Almost all the music is finished, it is the work of e-dredon, takes advantage of the sound capabilities of the CPC+ and is absolutely fabulous! I hope he will consider my work up to his talent 😉
The game will be released in physical edition and will fit on a cartridge with a capacity much greater than the original ones as the content is substantial.
We owe this support to Toto, whose task was not so easy to upgrade from 512KB to 2MB!
We hope - without wanting to go too far - to be able to finish the game for this year 2023.
We will keep you informed soon.
The game features a multi-minute, fully animated intro :
(https://barjack.fr/perso/intro01.gif)
(https://barjack.fr/perso/intro02.gif)
(https://barjack.fr/perso/intro03.gif)
Some screenshots from the game :
(https://barjack.fr/perso/w01lvl01.gif)
(https://barjack.fr/perso/w01lvl02.gif)
(https://barjack.fr/perso/w03lvl01.gif)
Everything delivered here will be present in a next teaser ;)
Wait and see...
Looks amazing and looking forward to seeing what this 2mb cart is all about! :o
I mean... Damn.
Will there also be a CPR? I will be getting the physical edition, but I don't have a Plus or a GX set up permanently...
Quote from: Gryzor on 13:41, 04 March 23I mean... Damn.
Will there also be a CPR? I will be getting the physical edition, but I don't have a Plus or a GX set up permanently...
The modification to any Plus emulator is easy
CPCEmuPower (Linux,Win,MacOS) is already ok
i made modifications myself to an old version of CPCEC in a few hour
BTW do not expect this working on Winape
there will be an exclusivity for physical release first (the only way to NOT see some crappy emulated version on youtube first)
Quote from: roudoudou on 13:57, 04 March 23Quote from: Gryzor on 13:41, 04 March 23I mean... Damn.
Will there also be a CPR? I will be getting the physical edition, but I don't have a Plus or a GX set up permanently...
The modification to any Plus emulator is easy
CPCEmuPower (Linux,Win,MacOS) is already ok
i made modifications myself to an old version of CPCEC in a few hour
BTW do not expect this working on Winape
there will be an exclusivity for physical release first (the only way to NOT see some crappy emulated version on youtube first)
Presumably not compatible with C4CPC?
Out of interest, how does the paging work (or is that top secret)?
Also, how much ROM is the big intro taking up? ok if top secret too ;)
Quote from: dthrone on 14:06, 04 March 23Quote from: roudoudou on 13:57, 04 March 23Quote from: Gryzor on 13:41, 04 March 23I mean... Damn.
Will there also be a CPR? I will be getting the physical edition, but I don't have a Plus or a GX set up permanently...
The modification to any Plus emulator is easy
CPCEmuPower (Linux,Win,MacOS) is already ok
i made modifications myself to an old version of CPCEC in a few hour
BTW do not expect this working on Winape
there will be an exclusivity for physical release first (the only way to NOT see some crappy emulated version on youtube first)
Presumably not compatible with C4CPC?
Out of interest, how does the paging work (or is that top secret)?
Also, how much ROM is the big intro taking up? ok if top secret too ;)
not a secret, i already give the sheet to emulators authors (most of them do not care since the game is on progress...)
the cartridge is splited in 512K slots
on each slot, when you read the last bytes of the ROM 0 (disregarding the mapping, the cartridge do not know where 16K are mapped)
if you have 4 slots (2M for us), then ROM 0 addresses 16380, 16381, 16382, 16383 will change the current 512K slot
that's it
once 512K slot is changed, every 32 ROM of the slots are handled like a regular CPR
due to the amount of DATA for some levels and the overall managing system, i wont do anything to split the game in 4 cartridges :(
Alta, wie geil ist das denn?!
Sorry, wrong language... 🤓
To keep it short: C'est incroyable!
Anyone got a CPC+ for sale :o ?
OWW!WOWOWWOWO!!
Is it Proline Software or Praline Software? Can't make out the font lol
(https://www.chezpatchouka.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Praluline-la-fameuse-recette-de-Brioche-aux-pralines-roses-de-Francois-Pralus.jpg)
Ahh Praline...
Looks tasty? lol
It looks beautiful !! Congratulations to both of you
@roudoudou and
@Barjack .
Wow, that would be a stunning looking game on ANY platform!
Looks amazing! Looking forward to this very much!
Quote from: Skunkfish on 10:29, 05 March 23Wow, that would be a stunning looking game on ANY platform!
Indeed I was thinking "hey, can we get a Switch or an ARM port (for the various handhelds)?". Simply amazing.
it's nice and flattering, but don't get too excited anyway ^^
in all modesty and I'm not alone on the project, it may be a game that can be described as triple A on cpc, but not on more powerful machines ;)
I think I can say that we are on a good game between the atari st and the amiga, which is already very good for cpc+;)
Awesome graphics! I can't imagine what efforts are behind the programming. And I am curious about the music.
Everyone gave the best of himself by exploiting the machine, we are clearly not - and at all levels - on cpc old.
-----
Roudoudou had to use tricks and tricks as a demomaker for the code, the physics of the bubble according to its environment is very realistic and its movement is at 50hz. It manages an impressive number of images and other visual effects that we keep secret but which are amazing for this machine.
-----
e-dredon composed about twenty really fabulous pieces of music with samples for the cpc+ that I listened to over and over during development and which I still can't get enough of.
-----
Toto has invested a lot to make us a pcb to have a cartridge that leaves us more room to integrate all that, moreover he will take care of the manufacture of the packaging and having seen his precedents we can only be reassured on the quality of the latter...
-----
Hwikaa whose talents far surpasses mine in the field will also participate, but we also keep it as a surprise for the release.
-----
Everyone worked well and for once, everyone was waiting for my graphics, it was a lot of work and we finally see the end.
We are all at least as eager to release the game as you are to discover it.
You don't have anything yet.
;)
^^edited for formatting
Congratulations. 2mo cart...
Can I be the first to say I'd like a physical copy? ;D
Quote from: Maniac on 18:46, 05 March 23Can I be the first to say I'd like a physical copy? ;D
I was first😀
Quote from: Gryzor on 20:57, 05 March 23Quote from: Maniac on 18:46, 05 March 23Can I be the first to say I'd like a physical copy? ;D
I was first😀
Good point well presented! Yes you were! But I do have a permanent 6128 Plus setup! ;)
Quote from: Maniac on 21:24, 05 March 23Quote from: Gryzor on 20:57, 05 March 23Quote from: Maniac on 18:46, 05 March 23Can I be the first to say I'd like a physical copy? ;D
I was first😀
Good point well presented! Yes you were! But I do have a permanent 6128 Plus setup! ;)
Well I have 6128 Pluses on standby (and one or two 464s) 😁
Quote from: Gryzor on 20:57, 05 March 23Quote from: Maniac on 18:46, 05 March 23Can I be the first to say I'd like a physical copy? ;D
I was first😀
then... so i'm the third hehe :laugh:
Congrats on a gameplay and artistic awesome project !
Increible...fantástico trabajo...regalandole a la gama plus los titulos que se merece, y colocándola como la mejor maquina de 8 bits incluso superior a msx 2 .
Yo también quiero copia fisica...anotadme!!😀😅
Gracias!
So it wasn't abandonned after all... long time awaited. Might be the awesomnest of the homebrew stuff.
(Can't wait for a PC1512 version either) :laugh:
Barjack: it's your first CPC+/GX project isn't it ? Do you have some feelings to share about it ?
The cpc+ is not my favorite machine and it is a mistake to think that it is a cpc with an "improved" palette.
Realizing a game on cpc+ that really exploits the machine is a new experience for anyone coming from cpc old.
Few games exploit the potential of cpc+, I am happy to have contributed at my level to the graphics of bubble quest as the talents of my comrades in their places is well above what has been done so far.
That said, I can't wait to turn this page to return to the old cpc ^^
Your gfx are always amazing. Have you perhaps done any mockups for a CPC port of BQ?
Wonderful to see that the work on this awesome project continues! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Eventually displaying the 6128plus real potential in a great way. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Please put me on the pre-order list for a physical copy. :) :) :)
(if physical copies get numbers then please reserve me one of these: 9, 12, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 57, 63, 72).
I'm really looking forward to this, it is exactly what I need to celebrate finally getting a Plus machine. I hope you're making plenty of carts!
That's interesting to hear you can't wait to return to the original CPC though. I'm quite keen to take the Plus for a spin, programming-wise, once I get everything working. It seems like the sprites would be fun to work with, but you don't think so?
It is simply impossible to redo bubble quest on cpc old, partly because of the use of hard sprites, but not only.
Trying it would be like making a whole different game.
For my next projects on cpc old, I would like to use extension cards (sd or usb support + ram extension)
I see a lot of games limited to 64k for 464 in Spanish, why not...
But I find it a shame not to take advantage of our expansion cards to make games with no support limit and with 512kb or more for graphics and sound on cpc old.
This for me does not distort the machine, very quickly on the amiga we moved on to games that required a ram extension and we could have a hard disk.
This closes doors for us to have much better games on cpc...
Quote from: Barjack on 10:37, 09 March 23But I find it a shame not to take advantage of our expansion cards to make games with no support limit and with 512kb or more for graphics and sound on cpc old.
Many hundred of people with expansion cards, not using them...
i would like to hear more games that use my PlayCity !!! ;D ;D
Quote from: Barjack on 15:43, 08 March 23The cpc+ is not my favorite machine and it is a mistake to think that it is a cpc with an "improved" palette.
not improved, but extended... ;D
Quote from: MacDeath on 12:23, 09 March 23Quote from: Barjack on 15:43, 08 March 23The cpc+ is not my favorite machine and it is a mistake to think that it is a cpc with an "improved" palette.
not improved, but extended... ;D
or worsened?? :P
"There is also a slight color difference between ASIC machines and those with a real Gate Array. The Red, Green and Blue levels produced for each of the 32 color-codes between the CPC and the Plus are close, but not equals. This won't be a problem most of the time but as soon as you start combining differents colors together (dithering and mostly flippping), the differences are accumulating and can be much more annoying (ask SuperSylvestre about that if you dare :)."
https://www.grimware.org/doku.php/documentations/devices/gatearray
Quote from: dthrone on 12:39, 09 March 23Quote from: MacDeath on 12:23, 09 March 23Quote from: Barjack on 15:43, 08 March 23The cpc+ is not my favorite machine and it is a mistake to think that it is a cpc with an "improved" palette.
not improved, but extended... ;D
or worsened?? :P
"There is also a slight color difference between ASIC machines and those with a real Gate Array. The Red, Green and Blue levels produced for each of the 32 color-codes between the CPC and the Plus are close, but not equals. This won't be a problem most of the time but as soon as you start combining differents colors together (dithering and mostly flippping), the differences are accumulating and can be much more annoying (ask SuperSylvestre about that if you dare :)."
https://www.grimware.org/doku.php/documentations/devices/gatearray
I suspect connecting a CPC to a modern display makes way more difference to the colour output than the slight differences in how it maps them onto the extended palette. I'd certainly not give up all the extra colours myself. :laugh:
I'm really looking forward to seeing this, it really seems like it might be a showcase for the GX. Will definitely be picking up a cart. Shame it won't be available for emulators too, both for convenience and helping future emulator accuracy but pushing it past the 512K cart limit presumably means we'll need to extend to CPR format anyway (and introduce something similar to the NES mapper logic)
I can see why you wouldn't want to try an old school CPC version though. When you code something specifically to take advantage of all the Plus hardware it's unlikely to be plausible to downgrade it without major rewrites.
I obviously agree with the fact to use standard expansions to extend the CPC capabilities. Extra ROM / RAM is not something that will add alien extra power to the CPC old, it just show the full power of its original design. Using an extra AY to be able to play music & sfx at the same time is a nice optional feature for CPC old games. All those things can allow to go ahead with the original system.
Making remakes of other games closer to more powerful machines is always disappointing.
- It's not original.
- We tinker to be closer.
- To necessarily compare to the original, it can only be worse, even if it is successful for the cpc.
This goes for Bubble Quest.
I think it is more interesting to do something new on cpc old taking into account the capabilities of the latter.
On my site there are graphics on old for a beat em up, a brick breaker, I still have the works of gryzor for a run n gun... with more ram on "HD", everything is possible to create a new game in these genres that will surpass all previous ones.
I'm much more motivated by this prospect than to make a failed and unadapted adaptation of Bubble Quest on cpc old ;)
Quote from: Barjack on 10:37, 09 March 23But I find it a shame not to take advantage of our expansion cards to make games with no support limit and with 512kb or more for graphics and sound on cpc old.
Totally agreed!!! :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
Of course it's more work to support expansion, but that's the reason of having them.
Using RAM / ROM instead of (re)loading stuff form disc is easy and makes things quicker. Or one can specifically code for more ROM/RAM - which makes things even better.
And there are PlayCity (same as PSG, just a bit more easy to program and some sound channels more - great!). Also there are the LambdaSpeak expansions (just send the text to the screen and to the LS and it will say these words).
Eventually it's not so hard to take advantages of expansions, also only few bytes are used.
Wish you all the luck and success with you next CPC-unlimited project :) :) :)
Quote from: Barjack on 10:37, 09 March 23But I find it a shame not to take advantage of our expansion cards to make games with no support limit and with 512kb or more for graphics and sound on cpc old.
This for me does not distort the machine, very quickly on the amiga we moved on to games that required a ram extension and we could have a hard disk.
This closes doors for us to have much better games on cpc...
Complete agreement. On the Amiga 500, <1MB quickly became a "no go". But on the CPC, 64K will have to do for everyone. We had the ability to use 576K back in the 80's. And so flexible! Other systems could only dream of it (like those beloved Spectrum ZX, Commodore, Atari 8bit and most other 8bit systems).
Quote from: Prodatron on 00:57, 10 March 23Quote from: Barjack on 10:37, 09 March 23But I find it a shame not to take advantage of our expansion cards to make games with no support limit and with 512kb or more for graphics and sound on cpc old.
This for me does not distort the machine, very quickly on the amiga we moved on to games that required a ram extension and we could have a hard disk.
This closes doors for us to have much better games on cpc...
Complete agreement. On the Amiga 500, <1MB quickly became a "no go". But on the CPC, 64K will have to do for everyone. We had the ability to use 576K back in the 80's. And so flexible! Other systems could only dream of it (like those beloved Spectrum ZX, Commodore, Atari 8bit and most other 8bit systems).
DO IT !!!
(https://i.postimg.cc/rstLbD82/rambo-john-james-rambo.gif)
Were people asking for Bubble Quest to be downgraded to the regular CPC? Seems like missing the point of designing a game for the Plus machine. Oh well.
Yes, memory paging is something the CPC was built to do and it's a shame most games just stuck to 64k. The CPC is so much better when given more memory to work with, and like you say it doesn't distort the machine; extra memory was available from the beginning, but seldom used.
Quote from: Anthony Flack on 10:13, 10 March 23Were people asking for Bubble Quest to be downgraded to the regular CPC? Seems like missing the point of designing a game for the Plus machine. Oh well.
No. I just asked if there's a mockup with the CPC limitations. Got misunderstood.
Quote from: Gryzor on 10:16, 10 March 23Quote from: Anthony Flack on 10:13, 10 March 23Were people asking for Bubble Quest to be downgraded to the regular CPC? Seems like missing the point of designing a game for the Plus machine. Oh well.
No. I just asked if there's a mockup with the CPC limitations. Got misunderstood.
at the very beginning, bubble quest was intended to run on a CPC+128K
but fullscreen target leads me quickly to a dead end*
*it's not impossible, it's simply MOAR complicated and i did not wanted to go that way, +storage limited to a floppy, +..., +...
For my part, my approach to game development on cpc or cpc+ is simple.
I'm not nostalgic for games that are graphically or musically limited to 64kb
More ram allows more graphics, more work in number, but much less in realization to be able to make everything fit.
Likewise for music.
The coder no longer has to rack his brains to optimize everything and can focus on the essentials.
In the end, we have less development time and more content, more openings.
I don't want games from 1990 on my cpc, I want games from 2023.
Extra ram, ultra-fast loading on usb or sd, lots of different sprites, rich backgrounds, games that require a mouse, why not?
The Spanish platforms in 64k, do not amuse me personally, the gryzor or renegade are poor on the screen even if they are very good for 64k.
That's good if the devs want to keep producing 90s games on k7 ;)
It would also be nice if we did something else with our machines (like other machines do).
Best words of 2023!
Let's got an use the full potential of CPC6128 and 6128plus. :) :) :) :) :)
We have cards that allow this, for years... It would be high time to exploit them ;)
I also hope to complete uniload, more to democratize the cards than to have our old games on "Hard drive" :)
Having said that, having all the software in files on an ultra-fast support, from a menu, with patches so that you no longer have to return the diskettes would be a step forward similar to what whdload was for the amiga.
Kukulcan from cpc power is working on it too, I'll come back to it after Bubble Quest ;)
2023 Bubble Quest.
2024 UniLoad + an old cpc prod with extension.
My roadmap ;)
Your Gryzor sequel is not drop so ?
All graphics for Gryzor Rescue have been completed for a long time, among other things I kept all of this a secret.
But it could reappear with more ram and less restrictive development.
There are also other things on my site, like the beat em up or the brick break... I don't know yet what we're going to get into with roudoudou on cpc old, but all that is possible.
First finish Bubble Quest ;)
Quote from: Barjack on 17:06, 10 March 23We have cards that allow this, for years... It would be high time to exploit them ;)
I also hope to complete uniload, more to democratize the cards than to have our old games on "Hard drive" :)
Having said that, having all the software in files on an ultra-fast support, from a menu, with patches so that you no longer have to return the diskettes would be a step forward similar to what whdload was for the amiga.
Kukulcan from cpc power is working on it too, I'll come back to it after Bubble Quest ;)
2023 Bubble Quest.
2024 UniLoad + an old cpc prod with extension.
My roadmap ;)
+++ Yeah! Forget limits, kick the shit out the CPC Plus. +++
ah ah, yes we are going to come back to cpc old, for me it is really my favorite machine ;)
The cpc plus is still a superb 8 bits, Bubble Quest is a great adventure and the machine deserved to be pushed a little.
With gng from Golem and Hwikaa, maybe others will want to make software up to the task in the future, that's what we want.
Tengo los 2 sistemas. CPC antiguo 576K y 464 Plus 128K. Amstrad plus no solo mejora los colores simultáneos en la pantalla. paleta de 4096 colores... ¡No!, añade scroll de hardware y sprites de hardware, es una máquina muy superior en todo.
Personalmente prefiero títulos que exploten la familia PLUS ya que el viejo amstrad ya tiene un gran apolo de toda la escena. Demostremos que Amstrad Plus es la máquina de 8 bits más potente.
Y vamos a darle un catálogo de juegos de su verdadero nivel
last animation engine on a test level
Nice job, I'm expecting a physical version soon. I was able to try it at crocofest2023 and it was just awesome. Incredible gameplay
Oh wow this thing is gorgeous.
Quote from: XeNoMoRPH on 20:18, 27 March 23
Well, well, at the right side we can see a c64. So is that real or a game from commodore. ;D ;D ;D ;D Just kidding, c64 couldn't do it! 8)
I'm just finishing reading my issue of Amstrad Addict where this was featured and wondered if there was an update on progress of this amazing game please?
Quote from: Maniac on 11:15, 29 October 23I'm just finishing reading my issue of Amstrad Addict where this was featured and wondered if there was an update on progress of this amazing game please?
we were working on some levels this summer + proof of concept of underwater levels done
Barjack is supposed to work on GFX again since a few weeks
Quote from: Barjack on 15:53, 10 March 23For my part, my approach to game development on cpc or cpc+ is simple.
I'm not nostalgic for games that are graphically or musically limited to 64kb
More ram allows more graphics, more work in number, but much less in realization to be able to make everything fit.
Likewise for music.
The coder no longer has to rack his brains to optimize everything and can focus on the essentials.
In the end, we have less development time and more content, more openings.
I don't want games from 1990 on my cpc, I want games from 2023.
Extra ram, ultra-fast loading on usb or sd, lots of different sprites, rich backgrounds, games that require a mouse, why not?
The Spanish platforms in 64k, do not amuse me personally, the gryzor or renegade are poor on the screen even if they are very good for 64k.
That's good if the devs want to keep producing 90s games on k7 ;)
It would also be nice if we did something else with our machines (like other machines do).
AMEN !
The main limit of the CPC was that its first iteration was a cassette based 64k-only machine.
Yes the palettes could have been more (like having attrribute characters and multiple palette banks, EGA64 or ST 512palette...), the sound could have been more (having 2x AY instead of 1)... but those were well rounded enough compared to the machines of the era and it offers a good resolution capability anyway...
The real culprit is the 64ko+tape limit, wich then limited the successor upgrades : CPU in wait-state when the Video is accessing the "64k VRAM", can't use the extra RAM banks as 'VRAM", can't get the CPU to do something else while the "VRAM" is displayed (oh, already told that)... There is basically not enough RAM to satisfy the CPU AND the graphics, a minima configurations would have been at least 80ko (64k + 16k) or 96ko (because double buffering or Fullscreen).
So just having proper Massdata capacity via RAMdisk/ROM/Cartidge or HDD/X-MASS can somehow show what the machine can do.
16bit sceners have no shame to ask for 4mb of RAM on any Amiga/ST, or special 8mb cartidges for Megadrive. Many commercial games from late80s asked to 1mb of RAM and used 2-3 disk on ST/Amiga. Games on 4-5 disk weren't uncomon on 16bits, and would also ask for HDD...
So many shitty games were had because the devs limited themselves to Speccy48 ports on some CPC464.
Hell SegaMasterSystem managed to get some Populous port to run... but couldn't be done on CPC because not enough memory.
Most 8bit machines were under-powered on the RAM department because good luck filling 256k with a tape driver. :D
Thomson TO8 (256ko RAM) or PCW (256/512ko) are the only european 8biters with "enough" RAM, yet they lack at other stuff (poor shitty sound beeper for both, no colours for PCW...)
Japan had those NEC PC-88 that were quite good and could run heavily graphic adventures like Snatcher, alongside various Loli-rape-simulator, ah those Japs....
But again good luck filling 512ko with 178ko per face 3" disks that cost 25Francs each by 1985....
SymbOS shows what a modest 8biter can offer provided it is properly RAMed.
GX4000/PLUS are also failed mostly because the cartidges were limited to 128ko and RAM to 64ko(Gx4000 and 464+) either. Well, those weren't NEC PCengines anyway.
:D
So yeah it is great to have projects like Alcon showing what a souped up ROM can do, and prods for PLUS/GX4000 with proper 512ko ROMs (Eery Forest, CRTC3, BubbleQuest).
I see Bubble Quest continues his journey... I don't see it reaching the top, but I think a 2nd position is doable:
GAME_______________TIME FROM DEVELOPMENT TO RELEASE (IF ANY)
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The Key___________________________0 days
Sugar City________________________0 days
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Bubble quest___________________3.5 years
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Vespertino_______________________5 years
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__V______________________________________
Duke Nukem Forever__________14 years
I wanted to write "TIME FROM ANNOUNCEMENT TO RELEASE (IF ANY)". ;D
I lost my initial message by the old method of selecting some text, pressing "DEL"... and accidentally being returned to the previous page after losing the textbox focus. ???
Quote from: cwpab on 16:59, 14 May 24I wanted to write "TIME FROM ANNOUNCEMENT TO RELEASE (IF ANY)". ;D
I lost my initial message by the old method of selecting some text, pressing "DEL"... and accidentally being returned to the previous page after losing the textbox focus. ???
haha, maybe you can do your table as a new topic, announcement timing is an interesting topic in itself. Not as a way to pressure devs of course :P Sonic GX deserves an honourable mention I think, currently at 4.5 years since announcement. 6128+ Ghosts & Goblins announced something like 8 years ago now but is defo still in development so is possibly topping the leaderboard!
I have announced a Catweazle-themed game to my little brother around 35 years ago. Haven't written a single line of code yet. 8)
Amateurs! I've got ideas and half baked projects for around '96/97 at least. #OneDay
You really ought to hurry up and announce them so we can start being impatient.
Sorry for going off-topic. Bubble Quest looks impressive and I appreciate the effort people put into making great games for the CPC or Plus range, especially in the last couple of years.
Anyway that's usual today:
People start new great impressive stuff. The scene freaks out, and so the developers want to release the coolest thing ever. Or let's say at least: The product should be as perfect as possible.
But as every developer knows, the first 90% of the development are hard but doable, while the last 10% require 10x more time than expected :laugh:
I guess we already have countless of such projects, cwpab only mentioned the most famouse ones (e.g. you forgot Bombjack :D )
Quote from: Prodatron on 22:45, 16 May 24Anyway that's usual today:
People start new great impressive stuff. The scene freaks out, and so the developers want to release the coolest thing ever. Or let's say at least: The product should be as perfect as possible.
But as every developer knows, the first 90% of the development are hard but doable, while the last 10% require 10x more time than expected :laugh:
I guess we already have countless of such projects, cwpab only mentioned the most famouse ones (e.g. you forgot Bombjack :D )
You should know that the code of BubbleQuest is done since years, i'm just waiting for GFX material (which is a huuuuuuuuuge task for Barjack, so it takes time AND it's boring for him). Numerous musics are done too (there is a "little" work left for sample adaptations). The good news is i have time to add many functionnalities to ACE-DL :P
Why are you making a game with boring graphics, then? :P
Fantastic work from all being envolved in the project. :)
Unbelievable performance.
Can't wait to see the completely finished game.
Game looks great, but...
Is something is done about this game recently? Just asking for new screens, informations, animations... and maybe demo? ;D
the main engine is done since 4 years
"just" waiting for a huge amount of graphics
the graphician is now on Dune/Amiga game so...
What a pity. It's Barjack, isn't it? If he's busy at the moment maybe he is willing to "outsource" simple stuff to get progress?
Just a try 😜
It's done when it's done but, would be amazing to see this released. Any updates on progress?
Quote from: Barjack on 12:27, 04 March 23I'm about to finish all the gfx of the levels, which were very numerous because of their animations and complex for having made the most of mode 1 with rasters for the backgrounds in addition to hard sprites.
I was really excited by this news. To know that everything was about to be finished almost two years ago. Reading above, it seems that you are now on Amiga Dune, so I can only think the project has been abandoned on your side. If true, it is really sad for your team and a bit for us. I really hope I'm wrong to think that. Please!
Quote from: Maniac on 10:27, 30 December 24It's done when it's done but, would be amazing to see this released. Any updates on progress?
Barjack told me more than half the gfx was done
i'm supposed to release at least 2 other projects before this one is done
Hello, and happy new year everyone ;)
Finishing the graphics is one of my good resolutions for 2025 :)
Please note that just making a lvl requires as much work as doing an entire project, and I'm not talking about the menu or the cutscenes.
It's like making a cartoon, sometimes a single sprite requires working on more than 100 Frames.
Roudoudou's engine allows you to display many frames and it would be a shame not to take advantage of it, there are more than 20 elements that move on each screen.
The longest and most tedious thing is to do the documents, because I have to indicate precisely where they should be displayed on the screen in Roudoudou.
I'm going to finish, it's a project that is close to my heart and I am keen to finish it also for my development colleagues.
Be patient ;) <3
So that you can see the work for ONE level Sprites Soft :
Sprites Hard :
The levels are made up of several planes, each must be constructed so that the elements are placed on values of half a byte on the screen, in addition I must include rasters and take them into account for the soft sprites
Finally I have to indicate each location on the screen for each element and there are very many of them on the screen. Doing documents is essential, roudoudou needs them but it is tedious to do.
Finally I carry out gif tests to make sure everything is in place.
So there you have it, nothing impossible, only we must not lose sight of the fact that we are not on a remake, with graphics already in place to be retouched, existing gameplay to be copied, sprites with 3 frames, we are starting from zero sources .
There are a lot of frames (many aliases), rasters, think about game design, take into account the engine's advantages and constraints ;)
I'm also working on Dune on the side because if I only do Bubble I'm going to do shit to finish. When a real desire strikes me I go back to it, but I am well aware that I have to finish...
Just be patient ;)
For the menu, here for example is ONE sprite with MANY sprites to work with...
In short, it doesn't happen alone, it's not fruity franck :)
Take all the time you need for this. This is looking so promising!!
Imagine the work for everything else... 20 lvl, 4 minutes of introduction, as much ending, the menu and many other things, everything by hand, to the pixel... be indulgent ;)
Quote from: norecess464 on 17:06, 13 January 25Take all the time you need for this. This is looking so promising!!
Thank you, it would be great if we finished together for 2025 with Sonic, I hope you have a GX4000, they might be overpriced ^^
Thank you
@Barjack for all that information and detail. This looks amazing. You certainly know how to get the best out of the Amstrad so seeing you tackle the GX4000/Plus like this is stunning. Please take all the time needed for this work of art and sorry if my post came across as being impatient. I wouldn't want to see all this effort to go waste, that's all.
Quote from: Maniac on 18:08, 13 January 25Thank you @Barjack for all that information and detail. This looks amazing. You certainly know how to get the best out of the Amstrad so seeing you tackle the GX4000/Plus like this is stunning. Please take all the time needed for this work of art and sorry if my post came across as being impatient. I wouldn't want to see all this effort to go waste, that's all.
No worries, it's normal, it drags unnecessarily, it's true that I drag my leg a little, but it's really a lot of work :/
There is no problem with the code, nor with the music, everything is already in place, only the graphics are really missing.
It will come out no worries ;)
https://www.praline-cpc.fr/barjack/bubble-quest/
For those who are not up to date on my site ;)
Some previews, musics and covers.
What I've seen so far is amazing! Looking forward to see how you squeeze that 2MB cartridge.
Quote from: abalore on 19:38, 13 January 25What I've seen so far is amazing! Looking forward to see how you squeeze that 2MB cartridge.
Cartouche is Toto, compression is Roudoudou.
The cream of the crop :)
This is ... amazing.
Quote from: Barjack on 18:39, 13 January 25https://www.praline-cpc.fr/barjack/bubble-quest/
For those who are not up to date on my site ;)
Some previews, musics and covers.
Damn! This has to be among the best looking game I have ever seen on the Plus/GX, well done!
Glad that I bought a GX4000 when the Six Pack was in London in 1993 :D
Stylistically gorgeous and original, can't wait! Hoping the big fat 2mb carts are economically viable, even becoming a new norm? Have any emulators agreed to adopt the format yet?
thanks for this insight. your creative work seems so unspoken laborious. hopefully you still feel fun and joy doing this.
Quote from: dthrone on 20:26, 13 January 25Stylistically gorgeous and original, can't wait! Hoping the big fat 2mb carts are economically viable, even becoming a new norm? Have any emulators agreed to adopt the format yet?
The Toto PCB was designed especially for the game, we do not intend to distribute the ROM initially, you will have to order a copy.
Later nothing is excluded it will work on emulators which manage this type of ROM (including ace)
Quote from: HAL6128 on 20:38, 13 January 25thanks for this insight. your creative work seems so unspoken laborious. hopefully you still feel fun and joy doing this.
Yes of course, it's our baby ;)
It's just that doing antialias on 140 sprites + the docs is tedious.
For the rest yes it's always pleasant ;)
Overview of real speed (50hz).
Quote from: Barjack on 21:28, 13 January 25Quote from: dthrone on 20:26, 13 January 25Stylistically gorgeous and original, can't wait! Hoping the big fat 2mb carts are economically viable, even becoming a new norm? Have any emulators agreed to adopt the format yet?
The Toto PCB was designed especially for the game, we do not intend to distribute the ROM initially, you will have to order a copy.
Later nothing is excluded it will work on emulators which manage this type of ROM (including ace)
Ordering a copy goes without saying :laugh:
I'll just echo what I said before; I hope you make plenty of copies. I have a GX standing by.
The style and animations on this are stunning, simply put. This could well be a game on Switch (actually, I wish it was...)!
Definitely on my Christmas wish list (not meant as pressure - any Christmas is fine)
Quote from: dthrone on 20:26, 13 January 25Stylistically gorgeous and original, can't wait! Hoping the big fat 2mb carts are economically viable, even becoming a new norm? Have any emulators agreed to adopt the format yet?
The modifications in an emulator are easy, there is already SugarBox, CPCEmu_Power and ACE able to read the cartridge. But the game must always be done :D
Quote from: Gryzor on 08:11, 14 January 25The style and animations on this are stunning, simply put. This could well be a game on Switch (actually, I wish it was...)!
the switch 2 is coming, should be enough to run SugarBox on it i guess ^_^
Quote from: roudoudou on 08:21, 14 January 25Quote from: Gryzor on 08:11, 14 January 25The style and animations on this are stunning, simply put. This could well be a game on Switch (actually, I wish it was...)!
the switch 2 is coming, should be enough to run SugarBox on it i guess ^_^
Ehh but now long till it gets hacked...
I don't see any reason why a top tier GX game couldn't be wrapped in an emulator and sold alongside all the other indie games, if it's original IP. It's been done with other systems.
Plausible, assuming a GX emulator exists that can be bundled in such a package (I've no idea, tbh).
Quote from: Anthony Flack on 07:38, 25 January 25I don't see any reason why a top tier GX game couldn't be wrapped in an emulator and sold alongside all the other indie games, if it's original IP. It's been done with other systems.
This is true. More and more retro gamedevs seem to do this.
My biggest customer (buying licenses for my game music) is currently considering doing it for his latest Atari Jaguar game; embedding it with an emulator and releasing it for the Nintendo Switch.
I think it's a great idea. Have always been a fan of multiplatform releases. Goes for both games and their assets (which is why I always try to create my tracks in multiple filetype formats). But I can't figure out if it'll be a hit or not.
Retro games are definitely popular on all the modern platforms too. However, they often come with a lot of effects that aren't possible on actual classic platforms. So my concern is that people might think "real" retro games are a tad too boring.
But as he said: "If just 1% of its userbase buys it, then it's a alot!".
So should be worth a try.
Quote from: roudoudou on 08:21, 14 January 25the switch 2 is coming, should be enough to run SugarBox on it i guess ^_^
Any Chinese handheld console or Deck PC will do the job.