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General Category => Games => Topic started by: XeNoMoRPH on 05:35, 02 May 19

Title: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: XeNoMoRPH on 05:35, 02 May 19
I have recently seen these videos on youtube, it seems that someone is converting the game Crownland to CPC , Does anyone know anything about the project or know its author?

https://youtu.be/QmxB2nmOpFg (https://youtu.be/QmxB2nmOpFg)

https://youtu.be/uDNCfB3l91c (https://youtu.be/uDNCfB3l91c)
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from C64
Post by: AHack on 05:50, 02 May 19
That looks really awesome! Sorry I have no information about the project.
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from C64
Post by: AHack on 05:55, 02 May 19
That looks like hardware scrolling with the paralax been done with software techniques. If that is the case then it is very impressive.
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from C64
Post by: robcfg on 07:04, 02 May 19
That looks great indeed!


Not to sound picky, but Crownland is a game for the Atari 8-bit computers, not the C64.  ;D


I've played it a lot on Atari and I can say that it's a great game!
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from C64
Post by: DanyPPC on 07:21, 02 May 19
You are right robcfg, Cronwland is a 128k Atari game. I completed it some time ago on my 130XE, but it's not very rich in levels.
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from C64
Post by: andycadley on 07:43, 02 May 19
Don't know anything about the conversion but it sure looks impressive. It's hard to get a parallax effect like that without a purely software scroll (and that in itself is tricky), so I'm curious how it's being achieved.
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from C64
Post by: deepfb on 09:06, 02 May 19
I am sorry I don't see the point in creating a 1:1 port of this game to the CPC, since I don't feel it is going to match the original version. I don't see 'smooth scrolling' and 'non-stop ingame music', both features packed on a decent game screen and not just on a small window, as the biggest strenghts of most CPCs games; besides, Crownland does not work on any stock Atari A8, it requires at least a XL/XE system upgraded to 128KB of RAM, so it may be more fair to port it to the Amstrad Plus range.


A plain CPC version could take advantage of more enemies and/or moving platforms on screen (as it doesn't need to rely on a limited number of hardware sprites), so it would be harder (and maybe slower) to progress, or could even introduce puzzles to keep moving on the stage, but it would mean to design a different gameplay -what would be great, but would make it like 'Crownland 2', not just 'Crownland'.


Atari A8 games I would love to see on a CPC, with updated graphics and so? Drelbs, Realm of Impossibility and the first dungeon crawlers with close to text-mode aesthetics. I can't see a Yoomp! port to the CPC, for instance.
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from C64
Post by: Kris on 11:45, 02 May 19
Be patient guys ;)

Title: Re: Crownland conversion from C64
Post by: XeNoMoRPH on 12:42, 02 May 19
Quote from: robcfg on 07:04, 02 May 19
That looks great indeed!


Not to sound picky, but Crownland is a game for the Atari 8-bit computers, not the C64.  ;D


I've played it a lot on Atari and I can say that it's a great game!
It's true .. I've been wrong with another game I had in mind about C64 and I've messed up haha  :picard:
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: gurneyh on 18:11, 02 May 19
Hi !
I'm the author of this preview. Initially, it was just an attempt at parallax scrolling, but the project progresses.


Quote from: andycadley on 07:43, 02 May 19Don't know anything about the conversion but it sure looks impressive. It's hard to get a parallax effect like that without a purely software scroll (and that in itself is tricky), so I'm curious how it's being achieved.

Good intuition :) 
Hardware scroll is used for front tiles, and compiled tiles are used for background and water. I hope i can show more very soon.
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: robcfg on 18:23, 02 May 19
Thanks for dropping by, and best luck on your project!
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: Targhan on 23:16, 02 May 19
Impressive! The multi-plan scrolling is a real plus, and was certainly a bit tricky to do. If you need help/advice for the music/sound, don't hesitate to ask (check Arkos Tracker on my signature if you never heard of it).
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: Xifos on 09:32, 03 May 19
Hi,
The two video preview are astonishing ! :)
For the front tiles, is it byte hardware scrolling at 25 hz ?Won't you need the scrolling to be slower when the character starts to walk ?
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: gurneyh on 17:55, 03 May 19
Quote from: Targhan on 23:16, 02 May 19
Impressive! The multi-plan scrolling is a real plus, and was certainly a bit tricky to do. If you need help/advice for the music/sound, don't hesitate to ask (check Arkos Tracker on my signature if you never heard of it).

Thanks you, it's very nice.

Arkos Tracker is installed on my machine. Just, i'm bad with soundtrackers.
Quote from: Xifos on 09:32, 03 May 19Hi,
The two video preview are astonishing ! :)
For the front tiles, is it byte hardware scrolling at 25 hz ?Won't you need the scrolling to be slower when the character starts to walk ?
I'm glad this preview pleases.Crownland on Atari 8 bits seems, to have scroll at same speed than the preview, but i could be wrong.
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: norecess464 on 19:08, 03 May 19
Very promising, thanks for sharing !
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: Targhan on 21:32, 03 May 19
QuoteArkos Tracker is installed on my machine. Just, i'm bad with soundtrackers.
It depends on what you want to do actually. I saw an Atari ST version, I guess you could use the same music? In that case, you can use Madram AYC player (from the YM stream).
If you want something more specific, you can you can still ask for help.
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: TomEtJerry on 08:03, 04 May 19
I didn't know this game. Seems to be a mix of Mario / Wonderboy (snails inside !). Graphics are nice, animation is good but the music is CLEARLY too short and not very inspirated (even if for an Atari XL tune, sounds are good). If you plan to do an Amstrad CPC port, you should change this !
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: gurneyh on 09:14, 04 May 19
Quote from: TomEtJerry on 08:03, 04 May 19
I didn't know this game. Seems to be a mix of Mario / Wonderboy (snails inside !). Graphics are nice, animation is good but the music is CLEARLY too short and not very inspirated (even if for an Atari XL tune, sounds are good). If you plan to do an Amstrad CPC port, you should change this !
It's a little early for me to project on what the music will be. The plan was to convert it from Atari ST version, but again it's too early.
I still have work to transform a parallax scrolling demo into a proper game. And... I'm slow.
:)
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: robcfg on 10:35, 04 May 19
I would be sad if the game music is changed.


Maybe improve it, but definitely not changing it. The tunes are short but catchy.
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: TotO on 11:00, 04 May 19
It will be not the first time that a 8/16-bit game do not have the same music from a system to an other.
I do not see any issue with that if it can be better and in the same spirit. (Cybernoid, Deliverance, ...)
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: robcfg on 13:10, 04 May 19
As usual, it's a matter of taste and it's gurneyh's call.


Just saying that if you're used to the original tune, changing it drastically would feel weird.


But that's my 2 cents  :D
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: Rhino on 19:19, 04 May 19
Good work, Gurneyh, the multiscroll effect is very well achieved!Is it your first work for CPC?
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: VincentGR on 21:27, 04 May 19
Amazing !!!
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: gurneyh on 21:29, 04 May 19
Quote from: Rhino on 19:19, 04 May 19
Good work, Gurneyh, the multiscroll effect is very well achieved!Is it your first work for CPC?

Yes Rhino, it's my first project on CPC. But... I take advantage of the help distributed on forum :)



Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: Gryzor on 09:27, 06 May 19
Never heard of the original before, but the vids look beautiful...
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: tastefulmrship on 14:36, 07 May 19
I love CROWNLAND! Really looking forward to playing this on my 6128!
Great work so far! ^_^
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: gurneyh on 18:15, 14 May 19
Hi,

A small step
forward for this project:

https://youtu.be/p1ynZ4fyrCc (https://youtu.be/p1ynZ4fyrCc)

Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: robcfg on 19:00, 14 May 19
Looking good!  :)
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: VincentGR on 19:06, 14 May 19
Holy crap !!!  :o
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: XeNoMoRPH on 19:31, 14 May 19
Go Ahead !!! , very nice graphics !!!  :o
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: Arnaud on 19:31, 14 May 19
Water transparency effect is also really well done.
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: Maniac on 21:32, 14 May 19
This looks stunning! Great stuff!
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: SkulleateR on 10:13, 15 May 19
Great work so far, animation and scrolling really looking smooth, keep it up  8)
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: JayBlood on 10:26, 15 May 19
Well done! :)  :o
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: fgbrain on 17:07, 15 May 19
Looks gorgeous!!! Well done !!


I hope you manage to get the game finished.
It takes an enormous amount of time and talent.


Keep up the good work!!
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: VincentGR on 12:43, 26 April 21
Any news?  ;D
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: Targhan on 23:16, 26 April 21
I think the development is paused for, at least, a long time.
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: gurneyh on 20:35, 27 April 21
Quote from: Targhan on 23:16, 26 April 21I think the development is paused for, at least, a long time.

Indeed, the project is on hold.
Crownland is still important to me, so I hope to finish it, even if it was originally just an excuse to start programming on the CPC again.

Coding a scrolling is different from coding a game :)
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: banana on 14:59, 05 May 21
Can you share a little about the programming method you used for the scrolling? It looks amazing!
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: GUNHED on 19:09, 05 May 21
Quote from: gurneyh on 18:15, 14 May 19
Hi,
A small step forward for this project:

Great code!!! And this is something I only say very few times ;-)
The GFX on the CPC can of course be better than on the Atari (in some way). But I assume they're well done palace holders.

Awesome to see a scrolling game. I'm tired of that static kind of games. Go on! This will be really great!
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: gurneyh on 19:23, 05 May 21
Quote from: banana on 14:59, 05 May 21
Can you share a little about the programming method you used for the scrolling? It looks amazing!

Of course! :)

For the foreground, it's a hard byte scroll using register 3 of the crtc. Very standard technique.
For the clouds, and other background scenery, it's pre-shifted tiles per pixel. A soft scroll in fact. I just take care to display only in the holes left in the foreground.
For the animated water, these are also pre-shifted tiles.
It seems to me that the technical limit is no more than 7 lines to be redisplayed so as not to fall below 50hz.
The target is 25hz in double buffering, so there is still one frame left for sprite display. They are small, and it was fine.

Quote from: GUNHED on 19:09, 05 May 21Great code!!! And this is something I only say very few times ;-) The GFX on the CPC can of course be better than on the Atari (in some way). But I assume they're well done palace holders. Awesome to see a scrolling game. I'm tired of that static kind of games. Go on! This will be really great!


gfx are taken directly from the rom, thanks to the author of the conversion on Atari ST, a version which is also on break. He had kindly provided me with the data from the rom, which he had received from the author of the original game.
A redesign would be necessary.

Indeed, platform games with scrolling are rare nowadays.
We see a lot more games with a static screen.
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: banana on 19:31, 05 May 21
So Basically you preloaded the next shift for the scrolling correct? Did you hold the info in memory to achieve that speed or was it read just before it was needed?
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: gurneyh on 19:35, 05 May 21
Quote from: banana on 19:31, 05 May 21
So Basically you preloaded the next shift for the scrolling correct? Did you hold the info in memory to achieve that speed or was it read just before it was needed?


I don't really understand the question, but yes everything is in memory, the demo only runs with 128kb.
One thing is that the preshifted tiles are compiled. That is, we don't read the data to write it, we just write it.
I hope this answers your question. :)
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: banana on 19:40, 05 May 21
Ok, got it, thank you!!
Title: Re: Crownland conversion from Atari
Post by: sunn on 06:55, 08 April 23
Hope that this could be finished. Love the original. Atari St version would also be sweet.
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