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Watching the olympics, I hadn't realised that field hockey is the third most played sport in the world behind football and badminton.
It is also the 4th most popular sport in the world, so I decided to try out a field hockey game but can't find anything.
There are a few badminton games but not many.

I also haven't seen any netball games either.
Anyone know if Field Hockey and Netball games exist?

Old thread, but I found this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPXCrKBpCZM


Anyone know anything about this game? It is not on CPC Game Reviews website.

(Still haven't found a netball game...)

Yes it is, but it's called slapshot 


http://www.cpcgamereviews.com/s/index12.html

Quote from: sigh on 23:48, 23 July 22Old thread, but I found this:

that's ice hockey, not field hockey. I think in "Winter Sports" (not Winter Games) there is also an ice hockey game included. However a really bad one.

I don't remember I ever saw a field hockey game on any machine. 

I've never seen or heard of any field hockey games on 8, or 16 bit platforms.
Apparently you can get one for Android and iOS ( ugh, I have to wash my mouth out now, mentioning anything about crApple; Damn I just did it again)  :D

Quote from: eto on 17:02, 26 July 22

Quote from: sigh on 23:48, 23 July 22Old thread, but I found this:

that's ice hockey, not field hockey. I think in "Winter Sports" (not Winter Games) there is also an ice hockey game included. However a really bad one.

I don't remember I ever saw a field hockey game on any machine.

Yeah I know. I posted because it's the closest thing I have seen.

Quote from: Animalgril987 on 19:14, 26 July 22I've never seen or heard of any field hockey games on 8, or 16 bit platforms.
Apparently you can get one for Android and iOS ( ugh, I have to wash my mouth out now, mentioning anything about crApple; Damn I just did it again)  :D

This one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXSWA1Is9uU&t=59s

..and this one for the netball - but it isn't really a netball game.
https://apkpure.com/netball-shots-2/com.galaeth.netballshots2

I'm thinking single screen top down netball game would work. No scrolling required. :D


 

Also - as there is no dribbling of the ball in the game, the ball physics seem a little easier as there isn't fancy swerve balls, bouncing of the ball (unless it is dropped, but then it would just bounce on the spot like Basket Master) though there is ricocheting off the rim if the player misses. With how limited the player can move in their positions, the movement is very restricted

The game would be pretty much:

1) Shoot ball at the player in a straight line.
2) Player moves from A to B in their limited area.

It's odd how a game like this hasn't been made before as it seems far simpler than other ball type games.

Netball_Court.gif

Quick mock up; It could be something like this...

This screen size is 384 x 250. The standard 300 x 200, I think is just too small for a game like this without scrolling.

Could be interesting to put in some super moves, like being able to slowdown time so that you have more time to hold the ball, or make the net basket bigger to make it easier to score points.

Updated the title

edit: Trying to update the title to "Field Hockey Game or Netball Game?"

How do I do this?

Quote from: sigh on 23:56, 29 July 22This screen size is 384 x 250. The standard 300 x 200, I think is just too small for a game like this without scrolling.

Could be interesting to put in some super moves, like being able to slowdown time so that you have more time to hold the ball, or make the net basket bigger to make it easier to score points.

How about, if an attacker has the ball in the opponent's semi-circle, the screen zooms in to that area?

Quote from: Animalgril987 on 20:25, 30 July 22

Quote from: sigh on 23:56, 29 July 22This screen size is 384 x 250. The standard 300 x 200, I think is just too small for a game like this without scrolling.

Could be interesting to put in some super moves, like being able to slowdown time so that you have more time to hold the ball, or make the net basket bigger to make it easier to score points.

How about, if an attacker has the ball in the opponent's semi-circle, the screen zooms in to that area?

I wonder - would the CPC be fast enough to execute that without horrible slow down like in Pit Fighter? The quick mock up, visually doesn't have anything too taxing; though if I was to do a finished mock up, it would have a design/motif on the court. On the top part, I would have the umpire and official bench along with the team benches. The bottom half would just have the score board and maybe some crowd. That would be it.

There are 14 sprites  (15 x 25) in total on the court and there would be around 7 or 8 animations to get the basic movement for a full game which would be;

Stand, run, stand with ball, throw, shot, catch, jumping catch and fake/dodge.

I've tried googling other Netball game mock ups and even they don't exist! :o 
If this was made, it would actually be the first Netball Video game ever!

Change the colours so it doesn't look like a grass pitch

Netball_Court02.gif

This one gives it more of a sporty feel:

Netball_Court03.gif

Here is a finished mock up. The size had to be expanded to 400 x 272. It would be interesting to see how many games have play areas larger than the standard 300 x 200?

This also shows how the timer for holding the ball for 3 seconds, could be shown.

At the bottom is the bar that when filled up (this could be filled up by how many passes you successfully do)will automatically activate your special ability.

3_second_hold.gif

@Gryzor 

Is it possible to change the topic name to "Field Hockey or Netball games?" please?

Changed it for you!

No idea about the actual game but I'd play what you're mocking up! 

Quote from: Gryzor on 15:12, 02 August 22Changed it for you!

No idea about the actual game but I'd play what you're mocking up!

Thank you very much.

As I don't have any references of netball video games to go off, I'm having to come up with solutions from scratch.

I'm thinking that there should be some type of gameplay mechanic for throwing and catching the ball to put a bit more emphasis on the skill for timing and reactions;

1) The fire button is already held down when holding the ball.
2) Release the fire button to throw the ball.
3) Hold the fire button as soon as it touches the team mate to catch it.


Pass_Mechanic.gif

This looks great, @sigh.  :D

 I have created the locomotion sprites for the player. There are only 6 frames per movement type as you can see (think that this maybe similar to Emlyn Hughes or MatchDay II?) and they don't need much more than that due to the nature of the way the game is played.

Sprite_Locomotion_Sheet.gif


The throwing/passing of the ball will be around 4 frames. There should be around 4 - 5 types of throws. The type of throw executed, will depend on whether the joystick is in neutral or held in a direction (with the exception of the sling pass):

1) Chest pass (performed when holding the joystick direction and throwing to a team mate in the same area)

2) Bounce pass (performed when joystick is in neutral position and sprite facing the team mate to throw to who is in the same area)

3) Lob pass (performed when holding the joystick direction throwing to a team mate who is far away in the same area, or in a different area from the player. Ball is very high)

4) Overhead pass (performed when joystick is in neutral position and sprite facing the team mate to throw throwing to who is far away in the same area, or in a different area from the player. The ball is medium height)

5) Sling Pass (performed by releasing the fire button as soon as the player had caught it. Fastest pass)


For shooting, there would just be a normal jump shot.

Then lastly for catching or intercepting the ball, they would use the same animations:

1) Standing catch (Press then hold the fire button)
2) Jumping catch  ( Press then hold the fire button)



Any thoughts on the controls?

Was wondering about the amount of frames but couldn't count it on my phone. Pretty fluid! 

(http://[img]https://i.imgur.com/jy6m5XU.gif)(https://i.im.ge/2022/08/05/FbPUlx.Demo-Defending.gif)

A quick example of how the timer works and the opposition defending.

Now thinking that instead of having 5 throwing animations, it is better to just have 2 which would be an overhead throw and a straight throw. With just these 2 throwing animations, they will be able to be re-used for the bounce passes, lobs and sling throws. This also reduces the amount of sprites significantly.

Once I animate the rest of the chest pass and jump shot animations, that should be all the sprite animations for this netball game finished. Next - what sort of special moves could it have?

I'm thinking:
1) Net goal could grows twice the size, making it easier to score.
2) Player speeds up the opponents timer, giving them less time to make decisions on where to shoot.
3) Team summons extra players to pass to.
4) Team increases their movement speed.
5) The team makes the ball invisible when they throw it.

@sigh Is this turning from a mock-up into an actual game, right before our eyes?
If so, can I be a tester?  :D

Quote from: sigh on 23:40, 04 August 22(http://[img]https://i.imgur.com/jy6m5XU.gif)(https://i.im.ge/2022/08/05/FbPUlx.Demo-Defending.gif)

A quick example of how the timer works and the opposition defending.

Now thinking that instead of having 5 throwing animations, it is better to just have 2 which would be an overhead throw and a straight throw. With just these 2 throwing animations, they will be able to be re-used for the bounce passes, lobs and sling throws. This also reduces the amount of sprites significantly.

Once I animate the rest of the chest pass and jump shot animations, that should be all the sprite animations for this netball game finished. Next - what sort of special moves could it have?

I'm thinking:
1) Net goal could grows twice the size, making it easier to score.
2) Player speeds up the opponents timer, giving them less time to make decisions on where to shoot.
3) Team summons extra players to pass to.
4) Team increases their movement speed.
5) The team makes the ball invisible when they throw it.

Always did love your pixel art and animation style and you put such personality even into tiny sprites like these.  I had no interest in playing a Netball game (not into sports games in general) but I'd play this even just for the pixels, but also looks like it could be a genuinely fun lil arcadey game.  The Sensible Soccer of Netball. :)

Quote from: Carnivius on 12:34, 06 August 22

Quote from: sigh on 23:40, 04 August 22(http://[img]https://i.imgur.com/jy6m5XU.gif)(https://i.im.ge/2022/08/05/FbPUlx.Demo-Defending.gif)

A quick example of how the timer works and the opposition defending.

Now thinking that instead of having 5 throwing animations, it is better to just have 2 which would be an overhead throw and a straight throw. With just these 2 throwing animations, they will be able to be re-used for the bounce passes, lobs and sling throws. This also reduces the amount of sprites significantly.

Once I animate the rest of the chest pass and jump shot animations, that should be all the sprite animations for this netball game finished. Next - what sort of special moves could it have?

I'm thinking:
1) Net goal could grows twice the size, making it easier to score.
2) Player speeds up the opponents timer, giving them less time to make decisions on where to shoot.
3) Team summons extra players to pass to.
4) Team increases their movement speed.
5) The team makes the ball invisible when they throw it.

Always did love your pixel art and animation style and you put such personality even into tiny sprites like these.  I had no interest in playing a Netball game (not into sports games in general) but I'd play this even just for the pixels, but also looks like it could be a genuinely fun lil arcadey game.  The Sensible Soccer of Netball. :)

Thank you very much. This netball game would definitely be fast paced and arcadey in a Speedball type of way.

Quote from: Animalgril987 on 12:03, 06 August 22@sigh Is this turning from a mock-up into an actual game, right before our eyes?
If so, can I be a tester?  :D

Well - it indeed has! That wasn't the plan, but as there wasn't much to it in terms of animations, I thought that I may as well finish it as a real game.

Sprite sheet is missing the catching ball animations:

(https://i.im.ge/2022/08/06/FgbwNf.Sprite-Sheet-NetBall.gif)

After the catching animations are done - that will be all the sprites finished.

Updated the way the catch and throw mechanic works to make the feedback more stronger and more expressive:

(https://i.im.ge/2022/08/06/F8IBJG.Catches.gif)

When the ball turns orange; that will be the window in which the player can hold the button to catch the ball:

(https://i.im.ge/2022/08/06/F8dqip.Catch-Mechanic.gif)

I imagine a punchy sound effect when catching the ball.

I may also need to look at the court again as I think it maybe a bit too big...

Updated with shadow changing colour too:

(https://i.im.ge/2022/08/06/F8yHjT.Catch-Mechanic.gif)

You work on it round the clock? 🙂

Quote from: sigh on 17:22, 06 August 22Updated with shadow changing colour too:
(https://i.im.ge/2022/08/06/F8yHjT.Catch-Mechanic.gif)

I find the first iteration better.
The color change on the ball should be enough, because applied on the shadow it's more distracting for my taste.
Great animation work with some pixels, as usual. Great job!

This is awesome work Sigh. Both in terms of GFX and gameplay anticipation.
I really hope to be able to play this someday.

Good luck !

Quote from: gurneyh on 21:17, 06 August 22

Quote from: sigh on 17:22, 06 August 22Updated with shadow changing colour too:
(https://i.im.ge/2022/08/06/F8yHjT.Catch-Mechanic.gif)

I find the first iteration better.
The color change on the ball should be enough, because applied on the shadow it's more distracting for my taste.
Great animation work with some pixels, as usual. Great job!

Really appreciate the feedback and I think you may have a point. Also - there would be some tracking for the player when trying to catch the ball. It wouldn't be 'pixel perfect pin point accuracy', so there would be some level of generosity.

I have added one more sprite for the ball, which is a larger version to give it a bit more depth and perspective when doing lob passes:

(https://i.im.ge/2022/08/07/FRyP71.Animation32.gif)

In netball (watching it on the common wealth games) there is lots of fake passing. This could be executed by 'double tapping' in a direction. There will be another copy of the sprite animation which will be of a single colour, behind the main animation, which will be delayed by a frame:

(https://i.im.ge/2022/08/07/FRATVD.Fake-Pass-Chest.gif)

You can see the blue frames on the top - which is same animation as stated, but will be recoloured within the code as would be expected.

Quote from: OneVision on 10:03, 07 August 22This is awesome work Sigh. Both in terms of GFX and gameplay anticipation.
I really hope to be able to play this someday.

Good luck !

I really do hope so too. I really do think that this has the potential to be something quite special and incredibly fun. It would also be the first netball game ever made to my knowledge.

I suspect the reason there weren't hockey/netball games back in the day is simply that they were considered "girls" sports, and video games were considered a "boy" thing and so there was a simple assumption there would be little to no demand. Odd there hasn't been since, but I guess they're still quite niche sports too in comparison with Soccer, Rugby etc.

It's an interesting concept though. For the netball mock up you'd need at most 16 sprites (14 players, the ball and it's shadow). And they're only 8*16 if my eyeballing is correct. Those numbers literally scream GX at me, which would let you double the horizontal resolution of the players and either have a full 16 colours for the background or even draw it in Mode 1. And you could use two button controls rather than trying to shoehorn everything onto just one. And hitting 50fps with hardware sprites would be trivial...

Kind of wish I had more time. And even a vague understanding of netball.

Quote from: andycadley on 11:31, 07 August 22I suspect the reason there weren't hockey/netball games back in the day is simply that they were considered "girls" sports, and video games were considered a "boy" thing and so there was a simple assumption there would be little to no demand. Odd there hasn't been since, but I guess they're still quite niche sports too in comparison with Soccer, Rugby etc.

It's an interesting concept though. For the netball mock up you'd need at most 16 sprites (14 players, the ball and it's shadow). And they're only 8*16 if my eyeballing is correct. Those numbers literally scream GX at me, which would let you double the horizontal resolution of the players and either have a full 16 colours for the background or even draw it in Mode 1. And you could use two button controls rather than trying to shoehorn everything onto just one. And hitting 50fps with hardware sprites would be trivial...

Kind of wish I had more time. And even a vague understanding of netball.

Yes - definitely being seen as mostly a girls sports. There are no Mens netball teams in the common wealth games, though there is talk of having it in the next one.

The sprites are a bit bigger than 16*16, and some of them are a bit larger than that when it comes to jumping, shooting etc.
I had thought of trying to squeeze them all into 16*16, but I wasn't able to make it look dynamic enough. I also learned so much from creating the sprites from the football game and used that as reference. The amount of animation frames for this netball game have been optimized and cut down considerably, to make sure there aren't many sprites.

I don't mind whether it's on the GX or stock CPC, but having the extra button on the controller would indeed help.
I'm also looking to use the method that was explained in the football game by Axelay for creating different skin colours for the players.

@sigh , I think, just from Amstrad's sales figures, that stock CPC would be more in demand. I image that quite a few people on here don't have a Plus or GX (myself for one).

Quote from: Animalgril987 on 16:20, 07 August 22@sigh , I think, just from Amstrad's sales figures, that stock CPC would be more in demand. I image that quite a few people on here don't have a Plus or GX (myself for one).

Yeah, I'm more fascinated by it being a CPC game rather than Plus/GX myself.  Always have been more in favour of the regular CPC.  The Plus/GX never appealed to me. If I'm gonna be using more speed and 4096 colour palette I may as well go Amiga like many customers and developers did back then.  But it's up to Sigh of course.

Quote from: Animalgril987 on 16:20, 07 August 22@sigh , I think, just from Amstrad's sales figures, that stock CPC would be more in demand. I image that quite a few people on here don't have a Plus or GX (myself for one).

Quote from: Carnivius on 19:29, 07 August 22

Quote from: Animalgril987 on 16:20, 07 August 22@sigh , I think, just from Amstrad's sales figures, that stock CPC would be more in demand. I image that quite a few people on here don't have a Plus or GX (myself for one).

Yeah, I'm more fascinated by it being a CPC game rather than Plus/GX myself.  Always have been more in favour of the regular CPC.  The Plus/GX never appealed to me. If I'm gonna be using more speed and 4096 colour palette I may as well go Amiga like many customers and developers did back then.  But it's up to Sigh of course.

I don't mind either way. I was hoping that it could be a 64kb game but it may need a few extra kb for the sound effects and music. Graphically, it looks like it will need 24kb  - but as the sprites are rather small, it maybe able to be compressed/decompressed on the fly without losing speed maybe?

Here is the game mechanic for shooting at the goal which is the same to passing to a team mate, but with an added extra:

1) If the player releases the button and then presses the button again at the apex of the balls height - the ball will fall into the net.
2) If the player releases the button and then presses the button again after the apex of the balls height - that will result in the ball hitting the rim.
3) If the player releases the button and then presses the button again before the apex of the balls height - that will result in the ball missing the net completely.


(https://i.im.ge/2022/08/08/FWUyXJ.Goal-Demo.gif)
I think that this should provide enough tension and skill to make it fun.

The following Gif shows an opposing team intercepting the ball with a catch. It then shows that same team missing a catch with the ball deflecting off the player:

1) If an opposing player intercepts the ball and catches it, the player will turn orange and the game will freeze for 2 frames in order to emphasise the impact. The crowd will cheer.

2) If the player presses the button after the orange, it will deflect off their body.



(https://i.im.ge/2022/08/09/Fz1Hdp.Intercept-And-Fumble.gif)

If the player presses the button before the orange, the player will miss the catch completely. This is similar mechanic to the scoring.

Next; creating the special abilities. The bars at the the bottom of the screen will fill up each time the player does a successful pass. When it is filled, the special ability will activate automatically. It will be active for 5 seconds.

I think it would be good if each team had their own individual special ability and their own court. Each team would also have a unique soundtrack too. This would make them feel more unique and it also gives a off a "fighting game" feel about it when you are battling them on their own turf:

1) Team Alley - concrete court with graffiti. Red colour uniform. Ability - The opposing teams goal, grows twice the size.
2) Team Field - grassy field court with some specks of flowers. Yellow colour uniform. Ability - players move faster.
3) Team Snow - Snowy court(but with no sliding). Blue uniform. Ability - summons extra players to pass to.
4) Team Beach - Sandy court. Green uniform.
5) Team Roof - Rooftop court. Purple uniform.
6) Team Champ - Championship court with crowd. White uniform.
7) Team Super - Wooden floor court with crowd and tv cameras. Black uniform.

They could exchange a few diss words to each other on the court, before starting the game, just to give it a slight story element (which is simply to be crowned the best netball team) and to make it personal between the two teams.

Just looking at the sprite sheet so far. I potentially have space for the shoulder pass or overhead pass which are already animated, but I think it maybe better to just stick to the two passes - chest pass and jump pass, then just have the ball move and act like either of those passes:

Sprite_Sheet_NetBall.png

(so, scrapping shoulder and overhead passes)

Also - there are substitutions in netball. I think what would be cool is that halfway through the match, the substitution happens but it is the "boss" of that team that is the substitute. This boss will be waiting on the side lines(like in the arcade version of Renegade) and will be of a different colour. They will be in the Goal Attack position and move faster and have better accuracy. Also, when they activate the special ability, it will last longer:

CourtWithBoss.gif

Perhaps the 'boss' could only be substituted in for a single quarter of the match, adding a bit of tactics to when this is used?

Oh, I like that idea @Skunkfish  :D

Quote from: Skunkfish on 16:00, 11 August 22Perhaps the 'boss' could only be substituted in for a single quarter of the match, adding a bit of tactics to when this is used?

The last quarter, would probably be the best way to do it? It would give it that 'boss level' feel when they step onto the court.
Also - each quarter lasts for 60 seconds meaning that 1 match is 4 minutes in total.

Here is how the special ability would activate. The bars at the bottom fill up with each pass*. When the bar is filled, an animation will play (with this ability, the opponents net on the right hand side gets bigger). While the ability is active, the bar will start to deplete each second. When the bar is empty, there will be a flash to signal it's end:

(https://i.im.ge/2022/08/12/Femz8K.Ability-Activation.gif)

*This gif also shows the bounce pass.

Changed the end of the super ability to something less annoying;

(https://i.im.ge/2022/08/12/FeCspP.Ability-Activation3.gif)

This is less distracting.
I also think that maybe the players could change to a different colour while the ability is activated. They could all turn navy blue making them look like shadows.

Another thing is that the bar will only build up in the MIDDLE of the court. So in order to stop players spamming continuously in the middle of the court as shown in the gif:

1) Once a successful pass has been made in the middle of the court, the bar will fill up by one.
2) If the player make another pass in the middle of the court, the bar will not fill up again.
3) The player must make a pass out of the middle of the court into another area.
4) Once the player from that area makes a pass back into the middle of the court, they will gain another bar.

I have been thinking about the control system again and I think it maybe be in need of some changes in order to make the game feel more quicker and arcadey:

When in possession:

Tapping the fire button:

1) If the player holds a direction and taps the fire button, the ball is thrown directly to the nearest team mate who will catch it automatically.
2) If the player has the joystick in neutral and taps the fire button, the player will perform a bounce pass directly to the nearest team mate who will catch it automatically.

Holding the fire button:

1) If the player holds a direction and holds the fire button then releases, the player will throw the ball in that direction. The nearest team mate will be selected for the player to control, where they will have to run towards the ball and press the fire button to perform a running catch.

2) If the player has the joystick in neutral and holds the fire button and releases, it will perform a lob throw to the nearest team mate who will catch it automatically.

3) The longer the player holds the button, the further the throw.

Double tapping the joystick:

1) Double tapping the joystick will still make the player do a fake pass.

When defending:

When a player is standing near an opposition who has the ball, they will automatically go into the defending pose with their arms raised above their heads.

1) Pressing the fire button will make the player lunge or jump for the ball.

Here are the different skin colour combinations. I'm not sure how having different colour hair would be handled:

(https://i.im.ge/2022/08/13/OoucSa.SkinColours.gif)


I am now done with everything for this game in terms of graphics, control system and gameplay flow. The graphics fill 3 sheets of 160 x 200 (24kb).

In regards to music, each team would have a unique piece of music. It would be good if the music had a 'fighting spirit' to it such as:

So - that's pretty much it for this game which I am calling 'Netball Hot Shots'.

I have spent 2 weeks on this and have done all that I can (apart from the menu and title screen) so I wont be touching this again. It wasn't even supposed to reach this finish state in the beginning. However - if anyone is interested in making this or the football game, then let me know.

I would of loved to have entered this type of a game in a CPCRetroDev competition, as the first netball sports game :D .   

... or the first basketball game to be of some quality next to Basket Master? 

I definitely wouldn't turn it into a basketball game, as there are already a few on the CPC with Basket Master being really good fun. There are no netball video games of any kind on any platform then and now, which makes it even more interesting and challenging to me.

Basket Master was the only one that was any good, and this has a distinctly different look (plus the benefit of not being a one-on-one game).

I also used to enjoy the GBA title as a kid, spent countless hours on it, but now - oh what a pile of crap that is.

I was looking at some of the gameboy, megadrive and snes games. I too have noticed that there are many 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2 or 3 vs 3 basketball games compared to full team ones.

Here is an update for the scoring. I have now made the mechanic simpler, by having the player hold the button and releasing it on the orange. During this time of shooting, the counter on top of the players head will disappear. If they take too long to shoot, then the player will shoot automatically and miss the net completely.

(https://i.im.ge/2022/08/16/O1YyEc.Goal-ShootingNew.gif)

The further away they are from the goal net, the faster the ball flashes making it more difficult to score. If the player is closer to the goal net, the ball flashing will be slower. This is my last update:D

Nice mechanism. Also love the net animation! 

This already looks like it's a real game. Fantastic work.

How are you doing the animations?

Thanks.

I actually have Pro Motion and am looking to start using that for all my pixel art, but I started the mock up using an older package. The run cycles that were modified from the football sprites were animated in the older software, so I just stuck with that.

Okay - one last final change to the shooting mechanic. :laugh:

Keeping it simple by just having you the hold button, then releasing the button at the apex of the jump to score a shot. Feels more natural to do it that way.

Goal_ShootingFinal.gif

I'm also thinking that the music for the game should be a more "dancey" head nodding sort of vibe instead:

Looking AND sounding good, @sigh

I'm thinking of creating the other courts for this game in order to complete it fully:

 1) Team Alley - concrete court with graffiti. Red colour uniform. Ability - The opposing teams goal, grows twice the size.
2) Team Field - grassy field court with some specks of flowers. Yellow colour uniform. Ability - players move faster.
3) Team Snow - Snowy court(but with no sliding). Blue uniform. Ability - summons extra players to pass to.
4) Team Beach - Sandy court. Green uniform.
5) Team Roof - Rooftop court. Purple uniform.
6) Team Champ - Championship court with crowd. White uniform.
7) Team Super - Wooden floor court with crowd and tv cameras. Black uniform.

The last 4 teams need some special abilities:

1) Team Beach - Reverse oppositions controls for 3 seconds.
2) Team Roof  - Quickens the oppositions time for holding the ball.
3) Team Champ - Players leave banana skins while moving.
4) Team Super  - Ball turns invisible while player throws it. Last 10 seconds.

Any other ideas are welcome.

TeamGrass.gif

Here is the Grass Court gang with the boss waiting at the top. I've been thinking about the vibe of this game and it is leaning towards a cross between Renegade and Rival Schools.

I've decided to keep the backgrounds as simple as possible with the main details being on the pitch. I'm going to try and attempt the concrete court with a graffiti word on it, but I'm not particularly good at creating that sort of type or style font.

Concrete Court team:

https://i.imgur.com/TyRbgzX.png[/img]](https://i.imgur.com/TyRbgzX.png) (https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/games/%5Bimg)

https://i.imgur.com/cL1yfYS.gif[/img]](https://i.imgur.com/cL1yfYS.gif) (https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/games/%5Bimg)

Some of the characters look a little lost, but this is solved when they are in there idle animation.
I'll probably tackle the snowy or sandy court next.

This is looking great!

Funny how it is, with all the thousands of sports games out there, nobody was ever bothered to make any games about female sports at all. 

Quote from: Anthony Flack on 02:48, 01 August 23This is looking great!

Funny how it is, with all the thousands of sports games out there, nobody was ever bothered to make any games about female sports at all.

True. 

You would of thought there would of been a netball game by now; the netball world cup started last friday, which has been showing on tv.

Beach Court Team. I'm going to attempt to take this same court and change the colours to create the snow court.

BeachCourt02E.png

Snow Court:

SnowCourt.png

SnowCourt.gif

I changed the rooftop level to a night club instead. As this whole game is viewed in a very unrealistic perspective that makes very little sense in the real world - the roof top was a bit difficult to design in an interesting but simple way. I then thought it would be more interesting to have this team who has a captain(boss) that owns a nightclub where the dance floor is a netball court.

(Also - the netball world cup finished yesterday with Australia winning, England coming second and Jamaica third.)

nightclub03.gif

Here is the final stage which is the championship court.

SuperCourtEmpty.png

SuperCourt.png

..though I'm thinking that I may do one more stage- a secret stage - that is only available if certain requirements are met.
This would get you access to the true game ending.

Here is the Neon Court - the secret court where you play against the Netonamons*. These are robots whose ability is to make their team the same colours as yours.

NeonCourt.gif

Well - those are all the courts done. It's been fun doing these as the courts are far less detailed and basic (though the crowds in the Chgampionship court might be a bit too basic...) than any of the other games, which makes creating them far quicker and easier to do

*There is a story behind all this:D

Updated championship court crowd with better height variation.

SuperCourtEmpty01.png

SuperTeam.gif SnowTeam.gif ChampTeam.gif
GraffitiGif2.gif GrassTeam.gif BeachTeam.gif
NightClubTeam.gif NeonCourt02.gif

From left to right:

Row 1) Super Court, Snow Court, Championship Court
Row 2) Street Court, Grass Court, Beach Court
Row 3) Club Court, Neon Court

What music tracks would you have for each of these courts? (You could provide youtube links to tracks. you think could work for a particular court) :)

NeonCourt02.gif

I think the first 4 minutes of this soundtrack would match the vibe of this court?

GraffitiGif2.gif

I think that something funky like this could work well with this level?

Added two more teams, taking the total to ten.

MultiCourt02C.gif
The multi-court. A common court that you see, which has both basketball and netball lines. This court is shared with another team.

CarParkTeam.gif

This is the players team court. A court in a car park where the lines are drawn with chalk. Due to a lack of funding, they don't have a court of their own.

One more court ;D .

In contrast with the Car Park court, here is a wealthy persons court that is situated in their bedroom, along with butlers and bodyguards.

BedroomCourt.gif

So - ten normal courts and one secret court. This is a good number to stop.

A soundtrack like this (from the 1:50 mark) I think could work well with court:

Quote from: sigh on 17:13, 18 August 23One more court ;D .

In contrast with the Car Park court, here is a wealthy persons court that is situated in their bedroom, along with butlers and bodyguards.

BedroomCourt.gif

So - ten normal courts and one secret court. This is a good number to stop.

A soundtrack like this (from the 1:50 mark) I think could work well with court:

Thats awesome, this will be an actual game. Or just graphics? Could be really good

Quote from: jesusdelmas on 18:01, 18 August 23

Quote from: sigh on 17:13, 18 August 23One more court ;D .

In contrast with the Car Park court, here is a wealthy persons court that is situated in their bedroom, along with butlers and bodyguards.

BedroomCourt.gif

So - ten normal courts and one secret court. This is a good number to stop.

A soundtrack like this (from the 1:50 mark) I think could work well with court:

Thats awesome, this will be an actual game. Or just graphics? Could be really good

Thanks!

I would absolutely love this to be an actual game. I think it would be the first netball game (and I mean proper netball game, not just a game where you just shoot a ball into a basket) ever made.

All the sprite animations plus the court graphics are all done and all the game mechanics, are pretty much sorted. However - I think that getting a programmer interested in this would be extremely difficult. There also aren't any examples of this type of game that you could reference from easily. Basketball - could be seen as the closest, but in basketball, you can move whilst holding the ball, but with netball you have to stay rooted in the spot while you are holding the ball. In basketball you can dunk, while in netball you are not allowed to dunk and can only throw the ball into the net from a standing position. Basketball has contact, but netball doesn't.

There are quite a few differences and it's less complicated than basketball, football, tennis games (still would need fun AI) etc, which is why I thought to eliminate  scrolling in the game and instead show the whole court (like Basket Master or Tennis games) and just focus on fast arcadey action.

If anyone could shoot in any ideas for what music/soundtracks they think would match the different courts, that would be appreciated.

MultiCourt02C.gif

Music style for the multi court. A calmer court with a dance track that is not too intense:

Music starts at 0:13. A nice simple loop?

CarParkTeam.gif

Looking at the courts special moves. This one as your goal semi circle reduce in size, making it harder for your opponent to get inside it to score:

ChampCourtSpecial01.gif

As the court size is 400x272, I was wondering; what other CPC games had larger screen sizes than the more common 320x200?

I don't know. I'm not a fan of sports games, and this game may not be handled by a CPC, but I see potential for a retro style PC game with CPC aesthetics. Specially if as I see here, game and controls got this arcade feeling. Very similar to games like NBA Jam which is a game I like and played a lot despite not liking sport games.
It would be a pity to see all this work done going to waste. That said I'm not a programmer though so I can't help at all :P

Quote from: sigh on 16:43, 25 August 23As the court size is 400x272, I was wondering; what other CPC games had larger screen sizes than the more common 320x200?

Not many and normally extended in one direction means compromising in another. 400*272 means you need a full overscan screen and that's half the system RAM gone purely on the screen display. Plus sprite routines get more complicated and potentially slower as a result, since you have both an awkward width and screen wrapping where the 16K boundary gets broken.

Uh oh. Well - looks like this was a serious waste of time. I wonder if the PLUS can handle that screen size? If not, it would mean that the game would have to scroll, which I really don't want.

Other option would be to redo it in 320*200 which is very small and that is all sorts of problems for the sprites.

It's a lot easier on a Plus because you can use the screen splitting capability rather than having to rely on traditional overscan. And, of course, if you can get away with using the hardware sprites then you don't even have to worry about screen addressing as much anyway.

If the screen is mostly static, I don't understand why it should impact speed if it's bigger than usual?! on a standard 64K machine I see some issues, but with a ROM game or RAM expansion, wouldn't there be options that make it possible?

Isn't it possible to have a continuous screen from &8000-&exxx? Sure, won't be able to use the firmware any more, but if it runs e.g. from ROM or loads all data into a Ram expansion, that should not be so important. And if that isn't possible, sprite routines (afaik) for 320 pixels usually already use lookup-tables. Is there really a huge difference between lookup tables for 320 or 400 pixels?

Screen addressing gets kind of messy, because of where the wrap over occurs, usually mid line. You might be able to make it better by playing with the width a bit or using a rupture. It's not impossible to work around but it's definitely more complex, which is why you don't see loads of overscan games.

If you aren't scrolling the screen then the simplest solution for an overscan screen is to start the first screen at an offset that ensures the start of the second bank of video memory also coincides with a new character line.  Then every byte you see on screen will be 1 memory location higher than the byte to its' left, just as on a standard 40x25 character screen.

If you use a lookup table to determine the y component of your screen addresses, then the entirity of your sprite code should probably be identical to that of a standard sized screen.  If you use calculations to determine the y component of a screen address, then you will need to add consideration for when the video memory jumps banks whenever you would also need to check for crossing character lines vertically, but traversing a line horizontally would remain as simple as with a standard screen.

Quote from: Axelay on 16:43, 26 August 23If you aren't scrolling the screen then the simplest solution for an overscan screen is to start the first screen at an offset that ensures the start of the second bank of video memory also coincides with a new character line.  Then every byte you see on screen will be 1 memory location higher than the byte to its' left, just as on a standard 40x25 character screen.

If you use a lookup table to determine the y component of your screen addresses, then the entirity of your sprite code should probably be identical to that of a standard sized screen.  If you use calculations to determine the y component of a screen address, then you will need to add consideration for when the video memory jumps banks whenever you would also need to check for crossing character lines vertically, but traversing a line horizontally would remain as simple as with a standard screen.

Yes - I am not scrolling the screen. How much extra work is your conclusion compared to a standard screen and is it painful for a coder?

Is is doable on 64kb with this method, or would the game need to be 128kb? I really would prefer 64kb as I would love to enter something like this in a future CPC Retro dev.

I took one of the courts and made a quick and dirty 320x200 by cropping and scaling with the sprites on top. The sprites in yellow have been fixed back into their wide pixels, but the rest of the sprites are all messed up. It already shows how much the court would need to be sacrificed.

Dirty_320_200.png

Where things get painful with what you are asking for is in memory management, unfortunately.

I believe you said you had 24kb of sprite frames.  The overscan display you have specified is 24kb.  It is actually 'spread out' over 32kb with lots of annoying little memory gaps you can try and use, or you could try changing character height to make using that free memory easier, but that would impact on the screen size a little.  For the sake of the argument, it's about 24kb.

The retro dev comp requires single load 64kb games, and for just the screen and sprite frames you've consumed 48kb already, leaving 16kb for background graphics (with varied courts), game logic, sound/music and some memory for a menu interface.  In my view, that simply isn't close to being possible without really savage cut backs on the sprite animation, screen size and court variety.  So in its' present form, I think it would have to be 128kb.

A point on the screen size, you mentioned using a 400x272 display.  The overscan displays I have used are at 384x272, and even then, most of the two character columns on the left and right sides of the screens will not be visible on an original CTM.  At least not mine.  With how you have placed the goals, I think it likely they would both be at least partly offscreen.  Also, while most of the 272 lines in height of an overscan screen is visble, towards the corners there's enough of a curve to start obscuring the top and bottom lines, so I suspect the left part of your score line would not be entirely visible either.

Quote from: Axelay on 08:14, 27 August 23Where things get painful with what you are asking for is in memory management, unfortunately.

I believe you said you had 24kb of sprite frames.  The overscan display you have specified is 24kb.  It is actually 'spread out' over 32kb with lots of annoying little memory gaps you can try and use, or you could try changing character height to make using that free memory easier, but that would impact on the screen size a little.  For the sake of the argument, it's about 24kb.

The retro dev comp requires single load 64kb games, and for just the screen and sprite frames you've consumed 48kb already, leaving 16kb for background graphics (with varied courts), game logic, sound/music and some memory for a menu interface.  In my view, that simply isn't close to being possible without really savage cut backs on the sprite animation, screen size and court variety.  So in its' present form, I think it would have to be 128kb.

A point on the screen size, you mentioned using a 400x272 display.  The overscan displays I have used are at 384x272, and even then, most of the two character columns on the left and right sides of the screens will not be visible on an original CTM.  At least not mine.  With how you have placed the goals, I think it likely they would both be at least partly offscreen.  Also, while most of the 272 lines in height of an overscan screen is visble, towards the corners there's enough of a curve to start obscuring the top and bottom lines, so I suspect the left part of your score line would not be entirely visible either.

Thank you.

For the 64kb, it would have been just a single court with the sprites to show (with the other courts being multiload at a later point) to get it into the comp.

Your point about the goal nets not being visible on the original displays, says pretty much everything about the game in it current form, in that I have failed to have realized this, making this current sized whole single screen set up redundant.

It's now more obvious now that the game will need to be 320x200 to avoid any scrolling. *

So - if I were to reduce the size to 320x200 as in the last pic I posted (no scrolling) and just had the same amount of sprite animations, I'm guessing that this would fit on a 64kb?

As long as the animation is still there to keep the energy in the game, I think I would be okay with that. Also - if I want to entice a coder to give this a go, I want to make it not too complicated, due to it being entered for a 64kb comp, as getting the interest for a netball game in itself is already challenge.


* Actually - what is the largest screen size I could fit the court in that would show on an original monitor without losing the edges please? Something like 350x250?

Quote from: sigh on 12:52, 27 August 23So - if I were to reduce the size to 320x200 as in the last pic I posted (no scrolling) and just had the same amount of sprite animations, I'm guessing that this would fit on a 64kb?

I couldn't say for certain, but it sounds more achievable, when taken with the cutting back to one court.

Quote from: sigh on 12:52, 27 August 23* Actually - what is the largest screen size I could fit the court in that would show on an original monitor without losing the edges please? Something like 350x250?

Here's some test shots from the megablasters tribute so you can judge for yourself, one emulator and one photo from my CTM.  They were taken at different stages before things were finalised, so the panel isn't identical, but the placement didn't change. The display is 384x272.  Note that on the emulator shot, half a character on the left side is unused because of the odd tile width, as is half a character along the bottom so score information is not obscured.  I'd guess that by removing a character from all four sides on the emulator image, so 368x256, you would probably only lose a little from the top and bottom corners on the right hand side from the CTM.

If you are going target 128k, there's no reason you couldn't use the full 384x272, you just need to bear in mind the curve of the CTM frame, and that very little of the left and right most character columns is visible, so it would need to be non essential graphics you'd only see on emulators or real hardware on alternative displays.

Quote from: Axelay on 12:23, 28 August 23

Quote from: sigh on 12:52, 27 August 23So - if I were to reduce the size to 320x200 as in the last pic I posted (no scrolling) and just had the same amount of sprite animations, I'm guessing that this would fit on a 64kb?

I couldn't say for certain, but it sounds more achievable, when taken with the cutting back to one court.

Quote from: sigh on 12:52, 27 August 23* Actually - what is the largest screen size I could fit the court in that would show on an original monitor without losing the edges please? Something like 350x250?

Here's some test shots from the megablasters tribute so you can judge for yourself, one emulator and one photo from my CTM.  They were taken at different stages before things were finalised, so the panel isn't identical, but the placement didn't change. The display is 384x272.  Note that on the emulator shot, half a character on the left side is unused because of the odd tile width, as is half a character along the bottom so score information is not obscured.  I'd guess that by removing a character from all four sides on the emulator image, so 368x256, you would probably only lose a little from the top and bottom corners on the right hand side from the CTM.

If you are going target 128k, there's no reason you couldn't use the full 384x272, you just need to bear in mind the curve of the CTM frame, and that very little of the left and right most character columns is visible, so it would need to be non essential graphics you'd only see on emulators or real hardware on alternative displays.

Thanks you for the images, I really appreciate it. I see what you mean now by the bending on the CTM.

I have posted an image of a screen 368x256. 

368x256_Court.png

I had to bring in the goal nets in by a few pixels, as the original width of the playable area court is 376x190. This new pic shows 368x190. The goals are a tight fit as I had to remove the empty space either side. Before I go any further editing all the other courts, I just want to know if this is also achievable for a 64kb comp?

I realize that will be difficult to answer, but all the other games like the scrolling beat em up/football etc; have all required 128kb, so the 64kb is something I haven't achieved yet.

Not sure if it helps but this game runs in a CPC 464 with a full overscan screen. Maybe it's simpler than a netball match but it can be done.


For speed the game could be a 2 vs 2 instead of full teams or something like that. I don't know the rules of netball.

Quote from: Brundij on 20:52, 29 August 23Not sure if it helps but this game runs in a CPC 464 with a full overscan screen. Maybe it's simpler than a netball match but it can be done.

For speed the game could be a 2 vs 2 instead of full teams or something like that. I don't know the rules of netball.

Thanks. I think that game is 384x270.

I'm strongly leaning to a format like 330x210 instead, which will mean having to redo the sprite animations to make them smaller. I'm hoping that the extra 10 pixels on the horizontal and vertical doesn't kill the speed too much.

Dirty_330x210.png

With netball, you cannot move with the ball like you can in basketball. Once you have the ball in your hands, you have to stay put and throw it within 3 seconds. A 2 vs 2 netball, wouldn't work for this reason. It works in basketball because you are dribbling all over the place which means your opponent has to guess whether you are going to keep dribbling or throw it to your partner.
Netball wouldn't have that guess work with only 2 vs 2 because you have no choice but to throw it to your team mate once you have the ball. All the guess work in netball comes with the full 7 vs 7.

Quote from: sigh on 13:44, 28 August 23I had to bring in the goal nets in by a few pixels, as the original width of the playable area court is 376x190. This new pic shows 368x190. The goals are a tight fit as I had to remove the empty space either side. Before I go any further editing all the other courts, I just want to know if this is also achievable for a 64kb comp?

I realize that will be difficult to answer, but all the other games like the scrolling beat em up/football etc; have all required 128kb, so the 64kb is something I haven't achieved yet.

Reducing the screen size by a small amount from full overscan doesn't reduce the memory used by the screen all that much, so I don't think it changes the equation that much.  I'd still lean towards probably not in 64k, but just possibly with large compromises to how you're envisaging it.  That's just my take on it though.

Regarding Oscar Z, it is not using full overscan.  It has a 'standard' 16kb screen for the play area, stretched to the monitor sides and reduced in height.  It then has a status area which is an additional screen of less than 4kb I think, floating several characters above the play area.  The border above and below this is set to the same colour as the play area sky to make the sky appear to extend to the top.

Quote from: Axelay on 14:47, 30 August 23

Quote from: sigh on 13:44, 28 August 23I had to bring in the goal nets in by a few pixels, as the original width of the playable area court is 376x190. This new pic shows 368x190. The goals are a tight fit as I had to remove the empty space either side. Before I go any further editing all the other courts, I just want to know if this is also achievable for a 64kb comp?

I realize that will be difficult to answer, but all the other games like the scrolling beat em up/football etc; have all required 128kb, so the 64kb is something I haven't achieved yet.

Reducing the screen size by a small amount from full overscan doesn't reduce the memory used by the screen all that much, so I don't think it changes the equation that much.  I'd still lean towards probably not in 64k, but just possibly with large compromises to how you're envisaging it.  That's just my take on it though.

Regarding Oscar Z, it is not using full overscan.  It has a 'standard' 16kb screen for the play area, stretched to the monitor sides and reduced in height.  It then has a status area which is an additional screen of less than 4kb I think, floating several characters above the play area.  The border above and below this is set to the same colour as the play area sky to make the sky appear to extend to the top.

Aaah okay, thanks.

Hmmm...

I have done this dirty version where I have shrunk the whole court to fit into 320x200 and re-pixeled the sprite (the orange animated ones) to the same size as the reduced green ones as much I could. I still have around 2/3 of anims left to re-pixel. Once the skips are re-done, things will be much easier as the locomotion sets are the most tricky:

320x200_Sprite_Demo.gif

This version is also 320x200, but I have made the playable area of the court bigger.

320x200_Sprite_Demo_2.gif

...and then this this 330x210 - 10 extra pixels on top and bottom(5 pixels on either side)using the same reduced sprite examples (the animated ones). The actual playable area of the court is 320x162:

330x210_Sprite_Demo.gif

I want to keep it 64kb.  Ideally I would prefer to use the 330x210 in 64kb. Failing that, it will have to be the second image with the enlarged playing area inside the 320x200.

Is the 330x210 okay for 64kb? How much difference would the extra 10 pixels(memory etc) make compared to the standard 320x200? 

Will the additional 8KB for the screen really make this impossible? If the release for CPC retrodev limits courts and music tracks, couldn't it fit into 64KB? And then an enhanced release that e.g. can load court data/music from disc.

Quote from: eto on 16:03, 30 August 23Will the additional 8KB for the screen really make this impossible? If the release for CPC retrodev limits courts and music tracks, couldn't it fit into 64KB? And then an enhanced release that e.g. can load court data/music from disc.

For CPC retrodev, it would just be the one court.

Afterwards, an enhanced release with all the other courts loaded from disk, is what I would like to see follow.

In terms of screen memory the equation that matters is (assuming X is measured in Mode 1 pixels):

(X / 4) * Y

If that number is over 16384, then you have to use overscan to get a 32K screen. The difference between that number and 32768 will be the amount of "screen memory" that isn't actually visible, but it won't be contiguous as you'd have to work around the screen memory layout.

Edit: it's also worth noting that the horizontal size has to be a multiple of 8 Mode 1 pixels, so it'd need to be 336 * 210 pixels.

Quote from: andycadley on 17:08, 30 August 23In terms of screen memory the equation that matters is (assuming X is measured in Mode 1 pixels):

(X / 4) * Y

If that number is over 16384, then you have to use overscan to get a 32K screen. The difference between that number and 32768 will be the amount of "screen memory" that isn't actually visible, but it won't be contiguous as you'd have to work around the screen memory layout.

Edit: it's also worth noting that the horizontal size has to be a multiple of 8 Mode 1 pixels, so it'd need to be 336 * 210 pixels.

Thanks.

I used the formula and the 336 * 210 was 17640 - well over the 16000 of the 320*200. :doh: :picard2:

Well - that's solved then; 320*200 it is then. I'm halfway through redrawing the sprites; after they are done, I will then clean up the backgrounds. 

It'll lose charm but you could avoid to draw the area of the crowd and scoreboard and use a floating scoreboard or one that appears only when a team scores. Again is the only example I know but just as NBA Jam does. (it's true however that there was always a timer and a scoreboard in the table at the back)
This way the court and sprites can be a bit bigger and lose less detail.

Quote from: Brundij on 18:39, 30 August 23It'll lose charm but you could avoid to draw the area of the crowd and scoreboard and use a floating scoreboard or one that appears only when a team scores. Again is the only example I know but just as NBA Jam does. (it's true however that there was always a timer and a scoreboard in the table at the back)
This way the court and sprites can be a bit bigger and lose less detail.

Thanks.

I think having a floating scoreboard will mean having to constantly update it as it moves over sprites and background. It would be less stressful on the cpu to just have it on a static blank portion at the bottom of the court. As the court has no scrolling so the sprites won't get any larger.

Oh well I didn't notice the bottom scoreboard in the third image, my bad.

Ok, my last 2 cents here. If it ends being a 320x200 screen maybe a bit of scroll is not a problem anymore both vertically and horizontally. You can keep the original size of the court and just scroll a bit when a team is at the leftmost or rightmost part of the court same for up and down.

Quote from: Brundij on 20:06, 30 August 23Oh well I didn't notice the bottom scoreboard in the third image, my bad.

Ok, my last 2 cents here. If it ends being a 320x200 screen maybe a bit of scroll is not a problem anymore both vertically and horizontally. You can keep the original size of the court and just scroll a bit when a team is at the leftmost or rightmost part of the court same for up and down.

I don't think it's worth the hassle of having to code some scrolling on a court that small, as the scroll would be too small to make it justifiable. I would rather just have the focus on the AI of the players and the locomotion animation sets to make it look fun and lively.

I'm currently still redrawing the animations to a smaller size and there maybe a bit more space left to add some more anims.

Animations have been redone in a new size. There was enough space to add the 'slingshot' throw which is a similar to the 'one tap' auto direction ball movement to nearest player move in sensible soccer. Not much control, but it's quick.

SlingShot_Front.gif SlingShot_Side01.gif

There is also one more move which is a spin bounce pass. This is basically after touch like in football games to curve the ball. In this case, the ball would curve a little after hit the ground. This doesn't need a separate animation.

Next, I am going to redraw the backgrounds to fit the 320*200 screen size.

Here is the new court size 320*200

NEWCOURTSIZE.gif

New_Size01.gif

Here is the comparison of the new scaled version of the court and players against the original version:

NEW_TO_OLD.gif

I'm keeping the backgrounds the same size.

Another update. The players are even smaller now(2 pixels shorter)as I was thinking that maybe they could have a bit more space to move around the court:

320x200_Sprite_Demo_SHORT.gif

Any thoughts?

Resized street court. Well - not really resized, just cropped with the new lines placed on top. The only things I will be redrawing on all of these courts are the spectators.

300X200_STREETCOURT.gif

All courts redone. I decided to stick with the shorter sprites.

300X200_ChampTeam.gif
                 Championship Court
300X200_STREETCOURT.gif   300X200_BeachTeam.gif
                     Street Court                                               Beach Court
300X200_BedroomTeam.gif   300X200_CarTeam.gif
                    Bedroom Court                                           Car Park Court
ClayCourtSprites.gif   300X200_GrassCourtTeam.gif
                  Sports Hall Court                                          Garden Court
300X200_NeonTeam.gif   300X200_ClubTeam.gif
                      Neon Court                                             Night Club Court
300X200_SnowTeam.gif   300X200_SuperTeam.gif
                      Snow Court                                                Super Court

Had to re-colour the snow court as you wouldn't be able to see the ball. :picard:



300X200_BlueSnowTeam.gif

or re-colour the ball on the snow court?

Quote from: eto on 08:46, 08 September 23or re-colour the ball on the snow court?

That was my first thought, but there are many animation sprites that have the character holding the ball:

Sprites.gif

This an example and there are lots of these.

'The Bee Mob' VS 'May's Mates'

Opponents.gif

The boss from the opposing team will come onto the screen on the 3rd and 4th quarter. The boss can activate the teams special abilities.
The player and boss now have portraits to give it that 'rival' feel.

Updated the HUD positions and now have the timer at the top. I would like to know if it's easier having the HUD all in one place at the bottom rather than splitting them up?

300X200_NETBALL_HUD02.gif

Quote from: sigh on 10:15, 14 September 23Updated the HUD positions and now have the timer at the top. I would like to know if it's easier having the HUD all in one place at the bottom rather than splitting them up?

300X200_NETBALL_HUD02.gif

Doesn't really matter if it's split up. If the screen was going to scroll, it might, but since it's basically a static screen there isn't really a reason I can think of that the precise position of things like that should make any difference.

Quote from: andycadley on 10:37, 14 September 23

Quote from: sigh on 10:15, 14 September 23Updated the HUD positions and now have the timer at the top. I would like to know if it's easier having the HUD all in one place at the bottom rather than splitting them up?

300X200_NETBALL_HUD02.gif

Doesn't really matter if it's split up. If the screen was going to scroll, it might, but since it's basically a static screen there isn't really a reason I can think of that the precise position of things like that should make any difference.

Thanks!

Looking at the sprite sheets, I'm wondering how much memory this would take as there is a lot of grey space. It looks as though most of the sprites have around 40% of empty space. I'm thinking that excluding the background tiles (Some which are 256 tiles) the sprites look take up between 10 - 12kb. It's the first time I have properly had a good go at creating a dedicated 64kb game. There are a few extra graphics missing for some of the special abilities, but everything will fit on these 2 sheets.

NEW_SHEET_2pxSHORTER.png 

NEW_SHEET_PART2_2pxSHORTER.png

I'm imagining around 20kb for all the GFX (background tiles and the sprites) and would go for a simple menu screen like Renegade.

A lot depends on how accurately they need to be positioned on screen. If they need to be positioned to the pixel, it may be necessary to store pre-shifted versions, which pretty much doubles the amount of RAM usage - you could shift on the fly to save storage but it will impact performance, although with small sprites maybe that's ok.

Quote from: andycadley on 11:03, 19 September 23you could shift on the fly to save storage but it will impact performance, although with small sprites maybe that's ok.

Yeah. The tallest sprites are 20 pixels high but most are 14x14. The pre shifted positions, I assume wouldn't need to be on all the sprites? They would need to be on the ball itself, the running sprite animation, skipping sprite animation, defense sprite animation and the single jumping/ball catch sprite pose? That would probably add an extra 6kb or something.