Football Fever (aka - Games with smooth "1" pixel multi directional scrolling.)

[TFM]

Well, if they move quick enought, then you can use byte-wise scrolling.

[sigh]

Anybody know how action replays are handled and what other games used them on the CPC?

I know Micropose soccer had them and I would love to have the same for this footy game.

[trocoloco]

I remember that Fernando Martin Basket Master have replays with a zoomed screen even

[Gryzor]

Oh yes it did, for slam dunks. Lovely huge pixels!

[sigh]

I remember that Fernando Martin Basket Master have replays with a zoomed screen even

Yes!!! How could I forget about that one! The screen zooming in was just superb and I remember being wowed when I saw it for the first time. It also runs the replays in slow motion too! Having an action replay on a foul tackle with a zoom and slowmo would be fantastic for this game!

I'm guessing that a certain portion of ram is allocated to just replays where that ram would then hold a set number of seconds of recorded data?

[TotO]

It also runs the replays in slow motion too!

Sure, the framerate drop when it zoom... 

[sigh]

Heh....there I was thinking that it was coded intentionally.

[Gryzor]

Probably not, since (IIRC) there was quite a lot of searing...

[TotO]

Heh....there I was thinking that it was coded intentionally.

The most important is what the player see.

[trocoloco]

good to know, I never thought it was slow because of the code but it certainly does the job.
It would be wicked to implement a similar feature in a football game, never seen on Amstrad (I think)

[sigh]

The most important is what the player see.

Indeed!

good to know, I never thought it was slow because of the code but it certainly does the job.
It would be wicked to implement a similar feature in a football game, never seen on Amstrad (I think)

I would love to see this in a CPC footy game too.

In regards to the current status of this game, I haven't started working on the front end as yet in relation to things like league tables, player names (would be nice if they were configurable) amongst other things. But to be really honest - the most important thing right now is putting all the solutions to the ideas throughout the 15 pages on this thread, put into practice to see if this game is really possible on a standard 128kb machine.

[trocoloco]

In regards to the current status of this game, I haven't started working on the front end as yet in relation to things like league tables, player names (would be nice if they were configurable) amongst other things. But to be really honest - the most important thing right now is putting all the solutions to the ideas throughout the 15 pages on this thread, put into practice to see if this game is really possible on a standard 128kb machine.

configurable team and player names and maybe some kinda custom outfit set up would wonderful too, I think that Emilyn Huge's Soccer uses them and its only a 64kb, but yes, there are so many good ideas throughout the thread to think about memory wise tho. In any case, those wonderful gameplay mockups u made and all the ideas gathered in this thread would form one of the best footy games for CPC for sure (if not the best IMO).
Would love to see it working in our machines, but I understand that it entails is A LOT of work and we wont know if it will happen one day, but hey, dreaming is free  .
Whatever u end up doing I want to congratulate u for your interest and superb work on this project and your own beat'em up game  .

Btw, did you think of a name for that one?

[sigh]

configurable team and player names and maybe some kinda custom outfit set up would wonderful too, I think that Emilyn Huge's Soccer uses them and its only a 64kb, but yes, there are so many good ideas throughout the thread to think about memory wise tho. In any case, those wonderful gameplay mockups u made and all the ideas gathered in this thread would form one of the best footy games for CPC for sure (if not the best IMO).
Would love to see it working in our machines, but I understand that it entails is A LOT of work and we wont know if it will happen one day, but hey, dreaming is free  .
Whatever u end up doing I want to congratulate u for your interest and superb work on this project and your own beat'em up game  .

Btw, did you think of a name for that one?

@trocoloco: Thanks! (Current name for the beat em up is "No Holds Barred")

Configurable kits would definitely be cool to have!

The guys on this thread yet again have been a fantastic help on finding solutions and coming up with ideas to create something that is possibly feasible. I also think that this would be a wonderful game if all the methods worked out in practice and I'm confident that they would.
The thing is with a football game is that the AI is an incredible challenge. Having to make the computer controlled players aware of what the opposing team is doing as well as their own, making sure that the goalkeeper is coded in a fair way, coding the ball itself to convey a sense of realism within the boundaries of physics in regards to being kicked, being deflected and the collision when bouncing off different angles.

It's a big challenge and probably one of the most difficult types of games to program AI wise as it's a team game that is constantly flowing and changing. I'm guessing that the ball dictates a lot as it can be interacted in so many different ways, be it on the ground or in the air.

[redbox]

I agree that the AI would probably end up being the most challenging aspect. Dino D said he spent ages getting it to 'feel right' with Kick Off.

Maybe you should just call it 'Playground Football' - the ball could be the size of a tennis ball and the player AI would just be every player running straight for the ball all the time

[sigh]

Maybe you should just call it 'Playground Football' - the ball could be the size of a tennis ball and the player AI would just be every player running straight for the ball all the time

Wow! That takes me back!

It would be interesting to see how Emlyn Hughes and Matchday 2 approached the AI. On Emlyn Hughes, sometimes it looked as though spawning was happening with the players at certain times due to the amount of sprites on screen that could be handled at a decent frame rate.

[Gryzor]

Playground Fotball -hahahaha! But then you should make it a 5 on 5 game instead, and place it in an alley - oh wait, where's Codemasters?

[TFM]

So, due to the lack of examples and most probably being a programmers nightmare - is 1 pixel scrolling in both directions just not viable for games on the CPC? (not PLUS)

Well, my Cyber Huhn can do that, but obviously only very few saw that as "technical archivement".[nb]EDIT: Uups, I answered to the last post of page 1 and thought it's 25 *ggg*[/nb]

[sigh]

Well, my Cyber Huhn can do that, but obviously only very few saw that as "technical archivement".[nb]EDIT: Uups, I answered to the last post of page 1 and thought it's 25 *ggg*[/nb]

I took a look at Cyber Huhn and was using the arrow keys to move the cursor around the screen. It looks like mode 1 but moving in all directions at "1 fine(dot/square)" mode 1 pixel?

[TFM]

Yes, that's right. [nb]However, if you go into one direction for a longer time, you will move more quick, and so also more pixel.[/nb]

[sigh]

Yes, that's right. [nb]However, if you go into one direction for a longer time, you will move more quick, and so also more pixel.[/nb]

Very cool indeed!!!
So how exactly was this done and what is the framerate?

[TFM]

Well, in the ROM version I had to make a compromise solution for space and speed reasons. For the non-ROM version a frame rate of 50 fps can be archieved in case only a couple of chickens and bullets are on screen.


There are three tricks to archieve a lot of sprites, all-way (use your mouse!) 1-pixel precise movement, at often 50 fps:

- Draw sprites in four phases, each is moved one pixel sideways. (So in game your routines don't have to adjust the pixel-precise position).

- I used a similar technology, which is used to in Filmemacher, to compile sprites into CoData (which is something between Code and Data).

- Erase only parts of the screen, which need to be erased (This is not used in the ROM version, but in non-ROM version, provides a big gain in speed up).

[sigh]

Well, in the ROM version I had to make a compromise solution for space and speed reasons. For the non-ROM version a frame rate of 50 fps can be archieved in case only a couple of chickens and bullets are on screen.


There are three tricks to archieve a lot of sprites, all-way (use your mouse!) 1-pixel precise movement, at often 50 fps:

- Draw sprites in four phases, each is moved one pixel sideways. (So in game your routines don't have to adjust the pixel-precise position).

- I used a similar technology, which is used to in Filmemacher, to compile sprites into CoData (which is something between Code and Data).

- Erase only parts of the screen, which need to be erased (This is not used in the ROM version, but in non-ROM version, provides a big gain in speed up).

So by using the combination of these techniques to achieve around 16 sprites on screen that are 16x16 in size, would either of the two speeds below prove possible without a drop in frame rate?

25fps



18fps



I'm guessing that the large screen size and mode 0 isn't going to matter.....

[TFM]

Should be doable, but maybe it Needs a particular size of the playfield to enable some adressing triecks, means , you don't increate the high-Byte of the Screen address during plotting a sprite.

[Puresox]

25fps looks smoother?

[TotO]

Sure.

But, I don't understand the "18fps".
It's more logic to get 50, 25, 16.66 and 12.5 fps.