Chris Perver is reviving the classic Harrier Attack game but using the CPC Plus, utilizing some advanced features like sprite management that the Plus range allows.
(https://amstradpower.es/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/434394309_10228020459591596_3066934916072805985_n.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/Wk7Zqxc/photo-2025-01-18-18-10-43.jpg)
video: https://files.fm/u/fe5n26rr82#/view/mmvq6p3jkq
IMO, what made Harrier Attack great was the fact that everything was rendered in "shadow" and the imagination did the rest.
Game is out: !!!
https://www.mimosquest.com/harrierattack.htm
Are these rockets Chinese from the AliExpress promotion? :laugh: 50m range...
Quote from: McArti0 on 08:45, 12 February 25Are these rockets Chinese from the AliExpress promotion? :laugh: 50m range...
Temu - Go to war like a billionaire!
To be fair, if memory serves me well, the rockets didn't have a great range in the original either.
Be interested in playing this later though
Just tested this on the latest RetroVM (464 Plus configuration) and CPCEC (6128 Plus), in both cases it crashes after the beautiful loading screen.
Screenshots of the crashes
When a CPR marked as "Amstrad Plus cartridge file for WinApe" works on WinApe it is not obligated to work on anything else.
Quote from: McArti0 on 13:55, 12 February 25When a CPR marked as "Amstrad Plus cartridge file for WinApe" works on WinApe it is not obligated to work on anything else.
Bit of a harsh response? He was merely providing some feedback.
I'm genuinely curious to see if it'll work on real hardware. Assuming it does as box art was made to work with a physical cartridge version.
Quote from: McArti0 on 13:55, 12 February 25When a CPR marked as "Amstrad Plus cartridge file for WinApe" works on WinApe it is not obligated to work on anything else.
So a cartridge image created for one specific and very old emulator that is known to be less than accurate in certain aspects and only exists for users of one OS. Yeah because *that* Sounds like a good idea.
The author is already aware and works on a fix.
Nice! I have vaguely fantasised about remaking this game on a standard CPC - I got as far as mocking up some screens using Mode 0 for a more interesting colour palette. The original sprite design is monochrome yet seems to evoke the reality of observing aircraft at a distance and the monochrome landscape of the Falklands well. By keeping to silhouettes for the aircraft it seemed possible to give the same impression even in Mode 0 and leave more colours for detail elsewhere. Of course, that's just a mockup and nothing like the real work of making it into a game that plays well! Maybe I'll get around to it one day :laugh:
The author also has a write up how they modified the original to produce this... https://www.mimosquest.com/downloads/CreatingHarrierAttackReloaded.pdf
Quote from: CraigsBar on 13:29, 12 February 25Just tested this on the latest RetroVM (464 Plus configuration) and CPCEC (6128 Plus), in both cases it crashes after the beautiful loading screen.
We should not care whether or not the game works on some specific (winape, retrovm, etc..) emulator.
What matters is if the game works on real hardware or not.
Hi guys,
Thanks for your feedback on the crashes.
Sorry, I'm used to working with WinApe, as that's what I learned assembly language on.
I didn't realize there were more accurate emulators out there.
The crashes are may be due to the interrupts expecting the ASIC to be paged in when it is not.
I will work on this and try to get it tested on my 464+ too and let you know what happens.
Quote from: evenmore on 18:39, 12 February 25Hi guys,
Thanks for your feedback on the crashes.
Sorry, I'm used to working with WinApe, as that's what I learned assembly language on.
I didn't realize there were more accurate emulators out there.
The crashes are may be due to the interrupts expecting the ASIC to be paged in when it is not.
I will work on this and try to get it tested on my 464+ too and let you know what happens.
Thanks man. If you need any testing done on real hardware or emulators running on Linux, mac, both x64 and Arm64 on each let me know.
Thanks Craig
Quote from: evenmore on 18:39, 12 February 25Hi guys,
Thanks for your feedback on the crashes.
Sorry, I'm used to working with WinApe, as that's what I learned assembly language on.
I didn't realize there were more accurate emulators out there.
The crashes are may be due to the interrupts expecting the ASIC to be paged in when it is not.
I will work on this and try to get it tested on my 464+ too and let you know what happens.
Thank you very much for your game. Unfortunately, I have tested the game and it does not work on my CPC464+ with M4 and Gemini 1MB RAM. It loads the beautiful splash screen perfectly but then the screen becomes pixelated. I have also found that it does not work on the CPCEC emulator (@ CNGSoft ), which usually loads anything you put in it.
Hi guys
I have hopefully fixed the issue with the crashes. My stack was occupying the same space as the ASIC when it was paged in. For some reason WinApe didn't seem to care! So hopefully it should work okay now on real hardware.
I have uploaded the fixed version it to my website www.mimosquest.com and cpcwiki.eu.
I plan to test it myself on my 464+ soon and will also be working on getting manuals printed, before creating physical cartridges for people if they want one.
Thanks once again!
Regards,
Chris
Quote from: evenmore on 12:46, 13 February 25Hi guys
I have hopefully fixed the issue with the crashes. My stack was occupying the same space as the ASIC when it was paged in. For some reason WinApe didn't seem to care! So hopefully it should work okay now on real hardware.
WinAPE has a bad habit of treating the ASIC like a big block of RAM, so writes to any location persist. But that's not how the ASIC really behaves as it's just a small bunch of registers in that address range (some of which are duplicated IIRC)
Quote from: evenmore on 12:46, 13 February 25Hi guys
I have hopefully fixed the issue with the crashes. My stack was occupying the same space as the ASIC when it was paged in. For some reason WinApe didn't seem to care! So hopefully it should work okay now on real hardware.
I have uploaded the fixed version it to my website www.mimosquest.com and cpcwiki.eu.
I plan to test it myself on my 464+ soon and will also be working on getting manuals printed, before creating physical cartridges for people if they want one.
Thanks once again!
Regards,
Chris
Wooow!! It's already running. An exceptional plane movement!
Quote from: evenmore on 12:46, 13 February 25Hi guys
I have hopefully fixed the issue with the crashes. My stack was occupying the same space as the ASIC when it was paged in. For some reason WinApe didn't seem to care! So hopefully it should work okay now on real hardware.
I have uploaded the fixed version it to my website www.mimosquest.com and cpcwiki.eu.
I plan to test it myself on my 464+ soon and will also be working on getting manuals printed, before creating physical cartridges for people if they want one.
Thanks once again!
Regards,
Chris
Yep, Tested on both RetroVM and CPCEC, works fine on both now. WOW this is fast, I will need some more practice LOL
Quote from: evenmore on 12:46, 13 February 25Hi guys
I have hopefully fixed the issue with the crashes. My stack was occupying the same space as the ASIC when it was paged in. For some reason WinApe didn't seem to care! So hopefully it should work okay now on real hardware.
I have uploaded the fixed version it to my website www.mimosquest.com and cpcwiki.eu.
I plan to test it myself on my 464+ soon and will also be working on getting manuals printed, before creating physical cartridges for people if they want one.
Thanks once again!
Regards,
Chris
Physical copies? Hell yes please!
Thanks for your kind words. Yes, I hope to produce some cartridges for nostalgia's sake,
and to have the satisfaction of achieving something. :)
I asked the director of Durell if he would contribute a photo or paragraph about the original,
but he declined. He said he felt too old for this sort of thing now :/
But he wished me good luck.
How do you do the cases?
A friend on ebay, ivorlott, can flash the cartridges and also knows someone who produces the cases too.
I will design the covers on the computer and get them printed, so they can be inserted into the cases when they are ready.
Hopefully shouldn't be too difficult.
Nice one. It looks like a Spectrum Next game.
And why not? The CPC already has its Spectrum Next in the Plus machines. I celebrate every time a new Plus-enhanced game is released.
Quote from: evenmore on 18:42, 13 February 25Thanks for your kind words. Yes, I hope to produce some cartridges for nostalgia's sake,
and to have the satisfaction of achieving something. :)
I asked the director of Durell if he would contribute a photo or paragraph about the original,
but he declined. He said he felt too old for this sort of thing now :/
But he wished me good luck.
At least he's being polite...
Been giving it a go in WinAPE, great stuff. Now we need a Plus remake of Sultan's Maze...
Really glad someone has done this, it's been one of those games I've always considered converting to get a "classic" Amstrad game in a Plus style
So, who's doing Bridge-It then? :P
Quote from: zeropolis79 on 06:52, 14 February 25Been giving it a go in WinAPE, great stuff. Now we need a Plus remake of Sultan's Maze...
Sultan's maze was the original Wolfenstein 3D :D.
I remember being scared as a child whenever I heard the sound of the ghost nearby.
It could benefit from an update.
Quote from: evenmore on 10:28, 14 February 25Quote from: zeropolis79 on 06:52, 14 February 25Been giving it a go in WinAPE, great stuff. Now we need a Plus remake of Sultan's Maze...
Sultan's maze was the original Wolfenstein 3D :D.
I remember being scared as a child whenever I heard the sound of the ghost nearby.
It could benefit from an update.
I actually investigated doing one using BASIC 1.1 and using the FILL command for the grass hedges and possibly using MODE 0 but sadly I couldn't stay focused on the huge BASIC listing to try any enhancements.
Great game. Yet it would be greater with second fire-button support!
Maybe we can have this feature in future updates? ::)
I think the second fire button is already supported as far as I can tell (I haven't tested it on real hardware yet). Xyphoe suggested enabling it by default for joystick control so I reuploaded the CPR file with this enabled. If it is not working, you should be able to redefine the keys and press the second fire button for missiles or bombs.
Thanks again :)
Quote from: zeropolis79 on 18:29, 14 February 25Quote from: evenmore on 10:28, 14 February 25Quote from: zeropolis79 on 06:52, 14 February 25Been giving it a go in WinAPE, great stuff. Now we need a Plus remake of Sultan's Maze...
Sultan's maze was the original Wolfenstein 3D :D.
I remember being scared as a child whenever I heard the sound of the ghost nearby.
It could benefit from an update.
I actually investigated doing one using BASIC 1.1 and using the FILL command for the grass hedges and possibly using MODE 0 but sadly I couldn't stay focused on the huge BASIC listing to try any enhancements.
I didn't realize this one was BASIC. That one would actually be a good one to translate into assembly, though it would take a lot of work. You would probably have to go through it line by line :-/
Quote from: eto on 20:54, 13 February 25How do you do the cases?
Rodrik can do cases if you need it.
https://pixel.rodrik.ch/cartouche
Quote from: Interrupt on 17:19, 12 February 25The author also has a write up how they modified the original to produce this... https://www.mimosquest.com/downloads/CreatingHarrierAttackReloaded.pdf
That 'making of' was a really interesting read, thanks!
Quote from: evenmore on 19:08, 14 February 25I think the second fire button is already supported as far as I can tell
I tested the latest file from itchio, with real GX4000 and yes, second fire button does work. Cheers.
BTW I'm having those glitches on real hardware with C4CPC. Any idea?
(https://i.ibb.co/9mTSDRVJ/gltc.png) (https://ibb.co/HLz3Smx0)
Yes, thanks I know what that glitch is.
The Harrier sprites only use up 8 of the 16 possible pixels of a hardware sprite in height,
and I haven't cleared the invisible part of the sprite in the ASIC.
I will try to fix this tonight!
Thanks :)
Quote from: Skunkfish on 09:18, 15 February 25Quote from: Interrupt on 17:19, 12 February 25The author also has a write up how they modified the original to produce this... https://www.mimosquest.com/downloads/CreatingHarrierAttackReloaded.pdf
That 'making of' was a really interesting read, thanks!
Thanks, it was very short, as I wrote it quite quickly after I had done most of the work. I will fill it out with more detail soon. :)
Quote from: Pollo on 21:48, 14 February 25Rodrik can do cases if you need it.
https://pixel.rodrik.ch/cartouche (https://pixel.rodrik.ch/cartouche)
Sorry, I meant the boxes which contain the game cartridges and instructions.
Quote from: CraigsBar on 16:12, 13 February 25Yep, Tested on both RetroVM and CPCEC, works fine on both now. WOW this is fast, I will need some more practice LOL
I've tested the new version on CPCEC and it doesn't work for me; I'm stuck on the menu and the emulator doesn't respond to the joypad or any keypresses. :( RetroVM is OK, though.
I've fixed the bug with the graphical glitches on the plane sprites on the real hardware and reuploaded it to the website.
The problem with CPCEC, this does seem to be a bug in the emulator rather than the game code.
CPCEC doesn't seem to be handling the INI command correctly. This is used to fill the keyboard buffer with keypresses.
In WinAPE and other emulators, the keyboard buffer is filled with FFFFFF... when no keys are pressed.
CPCEC has the keyboard buffer set to 000000... when it is read. So the game thinks all the keys are being held down.
I could try to find if there is a keyboard scanning routine that is compatible with CPCEC.
Quote from: Nich on 15:00, 15 February 25Quote from: CraigsBar on 16:12, 13 February 25Yep, Tested on both RetroVM and CPCEC, works fine on both now. WOW this is fast, I will need some more practice LOL
I've tested the new version on CPCEC and it doesn't work for me; I'm stuck on the menu and the emulator doesn't respond to the joypad or any keypresses. :( RetroVM is OK, though.
To be fair I only tested that it loaded now on cpcec as that is a work machine. Play testing was on retrovm on a pi5
Quote from: evenmore on 10:28, 14 February 25Quote from: zeropolis79 on 06:52, 14 February 25Been giving it a go in WinAPE, great stuff. Now we need a Plus remake of Sultan's Maze...
Sultan's maze was the original Wolfenstein 3D :D.
I remember being scared as a child whenever I heard the sound of the ghost nearby.
It could benefit from an update.
It pretty much did get an update in 3D Monster Chase...
It was still slower than an arthritic slug on valium though. :laugh: