https://twitter.com/BenYoris (https://twitter.com/BenYoris) is asking for help for a The New Zealand Story remake on Amstrad CPC+, a musician and a coder.
I would make sure it also works on stock CPC, otherwise you won't get anywhere near the audience, as the Plus passed a lot of people by.
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The counterpoint being that, while there is a theoretically larger audience, you lose the option of taking advantage of the extra hardware and will likely end up with something not that far from the original CPC port.
Quote from: andycadley on 13:40, 21 April 19
The counterpoint being that, while there is a theoretically larger audience, you lose the option of taking advantage of the extra hardware and will likely end up with something not that far from the original CPC port.
I'm simply suggesting that we have two versions. But there's lots of documented help and support to get the stock CPC scrolling at a fair old pace, especially if 128k is used. The audience for the Plus is tiny in comparison, but obviously it's your decision at the end of the day. I'm just grateful to people like you who dedicate their time to such projects.
When you see games like Pinball Dreams and many other new games, you realise that the stock CPC is definitely capable of a lot more than originally thought. It would just mean more to everyone and I believe ultimately yourself in regards to kudos if you were able to pull it off.
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What the heck is a CPC+? It's Amstrad CPC or it's Amstrad Plus.
The palette he's using in those pics is pure CPC (also oddly wide like it's just transferred some of the arcade art but not taken into account having to resize and lose every other line of pixels for it to fit in Mode 0 properly) and I'd like to see it done properly on CPC cos the official port was crapola. It would be nice to have it done properly on CPC much like it's Rainbow Collection box-buddy Bubble Bobble got from CNGsoft. So yeah I hope it goes ahead but would be great to see it run on actual CPC.
The 1989 release by choice (Beach Volley) was awful, sprites are horrible...
The Master System port by Tecmagik was excellent.
Once finished, maybe we would have a liquid kids/super water bomb port.
https://twitter.com/BenYoris/status/1125110388943654912
Good to see he's fixed the aspect ratio of it all. Though yeah now it's more actual Plus colours and I'm just not that interested in the Plus myself.
Allow me to interrupt, because these latest comments don't seem very fair to the authors...
QuoteI would make sure it also works on stock CPC, otherwise you won't get anywhere near the audience, as the Plus passed a lot of people by.
... So you think we should all do Android/iOS/PS4 games because we'd reach a larger audience?
The latest Ghosts'n'Goblins was for Amstrad Plus/GX4000, this didn't prevent many people from playing and enjoying it.
QuoteWhen you see games like Pinball Dreams and many other new games, you realise that the stock CPC is definitely capable of a lot more than originally thought.
Yes, but having one ball sprite in one vertical scrolling against many sprites in a multi-directional scrolling are two
very different things. You can't really do that on a CPC, at least it would be very very challenging. If this game can be released, with a 50hz framerate, with many sprites, and high level of playability, then I fully understand the choice of the Amstrad Plus.
(https://scontent.fmad3-7.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/60691954_10155993392681751_7769746647650664448_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_ht=scontent.fmad3-7.fna&oh=78f01a13ac73220d78aea6967058db7a&oe=5D626EDB)(https://scontent.fmad3-5.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/61196315_10155993394111751_1374731929512837120_o.jpg?_nc_cat=106&_nc_ht=scontent.fmad3-5.fna&oh=e6c0609cdae52095db1baf4365e1f1fc&oe=5D6DAA59)
Quote
Les tiles du niveau 1 sont terminées ! J'attaque l'animation des sprites maintenant
That's beautiful!
The CPC palette is well-suited to this game.
Quote from: ervin on 04:41, 21 May 19
That's beautiful!
The CPC palette is well-suited to this game.
Is he still using the Plus palette or not? Cos there's colours in there that could work on the regular CPC but then I see three shades of green in the bush in the bottom left when the CPC only has two.
There are three, and some extra variations.
Quote from: Targhan on 18:08, 06 May 19
Allow me to interrupt, because these latest comments don't seem very fair to the authors...
... So you think we should all do Android/iOS/PS4 games because we'd reach a larger audience?
The latest Ghosts'n'Goblins was for Amstrad Plus/GX4000, this didn't prevent many people from playing and enjoying it.
Yes, but having one ball sprite in one vertical scrolling against many sprites in a multi-directional scrolling are two very different things. You can't really do that on a CPC, at least it would be very very challenging. If this game can be released, with a 50hz framerate, with many sprites, and high level of playability, then I fully understand the choice of the Amstrad Plus.
On your first point, how did you massively jump to that conclusion, I'm just passionate about the CPC as this was the system I owned, the Plus was a bag of shizzle and a failure unlike the CPC, by the time it came out, things had massively moved on. I don't hate the Plus, just not passionate about it in the same way I am with the CPC. I suspect it's the same for other people. I want to see the stock CPC pushed to its limits, Rhino and other people have stated that we've not even scratched the surface with the CPC. So in that sense, if you're exclusively developing for the Plus, yes, you might as well be developing for Android/iOS/PS4.
[emoji6]
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Counterpoint: the first Amstrad I had was a 6128+, things that take advantage of the hardware to the full are awesome. Ordinary CPC software is cool, but the Plus range will always be where I gravitate too. If I was worried about a popular 8-bit, I'd focus on the Speccy or C64.
Yeh, me too, and the plus is even more "untapped" than the cpc! 8)
Quote from: VincentGR on 18:09, 21 May 19
There are three, and some extra variations.
Sorry I meant pure green, not the sea, lime or pastel ones of which the greens in the bush don't match any of. It's easy to do colour matching when you have 4096 colours. It's one reason why the Plus machines don't interest me at all graphically.
Quote from: andycadley on 18:43, 21 May 19
Counterpoint: the first Amstrad I had was a 6128+, things that take advantage of the hardware to the full are awesome. Ordinary CPC software is cool, but the Plus range will always be where I gravitate too. If I was worried about a popular 8-bit, I'd focus on the Speccy or C64.
The needs of the many, not the few, or the one [emoji23]
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Quote from: ukmarkh on 21:18, 21 May 19
The needs of the many, not the few, or the one (https://emoji.tapatalk-cdn.com/emoji23.png)
I see it more as, if you want to write a game for the 464, go for it. If you want to write a game for the GX4000, go for it. If you want to write a game for a CPC which requires a
PlayCity and 4MB of RAM, go for it. If you're the one writing the game, you get to choose what hardware platform you are interested in targeting.Anyone who wants to do another port of NZS to the 464 (or whatever) can go right ahead.
Quote from: andycadley on 23:11, 21 May 19
I see it more as, if you want to write a game for the 464, go for it. If you want to write a game for the GX4000, go for it. If you want to write a game for a CPC which requires a PlayCity and 4MB of RAM, go for it. If you're the one writing the game, you get to choose what hardware platform you are interested in targeting.
Anyone who wants to do another port of NZS to the 464 (or whatever) can go right ahead.
That's fine, but more people would buy a physical copy if made for both systems or just the CPC.
maybe a cartridge release should include the extra-ram needed in that case.
Quote from: andycadley on 23:11, 21 May 19
I see it more as, if you want to write a game for the 464, go for it. If you want to write a game for the GX4000, go for it. If you want to write a game for a CPC which requires a PlayCity and 4MB of RAM, go for it. If you're the one writing the game, you get to choose what hardware platform you are interested in targeting.
Anyone who wants to do another port of NZS to the 464 (or whatever) can go right ahead.
Definately, the Dev should choose whatever target platform interests them most... It's all about seeing it through to the end, and aiming for what you see as your 'goal'
And of course CPC+ colors can always be added once the game is complete without too much work if there is demand for it.
Indeed, Plus support can be added on, but a good Plus upgrade would take a bit of time - hardware sprites and hardware scrolling being the obvious additions.
But developer should do what they want to do and what motivates them.
One week vacation in my hotel for the coder at the end of his journey .My first computer contact with computers was amstrad 464 and i really liked army moves and green berret ,later on i was given a c64,Wow , ghouls and ghosts!My first brand new computer was amstrad 6128+ .....wait a minute where is the super color games?All i had was switchblade which was not a plus game in my opinion, no exit.....which was ,,,you know and fire and forget II....my god.....my new computer was a tragedy.The original burning rubber was the best game i played in that time.The coders back in the original days were not doing a good job for the plus.Look at the original cpc games.Titus the fox , prince of persia .....It was only after the c4cpc era that i managed to play perhistorik , rick dangerous homebrew deluxe version and last year ghouls and ghost that really showed the publuc...what the amstrad plus could do.Better late than never they say and i hope for a complete game.I can offer One week vacation in june or sept in my hotel in Greece for 3-4 people,valid at any year. Go for it on the plus range.CPC have enough brilliant games.
https://twitter.com/BenYoris/status/1133715205022736384
Looks really nice! 8)
Are these graphical mock-ups we're seeing or has the project gone beyond that?
All gfx are done ? :o
https://twitter.com/BenYoris/status/1138871739272880128
Cool, this is one of my favourite games.
Is Kiwi missing a black outline down it's right hand side though, looks a little weird and chopped off?
Now this has my interest.
Looking forward to a remake as the original was one of my favourites on the cpc.
Well it had to be someone's favourite.
Hello,
I'm Ben Yoris, trying to produce this remake of The New Zealand Story for our beloved Amstrad.
I've been in the video game industry for 20 years (from Infogrames, Atari, my own studio and now Ubisoft) producing games from the Gameboy Color to the PS4 Pro.
I'm a big fan of the Amiga and the Amstrad and I remember fondly my beginnings with my 6128 back at the days. I was drooling on magazines pages about The New Zealand Story, Rainbow Islands etc ... At 11 years old I was not mature enough to see the poor quality of TNZS conversion on Amstrad, I was simply happy to have it and play it whenever I wanted !
30 years later, having met some old friends at the Alchimie event in France, I saw that remakes of Ghost'n'Goblins, R-Type, a port of Pinball Dreams and much more were on the way, wether it's for CPC or for the PLUS versions.
So I started doing the necessary graphics, gathering technical advice on the constraints, trying to produce gfx that are supported by the Amstrad to have a better TNZS on Amstrad.
I've shared on Facebook groups and Twitter my first results in the hope to find a coder and a musician to help. It's still not decided if the project would be on OLD Amstrad or on the PLUS version. It will depend of who want to help technically and if it's possible to have decent results on an OLD. It's sure that having the hard scroll and sprites of the PLUS version is cool, but so far I've managed to fit everything in 16 colors (need to reclean some details to support the OLD palette though) and I'd be happy to deliver on the OLD as an hommage, if it's technically sound.
I'd by happy to discuss and share with you, collect some infos and advice.
Thanks a lot for any help or support !
Best,
Ben Yoris
Thank you Ben for your time&effort.
Level 1-2 graphics are done ! Now working on sprites for this level !
Enjoy ;)
Still looking for a coder and a musician to help !
Quote from: OneVision on 11:57, 19 June 19
Still looking for a coder and a musician to help !
@TomEtJerry (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=106)
Where are you? ;-)
With or without DMA support ?
Is there a break down of how the game actually works? Making graphic mock ups is one thing, but if you really want to get a programmer involved you have to do some of the hard work too. When do enemies appear? How does scoring work? What hidden secrets and bonuses are there and what triggers them?
All this kind of analysis is hard work and, unless you have a programmer very passionate about the project themselves, somebody really needs to do to minimize what a developer might have to consider themselves.
Quote from: villain on 19:33, 19 June 19
@TomEtJerry (http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=106)
Where are you? ;-)
I'm in France, Lyon.
Quote from: andycadley on 12:33, 21 June 19
Is there a break down of how the game actually works? Making graphic mock ups is one thing, but if you really want to get a programmer involved you have to do some of the hard work too. When do enemies appear? How does scoring work? What hidden secrets and bonuses are there and what triggers them?
All this kind of analysis is hard work and, unless you have a programmer very passionate about the project themselves, somebody really needs to do to minimize what a developer might have to consider themselves.
Hello,
I'm very familiar with all this kind of documents (GD/LD documents). I've already gathered those infos about enemy behaviors, scoring, warp zone location, collision placements etc. I'm not doing just mockups : I'm (re)creating all levels, generate unique tiles, place enemy spawners, consider the EXTEND bonus system etc etc
So yes, a nice and good will coder will find all those useful information from somebody who's been working since the GameBoy Color period on many and various video games from the industry.
Cheers,
Ben Y.
Quote from: kawickboy on 11:36, 20 June 19
With or without DMA support ?
Hello,
could you please specify ?
Thx,
Ben Y.
Quote from: OneVision on 10:00, 24 June 19
Hello,
I'm very familiar with all this kind of documents (GD/LD documents). I've already gathered those infos about enemy behaviors, scoring, warp zone location, collision placements etc. I'm not doing just mockups : I'm (re)creating all levels, generate unique tiles, place enemy spawners, consider the EXTEND bonus system etc etc
So yes, a nice and good will coder will find all those useful information from somebody who's been working since the GameBoy Color period on many and various video games from the industry.
Cheers,
Ben Y.
Good to hear. I don't have the time to commit right now, but I really hope someone does. It's good to see someone taking the right steps to help getting their dream game produced. :D
https://soundcloud.com/user242232901/tnzs-02-opening-main-theme (https://soundcloud.com/user242232901/opening-main-theme)
Always brings a smile to my face :) :)
QuoteStill looking for a coder and a musician to help !
I contacted you via Twitter, but had no answer. I can help with the music/sound effects, I'm the author of Arkos Tracker. From what I know there is only one music and a few jingles, right? I only know the Atari ST version. Do you need only conversion of the music, or do you want original music too? I would only have time for conversions.
Quote from: Targhan on 10:10, 26 June 19
I contacted you via Twitter, but had no answer. I can help with the music/sound effects, I'm the author of Arkos Tracker. From what I know there is only one music and a few jingles, right? I only know the Atari ST version. Do you need only conversion of the music, or do you want original music too? I would only have time for conversions.
Hello Thargan,
sorry for overlooking your message on Twitter. Luckily enough we can talk here :)
I have a friend of mine (Stéphane de France) who has already started converting arcade ROM music to something your tracker can play. He may have some questions for you. I'll drag him in for more convenience.
Thanks a lot for your offer !
Great! Less work for me then :). But happy to answer questions if needed.
It's a team ! The New Zealand Story remake on Amstrad CPC PLUS team is now complete : Abalore (Code) E-Dredon (Music SFX) OneVision (aka me ;) )(GFX).
We'd like to do a CPC old version later also.
Now, let's do this ! :)
Bonne chance!
QuoteWe'd like to do a CPC old version later also.
Watch out about such statement. If you're doing a real CPC+ game, it means hardware scrolling and hardware sprites, 50hz game, which is great.
If you intend to do a CPC old version, you will need to code a new game almost entirely, and the result will not be as good, even if you're a good coder, so you may end up disappointed by the result. They are very different machines.
Yes, my advice if you want to target the Plus is to go full out and not worry about how things will work on the old machine, or you'll just hobble your version. A revamped release for old school CPCs can always be worked on later, possibly reusing parts of the code. you
Quote from: andycadley on 19:08, 30 June 19
Yes, my advice if you want to target the Plus is to go full out and not worry about how things will work on the old machine, or you'll just hobble your version. A revamped release for old school CPCs can always be worked on later, possibly reusing parts of the code. you
Hello Andy, Hello Targhan,
Abalore is aware of that and so am I.
Thank you for your advice, we'll look into it.
Level 1-3 done. Now working on sprites for this level. Abalore still working on the game engine, nothing to see yet, but it's definitely coming.
https://twitter.com/BenYoris/status/1155840131758284801
https://youtu.be/yaF0MmlWdNs
It's alive!!!
And it's glorious!
https://twitter.com/BenYoris/status/1186710662304747520
Looking good!
I guess some of those sprites will be eventually done as compound sprites of the graphically-static (e.g, the shell that moves down as the snail hides) parts and the changing parts (it's face).
https://twitter.com/BenYoris/status/1241648658338254849
Thanks for the Twitter post sharing, it saves me some time :)
Hello, some news about this project.
Unfortunately, e-dredon (music & sfx) and I (gfx and anim) are looking, again, for a motivated and talented coder to help on this remake of The New Zealand Story on the PLUS series.
Abalore who was first interested will not do it in the end, having already given a LOT on his Alcon port, which is completely understandable. I wish to thank him for all the input and useful info he gave me on Amstrad development.
So that's it, back to square 1 : please help us find the coder for this project on the Amstrad PLUS ! I have also prepared graphics for the OLD palette, if a coder with OLD routines wants to give it a try also. The picture below is a mockup in OLD palette format.
Thanks a lot !
Really unfortunate timing as there's so much coding activity happening at present. Between the Wonderboy, Ghosts N Goblins and Puzzle Bobble remakes.
This could be a while.
Yes. I'm aware of the time and effort investments it represents.
The New Zealand Story is a very demanding game, but the GX4000 and Plus Amstrad seem to have everything needed to accomplish a much better arcade port than the original we had on OLD. Even on OLD, it can be better for sure (see what we could do on Wonderboy on OLD with GurneyH and e-dredon).
So please, a kind reminder : if you are a coder or know someone that could be interested, please spread the words !
Thanks
Sooo where's the Twitter link? :)
Here :)
https://twitter.com/BenYoris/status/1371786896830042118?s=20
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RT.
I think I might be the only one liking the original. Or, at the very least, the only one liking both the original TNZS *and* OutRun. But I do see the limitations!
Quote from: Gryzor on 13:15, 06 July 21
RT.
I think I might be the only one liking the original. Or, at the very least, the only one liking both the original TNZS *and* OutRun. But I do see the limitations!
I played a lot the original TNZS on my OLD and was quite happy with it. Then I played the Amiga version and understood.
Quote from: Gryzor on 13:15, 06 July 21
RT.
I think I might be the only one liking the original.
Yes, you are.
Yes, yes guys, I did say so :D I also played the ST version which was miles ahead, but still I was charmed...
Hi there,
a little update just to say that I still haven't found any help to code this remake of TNZS on the PLUS.
I'm considering now to look on the C64 side to find some help.
The graphics and level design has started on World 2.
As always, please spread the word or contact me if you know anyone who might be interested.
Thanks !
In attach : a mockup for PLUS and one for a C64 version.
C64 has a great version.
No need to reinvent the wheel ;D
Quote from: VincentGR on 09:11, 28 July 21
C64 has a great version.
No need to reinvent the wheel ;D
I tend to disagree. The graphics could be enhanced, though I admit the scroll and the action are smooth.
The main sprite is in hi-res.
Well you cannot do miracles on the brown one :D
The C64 version tend to be as it can be but not like the arcade was.
What is going on with the character sprite on the C64 version? (original)