Hypernoid Zero

[Shaun M. Neary]

Solid performance by Metr; He only explored about half the map though!

Amstrad Maniaque finished the game in a few minutes ^_^

How long did it take him to find the cheat mode? 

[Metr]

Solid performance by Metr; He only explored about half the map though!

As I selected the Low bounty option and couldn't buy upgrades at the armoury, I decided to go straight for the boss in area 2 and skipped the rear gun on the left route and the satellite below. Upper is blocked and couldn't find more rooms. If I missed more rooms there I'll check again!
If there is any way in the 7th? room of the first area to change the direction of the arrows I couldn't find it. Tried to kill everything there using weapon 2. Unless it requires backtracking/find a switch..
Love the feeling playing the game, and details like the map in the briefing screen and the HUD. You did an amazing job! Need more of it! 

[rexbeng]

@Metr  Well... You have to pay attention to the scenery. I know it is hard with all the action going on, but usually walls follow the paths that connect rooms. You did discover the arrows in room 7, so you already know what to do. Bounce shots sometimes help to reveal things, so it might be worth to waste a few. Also, you accidentally ALMOST discovered a secret in your playthru, but you didn't notice it.

Thanks for the words. Happy you like the game, we were starting to doubt there are any real gamers left in the world and ready to drop everything and create a walking sim. Or at least a trailer of it!

[Nich]

I just made the connection and, funnily enough HZ is a '40 years anniversary' release for the CPC, while MB was a '30 years anniversary' (even if it missed the year mark by 1 month) release. So perhaps it's something about 'anniversaries'..?

I had always believed that Megablasters: Escape from Castle in the Clouds was released to mark the 20th anniversary of the original Megablasters by Odiesoft - although that anniversary was also missed by one year.

[rexbeng]

I just made the connection and, funnily enough HZ is a '40 years anniversary' release for the CPC, while MB was a '30 years anniversary' (even if it missed the year mark by 1 month) release. So perhaps it's something about 'anniversaries'..?

I had always believed that Megablasters: Escape from Castle in the Clouds was released to mark the 20th anniversary of the original Megablasters by Odiesoft - although that anniversary was also missed by one year.

In fact it was a double anniversary (in one room the wall-tiles form a '464' sign). 

[Metr]

@Metr  Well... You have to pay attention to the scenery. I know it is hard with all the action going on, but usually walls follow the paths that connect rooms. You did discover the arrows in room 7, so you already know what to do. Bounce shots sometimes help to reveal things, so it might be worth to waste a few. Also, you accidentally ALMOST discovered a secret in your playthru, but you didn't notice it.

Thanks for the words. Happy you like the game, we were starting to doubt there are any real gamers left in the world and ready to drop everything and create a walking sim. Or at least a trailer of it!

Oh, you were right, I ALMOST discover that Rear Gun 

Edit: Found the way to the 7th screen. Missing the way to the area 2 upper way I supose!

[rexbeng]

Edit: Found the way to the 7th screen. Missing the way to the area 2 upper way I supose!

There is no going across the area 2 upper room. It's purpose it only the storytelling.

[Shaun M. Neary]

Any chance us tape loading fanatics can get a CDT version please? Or is it too much of a multiload nightmare? (About to load the dsk here)

[rexbeng]

Any chance us tape loading fanatics can get a CDT version please? Or is it too much of a multiload nightmare? (About to load the dsk here)

If I get some free time and energy, I can make a trailer of it. It should be enough!

[Anthony Flack]

All of this talk about game trailers is reminding me that I actually HAVE TO make a game trailer this week as part of my job. I hate making game trailers! I hate doing marketing! The best thing about the CPC scene is that it's small enough that you don't need to do any of that. If you make a good game people will not fail to notice. But also, nobody who isn't in the Amstrad scene is going to care either way. So really, building hype for a CPC release serves no purpose, unless you're just looking for encouragement. 

[Axelay]

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

The control panel is in EGX mode. Per line swaps between mode 1 and mode 0.

Ah! I guess this must be one of the only in-game uses of this trick we've seen besides the (extremely underrated) Imperial Mahjong. It looks superb.

Yes, I really liked the EGX mode in Imperial Mahjong and have had it in the back of my mind to use it for something if the opportunity arose for some time.

Any chance us tape loading fanatics can get a CDT version please? Or is it too much of a multiload nightmare? (About to load the dsk here)

I think you'd spend far too much time hearing tape loading noises.  It needs to load the menu after each game, which is almost the size of an uncompressed loading screen, and each block of stage data is over 20kb.  I don't think it would be much fun to play on that format.

[Shaun M. Neary]

Any chance us tape loading fanatics can get a CDT version please? Or is it too much of a multiload nightmare? (About to load the dsk here)

I think you'd spend far too much time hearing tape loading noises.  It needs to load the menu after each game, which is almost the size of an uncompressed loading screen, and each block of stage data is over 20kb.  I don't think it would be much fun to play on that format.

Perfectly understandable, thanks for the explanation.

[merman]

Excellent work, graphics are superb and tough gameplay.
It does say the time feature is currently not implemented, so... there is scope for a fuller release 

[lmimmfn]

Yeah I wanna see #1 and 2...

All the results are here - https://www.demoparty.net/revision/revision-2024/results.html
#1 Glubble on the Amiga - https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=96577
#2 Skilander for the PC - https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=96636

Tbh i think Hypernoid Zero is better than those 2 

[Gryzor]

Yeah I wanna see #1 and 2...

All the results are here - https://www.demoparty.net/revision/revision-2024/results.html
#1 Glubble on the Amiga - https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=96577
#2 Skilander for the PC - https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=96636

Tbh i think Hypernoid Zero is better than those 2 

Glubble is a really nice puzzle game but... come on, it's a static puzzle game. Nothing groundbreaking and certainly not very impressive?
Skilander - I don't understand why, really. 

[lmimmfn]

Yeah I wanna see #1 and 2...

All the results are here - https://www.demoparty.net/revision/revision-2024/results.html
#1 Glubble on the Amiga - https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=96577
#2 Skilander for the PC - https://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=96636

Tbh i think Hypernoid Zero is better than those 2 

Glubble is a really nice puzzle game but... come on, it's a static puzzle game. Nothing groundbreaking and certainly not very impressive?
Skilander - I don't understand why, really.

Im with you there, Glubble looks fun but for an Amiga game(and no offense to the coders) but i think its quite simplistic.
Perhaps we're being too harsh and its a case of need to play them first to understand.

*EDIT* Regarding Glubble, its a remake of PC game Yugo Puzzle which when you look at it the Amiga game is quite an improvement over the original - https://qrostar0.itch.io/yugo-puzzle

[cwpab]

This game is not my style, but the graphics and speed are so good I can't believe it's for the Amstrad CPC.

Quick question... How long did Hypernoid Zero take to program?

[cwpab]

About the games that finished 1st and 2nd:
- The Amiga puzzle game seems fun, but it's a port and it's not very complex or spectacular. Good one, but perhaps not to win a contest.
- The MS-DOS ski game also seems fun, but it was made with the Build engine and seems a bit repetitive and ugly.

My explanation is that Amiga intense fans voted the puzzle game, and others (perhaps many retro FPS fans among them?) voted the ski game because it was original and fun. Hypernoid Zero seems a bit hard on first sight, with pseudo-bullet-hell moments. I wonder if this feeling is confirmed when you play.

[Gryzor]

Yeah I suspect you're correct on both counts. The Ski one is fun but I wouldn't see it winning any compos! HZ, no matter whether you like the particular kind of game, is really really impressive and well executed...

[Anthony Flack]

Yeah I have to say I wan't too impressed with the judging that decided this game was less impressive than a simple Build Engine mod, but that's competitions for you. 

[Axelay]

Quick question... How long did Hypernoid Zero take to program?

It is not possible to give a meaningful answer to that, sorry.  It was started just over four years ago, but there were some extended periods adding up to maybe two years in that time where I didn't code at all.  Then in the time I was coding, I could spend anything from maybe 8 hours in a week on it at most, right down to no time at all.  So I don't really have an idea of actual time spent.

[Xyphoe]

Thanks all for the good words. We won the third place in the Revision gamedev compo, which I think is a first for CPC (then again, Ghost Nop won 1st place oldschool demo compo which was also first!).

@Xyphoe is it a room with 'directional markings' on the wall? Look around for how to change their direction.

Also, guys, dont jump to assumptions. Hypernoid Zero is exactly what it is. A game that was done to participate in a compo.

Ahh my mistake, I had without realising got into the 'armoury' and thought that was the end of the game or demo. I didn't know you had to push 'down' in the middle of the floor to exit it.

I had assumed by adding 'Zero' on the name of the game, like other games I had played (like "Rogue Declan Zero" on the Amiga, which is now finally released as "Rogue Declan") that this was a pre-release demo and that you were still working on it - and I had reached the end, and there was more to come in a future release. My bad! Please ignore my previous posts questions.

[rexbeng]

I had assumed by adding 'Zero' [...]

Hey, no worries at all! Yeah, it's fair to assume that, I guess, but was decided to put a subtitle much like with Corsair Trainer to suggest the small length of the game(s), that's all. With 'jump to assumptions,' I just wanted to clarify that people shouldn't regard this as a 'demo' of a 'game coming soon,' as the same had happened with Corsair. In that instance, I had even read somewhere that the game was scheduled to be released at Christmas following the 'Trainer' release! 

And speaking for myself, TBH, I don't really enjoy this 'building hype' culture that's been a thing lately, so, yeah... 

[Axel]

I am fascinated by the special graphic style. 
At first I even thought about whether there was a trick to create "new" colors! 
Also looks very fine for Mode 0. 
Very elegant and technically outstanding.

[rexbeng]

As far as I am aware, this is the only video playthru that covers 100% of the game map. All rooms, secret paths, hidden pickups.