New game: Golden Tail

[reidrac]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpmkXYzZwbY[/youtube]

I've released Golden Tail for the Amstrad CPC (64k)!

I recommend you reading the info I provide in the game's website, specially if you plan to use an emulator and keyboard because during the testing we found that the default keys may not work very well in all modern keyboards (ghosting problem pressing up+left+space).

You can download CDT and DSK at: Amstrad CPC: Golden Tail - usebox.net

Looks like the game will have a physical release at some point, I'll update you when I have further info about this.

Enjoy!

Latest version is 1.0.3 (2016-08-10).

[||C|-|E||]

Loving it so far! I have been playing for a while and I managed to recover 15 fragments At the beginning is difficult to predict what is going to happen when you use the magic but it gets much more natural after a while. The game is super responsive a the graphics very nice, great! 

[jomicamp]

I will download tonight using the M4 if possible 

[rk last]

Congrats on a really good game.

I just wish that 1980s software developers had produced games of this quality instead of lousy ports and rushed efforts.

[reidrac]

Made a new release (1.0.1) fixing a small bug (only happens if you lose a life when getting into a screen from the bottom without touching ground first; bloody checkpoints!).

Update your copies!

[remax]

A good point : you don't use fancy floppy loading techniques... This M4 Board has made me so lazy 

[reidrac]

A good point : you don't use fancy floppy loading techniques... This M4 Board has made me so lazy 

You can load the game using the M4 just fine

[remax]

You can load the game using the M4 just fine

Yeah i know, that's what i said : perfect for the lazy ones like me (using the HXC when there is advanced floppy techniques means removing the sd card, converting to hfe then put the sd card back, load it via the loader, THEN launch it... So now, i'm so happy when i can launch a game on the M4  [size=78%])[/size]

[reidrac]

I've uploaded version 1.0.2, please update your copies.

This time was another 2 weird bugs I didn't even know Kitsune could do that!

@Metr is working on a very impressive speedrun and he has pushed the game to its limits, finding a couple of issues. I also fixed a new bug introduced in the previous fix (you could die in the first screen and appear over the water; should be fixed now).

This is likely to be final. 49 bytes left, indeed.

Also let me use this update to confirm that the game will have physical release, in both 3" disk and cassette. Watch this space!

[TFM]

Great game, too hard for me. But one question: Here when playing with Cursor keys I see the same phenomenon like in the Space game: When pressing Cursor left for a moment, then the character continues running left until I press right. This is probably a bug in the keyboard scanning.
Does anybody know this phenomenon and can give advice how to omit the problem?

[reidrac]

Great game, too hard for me. But one question: Here when playing with Cursor keys I see the same phenomenon like in the Space game: When pressing Cursor left for a moment, then the character continues running left until I press right. This is probably a bug in the keyboard scanning.
Does anybody know this phenomenon and can give advice how to omit the problem?

I can't reproduce that problem; not in an emulator and certainly I don't recall that happening in my CPC 464; although I don't play using the cursor (opqa instead).

[TFM]

I can't reproduce that problem; not in an emulator and certainly I don't recall that happening in my CPC 464; although I don't play using the cursor (opqa instead).

You can reproduce it in WinCPC for example. I sadly don't know how to cure it. It's something connected to the PSG/PIO.

[reidrac]

Oh, dear.  I uploaded 1.0.3 that fixes a bug I introduced in 1.0.2 that made the screen on the bottom right of the map inaccessible.

This time I've tested the change thoroughly (I swear!). Last version, please... someone stop me!

Update your copies one last time.

(funnily enough versions 1.0 and 1.0.1 were fine, the bugs were minimal things not affecting the game... and I screwed it badly in 1.0.2  )

[robcfg]

Don't torture yourself, it is development at its best

[alex76gr]

@reidrac My congratulations on your excellent game and thank you for sharing.
The teleportation ability is a very genuine idea and makes the game challenging.

I only have a small complaint about the controls and specifically on how you control the teleportation jumps.
I find it difficult to estimate where my sprite will appear after i press the fire button and the direction on the joystick.
Many lives were also lost on teleportation jumps that required diagonal direction.
50% of such cases ended with failed jumps.

[Skunkfish]

I only have a small complaint about the controls and specifically on how you control the teleportation jumps.
I find it difficult to estimate where my sprite will appear after i press the fire button and the direction on the joystick.
Many lives were also lost on teleportation jumps that required diagonal direction.
50% of such cases ended with failed jumps.

I've been playing the game via keyboard controls, with the cursor keys for movement, Z for the special power and X for jump. This seems to give me the best control over the power and jumping.

I'm joystick-less at the moment so not sure if those controls can be reconfigured?

[reidrac]

@reidrac My congratulations on your excellent game and thank you for sharing.
The teleportation ability is a very genuine idea and makes the game challenging.

I only have a small complaint about the controls and specifically on how you control the teleportation jumps.
I find it difficult to estimate where my sprite will appear after i press the fire button and the direction on the joystick.
Many lives were also lost on teleportation jumps that required diagonal direction.
50% of such cases ended with failed jumps.

I'm not good with joysticks myself, but some people have said it is hard to control because the joystick is not precise enough. I haven't tried the GX4000 controller, but I suspect a gamepad will do better.

Space Pest Control was OK with joysticks, but it required less precision of jump + shoot. I guess it may depend on the joystick too, but it is possible that Golden Tail is a keyboard type of game.

[Targhan]

Good game! But very very difficult... Three lives are not enough! What about 10?


But I really like the gameplay ideas about getting more powerful when disappearing. On a real CPC using the keyboard, jumping+power isn't easy to do, as both must be done at the same time.


Anyway, congratulations. The graphics are very well made, the music fits the game well (a bit too short maybe?) and the sprites are quite smooth.


Trg.Aks

[Targhan]

20 pieces collected! Clearly not an easy game, but surely a interesting one. I liked the "second level" with the new music and tileset. The level design is definitely well made.


Maybe I'll be able to finish it soon .

[TFM]

Very, very hard indeed. 300 lives please (ok, 255 are ok too). 

[reidrac]

Very, very hard indeed. 300 lives please (ok, 255 are ok too). 

It isn't easy, but not that hard. I know more people finishing the game in one sitting than people having problems to get to the castle; if the progression is good and you get hooked to give it another go... then I'm happy with the results.

[TFM]

It isn't easy, but not that hard. I know more people finishing the game in one sitting than people having problems to get to the castle; if the progression is good and you get hooked to give it another go... then I'm happy with the results.

There is a castle?! 

[Targhan]

Finished it!!! Woohoo!!


It's really a great game, albeit quite difficult, mainly because of the jump+fire problem that, on a real CPC, seemed sometimes too unreliable...
Anyway, I wish there were more levels now that it is over! I hope you will release a next episode!


Trg.Aks

[reidrac]

The physical release it taking a little bit longer than expected, but it'll be totally worth it.

Sebastian shared on Twitter a first preview of the cover art for Golden Tail Collector's Edition:
https://twitter.com/polyplay_xyz/status/789028938253238273

Remember that the plan is first a 3" disk release followed by a cassette version later on.

[Gryzor]

That's a lovely cover