Pinball Dreams, new game from Batman Group!!

[Higgy]

Great work guys. I fired this up on my 6128 last night for a quick play.
Intro pics are very nice. [size=78%]Super smooth scrolling and very colourful.[/size]
Me and the wife were big Pinball Dreams/Fantasies fans back in the day, and her family had a 464 before an Amiga (sorry I had a Speccy!).


I did think it might be easier to recover the ball once it had passed the flippers compared to the Amiga version, but maybe that was more my wife's skill!


I will try and get a longer play over the weekend in between house jobs and looking after the baby! My Amiga is setup in the same room, so hopefully I can do a back to back test.


Thumbs up

[Rhino]

My RVI is Public Domain for years now!
Also remember: I have not been able to code a sample when you asked a few years ago.

For those who may not get it:
the 2nd splitscreen (the main one with pinball table) requires some uncommon hardware trick,
in order to allow 1-pixel precise vertical scrolling & start at required pixel-line within character-line.
To achieve this: likely a few tiny-splits on a single scanline in the left-border before displaying at monitor,
but also (Rhino can confirm?) likely some code adjustment depending on the CRTC type.

To put in a nutshell: some high-end hardware trick.
Many can understand the trick, very few could code it.

Yes it is... this one is based on crtc reg0... all 7 lines are precalculed to give you the exact pixel Line to display... Rhino Would release soon an example  source for those who wanted to know the trick...
For the other one, just have a look at #e1e, if i remember...

Here's the source code of the trick for WinAPE Assembler!

Great work guys. I fired this up on my 6128 last night for a quick play.
Intro pics are very nice. [size=78%]Super smooth scrolling and very colourful.[/size]
Me and the wife were big Pinball Dreams/Fantasies fans back in the day, and her family had a 464 before an Amiga (sorry I had a Speccy!).


I did think it might be easier to recover the ball once it had passed the flippers compared to the Amiga version, but maybe that was more my wife's skill!


I will try and get a longer play over the weekend in between house jobs and looking after the baby! My Amiga is setup in the same room, so hopefully I can do a back to back test.


Thumbs up

Thanks for the feedback!

[ivarf]

Well can hardly say anything else , than it looks amazing. When I started watching the C64 version I was worried that the C64 version were going to top it , but it looks like the CPC has got another shining example of what sort of machine it can be . Really you guy's are producing stuff which makes a difference . Well in the weird and wonderful world of Retromania anyhow.
Cheers

One can see so little of the flipper table on the C64 unfinished version. It must make it harder to play

[Puresox]

One can see so little of the flipper table on the C64 unfinished version. It must make it harder to play

Yes the screen allocation and size is really not set up for a decent version of the game ,really surprised at how they considered that as a good system.

[Lazy Dude]

After only an hour of "testing" I love it.
I was expecting some pong moments where the ball may get stuck in a repetitive pattern but that never happened.
Graphics etc all good with a converter and lcd panel.
Plenty of time to practice before the next version is released!

[ukmarkh]

I played this last night, I'm not sure what to think or say at this point, but the graphics, music and smoothness of play appear to have been nailed.


I might have imagined it, but when the ball reached the end of my right flipper, it was almost as if it passed through the tip and into the void, but who knows.


This is a great project, even my wife found it entertaining and she hates anything retro.

[ASiC]

Nothing to add really...
Makes me wonder what the actuall f*ck devs were doing all these years and they didn't even get close to the stuff we see the last few years...


The scrolling and the amount of stuff going on the screen are hardly believable.
I was actually thrown off my chair by the sound! Never before heard something like that on the entire 8bit platform. And this includes the game consoles as well.


I couldn't believe my ears that z80 could push sound with so much complexity, tightly tied to the gameplay.
Combine this with the graphics, gameplay and that the fact that the cpc is only about 50% busy... No words!


You guys are awesome, thank you 

[TotO]

I have expected more, but the preview version is nice done! 
Here a video from the RGC event... You can see Pinball Dreams at 6:40.


[youtube]https://youtu.be/WXALayEy9IE?t=400[/youtube]

[Skunkfish]

Looks better than the the poor SNES conversion.

And the Beatbox table was missing from both the Gameboy and Game Gear versions, so I suspect this is an 8-bit first!

[beb]

I was actually thrown off my chair by the sound! Never before heard something like that on the entire 8bit platform. And this includes the game consoles as well.

HA HA ! Maybe you never heard about Orion Prime or Imperial MahJong.
And you probably don't know what is a C64 with a fabulous SID... 

[ASiC]

HA HA ! Maybe you never heard about Orion Prime or Imperial MahJong.
And you probably don't know what is a C64 with a fabulous SID... 

Last time I checked, this wasn't a thread about Orion Prime, Imperial Mahjong or C64 stuff 


I'm reffering the accomplishment of the specific game to deliver dynamic audio content regarding of what's goining on the screen.


The (brilliant) games you are refering to, have amazing music, as all Targhan prods 


Could you tell me please where the c64 fits in here?


If that's the case, I can add the following:


HA HA HA, you have no idea what a an amiga with a Paula, a 486 with Gravis Ultrasound or an i7 with an SB X-Fi is 

[TotO]

I was actually thrown off my chair by the sound! Never before heard something like that on the entire 8bit platform. And this includes the game consoles as well.

As said, the sound will be updated on the final version to be better...

[beb]

I was actually thrown off my chair by the sound! Never before heard something like that on the entire 8bit platform. And this includes the game consoles as well.

You talk about "entire 8bit platform" so...
That's why I laugh and talk about Targhan games. (what is the problem if these games are Arkos ones Have you a problem with that ?)
Because they sound a way better...


Music adaptation from Blaizer are great. You can stay on your chair.
I think your comment lacking in objectivity.


If you want to see hi end C64  game with music you can watch "Mayhem in monsterland." another 8bit computer.
Talking about I7 / Soundblaster XFi and Amiga is nonsens... they are not 8bits at all.


cheers.

[Rhino]

@Lazy dude, ukmarkh

Thanks for the feedback!
Of course, the preview may have bugs and I appreciate reports to fix them for the final version.

@TotO
Thanks for the video.
It is also possible to learn from this preview to improve the final version (or Pinball Fantasies), so any ideas about improvements is welcome.

[ASiC]

You talk about "entire 8bit platform" so...
That's why I laugh and talk about Targhan games. (what is the problem if these games are Arkos ones Have you a problem with that ?)
Because they sound a way better...


Music adaptation from Blaizer are great. You can stay on your chair.
I think your comment lacking in objectivity.


If you want to see hi end C64  game with music you can watch "Mayhem in monsterland." another 8bit computer.
Talking about I7 / Soundblaster XFi and Amiga is nonsens... they are not 8bits at all.


cheers.

I already seen mayhem in monsterland. So? Why should I like things you do?
When I said the entire 8bit platform, I was expressing my opinion.

You started talking shit like "HA HA ! Maybe you never heard about Orion Prime or Imperial MahJong.And you probably don't know what is a C64 with a fabulous SID...  "

Yes, I was waiting for you to teach me about Arkos prods and the SID. Thank you sir, you have opened my eyes 



Your reply is lacking objectivity, is kinda trollish and rather insulting.


I have nothing at all with Arkos prods, the exact opposite.
In this case, the dynamic sound content is missing from Arkos. But that's absolutely fine, I don't have any issues with that.
You on the other hand, as a good ol' troll, started taking the piss and also threw the c64 in!
Genuine reaction of the c64 fanboy: Oh the sid, oh the sprites, oh the vic2 (in "which way did he go George" voice!)
So, yeah, feel free and go pay your respects to the sid gods.

BTW paula IS 8bit...

[Skunkfish]

@Rhino

It plays very well indeed, and I've put in a lot of hours (and pounds) into pinball tables (both digital and physical) over the years.

It's been a while since I've played Pinball Dreams on the Amiga but from memory this feels very close. Are the ball physics modelled on those of Pinball Dreams or are they trying to be more accurate? From memory they improved the physics slightly in Fantasies.

Regarding Fantasies, I believe the tables are a screen taller and with a little more going on. Perhaps you'll need to dig in to some of the remaining 60% of the CPC's capabilities for that one 

Anyway, well done! It's a fantastic accomplishment so far!

[kawickboy]

Last week end were the french party retro Gaming Connexion 2016 in Meaux (near Paris). Pinball Dreams preview was a great success. Many people came to play on my CPC until the CTM screen crashes at night.

[TotO]

Thanks for the video.
It is also possible to learn from this preview to improve the final version (or Pinball Fantasies), so any ideas about improvements is welcome.

I can understand that should be into the pipe, but here what I have seen:
- The ball can be launched only at the maximum speed. (so, you can't target an area when you start)
- In the same way, the ball physic look to lost too much speed on ramps.
- It is hard to play without problem related to the table collisions. May be not enough permissive?

[villain]

Last week end were the french party retro Gaming Connexion 2016 in Meaux (near Paris). Pinball Dreams preview was a great success. Many people came to play on my CPC until the CTM screen crashes at night.

One shouldn't use a CTM to play Pinball Dreams? Is it save to use other recently released productions like Imperial Mahjong? Do I have to connect my GT65 for this games?

[TotO]

While you can use a full CPC (keyboard unit + monitor), better to do it!   

[VincentGR]

I can't test it on a real machine cause I work far away from home. I will be here for a couple of months. I wish I could contribute too but emulators are more like tools to me than for gaming.


After this release I will not be surprised if one day I'll see slam tilt, another world or something else on my CPC 

[Rhino]

@Rhino

It plays very well indeed, and I've put in a lot of hours (and pounds) into pinball tables (both digital and physical) over the years.

It's been a while since I've played Pinball Dreams on the Amiga but from memory this feels very close. Are the ball physics modelled on those of Pinball Dreams or are they trying to be more accurate? From memory they improved the physics slightly in Fantasies.

Regarding Fantasies, I believe the tables are a screen taller and with a little more going on. Perhaps you'll need to dig in to some of the remaining 60% of the CPC's capabilities for that one 

Anyway, well done! It's a fantastic accomplishment so far!

The idea is that the gameplay will be similar to the original, there is a dependence on the shapes of the boards and physics to achieve it. But there are still many things to adjust, for example, the ball in CPC is proportionally bigger than in Amiga, which makes it more difficult to bring it through the ramps, tunnels, etc... This must be compensated in other ways, since the ratio between the ball and the rest of the board is more real in CPC than Amiga and I would not like to change it.

[Rhino]

Last week end were the french party retro Gaming Connexion 2016 in Meaux (near Paris). Pinball Dreams preview was a great success. Many people came to play on my CPC until the CTM screen crashes at night.

Thanks !, I hope the monitor damage was not caused by the game!
The game keeps a 50hz screen at all time, btw.

[Rhino]

I can understand that should be into the pipe, but here what I have seen:
- The ball can be launched only at the maximum speed. (so, you can't target an area when you start)
- In the same way, the ball physic look to lost too much speed on ramps.
- It is hard to play without problem related to the table collisions. May be not enough permissive?

Thanks for the feedback!
I think the last point is caused by what I mentioned in a message above.

[TotO]

This must be compensated in other ways, since the ratio between the ball and the rest of the board is more real in CPC than Amiga and I would not like to change it.

May be the ball collision mask should be a bit smaller than its visual.