Port of Intellivision Utopia to CPC

[Sykobee (Briggsy)]

Okay, I've decided that I should actually do a programming project on the CPC in my vanishingly small spare time.


So I've decided to keep things simple initially - and do something that shouldn't require frobbing the CRTC or squeezing every last microsecond out of routines. So I've decided to do a game very similar and obviously inspired by a game called Utopia for the Intellivision. There's some details on Wikipedia if you're interested. One of the things I'll have to do is add an AI for the computer opponent in 1P mode, that'll be fun.


So ... I'm starting of with the graphics, sigh-style :-) The game is tile based, and I'll keep that aspect but try and prettify the graphics to make the most of CPC MODE 0.


I'm using GrafX2 which is not too bad, but not a patch on DPaint on the Amiga.


Anyway, I'm starting off (apologies for slight blur, that's Preview resizing on the Mac to get the 2x1 aspect ratio) with some initial graphics. What image hosting sites do people use, btw?





I'm not too hot on drawing water, and still need to complete the sprites.


Any comments welcome!Or move to programming forum if that seems more appropriate.


I'm going to try and maintain a development blog thing, for which I will try out Google Sites: https://sites.google.com/a/graham-briggs.co.uk/webdump/retro-projects/utopia

[Axelay]

Cool!  I like strategy games but just have no real interest in designing one myself, so it's great to see a project like this. 

[Sykobee (Briggsy)]

Thanks Axelay. The tough thing will be getting the gameplay balanced to keep it tough and not let one strategy always win (Zerg Rush!).


I've gone done a font during the Wimbledon Final ...





Later on, rearranging the colours so that I can change the font colour by setting the top bit when rendering it. If anyone else wants to use the font for their project, please go ahead :-)


Edit: Added lower-case characters. Todo, rearrange into ASCII and do other punctuation. I hope a 6x8 MODE 0 font is useful for other people.

[redbox]

Looks really nice, good luck with your project.

[MacDeath]

So this is the precursor of Civilization ?

this also looks a little bit like heroes of Might and Magic.

[CPCLER]

Sounds like a great project!

I think this genre has been neglected on the CPC...

Looking forward to it

[sigh]

Looking good!

[Sykobee (Briggsy)]

Thanks guys. I'll keep you up to date with progress. :-)

[einoeL]

Nice project!