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Rodland

Started by sigh, 15:19, 25 May 11

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sigh

While still working on the beat em up (which I've given a temporary name title "The Badass" :P ), this week I decided to take a break for 2 weeks and do some graphics for a Rodland remake (if anyone is interested) after being inspired by the Bubble Bobble Remake. I searched a while ago and found a Rodland sprite sheet that had some but not all of the sprites, which I have been  redrawing using Mode 0. It's been an extremely easy process and I'll probably finish off the blue fairy player today - the player sprites being the most animated:



I'm using all the frames from the arcade version, but I was wondering if anybody knows where the sprite sheets are for the bosses, backgrounds and enemies?

robcfg

OOOOOOOOOoooooooh! Me likes!


Rodland is one of my all-time favourites and I think it deserves a nice remake. I cannot help you with the sprite sheets, but would you be so kind of attaching the ones you have?

MacDeath

KAWAIIIIIII!!!
;D

sigh

Quote from: robcfg on 17:39, 25 May 11
OOOOOOOOOoooooooh! Me likes!


Rodland is one of my all-time favourites and I think it deserves a nice remake. I cannot help you with the sprite sheets, but would you be so kind of attaching the ones you have?

http://walen.se/sprites/?level=album&id=84

These are from the Amiga version which have less colours. I've also downloaded the arcade footage of the game and have been analyzing frame by frame to make sure there's nothing missing.

Quote from: MacDeath on 19:24, 25 May 11
KAWAIIIIIII!!!
;D


eh? ??? (is that a good thing or a bad thing?)


redbox

I would love to see a CPC version of Rodland, especially with your excellent sprites.  :)

This thread tells you how to rip them from the Amiga version using an emulator whilst the game is playing. However, I expect it's a multi-load so you might have to play it through to get to the level you want...?

EgoTrip

Theres already a version of Rodland for the CPC: ftp://ftp.nvg.ntnu.no/pub/cpc/games/arcade/rodland.zip


Or do you want to improve on it?

MacDeath

#6
Wasn't Amstrad CPC Rodland's version just sluggish ?
also less content (bosses) as it was perhaps a 64K version ?


Parasol Star anyone ?


Kawaï is Japanese word for "how cute it is".

sigh

#7
Quote from: EgoTrip on 21:43, 25 May 11
Theres already a version of Rodland for the CPC: ftp://ftp.nvg.ntnu.no/pub/cpc/games/arcade/rodland.zip


Or do you want to improve on it?

The original CPC version of Rodland (and no disrespect to the artists and programmers involved) was in my opinion in the same category as Bubble Bobble for the CPC, where it could of been so much better. I had the game on my Amiga and loved it, but the graphics on the CPC didn't look anything like Rodland - especially the main characters(the red fairy looks as though it's sporting a mullet!) and on top of that - it's a  really slow game. I really didn't like this version especially after seeing the pacing of the C64 and Speccy versions which also included the bosses which are missing on the CPC version.

http://www.retro-sanctuary.com/compaisons%20-%20rodland%20realI.html

As stated before - no disrespect to the team who handled this, as there is always so much more going on in the background within game development, whether it be time restrictions, tools issues, sprite programs (they wouldn't of had access to the likes of the paint programs of now to make their jobs quicker and easier) but I felt that it was the poorer version of all the 8 bits.

I would like to remake a version with sprites that resemble more like the arcade, backgrounds, music and also the extra levels on the arcade that are missing on all versions (8 bit and 16 bit). It would be a 464 game of course:)

Quote from: MacDeath on 22:05, 25 May 11
Wasn't Amstrad CPC Rodland's version just sluggish ?
also less content (bosses) as it was perhaps a 64K version ?

These are HUGE omissions in my opinion. The speed and "Missing bosses"?!?!?! The CPC version being the only one that had this :( .

robcfg

#8
Quoteeh?  (is that a good thing or a bad thing?)


Kawaii means 'cute' (sort of) in japanese, so I guess it's a good thing  ;D

STE86

AFAIK Mame can be convinced to spit out graphics sheets can it not?

you may well be able to get the graphics to convert right from the source roms.

Steve

Skunkfish

Could this use the Plus features? Even just the use of Plus pallette would be nice :)
An expanding array of hardware available at www.cpcstore.co.uk (and issue 4 of CPC Fanzine!)

sigh

Quote from: STE86 on 10:57, 26 May 11
AFAIK Mame can be convinced to spit out graphics sheets can it not?

you may well be able to get the graphics to convert right from the source roms.

Steve

I've never ripped sprites before and it sounds rather complicated, but it looks like I'll have to read up on some information on how to do this. I t must be possible because there are so many Streetfighter, Mortal Kombat and KOF sprites finding themselves in mugen games.

Quote from: Skunkfish on 11:53, 26 May 11
Could this use the Plus features? Even just the use of Plus pallette would be nice :)

I now have a 6128 PLUS, but I'm not too sure if the hardware sprite capabilities would end up eating a lot of space as they need to be copied. The player sprites take up 8kb each at the moment and would still need to fit in the enemies, background tiles, HUD and a large picture of the fairy that appears when you get all the " E X T R A " letters. The music and sound effects would also need to be fitted in. The bosses would probably need to be multiloaded. I'm not to sure how compression works in any of these instances.

There's also vertical scrolling aka Bubble Bobble style when going from one level to the next, but this needn't be super smooth. On the first level there is a horizontal scroll ONCE so it wouldn't hurt the game if that moved 4 choppy pixels per frame as it's a one off on a CPC. On a PLUS the scrolling would of course be smoother, but I'm really only concentrating on a CPC version


PeteD

#12
Yeah, MAME will at least display sprite/gfx sheets although it lays them out a bit badly (odd spacing).


When the game is running hit F4.  Enter will take you between Graphics, Tilemap and Palette screens.  When you're on those (especially the GFX one which is what you're after) the square braces [ and ] go backwards/forwards through pages and cursor left/right change palettes.  Cursor up/down scrolls through the sprites/tiles.


Not sure if it'll spit out a screengrab from those pages, if not just use some screengrabbing tool, that's what I usually do..




It doesn't work on ALL games afaik but every one I've needed it for so far has been good.




Pete

MacDeath

#13
Just use HardSprites for special extra visual effects...

Well done Softsprites + No scrolling needed + ROM software (512K Cartridge ?) may be far enough to get this running smoothly. :police:

Rodland was slow because limited to 64K RAM and partly speccy ported routines...
Having extra 512K ROM is good to have a big RAM equivalent.

Also a vertical 256pix display may be great.

If you just stick with CPC specs... 128K RAM + multiple disk reload (between each levels) can still give far more ressources for the good old Z80.

Obn the other hand, 64K config can also manbage well if Multiple Disk access occur, yet you are then far more limited in gameplay stuffs and visual effects (even sound).

Just look at the difference between Rick Dangerous and Rick Dangerous 128+.

=More palette changes.
=Bigger levels.
=Even slightly bigger screen display (not a lot though)
=Extra FX from PLUS : Hardsprites HUD, few animations (bonus) and samples (supposed to be RAM heavy...)


The same magnitude of upgrades will probably be seen with R-Type128.

sigh

Quote from: PeteD on 18:21, 26 May 11
When the game is running hit F4.  Enter will take you between Graphics, Tilemap and Palette screens.  When you're on those (especially the GFX one which is what you're after) the square braces [ and ] go backwards/forwards through pages and cursor left/right change palettes.  Cursor up/down scrolls through the sprites/tiles.
Pete

Thank you very much! I just downloaded mame and will install it onto my desktop and follow your instructions. The last time I used it was around 5 years ago.

Quote from: MacDeath on 22:36, 26 May 11
Just use HardSprites for special extra visual effects...

Well done Softsprites + No scrolling needed + ROM software (512K Cartridge ?) may be far enough to get this running smoothly. :police:

There's a good few special effects on this game with the weapons and "BoooooM!" words. I've noticed that the game isn't too heavy on elaborate backgrounds after the first forest level as it's mostly brown brick walls after that.

Quote from: MacDeath on 22:36, 26 May 11
Rodland was slow because limited to 64K RAM and partly speccy ported routines...

Are you sure? I read somewhere that the CPC platform was the first for Rodland to be converted on.

Quote from: MacDeath on 22:36, 26 May 11
If you just stick with CPC specs... 128K RAM + multiple disk reload (between each levels) can still give far more ressources for the good old Z80.

Obn the other hand, 64K config can also manbage well if Multiple Disk access occur, yet you are then far more limited in gameplay stuffs and visual effects (even sound).

I really do think that this game needs to be 64kb multiload. The first forest background is the only real heavy graphic part of the game but that's only 2 stages.

MacDeath

#15
QuoteAre you sure? I read somewhere that the CPC platform was the first for Rodland to be converted on.
Really ?

I gotta compare betterly both speccy and CPC versions then to see their shared parts or not. :)

BTW multiload is the only way to be sure you get a properly implemented game in 64K.
Even if you gain just a few Ko of RAM with this...

Rick dangerous used to store the whole game in compressed form and uncompressed what it needed when needed... this is quite heavy on CPU, more than needed.
Just see what happen when you bomb 2-3 enemies at the same time...
:o

Rodland need a bit more animation and sprites than Rick (which used to slow down when like 3 ennemies were on screen) so any bytes gained is good, any routine removed is good too.


BTW, let's compare.


Arcade :


Atari St : full softwared animations and 16 colour mode, YM=AY sounds.


Amiga : hard supports everywhere.


C64 :


Speccy :


Amstrad CPC :


8Bit Wars :



sigh

Spectrum version really is the winner here followed by the C64.

Just finished drawing those yellow potatoe sack looking enemies and also the red enemies that come on screen when you collect all the letters.
Now onto the meanies!!!

sigh

#17
It looks like I'll be able to fit the graphics for each level (after each cutscene) at around 40kb of graphic data but this doesn't as yet include the large fairy that appears after you 've collected the "EXTRA". Wondering if this should be done using mode 1 graphics to save space. Also  trying desperately to make use of every available space on a a 160x200 sheet, by lining up each graphic next to each other and make sure that there is a clear square/oblong/rectangle that can be lassoed around them without interference from another graphic(same way done when doing backgrounds tiles - but these are very odd shapes indeed):



Will start the level 1 forest background which needs to fit into the area above.
Finishing the 3 frame flower animations tomorrow.

sigh

So far....



..animated all the special effects. Just need to animate the rest of the different enemies/bosses and flowers.

robcfg

Hey! Great work!


It really looks amazing, and Rodland has been always an all-time favourite.


Please, keep up the good work!

Gryzor

Wow. Mind posting a short vid?

MacDeath

Perhaps an animated GIF ?

Ynot.zer0

that looks great!  I would like to see it moving  ;D

robcfg

Before MacDeath says it, have you thought in making a CPC+ version?  ;D


That's no joke, a Rodland version for the Pluses and GX4000 would be completely awesome!

sigh

Would prefer if it worked on a standard CPC 464.

I will do an animated gif, but I need to finish the second screen from the one shown.

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