Genesis8 - Remake of Slap Fight (Alcon) by Abalore W.I.P.

[Mr. DVG]

Do you have by chance the M4 Lower-rom enabled? You positively need to have it disabled. If not, the installer will overwrite the lower rom slot (31 for instance) and will cause the system crash. Also "Use only 16 slots" must be unchecked.

Mission accomplished! Thanks for the support guys!  
Now I can finally test it!

The only thing that was wrong was not to assign the first slot of the "ROM-RSX" (always because of the problem of my technical ineptitude)!

Sorry! Now everything is ok (or at least I think)!

[abalore]

Mission accomplished! Thanks for the support guys!  
Now I can finally test it!

The only thing that was wrong was not to assign the first slot of the "ROM-RSX" (always because of the problem of my technical ineptitude)!

Sorry! Now everything is ok (or at least I think)!

Awesome news!! Enjoy it !!

[norecess464]

I have to admit that I have great memories of me playing the original Slap Fight when I was a kid, so it will be hard to raise the bar....
...well, that's what I initially thought This version of the game is really impressive so far !!
It never slows down nor glitches even when many enemies are displayed, technically I'm impressed.
Visually too, awesome work: I personally really do enjoy the work on shadows (when I compare to the original Slap Fight we got, they "solved" the shadows by using black ink.. but you weren't lazy on that front).
The entry music is fantastic, expecting same quality later for in-game.
Thumb up!

[XeNoMoRPH]

The game also works on Symbiface III, with the modified rom from @robcfg , thx and Gflorez for test it

[abalore]

I have to admit that I have great memories of me playing the original Slap Fight when I was a kid, so it will be hard to raise the bar....
...well, that's what I initially thought This version of the game is really impressive so far !!
It never slows down nor glitches even when many enemies are displayed, technically I'm impressed.
Visually too, awesome work: I personally really do enjoy the work on shadows (when I compare to the original Slap Fight we got, they "solved" the shadows by using black ink.. but you weren't lazy on that front).
The entry music is fantastic, expecting same quality later for in-game.
Thumb up!

Thank you! All credit from graphics is from TotO and music from Targhan.

[abalore]

Hi all!
thanks everyone for testing the game. Here I'm posting a second version of the beta with ROM size fixes and a change many people asked for: Increase the spaceship speed.
No "manual" installation files will be provided for this version, for people who are not able to change the disk side in M4 via the web interface, they have just to create a new folder in M4, copy the contains of both disks to it and run "flash.bas".
Please remember to set the RSX ROM number during installation, not setting it can lead to unexpected results.

Abalore

[roudoudou]

new version is more enjoyable 

[Maniac]

Managed to install on my X-Mem board now and all working. Although I had to flash the ROMs manually to it as when I tried to use the installer it crashed after loading the first ROM. That may be me using the M4 as the source of the files but it worked when I did it by hand using the Flasher util on the X-Mem disk.


I think I may have found a bug; when playing it was moving the ship about and pressing SHIFT repeatedly to try and get all of the power-ups etc - after about 5 presses and may be a couple of FIRE2 presses in-between the game crashed showing 4 copies of the status bar that's normally at the bottom. This may be nothing and wholly related to the cheat currently available but thought I'd mention it.

[abalore]

Managed to install on my X-Mem board now and all working. Although I had to flash the ROMs manually to it as when I tried to use the installer it crashed after loading the first ROM. That may be me using the M4 as the source of the files but it worked when I did it by hand using the Flasher util on the X-Mem disk.


I think I may have found a bug; when playing it was moving the ship about and pressing SHIFT repeatedly to try and get all of the power-ups etc - after about 5 presses and may be a couple of FIRE2 presses in-between the game crashed showing 4 copies of the status bar that's normally at the bottom. This may be nothing and wholly related to the cheat currently available but thought I'd mention it.

Thanks for the feedback! That bug usually happens when interrupts are disabled for too long, losing the split screen synchro. It's for sure a sprite drawing routine being too long without the proper delays in between. I'll check all the sprite routines to find what's causing it. Thanks again!

[Mr. DVG]

I also had the same crash / bug, but not selecting the weapons with the cheat, but simply playing normally! Actually some "jerk" happens to the video while I change the weapons with the cheat mode, which sometimes generate small (stuff of a small horizontal strip of two or three pixels) graphic glitches in the black area of the screen (outside the area of game).

For the rest an excellent production, which shows a refined programming, a balanced difficulty (in the second version), a remarkable graphic sector and a perfect soundtrack in the title screen (graphically impressive - I wonder where all those colors came from in mode 1).

[robcfg]

Now that I see your picture, it happened to me once, but I though that I just moved the table too much and the M4 made a bad contact...

[jesusdelmas]

Thanks for the feedback! That bug usually happens when interrupts are disabled for too long, losing the split screen synchro. It's for sure a sprite drawing routine being too long without the proper delays in between. I'll check all the sprite routines to find what's causing it. Thanks again!

Hi Abalore! very nice work, i want to ask if you could make a normal disk version for this deme, i dont have any m4 or x-mem totry it

[Mr. DVG]

Now that I see your picture, it happened to me once, but I though that I just moved the table too much and the M4 made a bad contact...

I too had thought this initially (especially after losing a life, with the right automatic curse immediately after), but unfortunately the same thing happened two more times, playing normally...

[roudoudou]

Hi Abalore! very nice work, i want to ask if you could make a normal disk version for this deme, i dont have any m4 or x-mem totry it

You can still use an emulator

[Axelay]

So far this is looking very promising - nice work! - but it looks like it still has some bugs to iron out too, unless they're emulator issues.  I've never used RVM before so I don't know how it is for accuracy.


In terms of bugs, here's a few things I noticed, a couple of which have been mentioned already, but maybe it'll help to repeat how they occurred for me.  The list has ended up surprisingly long, so sorry about that, and I guess some are so obvious you'll already be well aware of them anyway, but you asked for feedback on bugs, so, I am obliging. 


I've had 3 occasions where the screen suddenly 'rolled' briefly, as though screen sync was lost for a frame.  Only the play area dropped downwards, the score panel remained where it was.  For what it's worth, on at least two of these occasions, I'm fairly sure it coincided with something blowing up.


Possibly related, I've also had the game flat out crash just when I died on one occasion.  I've attached the SNA from RVM in case that's a help, but probably not.


The first hexagonal white moving enemy that appears on the left of the screen seems to always leave a row of rubbish off the side of the screen, 4 pixels long and 1 pixel high.


On one occasion, I believe I destroyed the last ground emplacement on the right edge of the screen just before the boss and it did not leave a crater.  The game was a bit busy at the time though, so I can not be 100% sure that it didn't alternatively not place the turret at all.  All I know for sure is after all the enemies were cleared, the space where that turret should be was 'clean' with no wreckage.  This has only happened the once though, maybe I was imagining things...


The last two aren't necessarily bugs and might be me just not liking how it is, but anyway.


On one occasion, I picked up a star on the very right of screen.  This got me to the missiles, so I pushed fire 2 to activate it.  This moved the ship to the left automatically, picking up an additional star that happened to be sitting to the left of the one I'd just collected in the process.  The game then moved the power up selector to the shield and gave me the shield when the ship stopped auto moving.  I don't know if that's how it's meant to be working, but I'd prefer to get the power up I selected when I pushed fire 2, regardless of if the ship then collects another star after that during an auto move.  Of course this also only happened the once, so again, maybe I imagined it.


Collision detection - several things.  Not sure how easy it is to adjust but I have found a few different things that feel a bit off with it to me.  They are:


The standard player shot can pass through the left side of enemies.  It's most noticeable with the blue stationary enemies, where if you fire a shot to the left of it, the right player bullet can pass right over the enemy without colliding.


Conversely, I have found that the player can sometimes pass almost halfway over the right side of the star pickups before it registers as collected.  This can seem even more obvious when the ship has been enlarged with the first of the 'widen' power ups.


Final collision issue.  When using the very fast laser, it does not seem to be hitting enemies just in front of the player.

[roudoudou]

i had the triple HUD bug too
a few moment after i selected weapon 5
i was firing and firing, mostly missing the ennemies then...
too much sprites on screen?

[abalore]

On one occasion, I picked up a star on the very right of screen.  This got me to the missiles, so I pushed fire 2 to activate it.  This moved the ship to the left automatically, picking up an additional star that happened to be sitting to the left of the one I'd just collected in the process.  The game then moved the power up selector to the shield and gave me the shield when the ship stopped auto moving.  I don't know if that's how it's meant to be working, but I'd prefer to get the power up I selected when I pushed fire 2, regardless of if the ship then collects another star after that during an auto move.  Of course this also only happened the once, so again, maybe I imagined it.

This is a very interesting issue, I'm seriously thinking of removing the feature of moving the ship to the center when activating a weapon.

[GUNHED]

Hi Abalore! very nice work, i want to ask if you could make a normal disk version for this deme, i dont have any m4 or x-mem totry it

Well, it's always worth to buy some kind of ROM-Box for the CPC. X-MEM and M4 work wonders and they are super cheap regarding their awesome features. Try it and it will enrich your CPC life. 

[abalore]

I definitely removed the spacehip autocentering feature and fixed the laser distance issue

[roudoudou]

Well, it's always worth to buy some kind of ROM-Box for the CPC. X-MEM and M4 work wonders and they are super cheap regarding their awesome features. Try it and it will enrich your CPC life. 

I guess the game will be released in a physical version to plugged on expansion slot so the only thing he is missing is the beta 

[GUNHED]

I guess the game will be released in a physical version to plugged on expansion slot so the only thing he is missing is the beta 

Well, if people don't want to buy a physical copy or already have an let's say X-MEM + PlayCity then (as I assume) it's great to be able to use this great game on any ROM box.
In addition, as you know, sometimes people see a "new" game and want to get it, but it's sold out.

For example: When Cyber Chicken was sold (111 physical copies made) it took IIRC about 2 years. But years after I still got emails like "Oh I saw your new game - can I buy it somewhere". 

[abalore]

Hello!
Here is the Level 1 Beta version 3 with huge improvements:
- Improved stability, crash source have been identified and fixed.
- Improved collisions: Bigger collision box for some enemies and a lot more accurate collision check.
- New Weapon interface, with new icons and new info text
- All screen side artifacts have been removed by carefully reviewing and fixing all enemy paths
- New Laser weapon with new graphics for improved visibility and better performance
- More gameplay to test: a new bunch of enemies unlocked after the boss including new enemy classes

Thanks everyone for your invaluable feedback, let's keep making this game more and more enjoyable!
Abalore
PD: @Axelay I think all the issues you posted have been solved

[Axelay]

@abalore Cool, I'll hopefully try it out over the weekend sometime. 

[Mr. DVG]

Played thoroughly and I have not encountered any technical problems (no bugs / crashes or graphic artifice during gameplay). The new additions are exceptional, although the "homing missile" weapon, having black bullets, tends to blend in with some elements of the backdrop. I died immediately after killing the first boss and the demo continued up to area 80 (I enjoyed the excellent panorama of the scenarios) ... after area 80 and the "red zone" the backdrop started to "decompose" in various graphic material and then I turned off my Amstrad CPC...

It was a beautiful experience!

[abalore]

Played thoroughly and I have not encountered any technical problems (no bugs / crashes or graphic artifice during gameplay). The new additions are exceptional, although the "homing missile" weapon, having black bullets, tends to blend in with some elements of the backdrop. I died immediately after killing the first boss and the demo continued up to area 80 (I enjoyed the excellent panorama of the scenarios) ... after area 80 and the "red zone" the backdrop started to "decompose" in various graphic material and then I turned off my Amstrad CPC...

It was a beautiful experience!

Yes, the homing missile sprites are placeholders, in fact, they have been changed already. Furthermore... almost every weapon and even your spaceship have changed in both graphics and behavior. But I guess all that will be a surprise for the final release!
I don't know how you managed to see the scenario up to area 80, but congratulations! The unexpected gaming experiences are always the best and the game background art by @TotO is really amazing.

Thanks so much for testing the game.