Robocop Prime

[Carnivius]

Just a lil update to say I'm still working hard on this.  Done a lot of optimising of the sprites and adding some new things.  This weekend I've been adding the Cobra Assault Cannon as an overlay sprite to certain frames of Robo and the generic enemy torso.   Doinng my best to make things flexible and memory efficient.   Also ripped apart most of the code of my game now that I'm happy with how certain things work and rewrote it simpler and easier to add to.

In regards to shop signs they won't be tiles anymore (was using up too many of them) but have a few done as sprites instead that will just overlay on the tiled boards above shop windows.  Lets me do a few pretty individual shop logos.

Also still comparing a lot with the original 464 tape RoboCop just to see what else I can pack into a 128k version.  At moment my game's graphic library isn't hugely more than what the original game had but is able to do more.  Will be looking into asking one of the talented CPC music folks if they want to do some tunes of what I'd like (aspects of the original game's level music and mixing in elements of the movie soundtrack). 

[Gryzor]

Thanks for the update mate

(btw this thread has now surpassed the 2k views mark!)

[Carnivius]

Is that good?  I don't even know.

One of the guys in charge of Game Maker, Mike Daily helped me out last night with an improved effect for the loading screen 'simulation' (where the loading image appears in lines like they did on good ol' tape loading).  I had a system for it before but it was buggy and over-complicated.  His is much more efficient.  Also it has the flashing bars of colours in the border like tape loading should have.  He originally did it as a Spectrum tribute but built on it and provided the option for CPC as well cos he's nice like that. 
Obviously this is nothing to do much with a true CPC one in the future but it adds to the nostalgia and authentic feel of this PC version. 

I may actually use the loading sound of the original RoboCop CPC tape played over that fake loading effect.  That would be a weird but nice 'easter egg' due to how real tape loading works.  So perhaps playing the loading screen of my game can actually load the original CPC version if you have it hooked up to an Amstrad tape deck.   Could happen.

[robcfg]

We are really waiting for it!


Robocop is one of the all-time favourites, and with your art is getting even better. Congrats!

[Carnivius]

Finally saw RebootCop yesterday.  Wasn't bad but it simply wasn't very fun (and I loathed the Samuel L Jackson parts.. ugh).  Passed the time nicely though anyways and it was interesting to see the concept reimagined for the modern age.   Loved that they referenced the original design as a potential 'Combat Mode'.

Didn't really find much from the film I could reference or use in my game though. Seemed like most notable things had been done before.   He rides a motorcycle, the original briefly did that in RoboCop 2.  Oh it seems he has holsters in both legs now, but so did the original Robo in the TV series (though in the left leg he kept small mines rather than another gun, but 'RoboCable' in Prime Directives wields two guns).  So yeah.  Film was well made but not very imaginative or memorable (I can't even recall more than a few lines of dialogue other than what they took from the original and even then they didn't say it in as effective a way).

Still may do a short level where you ride a motorcycle though.  I already have a bike sprite in progress for the enemies (much the same function as the original game with a couple extras) so could just reuse that and that would be similar to RoboCop 2 where he just takes a general bike rather than have a specifically designed one such as RebootCop. 

[Gryzor]

Original tape loading sound: great touch

[Carnivius]

I'm quite pleased with how ED-209 is turning out.  Will attempt to do a low frame walk cycle for his leg sprite to walk across the screen and in one particular part chase an injured and weaponless Robo like in the first movie.  Won't be easy.   His arm is a seperate sprite and can aim slightly down to shoot if you're crouching.    The horizontal sprite of it shown there overlayed on the ED body will actually able to be wielded by Robo like a Mega Man style gun-arm in at least one brief scene to use the heavy ammo and rockets.

[robcfg]

Simply amazing! This shows how much potential our beloved CPC still has!

[Gryzor]

Ahhh this is so lovely!

Regarding shooting downwards, wasn't ED capable of crouching, too? So that the "head" could just lower to shoot Robocop?

[Carnivius]

Ahhh this is so lovely!

Regarding shooting downwards, wasn't ED capable of crouching, too? So that the "head" could just lower to shoot Robocop?

Not sure what you mean by crouching.  He's shown there as low as the top half can slide down the leg section (remembering ED doesn't have knee joints at all, it's an unusual sliding mechanism where the legs appear to extend and retract along that metal section at the back as they swing) so technically he IS crouching as he can go as he can raise another 8 or so pixels diagonally up along that metal leg bit.   He could tilt forwards at the 'waist' but that would require a whole new angled top section sprite for something that me be superfluous and the gun arm sprite would still need to be angled pointing diagonally downwards anyways whether I do that or not.    The angled sprites are only really needed if Robo is crouching anyways. 
So yeah the angled gun arm will be done but I'll leave the angled top section as a maybe (doing rotated sprites is enough of a pain in regular pixels, these wide-pixels make it at least times more difficult and tedious).  I cooould skip the angled arm too and just have it so if you're too low to get shot by the main gun he simply fires his rockets at you which can lower as they fly across the screen and come out of the lower part of his arm (that yellow and black bit).   That would save a bit of memory too.  Think I'll do that for now and if towards end of project I can spare some memory I may do the angled bits.

Anyways the legs are much more of a priority or else he won't be able to give chase.   Not looking forward to animating that.  Is likely to be the most difficult animation to do in this whole project and trying to do it in a way that doesn't look too choppy but also doesn't use too much memory.  Times like this I wish he just had wheels or tank treads. 

[Carnivius]

Simple example showing how I don't need to use any more memory just to have ED-209 rise up along those metal back parts of his legs (which form his unusual walking method) by just off-setting the top sprites and keeping the leg sprite in place.   Simple stuff.  The real work comes when I have to redraw the legs swinging for the walk cycle.

I know some people viewing this may think the motion looks a little 'rude' but you go scrub your brains out with soap now.   

[Gryzor]

Yup, that's exactly what I meant by "crouching". I know he's not technically doing that, but that's the gaming term

[Carnivius]

Hm  yeah.  I like that even with this 'animation' (really just moving the top sprite's co-ordinates) already makes ED seem 'alive' and not just a static piece of scenery like in the original CPC and Spec games. 

[Carnivius]

copied from my tumblr

Had a first go at crafting the main reception area at police headquarters using just the tiles already in the tileset (except two new ones for the floor, I had a few tile spaces left and felt the green/grey floor gave it a nice look and accurate to the film).   Obviously the final version will be bigger and fill the gameplay area.  Revised Dr Lazarus' sprites.  Now uses same head sprite as Lewis but with longer hair as part of her unique torso sprite and the 'prostitute' leg sprite.  Made the outfit resemble that of Robo's technician from RoboCop 2 as it works well (I know Lazarus seems to prefer trousers but I can't spare another sprite for it, especially if she needs a walkcycle).
More notable and new addition is Sgt. Warren Reed. His desk torso sprite is unique to him (and includes his papers and those two gold pens. His head sprites can be used with the cop torso and leg sprites (that Lewis and generic cops use) so he can be seen in action too.

Oh yeah I forgot this thing and is the reason I split the gun sprite from the torso.   Will add his small leg opening holster overlay sprite eventually.

[dcdrac]

I liked Robocop 1 a lot the film, I wish they had looked at the idea of the man in the machine more, but it was an action film not a drama.

[Carnivius]

Just a lil note to say that development on this will be going a little slower for a while cos I need to 'sell out' for a bit and make a crummy touchscreen game for Android & iOS thingies so I got some kinda income coming in.  There's various reasons why I need to do that such as lack of employment and trying to save up for a car (and the extra cost of my driving test being delayed by 2 and a half months cos the examiner is ill and the earliest they can reschedule my test is in August, grrr).

This really only affects graphics and stuff as most of the code in my projects can be copy/pasted back and forth between them (Game Maker: Studio can do Android and iOS software without too much rewriting 'cept for obvious things like touchscreen controls and screen size options) for speedier development.  Things like basic enemy AI, menu systems, control handling, effects and such.  I just need to have an actual game published that I can make some money from whether giving it a cheap price or have adverts in or what.  I don't want to sully any of my personal interest projects with that sorta thing but yeah I just gotta do something sellable.  Starting with something relatively simple both graphically and in gameplay and see how it goes. 

Hope that is cool.

[Lazy Dude]

This is one cool project. It's got plenty of avid followers too.
I look forward to seeing what the future brings.

[Gryzor]

I'm sure we can wait, but thanks for the update mate!

[Carnivius]

Thanks.
Just been testing how out Game Maker: Studio works with Android.  I currently own the 'Professional' version which lets me test Android stuff but I need the full Android module to be able to publish it to the Google Play store.  I didn't realise how easy this would be to get it on Android though.   I've actually managed to get the current WIP of RoboCop: Prime running on my Sony Xperia L phone bar a couple of odd graphic issues that I could probably fix in time once I'm used to how this all works.   
When my actual Android game is finished I'll buy the module and publish it and see what happens. 

[Gryzor]

Just a word of caution: IMHO classic arcade games suck on mobile devices. Controls are just never that good. So, even if I'd love to have Prime running on my mobile, it wouldn't be that playable...

I don't know what your other title is, of course, just saying...

[Carnivius]

Actually RoboCop:Prime feels very playable on my phone oddly enough (cos I usually hate playing most games on phones too).  There's enough room either side of the 'CPC screen' that the virtual buttons I coded in to test aren't too instrusive or obscuring anything but big enough for my thumbs and it feels very responsive (the fact he doesn't jump helps a bit cos jumping accurately is often a pain on touchscreens).   Aiming isn't even that difficult nor is entering the doors.   The slower pace of a RoboCop game compared to some other arcade styles probably helps here too.

My aaactual Android game is quite different in gameplay though and makes use of the swipe function which I had to learn today and got working well.  The basic engine for this game is already functional and the graphics won't take me too long as it's somewhat simpler than my usual stuff (though still properly pixelled...).  Trying to make this a very 'casual' game in some ways but still appealing to console fans and such.  Also it's very british.  I feel like there aren't enough 'britishy' games these days like there were back on the 8-bits.   A friend of mine said earlier when he saw the screenshot that it reminds him of the old game 'Everyone's a Wally' in general appearance (due to the fact that level is shown to be a british looking street with houses and flats and post boxes and such)

[Carnivius]

The longtime friend of mine who said it reminds him of Wally has now agreed to do the bulk of the programming for it.  I offered it to him cos he's more experienced with phone games and has the Android and iOS modules for Game Maker: Studio I can't really afford at present anyways and to be fair he's the one who wants to be a full time games developer, I'm not.   So we split any profits and the game actually gets done quickly (cos it actually be coded by someone who knows what he's doing).  We shall see how the next week goes.   It's nice that I can focus more on the actual graphics and design work. Hopefully means we can get this done reasonably quickly and I then have a game out there making some money and I can continue with RoboCop and Cosmic Prison Commando.   And we can add patches from time to time to add new content to the game.  All seems good.

[Gryzor]

Make sure you keep us in the loop when it comes out

[Carnivius]

This concept pic is nowhere near finished but I'm just brainstorming a memory saving idea for some cutscenes (short ones).

Thought if I did a sideview portrait I could have it appear in dialogue text sections or also re-using background tiles to make it look like he's on his way to a level in his car (ignore the clearly placeholder car bit, it's just to get the idea) in a close up shot.   Also could have that portrait bob up and down in bits without the car bit to have him look like he's walking (accompanied by the same sound effect his actual sprite uses when walking).   Trying to find some good reference pics of Officer Lewis from side on too so she can have a dialogue portrait bit but also appear like she's sat next to Robo in these journey bits.

[Carnivius]

Had a go at doing a portrait for Lewis last night as well cos she's important to the 'story' of this game and often gets left out of the video games (and the rebootcop film) despite her importance as Robo's partner and best friend (if he's capable of having such things).   Her portrait will appear in the cutscene bits such as dialogue sections or even 'sat' next to Robo in the car bit like demonstrated above (offset to the left and down a bit) in the intros to certain levels.   Her in-game sprite uses the cop torso (looks the same for both men and women since it's got body armour anyways), the generic human leg sprites (palette swapped into blue and black) and the default female head when not wearing helmet and the generic helmeted cop when she's ready for battle.   Lots of memory saving recycling!



Not sure how many more portraits I will do for this.  Robo and Lewis are important so they get one each.   I maaaay do one each for Sgt Reed and Dr Lazarus depending on how much of the story they're involved in and if it justifies the memory usage (if not, then they'll just stick with their simple animated sprites).  I want one for the main villain but I haven't yet decided who that's going to be.  It's unlikely to be someone who's actually in the real movies as this is an 'original' story and the movie villains always die.  So I'm likely going to invent a new bad guy (I'd like perhaps someone who's a capable fighter himself with at least military training but also with enough authority that he can logically send out militants, ED-209's and Robo-clones) and when doing his portrait perhaps pick an actor I feel would be suitable for the 'part' to use as reference for the portrait to make sure he looks as realistic as these ones do.