I've started working on a new CPC game that I'm calling Brick Rick.
It is still very WIP and I'm not 100% sure about the gameplay and pretty much anything, really.
TBH, I prefer to open a dev thread when I have a better defined plan, because I hate when I start working on something and for whatever reason it gets cancelled; but I've been posting bits on Twitter and there's interest to have a thread here. Please bear with me as I find out what is this about!
[attach=1,msg188508]
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What I do know is that I'd love to make a single screen arcade platformer in the vibe of Magica, specially after all the things I've learnt about the genre since I made Magica. Something quick and clean that I can finish in 3 to 4 months.
It will fit in 64K with no expansions and will support both cassette and disk (M4 compatible).
We will see how it goes. I'm making some early decisions that I may regret later; and I hope I won't get stuck like happened with Kitsune's Curse (although I finished that one, so it isn't too bad I guess!).
I will update this thread as I see fit (you know may have more frequent updates on my Twitter account (https://twitter.com/reidrac)).
That is a very charming main character!
Really looking forward to following the progress on this one.
Quote from: reidrac on 11:42, 21 June 20
I've started working on a new CPC game that I'm calling Brick Rick.
Rick the Prick :laugh: Video and GFX (especially sprite) looks great! :)
I had some time after lunch and I added the first alien.
It is WIP, I didn't have time to finish it; but at least you can see it moving.
https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1274713394617204737
I run a test with 6 enemies and there's slow down. The sprites are 8x24 instead of the 8x16 I used in Magica, and the engine uses "mini-buffers" (that saves memory, but is less performant).
Is not a big issue, but the gameplay hast to support that. I plan to add more platforming and interaction with the screen, closer to what I did in Night Knight than to Magica.
Anyway; this was a good session. I have the next week off, so I may have some extra time to work on the game.
The main character looks a bit like P.P. Hammer :D I love the look 8)
Excellent-looking alien baddies. Amazing how much detail and character you can add with a few pixels!
Why is he throwing potatoes at them? :D
Quote from: Gryzor on 07:49, 22 June 20
Excellent-looking alien baddies. Amazing how much detail and character you can add with a few pixels!
Why is he throwing potatoes at them? :D
Well, that's a brick! We need moar pixels! :D
Oh, the titular bricks :D
They look like bricks to me! Although admittedly, I've not seen a Greek potato in a while...
I had some time after lunch and I implemented the enemy dizzy behaviour, including the tricky bits like gravity.
https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1275076326991425538
I can see that when there are a couple of enemies dizzy, the speed goes down a bit (it needs to draw extra sprites of 8x8). I think I can improve that; but for now, this is a good prototype.
It definitely brings about thoughts of Magica, seeing the dazed enemies.
But will the method of 'finishing them off' as it were, be different? In my mind, I just saw a button that causes a flood of cement to flow down the screen, killing all dazed enemies....
Quote from: Skunkfish on 14:35, 23 June 20
It definitely brings about thoughts of Magica, seeing the dazed enemies.
But will the method of 'finishing them off' as it were, be different? In my mind, I just saw a button that causes a flood of cement to flow down the screen, killing all dazed enemies....
Sounds cool!
It'll be similar to Magica: stun, kick, aaaand... you'll see. Not potions this time, the mechanic will be slightly different but in spirit is the same type of game.
Quick update
I'm on holidays this week, so I have some extra time for gamedev.
After running some stress tests with my mini-buffer engine; it can't handle what I need in this game (well, not even Magica engine using a big-ass buffer could! These sprites are 8x24!). This was expected anyway and I was planning to adjust the game play accordingly; but it is a bit slower than I was hoping for :(
So I run some numbers and I wrote a "simple" engine using a back-buffer by hardware. It is very clean, and because I use 160 x 176 pixels in this game, Magica's engine wouldn't use less memory (and it would be a bit slower).
Besides, Magica's engine feels now a bit outdated :D I mean, I know better now than in 2016, and the mini-buffer engine is way easier to use in comparison. So I have a new engine that will be used in Brick Rick (and any other small-ish 64K games, or 128K games). It is full featured and "beta" for now, but all works fine (apparently hah!).
The mini-buffer engine is still good (used in Dawn of Kernel and Kitsune's Curse), I don't plan to retire it; in case I make another mid-size 64K game.
According to my numbers, now the game has to fit in 31232 bytes (compared with the 46080 bytes of Kitsune's Curse, it is A LOT). In this type of game I don't think it will be an issue, I can include a good number of enemies and screens; I just need to be creative with compression and encoding the screens.
Anyway; I'm going to slow down a bit now and continue with the actual game. Putting together an engine in 2+ days has been a blast!
Implemented stun + kick (like in Magica, but there's no "collect" at the end).
https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1276506874511310851
The idea is that you have to clean up the level to move to the next one, and in this one the enemies will respawn. So you'll have to kill n enemies before moving to the next level.
I think, at least. Still WIP!
So the aliens can knock each other out?
I like it, I hope that will stay! :P
Quote from: Skunkfish on 11:14, 27 June 20
So the aliens can knock each other out?
I like it, I hope that will stay! :P
Magica also had those chains. IMHO it is an important part of this type of game.
Today I had less time than usual, but managed to add the "vanishing" effect.
https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1276888240923049985
Which is not a lot, but every little step counts :)
Quote from: reidrac on 12:36, 27 June 20
Magica also had those chains. IMHO it is an important part of this type of game.
Ah I thought the alien had done it just by jumping... I see now that he had in fact been hit by another spinning alien as he jumped!
I do remember the chains from Magica, it's not been that long :)
To quote myself:
'The clever part is how you use,
The booted enemies to snooze,
Other foes with whom they touch,
Master this, it will help much...'
Quick update!
The player can die and the stage cycle is complete (inc. enemy respawn). This is looking good!
https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1278050472503529482
I still need to decide how to implement the "time out" case. After Magica and Night Knight I don't like removing a life to reset the clock, so I may go full Bubble Bobble leaving the clock on zero and adding a invulnerable enemy that will chase the player.
After that: power ups!
So, so cute! (what's not cute: the changes that Twitter did...)
I love the dying sprite! (I'm sure I'll be seeing it a lot)
Quick update!
Implemented the "time monster".
https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1279324064985812992
Instead of removing a life when the time gets to zero, this monster will appear and chase the player. Which adds to the gameplay and you can still complete the stage without penalty (although no time bonus, of course).
Also if you loose a life when the time is 0, the clock will reset and the monster will go away. This is to avoid immediately loosing two lives if you are killed by an enemy just before the time runs out, which I found a bit borderline unfair in Magica and Night Knight.
Next stop: power ups!
It looks suitably terrifying! :o I like it!
That was a great element in Bubble Bobble, still great now. And it looks great!
Pick ups done!https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1279674475651436547
There are always memory constrains so for now I've settled on three pick ups:
- coffee: score
- sand clock: reset time
- dynamite: stun all enemies on screen
May add more later, but these three cover the basics, so for now I think it is OK.
This is looking good. Adding enemies, level design and (probably) improving the stage compression will take me a while, but being optimistic I could see a release by September.
If memory is an issue I'd prefer something different than a score power-up (never felt the need for them since I never played for the scores, personally). But of course it looks good :)
Quote from: Gryzor on 10:26, 06 July 20
If memory is an issue I'd prefer something different than a score power-up (never felt the need for them since I never played for the scores, personally). But of course it looks good :)
I like high score challenges, specially if you play vs other's people score; but independently of that, here there's another good reason: the score is used to grant extra lives. It adds a risk-reward component because
you may need those extra lives! It adds a lot and it uses little memory :)
I know I have reached the limit of my current approach. In Kitsune's Curse (and Dawn of Kernel, it is essentially the same), the engine saved a lot of memory, but the map data was a big chunk of the total. In Magica I got away with it by simplifying the stages a lot (2 bits per tile!), but I'd like better backgrounds for Brick Rick.
So I'm going to try something new. I have an idea that will make the level design a bit more difficult, but I may be able to have it all: nice backgrounds, a good number of screens, and hopefully using less memory than I used is Magica.
Watch this space!
Oh ok, if score gives lives then it's fair game indeed. I know others do care about scores, for one reason or the other, that was just my personal opinion, naturally!
Is this going to be 128K?
Quote from: Gryzor on 11:54, 06 July 20
Oh ok, if score gives lives then it's fair game indeed. I know others do care about scores, for one reason or the other, that was just my personal opinion, naturally!
Is this going to be 128K?
Nope, I'd like it to be 64K and single load.
I plan to move to 64K multi-load disk only (compatible with M4), but for bigger games. This one can fit in 64K (I think).
PS: your opinion is cool!
That'll be tight... if I hadn't seen your previous games I'd think it'd be the one screen only :D
Last night I changed my map encoder from tilemap + compression to command based (programmatic?), went from 126 bytes to 69.
The basic idea is to encode the map features using commands that the decoder will expand with code. For example: a platform is 2 bytes (3 bits for command, 5 bits for width, 8 bits for offset in map from previous command).
I still need to tidy up a lot, and I may reduce it even more, but looks like I got to Magica size but with more detailed backgrounds.
I'm not going to go crazy with this (the decoder gets complicated quickly!), but if I can get 50 screens in around 3K; the game will definitely fit in 64K!
64K means everyone can enjoy your efforts ;D but just imagine what you could do with extra RAM
I look forward to the Plus version on a cart with 7500 levels :D
Quote from: Sykobee (Briggsy) on 14:01, 07 July 20
I look forward to the Plus version on a cart with 7500 levels :D
I'll send you my address so you can send me that 6128plus!
ZzZzap!
https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1281854264663584768
New enemy! :D
Hey that's unfair :D
This week has been slow. I'm chasing a bug and optimising few routines. I can manage 6 enemies and it is almost perfect; I don't think I will, but it means I have room to do some interesting bits.
I've been planing enemies too, so stay tuned!
I think I've fixed the "phantom bug", or at least I can't seem to reproduce it now. Some of the recent changes could have had that effect, but it's OK. There's still some time until is beta, and then we'll have proper testing. So, moving on!
I've added a new type of enemy:
https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1284862926101385220
It has some tracking code, like the Demons of Magica had; or more like the Werewolf of Night Knight.
That's 3 enemies already (+ the end time monster). Hopefully 5 left to go!
Another enemy: the Ufo. I mean, I had to include a flying enemy (even if in this case it was tricky: there's no enough space between those platforms!)
https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1285686407181279235
Anyway, memory going down but think I'm still OK ;D
I like your pixel work so much... wish there were some wallpapers for my PC/phone :D
Too bad that there are not arcade stores anymore.
We could put this in a cabinet and I bet people wouldn't never thought this is running on a cpc.
Thanks, I'm glad you like it!
New enemy! The robot.
https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1287021557710192641
You weapon won't have any effect, you have to hit them with another enemy or using the dynamite.
It requires some fiddly respawning to avoid unclearable screens, but I think it will be OK!
Starts looking quite hard, eh? :)
Quote from: Gryzor on 08:30, 27 July 20
Starts looking quite hard, eh? :)
I just throw the enemies I'm testing to the test screen. It is useful for that, and to explore possibilities, but is not really "planned" as the final screens will be.
These flying enemies are harder than the witches and the ghosts in Magica because they move faster and the taller sprites require a different collision detection with some overlapping with the platforms; I'll use them with caution :D
Ah ok, makes sense :)
I added a new enemy. I call him "greenman" for now.
It has brains and a blaster.
https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1289565530056044545
There's only one enemy left to be added, but is going to be difficult to draw, so we'll see how it goes.
Getting there!
New tileset, 154 bytes!
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Excellent work!
I can't even imagine how you squeezed that into 154 bytes?! Does this mean we'll be getting lots of different tilesets? :D
Quote from: Skunkfish on 23:19, 02 August 20
I can't even imagine how you squeezed that into 154 bytes?! Does this mean we'll be getting lots of different tilesets? :D
*compression*
Yes, there will be a few of them. Magica has 5 IIRC.
That's pretty great :)
Quick update!
I have 5 tilesets I like now, so I guess 50 screens makes sense (and I think it will fit in memory).
[attach=1]
This is the last one (a bit WIP, needs review).
I still have one enemy missing, but I'm getting closer to the point where the only thing left is level design.
Quote from: reidrac on 22:32, 21 July 20Another enemy: the Ufo. I mean, I had to include a flying enemy (even if in this case it was tricky: there's no enough space between those platforms!)
This looks amazing! Let me know if you need (special) music for this game. I would love to help out :)
Quick update!
I think I have a nice design for the last enemy. I call him "Worm" (not only because the sprite reminds me of Earthworm Jim, it is also because it "teleports" -> space worm hole? bah).
https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1292104295232479232
Main property: can move *down" a platform (no other character can do that in the game).
Needs some tweaking, but this means... next: level design!
EDIT: I've refined the enemy. Now it is what I wanted!
https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1292184812430786566
Testing sound effects!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWoM7zykSxE
A bit off-topic, because it is a different game and in Brick Rick I'm not use this engine any more; but I don't think I shared this here and some people may find it interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNj0px-yxR8
Sometimes I record my gramedev sessions, or I do "show & tell", like in this case. I'm showing how I use tiled map editor in my 8-bit games, and I'm using Kitsune's Curse as example.
Anyway, it is re: development, even if is not strictly about this game :)
I'm working on the level design, so there isn't much to show here. I have 30 screens, 20 to go; memory looks good!
But I have have exciting news though... the game will have a physical release with Poly Play and I'm working with a new cover artist (to be revealed!). It looks really good so far.
I'll share more when possible.
Quick update!
The game is beta! I'm sending a version to the testing team, so I guess by the end of September we could have a release (fingers crossed!).
Not an official date, there's still some stuff to do, and I'd like the physical edition to be quite advanced so we can have some pre-orders by the time the free download is available (remember, that really helps the publisher and it means that there may be more CPC releases from them).
I'm very happy how the game has turned out. It is pretty much an arcade, it really shows a fun game on the CPC. But, let's wait to see what the testers say!
Brick Rick has a website!
https://www.usebox.net/jjm/brick-rick/
After uploading the website I realised it would be nice to add 2nd fire button support for jump, so it is nicer to play with a GX4000 controller. I'll see what I can do.
Quote from: reidrac on 15:35, 29 August 20
Brick Rick has a website!
https://www.usebox.net/jjm/brick-rick/ (https://www.usebox.net/jjm/brick-rick/)
After uploading the website I realised it would be nice to add 2nd fire button support for jump, so it is nicer to play with a GX4000 controller. I'll see what I can do.
This would be brilliant. It would also be great if you could make it work with the Megadrive controller as they are easier too find.
Not sure what's the difference, the CPC joystick supports two fire buttons (like the MSX). That's all!
The main issue is that "joystick" can be one or two buttons, and if I use the extra fire for jump, you don't want UP to be jump too or it could be messy (accidentally jumping).
If you use redefine, you can set the 2nd fire for jump I think (I'll test it); and if people don't get too anxious and release a GX4000 hack before I do it "officially" (like it happened with Kitsune's Curse), I can do custom menu with two options depending the number of buttons.
Anyway, just ideas for now. We'll see!
I think the last time I tried using the megadrive pad on a CPC, the button configuration wasn't registering correctly. It was a good while ago, but I remember that the fire button was the Start button on the Megadrive pad. Also the directional keys wasn't functioning correctly and I was unable to redefine them. I can't remember which game it was.
Quote from: reidrac on 14:28, 14 August 20
A bit off-topic, because it is a different game and in Brick Rick I'm not use this engine any more; but I don't think I shared this here and some people may find it interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNj0px-yxR8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNj0px-yxR8)
Sometimes I record my gramedev sessions, or I do "show & tell", like in this case. I'm showing how I use tiled map editor in my 8-bit games, and I'm using Kitsune's Curse as example.
Anyway, it is re: development, even if is not strictly about this game :)
Whoaaa, sorry for the off-topic Juan, but that tiled work its just amazing. I use tiled on a really per basics as individual screens, not whole world, with just a map layer with tiles ID's. That info is exported on a .tmx file and converted to an array of bytes for the drawing. Really poor. You have plenty of info on that map. Is there any template or info on how to read back all that .json stuff for its use on assembly or .c file? I mean, how to convert that properties layer to bits? That magic on your hands and your talent make your games always shine. This drive me nuts
Quote from: SpDizzy on 12:17, 30 August 20
Whoaaa, sorry for the off-topic Juan, but that tiled work its just amazing. I use tiled on a really per basics as individual screens, not whole world, with just a map layer with tiles ID's. That info is exported on a .tmx file and converted to an array of bytes for the drawing. Really poor. You have plenty of info on that map. Is there any template or info on how to read back all that .json stuff for its use on assembly or .c file? I mean, how to convert that properties layer to bits? That magic on your hands and your talent make your games always shine. This drive me nuts
Export as JSON, it is "human readable", so read it and you'll see how simple it is.
Then process it with your favourite programming language to convert that data to the binary format that your game can use. It is straightforward, but unfortunately there's no "one size fits all" because it all depends of each project needs.
In that video I show some ideas, but for example Brick Rick does it in very different way (not a tilemap but "objects").
Thanks so much Juan! Really appreciate your response. I'm on the process of learning as much as I can, in fact C and assembly are still mid-new to me. You know, too much stuff for the 90's BASIC languaje coder kid I used to be. Hence my question about that magic :o
Quote from: reidrac on 10:00, 21 August 20
But I have have exciting news though... the game will have a physical release with Poly Play and I'm working with a new cover artist (to be revealed!). It looks really good so far.
I'll share more when possible.
Great news about the physical release, not that I doubted it...
Just a note, based on previous releases: Poly.play does an excellent job, but to be honest the materials found on the SD are not THAT good. Sure, artwork is great and appreciated, but it'd be nice if it included more *from the game* - be it music, assets (sprite sheets anyone?), early versions, stuff like that if you feel like sharing them. Because after all artwork comes last and I doubt anyone has much connection with it?
Quote from: Gryzor on 11:51, 02 September 20
Great news about the physical release, not that I doubted it...
Just a note, based on previous releases: Poly.play does an excellent job, but to be honest the materials found on the SD are not THAT good. Sure, artwork is great and appreciated, but it'd be nice if it included more *from the game* - be it music, assets (sprite sheets anyone?), early versions, stuff like that if you feel like sharing them. Because after all artwork comes last and I doubt anyone has much connection with it?
I tend to include the music in mp3, but I think in Kitsune's Curse it wasn't included because Poly forgot asking for it with all the COVID business.
I don't mind including stuff if I have it, but very often is difficult because I don't usually have design documents or a lot of material because I tend to keep most of it in my head. Also there's that even if I'd like the physical edition to be special, it feels like going out of my way just to provide stuff to sell and I'm not really getting paid anything. It is a hard one!
I'll see what I can do in Brick Rick so the SD is not that disappointing. Thanks for the feedback!
Ah I see what you mean, definitely. As it stands, I'm not sure how much value the SD added to the last release... If the price could be lower without it, it'd probably be better but I'm guessing it doesn't add that much to the cost. Still, some nice say, holo stickers would be preferable :)
Quote from: Gryzor on 14:04, 02 September 20
Ah I see what you mean, definitely. As it stands, I'm not sure how much value the SD added to the last release... If the price could be lower without it, it'd probably be better but I'm guessing it doesn't add that much to the cost. Still, some nice say, holo stickers would be preferable :)
I think the idea behind the SD has always been that you can play the game in an emulator without going to my website and downloading it. Also some games may be slightly different (e.g. include a Poly Play splash screen), so there's that too. I think you're right and the SD doesn't add much to the cost of the game, so even if it was removed, not sure if the price would change or something else will be in its place.
I'll pass the comment to Poly anyway, and I'll try that the SD includes more stuff.
Cheers, much appreciated :)
In any case, those are great releases, it doesn't really matter; was probably nitpicking to be honest!
Now that I'm here, just a quick update.
TODO:
- Menu music (WIP currently)
- Loading screen
- Is there space for an Easter Egg? :D
Testing is on and the feedback I got so far is good (the game plays great, it is fun and the music is an earworm).
Then there's the admin part: finish the manual text, take some screenshots for the box, write a press release, and guff like that.
The cover art is still not finished, and that kind of blocks Poly to start working on the physical edition; but I think we're still OK for end of September release with the physical edition being shipped early October if all is OK.
A bit of a teaser of the music!
https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1302991482882797568
[attach=1]
We are getting close to a release date! Exciting, isn't it? ;D
Live testing with a 464!
https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1305056446728548352
The RC1 is out for testing, almost ready!
RC? Do I have to be on the insider ring? 😁
Quote from: Gryzor on 11:21, 13 September 20
RC? Do I have to be on the insider ring? 😁
Is "release candidate"; not that is released yet. Basically: the game is complete and is not a beta build. If there are no issues, this is the version that will be released.
That was great Juan, I watched together with my 2 & 5 year olds...We can't wait to play it!
Put some time aside this next weekend, just in case; it is very likely I'll release on Friday ;D
And with this update I think this thread can be considered done and I won't be updating it any more.
I'll open a new thread with the release and link here. Thanks for following this development thread and your support!
Thanks for sharing, it's always quite interesting!
It has indeed been very enjoyable to watch this game's development over time.
Really looking forward to release date!
I've released the game, new game thread here: https://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/games/new-game-brick-rick/msg192619/