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avatar_reidrac

Hyperdrive (development)

Started by reidrac, 10:20, 20 November 21

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asertus

I was thinking of avoiding more key checking, to save some (even very little) time in the processor. 

Checking long press/release of 2 keys for a few seconds may not be efficient.. 

TotO

Quote from: asertus on 17:00, 04 December 22I was thinking of avoiding more key checking, to save some (even very little) time in the processor. Checking long press/release of 2 keys for a few seconds may not be efficient.
But... You are not the game programmer.
"You make one mistake in your life and the internet will never let you live it down" (Keith Goodyer)

reidrac

I have uploaded a video of the "attract-mode" in Hyperdrive.



So let's say it is the teaser ;D

The release date has been confirmed to be 2022-12-09 (this Friday).
Released The Return of Traxtor, Golden Tail, Magica, The Dawn of Kernel, Kitsune`s Curse, Brick Rick, Hyperdrive and The Heart of Salamanderland for the CPC.

If you like my games and want to show some appreciation, you can always buy me a coffee.

khisanth

Can't believe only just found out about this! looks superb

reidrac

#104
I have released the game; go aand grab it from: https://www.usebox.net/jjm/hyperdrive/

Not sure if is worth opening a new thread for the game itself as is not development any more.

Let's keep it in this one for now.
Released The Return of Traxtor, Golden Tail, Magica, The Dawn of Kernel, Kitsune`s Curse, Brick Rick, Hyperdrive and The Heart of Salamanderland for the CPC.

If you like my games and want to show some appreciation, you can always buy me a coffee.

ervin

Had a quick go, and... it's brilliant!!!
Really great job!

It captures the old-school arcade feel beautifully.
Looks great, sounds great, and is nice and responsive.

Some of the enemy wave formations and movements took me by surprise (in a good way).
I'm glad you didn't put too many spoilers into the dev updates.

Congrats on the release!

Carnivius

Great game. I suck at it so far. And I screamed a couple times like when I was about to get the 9th enemy to get a power up but I was a smidge too slow and the combo counter reset. Or when I did get the 9th and power up appeared but I got killed and had to watch it pass me by off the bottom. Or when I did get the power up and I got killed instantly.   It feels pretty crucial to get every one of those first three trios of enemies or it becomes extra difficult to try get a first power up from then on.

Anyways I'm enjoying it. :) 
Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

reidrac

Thanks for your kind words.

In a way it is a memory game; a bit of practice and you can get easily 3 or 4 power ups on the 1st stage. At the beginning of each stage it should be possible to get 1 chain at the start so you can power up a little if you continue.

But continue is a feature to "practice" a stage, if you want to get far, get good at the 1st one an have some power ups!
Released The Return of Traxtor, Golden Tail, Magica, The Dawn of Kernel, Kitsune`s Curse, Brick Rick, Hyperdrive and The Heart of Salamanderland for the CPC.

If you like my games and want to show some appreciation, you can always buy me a coffee.

Gryzor

Damn it's lovely

Damn I suck at it

Damn I must get back to work.

GUNHED

Nice scrolling, like it's supposed to be on the CPC. Any chance for as DSK version?  :)
http://futureos.de --> Get the revolutionary FutureOS (Update: 2023.11.30)
http://futureos.cpc-live.com/files/LambdaSpeak_RSX_by_TFM.zip --> Get the RSX-ROM for LambdaSpeak :-) (Updated: 2021.12.26)

reidrac

Quote from: GUNHED on 15:12, 09 December 22Nice scrolling, like it's supposed to be on the CPC. Any chance for as DSK version?  :)

0 chances. It uses 152K and it was designed to run from cartridge.
Released The Return of Traxtor, Golden Tail, Magica, The Dawn of Kernel, Kitsune`s Curse, Brick Rick, Hyperdrive and The Heart of Salamanderland for the CPC.

If you like my games and want to show some appreciation, you can always buy me a coffee.

rexbeng

Quote from: reidrac on 15:23, 09 December 22It uses 152K and it was designed to run from cartridge.

I suppose you mean 512K? Why so much though; and why does it have to run from cartridge? I'm asking from the technical pov and without having my 'shitty-attitude' hat on! :)

reidrac

Quote from: rexbeng on 17:35, 09 December 22
Quote from: reidrac on 15:23, 09 December 22It uses 152K and it was designed to run from cartridge.

I suppose you mean 512K? Why so much though; and why does it have to run from cartridge? I'm asking from the technical pov and without having my 'shitty-attitude' hat on! :)

Yes, I'm not going to answer any 'shit-attitude' today ;D Enjoy the game if you want, or just don't.
Released The Return of Traxtor, Golden Tail, Magica, The Dawn of Kernel, Kitsune`s Curse, Brick Rick, Hyperdrive and The Heart of Salamanderland for the CPC.

If you like my games and want to show some appreciation, you can always buy me a coffee.

GUNHED

Quote from: reidrac on 15:23, 09 December 22
Quote from: GUNHED on 15:12, 09 December 22Nice scrolling, like it's supposed to be on the CPC. Any chance for as DSK version?  :)

0 chances. It uses 152K and it was designed to run from cartridge.
Expected that :-) Using the powers of ROM did lead to a very decent and fluent game.  :) :) :)
Did you use 1-scanline scrolling or a screen shift?
http://futureos.de --> Get the revolutionary FutureOS (Update: 2023.11.30)
http://futureos.cpc-live.com/files/LambdaSpeak_RSX_by_TFM.zip --> Get the RSX-ROM for LambdaSpeak :-) (Updated: 2021.12.26)

reidrac

Quote from: GUNHED on 20:12, 09 December 22Expected that :-) Using the powers of ROM did lead to a very decent and fluent game.  :) :) :)
Did you use 1-scanline scrolling or a screen shift?

I could have done pretty much the same with 64K without cartridge, but it would have been a very small game (or very multi-load!). Some things would be different though (the HUD is a screen split in 0x0000 shared with 16K of code). Obviously the cart gives you a lot of data to access with almost no cost (e.g. the stage data is uncompressed and paged in/out as needed, as well as any code that doesn't need to draw so it can be paged in).

I explained my decision to go with cartridges here: https://www.usebox.net/jjm/blog/cartridges-for-the-amstrad-cpc/

(the cartridge is 512K, but the game only uses 12 banks, and not fully; is only 152K).

The game implements 1-pixel scanline scroll with double buffer.
Released The Return of Traxtor, Golden Tail, Magica, The Dawn of Kernel, Kitsune`s Curse, Brick Rick, Hyperdrive and The Heart of Salamanderland for the CPC.

If you like my games and want to show some appreciation, you can always buy me a coffee.

GUNHED

IMHO it's great that you take advantage of the new possibilities like Cartridges  :) :) :)
http://futureos.de --> Get the revolutionary FutureOS (Update: 2023.11.30)
http://futureos.cpc-live.com/files/LambdaSpeak_RSX_by_TFM.zip --> Get the RSX-ROM for LambdaSpeak :-) (Updated: 2021.12.26)

Gryzor


abalore

Quote from: reidrac on 20:29, 09 December 22
Quote from: GUNHED on 20:12, 09 December 22Expected that :-) Using the powers of ROM did lead to a very decent and fluent game.  :) :) :)
Did you use 1-scanline scrolling or a screen shift?

I could have done pretty much the same with 64K without cartridge, but it would have been a very small game (or very multi-load!). Some things would be different though (the HUD is a screen split in 0x0000 shared with 16K of code). Obviously the cart gives you a lot of data to access with almost no cost (e.g. the stage data is uncompressed and paged in/out as needed, as well as any code that doesn't need to draw so it can be paged in).

I explained my decision to go with cartridges here: https://www.usebox.net/jjm/blog/cartridges-for-the-amstrad-cpc/

(the cartridge is 512K, but the game only uses 12 banks, and not fully; is only 152K).

The game implements 1-pixel scanline scroll with double buffer.

for Alcon 2020, the cartridge allows to widely use compiled sprites, fast erasing routines and probably the most important thing, a triple screen buffer.

reidrac

Got a very detailed bug report from bdciron: in the menu of the game I made a mistake and I generate 308 lines instead of 312 required by a 50Hz screen.

Why my CRT didn't have issues when I tested it? Because I guess generally TVs are permissive with this type of thing.

I have made a new release (1.0.1) with the fix. Changes exactly one byte!

(it may not make any difference for you, specially if you are using an emulator)
Released The Return of Traxtor, Golden Tail, Magica, The Dawn of Kernel, Kitsune`s Curse, Brick Rick, Hyperdrive and The Heart of Salamanderland for the CPC.

If you like my games and want to show some appreciation, you can always buy me a coffee.

Skunkfish

Enjoying the game so far!

I had a go on my 6128 last night, I didn't have any issues on the title screen luckily but will upgrade to the new version anyway :)
An expanding array of hardware available at www.cpcstore.co.uk (and issue 4 of CPC Fanzine!)

VincentGR

Will go for a head to head with friends on our discord stream today  ;D

Thank you so much.

abalore

A cartridge allows things like scrolling through 80 highly detailed areas without having to stop to load anything (like Alcon)

If you have to stop to load from disk (talking of tape is nonsense) the "arcade" experience is lost.

Also is a lot more comfortable to insert a cartridge and play, without having to type CAT, then RUN"whatever", without loading delays. You don't even need to touch the keyboard at any time.

Furthermore, a disk can fail, a disk drive has mechanical parts that fail, the rubber band, the head alignment, the motor speed... A cartridge is a solid state device that will likely last forever.

And for purists, a cartridge is not "modern" technology. The components of cartridges and cartridge adapters were readily available in the 80s (the Plus2CPC adapter is pure digital logic), and the CPC has always had an expansion port. Just nobody used them, it's a mistery like the fact that almost nobody used the two joystick buttons that exist from the beginning.

In my opinion, there is a place for tape games, a place for disk games, and of course a place for cartridge games that couldn't be done otherwise

Carnivius

Watching the game being played by Xyphoe on the playback of his stream from last night.  He plays it for a couple of hours. And he's a lot better than me at it. :P

Favorite CPC games: Count Duckula 3, Oh Mummy Returns, RoboCop Resurrection, Tankbusters Afterlife

reidrac

I have shared already a blog post explaining why I decided to use cartridge for this game (despite all my previous games being 64K in a single load). Anyone interested can go an read it (and disagree, that's fine!). That is what it is and is not going to change.

It is also a weird SHMUP that requires thinking and memory because of how the power ups work, and a lot of people won't even "get it", let alone learn how to play it. Oh, well. That's how *I* like it.

In my experience, after releasing games for the CPC, the speccy, the MSX and the C64, it really doesn't matter what you do: you can't please everybody (and some people will never be happy anyway, no matter what you do).

I really enjoyed making this game for both CPR and Dandanator. It was interesting and fun to code, ASM, C and a good chunk of Python to encode data (e.g. compiled sprites!). The cartridge gave me lots of ROM, but it didn't make the scrolling easier really (or designing enemies and the 5 stages).

Even if I think is great for new CPC games that doesn't mean I won't make more smaller games for 64K in single load. I don't even know if I'll make more games, so go figure! :)
Released The Return of Traxtor, Golden Tail, Magica, The Dawn of Kernel, Kitsune`s Curse, Brick Rick, Hyperdrive and The Heart of Salamanderland for the CPC.

If you like my games and want to show some appreciation, you can always buy me a coffee.

reidrac

#124
Quote from: Carnivius on 14:32, 10 December 22Watching the game being played by Xyphoe on the playback of his stream from last night.  He plays it for a couple of hours. And he's a lot better than me at it. :P

I watched it live and you can see that Al is a great player. Once he got the idea, his progression on the first stage was from 0 to 9 chains in no time, and he got hooked! So mission accomplished :D
Released The Return of Traxtor, Golden Tail, Magica, The Dawn of Kernel, Kitsune`s Curse, Brick Rick, Hyperdrive and The Heart of Salamanderland for the CPC.

If you like my games and want to show some appreciation, you can always buy me a coffee.

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