Kitsune's Curse (Development)

[Gryzor]

Really love the attention and polish you put into your games... Shows in the final product!

[Skunkfish]

After reviewing some old feedback in this thread re: Golden Tail (thanks again @khaz!), I decided to make some changes so the game is a bit more accessible.

First of all, I've added a visual cue when Kitsune uses the magic and is invisible. Everything else works the same, and the hint is not the size of the ninja, so you still need to learn how to use the magic. Buuut it IS easier.

The effect here looks nice and I think is a good compromise for new players to ease them in.

Second, the jump can be activated a couple of frames after the magic is triggered, and it still works. This should be a huge help when playing with the joystick and, again, it will make the game a bit easier.

This was one of the trickier things to learn in the first game, being able to activate the magic and jump simultaneously. I did find the first game much easier to play on a two button pad, it sounds like this is a good change but hopefully won't make it too easy! 

It still uses the same mechanics that I introduced in Golden Tail, with all its logic (or lack of it!), but I hope it will make the game less frustrating for those that didn't "get" the first game.

I found the mechanics of the first game quite novel in a world where every concept seems to have been done already. I'm eagerly awaiting this sequel - keep up the good work, it's really appreciated!

[reidrac]

Update time!

I lost some velocity after Christmas holidays, and I'm back to my normal schedule. I still think that the game may be ready by April, but the unexpected could always happen!

Level design keeps progressing. I added the Arkos 2 player to the game, to avoid last minute surprises running out of memory. In Dawn of Kernel I ported the player to SDCC assembler, which was a lot of work and very risky (because of bugs introduced by the port; and updating the player after releases was a PITA), and it did work well at the end; but I didn't feel like doing that again. So I came up with a smart and elegant idea that doesn't have much work. So that's done.

I put some placeholder music (silenced on the video), and I have started with the sound effects.

https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1224590708004265984

[Targhan]

So did the use of AT2 worked flawless? I should, thanks to Disark source converter! Please contact me if that's not the case. There is also a full tutorial about how to proceed on the website of AT2.

[reidrac]

So did the use of AT2 worked flawless? I should, thanks to Disark source converter! Please contact me if that's not the case. There is also a full tutorial about how to proceed on the website of AT2.

I tried to use the converter but I failed; I should try again and send you feedback. I don't recall exactly, but it was like the generated code was not readable or it was missing some exports or something like that; so is not useful to me. Sorry, I found a workaround so I didn't think much about it.

EDIT: what I'm doing is compiling with RASM into a fixed address at the beginning of the binary and then "force" the linker to put it there; so I don't need to compile the source with SDCC assembler, and if I need to make changes to the player, I can easily (because it is your source from the AT2 distribution).

[Targhan]

I corrected some stuff about SDCC in the latest release of AT2. Things should and MUST be flawless!
Please me another try if you can.

[reidrac]

I corrected some stuff about SDCC in the latest release of AT2. Things should and MUST be flawless!
Please me another try if you can.

I'm still with the previous version. I know I should upgrade, but currently I'm focusing on the game and I don't want to get distracted by other things. I'll try to allocate time for that and I'll let you know how it goes; although current arrangement is PERFECT for this project so it may not be worth the effort of doing the translation.

Which is a good thing. It means AT2 is pretty good already!

[Targhan]

Yes, you are right. It is works, don't bother . Release your game as soon as possible and I'll be happy .

[reidrac]

More sound effects!

It is amazing how the game feel changes with these on. It'll be a bit until I start working on the music, but it "sounds" promising already

https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1225545478349172738

[Gryzor]

Looks great - and difficult?

[reidrac]

Looks great - and difficult?

Now that magic is easier to control, the platforming can be more demanding (after passing the "tutorial area"); and the enemies are going to move faster than in Golden Tail because the engine is better.

I don't think it is going to be harder than GT. Some bits will be, but a better control will make it easier to play (and less hard to master). What will be different for sure is that the game will be longer, and because of that 3 lives may make it a bit of a challenge.

I still need to do play-testing; and there's time for tweaks.

[reidrac]

Update time!

I'm implementing switches and doors; although I still don't know if they will work as a time based puzzle. In any case, I'm keeping them!

https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1228684822392049665

This area is progressing nicely, and it is almost March! May be April is a bit too tight, we will see!

[reidrac]

Extra update!

Looks like it works!

https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1229043224150528000

Exciting 

[Gryzor]

For a moment there I thought that was the Arkanoid ship

Lack of sleep probably...

[reidrac]

Half of the screens!

https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1230258313528532992

There's still a lot to do. The switches work really well and I've used them in a few screens, but this needs play testing and tweaking until it is perfect.

Mostly because I'm not the best player, but the fact that I can navigate the screens doesn't mean it will be possible for everybody.

Anyway, progress!

[reidrac]

Update time!

Progress is steady. I'm about 4 screens to finish the "basement" of the castle, and then it will be 12 screens to the end of the basic layout.

https://twitter.com/reidrac/status/1233759563712733184

After that I need to program a couple of scripted events (may change my mind if it doesn't look as good as I expect it to look ), and then probably start with testing. Edit: oh, and the music!

I'm still undecided on publishing this one (or what publisher). There will be free download anyway, but I feel we may be getting to the end of some media (3" discs), so it may be one of my last chances to release a game in a classic format.

Anyway, I'll try to decided ASAP because in case there's a physical release, I wouldn't like to delay the game because of that.

[teopl]

Hi reidrac, sorry for small off topic...

First thanks for this thread, it's great to see how the games are made, I wish there are more threads with even more details but I guess people don't have time or think it's not that valuable to share the "making of". (myself included)

I also watched some of your videos on youtube, they are very interesting, I plan to watch more when there is time. (oh the time... )

We made our first game for the cpcretrodev and it was very painful to learn the platform and all so although we ranked very well, I feel the game needs to be upgraded and only then released again.
(improving the engine, better compression, new levels, better level balancing, new arcade mode, new story/characters, new physic elements, ai, ...)

And now the question:

While I try to complete the game (again) - can you give some opinions on how to release a game, maybe some publishers, pros/cons of releasing without publisher and how/where to buy 3" discs?

[reidrac]

Hi reidrac, sorry for small off topic...

[...]

And now the question:

While I try to complete the game (again) - can you give some opinions on how to release a game, maybe some publishers, pros/cons of releasing without publisher and how/where to buy 3" discs?

I like to release my games as free download first and then, optionally, a physical edition that is aimed at collectors and fans that want a bit more than just the game; so homemade plain jewel case cassette editions are not my cup of tea.

I always waive any royalties of the physical edition; and those either go to charity or to the publisher to keep publishing games (because it is hard to break even).

Yep, this is off-topic and I would prefer to not derail this thread if you don't mind. You can send me a PM or an email if you want.

[reidrac]

Quick update

The level design is finished!

I'm currently tackling a bug I introduced recently and has me a bit confused, but after that is fixed the only bits left are intro, end game and music. I have 3208 bytes for that, so it is going to be very tight; I may have to make a quick pass trying to optimize a bit and reclaim some bytes.

Beta testing should start soon, but I think early May is probably more reasonable than my original April target, alas. All considering what's going on in real life, I can't complain.

In related news, Poly Play will make a physical edition of this one; but it will come a bit later after the free download release. I don't think it matters too much as it is for those that would love the extras of the Collector's Edition.

[Gryzor]

PolyPlay, cool!!!!

[reidrac]

Another update

Not a big change since last update, but moving forward. I fixed a sneaky bug, and finished the end game. I asked my testers and they're happy to test a beta without music, and when I finish the music, another round with a master version.

This is because the beta I send usually is a debug build that uses a bit more memory and is may be a bit slower. It helps testing because if something goes wrong, it shows clues of what happened; but with the downside that is not the binary that gets released.

Then I was planing to make a complete walk-through to check that everything was OK, and I thought I would run it in master mode so I can get screenshots and release the website. And then the game was crashing badly.

Long story short, I spent two days debugging my code and it was a bug in SDCC.

SDCC supports a Z88DK function call convention that is faster than the regular C way of doing it. Instead of using the stack to pass parameters, if you only have one, HL is used for that.

When this was first introduced it only supported calling functions but not writing functions like this in C; but looks like it is full supported now. So yay! I used it

So fn(uint8_t b) uses L to pass that byte parameter. My code was doing something like this:

Code Select Expand


void fn(uint8_t b)
{
    global_flag = b;
    ...
}


And SDCC was generating code such as:

Code Select Expand


_fn::
    ld hl, #_global_flag
    ld (hl), l
    ...


You can see the WTF. Uses HL to address the global flag variable and overwrites L.

It was not happening in debug mode because the generated code was different and looks like it was using IY to address the variable. Code generation in SDCC is like that, it depends a lot on the state of the register allocator I guess.

Anyway, software sometimes has bugs, and a compiler that generates broken code is an awful case. You can't be reviewing the generated code all the time, and when something breaks, it is likely it is your code. Unless it isn't.

I will report the bug, but for now the game is fixed and I'll do the walk-through today so I can send the beta ASAP and start with the music.

Not much left for the release now!

[Targhan]

... Which is why I would never use a C compiler on CPC .

Anyway, glad the game is almost over! I really long to play it.

[reidrac]

The first beta is out for the testers to play it!

I did a complete walk-through myself and it took me a bit over 40 minutes. I did a couple of tweaks to the level design, but overall it was good.

Now I need to finish the music and, by the time I have a master, I'll have a good idea of what could be the release date.

[reidrac]

The website is up!

https://www.usebox.net/jjm/kitsunes-curse/

Exciting! 

[XeNoMoRPH]

The website is up!

https://www.usebox.net/jjm/kitsunes-curse/

Exciting! 

Waiting release for report !!!