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Road Hunter


Asmusr

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Road Hunter is a racing game where you score points by bumping into the other cars and knocking them off the road! However, you need good driving skills and fast reflexes to avoid ending up in the road side yourself. You also have to make sure you don't run out of fuel. Fortunately you car is equiped with an advanced system that allows you to refuel on the fly using fuel drums that others have dropped on the road. Occasionally even guns may turn up on the road, and these make it easy to clear the road ahead of you. Just be aware that if you bump into other cars while carrying a gun you will probably lose it.

post-35226-0-47586600-1390603128_thumb.png post-35226-0-33833600-1391205467_thumb.png post-35226-0-05189700-1391983325_thumb.png

 

It's not all about destruction, you should also attempt to finish the track to collect the bonus (depending on the amount of fuel you have left). But watch out, the next track may be even harder to complete...

The game is written in 100% assembly language, and was assembled/compiled using WinAsm99. Testing and debugging was primarily done using Classic99, but it has also been tested on MESS 0.150 and a real TI-99/4a console.

 

To run the game you game either use E/A#3: DSK1.RH, or E/A#5: DSK1.ROADHUNT or use the Extended Basic loader. In any case you need the 32K RAM expansion installed.

 

If you need to run this under emulation I suggest the latest version of MESS, where I have found that the scrolling works most smoothly.

 

Enjoy!

 

Updates:

  • January 19, 2014: First version releases.
  • January 24: New version with 'lives', oil pools, and shadows.
  • January 31: 2nd track added, extended music, fuel bonus, XB loader.
  • January 31: Drums, boot tracking, renamed map files.
  • February 1: Stuck in oil bug fixed?
  • February 9: 3rd track added, extra life every 3000 points, enemy cars collide with each other, more intelligent movement of enemy cars (level dependent), oil spills moved to level 3.
  • February 11: Demo mode added, bug fixes.
  • February 13: Fixed corrupted E/A#5 file in the last release.
  • February 14: Minor bug fixes.
  • February 18: Small adjustments and bug fixes.
  • February 22, 2014: Version 1.0: New font, new gun sprite, explosions, Pause key.

 

The latest version also includes a 64K ROM image (32K RAM required).

Road Hunter v1.0.zip

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attachicon.gifRoad Hunter.png

 

Enjoy!

 

 

Looks like lots of fun, I just loaded it up on my TI via the HDX and it works GREAT! I'm gonna go play for 1/2 hour now before I have to go to work.

 

THANKS FOR YET ANOTHER PROGRAM FOR THE TI! RASMUS RULES!

 

P.S. It seems to run okay in Classic99 on my laptop << HERE >> is a WMV video of the play. It seems fine to me.

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Here is a demo of my new game Road Hunter. As the name indicates it is a racing game borrowing ideas from both Road Fighter and Spy Hunter, but it's not supposed to be a remake of any of those games. The screen is scrolling smoothly at 2 or 4 pixels per frame at 60 FPS in ordinary graphics mode. The alternative would have been to scroll 8 pixels per frame in bitmap mode (as on the MSX), but I decided to sacrifice more colors for smoothness. This is running 100% on the old hardware and is not even aware of the F18A.

 

attachicon.gifRoad Hunter.png

 

The game is about earning points by bumping or shooting the other cars off the road, while avoiding crashing and running out of fuel. The demo allows you to play a full level/track more or less as I imagine the finished game. There are still some tiles left for improving the graphics, and the current music score (borrowed from Spy Hunter) will need to be expanded or it will drive you mad after a while. I'm also planning more levels, of course, and perhaps other items on the road to pick up or avoid.

 

If you need to run this under emulation I suggest to use MESS because it is not running as smoothly on Classic99 - at least not on my computer. Run E/A#3: RH.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Very cool. Tested on my Geneve and it works perfectly. :) I didn't encounter enough fuel tanks to keep going for any length of time but wow, this has some awesome potential! I used to play Spy Hunter just to listen to the soundtrack, especially the later parts ;)

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Damn good looking, sprites are well defined and I definately agree with your choice of scroll smoothness over colour content. The only thing I could possibly suggest is some element that creates damage to the road surface-such as a shell firing boat on the water stretches or possibly a plane/helicopter that drops bombs.(just to give you that added dimension to worry about).

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I'm impressed with this as well, only the fuel tanks could look a bit better... at least on the video, they just look like a blue blob.

And in case you're interested, this is what the music originally sounded like:

 

 

There's also an interesting expanded version by the Art of Noise, which came out a few years after the Spy Hunter game:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH33RIfi2KI

 

But currently, to me this game currently looks more like "Road Fighter" than "Spy Hunter".

 

As for the landscape, I think it's a bit too repetitive, which means that there are multiple short stretches of desert intermingled with other elements. It would be better if the level would be divided in zones which have their distinctive feel, i.e. a "city" with many houses, then some "free country" with just a few and possibly smaller houses, then a long stretch of a lake at one side, then a long stretch of desert... but not many stretches of each intermingled in one level.

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Nice Job Rasmus !! :D very great game !

 

here is a Video i done for who can't play on the computer but is curious to see the gameplay ;)

 

 

Thanks, but the jerkiness and low frame rate of this video is the reason I didn't make my own video. Who can't play it on a computer?

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I didn't encounter enough fuel tanks to keep going for any length of time but wow, this has some awesome potential!

 

Thanks. You can definitely complete the level, but I agree it's a bit too random how many fuel tanks you encounter, so I will increase the frequency.

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The only thing I could possibly suggest is some element that creates damage to the road surface-such as a shell firing boat on the water stretches or possibly a plane/helicopter that drops bombs.

 

I don't want to make changes to the map on the fly. I have tried that a few times and it's a nightmare to control. But a helicopter that drops bombs created using sprites is definitely an option.

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Ok sorry, i was hoping to do a good thing :( I deleted the link at the video.

 

Thank you Ciro, I know you were only trying to be helpful. :) It's just that I spend a lot of time making sure that the screen update is perfect, so I want people to experience my work as it is supposed to look.

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The game is about earning points by bumping or shooting the other cars off the road, while avoiding crashing and running out of fuel. The demo allows you to play a full level/track more or less as I imagine the finished game. There are still some tiles left for improving the graphics, and the current music score (borrowed from Spy Hunter) will need to be expanded or it will drive you mad after a while. I'm also planning more levels, of course, and perhaps other items on the road to pick up or avoid.

 

Excellent work. Very impressive scrolling and arcade-like response times. It is great to see such responsive, smooth and playable arcade games on the TI. And with background music!

 

I would however like to make a gameplay suggestion that might be a bit removed from what you have in mind... take it for what it's worth, it's just an idea :).

What if, instead of making the game about scoring as many points as possible and hoping you capture enough fuel barrels to reach the end of the level, you turn it into something a bit like a top-down version of Chase HQ:

  • The goal of each level is not to reach the end, but instead to catch up to a run-away car that you need to destroy at the end of the level.
  • Instead of crashing into cars to score more points, you could make it so you have a "health bar" and you need to avoid getting hit too many times to ensure you are still in good enough shape to battle the car you're chasing. You can battle the bad guy by bumping into him, driving him into the side of the road or shooting him. He also has a health bar that you need to deplete to finish the level.
  • You lose the game either by letting the bad guy get too far ahead of you, or by destroying your car.
  • Along the way you can pick up repair items and bullets (not sure if fuel would be needed as a gameplay mechanic in this case).
  • You'd probably need to get rid of the one-hit kills be crashing into the side of the road (maybe that could do double damage instead).

I know it's quite different from what you have in mind, and I'm just putting it out there, but it would make the goal of the game a bit more enticing to me. The "high score" type gameplay isn't my cup of tea in general and I always loved Chase HQ :).

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Excellent work. Very impressive scrolling and arcade-like response times. It is great to see such responsive, smooth and playable arcade games on the TI. And with background music!

 

I would however like to make a gameplay suggestion that might be a bit removed from what you have in mind... take it for what it's worth, it's just an idea :).

What if, instead of making the game about scoring as many points as possible and hoping you capture enough fuel barrels to reach the end of the level, you turn it into something a bit like a top-down version of Chase HQ:

  • The goal of each level is not to reach the end, but instead to catch up to a run-away car that you need to destroy at the end of the level.
  • Instead of crashing into cars to score more points, you could make it so you have a "health bar" and you need to avoid getting hit too many times to ensure you are still in good enough shape to battle the car you're chasing. You can battle the bad guy by bumping into him, driving him into the side of the road or shooting him. He also has a health bar that you need to deplete to finish the level.
  • You lose the game either by letting the bad guy get too far ahead of you, or by destroying your car.
  • Along the way you can pick up repair items and bullets (not sure if fuel would be needed as a gameplay mechanic in this case).
  • You'd probably need to get rid of the one-hit kills be crashing into the side of the road (maybe that could do double damage instead).

I know it's quite different from what you have in mind, and I'm just putting it out there, but it would make the goal of the game a bit more enticing to me. The "high score" type gameplay isn't my cup of tea in general and I always loved Chase HQ :).

 

That's a great idea for a game! You should get started immediately. :)

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I'm impressed with this as well, only the fuel tanks could look a bit better... at least on the video, they just look like a blue blob.

And in case you're interested, this is what the music originally sounded like:

 

It's a great track, but probably too advanced to recreate on the TI in two channels. I think I will look for some other music...

 

It would be great to be able to use Tursi's espgmod player for the music, but I think it will use too many clock cycles.

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I've now actually played the game, and I have to agree that the fuel barrels look better than on the video. However, I also agree that they come up too randomly. I think they should come up in more regular intervals, like, for instance, one fuel barrel for every 8 or 10 cars passed.

 

I've compared this to "Road fighter" (Arcade version), and there you don't lose your fuel that quickly. In "Road fighter", I think the first tank of fuel roughly lasts for the first round if you don't crash and don't pick up any fuel cars. But to make it through all the stages, you have to play pretty perfectly AND pick up nearly all available fuel cars, since your fuel consumption raises with each level. In that respect, I think it's similar to Pole Position where the better you play, the more rounds you make.

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I think it's excellent, have only made it to the end of level 1 so far.

 

May I offer a couple of ideas on gameplay :-

 

The fuel barrels are a bit too random, perhaps better if they were introduced according to the players current fuel level.

Have some cars trying to bump you off the road and the odd car with the ability to travel the same speed as your car for that head to head racing feeling.

Have some planes or helicopters flying by dropping bombs on the road.

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