Okay, I've finally managed to get everything (back) into something which I can assemble into a 8448 byte bin. I haven't attached it because I haven't flushed out, what will probably end up being obvious, bugs. One of the problems with the code is I've started & stopped so many times I've forgotten dependencies and made some errors. It's also been a long while since I've had something which I could run and debug.One bonus is it appears I should be able to fit the game code into 4K, althoug
Now that Christmas is over and I'm not trying to turn 700 slides into a DVD, I need to get back to working on Leprechaun.One item which is working (although I'm not going to post it since it doesn't affect gameplay) is the change to a reflected kernel. I wanted to get that working before the level editor sees the light of day. Kirk Israel has been working on the level editor, but the next challenge is implementing the save & load capability.My next update should include the corresponding l
More of the same. I think I've got almost everything in one file, though I haven't worked up the courage to see how many bytes it assembles to. I think I'm going to try to put the enemy movement into this version too, though maybe I should turn off the collision detection if I do.Hmm, one item I rediscovered was the sprite color is handled on a per-sprite basis. I think my original plan was to use that to mark whether enemies were carrying gold or not. I've since abandoned that idea (or at l
It's not a game unless you can keep score.The base idea I have is to have a count down timer for the level which would start each level at 999.9s or 16 min 39.9 sec. You would have unlimitted men (restarts) but limitted time. Bonus time would be given for picking up gold. Once you completed the level, your time remaining would be added to your total score.There will probably be the ability to practice levels, but that wouldn't be scored.How does that sound to everyone?
Leprechaun has gotten stalled unfortunately, but I came up with an idea which I'd like some comments on.One suggestion was to speed up the game. In the current WIP the player moves 1 pixel every 6 frames, while the enemies use fractional positioning to move at a slower rate. My initial idea was to change the player to use fractional positioning to move faster, but then change the enemies to 1 pixel every 6 frames (i.e. same as the current player).Anyway, it occurred to me that an interesting o
Ah-ha! I've got it!Currently, the code is set up for six sprites - the player and five enemies. Each frame one sprite moves one pixel. So it takes 24 frames for a sprite to move horizontally from one PF block to the next.Now, what if I change this to fractional positioning for the enemies. The player I'll leave be because he can change direction in mid-move. What if I want to still limit myself to one full sprite movement update per frame. Okay, so let's make it take 30 frames for the enem
In Leprechaun my plans are to only go through the full movement routine for one sprite each frame. Although I haven't cycle counted the routine, I have a sneaking suspicion it will take too long to do more than one sprite per frame. (As it is, I think I'll end up having to shove it in before VSYNC so I can leave after VSYNC for setting up the sprite bitmaps.Anyway, I have two alternatives for sprite movement. I can either move only one sprite one pixel per frame (with a hack for making fallin
Announcing the Leprechaun Level Editor!
This will allow you to create your own Leprechaun levels. The SAVE button dynamically creates a SuperCharger binary (based on the current development release) usable by any emulator or SC compatible RAMcart.
I plan on adding a LOAD button as well which will allow a level created with the LLE to be uploaded for editting or refreshed with the current development release.
This is all part of my plan to have people create lots & lots of level
Leprechaun Level Editor, see Topic in Homebrews for more info.
I'm seriously psyched about this. I was having soooo much trouble trying to get the Javascript to initialize (not really knowing anything about JS). In comparison the PHP was simple (although I have a habit of forgetting the semicolons).
Now I just need to get grinding on handling the end of level / end of game & load next level items.
Time, she be precious and in scarce supply. I'm trying to put together all of the various bits & pieces I've written or thought about and make something a little closer to a playable version. My current goal is to get most of the player logic done so you'll be able to move the little block around with the joystick.Most recently I've been working on player joystick handling for when the player isn't "on grid". I want to allow the player to reverse direction in "mid stride" as it were. Hop
Following on with my idea to re-use the player movement logic with the enemy "AI", I've been doing some thinking. Basically, the enemies will have two modes: chase & hunt (each enemy working independently). In chase mode the enemies move in the direction of the player, i.e their virtual joystick is pointed towards the player. However, if they get blocked, they flip into hunt mode. In hunt mode their virtual joystick changes direction (clockwise or counter clockwise, randomly, mirror?).
Nothing new* to see here unless you're looking at the source. Hopefully this is the final kernel rewrite.1. reflected playfield2. (zp),y player sprites3. REFP = no separate left+right sprites4. blank sprite instead of repositioning to far leftWhat's interesting is even with this rewrite I effectively have no free cycles in the majority of the kernel. Or rather, there are free cycles, but they don't happen during the inactive portion of the display. There's even a minor color glitch on the far
I've attached my current WIP, but no updates to the LLE since this version has obvious issues even with my built-in level.
I've added in the "walking on heads" feature. (It actually wasn't as hard as I thought it might have been as it required changes to only one bit of code.) When I first added it the leprechauns had an amusing habit of walking across the screen on top of one another. The look-ahead code took care of that but causes other quirkyness & problems. Hmm... just realized
He's right, I just didn't notice. Well, now I have and I'm going to do something about it. Unfortunately, it's tricker than it sounds.
Fundamentally, the enemies are at a major disadvantage to the player. The player can see the entire level; the enemies are almost blind. Not only is it not feasible to put in some kind of path finding algorithm, but I'd like to avoid doing any level data lookups at all. Fortunately, the enemies have a much simpler purpose - chase down the player and touc
Features:- 6K SC binary w/ header (8448 bytes total)- performs both bankswitching and SC RAM writes- tested on an actual 2600+SC (back in 2004) (although I now have a 7800+CC2 as well)- functional kernel w/ sprite repositioning- semi-intelligent flicker / partial sort routineLEPRCHN.ASM : wrapper- includes, equates, ZP variables, SC headerLEPBANK1.ASM : level data- background playfield bitmaps- SC RAM space for forground player/leprechaun sprite bitmaps- SC RAM space for player color / XPOS arra
I'll also update the Leprechaun Level Editor in a minute.
Updates:
1. enemies on ropes will fall if you pass under them
2. enemies get off ladders before they get to the top
3. simple enemy-enemy collision detection to keep them from getting stuck together (sometimes they pass through each other, sometimes they bounce, but they shouldn't stay in lockstep)
4. code tweaks and a fix so the player doesn't always face left when stopped
I haven't put in the drop-off detection yet. From a
I've updated the Leprechaun Level Editor with the attached WIP. Load & save to update any levels you have created.
There have been signficant changes to the enemy AI. It's now based more on the enemy continuing it's previous action & direction than the previous (broken) hunt/chase logic. I won't say this is the final version, the current AI climbs ladders to the top or bottom rather than getting off in the middle to chase the player.
I've also fixed the bug which trashed the s
For those who've never heard of it, Unity is a cross-platform game creation system: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unity_(game_engine)
You can use it to develop games for current systems including Windows, OSX, web, IOS and Android. Free to download & use and practically free if you ever decide to sell your creations.
Lurking on gamasutra, I've known about Unity for a while. But I'd never considered actually using it until they announced Unity 5 and I realized there was zero reason for
Earlier this month the family and I spent a week camping at (nee Six Flags) Darien Lake - riding roller coasters & other rides plus roasting marshmallows & drinking beer. Every night DL has a laser & fireworks show set to music. (Unfortunately the same one every night.) The laser show part of the show in particular was particularly impressive and would have made Pink Floyd (from 40 years ago) green with envy - complex animated scenes in full color. (Probably restricted more by th
Winter makes me glad to have a garage to park in. No scraping ice & snow in the morning. And I've learned to back in so I don't have to change direction if the laneway hasn't been plowed.
And there's the rub. In my old car, a Plymouth Acclaim, I could see the rear corners but I'm having a devil of a time with my new Corolla. Although I can use the side mirrors to make sure I don't scrape the sides, it takes me several tries to get squared up.
So I was wondering if I could rig som
A month or so ago I bought KotOR (on sale for C$10). I'd borrowed and finished it over a year ago, but I figured enough time had passed that I would enjoy it again. This time I also decided to try it as a (mostly) solo DS character (female level 5 soldier level 10+ guardian w/ high wisdom). Unfortunately, I'm now at Manaan (having completed Tatooine and Kashyyyk) and my alignment is swinging dangerously back to neutral. I just can't make the choices (particularly party conversations) require
My home computer is close to dead - random reboots and errors which point to a hardware failure. It's at least 7 years old, so I guess it's time for an upgrade. Sigh.
I've spec'd out a Dell replacement for C$878+tax etc. My question is whether there's any real point in looking at other makes etc. Unlike the old machine, I'm not interested in researching each component and assembling it myself. I have consoles for playing games so I don't need the ultimate in performance. I just want g
Today Apple announced the 5th generation Nano, including features not available on any other iPod models: video camera & microphone, speaker, and FM receiver. (I think the other features are 90% software, i.e. the pedometer uses the existing accelerometer.) Okay, so the iPhone has the camera and microphone, but the iPod Touch and Classic don't. (And both the Touch & iPhone have a speaker)My question is why the Nano got the goodies instead of the Touch. Maybe it's the price point. Ap
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