SPIKE

[+retroclouds]

ok, lately I've been thinking about writing an arcade homebrew game for the TI-99/4A.

This time not a port from another system, but something I create myself.

 

The game will be called "SPIKE". It's gonna be an arcade platform game with smooth scroll.

Something along the lines of those fancy IPAD games that are around.

Target platform is the unexpanded TI-99/4A.

 

I do not have a storyline yet, so any ideas are welcome.

 

This is what I have so far:

 

You are a SPIKE, a Special Purpose Investigate & Kill Engineer.

Your mission is to save planet ION from destruction by .....

 

I'd like to collect some gameplay ideas. I do have some ideas as far as the graphics are concerned.

I might even take a try on bitmap mode and parallax scrolling.

 

Anyway, this is what I have so far. Ofcourse this thing is powered by spectra². The smooth scrolling works

real well, also on the real deal. Unfortunately the video recording doesn't do it justice. Oh well

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYQj0oR45Ag

 

Here's the bin if you wanna try it out in classic99:

 

spike.zip

Edited April 4, 2011 by retroclouds

[sometimes99er]

Very nice. Had to rename the file to spikec.bin (*c.bin), before it would show up in Classic99 (TI Menu Selection Screen).

 

Works or looks a bit like this one http://www.pdroms.de/news/14056

 

You control a ball and it's your duty to keep it within the play field as long as possible.

It is/was on my list of ideas/projects. I have it scrolling up, foreground faster, background slower, hybrid bitmap and no collision detection yet ... Classic99 is not too happy about it, but Win994a and MESS has super smooth scrolling. Turning on CPU Overdrive solves it for Classic99.

 

 

[Tursi]

Very nice. Had to rename the file to spikec.bin (*c.bin), before it would show up in Classic99 (TI Menu Selection Screen).

 

The filename is important if you use Cartridge->User->Open, just as a reference to everyone. The end of the filename must be C.BIN (cartridge ROM), D.BIN (Extended BASIC style bank 2 cartridge ROM), G.BIN (cartridge GROM) or 3.BIN (379-style bank-switched cartridge ROM). Anything else needs to be loaded by entering it into the Classic99.ini. Classic99 uses these V9T9-style names to determine how many files you have and where to load them (which is why you can select just one file if there are multiple ones, it will search for the rest automatically).

 

It is/was on my list of ideas/projects. I have it scrolling up, foreground faster, background slower, hybrid bitmap and no collision detection yet ... Classic99 is not too happy about it, but Win994a and MESS has super smooth scrolling. Turning on CPU Overdrive solves it for Classic99.

 

Do you mean it stutters or is slow or something in Classic99? I have to do some more timing tests, but I am now fairly confident that Classic99 runs about 10% too slowly, and I think I know why even though the cycle counting throttle seems to be working right. I think it comes down to performing read-before-write on many instructions that should not. Classic99 emulates the 8-bit RAM wait states, so it is sensitive to this sort of thing! If you crank up the CPU slider a couple of notches in the Options menu, does that help too?

 

Also, I believe that Win994a does not emulate the 8-bit wait states. MESS may or may not, MESS has advanced a lot since I last knew its feature list.

[+adamantyr]

Are you going to submit this to the RDGC? It certainly meets the criteria.

 

That being said... Chris Crawford remarks in one of his books on game design that it's never a good thing to create a technical feature, then try to build a game around it. It's not impossible, just approaching it from the wrong angle.

 

My own suggestion would be to think of a cool game concept first, some kind of game you'd like to write. If it could utilize your new scrolling technique, awesome.

 

Adamantyr

[sometimes99er]

Do you mean it stutters or is slow or something in Classic99? I have to do some more timing tests, but I am now fairly confident that Classic99 runs about 10% too slowly, and I think I know why even though the cycle counting throttle seems to be working right. I think it comes down to performing read-before-write on many instructions that should not. Classic99 emulates the 8-bit RAM wait states, so it is sensitive to this sort of thing! If you crank up the CPU slider a couple of notches in the Options menu, does that help too?

Yes, it stutters. I think it improves a bit by cranking the CPU slider up, but it's much the same at every level. Going from 100 to 200%, it (the scrolling) definitely goes faster. Going from 200% to Overdrive, and it definitely slows down, but becomes smooth.

 

I thought it was generally something with your VDP update system, as you said something about rewriting it, but only lately I was surprised to see Overdrive fix it (this kind of scrolling).

 

Retested my "Secret Scroll" (attached), this is still jumpy in Classic99, and smooth with both Win994a and MESS. CPU Overdrive does not fix it. The above update patterns and the screen, while this one also flips between screens (SIT is reallocated).

 

 

 

[JonnyBritish]

Are you going to submit this to the RDGC? It certainly meets the criteria.

 

That being said... Chris Crawford remarks in one of his books on game design that it's never a good thing to create a technical feature, then try to build a game around it. It's not impossible, just approaching it from the wrong angle.

 

My own suggestion would be to think of a cool game concept first, some kind of game you'd like to write. If it could utilize your new scrolling technique, awesome.

 

Adamantyr

 

 

If that is Chris Crawford on game design yes it is excellent and i have read it at lesat 3 times.

 

That said he broke his own rule re the Atari...realising it could scroll big screens around he also realised it could be great for wargames so went off and built one. Clearly he saw the feature first then built a game around it.

[+adamantyr]

If that is Chris Crawford on game design yes it is excellent and i have read it at lesat 3 times.

 

That said he broke his own rule re the Atari...realising it could scroll big screens around he also realised it could be great for wargames so went off and built one. Clearly he saw the feature first then built a game around it.

 

Yep, that's exactly what he did, with Eastern Front 1941. He had created the scrolling technique and showed it to war gamers, but nobody did anything with it. So he decided to write something himself.

 

Adamantyr

[+retroclouds]

Very nice. Had to rename the file to spikec.bin (*c.bin), before it would show up in Classic99 (TI Menu Selection Screen).

 

Sorry forgot about that. I have my classic99.ini setup to always use spectra2.bin

All my projects assemble to spectra2.bin

That way I can very easily make changes in different projects and try them out.

No need to select anything in classic99. Just reset the emulator and it's there

Edited April 5, 2011 by retroclouds

[+retroclouds]

Are you going to submit this to the RDGC? It certainly meets the criteria.

 

That being said... Chris Crawford remarks in one of his books on game design that it's never a good thing to create a technical feature, then try to build a game around it. It's not impossible, just approaching it from the wrong angle.

 

My own suggestion would be to think of a cool game concept first, some kind of game you'd like to write. If it could utilize your new scrolling technique, awesome.

 

Adamantyr

 

Thanks for the input. At this time I dunno if I'll turn into a full game. When I started it, I did have a particular game in mind, but expanding it a bit with different levels, bonus, etc.

So the first thing to do was check if the scrolling could be done.

Perhaps I should just stick with ports

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1lHMgKnq5U

Edited April 5, 2011 by retroclouds

[sometimes99er]

That being said... Chris Crawford remarks in one of his books on game design that it's never a good thing to create a technical feature, then try to build a game around it. It's not impossible, just approaching it from the wrong angle.

Yep, that's exactly what he did, with Eastern Front 1941. He had created the scrolling technique and showed it to war gamers, but nobody did anything with it. So he decided to write something himself.

Hmmm ... maybe more true these days. You require an effect and go do it.

 

Back in the day, I think it may often have been the other way around. I think game ideas can spring from new technical discoveries. Sometimes I think the two evolved together. Many games seemed to push the limits (think the 2600 is a good example), but then which came first, the chicken or the egg ?

 

[TEXAS_JOE]

The egg did. No, the chicken ..... no wait, the egg ........ Oh crap I dunno, I'm going to go randomize a randomizer and see if my shadow can overtake my body while running ....