Charge!

[ScumSoft]

The knight crash has been fixed, however the background bounce is indeed still there.

[jrok]

The knight crash has been fixed, however the background bounce is indeed still there.

 

Could you describe the ruckus background-bounce, sir?

 

I'm just curious if it looks similar to the score-bounce that RT described in this thread.

 

I'm just looking for clues. I'm not sure how to hunt the bug down because, unlike the score bounce, this one doesn't turn up in emulation, and doesn't seem to be cycle-related since it sounds like all other display objects are stable. I believe that the only things I'm doing differently in the bouncing builds is 1) using bb11d and 2)doing a bankswitch to run my vblank code (actually, this is directly related to "1" because bb11d's kernel doesn't leave enough space to run the routine in bank 1.)

 

Thanks for the help!

- J

[ScumSoft]

I don't mind since I own a harmony cart, if you don't mind sharing the source at this time I'd be happy to do some testing on this end.

The background raises 1 scanline then drops 1 scanline, so it sounds like an index problem that your DF6FRACINC is not set properly, or that your bkcolors table is off by a byte. Stella won't show these issues since it uses it's own DPC+ routines and does things differently, what you need is a real cart

[jrok]

The background raises 1 scanline then drops 1 scanline, so it sounds like an index problem that your DF6FRACINC is not set properly, or that your bkcolors table is off by a byte.

 

Can DF6FRAINC have a different value than DF4FRAINC? I wasn't clear about the from what I've read. For instance, could I have a playfield res of 11 and a background res of 44 (which is how I've got it set up now)?

 

I just did a count, and I noticed that my tables do seem to be off by a byte (45 bytes instead of 44). I added the last byte to color the score area... I think I did it by accident at first about a month ago, noticed that it colored the score row in Stella and then thought "Oh, that must be an undocumented kernel feature."

 

I deleted those extra bytes. Hopefully, that does the trick:

 

ChargeDPC_bgfix_1.bin

Edited August 17, 2011 by jrok

[ScumSoft]

Yeah all the fetchers can be set independently for some interesting effects. However your fix didn't fix the bounce, and now the score background is yellow

[jrok]

Yeah all the fetchers can be set independently for some interesting effects. However your fix didn't fix the bounce, and now the score background is yellow

 

Maybe I could change the knights to cars, change the road to the L.A. Freeway, rename the game "Earthquake!" and call the bouncing "a feature, not a bug" . The Yellow would fit right in with the sunny California theme.

 

Actually, it's not just yellow. As you advance through the game and new background tables are read in (for sunset, night, etc), the color of the score row changes as well, though I'm not where those values are coming from. They don't seem to correspond to anything in any of my color tables.

 

I tried two experiments to see if I can pin down the bug.

 

1) In this test, I simply reverted to the most patched version bb11c for compilation, without making any code changes. VBLANK jumps to bank 5 to get its code: ChargeDPC_bank5.bas.bin

 

2} In this test, I kept the compiler at bb1c, but put my entire vblank routine back in the bank 1: ChargeDPC_bank1.bas.bin

 

Not sure if this will fix anything, but it would be nice to rule it out. If not, my other thought is to define DF6FRAINC every frame, instead of just once on boot.

 

-J

Edited August 17, 2011 by jrok

[GroovyBee]

Not sure if this will fix anything, but it would be nice to rule it out.

 

Its frustrating when you don't have the real hardware to test on and have to rely on 3rd parties for bug reports . When I started out developing for the 7800, stuff would work in the emulator but not on a real machine. It wasn't until I got a CC2 that I could test my code on the machine myself. Maybe you should think about getting yourself a Harmony cart so that you can tinker around with the code at your leisure. It would definitely ease your frustration .

[jrok]

Not sure if this will fix anything, but it would be nice to rule it out.

 

Its frustrating when you don't have the real hardware to test on and have to rely on 3rd parties for bug reports . When I started out developing for the 7800, stuff would work in the emulator but not on a real machine. It wasn't until I got a CC2 that I could test my code on the machine myself. Maybe you should think about getting yourself a Harmony cart so that you can tinker around with the code at your leisure. It would definitely ease your frustration .

 

Absolutely. In fact, just yesterday I put out some inquiries to try to get my hands on one (EDIT: Duh, just realized I could order one direct from Fred ). Right after I did, I realized I was finally getting serious about this hobby. I've been tinkering around with the software side for a few years now, but I'm finally starting to feel like I can make something fun to play that I'm proud of, and I think I'm ready to invest more than just my time.

 

[EDIT]

ORDER SENT!

 

Soon, I won't have to bother you fine people about hardware testing (and hopefully I'll be more helpful on general bB bugtesting from now on ).

 

Cheers,

J

Edited August 17, 2011 by jrok

[ScumSoft]

Well it's about time you got one welcome to the club, you won't regret getting one. I should also say just in time as well!

ChargeDPC_bank1.bas.bin fixed the bounce issue completely, ChargeDPC_bank5.bas.bin bounces only when you move.

 

[edit]

Just thought I would also add that I've been working on a custom DPCplus.arm header which optimizes the bank6 purely as a display output buffer and not just as a fast data fetch area. Stella might one day fully emulate the ARM code, but right now it's completely useless for this other project of mine(it wont even look at the custom DPCplus.arm header). Having the Harmony cart which runs it flawless definitely opens a new door for some neat things, which also means once I'm done you can see first hand how it runs and help ME test it

Edited August 17, 2011 by ScumSoft

[jrok]

Well it's about time you got one welcome to the club, you won't regret getting one.

 

Hahah, yeah I'm sure I won't. My wife, on the other hand, is going to kill me, which might slightly hamper my development process.

 

I should also say just in time as well!

ChargeDPC_bank1.bas.bin fixed the bounce issue completely, ChargeDPC_bank5.bas.bin bounces only when you move.

 

Hmmm... Well, in that case, I'm guessing that I'll have to finish writing the game in bb1c. I'm pretty much sure that I don't have enough time to do my vblank stuff during vsync, and there's no ROM space to put that code in the kernel bank. I think that might be okay, though, so long as everything else is relatively stable.

 

Just thought I would also add that I've been working on a custom DPCplus.arm header which optimizes the bank6 purely as a display output buffer and not just as a fast data fetch area. Stella might one day fully emulate the ARM code, but right now it's completely useless for this other project of mine(it wont even look at the custom DPCplus.arm header). Having the Harmony cart which runs it flawless definitely opens a new door for some neat things, which also means once I'm done you can see first hand how it runs and help ME test it

 

Sounds neat! Yeah, I'll be happy to help out once I'm all set up.

[KevinMos3]

Maybe I could change the knights to cars, change the road to the L.A. Freeway, rename the game "Earthquake!" and call the bouncing "a feature, not a bug" . The Yellow would fit right in with the sunny California theme.

You could add some ramps and stuff to jump and turn it into the long-awaited Knight Rider!

 

ORDER SENT!

You will be very happy with your purchase and kick yourself for waiting so long.

 

Soon, I won't have to bother you fine people about hardware testing (and hopefully I'll be more helpful on general bB bugtesting from now on ).

It's really no bother at all, but I feel bad when I give an initial report and then can't follow up within a reasonable time. My availability is sporadic at best.

Edited August 18, 2011 by KevinMos3

[jrok]

It's really no bother at all, but I feel bad when I give an initial report and then can't follow up within a reasonable time. My availability is sporadic at best.

 

It's really very helpful, but I've been thinking lately that I shouldn't be leaning on people just to test hardware state. I'd rather but something up that I knew for sure was stable, so people who downloaded could just playtest and have fun!

 

Cheers,

J

[Brian O]

Maybe I could change the knights to cars, change the road to the L.A. Freeway, rename the game "Earthquake!" and call the bouncing "a feature, not a bug" . The Yellow would fit right in with the sunny California theme.

You could add some ramps and stuff to jump and turn it into the long-awaited Knight Rider!

 

Let us know when you receive a cease and desist letter from Team Savage

 

-B

[Miss 2600]

I just played a little Charge! on the Harmony and I am very impressed. I think it will be an excellent game once its completed. I really like the theme and the graphics are great--especially the galloping horse.

[jrok]

I just played a little Charge! on the Harmony and I am very impressed. I think it will be an excellent game once its completed. I really like the theme and the graphics are great--especially the galloping horse.

 

Thanks! It's been a dream project of mine for a few years now, and I think it's finally starting to look and play a little like it did in my mind, thanks to batari, Spiceware and everyone else who worked on the DPC+ schema.

[BrianC]

I just played a little Charge! on the Harmony and I am very impressed. I think it will be an excellent game once its completed. I really like the theme and the graphics are great--especially the galloping horse.

 

I agree. I was impressed by what I played in Stella so far. I like the dragon too. I don't have a Harmony Cart yet, but I'll be albe to try it on Harmony soon (after my birthday on September 12th).

 

I thought of another alternate theme (though one isn't really necessary since the knight theme rocks!). Charge it!, where you are a lady in a supermarket attacking people with a credit card.

[Miss 2600]

 

 

I thought of another alternate theme (though one isn't really necessary since the knight theme rocks!). Charge it!, where you are a lady in a supermarket attacking people with a credit card.

 

That could be a Flintstones game because that is what Wilma and Betty called out when they were about to go shopping.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rqNZAIQH4U

 

Update:

 

Evidence that Fred and Barney called it out, too. They're on their way to buy new bowling balls.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcQzdYk7QHE

Edited August 22, 2011 by Miss 2600

[jrok]

Question to people playing the latest demo:

 

Out of curiosity, and to help gauge difficulty and the scoring mechanic... how are you doing? I just had what I thought was one of my best games so far, getting up to level 17 with a (comically ironic) score of 2084.

 

 

This represents a very good game for me (I think I average around level 14 with 1500 pts). I'd bet that if I really concentrated on the game itself instead of half-hunting for bugs, I might be able to do even better, but I feel like it starts getting pretty rock-hard in waves 12-20.

 

But maybe I'm living in a dreamworld? For people playtesting the latest ROM I've posted, what's your average level/score?

 

Cheers,

J

Edited August 22, 2011 by jrok

[KevinMos3]

For people playtesting the ROMs I've posted, what's your average level/score?

I don't think I've made it past level 9 yet. The difficulty is why I liked your idea of adding in health bonuses for the player or castle.

 

I was showing this game to my brother yesterday and he commented that "There's really a lot going on there." He said that as a positive thing, not knocking it. I'm not complaining about the difficulty at all, just re-affirming my support of bonus powerups.

 

BTW, your screenshot looks like you're still in a sunset stage at 17. Did you remove the night levels or had you already cycled back through night and day by then?

[jrok]

For people playtesting the ROMs I've posted, what's your average level/score?

I don't think I've made it past level 9 yet. The difficulty is why I liked your idea of adding in health bonuses for the player or castle.

 

I think I'll experiment with some sort of health bonus that presents itself during a wave (i.e. not the auto-bonus you get between waves). I also get the feeling a respawn timer would also help make the difficulty ramp-up a little smoother.

 

BTW, your screenshot looks like you're still in a sunset stage at 17. Did you remove the night levels or had you already cycled back through night and day by then?

 

This is actually a "night" level, not sunset... maybe the color looks different on your TV? But yeah, I cycled through. Each 10 levels equals a "day". So if I had managed to kill this last Grendel, the next wave would have shown a sunrise. I think that the final game will consist of three days (30 levels), plus some kind of "nightmare mode" for levels after 30.

Edited August 22, 2011 by jrok

[KevinMos3]

This is actually a "night" level, not sunset... maybe the color looks different on your TV? But yeah, I cycled through. Each 10 levels equals a "day". So if I had managed to kill this last Grendel, the next wave would have shown a sunrise. I think that the final game will consist of three days (30 levels), plus some kind of "nightmare mode" for levels after 30.

I played some more yesterday on the Harmony. I do much better playing with a real joystick than a control pad on the PC. Also, saving the princesses helped me go further because of the extra points leading to extra lives. I was able to get to level 11 (or was it 12?) and finally saw your sunrise. It is gorgeous.

 

I didn't realize your night was now purple instead of black. I do think it was much more apparent that it was "night" before you changed to the current color.

[jrok]

I played some more yesterday on the Harmony. I do much better playing with a real joystick than a control pad on the PC.

 

Me too, surprisingly. I've been playing the heck out of it on my new Harmony lately, and I've been regularly making it to level 16.

 

Also, saving the princesses helped me go further because of the extra points leading to extra lives.

 

Yep, that is supposed to be their main function (a bonus opportunity given for keeping your castles healthy).

 

I didn't realize your night was now purple instead of black. I do think it was much more apparent that it was "night" before you changed to the current color.

 

I've been experimenting with colors quite a bit ever since I got my Harmony and have been able to see them rendered with genuine TIA-to-CRT. There may be many color changes coming, as certain color shifts seem to be causing a few graphics glitches.

[jrok]

*Update*

 

Now that I've survived Irene's wrath and am allowed back in my apartment, I've been putting the ROM through the paces on my Harmony cart, and getting lots of interesting insights as a result.

 

Colors:

• Many of my higher lum colors are translating as white (at least, to my eye) on my CRT, so I've darkened some of them considerably in this build.
  
• For some reason, my landscape sprites (trees, castles) are glitching a bit on brighter backgrounds. The only background they seem to render normally over are my nightscape (solid $50), whereas other backgrounds seem to reproduce colors from the previous line on blank lines in the sprite.

 

Controls:

• I think I'm playing the game fairly well with my joystick, averaging in the 2200-2600 score range and reaching around wave 16. However, I'm designing the game towards 30 static waves (+ endless "special" waves), so I think maybe I need to peel off an extra bit or two to allow for more bonus men at 2000 and 3000 pts. Either that or I need to find ways to ramp up the difficulty more slowly.
  
• Added a reset function to the reset switch that boots to the title screen.

 

Graphics:

• For the most part I think the graphics are translating okay, and even the manual flicker for the road objects doesn't seem bad to me (though I'm considering messing around with the color of the Paladin's horse). One thing I'm curious about is whether people think that the flicker is decent enough to make it continuous (Paladin flickers whether or not a road enemy is on the screen). It might allow me some interesting options.
  
• One particular game element where I'd like to reduce the flicker is the Princess capture/fall routine. There is a lot of virtual sprite overlap involved, particularly when the Princess is falling past the landscape and soldier sprites.
  
• There seems to be a bit of delay in drawing the pfscore playfield bits, (not a big deal, but I'll try to explain it in more detail later in case it's an unreported bug).

 

ChargeDPC_090211.bas.bin

[jrok]

I have a question for any programmers here with experience modifying the batari DPC+ display kernel. I'm curious how feasible you think it would be to modify the canned display to draw two restricted GRP0s instead of one unrestricted GRP0 (by feasible, I mean both from a timing standpoint and also from the standpoint of modding the existing kernel as opposed to writing a new one from scratch). I'm basically trying to find a way to reduce flicker in my program as well as create a bit more flexibility for the player-controlled sprites' max vertical range of movement. I drew up a couple of quick diagrams to illustrate what I had in mind (forgive me if I'm over-explaining, but I wanted to get it all out there in case someone could think of a simpler way of accomplishing the same goal):

 

Current sprite display:

P0 (yellow) draws the front half of the Paladin. P1 (white) draws the Soldier, the Castle and the Dragon/Falling Princess. All "restrictions" I cite in the list below are just indicating that I've manually restricted the sprites in my own bB script, and I included the max height of the sprite in their vertical display limits.

• The Paladin is restricted between y136 and y152 (visually, the top and bottom of the gray "road" area), and is manually flickered with enemies on the road who are similarly restricted.
  
• The soldier is restricted between y112 and y128.
  
• The Castle is restricted between y60 and y92.
  
• The Dragon is restricted between y8 and y76. Currently the Dragon's registration point can move vertically between y8 and y42 without triggering the auto-flicker routine, but in order to capture the Princess, it must overlap a castle and therefore flicker. The same virtual sprite is used to draw the Falling Princess after the Dragon is killed, which is restricted between y8 and y114 and must overlap two other GRP1 sprites during its fall.

 

Proposed sprite display:

P0 draws the front half of the Paladin and the Castle, with a minimum separation of 16 scanlines between the top of one instance and the bottom of the other. P1 (white) draws the Soldier and the Dragon/Falling Princess.

• The y restrictions for the sprites could be loosened a bit in the center of the screen, allowing for a taller "road" area within which the Paladin can dodge and joust.
  
• The Castle's virtual GRP1 sprite (P1_1) is exchanged for a second P0 sprite. I multiplexing flicker routine for this sprite is not necessary, since the closest the top of P0_0 and the bottom of the new P0_1 will ever get is 16 scanlines.
  
• The Dragon could capture the Princess flicker-free, and the Falling Princess would only have to trigger one, much smaller duration of flicker during her descent.

 

Thanks in advance for any guidance,

Jarod.

Edited September 3, 2011 by jrok

[Legend]

Made it to wave 8 this time! I must not be very good.

 

Any chance of getting the galloping sound fx back? Doesn't seem like it's very important, but I feel it adds a lot to the feeling and excitement when I'm galloping towards the black night or fending off a dragon.

 

Can anything be done about the dragon sprites disappearing when they get close but not all the way to the side of the screen?

 

In most levels, the wave ends when you kill all dragons. In the ones with the grendel, you have to kill the grendel too before it moves on to the next wave. Is this intentional?

 

The little animation when you save the princess is cool.

 

What's the "+W" on the title screen for?

 

I wanted to make some comments on the enemies:

 

I think you have a nice mix of enemies in the game over all.

You have dragons which come in different types and can damage both the player and the castles.

You have the grunts which only damage the castle but still need to be taken out.

You have the knights/grendels which only damage the player and also act as blockers to the player's progress.

Getting rid of the old bats was the right move I think since they really didn't add much to the game over all.

 

If you were to add another enemy to replace the bats, I think it should be some sort of enemy that lobs some sort of projectile in an arch towards the player. This would make the player a bit more cautious about speeding along too much because the lob could still hit them even if they pass the enemy. And perhaps these lob attacks could also harm the castles.

 

If you don't add a new enemy, I think the idea of road hazards you mentioned earlier would be a good way to go if they are introduces in the later stages of the game. If there were road hazards to avoid, it would be nice if there was some sort of way to jump. Nice, but not completely necessary.

 

You mentioned power-ups in an earlier post too. Some ideas that I think could be good for those:

 

a power up that let you temporarily make straight shots up into the air instead of at an arc. Maybe call it "eagle eye" or something.

 

A power up that lets you temporarily shoot horizontally to take card of the knights and grendels easier.

 

The classic temporary invincibility power-up.

 

A speed power up to make the player move faster.

 

And one that maybe makes the player's shots/lance do more damage.

 

Just some ideas.

 

Still loving the game. (and hoping or the galloping sounds to come back )

Edited September 4, 2011 by Legend