Alien Inbound

[GadgetUK]

Hi,

 

Just a quick note that i've almost finished a quick port of Alien to the Lynx. I am hoping that the flange of the intro music can be replicated on Lynx audio hardware but I don't hold high hopes, unless its somehow added in to the mod as a PCM instrument or something.

 

I've got to finish menu navigation but 90% of the mechanics are done. I've also got to add the tunnel images when you go under the grates etc, and the alien animation which i've just started. Hopefully I might be able to get something out by mid week.

 

 

 

[108 Stars]

AWESOME!

 

Edit: What system does the game come from? Where can I get info on the gameplay?

Edited April 14, 2013 by 108 Stars

[GadgetUK]

C64!

[im_reg]

Looking good.

[Atari_afternoon]

Thank you for your work

[108 Stars]

The original developrs were quite clever choosing the style for the game's visuals; especially with the top down map in green, it reminds me of the motion tracker.^^

[Michael David Morsette]

I love it, great work.

[GadgetUK]

Thanks, 108 pointed out the typo. This game is free by the way, its based on the version of Alien for the C64, and i've made very few changes to graphics other than related to scaling. The floor plans were a bugger to do - I reckon half the time spent today were messing with the floor plans lol.

 

What I am excited about is how quickly games can be thrown together for the Lynx when gfx etc exist. I might do Donkey Kong yet, but Jack Attack is next, and a vector game that Der Luchs wants.

Edited April 14, 2013 by GadgetUK

[Der Luchs]

[Ninjabba]

wow, great stuff! you really have a lot of development going on

[GadgetUK]

wow, great stuff! you really have a lot of development going on

 

Thanks, it's much much easier to re-create something than being creative with a whole new game etc.

 

Alien was never a great game but its certainly fun if you like the movie. I might do the USGOLD version of Aliens one day.

[108 Stars]

Thanks, 108 pointed out the typo.

 

Didn't want to sound like a smart ass, I just saw it and it bothers me still that I did not do a thorough enough proofreading for Lynxopoly so quite a few typos slipped in.^^ So I better say it when I see something like that.

 

What I am excited about is how quickly games can be thrown together for the Lynx when gfx etc exist. I might do Donkey Kong yet, but Jack Attack is next, and a vector game that Der Luchs wants.

 

You are now doing games on request?

A vector game, that must be a conspiracy to get me out of the Lynx scene... no pixel artists needed anymore these days, what?

 

Seriously, I am curious about that. I like vector graphics, I have no idea what game you have in mind though.

 

It's great to see all your output anyway. This is a good month for the Lynx.

[GadgetUK]

Hehe, yes I think the Lynx scene is getting some great stuff this year. If there's a game anyone wants, just let me know. If it looks fun and easy to do I will add it to my list.

 

I forget the name of that vector game, and I might fake the vector part for sprites yet.

[GadgetUK]

Armour Attack - Vectex.

[108 Stars]

Aah, that looks like a fun game, and indeed one that would work with both bitmap graphics or vectors. Vectors may be kind of cooler though, but who knows, maybe you will be so into it that you do it like Battlezone 2000 and include a vector and a sprite version.^^

 

If you ever feel like it, I'd love to see two David Crane games on the Lynx: Ghostbusters and H.E.R.O.^^

Ghostbusters is probably not that simple, but H.E.R.O. should be.

Or Berzerk.

 

DerLuchs would probably kill someone for a port of Kung Fu Master, which could visually outperform any other port of that game btw.

 

I think by asking for recommendations you just opened Pandora's box.

 

And of course, I am totally for Donkey Kong, although there would have to be tough decisions made, see my post here: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/210909-porting-possibilities/#entry2735565

Edited April 14, 2013 by 108 Stars

[GadgetUK]

Aah, that looks like a fun game, and indeed one that would work with both bitmap graphics or vectors. Vectors may be kind of cooler though, but who knows, maybe you will be so into it that you do it like Battlezone 2000 and include a vector and a sprite version.^^

 

If you ever feel like it, I'd love to see two David Crane games on the Lynx: Ghostbusters and H.E.R.O.^^

Ghostbusters is probably not that simple, but H.E.R.O. should be.

Or Berzerk.

 

DerLuchs would probably kill someone for a port of Kung Fu Master, which could visually outperform any other port of that game btw.

 

I think by asking for recommendations you just opened Pandora's box.

 

And of course, I am totally for Donkey Kong, although there would have to be tough decisions made, see my post here: http://atariage.com/...s/#entry2735565

 

Kung Fu Master is on my 'possible to do' list, along with MK or MK2. Regards Donkey Kong, the way to get around the aspect ratio differences is with some scrolling. I almost implemented scrolling in Alien, but then decided it wasn't worth it for such a simple game.

 

Regards Ghostbusters I wrote the GP2X version of that, and I think I pretty much wrote the whole thing in C, but I used floats in several places - something I am still having trouble with on the Lynx as i've never had to try and use integers for the job of a float =/ Real issue with Ghostbusters is graphics, but I could just rip and downscale C64 or similar sprites if we wanted a quick and dirty port.

Edited April 14, 2013 by GadgetUK

[108 Stars]

Regards Donkey Kong, the way to get around the aspect ratio differences is with some scrolling.

 

I know this is a solution, I'm just not sure it's a good one.

My point is that the gameplay would probably suffer, and that less detailed graphics but no scrolling would make for an uglier, but better game.

 

Real issue with Ghostbusters is graphics, but I could just rip and downscale C64 or similar sprites if we wanted a quick and dirty port.

 

You know I would do the graphics for such a port, all new shiny Lynx-style. It's my favorite C64 game after all. And it wouldn't even be much work.

Edited April 14, 2013 by 108 Stars

[4ever2600]

Gadget UK, YOU ARE AWESOME! That is one of my favorite C64 games, and I'm a huge ALIEN fan! I can wait for this to be completed. Yes, the Intro music was pretty awesome on the 64's SID chip. That will be interesting to see how that adapts... THANK YOU!!!!

[TrekMD]

This is awesome! Can't wait to give it a try!

[nonner242]

ALIEN on the Lynx!

YES!

Now if someone would do the C64 of BeachHead 2 and Last Ninja my life will be complete.

 

ya made my weekend with this...thank you!

[Der Luchs]

Armour Attack - Vectex.

 

 

Kung Fu Master is on my 'possible to do' list, along with MK or MK2. Regards Donkey Kong, the way to get around the aspect ratio differences is with some scrolling. I almost implemented scrolling in Alien, but then decided it wasn't worth it for such a simple game.

 

Regards Ghostbusters I wrote the GP2X version of that, and I think I pretty much wrote the whole thing in C, but I used floats in several places - something I am still having trouble with on the Lynx as i've never had to try and use integers for the job of a float =/ Real issue with Ghostbusters is graphics, but I could just rip and downscale C64 or similar sprites if we wanted a quick and dirty port.

Did I already said, Go Gadget?

[Uzumaki]

Why stop there? Do Crysis!!

 

Lynx graphic was ahead of the time (despite the 16 color per line limit), surely it can do Crysis at decent speed?

[GadgetUK]

Why stop there? Do Crysis!!

 

Lynx graphic was ahead of the time (despite the 16 color per line limit), surely it can do Crysis at decent speed?

 

LOL, I thought about fan versions (ie. different but using same artwork etc) of recent games like Gears of War etc but the IP and copyright issues and the fact its main stream IP scares me off the idea, infact I think it would be downright wrong - I am in that grey area already.

 

I love the idea of the Last Ninja games... oO. Scaling all the images could be tricky but I love those games!!

[GadgetUK]

By the way... If anyone has experience of this game, I am trying to refine the finer details to make it as accurate as possible so please let me know what you know - eg. At the moment I am trying to work out what items exist in any game and where / how they are used. For example you cannot launch the life boat as 'Mother won't allow it' - what are the conditions, is it when so many are dead, do you have to set self destruct or something? Also, what's the story with Jones, why do you need him, is that in order you can launch the life boat - does it matter if Ripley is dead etc? Some of those things might have to evolve as I get more feedback and exposure to the original again.

 

I will be adding a + mode in, which should shake things up a bit with slightly modified game play etc, and there are a few offers I've had to beef up visuals - this will be done as an option in the menu, so you can pick 'classic' as a representation of the C64 version (as near as possible with 160 x 102, and an 'enhanced' mode where the graphics are tweaked for more colours or better images etc. It really isn't much more work to do these things but I figure whilst the original is a classic and shouldn't be tampered with, why not at least open it up so we can get more out of it as a whole. For example, in the + mode I will enable a 'character sheet' which shows background info on the characters, with a little more detail about their stats, eg. health, morale, strength, dexterity etc, all of which will affect the use of weapons or other items and group mechanics. For example, it's unknown as to whether individual strengths of characters improve when a group of more than 1 character is fighting the alien. In the C64 version the morale improves in groups but in my mind this should also translate into a % of strength / damage increase. eg. 1 person with say 60% strength (a female, say Lambert), could increase by 5% due to the fact that Parker is also in the room, and likewise Parker having say 100% strength as the strongest member of the team could also gain say 3 to 5% based on the fact that Lambert is there.

 

Likewise we can also make use of more of the room types - eg. Life Support - there's a fire in life support!! Then you've got to find / use a fire extinguisher in order put that fire out that the alien?!? started. Same with damage, why not allow use of some medical facility in one of the locations to allow a party member to treat a wound, and then there's possible types of wounds - eg. the kind that just lowers HP and strength, but other more serious 'bleed out type' wounds that will ultimately kill the player even if the alien as gone off somewhere for a while with no attacks. These are the kind of changes I will add into the + option to make it a little more in depth. I may even offer some radical options like - allow the alien to cocoon a member and with a certain % chance allow the alien to produce an egg sack in order that possibly more than one alien could exist - a bit like what we see in the special edition of Alien where Dallas is found cocooned by Ripley near the end. These extras will follow later, the intiial aim is to get something out this week that meets the original game spec.

 

EDIT: I've already added in an option to allow you to pick whether Kane dies initially (Movie), or have it random as the C64 version is just always random (minus Ripley I think). Same with the android, it's configured, so you want Ash to be the android or random.

Edited April 15, 2013 by GadgetUK

[Lynxman]

Next please Krakout and Ballblazer...