"Deathchase XE" game

[+Adam+]

Hi,

 

I'd like to present you our new game, an entry in ABBUC Software Contest 2013 - Atari XL/XE conversion of the legendary ZX Spectrum title "Deathchase" (1983) by Mervyn Estcourt.

 

After the Great War, the European continent is ruled by mighty warlords in constant conflict over territory. You are one of the elite mercenaries, Riders of the Big Bikes. It's a quick way to get rich - and the quickest way to die...

You patrol your forest day and night, chasing and destroying enemy riders. You can only fire at target when you are close enough - your range indicator will flash when you are in range.

It is said that the greatest reward is kept for the rider who can penetrate 8 sectors - you will need every ounce of skill to find out...

 

Authors:

Krzysztof "xxl" Dudek - code

Adam Wachowski - game design, upgrade of the original graphics

Jarosław "Odyn1ec" Wyszyński - all black&white pictures (including the title screen), making of the video

Michał "stRing" Radecki - music

http://atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?ct=nowinki&ucat=1&subaction=showfull&id=1378492628

Edited September 6, 2013 by +Adam+

[Tezz]

I just saw the details at aol, excellent new in-game graphics and loading pic too, really great stuff

[AHA]

cant wait to play this one.... twas my favourite speccy game

[xxl]

6th place Abbuc Contest 2013

 

 

download: http://atari.pl/abbuc2013.atr

 

have fun :-)

[+therealbountybob]

Great game XXL

I gave Deathchase XE the most points; I thought it might get a top three spot.

For me it was the most fun to play, really nice controls and great feeling of involvement as you swerve through the forests.

 

Some suggestions:

Please improve the computer bikes so that they do not just wander in front of you - you can just stay straight ahead and fire and complete the first few levels without moving much (not that you'd want to!)

...a time limit or perhaps more scoring for killing them quickly might help - perhaps a 'killing spree' bonus where you get points for shooting them one after another (like pac-man 200-400-800-1600!)

Limited ammo option / hard level

More use of the radar - perhaps an arrow L/R to the nearest biker

Penalty to the player for close brushes with the trees: reduced score or damage?

Sound Effects

Pause Key

 

Extra features and levels would be welcome, could even create a racing against opponents game using this engine or have different stages

 

Great fun, thanks again

[Tezz]

congratulations on a great production to all involved

[Xuel]

Nice work on the PMG multiplexing to achieve shades of gray in hires. Also XBIOS is awesome. Having animation and music while loading is great. We should have more games and demos like this on the A8. All the intro and cut scene graphics are excellent as well.

[+Adam+]

Thanks for your comments

To others who read this: feel free to share your thoughts about the game. What is good, what is not good, what would make the game better in your opinion?

[MrFish]

Thanks for your comments

To others who read this: feel free to share your thoughts about the game. What is good, what is not good, what would make the game better in your opinion?

 

Fun game. I like the graphics and the game is challenging. I haven't played it long enough yet to see if the difficulty moves along well or not. I like the music quite a bit too. So great overall job.

 

One comment I would make on improvements is something I see in a lot of games. They do really nice music, but no sound effects. In my opinion shooters need sound effects in order to give a more realistic feel for what you're doing. I'd rather hear one less channel on the music and have some sound effects going. This seems to be what was done with X:8 and it works well. I know I probably sound like a broken record on this topic, as I've mentioned it several times on the forums before. But I feel this is one of the failings of a lot of the newer games, and it's important to how a game is interpreted by the player, whether they realize it consciously or not. There's nothing like hearing the blast when you fire and the explosion when you hit something in a shooter.

Edited October 27, 2013 by MrFish

[adam242]

I like this one a lot, too... as trbb said, it is very immersive. I find the speed/difficulty perfect.

 

About the only things I would suggest would be adding sound effects/ability to turn off the music (something I always appreciate in a game) and maybe a more elaborate player death/wipeout. Great work.

[+Adam+]

The option of turning off the music and better executed collision with trees were planned, but we ran out of time before ABBUC's deadline.

Edited October 27, 2013 by +Adam+

[Aking]

Hi,

 

I'd like to present you our new game, an entry in ABBUC Software Contest 2013 - Atari XL/XE conversion of the legendary ZX Spectrum title "Deathchase" (1983) by Mervyn Estcourt.

 

After the Great War, the European continent is ruled by mighty warlords in constant conflict over territory. You are one of the elite mercenaries, Riders of the Big Bikes. It's a quick way to get rich - and the quickest way to die...

You patrol your forest day and night, chasing and destroying enemy riders. You can only fire at target when you are close enough - your range indicator will flash when you are in range.

It is said that the greatest reward is kept for the rider who can penetrate 8 sectors - you will need every ounce of skill to find out...

 

Authors:

Krzysztof "xxl" Dudek - code

Adam Wachowski - game design, upgrade of the original graphics

Jarosław "Odyn1ec" Wyszyński - all black&white pictures (including the title screen), making of the video

Michał "stRing" Radecki - music

http://atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?ct=nowinki&ucat=1&subaction=showfull&id=1378492628

 

 

How about a plain .xex file ,

so that it can run from side loader ?

please

Edited October 29, 2013 by Aking

[xxl]

this is .xex file.

 

but wait for a revised version of the game, which will be released in December.

[AHA]

this is .xex file.

 

but wait for a revised version of the game, which will be released in December.

 

hey fella, how do you mean revised.... also decembers gone.... still waiting!! no pressure of course!.....

[Yautja]

Let's hope he did not mean December 2014... or even further...

[+Adam+]

Well, the new version wasn't finished in December and I think it won't be finished in January. But there WILL be a new edition for sure

 

Therealbountybob, you have many interesting ideas, but not everything is possible. For example "racing against opponents game using this engine" - unfortunately the engine of Deathchase is very simple and limited (the core of DCXE is just ~9KB, similarly to the original ZX Spectrum version), xxl would have to create a new engine from scratch to fulfill such wish.

Another issue: you wrote about "pause key" option - is it really needed? There is always possibility to stop the motor at any moment of the game.

Adam

[+therealbountybob]

 

Well, the new version wasn't finished in December and I think it won't be finished in January. But there WILL be a new edition for sure

 

Therealbountybob, you have many interesting ideas, but not everything is possible. For example "racing against opponents game using this engine" - unfortunately the engine of Deathchase is very simple and limited (the core of DCXE is just ~9KB, similarly to the original ZX Spectrum version), xxl would have to create a new engine from scratch to fulfill such wish.

Another issue: you wrote about "pause key" option - is it really needed? There is always possibility to stop the motor at any moment of the game.

Adam

 

sure just some thoughts, I suppose pause is not required as there is no time limit!

 

Take your time guys, this game has great potential and it would be a shame to rush it. Think of someway of giving more longterm/future replay value - perhaps more levels or something...

Edited January 6, 2014 by therealbountybob

[xxl]

DeathChase XE + DATAMATRIX generator for uploading HI SCORE to web & userbanners

 

http://xxl.atari.pl/download/DCXE.ATR

 

http://xxl.atari.pl/hsc/hsc-deathchase-xe/

 

http://atari.pl/hsc/ad.php?i=1

 

(You are not allowed to use that image extension on this community.)

 

[+CharlieChaplin]

 

 

How about a plain .xex file ,

so that it can run from side loader ?

please

 

Have not tried SIDE loader yet, alas, the new(er) version of DCXE still seems to be XBIOS only. It has several data segments that have a higher start adress than an end adress, e.g. CCxx-09xx, at least thats what Superpacker by TeBe shows...

 

Here is a pure XEX fileversion (with some limitations, since there is no XBIOS), but I am not sure if it works with SIDE loader: http://www.mushca.com/f/atari/index.php?dl=401|DEATE_XE

If it works with SIDE loader give thanks, likes, thumbs-up, prayers and whatever to Homesoft, not me...

Edited April 10, 2016 by CharlieChaplin

[NML32]

I forget how do you get the HS to save? When I uploaded my score shows 0.

 

Never mind I got it. I wasn't hitting start to save my score.

Edited April 11, 2016 by NML32

[MaPa]

I'm unable to post hiscore... it wants some user/password, but the one which works to login to your site does not work for posting hiscore.

[xxl]

here: http://xxl.atari.pl/hsc/

 

set NAME AND PASS again (you set name but no pass)

[MaPa]

Finally uploaded.... damn 3 points to nice score

 

P.S. the controls are sometimes unresponsive, I don't know if it's intended or not }maybe even caused by emulator, WIndows or keyboard) but to "turn" just a little it needs just to tap key most of the time, but sometimes it does not react and you need to hold the key for a while to react and turn the motorcycle.

Edited April 11, 2016 by MaPa

[xxl]

if someone wants to get his game also had Web scoreboards that I can share results at xxl.atari.pl (and cource prg to generate datamatrix - https://github.com/pfusik/datamatrix6502)

[xxl]

 

Have not tried SIDE loader yet, alas, the new(er) version of DCXE still seems to be XBIOS only. It has several data segments that have a higher start adress than an end adress, e.g. CCxx-09xx, at least thats what Superpacker by TeBe shows...

 

Here is a pure XEX fileversion (with some limitations, since there is no XBIOS), but I am not sure if it works with SIDE loader: http://www.mushca.com/f/atari/index.php?dl=401|DEATE_XE

If it works with SIDE loader give thanks, likes, thumbs-up, prayers and whatever to Homesoft, not me...

 

 

this crack can not save score. useless.