Unicorns season: Prince of Persia for the A8!

[rensoup]

3 hours ago, ilmenit said:

Man, peace, it had a wink + it was exactly my point: some hacks can improve quality of a previously released software (especially if authors do not want to work on it further). 

Yeah you've already made that "joke" though...

On 8/5/2021 at 12:54 AM, ilmenit said:

Guys, leave the decision to the project leader. There is always space for "hacking" the game after the release to replace what you don't like

 

3 hours ago, ilmenit said:

I believe addition of option to enter the main game without loading the intro would be exactly such hack.

based on this ?

8 hours ago, ilmenit said:

During the early beta testing of "Adam Is Me" option to skip the intro was the second most requested feature

A skippable intro would be a feature requested by any QA dept. Same as level skipping or inifinite lives.

 

It's not something that's left in final releases(or at least directly available)

 

By that token you should tell the guys at Sony and MS to remove the boot sequence from their console because you just want to play the game. Same with developer/publisher logo FMVs which are often unskippable.

 

Most people deal with it fine. If it was real problem it would be addressed.

 

I'm guessing a good 90% (I'm including people not on AA) will play PoP on emulators, so the intro can be skipped in about 2 seconds.

For those playing on real HW, I'm guessing a good chunk will use the carts version where it takes about 5 seconds to skip, so perhaps 5% will use ATRs and based on above evidence, most will not care.

 

That's why I chose not to spend any time on that feature

Edited October 10, 2021 by rensoup

[+Stephen]

1 hour ago, rensoup said:

By that token you should tell the guys at Sony and MS to remove the boot sequence from their console because you just want to play the game. Same with developer/publisher logo FMVs which are often unskippable.

Completely invalid argument.  Nobody is asking for a machine to not have a boot logo.  The machine is booted.  We load said game.  We are asking for game to not spend 2 minutes loading plus 5 minutes for a demo every single time the game loads.  If every single time I went to Youtube to watch a video, and I had to watch two minutes explaining Youtube or watching the same commercial, after the first few times, it would get old.  Now - it IS a beautiful intro.  Something I would like to see once or twice.  Not every single time I think I want to play a game.

 

But we all know it doesn't matter.  Can't ask for anything.  You're game, you're title screen, you're intro, etc.  We get it - you want to be a god and praised for your port.  Nobody dare question the almighty decision making skills of the great god rensoup.  He has spoken.

[Heaven/TQA]

5 hours ago, rensoup said:

Yeah you've already made that "joke" though...

 

based on this ?

A skippable intro would be a feature requested by any QA dept. Same as level skipping or inifinite lives.

 

It's not something that's left in final releases(or at least directly available)

 

By that token you should tell the guys at Sony and MS to remove the boot sequence from their console because you just want to play the game. Same with developer/publisher logo FMVs which are often unskippable.

 

Most people deal with it fine. If it was real problem it would be addressed.

 

I'm guessing a good 90% (I'm including people not on AA) will play PoP on emulators, so the intro can be skipped in about 2 seconds.

For those playing on real HW, I'm guessing a good chunk will use the carts version where it takes about 5 seconds to skip, so perhaps 5% will use ATRs and based on above evidence, most will not care.

 

That's why I chose not to spend any time on that feature

i recently watch x times Sony PSX intro on youtube over headphones

[ilmenit]

7 hours ago, rensoup said:

...

By that token you should tell the guys at Sony and MS to remove the boot sequence from their console because you just want to play the game. Same with developer/publisher logo FMVs which are often unskippable.

Most people deal with it fine. If it was real problem it would be addressed.

I'm guessing a good 90% (I'm including people not on AA) will play PoP on emulators, so the intro can be skipped in about 2 seconds.

For those playing on real HW, I'm guessing a good chunk will use the carts version where it takes about 5 seconds to skip, so perhaps 5% will use ATRs and based on above evidence, most will not care.

That's why I chose not to spend any time on that feature

Unskippable cutscenes/animations are on the list of the top annoying things in gaming and it's a recurring topic on all gaming forums and in gaming journalism. Tons of mods/hacks are available to fix it. Often bootsplash or the initial animations serve the purpose of distraction to hide the loading and initialization time, only sometimes they serve purely marketing and brand awareness.

I agree that probably 90% of users will not have problem with loading time and I understand your decision not to spend time on it in such case. However I do not understand your anger when someone is even mentioning modification to assure such option. It is something that would improve gaming experience for of the ones affected by the unnecessary long loading time.

Your game is great, the best version on any 8bit system. Think about it - poor games do not get mods, because people do not care about these games. Then there are poor mods and good mods, like the ones that @TIX does. No matter how good your game is, there is always something that could be improved/changed/adjusted, either by you or the others.

[xxl]

38 minutes ago, ilmenit said:

No matter how good your game is, there is always something that could be improved/changed/adjusted, either by you or the others.

In the name of building communist happiness where everything is shared. If PoP was a response to the demand of the average consumer we would have a game with a bearded princess and a non-binary Jaffar

[Mclaneinc]

2 minutes ago, xxl said:

In the name of building communist happiness where everything is shared. If PoP was a response to the demand of the average consumer we would have a game with a bearded princess and a non-binary Jaffar

 

Lol...I think there can be a middle ground but if the dev want's it his way only then that is his prerogative but a skip-able intro would have been nice no matter how nice it is. Intro's that you are forced to watch every time (unless they are VERY short) grind on people almost universally.

 

I'm beginning to worry that there will be a self delete set of code in the game if Rensoup think's I'm not enjoying it enough..

[Heaven/TQA]

we should simply shut up at one point? should'nt we? it is not a democratic "community built" game... he releases what he wants and already a lot went into it what people suggested so... wtf.

[Mclaneinc]

You have to excuse me, I've not read all the thread and yes I agree it's his game as said in my post, I gather, it's been rather 'tense' in here

[Mr Robot]

The lord Bob save us from software designed by committee and focus tested by the public.

 

[Peri Noid]

2 hours ago, xxl said:

In the name of building communist happiness where everything is shared. If PoP was a response to the demand of the average consumer we would have a game with a bearded princess and a non-binary Jaffar

That would not be "average". I'd rather call it "taking into account major preferences of minority".

[Fred_M]

Let's go back to the topic, this great game ?

 

A big thank you to @myriadcs He read the manual and found quite a lot of typo's and OCR-mistakes I did not catch.

 

So here is version 2 of the Atari 8-bit manual ?

 

And a question. During play it seems that keyboard controls are present in the game. Maybe it is just my configuration of Altirra (port 1: arrow keys), but the following keys are working for me:

 

P = pause

Y = up
G = left
J = right
H = crouch
Space bar = jump forward

 

Does anyone know more about these keys, am I missing keys?

 

popmanual_v0.2.pdf

[Faicuai]

3 hours ago, xxl said:

In the name of building communist happiness

?

 

After all, it is in human nature having a (really) hard time accepting that (at times) our opinions could be irrelevant...  And then the ensuing "crusades" waged for that last gasp of "attention"... 

 

My goodness... 

[Faicuai]

15 hours ago, Wrathchild said:

Oh come on, can you list many examples

You may be surprised.

 

At times, the mere intent count as much as the actions...But is it a matter of ingrained philosophy (?)

 

As recent as June, here on this very same thread (Post #1690, June 22nd):

 

 

Notice who's clapping there.... and later coming here to give "lessons" on argumentative styles and how / why taking into account "someone else's opinion"...  ?

 

 

[Yautja]

12 hours ago, rensoup said:

Same as level skipping or infinite lives.

 

BTW, do you remember how to enable those tricks?

[Peruchi]

9 hours ago, Fred_M said:

Let's go back to the topic, this great game ?

 

A big thank you to @myriadcs He read the manual and found quite a lot of typo's and OCR-mistakes I did not catch.

 

So here is version 2 of the Atari 8-bit manual ?

 

And a question. During play it seems that keyboard controls are present in the game. Maybe it is just my configuration of Altirra (port 1: arrow keys), but the following keys are working for me:

 

P = pause

Y = up
G = left
J = right
H = crouch
Space bar = jump forward

 

Does anyone know more about these keys, am I missing keys?

 

popmanual_v0.2.pdf 2.62 MB · 9 downloads

I have noticed this keyboard configuration, instead of W-A-S-D for the directions, the game went for Y-G-H-J, which is slightly odd... And then spacebar for jumping forward. But I couldn't find the key that corresponds to the action button... ?

 

I used to play Prince of Persia on DOS PC's, with a keyboard.

 

BTW, thanks for the manual!

Edited October 11, 2021 by Peruchi
typo

[rensoup]

 

cart version boot time:

 

 

At least know what you're complaining about...

 

[rensoup]

20 hours ago, Stephen said:

Completely invalid argument.  Nobody is asking for a machine to not have a boot logo.  The machine is booted.  We load said game.  We are asking for game to not spend 2 minutes loading plus 5 minutes for a demo every single time the game loads.

Nice, you're outraged by something you just made up...

[rensoup]

13 hours ago, ilmenit said:

Unskippable cutscenes/animations are on the list of the top annoying things in gaming and it's a recurring topic on all gaming forums and in gaming journalism. Tons of mods/hacks are available to fix it. Often bootsplash or the initial animations serve the purpose of distraction to hide the loading and initialization time, only sometimes they serve purely marketing and brand awareness.

That's like saying it's true because you've read it on twitter. Games are focus tested, if this was a major issue it would be addressed.

13 hours ago, ilmenit said:

However I do not understand your anger when someone is even mentioning modification to assure such option. It is something that would improve gaming experience for of the ones affected by the unnecessary long loading time.

Really? After 100+ pages of nagging over non issues, you don't understand why my patience is wearing thin ?

 

There are enough options to choose from, use the cart version or use an emulator.

[rensoup]

18 minutes ago, Peruchi said:

I have noticed this keyboard configuration, instead of W-A-S-D for the directions, the game went for Y-G-H-J, which is slightly odd... And then spacebar for jumping forward. But I couldn't find the key that corresponds to the action button... ?

I believe it's "Return". I hardly ever use the keyboard...

[rensoup]

Progress...

 

@xxl was nice enough to convert the new ZX5 decompressor code to 6502 after I mentioned I ran out of disk space... Now that's a lot more useful than "useful suggestions", thanks!

 

That improved the situation but not enough to fit on disk... Fortunately I managed to free up the remaining extra space I needed... so we're back in business!

Edited October 11, 2021 by rensoup

[rensoup]

9 hours ago, Yautja said:

BTW, do you remember how to enable those tricks?

Password will be revealed.

[Level42]

OK where can we download it ? 

 

[+Stephen]

1 hour ago, rensoup said:

21 hours ago, Stephen said:

Completely invalid argument.  Nobody is asking for a machine to not have a boot logo.  The machine is booted.  We load said game.  We are asking for game to not spend 2 minutes loading plus 5 minutes for a demo every single time the game loads.

Nice, you're outraged by something you just made up...

Cart loading looks nice.  Please show an example of loading via SIO so we can see how far off my estimate was.

 

P.S.

Never saw it load on my machines - SIO always crashed and the general attitude in this thread took away any fu*ks I had about testing any other options.

[rensoup]

2 hours ago, rensoup said:

I believe it's "Return". I hardly ever use the keyboard...

oops sorry, looks like I never actually added support for 2 keys at once! so it's just space and crouch if you want to move slowly!

 

12 hours ago, Fred_M said:

Does anyone know more about these keys, am I missing keys?

There's esc for shortening the pause when the continue message appears...

[rensoup]

51 minutes ago, Stephen said:

Cart loading looks nice.  Please show an example of loading via SIO so we can see how far off my estimate was.

No need, I can tell you it's off by 5 minutes since you don't have to watch it.

 

52 minutes ago, Stephen said:

Never saw it load on my machines - SIO always crashed and the general attitude in this thread took away any fu*ks I had about testing any other options.

I don't own real hardware so I have no idea, most people seem to have found a way but I'm thankful you decided not to complain about it for a dozen pages.