Sir Ababol

[alekmaul]

Hey the coleco fans,

I don't know if you saw what I posted on Facebook but I released for free a new game for Colecovision, adapted from a Mojon Twins title on ZXSpectrum.

 

It is Sir Ababol

 

  

 

 

You can download it for free here : https://www.portabledev.com/jeux/colecovision/sir-ababol/

You can also support my works with a Paypal gift  

 

Enjoy !

[mumbai]

?

[Pixelboy]

I gave it a quick try on blueMSX, and it plays a little too fast for my taste. But it's a very nice game. Good work!  

 

Also, I see that there's a sequel to this game on the Spectrum, which is the next chapter in the game's story, and it has actual background music, unlike this first chapter.

 

I'm thinking it would be cool to merge both games into one, with some added background music for the first chapter. But then again the game would feel incomplete because the Mojon Twins have yet to release the third game in the trilogy.

 

[Serguei2]

The game plays too fast.

 

Does Sir Ababol play that way on ZX Spectrum?

[mumbai]

3 hours ago, Pixelboy said:

I gave it a quick try on blueMSX, and it plays a little too fast for my taste.

 

10 minutes ago, Serguei2 said:

The game plays too fast.

 

I've only given it a casual spin so far, and it is a little racy, but not insanely or intolerably so.

 

If the gameplay speed continues to cause people headaches, perhaps add a difficulty selection screen where the degrees of difficulty set the rate of play?

Edited April 11, 2020 by mumbai
grammar

[Pixelboy]

1 hour ago, mumbai said:

If the gameplay speed continues to cause people headaches, perhaps add a difficulty selection screen where the degrees of difficulty set the rate of play?

Nah, just a decrease in speed by roughly 20% would fix the issue.   

[mumbai]

Just now, Pixelboy said:

Nah, just a decrease in speed by roughly 20% would fix the issue.   

Until I play farther and hit a wall, IMO I wouldn't classify the current speed as an issue. I do recognize that I'm on the short end of 2-to-1 opinion polling at this point, though.

[alekmaul]

Thanks for your comments about what you think I need to adapt, I will release a new version with all your suggestions.

[zyzzle]

Thanks so much for making the game! It is HARD. Timing those jumps properly is an exercise in frustration, but in a GOOD way. I also got stuck in the water, unable to jump back up, after missing a couple platforms where jumps had to be critically jumped! Gameplay is hard perhaps because it plays fast, but that's good in a way because most Colecovision games are slow by comparison. Perhaps as others suggested, give us 3 or so options for game speed, like "Normal" (20% reduced from what it is in this your released version above), Slow (30-35% reduction) and "Fast" (where it is now). 

 

Love these types of platform games, and the graphics and scrolling are top-notch in your game. Congrats.

 

 

[Kiwi]

It's playable in BlueMSX emulator running at 50-80%.  There's a wheel on the bottom right part of Blue MSX that controls the speed of the emulation.  The small button right of it set it to 100% speed.  Useful to speed up BlueMSX to debug Vanguard.  

Spectrum version runs around 80% of the Colecovision.  I think it's needed to run at 50 hz due to PAL. 

Anyway, these screen here,

 

 

From the Spectrum Walkthrough:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbWtKHPntYU

The Spectrum version of this game memorize the bat's position so it is possible to go through.  The bat's starting position in this game in the Colecovision makes it difficult to get to the left side of the screen, so I would move the bat's starting position on the top screen over to the left more.  There's a strong chance that you can't land on the [+] requires to travel across water without taking damage. And there's stars printed on black tiles in screen that have the black tiles as shadow.

Good game so far. 

[zyzzle]

That was exactly the spot where I got stuck, but I finally made it through after many tries. Had to time the jumps absolutely perfectly.

[alekmaul]

you're right Kiwi, not enough RAM to manage x & y coordinates for each monster in map (120 monsters ...)

[+bhall408]

Plays fine in our WIP emulator, Argon. We do need to remove the 3/4 buttons though

 

Thanks!

 

 

[Kiwi]

12 hours ago, alekmaul said:

you're right Kiwi, not enough RAM to manage x & y coordinates for each monster in map (120 monsters ...)

I'm not sure how many screen vertically the game has.  You can store 6 coordinates and run the enemies routine for the 2 screen vertically.  Only load new values when the screen advance horizontally.   I don't know if you have space left for that. 

That 31.9 KB is a very familiar value for me.  I'm not sure if you're using meta mapping routine for the screens. I can provide source code for it if you need it.  Just need 192 bytes to load the tiles in to print to screen.

To get around 80% speed.  If using delay() function to maintain framerate at 60.  I would use a variable that would be 1 or 2 alternate frame.

rough coding:

if(f==1){f=2;}else{f=1;}
delay(f);

or else fails above use,
if(f==0){f=1;}else{f=0;}
delay(1+f);

[alekmaul]

Regarding monster speed, I managed it, don't worry, they move slower now ;).

 

The other problem is not a ROM issue with monster, but a RAM issue. I will try to store monsters coordinates in VRAM , will see if I can have something ok...

[Ikrananka]

7 hours ago, alekmaul said:

Regarding monster speed, I managed it, don't worry, they move slower now ;).

It's not just the monster speed, the player character is also too fast compared to the Spectrum version.

[alekmaul]

ok,  will check more deeply the ZX Spectrum version ...

[alekmaul]

OK, new version is available here : https://www.portabledev.com/jeux/colecovision/sir-ababol/

You got also a small manual (print & read verison) and an flyer, enjoy  !

Don't forget to support homebrew !

[zaphro72]

4 hours ago, alekmaul said:

OK, new version is available here : https://www.portabledev.com/jeux/colecovision/sir-ababol/

You got also a small manual (print & read verison) and an flyer, enjoy  !

Don't forget to support homebrew !

I have never played the Spectrum version so I don't know how it plays but now the movements of the main character seem clunky and they aren't fast enough in some sections to get past the bad guys, or in the second spot with water and the floating Bible and the bat if you jump of the bible to avoid the bat it seems like it is moving to fast for you to land back on it.

 

It is much easier to land on the floating bible things to get across the water now though.

[alekmaul]

Please, could you give me where it can't be possible to "past the bad guys", with some screenshots for example, it will help me to understand. Regarding the grave (or bible), it seems ok for me,I will check again ...

For your information, monsters and Sir Ababol are using the same frameskip  (1 frame), so I think it is now a good compromize for the game.

[Ikrananka]

Compared to this walkthrough of the Spectrum game the monsters are still too fast.

 

 

[alekmaul]

ok, it is faster, but is it a problem ? my goal is not to have the same speed but a nice game. You think it is not nice like that ?

I'm surprised that people still need to compare instead of saying if they think the game is nice to play or not ...

 

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by alekmaul

[mswift74]

It is nice to play, good job and thank you for all the effort!  It would be even better if the monsters were slowed down a bit.

 

Thanks!

[zaphro72]

Looking at the spectrum video that was posted I will have to play it more. What I thought were crazy fast enemies don't look as bad when I compare to the Spectrum version. Might just be a case of this is one of those games that takes awhile to get used to how things control.

[Ikrananka]

5 hours ago, alekmaul said:

ok, it is faster, but is it a problem ? my goal is not to have the same speed but a nice game. You think it is not nice like that ?

I'm surprised that people still need to compare instead of saying if they think the game is nice to play or not ...

Okay, my apologies for not saying this sooner.  I sincerely love the fact that you've ported this game to the ColecoVision.  I have a soft spot for the look and gameplay of many Spectrum games and so seeing one ported to the CV is fantastic to see.  So, thank you.  I also must compliment you on how well you've replicated the graphics and sounds - very true to the original and I love them.

 

Also, any comments about speed I've made have only meant to be constructive feedback.  And on that note, even not comparing to the original, I still do feel that the monster speed could be toned down a little (20% perhaps?).

 

Regardless, thank you for letting us play this for free, the quality of the game is such that this could easily have justified a commercial homebrew release.