Arcade HunchBack Released!

[Retrospect]

TI99 HunchBack.zip < --- Zip file contains EA/5 files, and an XB file, also a small instructions book in JPEG format.

 

Note: If playing on a real TI-99 you will need the F-18A as there are more than 4 sprites lined up together. This was unavoidable.

Emulator users can do the following:

Classic99 : go into Video options and untick "flicker"

JS99er : go to options and select F18A.

I've no idea what Mame uses for F18a or no-flicker.

 

Note about the arcade game:

Originally , Hunch Back was to be Robin Hood.  Hence the castle and pikemen.  Esmerelda was Maid Marion! This was altered somewhere along the line, I think I know why.  At the time Robin Hood wasn't "trending" it didn't have a Tv Series until 1984 the year after this game launched, and "Hunchback of Notre Dame" was released as a remake film with Anthony Hopkins playing Quasimodo in 1982.  So Century would of been going with what was popular at the time.  Coincidentally the words "Hunch Back" and "Robin Hood" contain exact fits for character spaces.

 

Edited June 25, 2021 by Retrospect

[HOME AUTOMATION]

Bare-nuts roasting over an open fire?
Someone keeps ripping-off my clothes??
Those aren't yuletide carols or
Folks dressed up like Eskimos!?

 

[Retrospect]

The project is still ongoing.  I noticed something about the arcade version.  The little soldier guy who climbs the wall and walks across the top, he's not just there to stop people from hanging around .... it's a form of score system.  The further away he is from you , the more points you get.  I never knew this.

 

Funny thing is I once made an hunchback clone where you raced a Witch on a broomstick flying through the clouds for bonus points with the very same idea.  Except the Witch wouldn't kill you.

 

I'm doing a re-write of the code to ensure I have enough memory to get done what needs to be done. I dearly hope to be able to include the soldier climbing the wall.

[Retrospect]

Another thing I've found, is that I will save a heck of a lot of memory if the player sprite only faces one way.  Can walk left and right, jump left and right but only facing one way.  So you kind of "jump back".  I didn't want to make any sacrifices initially, but when looking at the arcade version of Hunch Back even something like that, if to get it arcade-perfect, would be very ambitious for the TI99.  

 

Also to note; the game is almost certainly going to need F18A on real hardware, and for emulators Classic99 with "flicker off" and JS99er set to F18A.  I don't know what people with Mame are gonna do unless there's some F18a emulation in Mame.  This is due to my need for more than 4 sprites in a row at certain times also if player faces only one way, i can most likely have him with multiple sprites instead of one.

[Retrospect]

Game released.  Go to first post to download

[tmop69]

8 hours ago, Retrospect said:

Game released.  Go to first post to download

Nice game! Too bad that the "flicker off" is needed... Are you sure that no workarounds are possible to solve the issue? E.g. no sprites for the soldiers, but only for spears?

[Retrospect]

1 hour ago, tmop69 said:

Nice game! Too bad that the "flicker off" is needed... Are you sure that no workarounds are possible to solve the issue? E.g. no sprites for the soldiers, but only for spears?

That was attempted during the making of the game, but I found that three spears, plus the player, and the arrows or fireballs still made more than 4 sprites in a line.  There really was no work-around for this unfortunately.  The only way to do it I suppose, would be to have the guards and spears all in characters, with the tip of the spear using different chars that had the spear positions different in each - and then how would I determine where the player sprite is accurately, is the question.  The only other way to do it with sprites would be not have the arrows or fireballs fly too low, but then that would make it too different from the Arcade version.  Already too many sacrifices were made during the coding

Edited June 26, 2021 by Retrospect

[jrhodes]

I love this game! Excellent work.

F18A is officially on my want list now!

Edited June 26, 2021 by jrhodes

[Retrospect]

1 hour ago, jrhodes said:

I love this game! Excellent work.

F18A is officially on my want list now!

thankyou, i'm glad you like the game

[sometimes99er]

Nice. ☺️
 

[Retrospect]

16 minutes ago, sometimes99er said:

Nice. ☺️
 

cheers karsten. 

[Retrospect]

So I might try to make a version of Hunch Back that doesn't need the F-18A at all.  This would suit those with real hardware that don't have an F-18A.

This means the following:

 

Guards and spears would be character graphics, spears would move in steps: 1 at guard level, 2 up a bit, 3 maximum (this is where a tiny sprite will be placed atop the spear to detect the player)

 

The rampart gaps can be detected by using an invisible sprite beneath the player that looks for character number 144 for example, the castle wall char.  If it doesn't see that character, and the player is NOT jumping, then the player falls off the castle and loses a life.

 

The pikeman that climbs the castle wall will have to be characters and he will move in 8 pixels at a time, this is not too bad.  A method will be used to convert his char position to your sprite position.

 

All of the above can only be done so long as the low-flying arrows or fireballs don't interfere with the sprite that appears atop the guard's spear when it's at it's uppermost position.  If it does , it's pointless and can't be done.  

 

I'm willing to try all this so long as people enjoy the game and play it. 

[+OLD CS1]

5 minutes ago, Retrospect said:

I'm willing to try all this so long as people enjoy the game and play it. 

I mean, if this is the kind of tripe you want to produce, I will play it, but I am still waiting for the sequel to your space invader clone.

[Retrospect]

1 hour ago, OLD CS1 said:

I mean, if this is the kind of tripe you want to produce, I will play it, but I am still waiting for the sequel to your space invader clone.

Which space invader clone?

[+OLD CS1]

5 hours ago, Retrospect said:

Which space invader clone?

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/321713-hello/?do=findComment&comment=4845719

 

[+TheBF]

4 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/321713-hello/?do=findComment&comment=4845719

 

Remember. The TI-99 is getting up there in age. It takes a while to recover. 

[Retrospect]

14 hours ago, TheBF said:

Remember. The TI-99 is getting up there in age. It takes a while to recover. 

Funnily enough the OP found Classic-99 so quick, being new to the TI scene, to save typing it in
I really hoped they'd type all those HCHAR'S in to end up with what they got haha

Edited June 27, 2021 by Retrospect

[Retrospect]

So , castle Pikemen made from characters not sprites.  The only sprite will be for the tip of the spears as they move, just one little dot so as not to blank out when the arrows and fireballs pass by (hopefully!)

 

This is my video of me testing speeds of execution.  

 

[sometimes99er]

18 hours ago, Retrospect said:

(this is where a tiny sprite will be placed atop the spear to detect the player)

Be aware. A sprite in your game, will still occupy 16 pixels in height even though you only set 1 pixel in the pattern. Maybe you can settle for only one support sprite for the guard closest to the player.
 
I guess you're more or less calculating the position of the tiny sprite, and with that value, you could find if it's in the span of the player. Effectively being able to drop the support sprite altogether.

 

[Retrospect]

1 hour ago, sometimes99er said:

A sprite in your game, will still occupy 16 pixels in height

thanks for that advice karsten ... i have had trouble with the sprites before, for the life of me i couldn't work out why but i think now you've said that, i know now.  Hell this is not going to be easy! 

 

What I'm thinking in this case is, I have a plan for a "detector sprite" that sits just below the player at all times, invisible color 1 .... that sprite will determine what character is beneath the player.  So when you're walking not jumping, it's looking for say character 40, the castle wall.  So maybe now with your advice, I should use that detector sprite when jumping, and if it detects the character for the spear .... you lose the life. 

[+OLD CS1]

4 hours ago, Retrospect said:

I really hoped they'd type all those HCHAR'S in to end up with what they got haha

You are an evil, evil man.

[Asmusr]

3 hours ago, Retrospect said:

What I'm thinking in this case is, I have a plan for a "detector sprite" that sits just below the player at all times, invisible color 1 .... that sprite will determine what character is beneath the player.  So when you're walking not jumping, it's looking for say character 40, the castle wall.  So maybe now with your advice, I should use that detector sprite when jumping, and if it detects the character for the spear .... you lose the life. 

Why would you need a detector sprite to check the character beneath the player? Can't you just use GCHAR?

[Retrospect]

1 hour ago, Asmusr said:

just use GCHAR

Of course, yes  ... I wasn't thinking that through properly.  A simple subroutine with a GCHAR that detects the characters 8 pixels below the player.  

Thanks Rasmus

[Retrospect]

I've been busy programming a version of HunchBack that doesn't need F-18A.  I'm pleased to say , so far I've been lucky, I've worked out a decent routine that detects the gaps in the castle wall without the use of invisible sprites.  Now all I need to do is test this out with the new pikemen guards with spears, all in characters, no sprites.  If I am successful I will post a video of it.

[Tursi]

You know, all you need is a small interrupt routine to rotate the sprites for you, and you'll get automatic flicker. I believe the compiler still allows for assembly interrupt routines, @senior_falcon?

 

We'd need to steal a little extra VDP RAM to store a "shadow" copy of the sprite table - one for XB to update, and the real one for the VDP to display.. unless we put the flicker into the XB256 package itself (then the shadow sprite table could live in CPU RAM)?