Castlevania port: Need Comments on my Titlescreen

[zenassem]

I'm working on a port of Castlevania for A8. Ran into some troubles figuring out DL's & DLI's but Gauntman Cleared alot of it up for me. My goal is to make a better version than the C64's. While I'm getting a grip on Antic and Mac/65 I've been creating character sets, and sprite animations. Hopefully I an get up a demo with a couple of playable screens in a couple of weeks. Just finished version 2 of the title screem. It's important to me that the game loooks and plays good from opening to closing credits.

 

I'm welcoming any comments (good & bad) and suggestions.

 

The colors look different on my monitor than in the emulator (ie. the purple and red is much more vivid. The monitor also does a better job of blending the pixels, and making use od the thatched patterns.

 

My Titile Screen:

 

 

 

---

 

C64 Title Screnn:

 

[chiss]

very nice ! perhaps some stars on the black sky ?...

[Goochman]

I know you said the pic isnt coming out right but some brighter colors would look nice...........The 800 games always seem to have a drab look vs the crsip C64 colors.

 

Stars would add a nice touch - maybe a 1/4 moon

[Tempest]

Unless you want the big A to come after you, you might want to remove the Atari logo...

 

Tempest

[zenassem]

Thanks for your comments.

 

changes for version 3

1. I took out the big A. (wasn't even thinking about that)

2. Added some stars

3. Brightened the colors so that the emulator would display closer to my Commodore 1702 monitor. (But It's hard for me to tell what colors you will see. Being that I use a flatscreen PC monitor.)

4. Added a moon crescent with Dracula Profile

5. Added some work to the top border pattern

 

 

~zenassem

[Goochman]

I like much better

[zenassem]

I just wanted t add that it's quite hard and time consuming to get the images to come out right, as the pixel's width is 2x's the height. So when drawing the images in Rambrandt mode 4 (zoomed in) the image looks one way, and then zoomed normal it spreads out twice as wide. So I have to double the vertical pixels in zoomed mode to get the proper scale ratio in normal view. It's a lot of flipping back-and-forth between zoom and normal. Sometimes switching after each pixel.

 

Add to this, that to get the additional colors dli's are used. But when working in zoomed mode you can only see the 4 original colors. I might need eye surgery when I am done with this game. It sure makes you appreciate the tools that artists have available today. Going through this tedious process, I have a new found respect for all the graphics designers back then.

 

~zen

[ZylonBane]

I hate to break this to you, but the title screen is the LEAST important part of a game port. Maybe you should be concentrating on discovering if porting the game well is even possible before you go wasting time on a pretty title screen.

 

Kinda reminds me of all those mod projects that only get as far as a snazzy website. "Yeah, we haven't done any actual work yet, but look at our website!"

[zenassem]

Zylobane,

 

I understand where you are coming from. But, I'm not just working on the title screen. And I'm fairly certain that I can port this game over. I work on the title screen and graphics inbetween coding, and experimintation with what I can pull off on the hardware. It's kind of my mental break. I'm just returning to the atari in hopes of using my PC programming experience to develop a quality game on my most beloved computer. It's definatley more challenging and restricting. Plus, I am having to learn and re-learn some of the Atari specific Hardware restrictions, and processes. As well as getting comfortable with MAC/65. But I have made a lot of progress and a lot of stumbles in the past few weeks. The Atari, is powerful, but far from simple and intuitive to get the advanced capabilities that a game like this requires.

 

I am really putting my heart and soul into this. That's why I am putting every ounce of effort in making this game the best I possibly can, including the Titlescreen, graphics, music/sound, control and playability. I will do everything I possibly can to keep it as close to the original as I possible within the limitations of the hardware. Give me a few days to setup a few playable screens. I think it will give you a better feel of what it is that I am doing.

[chiss]

yes !!!! i like it !!!

[www.atarimania.com]

Would G2F be useful to draw the title screen?

 

--

Atari Frog

http://www.atarimania.com

[Shawn Jefferson]

I also don't want to be a party pooper, but I think any static title screen created for a new game would best be done in G2F and make use of the many features of that product to provide more color.

 

We were told that all the graphics in DynaBlasters was done with G2F. That title screen looks great and even has some non-static sections.

[zenassem]

Yeah, Graph2font looks impressive. I had downloaded it, but I haven't worked with it yet. I'll try to fit in some time to read the documentation and use it.

 

I was enjoying the nostalgia of using Rambrandt, I was actually fairly good with it back in the day. But, I'll try whatever I can achieve the finest results with. And if it can save me time in the long run, it will be worth the investment now.

 

~zen

[Dracon]

I'll try to fit in some time to read the documentation and use it.  

hope you know Polish as majority of manual was written in that language...

I was to translate all of it, but... having other activities, sometimes being lazy - I failed for now... I feel I need be motivated by some of you to do this (or let someone other do this fast and well).

 

 

I was enjoying the nostalgia of using Rambrandt, I was actually fairly good with it back in the day.

yeah, RAMbrandt was quite cool and versatile program until I found XL-ART. Have you tried it ?

Now there is Graph2font available and using it you can push A8 graphix to its limit (without having to use interlace mode).

 

Just one question:

while developing A8 version of CASTLEVANIA, which source you will be more rely on: CASTLEVANIA from NES or from C64?

 

I'm now looking for NES' version of this game...

[ZylonBane]

I work on the title screen and graphics inbetween coding, and experimintation with what I can pull off on the hardware. It's kind of my mental break.

Fair enough. Personally, fancy title screens don't do much for me. Show us a flexible, general-purpose sprite multiplexor and I'll be impressed.

[JB]

I work on the title screen and graphics inbetween coding, and experimintation with what I can pull off on the hardware. It's kind of my mental break.

Fair enough. Personally, fancy title screens don't do much for me.

It's not critical, but it adds a very good deal of polish to the game.

 

One of my least favorite features of many 1st-era games is the total lack of, or canned generic BIOS-imbedded, title screens.

 

 

Anyways, he's just asking for artistic input on an area he was clearly having signifigant trouble with(no offense, zenassem).

 

And on that note...

I think the screen might look better with Belmont NOT in mid-whip-snap.

Maybe standing and looking down at the castle, like from a nearby cliff face.

[emkay]

Yeah, Graph2font looks impressive. I had downloaded it, but I haven't worked with it yet. I'll try to fit in some time to read the documentation and use it.  

 

 

Have a look on the appended files.

Graph2font is a powerful tool. So for converting the C64 Screen it took about 2 minutes.

[emkay]

OK.... the Konami lable is a bit faulty, but it would not be a problem to make it perfect in some minutes more....

 

If you like, please send me the picture you created for the A8 and I will try getting some more colors?

[Goochman]

Ummmmmmmmmmmm Graph2font Castlevania dougggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhnnnuuuuuuuuuuuttttttttttttttttttttttttt

 

 

droooooooooooooooooooooollllllllllllllllllllllllllll

 

Nice emkay!

[tjlazah]

 

I'm welcoming any comments (good & bad) and suggestions.

 

quote]

 

Good job so far. I like your hand drawn screens too, keep up the good work and do a good port!

[tjlazah]

I'm welcoming any comments (good & bad) and suggestions.

 

Good job so far. I like your hand drawn screens too, keep up the good work and do a good port!

[zenassem]

@Dracon -

G2f

I looked and now I remember that I downloaded G2F and went to read the manual, only to find that all but two sections are in Polish. I'm not sure if a language translator will interpret the text right but I will give it a try. The application looks amazing.

 

XL-Art

I didn't know anything about it. So thanks for the info. I have downloaded it and will try to do some things with it over the weekend. At first glance it indeed looks like a better package. Better control. I'll have to look into the advanced features.

 

NES or c64 Source?

I feel I may have made a mistake in using the term Port. Especially if by source, you mean actual "Source Code." Because I never looked at, nor have I tried debugging, either version's source code. I will be writing all of my own source code. So I probably should have said I am coding a "remake" of Castlevania for the Atari 8-bit.

 

But, if you meant which game will I be using as my source, the answer would be the NES version. I do have the NES rom and the "Stake ~ Castlevania Editor". So I can accurately see how each level was built. And have access to the original's entire Tileset. To get down the gameplay ascpects I will Use JNES emulator with Cheats enabled. Plus numerous other sources, maps, walkthroughs, etc...

 

--------

 

@ZylonBane,

 

I'm wrapping this in code tags so that people won't have to scroll past all this text.

 

I'm sure I will need to impress myself many times over to complete this project.  I think you have made some valid points.



Let me make sure that I am not misleading anyone. I am not very experienced with A8 Advanced programming, in fact I am returning to the Atari after many years. You can see evidence of this in many of my posts, including one in this board introducing myself. 



Brief recap: The last time I programmed for the Atari I was pretty young, inexperienced, and generally stuck to Basic Programming, Compute! and  Antic type-ins.  I learned some neat tricks, but never really understood the Atari, and how to code quality, graphic arcade games. I really didn't know anyone who could help, and I was limited to Magazine articles, and a few books from my public library. 



I eventually moved on to the PC. Along the way I began pursuing 6502 Assembly for the Commodore 128 (again not doing much more than small routines). From their I moved on to C /C++ and using DJGPP and the Allegro Library. In college my curriculum was centerd around C++, VB, and 8086 Assembly language where I explored MASM, TASM, & NASM assemblers. Later I moved on to Strictly using MSVC++ and DirectX for Game Devlopment (mix in DarkBasic for fun!).   



After all of that, I found that game programming for Windows wasn't my cup-of-tea. I spent countless hours learning, and $, on 3-d modeling packages, Unwrapp utilities, 2d paint packages, books etc... and it was just overkill. I wasn't really having FUN! 



That's why I came back to the Atari. It's more enjoyable for me to have certain limits, code at the hardware level, with people who don't need to have [32-bit color - cut-scene animations - 12000+ polygon characters  etc...] in order to appreciate a game.



So, I have a lot to learn about my old 8-bit. I'm not affraid to ask questions or take advice from more experienced users. I am reading and learning a large amount of information on the hardware, chips, techniques, and dev tools. I know about the pitfalls of taking on to large of a project, but I also know what works for me. While it's good advice to most, I do better when I have a real goal and set high expectations. It keeps me focused. I plan on making a lot of mistakes, a lot of side-coding & experimenting, doing plenty of rewrites along the way, and tons of reading; but in the end I will put together a very respectable game. 

[zenassem]

Hmmm. I guess code tags on this board are always expanded. Lesson learned.

 

Emkay,

You have just sold me on the fact that I need to learn G2F. Especially if it can help me with Image rips of the NES Castlevania Tileset. I was planning on Drawing each one. Yeah, a little OCDish!

 

Appended Files?? I'll have to look. Are they in English?

 

~zen

[emkay]

Hmmm. I guess code tags on this board are always expanded. Lesson learned.    

 

Emkay,  

You have just sold me on the fact that I need to learn G2F. Especially if it can help me with Image rips of the NES Castlevania Tileset. I was planning on Drawing each one. Yeah, a little OCDish!    

 

Appended Files?? I'll have to look.  Are they in English?

 

~zen

 

The G2F picture may help you in understanding Graph2fnt.

Actually, G2F is a Utility that is mainly for static graphics.

To make the game as colorful as possible to the C64 version and a fair amount of CPU Time, Softwaresprites are necessary.

To create the more colorful screen, PM over-/ underlay is recommended.

To use PM underlay with less cpu speed, the best way would be not to use PM DMA and setting the shapes of the PM by DLIs (every charmode line)...

 

Have a look at Analmux's MCS Scroller... (which is using similar techniques)

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.p...c&highlight=mcs

 

 

BTW: MCS is "Multi Color Screen" and G2F is the further enhancement. MCS was once an idea of mine to make games more colorful with the least CPU usage....

 

Heck... it took me a week (after work/in 1989) to convert pictures like this with my selfmade converting and editing tools for MCS