Zaku Lynx (With Demos)

[TailChao]

Hello all of you!

This is the result of the last six months of work, Zonik turned out to be just a learning stage for me (I was very dissatisifed with the way the engine works), so I decided to overhaul the whole game, and now you all get to play a little demo of about 1/3 of a level.

The new engine is much more optimised and the game runs at a rock solid 60FPS on a real lynx, (I advise all of you that have the ability to transfer this demo to a lynx cart to do so! Handy makes some small sprite errors in the intro)

 

(Use WinRAR to decompress)

Zaku Public Demo (2005-11-13)

 

Controls:

D-Pad: What it's usually used for

A: Charge up attack

B: Normal Shot (Hold down for faster fire)

Option 1: T-Thruster

Pause: pause

Option 2: Energy restore (Usuable when you collect ~8 of the orbs that enemies drop; an exclamation point will appear next to the health icon indicating when you can use it)

 

I hope you enjoy this and be sure to check out PenguiNet (I'll be sure to fix up the Zaku section now that the demo is out)

 

Have fun!

Edited November 14, 2005 by TailChao

[_cooper_]

EXCELLENT !!!!!

 

Only tried it with handy, but will definitely give it a try on real hardware.

 

It looks really professionnal and polished, really amazing !

 

I played the previous version in a french convention, and changes are noticeable!!

 

Keep up the great work mate, it's gonna be the best shooter for Lynx!!

 

Cooper.

[TailChao]

Thanks a bunch I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'll be taking some videos of it running on the lynx hardware later and put them up when I update PenguiNet.

[Jess Ragan]

Very impressive. We had to wait a while for this, but it was ultimately worth it. It's got a bright, colorful Japanese look that you don't often find in the Lynx software library. Also, it was a smart move creating your own characters, rather than just borrowing Sega's. The business fish in particular really cracks me up!

 

So, are we gonna see partner characters like the ones in Air Zonk in the finished product?

 

JR

[TailChao]

Very impressive.  We had to wait a while for this, but it was ultimately worth it.  It's got a bright, colorful Japanese look that you don't often find in the Lynx software library.  Also, it was a smart move creating your own characters, rather than just borrowing Sega's.  The business fish in particular really cracks me up!

 

So, are we gonna see partner characters like the ones in Air Zonk in the finished product?

 

JR

964953[/snapback]

Yeah, it's quite a delay to wait for someone to learn to code

I really consider the development to have started six months ago, when the new engine was done because preety much everything from Zonik was discarded except for a few art pieces (which were probably redone anyway)

Interestingly enugh, I wasn't really going for a japanese look (More early 90s US animation, Zaku is actually based lot on Ren) but I guess I did use too many primary colors =P

I don't think there will be partner characters (The engine would not suport it, plus there are always RAM constraints) but I believe Zaku has enough attacks anyway.

Edited November 14, 2005 by TailChao

[Gregory DG]

Dude, your game is frickin' awesome!

[DeathAdderSF]

Hi!

 

Quite a very ambitious project you have there, TailChao. It's already looking graphically impressive, and the animation delivers a high-octane punch. The Lynx can definitely use this and hopefully other projects of this calibur; take your time, pore over the details, and don't listen to what a single person says about "hurrying up and releasing the game" - what the best projects have on their side is love & dedication.

 

Looking forward to what's in store for the future. I'll definitely be on the watch for new updates. Until then, this demo is going to be played, analized and enjoyed for quite a while.

 

Thanks for sharing!

[TailChao]

Thanks for all the complements guys! I uploaded a movie of the game running on real hardware here. Just make sure you have the XViD codec before playing.

[jum]

Awesome gfx and animation tailchao. Inspiring stuff!

[Schmutzpuppe]

Very cool style, really good work.

Keep it up!

I'll take a look at the video now

[Isgoed]

I just watched the movie, and it looks great!!! I am impressed!!

[Lamer Deluxe tm]

Very nicely done. I like the presentation of this game, with the intro and all the nice details. Good to see the 'flicker transparency' effect being put to good use. I've used that effect in a couple of small unreleased demos, there are a lot of interesting things you can do with it.

 

Also great that you've achieved a steady 60fps framerate, lots of Lynx games don't have a very high framerate. Do you have a version of the demo that can be used with the BLL loader? (guess it's too large).

 

For some reason I always thought it was a platformer, like Sonic

[TailChao]

Again, thanks for all the complements guys! Always makes me want to keep going!

 

Very nicely done. I like the presentation of this game, with the intro and all the nice details. Good to see the 'flicker transparency' effect being put to good use. I've used that effect in a couple of small unreleased demos, there are a lot of interesting things you can do with it.

 

Also great that you've achieved a steady 60fps framerate, lots of Lynx games don't have a very high framerate. Do you have a version of the demo that can be used with the BLL loader? (guess it's too large).

 

For some reason I always thought it was a platformer, like Sonic

966796[/snapback]

Thanks, I've really tried to focus on the framerate. Techdemos are fine at a low update, but I really could never understand why so many games ran at 10-20FPS, nothing was ever really going on to create so much lag (I always guessed it was Suzy abuse). No, there Isn't a BLL loader version available, sorry. All the executables are very dependant on having their variables set proir to loading so I wouldn't be able to split it up without major bugs or alterations needed.

Edited November 16, 2005 by TailChao

[AGA]

I just watched the video, Wow !

It's really impressing, and looks very professional !

I liked the intro too, the characters are nice !

Congrats, I hope you will release the game some time !!

[Lamer Deluxe tm]

Thanks, I've really tried to focus on the framerate. Techdemos are fine at a low update, but I really could never understand why so many games ran at 10-20FPS, nothing was ever really going on to create so much lag (I always guessed it was Suzy abuse).

966876[/snapback]

 

The debugger of Handy is very useful in detecting Suzy abuse. Many games seem to be blitting one sprite at a time, feeding Suzy directly with the CPU. That slows things down a lot. Look at Checkered Flag for instance, it draws the road scanline-by-scanline. No wonder it's framerate isn't very good.

[Turbo Laser Lynx]

Great work! Awesome graphics and artwork. Very cool with the paralell scrolling, and no slowdown. Keep up the good work Hopefully you finish and release this game.

[TailChao]

Thanks, I've really tried to focus on the framerate. Techdemos are fine at a low update, but I really could never understand why so many games ran at 10-20FPS, nothing was ever really going on to create so much lag (I always guessed it was Suzy abuse).

966876[/snapback]

 

The debugger of Handy is very useful in detecting Suzy abuse. Many games seem to be blitting one sprite at a time, feeding Suzy directly with the CPU. That slows things down a lot. Look at Checkered Flag for instance, it draws the road scanline-by-scanline. No wonder it's framerate isn't very good.

967660[/snapback]

Wow, that's absurd, just putting Suzy's DMA to a complete waste (Who wants to be coding for a portable 2600 ). The scanline by scanline drawing method used by checkered flag IS actually the most optimal method to create a road image on the lynx, so the lag might be coming form elsewhere (Unless they're redrawing the same scanlines a few times before the frame update or ignoring th ability to reuse palettes already loaded into Suzy).

 

And as always, thanks for the complements, guys

[Lamer Deluxe tm]

The scanline by scanline drawing method used by checkered flag IS actually the most optimal method to create a road image on the lynx, so the lag might be coming form elsewhere

 

No it isn't the most optimal way, look at Roadblasters with the debugger to see what a cool solution these programmers came up with That game has a flawless framerate.

[TailChao]

The scanline by scanline drawing method used by checkered flag IS actually the most optimal method to create a road image on the lynx, so the lag might be coming form elsewhere

 

No it isn't the most optimal way, look at Roadblasters with the debugger to see what a cool solution these programmers came up with That game has a flawless framerate.

972701[/snapback]

Hmmm.... looks like multiple skewed sprites to me. Not a bad idea, however using scanlines individually isn't an unoptimal method for a racing simulator. unless the code you use to position them is incredibly unoptimised, I don't see why a game wouldn't run quickly using that method.

 

I personally don't use many commercial lynx games to demonstrate high framerates, since many of them have low ones for absolutely no reason (maybe to keep the LCD blur low, I don't know their reasons) Most notably Chip's Challenge, which happily chugs along at 20FPS for no visible reason .

[Lamer Deluxe tm]

Hmmm.... looks like multiple skewed sprites to me. Not a bad idea,

 

What I think it's doing is modifying the image data of a single (compressed) sprite for the road image. With compressed data, changing a single number can alter the length of a line (and change the color of stripes on the road). It's a pretty cool idea.

 

Blue Lightning also seems to be altering a single ground sprite, but I'm unsure what it's doing exactly. The dither pattern in the sky is drawn as lots of small blocks, that's a bit puzzling, that can't be helping performance.

 

Watching how STUN Runner builds up it's levels is really cool BTW.

 

however using scanlines individually isn't an unoptimal method for a racing simulator. unless the code you use to position them is incredibly unoptimised, I don't see why a game wouldn't run quickly using that method.

 

Well, they seem to be using the CPU to feed new sprite data for every line of the road and the roadside objects, instead of building a linked list and blitting in one go. I think that's what is slowing things down a lot.

 

I personally don't use many commercial lynx games to demonstrate high framerates, since many of them have low ones for absolutely no reason (maybe to keep the LCD blur low, I don't know their reasons) Most notably Chip's Challenge, which happily chugs along at 20FPS for no visible reason  .

972933[/snapback]

 

Your game is a good example of the Lynx being capable of excellent framerates, even with lots of very large sprites, as are Roadblasters and Shadow of the Beast, for instance.

[Guitari]

QUALITY !! I'd buy this for my lynx if it were on cart. Nice...

[seamoon]

Holy moly! What an awesome demo.

I'll definitely buy the final product.

Thanks!

[TailChao]

Hey, thanks again for all hte positive response, guys.

Just to let you all know, the above link will no longer function for downloading the demo, please grab it from this location instead.

I also have another project that I'll be starting soon alongside Zaku (although it will probably be finished first) I'll keep you all posted on it too.

 

Thakns again!

-TC