Cybernoid WIP

[Steril707]

8 hours ago, popmilo said:

Well, "g2f" file has all that info in it.
Like 256 bytes for each player, and there's also 256 Xpositions or something like "in line 123 change x pos of playef 3 to this value"...

 

There's also "save as asm data" for example, and it looks like this:

All the info including charsets, colors etc is in this asm file. Example in attachment.

 

Rambo_C64_Tezz.asm 51.75 kB · 0 downloads

Had a look at it. That was exactly what I was asking for. Brilliant!

 

 

[José Pereira]

Latest version of level_1 (but I already started _2):

Why? Because I need to. The colours now went like this:

-> darker brown and gold 'outside' walls makes more difference to the 'inside' playing area blues/cyan;

-> the large 'uggly' creatures are also darker 'terror' looking and you can also see that theirs eyes and teeths are lighter/totally different so distinguishable to the skin (so even better than C64 and/or CPC ones);

-> some pixels changes 'here and there'...;

 

Will try to get the other 3levels in about 2weeks...

Edited January 30, 2023 by José Pereira

[José Pereira]

Time now to show level_2:

 

That 'blank' white gap screen is on all versions:

 

Because of this:

Quote

Later and for coder I need to correspond these into the ZXs ones following its order (here I was just starting adding first C64 ones to be simple for me but need to now change for the CPCs ones. This is toughest the part but will do for sure...):

Need to build that screen when have these chars/tiles correspondants to the ZX done though now isn't important. Indeed isn't any importance as you don't go to this screen in any way ...

Also there's a 'sort of mistake on original and even on C64 wider screen (32 -> 40Bytes) that is the screen that hasn't a vertical wall on its leftest side. You can see on those and here's a cut of the A8 version:

Seeing many videos from all the versions and is the same: we can destroy the bomb to pick-up the item/bonus above (so it drops) and even at least one more (I think...), even destroting all the these? but none of the guys playing goes up to see what will happen.

Inddeed this particular screen shows like this:

So if we go up and don't remember from the left one (we already went) can not go to the left if code is right? 

Anyone good at playing or cheating can try to get into here (any of the 3versions: ZX, CPC and/or C64 doesn't mater) just to all know. Almost sure there's no error and the ship will not pass by to the left.

But why didn't they just put there a vertical wall? Can we go or not to that part of the screen it would still loog right this way.

Edited February 6, 2023 by José Pereira

[José Pereira]

While building level_3 found one more (the screen in-between green lines) has a corridor that doesn't do nothing because we cannot go there) that again is on all the three versions:

 

Edited February 8, 2023 by José Pereira

[_The Doctor__]

each looks like a gateway to get there, but you would only sit in such a place to duck out and back in for timing to avoid something in case of such portals. Might have been done for aesthetics or for an unimplemented idea. Possibly could be implemented who knows.

[José Pereira]

4 minutes ago, _The Doctor__ said:

each looks like a gateway to get there, but you would only sit in such a place to duck out and back in for timing to avoid something in case of such portals. Might have been done for aesthetics or for an unimplemented idea. Possibly could be implemented who knows.

Think is that but because there's that think above (that can't be destroyed there's no way to get into that line and on there you couldn't go back):

Edited February 8, 2023 by José Pereira

[AtariNerd]

/silly ideas/

Maybe install transport panels, nearby, to allow one enter there and back, but only allow use if you've collected a specific item or met some other criteria. Make the items inside destructible or at least more useful.

/-silly ideas/

Edited February 8, 2023 by AtariNerd
More silliness

[José Pereira]

On 2/8/2023 at 4:26 PM, José Pereira said:

Think is that but because there's that think above (that can't be destroyed there's no way to get into that line and on there you couldn't go back):

Important is that the screen can be on A8:

    level_3 line_1 screen_4 -.xex

                          

Edited February 9, 2023 by José Pereira

[José Pereira]

Only one level (the 4th one) still to do... so here's them the 3 with latest gfxs (think now are definitive ones):

 

  

 

Edited February 17, 2023 by José Pereira

[José Pereira]

I'm doing gfxs using CPC version but some are different than C64 (Z80 versions are the original so other than the aspect ratio ZX and CPC they're the same).

For example the mines/bombs whatever they are:

-> ZX / CPC:

 

-> C64:

So we can see the difference between diamonds and them but also the walls, ground,... because they're diferently coloured.

On A8 there's no possible PMGs to use on these so I tried many designs but always using C64 design (I thought looked better:

But from yesterday that I decide that I wasn't liking and I must really get them as different as possible (that they 'shine'/distinguish more to all other things). Whatever 'inside' colour (white, blue, cyan,...) no way so again (tried on the past with no sucess) I get the CPC ones and with some rework now look like this on an example screen that I added some diamonds to see difference between the lookings:

level_1 line_1 screen_1 _b.xex

Of course that can still be improved but the white is what really makes them different to the others, isn't it?

What's your opinion? Should I go with this and replace on all the screens?

 

P.s.- Also the new 'X' design makes them more distinctable...

 

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by José Pereira

[José Pereira]

Ok. so showing the 'X' design all together on the 3 maps already done shows clearly, I think, that is the best and the way to go:

They now really make/show the difference to nearby/others gfxs as much as we can using A8 resources...

Edited February 22, 2023 by José Pereira

[José Pereira]

All game 4levels done. 

Here's them (each one separate followed by the others 8bits versions that A8 is using same Z80 (CPC and ZX) gfxs and width/sizes):

-> level_1:

-> level_2:

-> level_3:

-> level_4:

I think the things looks more than ok ...

 

[Steril707]

Great!

[patjomki]

44 minutes ago, Steril707 said:

Great!

 

That looks indeed very promising.

 

@José Pereira

 

Is there already a coder dedicated to this project or is it like with Platman?

 

It's such a tragedy that Platman isn't finished although all the graphics were converted in such a great way. Still wish to play Platman one day on an A8.

[José Pereira]

1 hour ago, patjomki said:

 

That looks indeed very promising.

 

@José Pereira

 

Is there already a coder dedicated to this project or is it like with Platman?

 

It's such a tragedy that Platman isn't finished although all the graphics were converted in such a great way. Still wish to play Platman one day on an A8.

Platman was started and all screens (possible moving through all them across the game and some more things...) but instantly the guy no longer continued, replied to my calls,... though he's still active with a 2nd Platman and many more games on the C64 (indeed he was a C64 coder and was him that wanted to do an A8 version).

Regarding Cybernoid II is the usual PMGs to add colours like we (me and @mariuszw) did on other C64 and ZX ports on the past I just start doing this after he said here he had most of the ZXs Z80 code studied:

Quote

I think mode E is an option here. But since Spectrum version is 256 pixels wide, a "hybrid" mode could be used to allow 5th color for playfield, at the expense of slightly awkward screen addressing.  I am thinking of having characters 0-$1f in first line, $20-$3f in second line, $40-$5f in third line and $60-$7f in fourth line. in next line, character generator is pointed to +$400, and whole thing repeats down the screen. So actual bitmap to draw on is character generator memory, while characters can will be used to implement one bit color map (to enable 5th color). In this more drawing can be done even faster, when we draw column by column - up to 8 bytes can be written without adjustment of pointers and also pointers adjusted by increasing high byte of screen pointer. The drawback is ANTIC bad lines and interrupts to change character generator address.

 

I actually have 95% completed disassembly of ZX Spectrum Cybernoid 2.

 

Mariusz.

I'm just ending some things and will ask him if he wants to start the translation to A8...

[_The Doctor__]

I've seen this happen too many times, C64 coder says they want to do 'Atari' takes all assets to implement in some fashion for use on the 64 and never does the Atari. Just a way to get the best possible without doing all the work.

[patjomki]

On 3/8/2023 at 4:26 PM, José Pereira said:

@mariuszw)

 

I'm just ending some things and will ask him if he wants to start the translation to A8...

 

Great to see that there is already a coder dedicated to this Cybernoid project. 👍

[patjomki]

On 3/8/2023 at 7:24 PM, _The Doctor__ said:

I've seen this happen too many times, C64 coder says they want to do 'Atari' takes all assets to implement in some fashion for use on the 64 and never does the Atari. Just a way to get the best possible without doing all the work.

 

Well, for more creative than engineering people c64 is by far the easier machine.

 

You get 8 multicolour/hires sprites, 16 colours in 160x200 mode, 256 character charsets and a soundchip with 3 16-bit-voices, pwd and sawtooth, triangle, rectangle, adsr envelopes just out of the box.

 

To achieve (nearly) similar results on an A800 you need to understand p/m-multiplexing, p/m overlays, displaylists, dlis for loading more than a single charset and pokeys volume only bit...

 

Apart from the fact that some programmers perhaps do not understand these principles it also takes more time to code and needs more ram and that all for a smaler audience.

Edited March 9, 2023 by patjomki

[Beeblebrox]

just been watching a quick snippet of the C64 version of Cybernoid:

 

 

Honestly if there is any chance of getting close to this, or rather do what the A8 version of Prince of Persia did and create a superior game (in so far as playing to the A8's strengths rather than just trying to mimic another 8-bit) -  it will be amazing.

 

The above animation and sound would be awesome if carried over in the A8 version in some guise.

 

Interestingly the C64 CPU runs at near 1mhz whilst the A8's Sally runs 1.77/79mhz, (PAL/NTSC). I read a lot more cycles are used up by the A8 so it sort of doesn't make the A8 that much fast for most games. The exception being 3D games, where - case in point - I believe Rescue on Fractalus on the A8 is notably faster than the C64 version.

 

Sound wise remember the Pokey is really being explored and exploited at the moment with amazing work from the likes of Vinscool.

 

It still utterly amazes me there is an A8 version of the original Amiga title sound track for the classic game Battle squadron that sounds almost as good as the original Amiga tune in some respects:

Battle Squadron 2x V49 (1).xex

 

(as a little extra a Rastaconversion of the latter's title screen - well, may as well :))

Battlesquadrontitleincomplete16.xex

 

 

Incidentally I've often wished the Battle squadron tune had been incorporated into the Atariblast! game as it's backing track. Not sure if it's even possible. (I have seen other tunes replace the original in that game, but I assume this Battle squadron tune takes up too many cpu cycles to play and also run the game at the same time? It would be amazing to play Atariblast! with that as the tune.

 

***

Anyway - I digress. Amazing work José  on Cybernoid to date.

 

 

 

Edited March 9, 2023 by Beeblebrox

[TheNameOfTheGame]

I agree, great work!

[Steril707]

15 hours ago, patjomki said:

 

Well, for more creative than engineering people c64 is by far the easier machine.

 

You get 8 multicolour/hires sprites, 16 colours in 160x200 mode, 256 character charsets and a soundchip with 3 16-bit-voices, pwd and sawtooth, triangle, rectangle, adsr envelopes just out of the box.

 

To achieve (nearly) similar results on an A800 you need to understand p/m-multiplexing, p/m overlays, displaylists, dlis for loading more than a single charset and pokeys volume only bit...

 

Apart from the fact that some programmers perhaps do not understand these principles it also takes more time to code and needs more ram and that all for a smaler audience.

True, but that's what makes the A8 the more interesting machine to me.

Like all Jay Miner designs, with the right combination of code and design you can really make a game shine and stand out.

[José Pereira]

On 3/9/2023 at 7:12 PM, Beeblebrox said:

just been watching a quick snippet of the C64 version of Cybernoid:

 

 

Honestly if there is any chance of getting close to this, or rather do what the A8 version of Prince of Persia did and create a superior game (in so far as playing to the A8's strengths rather than just trying to mimic another 8-bit) -  it will be amazing.

 

The above animation and sound would be awesome if carried over in the A8 version in some guise.

 

Interestingly the C64 CPU runs at near 1mhz whilst the A8's Sally runs 1.77/79mhz, (PAL/NTSC). I read a lot more cycles are used up by the A8 so it sort of doesn't make the A8 that much fast for most games. The exception being 3D games, where - case in point - I believe Rescue on Fractalus on the A8 is notably faster than the C64 version.

 

Sound wise remember the Pokey is really being explored and exploited at the moment with amazing work from the likes of Vinscool.

 

It still utterly amazes me there is an A8 version of the original Amiga title sound track for the classic game Battle squadron that sounds almost as good as the original Amiga tune in some respects:

Battle Squadron 2x V49 (1).xex 32.66 kB · 12 downloads

 

(as a little extra a Rastaconversion of the latter's title screen - well, may as well :))

Battlesquadrontitleincomplete16.xex 22.05 kB · 13 downloads

 

 

Incidentally I've often wished the Battle squadron tune had been incorporated into the Atariblast! game as it's backing track. Not sure if it's even possible. (I have seen other tunes replace the original in that game, but I assume this Battle squadron tune takes up too many cpu cycles to play and also run the game at the same time? It would be amazing to play Atariblast! with that as the tune.

 

***

Anyway - I digress. Amazing work José  on Cybernoid to date.

 

 

 

Just to see what it could look like I started some working on the Cybernoid I using same exactly method of PMGs colourings using a same, again, ZXs Z80 possible disassemble to A8.

Now we have different is that I put PF2 in gray instead of another blue. this way I can get redish/pinkish walls plants but also other gfxs PMGs orings to any colour of the A8 palette.

Here's the 1st screen that I added some stuff there to see what it could look like:

starting position A8 _2.xex

Some notes:

-> This is a mix of the gfxs: some are using CPC (turns) while others from C64 (grounds/plants), walls/platforms of ZX (translated to 2:1 ratio) and I even redone some to my please and liking...

-> The walls/plants on left have redish colour_3 and on the right pinkish colour_4. What you prefer?

-> Our ship and items to be collected will use blue/cyan/white but enemys? I'm thinking of (usual in C64 hardware sprites) have them blue/gray/white to makes the difference to our ship (you can see those two with gray on the left and cyan on the right then this would be the same as our ship). Opinions?

-> On the top under the roof platform regarding those two types ones: the rockets seems better with cyan while the mini-towers better with gray, isn't it:

 

I just saw some screens and studied quickly the levels maps but doesn't seem much different but maybe on some screens I will 'run out' of PMGs for aditional colours... I'll just try some more to see and post examples here soon...

Edited March 17, 2023 by José Pereira

[José Pereira]

Watching better some screens and start getting, like on II, wich gfxs can and can't have PMGs colourings so here's another one (this time real screen as is on the original):

Cybernoid I level_1 line_1 screen_2.xex

( you can see that wall pinkish on top but is by now and is workable...)

[José Pereira]

Somes fixes and a 2nd screen:

Cybernoid I level_1 line_1 screen_2.xex

Cybernoid I level_1 line_1 screen_4.xex

[José Pereira]

For level_1 done by now 4 screens. They're not consecutive as I'm choosing ones that has different types of gfxs to see if can or not have PMGs colourings so this isn't definitive because I may find some screens that can't then have to go back and remove them. By now and seeing maps and cut screens seems these ones here coloured with PMG 2&3 can have. This time I'm choosing to drop the screens over the ZX map so you can see what will come next and the difference(s) :

More soon ...

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by José Pereira