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Riding For the Brand (New IntyBASIC game project)


Opry99er

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Well, I've decided to try moving one of my games into IntyBASIC and I am learning that there will need to be QUITE a bit of adjustment. :)

 

 

Anyway, Here is the game premise:

 

 

 


"Riding For the Brand"
Tucumcari, New Mexico, 1862......
You are Buck McShane, a loyal cowboy who 'rides for the brand'. (This is a term which describes a loyal employee... A man who rides for the brand is fiercely dedicated to his employer and expects the same in return. A man who rides for the brand pulls his own weight and is highly respected in the outfit.) Your foreman has been murdered and the majority of the cattle herd has been stolen. Bounties have been placed on the heads of the 9 outlaws, and you aim to collect. You were injured in the gun battle between the outlaws and your foreman, so you are not as quick as you once were. Still... your loyalty and rage drives you to bring justice to these criminals. You have no experience as a gunfighter and you have only an old Navy pistol to use as a weapon.
The 9 outlaws you will face are true hardened criminals... They are good with a gun and quick to dodge your bullets. You will be given bounty information on each outlaw before you face him... Be careful and wise and you will once again bring peace back to Tucumcari. Be careless. .. and you'll be coyote food.
Good luck, cowboy. Keep Riding for the Brand.....
***GAME NOTES***
*Select your level of difficulty: When you start the game, you will be able to select your level of difficulty... The easiest level is "Pig Farmer"... the Intermediate level is "Cowpoke"... the Advanced level is "Gunslinger".
*There are strategies that will get you some kills in this game... play it enough and you will learn what those are. However as you face the tougher opponents, the strategies that got you to that point might get you killed. Remember that each outlaw you face has increasing abilities and is quicker on the draw than the ones prior.
*Each outlaw (save one) has a name of "significance." Anyone who can give the origins of the names of each character you face AND tell me which one has no "significance" gets extra credit. =)
The above comes from the manual for the TI-99 version of the game.
I am running into some issues with the port, however... Primarily it is screen space. The TI has 32 columns and 24 rows.... The Intellivision, not quite as much. ;)
Here is the original TI-99 version:
rftbTI_zpsl9672xvx.png
And here is the first attempt at the Inty version:
rftbINTY_zps3song9sw.png
As you can see, I do not have the space to do what I need to do with the on-screen data as is.
I stopped coding at the Walt Seever MOB because there just wasn't room for the HERO character, Buck McShane.
The playfield border will need to go byebye.... And I will need to move the Bounty and Reward information to an intermediate screen (or a "Pause" screen during gameplay) because I do not have the space for it on this display.
Anyway, I hope to have a playable Intellivision version of this game done for you guys to play soon. I just need a little time, a little patience, and alot of feedback throughout the process. :)
BTW, the music I wrote for this game is something I am very proud of. I can't WAIT to hear it on the INTV sound chip. I will post a video soon of the TI version of the game so you can hear the music during gameplay.
Thanks for reading, and I hope to give you guys a game to play real soon. :)
Edited by Opry99er
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Sometimes strict ports don't work. What I would do is something similar to the Wanted posters in Gunsmoke arcade or NES

 

http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/arcade/a/guns.htm

 

http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9039600

 

Use the whole screen during the game and make the wanted poster appear before each round. You'll have lots of room for detailed wanted poster graphics because you can constantly redefine the GRAM cards as needed.

 

Draw each poster in paint.net as per the tutorial. Use Intycolor to convert each poster screen into a block of code, changing the names of the data and screen calls to be level1 level2 etc, convert those to callable procedures.

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Good start! Personally I'd go for something like this :-

 

post-21935-0-12448500-1451731040_thumb.png

 

Basically replace the text of the cowboy names with an image for them and shorten the rest to the important words. Combining the two border characters into one gets you more screen space too.

 

If you have players with 2 colours each and one shot each on the screen that leaves 2 sprites free. Those sprites could be used to add colour to the cowboy faces in the HUD or used for non essential effects like birds in the distance a moving cloud etc.

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Good start! Personally I'd go for something like this :-

 

attachicon.gifBrandMockx2.png

 

Basically replace the text of the cowboy names with an image for them and shorten the rest to the important words. Combining the two border characters into one gets you more screen space too.

 

That is a fantastic translation of the screen space into the Intellivision. I like it a lot.

 

I would also recommend an interstitial screen before the game "level" starts that introduces the outlaws by name (and colour), that way the icons on the main screen HUD will make more sense.

 

 

 

If you have players with 2 colours each and one shot each on the screen that leaves 2 sprites free. Those sprites could be used to add colour to the cowboy faces in the HUD or used for non essential effects like birds in the distance a moving cloud etc.

 

Or a tumbleweed! :lol:

 

As for the hero avatar, since resolution is so low, I will suggest smooth, multi-frame animation when he moves to give him a bit more sophistication; rather than the typical two-frame animation. Also, you may want to choose different colours -- such high-contrast colours are reminiscent of old Atari VCS games, where the colour choice was a bit lazy.

 

And finally, remember that polish takes many forms, not just in graphics and resolution, but in palette choices, hand-controller accuracy and response, and small details such as transitions between screens.

 

-dZ.

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Fantastic stuff, guys. :)

 

Tarzilla, I very much like the full poster idea between levels.

 

GroovyBee, that screen implementation is BEAUTIFUL!!! thanks for posting your interpretation of my little Spaghetti western. :) made my morning.

 

 

DZ Jay:

 

I will be looking at some color stuff, for sure. The pastel colors are something the TI does not have. My TI version of this game was NEVER polished because the language was so slow. Animation would have equated to HORRIBLE collision detection. That is the primary reason I am so excited about IntyBASIC programming.... Hyper speed from a BASIC!!!! :)

Edited by Opry99er
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GroovyBee, that screen implementation is BEAUTIFUL!!! thanks for posting your interpretation of my little Spaghetti western. :) made my morning.

 

:lol: My bestest programmer art ;). Making the most of the screen apace available is always an interesting challenge on the Inty. If the sand was less sandy looking e.g. just a yellow blob with rough edges, you could make a much more interesting cactus from GRAM cards. By that I mean; the limitation of 2 colours per 8x8 cell would be minimised because you wouldn't be "looking" for the black pebbles in the gaps between the cactus's branches.

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One thing I had also considered was making the hero 8x16... Since he is in the foreground, it would make sense that he is larger. This might end up bulky or cumbersome once it is onscreen, but I feel I need to try. Maybe do the outlaw in 8x16 as well. In the original, both were 16x16 SPRITES.

 

This game is really REALLY simple in mechanics. It is a left-right only game with a fire button. The AI is almost non-existent, as the outlaws travel left to right until they hit the screen border, then they travel right to left. When hit by your bullet, they change direction again, irrespective of screen position.

 

The firing sequence for the enemy is based off of a difficulty seed. The higher the level, the faster the outlaw moves and the faster the bullets travel. Each time an outlaw is hit, his speed increases as he frantically attempts to stay alive. Once the outlaw's bullet hits the bottom of the playfield OR when his bullet strikes the hero, he fires again.

 

Each of the outlaws has a different color amd increasing bounties. The final two enemies are particularly tough because of their colors. If you'll notice in the original screenshot, only one SPRITE pixel line of the outlaw's feet crosses onto the sand... The second to last outlaw is the same color as the sky, so you can only see the tiny pixel break on his feet. The final outlaw is completely invisible or "transparent."

 

 

The mechanics are insanely simple... Getting the game into this new screen resolution and polishing it up are going to be the challenges. :)

Edited by Opry99er
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Last mock :-

 

attachicon.gifBrandMock#2x2.png

 

Uses a couple of sprites to add skin colours to the cowboy images, more detailed cactus, added clouds/sun and took the detail out of the sand but left a rough edge.

 

 

 

That is fantastic, but you can still put random black speckles (or tan) in the sand to give it texture. Just one or two cards with a couple of speckles, here and there, should suffice. :)

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:)

 

Hell, I'm brand new to this platform. The way programmers attack a project here in IntyLand is very unique.

 

I would have never thought to use "face cards" to represent the players because, frankly, I have a big enough screen display on the 9918 to put whatever the hell I want on it. ;) It is cool to see the creativity, and I am grateful for the new inspiration.

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Alright, so I need a plan here. Since game mechanics are already coded (in TIXB but should be super easy to convert) I need to start off working on graphics, sound, etc.

 

1) Playfield and screen info (in development)

 

2) Player and generic outlaw SPRITEs (plus animations)

 

3) Face cards for each outlaw

 

Then I will port gameplay and mechanics. Then music.

 

 

Need some time.....

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One thing I had also considered was making the hero 8x16... Since he is in the foreground, it would make sense that he is larger. This might end up bulky or cumbersome once it is onscreen, but I feel I need to try. Maybe do the outlaw in 8x16 as well. In the original, both were 16x16 SPRITES.

This game is really REALLY simple in mechanics. It is a left-right only game with a fire button. The AI is almost non-existent, as the outlaws travel left to right until they hit the screen border, then they travel right to left. When hit by your bullet, they change direction again, irrespective of screen position.

The firing sequence for the enemy is based off of a difficulty seed. The higher the level, the faster the outlaw moves and the faster the bullets travel. Each time an outlaw is hit, his speed increases as he frantically attempts to stay alive. Once the outlaw's bullet hits the bottom of the playfield OR when his bullet strikes the hero, he fires again.

Each of the outlaws has a different color amd increasing bounties. The final two enemies are particularly tough because of their colors. If you'll notice in the original screenshot, only one SPRITE pixel line of the outlaw's feet crosses onto the sand... The second to last outlaw is the same color as the sky, so you can only see the tiny pixel break on his feet. The final outlaw is completely invisible or "transparent."

The mechanics are insanely simple... Getting the game into this new screen resolution and polishing it up are going to be the challenges. :)

Because IntyBASIC is compiled versus interpreted, you'll find you can do a lot more with the AI. Having the enemy fire based on these two conditions can be easily enhanced with a few variables and some randomness.
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And that is what excites me the most. :)

 

The second game I plan on bringing to the Inty is a game called Honeycomb Rapture... I never got to finish it fully (although the game is technically 'done') because lack of speed kept me from implementing two crucial elements of gameplay.

 

The compiled speed of IntyBASIC is insane by comparison... I have enough speed for multi-threaded game loops... It is scary what is possible here.

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Now you can use 2 8x16 sprites (double wided) to make the character at the bottom appear bigger for a 3d effect, I'd also add a few random cards with black or grey to break up the solid ground.

 

Is the cactus just decoration or does to block shots or is it destructable? Is it randomly placed?

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Here's what I've got right now. Getting closer. Still need cactus in there, and then start work on the face cards. :)

 

 

outlawinty_zpsrmfl94u7.png

 

Looks great. For extra texture on the sand, I would suggest making a GRAM card with just one or two randomly spaced dots, and placing that card judiciously around the area; just a couple of them, here and there. The idea is to make it look organic, not like a pattern.

 

The colours of the avatar look very cool like that. :)

 

-dZ.

Edited by DZ-Jay
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Thanks guys!

 

 

DZ, I appreciate the kind words.

 

 

The cactus is there for effect, but in the original I used it also as a "no passing zone"... Primarily because the CALL LOCATE and check for column position on the two SPRITEs in TI XBis dreadfully slow... The cactus barrier prevented the characters from bumping out of the screen and onto the other side of the playfield. :)

 

 

I tried some texture, but I don't know how I feel about it...

 

intytexture_zpsqkxzezih.png

 

 

 

 

I had to make full foreground and then back a couple pixels out to make this work. I cannot seem to make background colors work for me. Anyway, it works, but if I do this, I need to figure out the BG colors and I also need to change the sand texture from black to brown or something of the like. The black is too stark a contrast, I believe.

 

:)

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I had to make full foreground and then back a couple pixels out to make this work. I cannot seem to make background colors work for me. Anyway, it works, but if I do this, I need to figure out the BG colors and I also need to change the sand texture from black to brown or something of the like. The black is too stark a contrast, I believe.

In foreground/background mode all 16 colours can be the background colour but only the first 8 colours can be the foreground colour. To make the rocks brown you'd have to make a "negative" of the tile (invert all the pixels like a bitwise NOT), make its foreground yellow and then the background will show through the "holes". Using constants.bas its colour would then be FG_YELLOW+BG_BROWN.

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Cyan (sky) is not available as a FG color in FG/BG mode... So to do the sky I tried to make a blank tile with a BG color of CYAN. Didn't work.

No need to waste a tile for that. Just use GROM card 0 because its a space.

 

I typed in CS_CYAN for that tile and it didn't fuss, so Im still playing around.

You are in foreground/background mode so you want to be using BG_CYAN.

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In foreground/background mode all 16 colours can be the background colour but only the first 8 colours can be the foreground colour. To make the rocks brown you'd have to make a "negative" of the tile (invert all the pixels like a bitwise NOT), make its foreground yellow and then the background will show through the "holes". Using constants.bas its colour would then be FG_YELLOW+BG_BROWN.

 

Ahhh, it was the "+"...

 

I was using a comma and it balked. Took the comma out and it compiled, but showed funny things.

 

THANKS!

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