Magician Master for Intellivision (Proof of Concept) My First Project

[ColecoGamer]

I hope I am posting this in the appropriate thread.

 

What I am introducing is my first project for Intellivision. I'm still working on the boss designs as I write this. As of right now, I have the main hero sprite finished. I will post the graphics to the game as I complete them.

 

Note: the sprites I post here will be screenshots from my sprite creation software, so the backgrounds of these images (at first) will not have the proper background format (i.e. color 0).

 

Again, this is my first attempt at a retro game on my own, so I am excited and a little bit nervous at the same time.

 

Assistance and feedback along the way will be greatly appreciated!

Edited October 17, 2017 by ColecoGamer

[ColecoGamer]

Game Title: Magician Master

Status:!Proof of Concept

Platform(s): Intellivision (Colecovision version planned later)

 

Genre: Medevil/Combat

 

Main Character: Magician Master

 

Notes: Concept initially inspired by Kareteka, BUT with many improvements: faster gameplay; sword fighting; room traps; etc. Monster transformation inspired by Magician Lord for Neo-Geo.

 

Each level is comprised of static screens. Every screen contains either an enemy or hazard (i.e. traps) to overcome. Traps will range from floor spikes, collapsing floors to falling rocks, to name just a few.

 

Enemies can wield a variety of weapons, but never more than one at a time.

 

Enemy list (Sprites will eventually follow to illustrate these descriptions):

 

Royal Guard - These are Nishgar's personal servants. They guard the entrance to Monsutā-jō (Monster Castle). Their swordplay is second to none.

 

The Faitā -!The Faitā are a group of well-trained assassins that guard the inner hallway of Monsutā-jō Their shrunken projectiles are deadly.

 

Heshi- The Heshi are large, muscular warriors that fight with their hands. Legend has it that the warlord Nisghar summoned these abominations from the deep, dark recesses of the Nether to solidify his rule over mankind.

 

Grogs - Grogs are a race of trolls that were enslaved to fight in Nisghar's army. He keeps their queen imprisoned in an unknown location as a way to keep these beasts loyal.

 

Boneheads - Re-animated skeletons of fallen warriors. These monsters are the frontline of Nishgar's army.

 

Creeping Death - Gelatinous, black blobs that are imbued with Nishgar's dark magic. They can levitate and float through the environment.

 

(More monsters to come)

 

Bosses: Coming Soon

 

------------------------------------------

 

Magician Master (Different Forms)

 

During the game, the Magician Master can take on different forms. This can be accomplished by picking up Beast Orbs. When an orb is picked up, Magician Master will transform. This form will remain until the player is either killed or a different Beast Orb is obtained. The player can only take on one Beast form at a time. The player may retain a beast form throughout the entire game, if they don't die. If the player enters a new level and finds a different Beast Orb, they can walk over it to change their form. But once this happens, the previous Beast form will be lost.

 

Crimsongar - A humanoid-like dragon that shoots fireballs.

Strengths: Powerful Projectiles

Weaknesses: Weak Armor

 

Aquanious - An ancient God of Atlantis. He uses a trident as a projectile to inflict damage.

Strengths: extinguishes fires

Weakness: Ice

 

lycanthrope - A wolf/human hybrid that has an insatiable thirst for blood.

Strengths: Can jump very high

Weaknesses: Silver

 

Samsun - A demon humanoid hybrid that possesses the power of fire. Instead of shooting a projectile, Samsun uses a large ring of fire that surrounds his body. Anything within proximity of this fire shield will be destroyed.

Strengths: His fire shield can kill multiple enemies at once

Weaknesses: He moves very slow

Edited October 17, 2017 by ColecoGamer

[Humblejack]

This sounds great. This is one I might even play and I play very few games.

Thanks for sharing. Great concept.

[+SoulBuster]

Sounds good, keep us updated.

[m-crew]

Looking forward to this game. Sounds like it's going to be a fun game to play. !!!!

 

Thanks for sharing Your concept and ideas.

???

Cheers

[Intymike]

Wow, sounds awesome!

[+DZ-Jay]

That's great and welcome! Are you planning on using IntyBASIC or straight Assembly Language?

 

By the way, may I suggest you move this topic to the Intellivision Programming forum. That's where a lot of the programmers hang out.

 

-dZ.

[Utopia]

Great concept and so many interesting characters.

[wolfy62]

Keep this thread, it is your game and Idea.

 

You deserve your own space! Great work.

[+grips03]

Looks great!!

[ColecoGamer]

That's great and welcome! Are you planning on using IntyBASIC or straight Assembly Language?

 

By the way, may I suggest you move this topic to the Intellivision Programming forum. That's where a lot of the programmers hang out.

 

-dZ.

I’ve decided to use IntyBASIC for my first project; I really like how it functions.

 

Thank you for the suggestion, btw! I’ll post a thread in the Intellivision Programming forum as soon as I start coding.

 

I would also like to thank everyone for their praise and enthusiasm. I spent weeks working on the initial design, fussing over small details like the characters, how the game will play, etc..

 

Intellivision games have a special magic about them. And while this may be my first project, I hope to capture at least alittle bit of what makes these games so special. Wish me luck!

[+JasonlikesINTV]

This sounds pretty cool!

[carlsson]

Looking good! You're aware that you will have to use two MOBs on top of eachother to create the overlay effect in your sprite sheets? I'm ignoring the grey background as leftovers from exporting the images, but the black and purple seem to be related.

[ColecoGamer]

Looking good! You're aware that you will have to use two MOBs on top of eachother to create the overlay effect in your sprite sheets? I'm ignoring the grey background as leftovers from exporting the images, but the black and purple seem to be related.

Yes, I did a lot of reading on MOBs in the programming forum. From what I understand, they can be challenging to use, but I’m up for it.

 

As for the sprites in my initial post: what you’re seeing are screen grabs from my sprite editor software. Once exported, the sprites will not have that white/grey checkered background. When time permits, I will export the entire player sprite sheet and post it here.

[+DZ-Jay]

Yes, I did a lot of reading on MOBs in the programming forum. From what I understand, they can be challenging to use, but I’m up for it.

 

As for the sprites in my initial post: what you’re seeing are screen grabs from my sprite editor software. Once exported, the sprites will not have that white/grey checkered background. When time permits, I will export the entire player sprite sheet and post it here.

 

Your sprites seem to be 16 pixels tall, which means they use double-vertical resolution, requiring two GRAM cards. Be aware that in double-vertical resolution, MOB pixels are only half the vertical size of the background pixels. This means that a 16x8 sprite in double-vertical resolution will look the size of an 8x8 background tile, compressed vertically.

 

Also, your sprites are two colours (black and purple), which is what @carlsson was referring to. In the Intellivision, MOBs are a single colour, with pixels either "on" or "off." That means that you will need two MOBs overlapping in order to render the sprites as you showed them: one for the black pixels, and one for the purple ones.

 

Moreover, at double-vertical resolution, they will each require two GRAM cards. That is not a problem, my own game does this for all sprites. Just know that if all your sprites consume two GRAM cards, that's 16 cards taken from the 64 available to customize in GRAM for backgrounds and other graphics.

 

 

 

Assistance and feedback along the way will be greatly appreciated!

 

Don't worry, you'll get plenty of both. Just make sure to post in the Programming Forum. This area is mostly for game players and collectors. They'll be interested in your project too, but the programming stuff may be boring for them. Plus here the threads tend to go off topic quite oftenly.

 

-dZ.

Edited October 20, 2017 by DZ-Jay

[mr_me]

An 8x16 sprite can be stretched 2x vertical to get something similar to the posted graphics. Intellivision pixels are not square so it will look a little skinnier on a 4:3 display compared to what is drawn. Or you can use four sprites for one high resolution character. The 64 8x8 programmable gram cards can be rewritten throughout your program as needed; some between frames. But as Dzjay advised only 64 at a time for any screen. With Intellivision sprites you can display all eight on one horizontal scanline so you don't have to worry about prioritizing their order.

Edited October 20, 2017 by mr_me

[Byte Knight]

Looking forward to it! The game that inspired this, Karateka, is still one of my favorites...

[Rev]

Don't worry, you'll get plenty of both. Just make sure to post in the Programming Forum. This area is mostly for game players and collectors. They'll be interested in your project too, but the programming stuff may be boring for them. Plus here the threads tend to go off topic quite oftenly.

 

-dZ.

Hey, did you get that thing I sent you a while back?

[ColecoGamer]

Update: Work is coming along on the sprites. Please bear in mind that what youre seeing are screen captures from my sprite tool software, and the checkboard backgrounds you see behind the sprites wont be seen in the final drafts.

 

I wish there was a way to edit my original post; it would be a great way to organize this thread.

 

 

The Faitā -The Faitā are a group of well-trained assassins that guard the inner hallway of Monsutā-jō Their shrunken projectiles are deadly. (Note: These sprites (including the SamSun Beast player sprite) are still a WIP, and additional frames of animation need to be drawn.)

 

Sprites:

 

Royal Guard- These are Nishgar's personal servants. They guard the entrance to Monsutā-jō (Monster Castle). Their swordplay is second to none.[/b]

 

Sprites:

 

Grogs - Grogs are a race of trolls that were enslaved to fight in Nisghar's army. He keeps their queen imprisoned in an unknown location as a way to keep these beasts loyal.

Sprites:

 

Samsun A demon humanoid hybrid that possesses the power of fire. Instead of shooting a projectile, Samsun uses a large ring of fire that surrounds his body. Anything within proximity of this fire shield will be destroyed.

Strengths: His fire shield can kill multiple enemies at once

Weaknesses: He moves very slow

 

Sprites:

Edited January 30, 2018 by ColecoGamer

[ColecoGamer]

The Grog sprite was initially drawn before I knew about MOBs and the tiles they use. I plan on removing the blood in my next revision of his sprite.

 

Edit: The sprites shown here are not finished, and additional work needs to be done to polish them up (i.e. implement new moves, maybe add new frames of animation, etc.). Input on this WIP is always appreciated!

Edited January 30, 2018 by ColecoGamer

[ColecoGamer]

An 8x16 sprite can be stretched 2x vertical to get something similar to the posted graphics.

This is not only good to know, but it’s the desired effect I am after.

[+DZ-Jay]

Looks very good. Just recall that two-color sprites require two MOBs each, and there's only eight in total. That means that you will not be able to place more than 4 of the above sprites at once on the screen, less if you need MOBs for missiles, explosions, or other things.

 

Also, as mentioned above, each 16x8 sprite consumes two GRAM cards (customizable Graphics RAM). Depending on how you plan to animate your sprites (GRAM cycling vs. Card Index cycling), they may take more. Just be aware that there are only 64 custom cards available in GRAM. You may also get away with using the built-in GROM tiles, but then there's other limitations associated with that.

 

In any case, we'll help you with all that. Just keep on designing and we'll worry about these technical limitations later. That's how I work: I first try to get an uncompromised design of my vision, and then I sweat and suffer through the process of figuring out how to make it happen, or adapt it if necessary.

 

It's looking very cool so far!

-dZ.

[carlsson]

Based on the original description of the gameplay, I understand that the player (the Magician Master) may only encounter 1 of those enemies at a time. With overlays that would use 4 of the available 8 MOBs, leaving 4 for bullets or whatever will be present in the game. Even if there are screens with 2 enemies, the game won't run out of MOBs.

[+DZ-Jay]

Based on the original description of the gameplay, I understand that the player (the Magician Master) may only encounter 1 of those enemies at a time. With overlays that would use 4 of the available 8 MOBs, leaving 4 for bullets or whatever will be present in the game. Even if there are screens with 2 enemies, the game won't run out of MOBs.

 

From the original description:

 

Traps will range from floor spikes, collapsing floors to falling rocks, to name just a few.

 

 

 

 

 

My comment didn't state in any way that he would run out of MOBs, just that he needs to be aware of his MOB accounting because each avatar/enemy sprite will require at least two. Also, to be aware of the GRAM card counts.

 

These are not criticisms at all, but useful things to keep in mind during design.

 

-dZ.

[+grips03]

Looking forward to this one. I love the art.