Kai_Magazine Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 (edited) Wonder Boy clone for Intellivision Hello everyone! Allow me to present myself: My name is Oscar Kenneth, I develop retro videogames for a living, most of them for 8 bit systems. In case you are curious, you can see some of my games on this links: https://kai-magazine-software.fwscart.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZO013JhpV07ksL5KmSrUQ/videos?view_as=subscriber https://www.facebook.com/Kai-Magazine-608839585897055/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/677910/Life_on_Mars_Remake/ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=lom.kaimagazine.second&hl=en Anyway, my friend Artrag told me about intybasic and he told me I would have a lot of fun coding with it (and boy, he was right!), so I bought the book from Oscar Toledo when he visited Spain a couple of months ago. Without wasting any time I started reading the book and I made my first game for intellivision. It is a practice project, just to get comfortable with intybasic as I prepare for bigger projects, but I think some of you might be interested in it; Thio's Odissey is a Wonder Boy clone (shamelessly similar in some aspects) but with my personal touch and also redesigning the game for the intellivision hardware capabilities. The game runs with smooth scroll at 60 FPS without any frame loss on any Intellivision machine without upgrades or extensions of any kind. Here you have a youtube video, but I must warn you the frame rate of the video is horrible. I haven't been able to record a video at 60 fps. Finally, you can download and try a small playable demo of 2 random stages here: http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=06841938343237182179 If you use an emulator, you will need the usual bios files: exec.bin and grom.bin. Some emulators have different issues with this (and many other) game/s: -jzintv works fine, but in some pc's or android devices, vsynk doesn't work thus showing tearing and also skipping frames at random. It works perfectly on the raspberry pi 3 and some pc systems with perfect scroll and no frame loss nor tearing. -bliss2 works fine, it might show some small vsynk problems with the scroll in some systems. -Nostalgia 4 works fine, with nice vsynk but the life bar shows a glitch when the scroll advances every 8 pixels. -Nostalgia 5 shows lots of graphical glitches. Not playable. If you use a real intellivision, you just need a flash card with at least 64k of flash memory. PLEASE NOTE: Those 2 first levels are not meant to be the real first 2 levels since those are too difficult to be the first ones, but I did put those on this demo so it lasts longer (not only 5 minutes) and presents a challenge. The game hasn't been tested yet on a real intellivision so I really don't know how far the compatibility goes, but it is a matter of fine tuning only. Also, the buttons I defined for the actions might not be the correct/usual ones. I can change that in a matter of seconds, so no big deal! Finally, if someone feels offended because the game resembles Wonder Boy too much, I can modify those graphics that are too similar in a matter of 2 hours, so no big deal either! I just made the game look this way because I thought it would be cool to see something similar to Wonder boy on intellivision, but I have no problem whatsoever on modifying those graphics that I made as similar as possible to the "real thing" on propose. The rest of the game (bgm’s, maps, etc) is not intended to be identical to the original wonder boy, so don't expect a port/downgrade. It is a clone. If you are still reading (congratulations!) I would love for you to give me your feedback and let me know what did you like and what did you not, etc. If there is enough interest in this game I might look for a way to publish it in cartridge version. Thank you everyone for your time on reading this. I look forward to your feedback! Thio.rom Edited October 28, 2018 by Kai_Magazine 18 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariBrian Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Looks great so far . I am very impressed . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masschamber Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 man that is a huge step up form the sg 1000/colecovision release plus that smooth scrolling that is some nice work 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmart604 Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Wow, that looks great. Welcome to the forums. Can't wait to see more. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Great job so far! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VintageGamer74 Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Being a fan of the Wonder Boy series. This looks impressive! Good luck!!! ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+eebuckeye Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 This looks terrific.. it amazes me what can be done in Intybasic! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+grips03 Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Looks great. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 (edited) I just played a round. Here's some feedback: It does look a lot like Wonder Boy, and it is very recognizable. Kudos for that! Sound effects are very nice. Music is well done, although I would aim to reduce the volume during game-play by a notch or two, just to not distract too much over the sound effects and other game cues. In emulation, the graphics look fine when viewed in a little window, but don't scale too well for a bigger screen like on a TV. (Try using a larger scaled window in the emulator for comparison.) You may want to review your MOB usage and perhaps rely less on the "zoom" scaling and more on double-vertical resolution MOBs. "Zoomed" MOBs tend to look weird in larger screens, especially when composed of multiple colours. The Intellivision color palette is kind of weird, so it is sometimes not a good idea to translate directly the colors from other platforms. For instance, on the Intellivision "Blue" ($01) is too deep and resonates with other colors, so it is sometimes better to use "Cyan" ($09) for large background fields such as skies. The Intellivision play-field resolution is sort of small. I suggest opening up more of the vertical area of the play-field by raising the canopy of trees and lowering the walking path, at least a row each. This would give the player more visual space to orient his avatar during game-play. As is, it looks a bit too clutter. The physics are a neat idea, but they are overly done: the friction when turning direction is a tad too strong, and the jumping trajectory is good, but much too slow. I have just played a round of the original on MAME to confirm this. I will try to play a bit more and provide additional feedback later on. In the meantime, I'd like to thank you for joining the community and trying out IntyBASIC. This game has indeed a lot of promise. -dZ. Edited October 28, 2018 by DZ-Jay 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Wow! impressed! I had the pleasure to meet Oscar (yes, another Oscar!) when I went to Barcelona, knowing I was coming, he asked for a IntyBASIC book and I brought it. Not only I'm surprised by how so well come out the game but also by the developing speed. It was Saturday Oct/06 when I gave him the book. Barely 22 days after! Well done! I hope to see more and maybe a physical edition. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m-crew Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 So impressed how you programmers are pushing the limits of the intellivision. These games are just getting more and more impressive... just wow.. Just imagine if these new games would of been released back in the day.. Console Wars , no chance Intellivision wins... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artrag Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Waiting for Life on Mars in Intellivision now 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 So impressed how you programmers are pushing the limits of the intellivision. These games are just getting more and more impressive... just wow.. Just imagine if these new games would of been released back in the day.. Console Wars , no chance Intellivision wins... Well, I don't think any of these games are pushing the limits of the Intellivision. They are, however, coming in stronger and faster than before thanks to IntyBASIC, which is always a good thing. -dZ. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiLic0ne t0aD Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 I think it looks and sounds great.. it can only get better from here! I'll be sure to load this up on the LTO Flash and give this a go. Keep up the good work! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Innit Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Great work, Wonder Boy is my all time favourite game and this looks to be an excellent homage to it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jess Ragan Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Heh, if only George Plimpton had lived to see this! Seriously though, you're really reaching for the stars with this one. I do have some beefs (the jumping physics for the frogs, all those spiked black balls) but I've got to give you tons of credit for having the audacity to attempt this on 1970s hardware. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Welcome! Your project is looking good! I'd love to see a polished physical release down the road. Keep up the good work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kai_Magazine Posted October 28, 2018 Author Share Posted October 28, 2018 (edited) Thank you very much to everyone for such a warm welcome and for your comments, it was a very nice surprise Edited October 28, 2018 by Kai_Magazine 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kai_Magazine Posted October 28, 2018 Author Share Posted October 28, 2018 I just played a round. Here's some feedback: It does look a lot like Wonder Boy, and it is very recognizable. Kudos for that! Sound effects are very nice. Music is well done, although I would aim to reduce the volume during game-play by a notch or two, just to not distract too much over the sound effects and other game cues. In emulation, the graphics look fine when viewed in a little window, but don't scale too well for a bigger screen like on a TV. (Try using a larger scaled window in the emulator for comparison.) You may want to review your MOB usage and perhaps rely less on the "zoom" scaling and more on double-vertical resolution MOBs. "Zoomed" MOBs tend to look weird in larger screens, especially when composed of multiple colours. The Intellivision color palette is kind of weird, so it is sometimes not a good idea to translate directly the colors from other platforms. For instance, on the Intellivision "Blue" ($01) is too deep and resonates with other colors, so it is sometimes better to use "Cyan" ($09) for large background fields such as skies. The Intellivision play-field resolution is sort of small. I suggest opening up more of the vertical area of the play-field by raising the canopy of trees and lowering the walking path, at least a row each. This would give the player more visual space to orient his avatar during game-play. As is, it looks a bit too clutter. The physics are a neat idea, but they are overly done: the friction when turning direction is a tad too strong, and the jumping trajectory is good, but much too slow. I have just played a round of the original on MAME to confirm this. I will try to play a bit more and provide additional feedback later on. In the meantime, I'd like to thank you for joining the community and trying out IntyBASIC. This game has indeed a lot of promise. -dZ. Thank you very much for your feedback I will look at the physics, while I don't intend to make a 1:1 copy of Wonderboy, I might have overdone it and caused the game to be harder than it has to be. About the blue/cyan for the sky, I had incompatibility issues between cyan and other necessary colors so I had to compromise. Regarding the sprites size, I might be wrong about this but I haven't zoomed them (at least not on pruppose). The size of the sprite pixels is the same as the background pixels. Anyway hi-res sprites would cause the character to be too small and I would run out of sprites. I use 6 sprites for the main character and 2 for the 2 axes. Everything else are animated tiles, so I have no sprites left. I don't have much room to manouver there at this point. I don't like multiplexing sprites because I personally don't like blinking objects on the screen (unless they are meant to). I agree with the play field issue and while those 2 stages have that distribution (just to avoid showing too much blue sky and improving the colorful perception), other stages will not and the "ground level" will be lower. As for the full screen pixel size on emulators, there is nothing I can do ^_^! Thank you again for your feedback! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kai_Magazine Posted October 28, 2018 Author Share Posted October 28, 2018 (edited) Waiting for Life on Mars in Intellivision now Hi Artrag! Life on Mars for intellivision would be cool, but the cartridge would need all the upgrades available ^_^! Thank you for introducing me to the amazing world of intellivision and making me aware of intybasic! Edited October 28, 2018 by Kai_Magazine 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kai_Magazine Posted October 28, 2018 Author Share Posted October 28, 2018 Heh, if only George Plimpton had lived to see this! Seriously though, you're really reaching for the stars with this one. I do have some beefs (the jumping physics for the frogs, all those spiked black balls) but I've got to give you tons of credit for having the audacity to attempt this on 1970s hardware. Yes, I think I overdid it with so many spiked balls. I will correct that. Regarding the frog jump: The frog , the wolf and the octopus are tiles (not sprites) so they move in 8x8 pixels, so I did what I could considering that limitation. I used tiles for the moving enemies because I don't like multiplexing sprites due to the blinking, which is something that I personally preffer to avoid whenever possible. I personally prefer enemies moving at 8x8 pixels than blinking enemies, but that is a very personal taste and I understand if some people don't like it or they are not used to it. Thank you for your kind words! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 (edited) I will look at the physics, while I don't intend to make a 1:1 copy of Wonderboy, I might have overdone it and caused the game to be harder than it has to be. It's not a matter of being a 1:1 copy. In fact, I wouldn't recommend that since the resolution and play-field size will require adjustments in game-mechanics. It is about making the physics feel right and natural, and not overtly unfair or awkward. About the blue/cyan for the sky, I had incompatibility issues between cyan and other necessary colors so I had to compromise. What incompatibility issues did you have? Perhaps there's a way to address them differently? Regarding the sprites size, I might be wrong about this but I haven't zoomed them (at least not on pruppose). The size of the sprite pixels is the same as the background pixels. Anyway hi-res sprites would cause the character to be too small and I would run out of sprites. You could be clever with the MOBs by only making some of them double-vertical resolution (hi-res) to increase detail. Specifically around the head and upper torso, which blend too much against the background right now. I use 6 sprites for the main character and 2 for the 2 axes. Everything else are animated tiles, so I have no sprites left. I don't have much room to manouver there at this point. 6 sprites for the main character? Then you can definitely do more. You could still use the same number of MOBs but make some of them 8x16 to increase resolution as mentioned above. Keep in mind that if you layered them, then only the ones "in front" could be 8x16 and the ones behind could be as blocky as they need since they would be masked by the ones on top. I don't like multiplexing sprites because I personally don't like blinking objects on the screen (unless they are meant to). No, no multiplexing. I personally hate that and would never recommend it. It's a technique overused in many other platforms and I really don't want it to become a common thing among Intellivision games. The Intellivision is very good at many things and playing to its strengths is much better than just attempting to solve problems in the same way as in other platforms. I agree with the play field issue and while those 2 stages have that distribution (just to avoid showing too much blue sky and improving the colorful perception), other stages will not and the "ground level" will be lower. Well, in my opinion, "avoiding showing too much blue sky" is what causes it to look a bit cluttered. What you call "improving the colorful perception" I call too many disparate colours clashing against each other. Sorry. As for the full screen pixel size on emulators, there is nothing I can do ^_^! Perhaps you did not understand my meaning. I suggested that, if you are testing the game on emulation, to use a scaled window larger than the default 320x200 in order to see how those huge blocky colourful pixels would look on something larger like a TV set. For example, you can select the size of the display window on jzIntv. Your screenshots may look good when viewed like small little pictures, but when put on a TV screen the big blocks with lots of disparate colours clash a little. That is all. You will notice that when you have a large window with blocky graphics, adding many colours (especially those which clash with each other, of which the Intellivision palette is full!) causes the eye to get distracted and unable to focus properly on the important things. It's just a suggestion. -dZ. Edited October 28, 2018 by DZ-Jay 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intymike Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 Wow, that's impressive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+intellivotion Posted October 28, 2018 Share Posted October 28, 2018 amazing stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artrag Posted October 29, 2018 Share Posted October 29, 2018 Overall the game looks closer to NES games than to intellivision ones. There are almost no platform games with scrolling to my memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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