Dragon's Havoc - Side-Scrolling Shooter, Cartridge Available for Purchase and Demo available for download in thread!

[Revontuli]

I finished a "rough draft" of the boss behaviors, as well as the "bodyguard" enemies that cycle through their lairs.  

 

I mentioned earlier in this thread I've written a few scripts that output bitmap info to tile and enemy information in 7800Basic byte format - this has made things pretty fast to test and experiment with, and since I still want to hold off a *little* longer on screenshots of the game proper, here's a little screenshot of my enemy generation code:

 

 

The enemy "levels" in the boss lairs are short, since they loop until the boss is defeated.  Right now I think the later bosses are pretty tough, but I *do* want this game to last more than 10 minutes for a new player  

 

If folks complain they can't beat the boss of level 6 on the first try, well, yeah, I think that one would take some practice!  ?  

 

I've also been comparing colors on my computer display next to the 12" Emerson CRT Television - I know that way lies madness, but I'm hopefully finding a decent medium for the color palette.  For all the crap 8-bit Atari consoles often get when tech specs are compared to the NES, SMS, etc. (not on this forum, of course  ) the color selection of the 7800 (and 2600 for that matter) is hard to beat until the 16-bit era.  Its method of access is rather elegant, too - a nice grid of hue and brightness.  I just need to reconcile my color choices with NTSC (Never The Same Color).

 

As with the demo, you will be able to continue, even at a boss - score will be reset, but you'll start at the beginning of the stage you lost your last life on.  As with Dragon's Descent (and 'Cache, for that matter), I designed this game to also appeal to those interested in scoring, though.  I'm curious if anyone will try for a 1cc - With the bosses and tile levels done, all I need to do is complete the enemy placement in the 7 parallax levels.  Once these last 7 levels are "penciled in" I can start testing the game as a whole, gauging length, difficulty curve, ballpark scoring as one progresses, etc.  As mentioned, I also want to finalize the appearance of the first few levels (I'm close), but the tentative plan for the near future is to release a longer demo with 3-4 levels to see how it plays - beta testing, difficulty testing, etc.  

 

TL;DR - Rough draft of bosses done, 7 more levels left to complete.  Then some polish for an updated demo.  

 

Aw, heck - I'll add an image of the game in this post - a picture of the first boss with his griffin formation complicating the fight:

 

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by Revontuli

[Revontuli]

All levels have had at least a "first pass" on them, meaning you can play through all 7 levels (21 stages total), and they should bear at some resemblance to my envisioned final version!

 

Current ROM space status (out of a "stock" 48K ROM setup):

 

GFX block #0 has 32 bytes left (2 x 16 bytes)

GFX block #1 has 0 bytes left (0 x 16 bytes) [with one 8x16 pixel slot "open", everything else accounted for and likely used in multiple places]

GFX block #2 has 0 bytes left (0 x 16 bytes)

 

343 bytes of ROM space left in the main area.
65 bytes of ROM space left in DMA hole 0.
593 bytes of ROM space left in DMA hole 1.
879 bytes left in the 7800basic reserved area.

 

I had done some cleanup and a few optimizations which helped free up space.  I designated DMA hole 0 as my "level data" space, but I could probably expand a little beyond it if I needed to.  The "soft limit" of keeping my level data within a DMA hole helped me budget everything else, but there's no inherent reason to keep it there if I need a few more bytes to add some enemies to a level.  I do want keep some ROM space free as I prepare for another demo release, and I'm sure folks will find bugs and things that need adjustment.

 

I'm still fiddling with colors and tile placement, and I'll probably be fiddling with the pixel art even as the chips are being soldered to the PCBs, but here's a screenshot of stage 1-1:

 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2022 by Revontuli

[Revontuli]

Finalizing some boss sprites, and cleaning up the ending sequence.  Cleanup was just a few more bytes, since I had already "blocked out" the sequence, I mainly just needed to color correct, align text properly, etc.  I've learned to be very stingy about how much text I add - 2-3 verbose lines of text could be a level's worth of ROM space!

 

I'm at the point where I can do "longplays," taking notes on while playing on my TV, looking at colors, difficulty curves, and how the game is coming together as a whole.  Continuing to test colors on both my CRT television and my laptop display and trying to find a good middle ground. 

 

I need to adjust a few numbers and do some testing myself before posting a new demo, but will be holding off on adding any new features until I've done some beta testing, I'm curious (and a little worried) about what bugs folks might find once they start playing

 

I'm also compiling notes, here and locally on my computer as an informal development diary - including some programming questions I have moving forward to new projects.  I plan on doing something of a postmortem/"how this works" post once I'm done, for anyone interested.

 

Here's a screenshot of the marbled interior of the first cave level:

 

[EDIT] OK, I lied a bit about not adding any new features.  This is one people thought I had already   - it took ~200 bytes (leaving me with 145 left in the main area, but ~600 bytes elsewhere) but I added in a shield mechanic.  Full rage gets you not only double points, but a shield that will keep you from losing a life when hit.  You'll still slow back down, and for balance issues, you won't be able to fire until your temporary invincibility wears off.  This is so you use that time to wisely find a safe spot to line up a shot, and also so you can't spam bosses.  Well, can't spam them much, it's still a valid, but hopefully riskier maneuver.  I hope this adds another incentive to build up the rage meter, and be a little more careful with it.  I hope it adds a few more tactical decisions in keeping a fill meter going versus risking it to shoot at enemies.  I also think it makes the boss encounters more interesting, but we'll see.  

Edited February 13, 2022 by Revontuli

[Revontuli]

NEW DEMO!

DragonsHavoc_2_13_2022_Demo.bas.a78
DragonsHavoc_2_13_2022_Demo.bas.bin

 

This build goes to stage 4-3 (the full game aims to go to 7-3).

 

-This demo introduces the "rage shield" mechanic where you don't lose a life if hit when your rage meter is full.

 

-The meter itself I made a little easier to fill up (one hit = 1 tick on the meter), although that's in part due to making more sophisticated and complicated enemy formations, so it probably balances out.  

 

-High scores don't save just yet - I'll change enough of the game that I'm not comfortable with AtariVox or Savekey getting the scores just yet, but that *is* a feature to be included in the final game.

 

-I'll almost certainly make various adjustments to game even as I incorporate the later levels, but at this point in the project I want to get some feedback from players!  I'm sure folks will find bugs, and I'm also curious what folks will make of the rage + shield mechanics.

 

All that said, play the game!  Post your feedback (and high scores!)

 

 

 

[Silver Back]

The level variety and gameplay is fantastic. I personally really like the rage mechanic and I love how a full bar let's you shoot faster and also give you an additional hit at the cost of the meter. I think that's a fantastic gameplay mechanic that adds to the games identity. 

 

I only made it to 3-1 but the only complaint I have is the color choices in 2-1 hurt my eyes. It may just be my old eyes and I love the scrolling but something about the orange background and orange enemies made them hurt. 

 

Again take that with a grain of salt because it may just be me. Even with that I love the dragon trilogy and this is the best entry yet!  Thank you for your hard work it's paying off. 

[Revontuli]

Despite my vow not to use more bytes until I knew I whether or not I needed them, I'm whittling away at the space I have left to in order to add some polish - sound effects made a little smoother (or at least given a little echo), some experiments with music, and fixing an odd bug or two.  

 

The game is in a state where I can play through the whole thing, all the levels, bosses, and ending.  That doesn't mean it's *done* of course - I took several notes on level difficulty, background tile usage, color choice (especially seeing how my TV interprets colors), etc. etc. but it was also nice getting a sense of the whole experience for the first time!

 

I'm holding off on releasing a new build or demo (barring something like a catastrophic bug) for a little while as I focus on the full version, but I *do* still want to hear about what other folks find and how their experience went (not to hurry folks, I know I released the demo Sunday and it's still early in the week ) - thanks to those who've downloaded and played the game so far, user feedback is crucial to the process!  To adopt a saying - "When you first beta test a game 20 things will go wrong.  If you can anticipate 4 of them, you're a genius."

 

To add another progress teaser - I'm having fun combining my existing tiles to add detail - the crystal cave has a little more variance now, once I realized the rocky slopes mesh well with the crystals:

 

Edited February 16, 2022 by Revontuli

[Revontuli]

I'm currently going through my own personal "playtest notes" - adjusting enemy placement, colors, things like that.  It's a tough game, but as before I'm allowing continues at the start of your current stage, with the score being set back to zero, so I think someone should be able to muscle their way through the game (and practice the hard parts), while making a 1 Credit Complete playthrough still a pretty big challenge. 

 

The later stages get pretty tricky, but you do get an extra life after each boss (to say nothing of a "free" life if you're hit with a full meter).  The bosses themselves can be hard, but, like the rest of the game, combining aggressive attacks with bouts of patience and caution should result in a swift defeat.  Even I got stuck on some of the later bosses until I remembered to fly around them to draw away fire before going in for another attack.  The temptation to simply charge in is very much there, but don't complain that the bosses are too hard if that's the only thing you do .

 

I also tried another graphical "stress test" to make sure MARIA can handle two players with full rage meters in a bullet-filled boss stage - I'm testing on a Concerto and physical 7800 and it seems to be ok - in practice the worst case scenario (every enemy, bullet, and both players on a single line with two full meters) would be nearly impossible to recreate, even on purpose.  Even then, I'm double buffering so I believe the result would just be some slowdown, and this would hardly be the first shmup to have that .  I tried a few of the busier spots and didn't see anything like that, but of course your mileage may vary.  

 

On that note, as I mentioned in an earlier post I'm compiling a little "how I did it" postmortem for anyone interested.  I don't think I'm doing much that's terribly new or unorthodox as much as keeping in mind the limits I have.  The biggest "trick" I think I did for the game is the scrolling, which I covered the basics of in an earlier post.  My level data has a few little tricks, but again, nothing super sophisticated.  For anyone interested, let me know if you have any particular questions about how I might have implemented a feature in the game, and I can hopefully give a more detailed answer in a future post.

 

I'm also working on things like the instruction manual - outline places for the controls, mechanics, enemy bestiary, and of course a purple-prose-y epic storyline for this little game about dragons fighting on semi-surreal landscapes!

 

[killersquirel]

This game is looking awesome. Looking forward to the final release.

[Revontuli]

New demo - just some minor adjustments and bug fixes, and this build, like the last one, stops at stage 4-3 (out of the full 7 stages in the full version):

DragonsHavoc_2_17_2022_Demo.bas.a78

DragonsHavoc_2_17_2022_Demo.bas.bin

 

I'm welcoming any feedback from folks who have played.  This is the time to bring up any bugs (or things that bug you ) - As a "first draft" the game is more or less complete, but is in a state where I'm making adjustments.  I want to see how the folks find the demo before I truly finalize elements.

 

Also remember you can also play with a friend at the same time!  Playing this way ends up leading to some different strategies as you have to "share" enemies, but the enemies split their fire.  With some cooperation, a pair of good players can probably do some amazing maneuvers!

 

[Trebor]

This looks absolutely fantastic! The parallax scrolling, colors, busy background details, and smooth animation, once again goes to show with the right resources, including brilliant programming, what could be done on the 7800. 

 

I do find it to be quite challenging, but I have never been very good at most side scrolling shooters, so overall my perspective and input on the difficulty is skewed.  Though this game has motivated me to try to become a better player at it.  One item that does stick out as particularly not clear is the indication or discernment of a life lost within the context of the playfield. 

 

Typically in other similar type games played, I can pretty easily discern within the playfield when my player losses a life.  More than once, I received a 'game over' while not being entire sure where or when I lost the majority of my lives.

 

Nonetheless, an amazingly wonderful job and it is not even finalized yet!

[Revontuli]

15 hours ago, Trebor said:

One item that does stick out as particularly not clear is the indication or discernment of a life lost within the context of the playfield. 

Right now, you see your lives remaining whenever you get hit by something - I could lengthen the time the lives counter is shown, but I'm taking a crack at a possibly better fix - Drawing the both the scores and lives remain for both players was uncomfortably close to hitting the limits of the MARIA graphics chip - Now that I have some of the game finalized, I can optimize a little bit.  I might be able to get away with showing both the lives counter and score for both players at the same time.

 

In my testing,  *if* both players are on the bottom row and *if* there were a full row of enemies and *and* a bunch of shots *then* the MARIA chip might glitch a bit - in practice, I don't think this can ever actually happen in the game as it current is (and if it did, in practice it would not be for more than a second, as *something* would get hit and be removed) given how I spaced out the levels.  I needed to make a specific "stress test" level to create that circumstance.  That said, I would be curious if anyone has the opportunity to play with someone else in 2 player mode - folks might be able to glitch by accident what I tried really hard to do on purpose

 

Edited February 20, 2022 by Revontuli

[Revontuli]

DragonsHavoc_2_20_2022_Demo.bas.a78

DragonsHavoc_2_20_2022_Demo.bas.bin

 

New build - I *think* I can get away with showing both the score and lives at the same time.  I played through the later levels, and I don't think the scenario of overloading the objects-per-line limit of MARIA will come up in typical (and even extreme) gameplay, and performance *seems* ok even with two players and their full status info onscreen, but that's exactly why I want folks to try playing this stuff!  

 

[Trebor]

5 hours ago, Revontuli said:

Right now, you see your lives remaining whenever you get hit by something...

Definitely took note of that previously, sorry I wasn't clearer.  When stating "context of the playfield", I was referring to the flying area/dragon itself, not the status/score area.   I often do not look towards the score or status area when engaged on the playfield.  Perhaps the dragon may be able to have a drastic color change that lingers a bit, disappears for a few seconds, or/and appear to fall off, going down on the screen, when a life is taken.

 

It may be just me.  If it is not an issue for anyone else, please don't spend any more time with the aforementioned concern.

[Revontuli]

58 minutes ago, Trebor said:

When stating "context of the playfield", I was referring to the flying area/dragon itself, not the status/score area

I realize I have the same sound effect for both the enemy and player being hit-if nothing else I should make *some* distinction there.  I have a little more space to add a new sound effect - that might help things a little bit, and I'm adding it to the list of adjustments I'm working on for the full version. 

 

The sound I'm designing now complements the "shield break" sound - my hope is that they should both be similar enough to tell you that you've been hit, but one ends with a "boom," the other a "you got a mulligan!" chime.

 

This also reminded me to take another look at my sfx priorities, so minor sounds don't override more important ones (usually - it *is* still a 2 channel TIA chip, and I'm using one of those channels is for music )

Edited February 20, 2022 by Revontuli

[Revontuli]

Here's a really rough cut of some gameplay - I should add in title cards, cross dissolves, and star wipes, but this shows the first few levels and how to get through them.  I demonstrate some strategies, particularly on the first boss, that folks might not know are possible. 

 

 

 

Edited February 21, 2022 by Revontuli

[SlidellMan]

What you did with the rage mechanic in the current build is just genius.

[Silver Back]

Agreed with @SlidellMan. This isn't just another pretty face, I love the personality of it too!  Fantastic work. 

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

ZeroPage Homebrew is playing the Exclusive WIP FULL Version Update of Dragon's Havoc on tomorrow's stream LIVE on Twitch, hope you can join us!

 

Tue Mar 22 @ 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 1AM GMT+1Day

WATCH: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/

Games:

• Dragon's Havoc (2022 Exclusive WIP FULL Version Update | 7800) by Todd Furmanski @Revontuli
• Adventures of Olli Troll (2021 Final Binary | 7800) by Walter Lauer @gambler172 & frankodragon @frankodragon
• Robots Rumble (2022 Final Updated Binary | 7800) by ChunkyPixel Games / Matt Smith @mksmith, Bobby Clark @Synthpopalooza (Sound), Mike Saarna  @RevEng (Graphics & Sound)

(WATCH AT 1080P60 FOR BEST QUALITY)

 

[MrBeefy]

This is looking great! Keep up the good work.

[Revontuli]

 Some folks speculated that the final boss of this game would be, well, a dragon.  While that's a good guess, the final boss of Dragon's Havoc will be a surprise, challenge the mind, and makes a callback to old classics of the Atari 7800 - and to prove it I'm posting a screenshot!  

 

Spoiler

(April Fool )

 

(Before anyone takes this too seriously, please note the date I posted this, Pacific Time zone - one can never be too careful joking on the internet )

Edited April 1, 2022 by Revontuli

[Silver Back]

Finally we can give me big what he deserves and free scraps!  

[Revontuli]

While I've been devoting a lot of my time to Harpy's Curse, I've been continuing to test, adjust, and hopefully put the finishing touches on Dragon's Havoc.  No new public build just yet, but a few little fixes:

 

-The *very first* screen is the instructions.  I've got too many testers just skipping over and not noticing them, and then button mash their way through the game.  Playing the game with a leaden thumb on the fire button misses most of the game's tactics, like ignoring the power pellets in Pac-Man.

-A few fixes where the display doesn't erase properly between screens.  It's just 1/30th of a second each time, but will hopefully will look more polished now.

-The game will pause for 1-2 seconds once the player loses their last life, so the "Game Over" should seem less abrupt.

-The last lair level (7-2) is a little less merciless.  As I mentioned earlier, the curve was very steep.  It's still very tough, but hopefully a little easier on the wrists of anyone using the Proline controller long enough to get to the stage to begin with...

 

Here's the current compiler output, for those curious:

 

 43 bytes of ROM space left in the main area.
             59 bytes of ROM space left in DMA hole 0.
             391 bytes of ROM space left in DMA hole 1.
     $18e0 to $1fff used as zone memory, allowing 14 display objects per zone.
     905 bytes left in the 7800basic reserved area.

 

A few bytes left, which may come in handy if any further bugs are discovered.  I hope I did right by the 48K of ROM given 

Edited April 30, 2022 by Revontuli

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

DEVELOPER SPOTLIGHT ON REVONTULI

PLUS WORLD PREMIERE OF HARPY'S CURSE!

Tomorrow we have the honour of having 2600 & 7800 homebrew developer Todd Furmanski / @Revontuli LIVE on ZeroPage Homebrew! He will take us on a journey through his development history and we'll also be checking out the EXCLUSIVE WORLD PREMIERE of his new Atari 7800 game Harpy's Curse! Have your questions ready!

 

Fri Sep 30, 2022 @ 12PM PT | 3PM ET | 7PM GMT

WATCH LIVE: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/
WATCH LATER: https://youtube.com/zeropagehomebrew/

 

Games:

• Dragon Racer: Trials of the Wyrm (2019 | 2600) by Todd Furmanski @Revontuli
• Dragon's Descent (2020 | 2600) by Todd Furmanski @Revontuli
• Dragon's Cache (2021 | 7800) by Todd Furmanski @Revontuli
• Dragon's Descent (2021 | 7800) by Todd Furmanski @Revontuli
• Dragon's Havoc (2022 | 7800) by Todd Furmanski @Revontuli
• Harpy's Curse (2022 Exclusive World Premiere | 7800) by Todd Furmanski @Revontuli

(WATCH AT 1080P60 FOR BEST QUALITY)

 

 

[Albert]

Dragon's Havoc will make its debut at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo in two weeks.  Here's a render of the box front and back:

If you're not able to attend the show, Dragon's Havoc will be available in the AtariAge Store in early November!

 ..Al

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

ATARIAGE DAY 2022: FALL EDITION

THIS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY!

 

Make sure you tune in this Saturday and Sunday to ZeroPage Homebrew for the biggest LIVE UNBOXING and INTERVIEW EVENT OF THE YEAR for Atari Homebrew! ZeroPage Homebrew will be hosting AtariAge Day 2022: Fall Edition celebrating all the newest Atari 2600, 5200, 7800 and Atari Jaguar releases!

Saturday Nov 12 & Sunday Nov 13, 2022
LIVE @ 12PM PT | 3PM ET | 8PM GMT (Click for your local time)
WATCH LIVE: https://twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/
WATCH LATER: https://youtube.com/zeropagehomebrew/

We will be talking LIVE to the developers of TWENTY FOUR GAMES that are hitting the AtariAge Store:

• Blocks (2600) - Jeremiah Knol & Jeff Haber
• Boulder Dash (2600) - Thomas Jentzsch & Andrew Davie
• Gorf Arcade (2600) - John Champeau
• Grizzards (2600) - Bruce-Robert Pocock
• Lode Runner (2600) - Dion Olsthoorn
• Oozy the Goo Slime Quest (2600) - Vladimir Zuniga
• Qyx (2600) - John Champeau
• RAPTOR (2600) - Andrew Pauley
• RubyQ (2600) - Silvio Mogno
• Starovox (2600) - Rayman C.
• VROOM! (2600) - Thomas Jentzsch
• Rob 'n' Banks (5200) - Ryan Witmer
• 2048 (7800) - Lewis Hill
• Attack of the PETSCII Robots (7800) - Mike Saarna
• Dragon's Havoc (7800) - Todd Furmanski
• Galaxian Arcade (7800) - Bob DeCrescenzo
• Keystone Koppers (7800) - Lewis Hill
• Pac-Man Collection 40th Anniversary (7800) - Bob DeCrescenzo
• Popeye (7800) - Darryl Guenther
• Slide Boy in Maze Land (7800) - Vladimir Zuniga
• UniWarS (7800) - Bob DeCrescenzo
• Chaos Engine (Jaguar) - Lawrence Staveley
• Gods (Jaguar) - Lawrence Staveley
• Stormbringer (Jaguar) - Lawrence Staveley

YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS THIS EPIC LIVESTREAM!

 

- James