DZ-Jay Posted July 15, 2022 Share Posted July 15, 2022 1 hour ago, artrag said: Now all bullets are interely managed in assembly and the framerate is stable in NTSC @DZ-Jay do not worry, no need to micro optimisations in this moment, the code is provisional as I have to add other game elements TimePilotTest.cfg 103 B · 1 download TimePilotTest.bin 22.24 kB · 1 download Cool. I'll probably play with the code you posted anyway this week-end, just for fun. If I managed any substantial reductions, I'll let you know. dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artrag Posted July 15, 2022 Author Share Posted July 15, 2022 Initial support for enemy explosions added, increased the game area to 20x10 tabs TimePilotTest.cfg TimePilotTest.bin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artrag Posted July 16, 2022 Author Share Posted July 16, 2022 With a full sound drive completely in assembly and some fixes. I suspect that I have added a bug in the spawning of enemies ? TimePilotTest.bin TimePilotTest.cfg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artrag Posted July 16, 2022 Author Share Posted July 16, 2022 (edited) I could have fixed the bug in the spawning system. Please let me know if you see something strange TimePilotTest.bin TimePilotTest.cfg Edited July 16, 2022 by artrag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DZ-Jay Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, artrag said: With a full sound drive completely in assembly and some fixes. I suspect that I have added a bug in the spawning of enemies ? TimePilotTest.bin 28.17 kB · 2 downloads TimePilotTest.cfg 103 B · 2 downloads Didn't notice the bug. 9 minutes ago, artrag said: I could have fixed the bug in the spawning system. Please let me know if you see something strange TimePilotTest.bin 28.17 kB · 0 downloads TimePilotTest.cfg 103 B · 0 downloads That's quite fun! It's starting to look like a real game. I'm not too thrilled about the sound effects -- the Intellivision can do so much better than those hollow bloops and bloops -- but that's polish for another day. Besides, I'm not good at sound-effects either, so yours are better than any I could do. :) It's looking very good. I have one question: How do you manage the enemy resources? I think you mentioned that the enemy objects are re-cycled once they go off-screen, but it also looks like the enemies persist in the world even when not visible (because they continue being there when I scroll towards their side), and it sure looks to me like there are more than eight of them. How many logical enemies can be spawned at any one time? dZ. Edited July 16, 2022 by DZ-Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artrag Posted July 16, 2022 Author Share Posted July 16, 2022 (edited) Actually the enemies are just 7 and once (completely) offscreen they get recycled. The game lists all enemis and if it finds an offscreen enemy randomly decides if respawn it. Edited July 16, 2022 by artrag Typos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DZ-Jay Posted July 16, 2022 Share Posted July 16, 2022 Just now, artrag said: Actually the enemies are just 7 and once (completely) offscreen they get recycled. The game lists all enemis and if it finds an offscreen enemy and randomly decides if respawn it. Ah, I see. Well, in practice, it looks a lot more sophisticated than that: It gives the illusion that the world is a lot bigger than the screen and that the enemies still exist somewhere off-screen, and you can find them if you scroll towards them. That's neat. ? -dZ. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artrag Posted July 17, 2022 Author Share Posted July 17, 2022 (edited) Initial support for enemy bombs TimePilotTest.bin TimePilotTest.cfg Edited July 17, 2022 by artrag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClassicGMR Posted July 17, 2022 Share Posted July 17, 2022 Looking good! ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DZ-Jay Posted July 17, 2022 Share Posted July 17, 2022 1 hour ago, artrag said: Initial support for enemy bombs TimePilotTest.bin 28.97 kB · 0 downloads TimePilotTest.cfg 103 B · 0 downloads Looks good. A few observations: At least a couple of times I noticed that I crashed into an enemy plane and a new one spawned right around the collision spot. This looked a little weird. You may want to constrain enemies to only spawn off-screen to make it seem more natural. When my plane crashes into an enemy plane, bullet, or bomb, it makes a twinkling sound (like Mario picking up a coin), which sounds like achieving some positive goal. If the sounds are place-holders, then I understand. Otherwise, you may consider giving those events a more explosive sound effect to make it seem like something bad happened. In the original arcade game, the player has "rapid fire," like a machine gun. Is it possible to model the bullets to more closely simulate that effect? I understand that there may be a limitation in the number of software objects you can manage, but perhaps each one can be drawn as a streak of pixels, rather than a single pixel. In any case, the it seems the speed of firing should be faster to maintain the feel of the original. It's quite impressive so far. -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artrag Posted July 17, 2022 Author Share Posted July 17, 2022 (edited) - That was the spawning bug I was trying to remove. New enemies should respawn only under the border of the screen. - The explosion of the fighter is missing and the sound is a placeholder to test collisions. - The arcade fires 3 bullets at time each time you press the button and asks you to press and release the button to fire another 3 bullet burst. I think that you can have up to 12 fighter bullets on the screen (4 bursts). In this port I have reserved 4 bullets for enemies and 4 for the fighter. You need to keep the button pressed to fire up to 4 bullet at max fire rate. No need to press and release. If you keep pressed the button other bullets will be fired as soon as the others disappear. The controllers do not lend themselves to repeatedly pressing and releasing the buttons and 4 bullets are sufficient to cover the distance from the fighter to the upper and lower border with a column of continuous bullets. I could probably make fit a couple of bullets more, but it is for later. I need to be sure I can fit other elements first. Edited July 17, 2022 by artrag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DZ-Jay Posted July 17, 2022 Share Posted July 17, 2022 (edited) 16 minutes ago, artrag said: - That was the spawning bug I was trying to remove. New enemies should respawn only under the border of the screen. I see. Well, I'm sorry to say, it is still there. Quote - The explosion of the fighter is missing and the sound is a placeholder to test collisions. No worries. Quote - The arcade fires 3 bullets at time each time you press the button and asks you to press and release the button to fire another 3 bullet burst. I think that you can have up to 12 fighter bullets on the screen (4 bursts). I haven't played he actual machine in a long time, but in MAME, I can leave the fire button pressed for rapid, continuous fire. Many online videos show the same, but I'm not sure if it is a variation or a hack. (Although, I thought I had a standard stock ROM extracted back in the 1990s.) Quote In this port I have reserved 4 bullets for enemies and 4 for the fighter. You need to keep the button pressed to fire up to 4 bullet at max fire rate. No need to press and release. If you keep pressed the button other bullets will be fired as soon as the others disappear. The fire rate seems a lot slower than in the arcade, that was what I meant. (Check out the video linked to above.) Quote The controllers do not lend themselves to repeatedly pressing and releasing the buttons and 4 bullets are sufficient to cover the distance from the fighter to the upper and lower border with a column of continuous bullets. I'm sorry if my comment wasn't clear, but what I meant was continuous fire while pressing the button -- not pressing the button repeatedly (like you said, that's almost impossible on the Intellivision hand controller, and also not needed on the arcade). Quote I could probably make fit a couple of bullets more, but it is for later. I need to be sure I can fit other elements first. That's fine, no worries. The core engine and mechanics are good and stable so far (with the exception of the spawning bug, but it is very rare). ?? dZ. Edited July 17, 2022 by DZ-Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artrag Posted July 17, 2022 Author Share Posted July 17, 2022 https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Time_Pilot/Gameplay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DZ-Jay Posted July 17, 2022 Share Posted July 17, 2022 20 minutes ago, artrag said: https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Time_Pilot/Gameplay Thanks, you are right, sorry. It does shoot only three bullets at a time, and you need to press the button again. (I just confirmed it in MAME as well, so I must have been crazy to notice otherwise. ) I agree that offering continuous firing on the Intellivision is a better scheme for the console. Later on, you may want to increase the rate of firing to try to match the pace of the arcade. -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artrag Posted July 17, 2022 Author Share Posted July 17, 2022 Added support for looping sounds (monoplane engines) and maybe fixed the spawning bug (?) TimePilotTest.bin TimePilotTest.cfg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DZ-Jay Posted July 17, 2022 Share Posted July 17, 2022 20 minutes ago, artrag said: Added support for looping sounds (monoplane engines) and maybe fixed the spawning bug (?) TimePilotTest.bin 26.36 kB · 1 download TimePilotTest.cfg 103 B · 1 download I think the spawning bug is gone! ? I played for a couple of minutes straight, shooting constantly and moving in all random directions, and I did not see it manifested. So, it's either fixed, or even rarer than before. Either way, I think you don't have to worry about it for the moment. About the sounds -- the arcade does not seem to have engine sounds on round one (1910: biplanes), nor in round two (1940: monoplanes). (I'm not good enough to make it past the second level. ) So I suppose that there is probably no constant background engine sound in any round. The only sounds I hear are: Player laser fire Enemy shots Explosions Power-ups Alerts (for bombs and enemy motherships) By the way, the owner's manual describes the the rounds like: Round 1: A.D. 1910 - The age of Biplane Round 2: A.D. 1940 - The age of Monoplane Round 3: A.D. 1970 - The age of Helicopter Round 4: A.D. 1982 - The age of the Jetplane (incidentally, it's the year the game was developed) Round 5: A.D. 2001 - The age of the U.F.O. Round 6, on: Same as Round 1, etc., but harder (If you want to add engine sounds, then I suggest a lower register "buzzy hum" for the biplanes and monoplanes, since they are powered by propellers. The current sound reminds me of something like a helicopter.) -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artrag Posted July 17, 2022 Author Share Posted July 17, 2022 The engine sound as background is in the colecovision version, the one I am using as reference for many aspects. The enemies are low resolution versions of its 16×16 sprites. The sound I am using is a placeholder (from a library), I agree it sounds too much as an helicopter. Anyway the Colecovision version looks by far less smooth than my version. The clouds move at steps of 4 pixels and the enemies are updated once out 4 frames. Having so many resources the coders could have done a much better version (and add the ufo stage that is missing). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DZ-Jay Posted July 17, 2022 Share Posted July 17, 2022 1 hour ago, artrag said: The engine sound as background is in the colecovision version, the one I am using as reference for many aspects. The enemies are low resolution versions of its 16×16 sprites. The sound I am using is a placeholder (from a library), I agree it sounds too much as an helicopter. I understand. 1 hour ago, artrag said: Anyway the Colecovision version looks by far less smooth than my version. The clouds move at steps of 4 pixels and the enemies are updated once out 4 frames. Having so many resources the coders could have done a much better version (and add the ufo stage that is missing). I just took a look at the ColecoVision version, and yes, it is not very smooth. Your version looks so much better in many regards (although I do like the player fighter in higher-resolution). I'm sure the ColecoVision one would have been satisfying back then (it is Time Pilot, after all, which kids saw at the arcade), but I agree that they could have done so much better. But I guess that we couldn't expect much from Coleco's anyway. (I did notice in the video that the planes change over time: the second round had green monoplanes, so I suppose the black planes in the first round were biplanes.) In any case, I think you have an opportunity not only to improve on the ColecoVision version, but to get closer to the actual original arcade and make the definitive 1980's console conversion of Time Pilot. -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artrag Posted July 17, 2022 Author Share Posted July 17, 2022 (edited) Having coded on colecovision and msx (the latter is about a colecovision with more ram) I assure you could have had almost an arcade perfect port, with 3 color sprites, smooth scrolling of the clouds, two layers of scrolling and a larger game area. To get an idea of the system capabilities here what I did on colecovision with Uridium (from the c64) . Anyway, let's focus on Time Pilot for Intellivision. I was thinking that at least in the first and second level (1910 and 1940) where I do not need to store in GRAM the homing missiles, I have room to use 8x16 double resoultion sprites for the enemies. The problem is the X resolution, which stays low, and makes the sprite look weird while they rotate. All enemies have 16 angles and this makes the details more or less visible according to the direction... Edited July 17, 2022 by artrag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artrag Posted July 17, 2022 Author Share Posted July 17, 2022 (edited) This is to have an idea of what I say above. On the top, the 16x16 monoplanes from the colecovision vresion, on the bottom the 8x16 sprites from the Intellivision renderd at double Y resolution. Some poses work well, others, are very crappy. Edited July 17, 2022 by artrag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DZ-Jay Posted July 17, 2022 Share Posted July 17, 2022 31 minutes ago, artrag said: Having coded on colecovision and msx (the latter is about a colecovision with more ram) I assure you could have had almost an arcade perfect port, with 3 color sprites, smooth scrolling of the clouds, two layers of scrolling and a larger game area. To get an idea of the system capabilities here what I did on colecovision with Uridium (from the c64) . I believe you! I meant that the Coleco contract programmers were perhaps not that good. 31 minutes ago, artrag said: Anyway, let's focus on Time Pilot for Intellivision. I was thinking that at least in the first and second level (1910 and 1940) where I do not need to store in GRAM the homing missiles, I have room to use 8x16 double resoultion sprites for the enemies. Sounds good. 31 minutes ago, artrag said: The problem is the X resolution, which stays low, and makes the sprite look weird while they rotate. That is true. Perhaps in practice (i.e., in the middle of the action with all other elements moving smoothly) it won't matter too much. It is worth exploring. I remember that when I was making Pac-Man for the Intellivision, I had the same problem when rotating Pac-Man to vertical orientation: the mouth would look square instead of angled. However, during testing, I noticed that the fast pace and smooth motions and animations distracted my (very critical) eye from that imperfection. 31 minutes ago, artrag said: All enemies have 16 angles and this makes the details more or less visible according to the direction... I understand. 19 minutes ago, artrag said: This is to have an idea of what I say above. On the top, the 16x16 monoplanes from the colecovision vresion, on the bottom the 8x16 sprites from the Intellivision renderd at double Y resolution. Some poses work well, others, are very crappy. I agree, it is not ideal, but in my opinion it is not too bad. The question is, how do they compare (in practice, in context within the action of the game) to the 8x8 standard res on the Intellivision? Here is a thought: If you are planning to animate by GRAM cycling, what about switching vertical resolution to select the best one that works for each frame of animation? Although I sincerely do not think it would be the effort or processing cost. *shrug* dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIX Posted July 17, 2022 Share Posted July 17, 2022 1 hour ago, artrag said: This is to have an idea of what I say above. On the top, the 16x16 monoplanes from the colecovision vresion, on the bottom the 8x16 sprites from the Intellivision renderd at double Y resolution. Some poses work well, others, are very crappy. hey @artrag, I can take a shot sprucing them up if you like.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artrag Posted July 17, 2022 Author Share Posted July 17, 2022 (edited) Well, if you work for free and without obligation , I could accept your contribution, but I cannot guarantee I will use your artwork in the final design nor I could give you any credit or return if the game goes published. I was converting all the colecovision assets to 8x8 when I've realised that the monoplane would have been very crap at that resolution. In attach the enemies from the 4 levels of the coleco port (the ufo level is missing) and my initial efforts in 8x8 with biplanes, fighters and homing missiles spritesl1.bmp Edited July 17, 2022 by artrag 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIX Posted July 18, 2022 Share Posted July 18, 2022 wow.. that's a lot of terms for a friendly offer hard pass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artrag Posted July 18, 2022 Author Share Posted July 18, 2022 With very beta death animation TimePilotTest.cfg TimePilotTest.bin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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