Tunnels of Hyperion: Horizontal shooter.

[vhzc]

Hi guys.

I am working on a new game. An horizontal shooter with mechanics similar to Scramble/Super Cobra/Caverns of Mars.

You control a ship through a tunnel, shoot stuff and avoid another stuff.

The game doesn't have lives, but an amount of energy that is being drained as the time goes. If you runs out of energy then the game is over.

Tunnel is divided in zones. When destroyed your ship will respawn at the start of a zone or at a checkpoint.

Once you clear a zone you energy is refueled. You also recover 1 energy point for every enemy destroyed.

I want to keep it as a 48k game, but that could change.

 

Embarrassingly, I still don't have a DragonFly or similar, so I personally only have tested it on a7800 emulator, so testing, especially on actual hardware, would be greatly appreciated.

ToH_demo01d.a78
 

UPDATE:

- More Screens (2 zones)

- More enemies.

- Cosmetic changes.

- Difficulty tweaks.

 

ToH_demo02.a7

 

UPDATE:

- New Zone Added

- More enemies.

- Cosmetic changes.

- Difficulty tweaks.

  ToH_demo03.a78

 

UPDATE:

- More zones, bosses and enemies.

- Cosmetic changes.

- Difficulty tweaks.

 

ToH_demo06.a78

 

UPDATE 2022-10-29

Release candidate 1 is here!

 

ToH_RC1.a78

 

Also I added some merchandising in my teepublic store, in case you want to support the project buying a nice shirt, wall arts or other stuff

https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/36109542-tunnels-of-hyperion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 29, 2022 by vhzc

[Eagle]

Tested on Pal console with Dragon Fly. Working fine. Good job!

[+Muddyfunster]

Works great on NTSC console + Dragonfly. Looks great but I totally suck and can't get past the 3rd obstacle lol. More practice needed for me I think. Beautiful sprites.

 

[Traxx]

Can't progress further then 3rd obstacle either,handles and looks good though.

[Trebor]

The difficulty is cranked considerably relative to the first and second obstacle.   Nonetheless, to pass it, a 'Scramble buildings' area type move for the third obstacle(s) is required.  Push as far forward as possible and steer the ship to the bottom of the screen, avoiding the first extender from the top, well before it appears on screen, and right after passing the first extender, pull back to the left, and up, to pass the bottom extender.   I passed the third obstacle and got creamed on the fourth one, anyhow.

 

I found myself challenged similarly with "Roach in Space" and "Cannon in D - D for Defense", but here it is even sooner, the difficulty revs up very quickly for my (lack of) shooter skills...lol.

 

It looks awesome though.  I see VHZC label and I know I am always in for a treat - especially with the sprite work.  Great stuff!

[Traxx]

[Trebor]

Just when I thought - jeez, no checkpoint either - I just had to suck a little less to hit the midway checkpoint. 

 

I played even less suckier than previously and...

 

[themushroom]

Confirming that Tunnels of Hyperion runs on a Dingoo A-320 handheld, in both the native 7800 emulator and under Dingux's 7800 emulator. IMHO it looks a little better under Dingux. VERY playable, too bad I suck with the D-pad. 😊

 

 

Edited September 18, 2022 by themushroom

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

Another incredible game Vladimir and thank you for letting us premiere it on ZeroPage Homebrew earlier today! It took a number of tries to make it to the end of the demo but we did it! Works flawlessly on my SVID modded NTSC 7800 with Dragonfly cart.

 

WATCH ON YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/dAmhcgC3a7E

 

- James

 

 

 

[gambler172]

Hi Vladimir

Looks good and plays very well on real hardware and on my handheld emulator.

[vhzc]

16 hours ago, Traxx said:

 

15 hours ago, Trebor said:

Just when I thought - jeez, no checkpoint either - I just had to suck a little less to hit the midway checkpoint. 

 

I played even less suckier than previously and...

 

 

Good job guys, I almost thought I was making the game too hard, but you were able to get to the clear zone screen in just some plays.

James finished the demo, but he is a shmup guy.

 

14 hours ago, themushroom said:

Confirming that Tunnels of Hyperion runs on a Dingoo A-320 handheld, in both the native 7800 emulator and under Dingux's 7800 emulator. IMHO it looks a little better under Dingux. VERY playable, too bad I suck with the D-pad. 😊

 

 

 What a nice little machine you have there! I have an Anbernic r352p, I think they are similars.

 

Thanks everybody for testing. It is a great help.

 

[vhzc]

On 9/17/2022 at 5:13 PM, vhzc said:

UPDATE:

- More Screens (2 zones)

- More enemies.

- Cosmetic changes.

- Difficulty tweaks.

 

ToH_demo02.a78<-Current Rom

 

[+Pac-Lander]

Cleared the first level! Then ran out of time on the second around this part of the game:

 

Overall, what an awesome new game! Great work Vladimir!!!

Working great on OpenEmu. I found the gameplay to be miles ahead of the "other" horizontal shooter, Sirius on the 7800. The control is tight, the puzzles/patterns are challenging without being frustrating or impossible. It also looks fantastic - big, bold, colorful sprites in the VHZC style. Gorgeous! 

Another winner from VHZC!!! Can't wait to play further iterations. 

 

[Silver Back]

I decided to catch up on some of the homebrew I haven't had the chance to play lately but I spent the night playing this exclusively. Just incredible this game screams quality. It is challenging but I want to keep playing until I conquer each challenge you've laid before. I would love to own this on cart one day. 

[vhzc]

On 9/17/2022 at 5:13 PM, vhzc said:

UPDATE:

- New Zone Added

- More enemies.

- Cosmetic changes.

- Difficulty tweaks.

  ToH_demo03.a78<-Current Rom

 

[vhzc]

On 9/17/2022 at 5:13 PM, vhzc said:

UPDATE:

- More zones, bosses and enemies.

- Cosmetic changes.

- Difficulty tweaks.

 

ToH_demo06.a78 48.13 kB · 0 downloads

 

 

 

[vhzc]

On 9/17/2022 at 5:13 PM, vhzc said:

UPDATE 2022-10-29

Release candidate 1 is here!

 

ToH_RC1.a78 48.13 kB · 0 downloads

 

Also I added some merchandising in my teepublic store, in case you want to support the project buying a nice shirt, wall arts or other stuff

https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/36109542-tunnels-of-hyperion

 

[ALEXANDER]

On 10/29/2022 at 1:30 PM, vhzc said:

 

Hi Vhzc, all your games are really awesome. A video in your honor. Thanks in advance for the game.

 

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

ZeroPage Homebrew is playing Tunnels of Hyperion on tomorrow's ZPH stream LIVE on Twitch, hope you can join us!

 

Fri Nov 18, 2022 | LIVE @ 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 2AM GMT+1Day

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

 

Games:

• Cartesian Chaos (2022 Exclusive WIP Update | 7800) by Karl Garrison @Karl G
• Tunnels of Hyperion (2022 WIP Update | 7800) by VHZC Games / Vladimir Zuñiga @vhzc

After Dark:

• Lode Runner (2022 Retail | 2600) by Tozai Games / Dion Olsthoorn @Dionoid (Programming) / David Exton @liveinabin (Packaging Artwork)

 

(WATCH AT 1080P60 FOR BEST QUALITY)

 

 

[Lord_of_Sipan]

Love the game. It’s like a puzzle shooter if that makes any sense. Really unique strategic take on scrolling shooter mechanics. I really like how crisp and clean everything feels graphically too; minimalist without being boring.

 

I have been playing on actual hardware with a harmony cart and the game runs great, only issue I have had is that sometimes the start screen has a reddish tinge rather than the intended black background. Once you start the game it seems to run the same either way. I am not sure what causes this, whether I get the red start screen or not seems random I think.

 

EDIT-Its seems the red title screen thing is only occurring when I first power on my 7800 and Tunnels of Hyperion is the first game I play in a session. It doesn't seem to occur if I reset the game to the menu or if my 7800 has only been powered off momentarily prior to starting the game. I have never seen any behavior similar to this on any other game and the game itself seems to run perfectly.

Edited November 20, 2022 by Lord_of_Sipan

[Lord_of_Sipan]

I beat the game today and I’d like to reiterate how fun it was. Super cool game! 
 

My only nitpick is that the level 5 boss is way too easy since unlike the level 4 boss or the final boss, the game doesn’t “cam” the player back to the left side of the screen when it appears. I was able to almost instantly defeat this boss by just moving almost all the way right as it came into view just holding down the fire button. I actually have no idea what the boss even does lol and I killed him 3 times since I only could beat level 6 on my 3rd attempt.

 

I don’t think moving the player’s ship all the way to the left would be possible because it looks like the boss spawns things that move along the top and bottom of the screen and then converge at the left side of the screen behind your ship kind of like the pattern of the first boss but from both sides.

 

I think having the worm boss in level 1 occasionally shoot a slow fire ball or something would be good too. You don’t have to move at all during that fight and he really only catches you off guard by killing you if you try to hug the left wall the first time you face him. I don’t have as much of a problem with this as the level 5 guy since he is the first boss after all and the “lesson” he teaches the player, to not always hug the left side of the screen, becomes very important later in the game. I’m of the oppinion that level 1s should mostly be about teaching the player relevant skills for the game.

 

Great game man! I may pick up some merch, my fiancée thinks the ship is very cute.

[vhzc]

13 minutes ago, Lord_of_Sipan said:

I beat the game today and I’d like to reiterate how fun it was. Super cool game! 
 

My only nitpick is that the level 5 boss is way too easy since unlike the level 4 boss or the final boss, the game doesn’t “cam” the player back to the left side of the screen when it appears. I was able to almost instantly defeat this boss by just moving almost all the way right as it came into view just holding down the fire button. I actually have no idea what the boss even does lol and I killed him 3 times since I only could beat level 6 on my 3rd attempt.

 

I don’t think moving the player’s ship all the way to the left would be possible because it looks like the boss spawns things that move along the top and bottom of the screen and then converge at the left side of the screen behind your ship kind of like the pattern of the first boss but from both sides.

 

I think having the worm boss in level 1 occasionally shoot a slow fire ball or something would be good too. You don’t have to move at all during that fight and he really only catches you off guard by killing you if you try to hug the left wall the first time you face him. I don’t have as much of a problem with this as the level 5 guy since he is the first boss after all and the “lesson” he teaches the player, to not always hug the left side of the screen, becomes very important later in the game. I’m of the oppinion that level 1s should mostly be about teaching the player relevant skills for the game.

 

Great game man! I may pick up some merch, my fiancée thinks the ship is very cute.

 

Glad that you enjoyed the game.

 

I think once you understand the pattern all the bosses are easy. But maybe I could tweak the difficulty on boss 5.

 

Thanks for playing and for your feedback!.

 

 

 

[Lord_of_Sipan]

I don’t think you need to change anything on boss 5 most likely as far as mechanics go, just add the mechanic from boss 4 and 6 where the game moves you back a little before the start of the fight.