Ghostbusters - Development Diary

[ti99iuc]

It Is very cool! 😍

[retrodroid]

Your rate of progress is astounding!

[Serafini Lapo]

This is a great thing!! I was amazed at the work done so far. congratulations and .. good job! I look forward to the full game😀

[+OLD CS1]

6 hours ago, TheMole said:

I think I have the core ghost catching mechanic implemented. It's not 100% identical to my two main sources of inspiration (SMS and C64), but it comes pretty close, imho...

Damn well done.

[TheMole]

14 hours ago, retrodroid said:

Your rate of progress is astounding!

Thanks, but I have to admit that this is mostly because I've spent a lot of time creating tools that help my workflow quite a number of years ago already, so I had a good headstart. Now, it's just a matter of creating some graphics in Gimp, running them through my converters and using my C libraries to load them in the game... all relatively straightforward.

 

I'm also traveling for the next two weeks, so expect the pace to drop a little bit while I soak in the sunshine .

[TheMole]

So, quick question to those of you that know and have played the game... I'm on the fence about the approach for the driving segments. I could go home-computer style, where you have a huge car filling almost the entire screen, and the game play is limited to potentially vacuuming ghosts, as shown here:

\

 

I've heard people call this part of the game boring (although honestly, I kinda like the more chill gameplay myself), so the console versions spruced it up a bit, where you also have to avoid cars and obstacles (and in the NES version even pick up fuel barrels), and the graphical presentation has been changed quite a bit:

 

 

Which would you prefer?

Edited June 20, 2023 by TheMole

[+OLD CS1]

36 minutes ago, TheMole said:

Which would you prefer?

The only purpose of having cars on the road or running out of fuel would be to lose that particular ghost and the money from the job.  But, I would also want to see some way of winning a bonus.  I have not played versions other than the C64, but I do own the game for NES and Genesis, so I will give them a try and see what differences are worthwhile IMO.

[TheMole]

The Genesis is a completely different game, I'm afraid. The NES version is probably the worst of all versions (yes, including the Speccy version... 😛 ) but only one of two (SMS being the other) that extends the gameplay in the driving sections. All that to say that when you do try, judge the idea behind the implementation, not the actual implementation itself...

 

[ti99iuc]

I still haven't the possibility to play all the games but I have spent a bit of time to see a comparison video on YT

 

I have to say that the driving segment on the SMS version I prefer on all the other ones, the BIG car of the C64 version and similar seems to be too easy to do and may actually be boring.
The SMS style besides being very beautiful and descriptive graphics manages to entertain more. (in my opinion of course)
 

However, it also depends on what you would like to create, I will however be happy with whatever version you choose to implement in your game.

[SteveB]

I am a traditionalist... I like the classic Station Wagon ... just like it was comming out of the old NYFD building ... 

 

[+adamantyr]

16 hours ago, TheMole said:

So, quick question to those of you that know and have played the game... I'm on the fence about the approach for the driving segments. I could go home-computer style, where you have a huge car filling almost the entire screen, and the game play is limited to potentially vacuuming ghosts, as shown here:

\

 

I've heard people call this part of the game boring (although honestly, I kinda like the more chill gameplay myself), so the console versions spruced it up a bit, where you also have to avoid cars and obstacles (and in the NES version even pick up fuel barrels), and the graphical presentation has been changed quite a bit:

 

 

Which would you prefer?

I only ever played the C64 version myself. I think it really depends on if you want to implement all the various car upgrades and different models of car. If you do, I'd stick with the passive version. If not, then the small mini-game of dodging cars and grabbing fuel works.

[+adamantyr]

On 6/19/2023 at 5:20 AM, TheMole said:

I think I have the core ghost catching mechanic implemented. It's not 100% identical to my two main sources of inspiration (SMS and C64), but it comes pretty close, imho...

 

Note that I'm showing a ghost in each location to facilitate testing for now, things like haunted buildings, the PK energy progression and getting paid for catching ghosts aren't implemented yet. Wanted to get the more challenging technical bits done first. It turns out that getting the whole state machine implemented was a bit more challenging than I thought... from laying down the trap (which turns into characters to keep the 4-sprites-per-line limit under control) over positioning the men and ultimately animating the victory or loss condition... all these "phases" are treated as different states in the game engine.

 

Lastly, just wanted to point out that I used Bill Murray's "he slimed me" quote from the movie in lieu of the one used on the C64 to keep the quality as high as possible.

 

Hope you guys like it!

 

Nice work! I would definitely test the speech out on hardware; the emulators all use a slightly later generation core.

 

Also, please make sure music can be disabled. While I enjoy the tune, it's nice to have the option to not listen to it non-stop. Plus you could then add in some sound effects for the proton guns, the trap, etc.

[+Torrax]

The music on the SMS version is tied to either the Region or VDP interrupt. That version of Ghostbusters must of been developed in Europe. Try using Kega Fusion to hear the difference in tempo. Just toggle the region from US to Eur.

[TheMole]

8 hours ago, adamantyr said:

Nice work! I would definitely test the speech out on hardware; the emulators all use a slightly later generation core.

I think you're referring to the tms5220 vs. tms5200 difference? I should point out that the samples are not played back using the speech synth, but go through the plain-old tms9919 soundchip. It's true though, that these kinds of things are typically difficult to emulate and I should try it out on real HW as soon as I have the chance. Probably next time I'm in Europe.

[Serafini Lapo]

sorry for the stupid question The Mole.. But is a demo possible? even just seeing it in action, without commands, I'd love to 🤩

[+OLD CS1]

I played the NES version last night.  I am not impressed with the driving mode,at least in how it is implemented.  Having to keep gas in the car is an additional skill task, as is bumping cars, so these are fine by themselves.  I think the only penalty should be time, in that you can arrive at a call too late.

 

Dinging you for money when you hit a car, while a "realistic" problem, I do not think this works well in this game.  Not unless you are going to have a full money management kind-of sub-game.  The original game was simple enough: you need money to buy ghost busting equipment, and some of that equipment, namely the traps, is consumable.

 

I played the Atari 2600 version, as well, and it is much like the C64 version but it starts you right off in the heat of things.  No intro, no automatic first visit to the shop.  I have not yet played the SMS version; I need to put it in my Lemuroid when I get a chance.

 

I think there was a version of the game where you get to choose the type of car you buy.

 

BTW, you must have the bouncing-ball sing-a-long in the intro

[+adamantyr]

I would definitely focus on game play and what you find fun and challenging over "stupid and frustrating". That is the hallmark of a game designer over a copier.

[TheMole]

On 6/21/2023 at 3:26 PM, Serafini Lapo said:

sorry for the stupid question The Mole.. But is a demo possible? even just seeing it in action, without commands, I'd love to 🤩

Not a stupid question at all! I'll try to release something as soon as I'm back from vacation, probably in a week or two!

[TheMole]

On 6/21/2023 at 7:15 PM, OLD CS1 said:

I played the NES version last night.  I am not impressed with the driving mode,at least in how it is implemented.  Having to keep gas in the car is an additional skill task, as is bumping cars, so these are fine by themselves.  I think the only penalty should be time, in that you can arrive at a call too late.

 

Dinging you for money when you hit a car, while a "realistic" problem, I do not think this works well in this game.  Not unless you are going to have a full money management kind-of sub-game.  The original game was simple enough: you need money to buy ghost busting equipment, and some of that equipment, namely the traps, is consumable.

 

I played the Atari 2600 version, as well, and it is much like the C64 version but it starts you right off in the heat of things.  No intro, no automatic first visit to the shop.  I have not yet played the SMS version; I need to put it in my Lemuroid when I get a chance.

 

I think there was a version of the game where you get to choose the type of car you buy.

 

BTW, you must have the bouncing-ball sing-a-long in the intro

Yeah, I'm leaning towards the C64 style of gameplay for this remake myself as well. I never found the added tasks in the SMS and NES versions to add much in terms of actual gameplay fun... maybe some people do. All computer versions (C64 included) allow you to choose the type of car, as does the SMS. I don't think you can choose on the NES and 2600 versions though. So picking a car will be part of it.

 

And yes, the sing-along bouncing ball intro will have to be a part of it for sure...

[TheMole]

On 6/22/2023 at 8:47 AM, adamantyr said:

I would definitely focus on game play and what you find fun and challenging over "stupid and frustrating". That is the hallmark of a game designer over a copier.

True!

[+retroclouds]

Here’s a video of Ghostblaster for the colecovision, a game in the spirit of Ghostblasters.

I am referencing it here because of its music and sound effects (and smooth scrolling).

If I am not mistaking newcoleco coded the music note for note by hand, but yeah has been a while since this game was release so my memory might be fuzzy on that one.

 

 

 

Edited July 4, 2023 by retroclouds

[TheMole]

That's exactly the musical arrangement I wanted to make as well, with the noise generator for the base notes. I should reach out to Daniel Bienvenu and see if he's okay with me using it. If not, I'll just have to go through the not-so-fun process of typing it into deflemask myself

[TheMole]

Okay, back at it!

 

I implemented a proof of concept of the driving sequence here, but it has a number of issues I think...

 

First, how it works:

• The car is mostly tiles (using the same scrolling technique as in Alex Kidd)
• Except for the black outline edges on the left and right, those are sprites
• The road markings are sprites as well, they just get removed from the rendering list when the car is fully on top of them.

 

It works relatively well, but there's a few limitations:

• The road markings flicker a bit when going underneath the car near the middle section. This is because I just make a binary choice on whether I want to render the marking or not. I don't use different sized sprite patterns to make it dissapear underneath the car smoothly. Mainly for sprite generator table size considerations...
• The road markings nicely go partly underneath the car along the edges, but this only works because the car is white (roadmarkings are still drawn, just with lower priority than the outline sprites). The original game has three other cars in blue, teal and purple. The same trick won't work for those...
• Two sprites for each edge of the car, and two sprites for the road markings on the same line means that there's no more room for the sprites needed for the ghost vacuuming action...

 

So, still a lot of work to do here, I think this will become the most difficult part of the game to get on par with the other systems.

 

[ti99iuc]

Very nice!

I can't wait for your version ☺️

[Asmusr]

Don't know if this would work, but if you make sure the car area always has 4 sprites per row, and the road markings are lower priority sprites, they would appear to be moving under the car.