Ghostbusters - Development Diary

[TheMole]

3 minutes ago, Asmusr said:

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.

Thought about that, but then they would also dissapear when next to the car... but maybe I could manage the number of sprites on a row in such a way that it goes from two to four depending on which road markings need to be shown?

 

Looking at the msx version, it seems to show similar artefacts as mine though, so perhaps it's okay to leave it as is?

 

[+OLD CS1]

They are barely noticeable, and really, we expected and accepted little glitches in our games bitd, anyway.  As much as we want to make things perfect, sometimes there are sacrifices to make.  To throw even more into the mess, the number of clean traps remaining is shown by the number of traps on the back of Ecto.

[TheMole]

On 6/21/2023 at 9:26 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 🤩

 

Here we go!

ghostbusters.rpk

ghostbusters.bin

 

Couple of notes:

• Only one building becomes haunted, the one at the start
• Once you've visited the building, win or lose, the demo ends. This is because the "when does a building become haunted" logic hasn't been implemented yet... I need to study the original some more for that.
• As far as I know, only Mame and Classic99 are able to emulate the sample playback. I tested js99er and BulWip as well, both work fine except for the samples.
• Not tested on real hardware, so if you can, please do and let me know if it works! Requires a 512kb ROM cart (FinalGrom and BackBit should work, I believe, FinalROM will not)... If you can run Alex Kidd, you should be able to run this one. And if you can record a video of the sample playback quality, that'd be extra cool :).
• Music is still very much a placeholder, as mentioned before...
• Lots of little details still need to be implemented, such as the karaoke intro, some of the animations after jobs and when visiting the GHQ, etc...
• Some not so little details: marshmallow man scene is not implemented yet, neither is ghost vacuuming or building destruction. No store, no other vehicles, no account record keeping, no proton pack battery draining, and so forth.

 

Any feedback is welcome though!

 

Edited July 11, 2023 by TheMole

[JasonACT]

Sound was good on real hardware...

 

[Serafini Lapo]

5 hours ago, TheMole said:

 

Here we go!

ghostbusters.rpk 56.45 kB · 2 downloads

ghostbusters.bin 512 kB · 11 downloads

 

Couple of notes:

• Only one building becomes haunted, the one at the start
• Once you've visited the building, win or lose, the demo ends. This is because the "when does a building become haunted" logic hasn't been implemented yet... I need to study the original some more for that.
• As far as I know, only Mame and Classic99 are able to emulate the sample playback. I tested js99er and BulWip as well, both work fine except for the samples.
• Not tested on real hardware, so if you can, please do and let me know if it works! Requires a 512kb ROM cart (FinalGrom and BackBit should work, I believe, FinalROM will not)... If you can run Alex Kidd, you should be able to run this one. And if you can record a video of the sample playback quality, that'd be extra cool :).
• Music is still very much a placeholder, as mentioned before...
• Lots of little details still need to be implemented, such as the karaoke intro, some of the animations after jobs and when visiting the GHQ, etc...
• Some not so little details: marshmallow man scene is not implemented yet, neither is ghost vacuuming or building destruction. No store, no other vehicles, no account record keeping, no proton pack battery draining, and so forth.

 

Any feedback is welcome though!

 

Thank you TheMole👍🏻🤩

[+mizapf]

On that last screen with Venkman, is there something supposed to happen, like sound output or wait for a key press? I'm running that on MAME, and it seems it is waiting in a loop forever. Even though there was a LIMI 2 before, no video interrupt seems to occur, so did you disable the interrupt by CRU operation before?

[TheMole]

24 minutes ago, mizapf said:

On that last screen with Venkman, is there something supposed to happen, like sound output or wait for a key press? I'm running that on MAME, and it seems it is waiting in a loop forever. Even though there was a LIMI 2 before, no video interrupt seems to occur, so did you disable the interrupt by CRU operation before?

 

Not really, after you've been shown one of the two end screens (of the demo), the game just goes in an idle loop. Essentially, it goes into the following loop:

// Image loop
while (1)
{
	// wait for vsync
	VSYNC_PLAY;
}

 

VSYNC_PLAY is a macro that plays the next tick of music (if there was music, there is none on these temporary end screens) enables interrupts (LIMI 2), loops until the vint counter increases and disables interrupts again (LIMI 0).

 

Has anyone seen the other end screen? Just trying to get a feel for how easy/hard the ghost catching is for everyone...

[dgrissom]

Nice...

 

The demo runs well on my TI 99/4A / F18A / SAMS / TIPI / FinalGrom99.

 

Can't wait to see what the final product looks like!

[GDMike]

On 7/11/2023 at 7:42 AM, Serafini Lapo said:

Thank you TheMole👍🏻🤩

Thank you for Mole

[Asmusr]

On 7/11/2023 at 8:44 AM, TheMole said:

I tested js99er and BulWip as well, both work fine except for the samples.

Samples work now in JS99er.

[+OLD CS1]

Oh, yeah.  Driving around town is just as annoying in this as it is on the C64

 

I feel like we were able to cross streams in the C64.  Have to play that again.

 

[TheMole]

6 hours ago, Asmusr said:

Samples work now in JS99er.

Awesome!! It sounds great!

[TheMole]

5 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

Oh, yeah. Driving around town is just as annoying in this as it is on the C64

Isn't it though?

I actually know why it works like this, both in the original as well as in my remake. It is related to the order in which the IF statements check for directions are evaluated. I can theoretically improve on it, but I'm worried it will take away from the frantic feeling at the end of the game when the PK energy starts ticking over super fast...

[+OLD CS1]

35 minutes ago, TheMole said:

I can theoretically improve on it, but I'm worried it will take away from the frantic feeling at the end of the game when the PK energy starts ticking over super fast...

You monster.

[SteveB]

On 7/11/2023 at 8:44 AM, TheMole said:

Only one building becomes haunted, the one at the start

It is a little bit hard to go around the corner on a map, hitting the right spot. We solved this in our version by only querying the joystick in the crossroad and the middle of a block, otherwise continue. You have plenty of time change direction or stop between those points and never miss a corner.

[TheMole]

No screenshots or videos this time around, just a quick progress update...

 

I think I've managed to match the C64 quite well in a number of aspects:

• PK energy progression over time. Sitting there with a stopwatch and timing the speed at which PK energy counts up throughout the game was the only way I could figure it out, but I think I'm quite close
• Roamer (ghosts on map) speed, and how it ties to PK energy tickover speed
• Penalties: add 300 PK energy for every haunting gone wrong (slimed, ghost left, crossed streams, ...)
• Roamers reaching ZUUL: 100pk energy penalty
• Trip duration, based on number of dots on the screen

I am still struggling with the algorithm that decides when buildings get haunted though, I've played the C64 and MSX versions quite a bit (the MSX version is quite off in other game parameters though, so not following that too closely... they clear did not have access to the algorithms while developing this port), taking notes of which and how many buildings get haunted at which point throughout the game, over several gameplay sessions, etc... not findingrhyme or reason to any of it so far.

 

I think I'm going to have to build my own algorithm and tweak it until it feels close, I'm afraid... Although... I did find David Crane's phone number...

 

[Serafini Lapo]

39 minutes ago, TheMole said:

Penso che dovrò costruire il mio algoritmo e modificarlo finché non sembrerà vicino, temo... Anche se... ho trovato il numero di telefono di David Crane...

 

..and who will you call?😄 Painful joke aside, come on we can't wait to play this masterpiece..👍🏻

[+OLD CS1]

3 hours ago, TheMole said:

I did find David Crane's phone number...

I get the feeling he might be a little tickled by the idea.  Trademark issues aside.  (Who cares about us little TI users, anyway?)

[TheMole]

Update time!

 

Attached is a version of the game that supports the complete core game loop: driving around on the map, driving to buildings and vacuuming up roamers, catching ghosts at buildings, etc...

Not implemented yet are:

• The marshmallow man appearing on the map, destroying buildings, in the second half of the game
• The marshmallow man "boss battle" screen and end-sequence
• The shop (you start with 3 traps, the hearse, vacuum and image intensifier, you're left with $1500 at the start of the game)
• The account system
• Probably a whole host of other bits and pieces you need to call this a final polished game...

The game will end abruptly when the PK Energy level reaches 9999 and show you one of the two end screens that were used in the previous demo, depending on whether you managed to earn more than $10 000 or not.

 

I've also tweaked quite a few of the game parameters, such as the game speed, PK energy penalties, ghost catching earnings, some of the physics in the ghost catching section, etc... I think it feels quite authentic now.

 

@InsaneMultitasker was also kind enough to help out with a Geneve loader (and was incredibly helpful and patient with real-hardware testing and debugging!), so this time around our Geneve-weilding brethren can also take a stab at running the game. On the Geneve, this is completely unoptimized for size, so you do need a configuration with enough memory (384k mod, 512k memory card or Genmod). The Geneve version is a zip file with a bunch of TIFILES uhm... files... that you need to somehow get onto the computer. There's a document that tells you how to run it (and how to quit the game).

 

I'm very much considering giving this the full release treatment, cartrdige(TI)/disk(Geneve), box, manual etc... if there's enough interest. If that's something you'd like, please let me know. I will also release the rom image and source code for free as well, I have no intention of making this a for-profit venture, but I reckon it would be cool to do a physical release as well for those who want one.

 

Anyhoo, here's the latest version:

 

TI: ghostbusters.rpk, ghostbusters.bin

Geneve: (see a few post down)

 

 

 

Edited July 26, 2023 by TheMole

[ti99iuc]

I can't try It still but can't wait to do!

Thanks for this nice production and updates ☺️

[+9640News]

OK, I am doing something wrong.

 

I have the files FT, GHOST512, GHOSTLOAD, and GTSTUB in the directory on the Geneve.

 

Do I need other files?  FT loads GHOSTLOAD passing the argument GHOST512, then goes to loading PRORGRAM.  Is this GTSTUB?  Or do I need other files?

[+InsaneMultitasker]

@TheMole I sent you a PM with an updated Geneve ZIP just a few moments ago. 

[TheMole]

3 hours ago, 9640News said:

OK, I am doing something wrong.

 

I have the files FT, GHOST512, GHOSTLOAD, and GTSTUB in the directory on the Geneve.

 

Do I need other files?  FT loads GHOSTLOAD passing the argument GHOST512, then goes to loading PRORGRAM.  Is this GTSTUB?  Or do I need other files?

I messed up with the original file upload. @InsaneMultitasker sent me an update which I've attached to this post.

 

23 minutes ago, InsaneMultitasker said:

@TheMole I sent you a PM with an updated Geneve ZIP just a few moments ago. 

Thanks!

 

 

Ghostbusters Geneve 7-25.zip

[sometimes99er]

Very nice. You should turn the road markings into background graphics. Oh, the car is partly background graphics. Maybe with a smaller car consisting of sprites only ?
 

Edited July 26, 2023 by sometimes99er

[TheMole]

1 hour ago, sometimes99er said:

Very nice. You should turn the road markings into background graphics. Oh, the car is partly background graphics. Maybe with a smaller car consisting of sprites only ?

 

I was on the fence about this as well, there's a discussion about exactly this topic a little bit earlier on in the thread, but I ultimately decided to keep the iconic look of the massive car of the original. But I do get what you're saying, I keep thinking about ways to make the road markings slightly less glitchy but haven't come up with anything yet...