Eiswuxe Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Hi, after I saw the super mario bros port for intellivision I immediately thought about porting one of my alltime childhood classics: The Great Giana Sisters. I am not sure if the game is well known outside of europe (especially germany). It was a game released in 1987 for C64 and Amiga that had such a striking similarity to Super Mario that Nintendo had the game removed from the market. Giana Sisters Wikipedia In the video you can see the first level. It is still missing a lot of features like powerups, crumbling floors, destroying blocks and very obviously sound etc., but I wanted to give you an insight into the development of the game from the very beginning on. The game runs fine on my Backbit Pro and I will upload the ROM as soon as the first level with all its features is done. For those of you who know the original game: I wanted to recreate the parallax clouds and also added a second layer with even lower scrolling speed. I also added the ability to "bounce off" enemies and made the controls a bit less floaty compared to the original. The graphics and level were created with my own "retro content suite". A tool that is intended to help with creating assets for retro hardware. It is currently very WIP but I might share it in the future if its of any use to anyone. retro conten suite demo Feedback is highly appreciated! 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+eebuckeye Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Awesome!! Looks great so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diamax Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 look nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cjherr Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Very, very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 It looks great! If I could make a suggestion, it is that the jumping seems a bit too “floaty.” Specifically, when falling, the acceleration seems a bit slow. I do not recall how the original was, but tightening up the jump mechanic would make the playing experience closer to Super Mario Bros., which I would imagine is the prototypical experience all the clones try to imitate. dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sfish Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Love it so far! Can't wait to see how this continues to improve and expand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 By the way, good job on the parallax effect — it looks great and very smooth. dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eisengrim Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 8 minutes ago, DZ-Jay said: By the way, good job on the parallax effect — it looks great and very smooth. dZ. Definitely - I found myself watching the clouds more than the jumping! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eiswuxe Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 Thanks for the praise and the feedback so far! 15 minutes ago, DZ-Jay said: Specifically, when falling, the acceleration seems a bit slow. The fall starts at the turning point of the jump arch where vecolity is zero. I can try to start with a bit more speed to make the fall feel "heavier". Thanks for the hint! 5 minutes ago, Eisengrim said: Definitely - I found myself watching the clouds more than the jumping! Great! It was a bit tricky to make it work with the scrolling AND moving it slowly while standing still. But I had really hoped that people appreciate it. Thanks for letting me know 😃 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intymike Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 A few years ago some guy made a Giana demo featuring the music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eiswuxe Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 3 minutes ago, Intymike said: A few years ago some guy made a Giana demo featuring the music. Yes, I stumbled upon this when I had a quick search if Giana has already been ported to the Intellivision! I found the link on circuit-board.de 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 1 hour ago, Eiswuxe said: Thanks for the praise and the feedback so far! No worries. 1 hour ago, Eiswuxe said: The fall starts at the turning point of the jump arch where vecolity is zero. I can try to start with a bit more speed to make the fall feel "heavier". Thanks for the hint! I am not sure if starting with a non-zero velocity would be the best way. To me the fall appears sluggish, which suggests that the acceleration itself is too low (i.e., it takes much too long to reach terminal velocity.) Anyway, it may be worth experimenting with various parameters. I look forward to seeing your progress. dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 7 hours ago, DZ-Jay said: the jumping seems a bit too “floaty.” Actually the physics in the original Great Giana Sisters was pretty much like that, much cruder than Super Mario Bros. Those of us who didn't have access to both games at the same could not compare it back then, but if you compare today it is a huge difference. Again it is a matter if one wants a port to be as accurate to the original as possible, or as good as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 7 hours ago, Intymike said: A few years ago some guy made a Giana demo featuring the music. Um, are you referring to the intro to Voyage? I made that music, with tongue in cheek as the intro features a Mario scene. It never was intended to be polished or perfect. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmadruga Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Awesome, now we just need someone to do James Pond. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 1 hour ago, cmadruga said: Awesome, now we just need someone to do James Pond. Or Battletoads! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 3 hours ago, carlsson said: Um, are you referring to the intro to Voyage? I made that music, with tongue in cheek as the intro features a Mario scene. It never was intended to be polished or perfect. Hey, I remember that! 😄 Memories ... -dZ. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eiswuxe Posted March 27 Author Share Posted March 27 11 hours ago, carlsson said: Um, are you referring to the intro to Voyage? No, I was referring to this video here I did not know about the Voyage Demo. I stumbled across the "Spririt" Demo by Arnauld Chevallier a while ago, but I did not know that there is some sort of "demo scene" on the Intellivision as well. The voyage demo is really well done! 11 hours ago, carlsson said: Again it is a matter if one wants a port to be as accurate to the original as possible, or as good as possible. The original game is even more floaty than my version, I already tried to "modernize" it a bit I personally prefer a slightly slower jump since it seems to me that I have a bit more control over the movement, which is critical in platformers. But I also dislike if it gets too slow like in some newer mario games, where it feels like the character is constantly floating or moving on ice when turning. Guess I will play around with various values. One thing I dont want to change too much is the design of the original levels. I need to make sure the levels can be played as intended, which also puts some constraints to the movement. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 3 hours ago, Eiswuxe said: No, I was referring to this video here I was not aware of that one, but it looks more like a slideshow of static screens with accompanying music, rather than a game demo. 3 hours ago, Eiswuxe said: I did not know about the Voyage Demo. I stumbled across the "Spririt" Demo by Arnauld Chevallier a while ago, Arnauld’s demo is rather impressive visually, especially when one understands the limitations of the platform. 3 hours ago, Eiswuxe said: but I did not know that there is some sort of "demo scene" on the Intellivision as well. There is not. Arnauld’s demo was a one-off, since he apparently was part of the Amiga demo scene in the past. He is a very talented and prolific programmer, and tends to focus on presentation, so it seems natural for him to create something like the Spirit demo. The Voyage demo was another one-off project, led by @shazz, a member of the old RSI crew, who wanted to create a demo on a retro-platform for the @Party demo-party in 2017. He chose the Intellivision, I suppose, because it had not been presented as a demo platform before. 3 hours ago, Eiswuxe said: The voyage demo is really well done! Thank you! I’m sure the rest of the crew is equally proud and appreciates the kind words. 3 hours ago, Eiswuxe said: The original game is even more floaty than my version, I already tried to "modernize" it a bit I personally prefer a slightly slower jump since it seems to me that I have a bit more control over the movement, which is critical in platformers. But I also dislike if it gets too slow like in some newer mario games, where it feels like the character is constantly floating or moving on ice when turning. Fair enough. 3 hours ago, Eiswuxe said: Guess I will play around with various values. One thing I dont want to change too much is the design of the original levels. I need to make sure the levels can be played as intended, which also puts some constraints to the movement. That is fair, although you have to consider that the scaling down of the graphics resolution and display area should be balanced with commensurate adjustments in velocity and other mechanical aspects. I do not say this because I think you have not done so, but because it is a key aspect of transporting games from one platform to another that is easily missed by many conversions. Anyway, on with the progress. Let us see what happens next with this project. 👍🏻 dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 It is possible that the Amiga version of GGS has better physics than the C64 version, but I can't remember for sure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Steve Jones Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 I just want to say talented new programmers for Intellivision are always welcome, while I didn’t know the original game you obviously have some skills, looking forward to seeing how this game turns out. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eiswuxe Posted April 9 Author Share Posted April 9 Here is a small update. I added the collectable powerup, the ability to destroy blocks and the crumbling floors. Next would be the flash / shooting powerup. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eiswuxe Posted April 10 Author Share Posted April 10 Another update. I added the flash powerup (for shooting) and some basic sound effects. Btw, is there a way for me to edit my original post? then I could always pin the latest video on top. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 If you buy an AtariAge subscription, you can edit posts for one month. If you kindly ask an administrator, they can enable editing of a single post forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 5 hours ago, Eiswuxe said: Another update. I added the flash powerup (for shooting) and some basic sound effects. Btw, is there a way for me to edit my original post? then I could always pin the latest video on top. Looks great! It's coming along nicely. 👍 -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.