Christmas Critters (WIP game demo)

[Steril707]

Something I was working on lately....

 

 

Will be releasing a demo of this over the weekend..

 

Hope I will get a bit of some gameplay into this over the next month...

 

(the scrolling looks jerky, because of Atari800MacX that I use at home where I recorded this. On my working PC where I am using Altirra, it's buttery smooth)

 

Edited November 22 by Steril707

[Beeblebrox]

11 minutes ago, Steril707 said:

Something I was working on lately....

 

 

Will be releasing a demo of this over the weekend..

 

Hope I will get a bit of some gameplay into this over the next month...

 

(the scrolling looks jerky, because of Atari800MacX that I use at home where I recorded this. On my working PC where I am using Altirra, it's buttery smooth)

 

It looks amazing. Great fast sprite movement. It's fantastic to see a Christmas themed game, and also using your original engine. 

 

I love the use of colour and the snow covered trees and snowmen are very effective use of the colours.  

 

 

 

Edited November 22 by Beeblebrox

[xrbrevin]

looking good - highly festive! 🎅

[Mq.]

Very nice graphics. I like it! Good luck with finishing the project!

[TheNameOfTheGame]

Wow, very nice use of color!

Edited November 23 by TheNameOfTheGame

[Havok69]

Ho Ho Holy Moley that looks good!

[+MrFish]

9 hours ago, Steril707 said:

Will be releasing a demo of this over the weekend..

 

Hope I will get a bit of some gameplay into this over the next month...

 

(the scrolling looks jerky, because of Atari800MacX that I use at home where I recorded this. On my working PC where I am using Altirra, it's buttery smooth)

That looks great.

 

I never knew the fat guy could move so fast on foot.

 

[Steril707]

You can download the engine prototype demo here..

 

https://tigerskunk.itch.io/atari-xmasdemo

 

Be aware that there are still glitches present in this, and a little platform detection error which results in some weird behaviour on some floors and platforms.. Also, your Atari needs 64kb to run this.

 

Will at least add some music over the next week to this, and maybe some more stuff in the coming weeks, if I find time and motivation...

 

Have fun...

(and gimme some feedback.. )

Edited November 24 by Steril707

[xrbrevin]

My PAL 800XL with Antonia freezes up just as the 1st screen finishes its movement

i'll dig out my 64k 600XL and try that

i used Fujinet and A8PicoCart to load it in and they responded normally

[solaris104]

Very nice, fingers crossed.

[Poison]

very nice, fingers crossed that the development goes well

[TheNameOfTheGame]

Thanks for the demo!  Some feedback:

 

- Like the way the level scrolls into view before starting. Nice touch.

 

- Great use of the Atari palette with lighter distant mountatins and sky, then the darker layer, then the platforms.  It's brilliant.

 

- Enjoy the way santa bounces when he walks...reminds me of Spelunker.

 

Yes, this is only good feedback :).  Sure, there are a few glitches, but it's an early demo, so well done and hope it gets developed further.

 

[Steril707]

Saberman did a short video on this... (damn, dude is fast )

 

 

As you can see, the scrolling is quite smooth here compared to my video..

You can see that only with the 1080p50fps option checked, though...

 

1 hour ago, TheNameOfTheGame said:

Thanks for the demo!  Some feedback:

 

- Like the way the level scrolls into view before starting. Nice touch.

 

- Great use of the Atari palette with lighter distant mountatins and sky, then the darker layer, then the platforms.  It's brilliant.

 

- Enjoy the way santa bounces when he walks...reminds me of Spelunker.

 

Yes, this is only good feedback :).  Sure, there are a few glitches, but it's an early demo, so well done and hope it gets developed further.

 

Thanks, mate...

Edited November 24 by Steril707

[xrbrevin]

apologies, it does work on my PAL 800XL Antonia - my controller failed and i thought the machine had frozzen..!

it also works on my 64k 600XL UAV

loaded via A8PcioCart and Fujinet

 

Nice and predictable input and response, great colours for that festive feel

Altho the top row of Santa's pixels seem to lift from his head whilst walking - maybe its a toupæ? hehe

[+MrFish]

9 hours ago, Steril707 said:

(and gimme some feedback.. )

Won't start up on NTSC, but -- in Altirra -- if you start it in PAL first, then switch to NTSC (without auto-reset enabled) it works fine, and faster as expected. If you die it crashes on NTSC.

 

Here's a video.

 

 

 

[+skr]

Loads fine on my PAL 800XL (with U1MB) and 1088XEL.

No crash when dying. But on that screen (see picture) no more movement to the right. Also no more back to the left screen. But looks great, smooth movement. 

[Steril707]

12 hours ago, MrFish said:

Won't start up on NTSC, but -- in Altirra -- if you start it in PAL first, then switch to NTSC (without auto-reset enabled) it works fine, and faster as expected. If you die it crashes on NTSC.

 

Here's a video.

 

 

 

Those NTSC colors look better than expected...

 

[Steril707]

9 hours ago, skr said:

Loads fine on my PAL 800XL (with U1MB) and 1088XEL.

No crash when dying. But on that screen (see picture) no more movement to the right. Also no more back to the left screen.

Yes, that's normal... It's just the end of the "level"... I wanna have bigger levels in the future, though..

It's just very convenient to have them at around 256 chars width at the moment (like Giana Sisters also did, by the way)...

Edited November 25 by Steril707

[Steril707]

13 hours ago, xrbrevin said:

apologies, it does work on my PAL 800XL Antonia - my controller failed and i thought the machine had frozzen..!

it also works on my 64k 600XL UAV

loaded via A8PcioCart and Fujinet

Good to hear...

13 hours ago, xrbrevin said:

Nice and predictable input and response,

Yes, I was almost a little bit surprised when I finally had the platform code done how good it controls...

 

13 hours ago, xrbrevin said:

great colours for that festive feel

Altho the top row of Santa's pixels seem to lift from his head whilst walking - maybe its a toupæ? hehe

Haha, yep, probably...

[Beeblebrox]

1 hour ago, Steril707 said:

Yes, that's normal... It's just the end of the "level"... I wanna have bigger levels in the future, though..

It's just very convenient to have them at around 256 chars width at the moment (like Giana Sisters also did, by the way)...

Great work. What's the plan for the main goal of the game?  (Or are you keeping that a secret?)  Enemies to squash, xmas prezzie to collect? Power ups, bonuses, etc?  No worries if you aren;t planning on taking it to far. Just curious. You are onto something with the grahphics and engine.

[Steril707]

40 minutes ago, Beeblebrox said:

Great work. What's the plan for the main goal of the game?  (Or are you keeping that a secret?)  Enemies to squash, xmas prezzie to collect? Power ups, bonuses, etc?  No worries if you aren;t planning on taking it to far. Just curious. You are onto something with the grahphics and engine.

No plans, mate...
 

Just experimenting here... I will add some xmas music to this this week. After that no idea, really..

My end goal is to have a capable sidescrolling engine with soft sprites.
 

[Steril707]

That said, I really love experimenting on the A8s. This is such a fun platform.

Lots more interesting to me than the C64.

 

Scrolling is so easy to do, I love the amount of colors, the RAM setup is so flexible, DLIs are just amazing, and it just all flows together so well. 

 

Typical elegant Jay Miner architecture.. 

For somebody with an Amiga asm coding background, this is just like feeling at home. Or maybe like visiting your Dad's home... lol..

 

[Beeblebrox]

1 hour ago, Steril707 said:

That said, I really love experimenting on the A8s. This is such a fun platform.

Lots more interesting to me than the C64.

 

Scrolling is so easy to do, I love the amount of colors, the RAM setup is so flexible, DLIs are just amazing, and it just all flows together so well. 

 

Typical elegant Jay Miner architecture.. 

For somebody with an Amiga asm coding background, this is just like feeling at home. Or maybe like visiting your Dad's home... lol..

 

I am no coder, but it's become apparent to me that the A8 architecture/platform - although quirky and at times challenging - when in the right hands it can be really pushed beyond what many assume are it's limits and do amazing things. Recent demos including Rewind/Rewind2, Alley Dog and of course recent games like Atariblast/Flob/Time Wizard/Final Assault/Prince of Persia/Adoom and many past classics, (Alley cat/Rescue on Fractalus/Henry's house) - all really show what the graphics chips, quirky graphics modes and Pokey sound are all capable of. 

 

 

[Steril707]

33 minutes ago, Beeblebrox said:

I am no coder, but it's become apparent to me that the A8 architecture/platform - although quirky and at times challenging - when in the right hands it can be really pushed beyond what many assume are it's limits and do amazing things. Recent demos including Rewind/Rewind2, Alley Dog and of course recent games like Atariblast/Flob/Time Wizard/Final Assault/Prince of Persia/Adoom and many past classics, (Alley cat/Rescue on Fractalus/Henry's house) - all really show what the graphics chips, quirky graphics modes and Pokey sound are all capable of. 

 

 

Indeed. I think we are just beginning to see the potential of what kind of games the A8 can do.

[Beeblebrox]

2 hours ago, Steril707 said:

Indeed. I think we are just beginning to see the potential of what kind of games the A8 can do.

Absolutely. The more coders, (like yourself), are interested in coding games and demos and pushing the A8, the more the scene benefits. I eagerly follow many A8 coders and their work, and can't wait to see what the likes of talented coders such as Amarok and Shanti77 among others will do next.