2011 Turbo Homebrew Discussion (Was: CCAG 2011 Footage)

[spenoza]

Right now its rocking default res, but I *might* crank it up.  I haven't decided.  Right now its pretty nice looking. 

Did you have an idea of what to put there for this skewed perspective stuff? Cause I sure don't.  I blow at art/concepts involving it for the most part

If you're already having trouble with too many sprites on a single line, cranking up the res is NOT going to make that easier to deal with.

As for the line-scrolling section... Well, a Google Images search for ocean floor, like the following, might lend some ideas. It would be worth, I think, seeing how it looks.

http://images.google.com/images?svnum=20&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&q=ocean%20floor&btnG=Search&biw=1127&bih=728

How are you, so far, for CPU overhead? I know you were hitting some line-based sprite limits, but I figure you've still got juice to spare in other areas.

[Arkhan]

Well there is some sloppyherpderp math going on right now that causes slow down, but thats because it was a sloppy job as far as putting enemies out and making them do stuff.

Realistically there is a good chunk of juice left (and its already playing music/sfx. )

if theres an ocean floor above the buildings wouldnt that make the buildings underground...

or do you mean try to create the perspective where as the floor comes towards screen it lines up so it looks like its the ground under the buildings (the perspective fades into the buildings)

[spenoza]

Well there is some sloppyherpderp math going on right now that causes slow down, but thats because it was a sloppy job as far as putting enemies out and making them do stuff.

Realistically there is a good chunk of juice left (and its already playing music/sfx. )

if theres an ocean floor above the buildings wouldnt that make the buildings underground...

or do you mean try to create the perspective where as the floor comes towards screen it lines up so it looks like its the ground under the buildings (the perspective fades into the buildings)

You got it. The latter bit. As for the sprite problems, I wasn't referring to slowdown but the sprite clipping you get when 2 enemies mob the character on one of the lower areas.

Also, in the original Defender you could fire pretty quickly. Your demo has one shot at a time. If you are keeping to one shot at a time make sure to tone down enemy speed and aggressiveness to account for that, otherwise you'll be slaughtering your players left and right  : )

[Arkhan]

Don't worry, you'll be able to pound the shots out rapid fire!  I wish there was a good way to do particle effects without really torching things. 

The slowdown is one thing, the clipping is another.  Alot of the clipping will be sorted out once I rethink a few things. 

I dunno, the floor thing could be neat.   I cant even begin to imagine how to paint it though.  I suck at art.

We have to see what paul thinks about that since hes the pixelfiddler.

[Necromancer]

You're gonna crank out 'real' HuCards?!? 

[SignOfZeta]

Well, they won't be "real" HuCard™ games but they will run from a cartridge and not a CD. With mass production of PCBs being a lot easier than it used to be, all it takes is a simple EPROM.

I'm rather excited about that part alone. I'd love to see Retrocade come out as a HuCard. With a half dozen or so games as good as Insanity, Pyramid Plunder, and Atlantean, and with a linkable on Express version of Asteroids, I think it would be a hit. It would sell for more money than a CD-R would, and even those guys with HuCard only systems could play it.

[Arkhan]

I have ideas for making it as HuCard as possible.

as in possibly no giant chip nonsense pokin up.

We will see once I get some boards in and start soldering crap. 

basically, I know some people.  We might have something interesting to use as a card making process.  If it works as neatly as I think, oh man. 

I am trying to keep Atlantean as HuCard as possible, no CD stuff, so it can be on a card too.   Pyramid Plunder is too heavily entrenched as a CD game now to turn back...because we weren't planning on that as a HuCard...

but some of the other games (joust, skate or die, etc.) should be ok.

We will see! its all pending how well the card ideas turn out.

but, Aetherbyte likes to do things that need done.  like chiptunes and hucards.  reconizeeee

[shubibiman]

That would be so great and leave the possibility to Hucard only machines to play the game. I really hope you can make it!

[Arkhan]

The real question here is, would people want to pay ~50$ for a basic HuCard with Atlantean on it?

We have the unfortunate privilage of not being able to repro carts as easily as Genesis and NES stuff.

Those boards can be sorta large, and then get shoved into the cart.

We on the other hand... have to see how slim we can get it to be like a real HuCard.

Like I said though, I have some ideas.  If it works, a standard wimpy size game will be doable, and I believe I know a good way to make cases as well.

[sunteam_paul]

The real question here is, would people want to pay ~50$ for a basic HuCard with Atlantean on it?

The devoted will at first, but long term I don't think you'd get as many takers for simplistic arcade games (when people can buy actual better HuCards for less).

However, given other styles of games, I do see a future in it. Puzzle games would be particularly suited I think. They don't need the bells and whistles of an arcadey title, or the complexity to make them fun to play. CC's Tongueman's Logic is a great example of a superb but simple puzzler. I'm sure something original could be designed that would suit the format well.

[Keranu]

How about Obomba Man '11 on HuCard?

[sunteam_paul]

I actually have in mind a puzzle game that would be perfect for HuCard, but it might require getting permission to convert it from some ZX Spectrum homebrewers where it originated.

[shubibiman]

We want Puzzle Bobble!

[Necromancer]

The real question here is, would people want to pay ~50$ for a basic HuCard with Atlantean on it?

I'd guess not very many, considering how slowly Insanity/Implode/Meteor Blaster DX sold for almost half the price.  New HuCards would be the Hudson bee's knees, but it's hard to justify a $50 price tag (plus a substantial expense to have cases made or selling your soul and skinning a bunch of TV Sports Football donor games) when discs can be had for a mere buck each.  Plus flash carts can be had for $60, so no doubt a few peeps would ignore the negligible cost of the slave labor building the flash cart and label your huey as overpriced.

That said, I'd buy one. 

[Arkhan]

Well my trickery for jewel cases would keep costs down, but the 50$ cost of the entire package, includes estimates for the case/etc.

Whole packaged deal would be 50 money

and it would probably cost 40$ + time/effort to build per card, so when someone goes OMG PROFITEERING ASSHEOOL, we can all tell them to shut up.

I would be doing surface mount/low profile. And, if my plan for making it cardy, not boardy works, it would be pretty near legit style.   We don't get to have carts like Sega/NES stuff.  Total bummer really.

So really, were boned either way!

CD: Not many people have it.  America is all n00b about OBEY.
HuCard: People will go OMG TOO PRICEY. G T F O.




maybe itll be a short-run mostly for the loyalOBEYers.