2011 Turbo Homebrew Discussion (Was: CCAG 2011 Footage)

[spenoza]

Does designing the game for HuCard rule out a CD release and vice-versa? Honestly, I would say the decision should be based on how much something bare-board looking would save over doing something with polish.

[Arkhan]

well it would need to be rewritten to handle the CD, lol

Theres lots of calls (cd loading/etc)

that you have to account for.  It could be setup PRIOR to starting it, but shoving it in post-completion, is a PITA.

What I mean by prior to starting it is, set up everything to do both, with a flag set for building.   If CD, call CD shit, otherwise, dont.

[touko]

No they can't.  Its not as simple as you think.

You realize this is an empty demo.  This is just the background/scenery... even if you arrange it optimally for what is on screen now, once you introduce a full amount of enemies that shoot at you, you will have issues again.  There can be a pretty fair amount of things on screen in defender style games.

Its going to involve a bit more planning/rethinking of some things, and probably some trickery and magic.

Eh, send me a screen snapshot, and i 'll tell you how i did   ...
not some trickery and magic della mouerte, only simple programming   (joke inside).

[nat]

If these actual "HuCards" got produced, I personally wouldn't give a damn if they were as flat as regular HuCards or if they had a big giant chip sticking out of them. Just the fact that someone bothered to make some HuCards in 2011 would be good enough for me.

[Arkhan]

Eh, send me a screen snapshot, and i 'll tell you how i did  ...
not some trickery and magic della mouerte, only simple programming  (joke inside).

Well the thing is, because the game scrolls both directions, sprites are tracked even off screen, as this makes it easier to do the parallax, but even so, this demo shows some problems I will have to deal with.

Condensing the building tops will help...but then comes the fact you could have:

hero + 5 hero shots + 5ish enemies/humanoids and their shots.... that alone is pushing/breaking the line limit... not counting the building tops + coral....

and then comes the radar, and making sure that is accurate ...   thank god for Pyramid Plunder.

Its going to require some hoojoo voodoo

If these actual "HuCards" got produced, I personally wouldn't give a damn if they were as flat as regular HuCards or if they had a big giant chip sticking out of them. Just the fact that someone bothered to make some HuCards in 2011 would be good enough for me.

Well, I agree with this, except for the part where they dont fit in jewel cases that way. 

If you want big ROMs stickin up, f*ck, thats no probrem at all!  Get boards duped, solder ROM on, done.

but I will try to get a good surface setup, and find out how resilient my card plan is.

It could be awesome.

[ParanoiaDragon]

As far as the casing goes, I'd be cool with it being not unlike the cardboard NGPC cases, as long as the size of the case would be the same size as a cd/hucard case.  Also kind of like what alot of companies do with music cd's, I forget what they're called, but, I actually like the cardboard ones better the regular cd cases myself.

[touko]

Well the thing is, because the game scrolls both directions, sprites are tracked even off screen, as this makes it easier to do the parallax, but even so, this demo shows some problems I will have to deal with.

Condensing the building tops will help...but then comes the fact you could have:

hero + 5 hero shots + 5ish enemies/humanoids and their shots.... that alone is pushing/breaking the line limit... not counting the building tops + coral....

and then comes the radar, and making sure that is accurate ...  thank god for Pyramid Plunder.

Its going to require some hoojoo voodoo

Na, you can use 3 scroll functions (or screen ruptures with hsync), 1 for main background, second and third for your parallaxes ..
You are completing with sprites for depth ..
It's more easy (and less cpu too) than sprites only, for multidirectional scrollings .

Or you can using sprites parallax for third,and second are tiles and some sprites (4) for depth .

Yes you probably can't remove all sprites problems in your entire game, but if you don't reduce the risk at start, it will be much harder later..

And i think that this defender demo was make speedly to show something at CCAG ..

I have though that, only because there are sprites problems, not for his quality ..

[SignOfZeta]

As far as the casing goes, I'd be cool with it being not unlike the cardboard NGPC cases, as long as the size of the case would be the same size as a cd/hucard case.  Also kind of like what alot of companies do with music cd's, I forget what they're called, but, I actually like the cardboard ones better the regular cd cases myself.

Cardboard? God no. There has to be some easy way to adapt a standard jewel case.

There is nothing so depressing as a system that had killer plastic cases for the games for years only to have to switched to cardboard in the later years. This one being...really late in years.

[Arkhan]

Na, you can use 3 scroll functions (or screen ruptures with hsync), 1 for main background, second and third for your parallaxes ..

I am already.  Its simple line scrolling with sprites making more depth.  The most basic of parallax.  It's all visual trickery.

You are completing with sprites for depth ..
It's more easy (and less cpu too) than sprites only, for multidirectional scrollings .

??

Or you can using sprites parallax for third,and second are tiles and some sprites (4) for depth .

Again, that is what I am doing.  The coral and the rooftops are sprites.  It is the dead moon effect.  There is no other real great way to do the effect. 
 

Yes you probably can't remove all sprites problems in your entire game, but if you don't reduce the risk at start, it will be much harder later..

I know... thats why I said I am working on it, lol.   This is basically Atlantean .0001.  I have ideas for how to fix all of the issues without sacrificing the visuals.  The problems only arise on the second row from the bottom of the screen because of the fact you can fly down there, and so can enemies, so it can become very crowded.  The problem wouldn't be as intense if sprites didn't need tracked in both directions.

The catch to games like Dead Moon is that it scrolls one way, at a fixed speed.  You know exactly when and where sprites need to pop out. No guessing, no going the other way, no sliding sprites back on screen that just went away a pixel ago.   But , I have ideas and plans. 



As for the jewel cases, I am fairly certain I know exactly what to do for that.  Ill skimp on the details until we get there, and if it works out, I will definitely spill the beans.

This HuCard thing will be a result of my original C= scene background (hey! lets modify everything ever! Get the solder!) and my gaming background.  I hope it works out.  We need HuCards.

[touko]

You are completing with sprites for depth ..
It's more easy (and less cpu too) than sprites only, for multidirectional scrollings .

??

How to insert local pictures   

[Arkhan]

I just don't understand what you said there lol

Do you mean using background scrolling is easier/faster than using sprites for all of it?

If so, everything you see except the coral and domes are already background scrolling 

[spenoza]

Is there a way to track the sprites without actually having them be sprites unless they are on-screen? As in, they cease to be sprites off-screen, but rather become simply tracked variables, and when it's time to be back on-screen they are recreated as new sprites?

[KingDrool]

Mark me down as +1 for a HuCard purchase at $50 or even higher. Having a new TurboChip in 2011 would be bad-freaking-ass!

[touko]

I just don't understand what you said there lol

Lol, i want to insert pictures to illustrate my propos for parallaxes ..
But pictures on my HD, not on the web ..

Do you mean using background scrolling is easier/faster than using sprites for all of it?

If so, everything you see except the coral and domes are already background scrolling  

nothing except corals in background are composed of sprites

Ok i see, if you want easily resolving you sprites problems, your domes (for background between) must be a background part, and your main background (dark corals) should not fall as low ..

[Black Tiger]

hero + 5 hero shots + 5ish enemies/humanoids and their shots.... that alone is pushing/breaking the line limit... not counting the building tops + coral....

Don't 16-bit console shooters usually flicker the bullets, so that only half or less are visible per frame?