tomdd
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Post by tomdd on Oct 12, 2018 20:22:06 GMT
One of the first Spectrum games I played way back in 1983 was PSS's Maze Death Race, a port of the arcade classic Rally-X. A lot of the elements of the original arcade are there although it only seems to have one maze, albeit much larger than the arcade. It also ran on a 16k Spectrum which is impressive but means a lot was cut out and you can definitely tell it is from the early years of the Spectrum. Perfect for a remake in glorious 48k with the main aim to make it much closer to the arcade. Very much a work in progress at the moment but will post updates here as and when I've made significant headway. For now you will have to get by with the loading screen  TomDD  |
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Post by Admin on Oct 12, 2018 21:00:47 GMT
Great to have you again in the ZX Dev, Tom! I think the choice was a good one, as there is no Rally X good enough in the Spectrum, besides a game inspired by it, called Rock N Roller, but it was not the same thing. This is one of the most remembered arcades from the early 80s and it has instant addictiviness qualities, so looking forward to seeing how you develop the game |
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tomdd
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Post by tomdd on Oct 18, 2018 8:41:06 GMT
Small update Have got the maze moving at a decent frame rate in all directions with a basic car sprite. Now working on getting the sprite to change direction with rotation (as per the arcade) and getting the enemy cars to work. Lots more to do but thought I would post a few screen shots to show progress TomDD     |
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Post by Admin on Oct 18, 2018 18:39:09 GMT
Looking very good, Tom, I just had a look at the arcade version, and the fidelity you managed to achieve with this Spectrum version is really high. It is also interesting to see that all your games were different in their approach, which is something to applaud. Looking forward to seeing how this goes, I am sure you will have a big base of supporters, as this game is one o those classics  |
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Post by Highrise on Oct 19, 2018 10:08:15 GMT
hi there Here is a clip from Terrapins RX, A Rally-X 'skin' which I put onto my Terrapins game. I was planning to do a full version of Rally-X but I welcome this as I have way to many other projects on the go! If you would like to use the graphic or animation code please feel free to let me know. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWlRdbBNcAs |
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tomdd
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Post by tomdd on Oct 19, 2018 19:44:45 GMT
Another small update, showing the movement of the maze. Way off final but gives a good idea of the speed and progress so far.  |
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Post by Admin on Oct 20, 2018 9:29:19 GMT
The scroll and the smoothness of the screen are truly impressive, well done Tom. Are you coding directly in ASM? Are you planning to reproduce the levels as in the arcade coin op?
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tomdd
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Post by tomdd on Oct 20, 2018 11:48:03 GMT
The scroll and the smoothness of the screen are truly impressive, well done Tom. Are you coding directly in ASM? Are you planning to reproduce the levels as in the arcade coin op? Yes totally in assembler and, although this is a remake of Maze Death Race, I decided to make the levels exactly the same as the arcade (thank god for the internet). Only question I have is if can I get the timing ok for the max of 8 enemy cars or will I have to max it out at 6. The sprites are updated at 25fps at the moment and the maze scrolls at 12.5fps, this helps with the rotation animation but also allows me to move the enemies at a different rate to the player, as per the arcade. One of the joys of doing this is to see how much you can get out of a humble Spectrum. Also if I can get an AY tune from the arcade I will add that as well even if the target computer is a 48k. TomDD |
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Post by Admin on Oct 20, 2018 12:46:33 GMT
Interesting! It would be great to have the real Rally X well ported to the Speccy. I would also love to have the AY tune, as I am one of those who prefer the 128K versions of the games |
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tomdd
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Post by tomdd on Oct 22, 2018 15:45:31 GMT
Think I've finally got the car movement as I want it, as close as I can see getting it to the arcade considering the maze isn't pixel scrolling. You can flip the car around doing 180s, slide round corners etc.... Quick animated gif to show it in action... Now onto the rest. TomD  |
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Post by Admin on Oct 22, 2018 17:48:22 GMT
Seems that you got already an important part of the game done! And looks like you are doing quite fast! Now I guess a lot of YouTube to check the levels from the original and some details to get a lot of resemblance 😉
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Post by javierq on Oct 22, 2018 21:02:30 GMT
Very good looking your game, Tom! I remember playing the Rally X in the town where I used to vacation when I was a kid ... Good job, aesthetically it looks a lot like the original and the movement of the car is really good! Much encouragement to continue the development and we will be attentive to the advances.
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tomdd
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Post by tomdd on Oct 23, 2018 13:29:14 GMT
Thanks for the positive feedback :-) Bit more progress, now have the random flag and rock placement done and also the radar although you can't pick up the flags yet or crash into rocks. Again quick animated gif to show it working  I'm going to get the basic game working with no enemies, flag pickup & scoring, crashing into rocks, fuel etc... once that is done I'll add the enemy cars in to complete. TomDD |
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tomdd
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Post by tomdd on Oct 24, 2018 14:37:54 GMT
Another update as I've got the scoring and fuel working plus you can crash into the rocks now. Again an animated gif to show it all working:  As you've probably noticed I've added some of the elements from new Rally-X, mainly the lucky flag were you get points depending on how much fuel you have left. Not sure about the scoring on this but think it is close enough. Also not sure the timing of the fuel consumption is exact to the arcade, but will double check, as I need to add the car slowing on low fuel. The other element I've added is the Special Flag shows differently on the radar to help find it. The flashing row at the bottom of the radar is the enemy cars which don't move at the moment. You may also notice I added a pause after the initial maze is drawn (at start and after a crash), this is to mimic the arcade but I'm not 100% sure about it. I guess it gives you a little time to "get ready" so may keep it in, thoughts appreciated. Lastly they way I put the scores on the screen after picking up a flag mimics the arcade, as in once they go off the screen they disappear. This does cause one issue though in that if you quickly turn you can get cut in half scores showing. I thought this might be an issue until I noticed the arcade does exactly this, so have kept it in for authenticity :-) This will be the same for the smoke when I've done that. TomDD |
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Post by gabrieleamore on Oct 25, 2018 12:29:00 GMT
This is fantastic!!!
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tomdd
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Post by tomdd on Oct 26, 2018 17:41:28 GMT
Thanks Another quick update, have been messing with the sound routines as it was very strange play testing in silence! Have a basic beeper routine going for the car engine, crash and flag pickup and an AY engine for the tunes. I'm happy with the in game tunes (one for the challenge round and one for normal) and have gone with the New Rally-X tunes as the original was a bit boring and repetitive. Used midi2ay to convert a midi score I found online although I had to edit/hack it massively to get it sound right. Unfortunately not all the scores are available so I've had to write the others and I suck at music. So although the in games tunes are good I'm not so happy with the game start tune, round complete and I don't even have a hi-score tune. Anyway plenty of time to work on those and I can play test now with at least some sound so will continue on the rest. |
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Post by Admin on Oct 26, 2018 20:08:01 GMT
You know Tom that if you need some help from musicians you can ask here in the forums or in WoS or Spectrum Computing forums too This is going really fast!! |
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tomdd
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Post by tomdd on Oct 26, 2018 21:22:49 GMT
You know Tom that if you need some help from musicians you can ask here in the forums or in WoS or Spectrum Computing forums too This is going really fast!! I'll definitely reach out if I can't get the final AY right, at the moment having fun learning the ropes even if I'm terrible at music composition. I'm making fast progress, mainly as I've got a bit of time at the moment and I'm still enjoying writing it which definitely helps! There are also a lot of resources on the web for the original arcade game and MAME to play test. I've also got a lot of z80 routines I've used for other games which I've been able to slot in. Speaking of progress, I've now added the smoke, I went with white colour on yellow which isn't the most visible, but it is smoke I guess . As it doesn't effect the player I think it looks ok. Anyway feedback appreciated and as per usual a quick animated gif to demonstrate it in action. No enemies yet but soon will need some beta testers if anybody wants to volunteer?  |
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Post by gabrieleamore on Oct 27, 2018 14:26:12 GMT
You know Tom that if you need some help from musicians you can ask here in the forums or in WoS or Spectrum Computing forums too This is going really fast!! I'll definitely reach out if I can't get the final AY right, at the moment having fun learning the ropes even if I'm terrible at music composition. I'm making fast progress, mainly as I've got a bit of time at the moment and I'm still enjoying writing it which definitely helps! There are also a lot of resources on the web for the original arcade game and MAME to play test. I've also got a lot of z80 routines I've used for other games which I've been able to slot in. Speaking of progress, I've now added the smoke, I went with white colour on yellow which isn't the most visible, but it is smoke I guess . As it doesn't effect the player I think it looks ok. Anyway feedback appreciated and as per usual a quick animated gif to demonstrate it in action. No enemies yet but soon will need some beta testers if anybody wants to volunteer? I would love to test this game: i always liked the original so much and your version looks awesome! |
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tomdd
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Post by tomdd on Oct 27, 2018 14:57:15 GMT
I would love to test this game: i always liked the original so much and your version looks awesome! Great and thanks, will let you know when I've got a good working version ready, hopefully not too long TomDD |
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Post by abusimbel on Oct 30, 2018 0:24:41 GMT
Tom, I enjoyed a lot your "order of mazes", thx!
This new one from you is looking awesome and moves very fast, congratulations!
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druellan
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Post by druellan on Oct 30, 2018 11:58:49 GMT
No enemies yet but soon will need some beta testers if anybody wants to volunteer? Hi! I would love to test it when you're ready. Just ping me! |
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tomdd
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Post by tomdd on Oct 31, 2018 22:55:01 GMT
Thanks for the offers to play test, once I get it a little further will reach out with a tap file. I think I've finally cracked the enemy car plot routine. It was a little tricky as the cars need to move off screen and when plotting can be partially on or off the screen etc... I therefore needed a routine which could cope with any of up to 100 different plot scenarios! Anyway it's working as you can see from the animated gif below which only shows the cars static but includes crash detection.  |
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Post by jasonuk on Nov 1, 2018 7:16:44 GMT
Looks great with smooth movement & clear graphics.
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Post by gabrieleamore on Nov 1, 2018 20:02:28 GMT
wow i think your next project should be bosconian!
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