HELL YEAH! - arcade platform shooter (my first Z80 game!)

[Nienn Heskil]

Better still, do it as +3, +D and Beta for good measure!

I've no idea how, but if this is requires a simple change to the LOAD_LEVEL routine and someone wants to help guide me through it if I get stuck then sure

I think it might just be possible to cram it all in a single 48K load somehow. At least, that level data seems to compress rather well (I got just under 4K using exomizer). And there's a big enough buffer to serve as a temporary unpack-space. Granted, I've only looked at the code briefly, and I realize it might not be possible due to other factors.

An easier option is to use the 128K extra memory. After the main code loads, test if it's a 128K, and in that case, continue to load all the level data into the 128K pages. Likewise in your level loader, call the tape routine if on a 48K, but LDIR from a page on a 128K.

[Ast A. Moore]

This is probably the most impressive "my first Z80 game" ever. Congratulations!

Hear, hear!

[Ast A. Moore]

Dang it, I’m usually not a fan of character-based movements in Speccy games, but this one looks great!

Well, a lot of that's down to you my friend - I'd never have known about floating bus display sync otherwise, and the scrolling looked godawful without it!

Glad my little writeup came in handy!

[Joefish]

This is really good. I like it a lot. I like the colourful graphics.

To be picky or other suggestions...

Again, sticking to a moving platform would be an improvement. And if you can't go down, a 'duck' / 'lie-flat' move to dodge enemy fire would be good. Though having a 'jump-down' option is a rare luxury in itself!

Personally, I'm also not keen on constantly respawning enemies, particularly during the stand-off boss fights (though those are pretty well done). I'm a big fan of Probotector on the GameBoy (though I can't get on with any of the other Contra games), and this reminds me a bit of that.

Some control in the air when jumping would help with the platforming bits, though I get that's not so easy with character movement. It's hard to apply the sort of inertia calculations that prevent you from just changing direction willy-nilly in mid-air. But it would be nice if you could jump straight up, then move just one or two characters over before you land. Or take a running jump but pull it up short if it looks like you're going to overshoot. Does it make you fall forever diagonally if you miss your landing point? Maybe making it just drop straight down after you've covered a certain distance would look more realistic.

Also, in 'keyboard' controls, you can just have the entire half-row of keys operate FIRE. That way you get M or SPACE.

[presh]

I think it might just be possible to cram it all in a single 48K load somehow. At least, that level data seems to compress rather well (I got just under 4K using exomizer). And there's a big enough buffer to serve as a temporary unpack-space. Granted, I've only looked at the code briefly, and I realize it might not be possible due to other factors.

An easier option is to use the 128K extra memory. After the main code loads, test if it's a 128K, and in that case, continue to load all the level data into the 128K pages. Likewise in your level loader, call the tape routine if on a 48K, but LDIR from a page on a 128K.

I figured the levels would compress nicely, there's a lot of repeated whitespace / patterns for starters. Space on 48K is the biggest problem though, the upper area of memory is used for the various display/attribute buffers and collision map (about 10KB). There definitely isn't 4KB free, that's for sure!

I didn't even have room for an interrupt table, which is one reason there's no AY music - the other being that the display routine now manipulates the stack pointer, so interrupts are disabled for this reason (and also for additional speed).

I had considered a 128K version, but figured most folks would be playing on emulator where multiload wouldn't be so much of an issue. Even so, I tried to keep the load times down (less than 30 sec) for the "realists" out there.

If I do a "v2" then no doubt I'll have a play with 128K paging though, as that's still on my list of currently unchartered territory!

[cmal]

Great work, [mention]presh[/mention] ! You made some good use of the lockdown time. I'm still getting used to playing the game and not dying so quickly but I can tell it's a piece of excellence. For a "First Z-80 game" it's amazing!

Only issue I've found so far is the platforming thing as others have mentioned.

[cmal]

Well, a lot of that's down to you my friend - I'd never have known about floating bus display sync otherwise, and the scrolling looked godawful without it!

Glad my little writeup came in handy!

That's still on my list of things to do...read through Ast's floating bus doc.

[presh]

And if you can't go down, a 'duck' / 'lie-flat' move to dodge enemy fire would be good.

This was in my original spec, but I couldn't get the graphics to look any good... plus the whole "ran out of memory" thing happened. So yeah, I feel ya!

Some control in the air when jumping would help with the platforming bits, though I get that's not so easy with character movement [...] take a running jump but pull it up short if it looks like you're going to overshoot.

You're 100% correct about character cell movement making it difficult to pull of any kind of inertia without it looking jagged.

I settled with this: You can turn around in mid-air, which stops horizontal movement. You need to do this to get certain pickups safely, in fact.

Does it make you fall forever diagonally if you miss your landing point? Maybe making it just drop straight down after you've covered a certain distance would look more realistic.

Yes. I did try building this in, but there's a few places where you can take a gigantic daring leap from the top and avoid some real hassle... and when I tested it with in these parts, the player just ended up falling short, plunging into lava/spikes/etc and it just felt really annoying, so I took it back out again

[Einar Saukas]

[mention]presh[/mention] I sent you a PM a while ago...

[MrClump]

The ZX Spectrum Next doesn't seem to like the TZX file at all, there are no loading sounds when you try to load it and then no other TZX files will load until you do a cold reboot of the computer. It's almost as if it's causing the Pi to crash. Is it possible to get a TAP version?

[ketmar]

Better still, do it as +3, +D and Beta for good measure!

I've no idea how, but if this is requires a simple change to the LOAD_LEVEL routine and someone wants to help guide me through it if I get stuck then sure ;)

for +3 is is very easy, it has nice file i/o API. it may conflict with interrupts and 128K mapping in the future, tho. but for now it should be as easy as calling "open file, read bytes, close file". +3 manual has +3DOS API documentation.

with Beta you will need some memory for sector buffers (at least 256 bytes, and you may prolly need to write your own directory parsing code). it is much harder, because TR-DOS documentation sux, and its API sux too.

dunno about +D, it should be quite easy too.

i'd recommend to start with +3, as it is the easiest of all -- basically, being one of standard configs, and with manuals.

[presh]

The ZX Spectrum Next doesn't seem to like the TZX file at all, there are no loading sounds when you try to load it and then no other TZX files will load until you do a cold reboot of the computer. It's almost as if it's causing the Pi to crash. Is it possible to get a TAP version?

Strange! Here's a .tap version:

HELL YEAH! v201018.tap.zip

[Manu128k]

Congrats! It's a nice shooter and a great first ASM game.

[+3code]

Nice and colourful game. Great!

[Nienn Heskil]

Figured out the powerup at the beginning (hint: backtrack moar), and... yep, quite a few secrets in there it seems. I also can almost make it to the end of LV2!

Meanwhile, here's a quick TR-DOS version. Hope you don't mind.

[MrClump]

The ZX Spectrum Next doesn't seem to like the TZX file at all, there are no loading sounds when you try to load it and then no other TZX files will load until you do a cold reboot of the computer. It's almost as if it's causing the Pi to crash. Is it possible to get a TAP version?

Strange! Here's a .tap version:

HELL YEAH! v201018.tap.zip

That did the trick, loaded fine and half an hour later I am still playing! Just got the bouncing skulls, jeez this is tough and I'm on easy!

[Juan F. Ramirez]

just tried it and I must say it's a very nice shooter.

Great first work. Keep coding mate!!!

[Morcar]

[media]https://youtu.be/pqHvV6RrXOs[/media]

[michellekg]

Such a nice game! It's a shame there's no loading screen though. Maybe you can ask someone like Andy Green for help? He's a great artist and very productive one. Or maybe someone from this forum can help with this task?

[Andre Leao]

Filipe Veiga's review of Hell Yeah! (in portuguese)

https://planetasinclair.blogspot.com/20 ... -yeah.html

[presh]

Right, time to resurrect this thread

I found some unused code and binned it, giving me enough space to fix the platform "bug" (so the player "sticks" to them instead of having to run alongside them!)

I've also got some engine improvements lined up thanks to [mention]cmal[/mention]'s suggestion here.

There may be a few cosmetic updates too, to make things look a bit snazzier (if what I have planned looks ok!)

May even get some AY music in there! If I can get it sounding ok without interrupts...

[presh]

Made some good progress last night with engine optimisation... one of the main drawing routines now uses stack-based reading plus some self-modified code to make things a bit quicker.

Still need to optimise the other drawing routines but getting one of them working like this is a big step for me

[Ast A. Moore]

Are you going to post an updated version for us to try out?

[lovebug]

totally amazing, congratulations

[presh]

Are you going to post an updated version for us to try out?

Eventually!