My mod of ... Vixen

[Ralf]

Hello everyone !

I succeeded in completing one of my old projects.

So there is a game called Vixen. It managed to attract some attention in the past due to that poster stuff, you can read about it if somehow you don't know the story behind it.
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/5 ... trum/Vixen

Ultimately Vixen was however a disappointment. It has a nicely animated sprite of protagonist girl which is claimed to be digitised. It also plays actually pretty good on Zx Spectrum. But the game lacks substance, all the levels look the same and consist of the same few objects.

I've tried to improve it and add extra things to it. Some stuff was inspired by the other versions of the game and preview screens and some is my invention. This was my mod of Vixen was created:


The changes:
- totally new levels with new graphics, much more varied graphics compared to the original
- sprites now have own colours, in the original they are all white
- new loading screen
- new game menu
- shorter loading time (not a big deal today but anyway)
- simple ending added (just don't expect too much)
- after losing a life, you keep your whip upgrade (makes a game much easier)

The download: https://www.sendspace.com/file/hkxgat

Have fun!

✓ PROCESSED

DH 13/03/24

[+3code]

Interesting, thanks. I remember MAC made an improved loading screen.

[R-Tape]

Nice work @Ralf. Another addition to Miazga's Reimagined.

Do you know if the Fuller support has been affected? (for the DB entry)

[Lethargeek]

good work and much better than the original!

Spoiler

well, except that title screen, sorry Ralf

there's one annoying problem however: some big bushes may hide the monsters completely and it's very easy to jump into them
either make the whole bush lower, or even better - make it uneven height with gaps between the branches/leaves revealing the monsters

[equinox]

I haven't tried this remake (YET) but I remember Vixen and I will try your version, some day soon. The game always reminded me of the Thundercats game (which I first played on Atari ST): left-to-right scroller, smacking enemies, but no real challenge. Also those little 'bonus areas' where you just run around collecting gems: they were stupid. In Mario it makes sense because the reward is "I found it, I am clever because I found a secret room, I selected a pipe". But in Vixen they were presented to you, and you gained nothing really... (as far as I recall)

Adding per-sprite colour is definitely a step up -- I know this without looking at it. It was a game with quite nice AY music too.

[equinox]

well, except that title screen, sorry Ralf [/spoiler]

somebody gonna get the whip

[Ralf]

Thanks for the comments.

Yes, there is a problem that enemies sometimes (or maybe quite often) dissappear behind the scenery. It's the problem of the game engine. By default background objects go before the sprites. The exception are white objects which are ORed with sprites. Even if it could be changed then there are no masks for sprites so they would blend terribly with any bigger bush or tree. Looks like the original authors had their reasons to make the levels so empty.

I wanted to do it differently. I'm not going to change anything at the moment. It's completed.
And you can live with it. I was able to complete the game myself and I'm not a very skilled arcade player tbh

I had to made some trade-offs. Game levels are stored as lists of objects. My levels have more objects so they require more memory. So my mod has only one "fox" level compared to 3 fox levels in the original game (which looked the same however). It enabled me to get memory for extra data.

Also sprites in the original are all white so two sprites are ORed when they overlap. In my mod they are colourful and they overwrite one another at the screen. As I said in the game color of 8x8 char manages if things at screen are ORed, overwritten or treated like solid ground.

It's an old project. When I started it, the screen from MAC didn't exist yet so I drew my own. MAC's screen is better but my screen is mine

[equinox]

Thanks for the comments. [...]

I hope you will post your "developer notes" with your mod. Sweetness

[Audionautas]

I haven't tried this remake (YET) but I remember Vixen and I will try your version, some day soon. The game always reminded me of the Thundercats game (which I first played on Atari ST): left-to-right scroller, smacking enemies, but no real challenge. Also those little 'bonus areas' where you just run around collecting gems: they were stupid. In Mario it makes sense because the reward is "I found it, I am clever because I found a secret room, I selected a pipe". But in Vixen they were presented to you, and you gained nothing really... (as far as I recall)

Adding per-sprite colour is definitely a step up -- I know this without looking at it. It was a game with quite nice AY music too.

Thundercats, Rygar, North Star and Vixen played basically the same with slight variations here and there, but same game mechanics in all four. And I've probably forgotten some more very similar from back in the day.

[arjun]

Thundercats, Rygar, North Star and Vixen played basically the same with slight variations here and there, but same game mechanics in all four. And I've probably forgotten some more very similar from back in the day.

Shut yer mouth! Thundercats was great, awesome even. Northstar and Vixen (the original) were boring and dull to play in comparison.