Spectrum Computing

Well I got a bit carried away and recreated GG sprites, collectables and map using MPAGD.



All that is needed now is

• Scripting
  Loading screen
  Music
  Start Menu

So hardly anything then.

Going by looks alone, I love it. It improves the sprites and background while still keeping the oldschool charm and being faithful to the original. The hashed red/yellow works really well for me, and the red ore veins are a really nice touch.

All those interactions of sprites, objects, platforms and lifts sound a right pain to code, but I'm looking forward to seeing what MPAGD comes up with.

Good luck bizzel, hope to see this in 2023.

Can you make it less impossible?

blucey wrote: ↑Thu Dec 29, 2022 10:47 pm Can you make it less impossible?

Or, if it has to be impossible, make sure it has a jaunty beeper track

blucey wrote: ↑Thu Dec 29, 2022 10:47 pm Can you make it less impossible?

That is definitely the idea. Not sure my MPAGD skills are up to it.

There's a lot going on with this game.

Let's see how it goes

Jbizzel wrote: ↑Thu Dec 29, 2022 11:31 pm That is definitely the idea. Not sure my MPAGD skills are up to it.

There's a lot going on with this game.

Let's see how it goes

Good luck!

As you know there might be two Gilligan's Gold remakes emerging from the High Score competition. I'll have to try and not look at yours too closely or they'll end up looking the same. I already used the yellow-red hashes on my background...

Good luck and keep it up with the development!

Hi have a look at this progress. Where I forgot the name of my own game

I'm using collectable blocks for the gold bags. That's going to be tricky as they will naturally respawn when you re enter the screen. I'm going to have to try to manage the collectable blocks via scripting using putblock.

I think the gold bags originate at different heights on each screen, so I will try to use players hight to determine which bag has been picked up.

Not straight forward at all.

Looks great. You've already done a lot of the hard stuff like the lifts and trolleys.

Jbizzel wrote: ↑Mon Jan 02, 2023 10:59 am Not straight forward at all.

Yeah easy collectible items is one thing that AGD is missing. I say missing, but I wonder if Jonathan left them out on purpose to encourage originality.

Couldn't they be sprites instead of PUTBLOCKs? It would mean a largely empty 16 x 16 graphic, but handling collision and position might be easier.

What about objects (e.g. using DETOBJ GETOBJ etc)? You wouldn't be able to drop them on the baddy's heads, but at least position, collecting and putting down would be easy.

R-Tape wrote: ↑Mon Jan 02, 2023 12:07 pm Looks great. You've already done a lot of the hard stuff like the lifts and trolleys.



Yeah easy collectible items is one thing that AGD is missing. I say missing, but I wonder if Jonathan left them out on purpose to encourage originality.

Couldn't they be sprites instead of PUTBLOCKs? It would mean a largely empty 16 x 16 graphic, but handling collision and position might be easier.

What about objects (e.g. using DETOBJ GETOBJ etc)? You wouldn't be able to drop them on the baddy's heads, but at least position, collecting and putting down would be easy.

Probably the most straight forward way is making the gold bags 'objects' on the floor. Once you collect one, if you press fire it becomes a sprite, which travels down until it cant anymore, then I would remove the gold bag sprite and spawn an object (gold bag) at the sprite's x & y. Objects don't respawn/reset when you leave and re enter a room, (I don't think!) so this is probably the best way in MPADG.

The c64 version has huge bags of gold, as does bagman the arcade game, so maybe I will try this method, and make big gold bags. I think this will probably make scripting simpler for this element of the game. I was going to use blocks for the extra challenge, but I should stop fighting against how ADG wants to work.

At least with this game you don't need to worry about samey ADG jump mechanics.

Jbizzel wrote: ↑Mon Jan 02, 2023 7:29 pm Probably the most straight forward way is making the gold bags 'objects' on the floor. Once you collect one, if you press fire it becomes a sprite, which travels down until it cant anymore, then I would remove the gold bag sprite and spawn an object (gold bag) at the sprite's x & y. Objects don't respawn/reset when you leave and re enter a room, (I don't think!) so this is probably the best way in MPADG.

Nice. I think you've cracked it. I had rather siloed thinking about the bag graphic - I couldn't conceive of it being anything other than a clunking 8x8 block even though it doesn't have to be.

At least with this game you don't need to worry about samey ADG jump mechanics.

When you're done with Bagman/GG, please consider a revamp with a different theme, graphics AND jumping!

Alright!

I got the bag drop working pretty well. Including a bug in the original is potentially fixed in my version!

On the first screen of the original game, dropping a bag of gold from the left most ladder results in the gold landing in an unbelievable place.

My version has fixed that issue with some special scripting just for that one area of the game.

Now I need to test every ladder by dropping gold form every conceivable place and fine tune my script. If I get it right, the gold will always land in a 16x16 area of emptiness, next to the ladder.

Once I get this bit working, I remembered that the gold bags also need to slide down the slide areas of the game. I'm not even willing to think how to trigger that behavior. Maybe some invisible custom blocks that I can look for so I know I'm on a slide. That's my current theory.

The game looks very simple but there are lots of different mechanics - all from the FIRE key!

Main to do list & progress estimate
Falling gold bags (70%)
Sliding gold bags (0%)
hanging from celling (90%)
pushing a cart (35%)
riding a cart (50%)
being killed by a cart (100%)
putting gold into a cart (60%)
chasing baddies AI (5%)
carts moving between screens (25%)

Looking good

i'm not sure if it looks better than the original (esp those solid-color slopes/corners and all-white sprites)

this is what it actually looks like at the moment....



Main to do list & progress estimate
Climbing ladder sprite (0%)
Score system (50%)
HUD (50%)
Falling gold bags (70%)
Sliding gold bags (0%)
chasing baddies AI (5%)
carts moving between screens (25%)
pushing a cart (70%)
riding a cart (90%)
working lifts (90%)
being killed by a cart (100%)
putting gold into a cart (100%)
hanging from celling (100%)

Are you using ULAplus?

+3code wrote: ↑Fri Jan 06, 2023 8:21 pm Are you using ULAplus?

yes.

I see you're in this month's Retro Gamer!

Hopefully this means some progress is being made, I was a big fan of GG when it appeared on the Crash covertape, despite some janky quirks (getting the gold in the sodding barrow!!) so I'm hugely looking forward to seeing these ironed out

Screenshots look great so far!

+3code wrote: ↑Fri Jan 06, 2023 8:21 pm Are you using ULAplus?

Thanks for the interest guys.

yes that was the idea, but i hit a snag where it looks fine in ADG, but when I export to a tap, some random blocks are not the correct colours. I spent ages trying to fix it and haven't found a solution.

Generally, the game is not well suited to ADG im my view as you have to be able to track sprites that leave the screen. This is particularly the case for the mine carts.

I haven't though of a good way to track the mine carts yet. You probably need each minecart to have its own script, and set of variables so it knows what screen to spawn on, where on the screen to appear, and which direction it should go it.

The the other issue is the sliding gold bags that have to slide down the ramps. This probably won't be in my version. The bag script already feels ridiculous.

Final issue is the AI for the baddies. I haven't done much on that. but they need to wait for the lift! OMG!! and so much other stuff. So far I have got them to chase you. Sometimes they do a great job, other times they get stuck on an area of the map.

Hard to have time with CSCG2023 review keeping me busy, and I said I'd write another z88 EPROM by next month too.

I need a lie down.

Or a C5 to make my escape!

Main to do list & progress estimate

Trivial things

Loading screen (35%) some ideas - nothing I'm happy with
ULA support - who knows!
Music - 0%
Climbing ladder sprite (0%)
Score system (90%)
HUD (50%)

Show stoppers

Sliding gold bags (0%) - abandoned
chasing baddies AI (30%)
carts moving between screens (25%)
pushing a cart (70%)
Axe to hit baddies (0%)

Complete

Axe acting as a 'key' (100%)
riding a cart (100%)
working lifts (100%)
being killed by a cart (100%)
putting gold into a cart (100%)
hanging from celling (100%)
dropping gold on a baddie (100%)
Falling gold bags (100%)
Walking up slops (100%)

Good luck with completing your project (bagman and all its derivatives)
I wonder if the main character could be better "chracterized" (right now it looks a bit too simple in design)
something like this, maybe?

Edit: "bagman and its derivative are among my favorite games"