Clebin's projects for 2023

[clebin]

With the New Year almost here I thought I'd start a thread on a couple of projects that I’ve been working on and am aiming to release in 2023.

Gilligan's Gold

This is the other remake emerging from the Christmas high score compo. It's early days but I expect to finish this one first before returning to the bigger project. Here's some of the graphics:



Miniature Battles

I've been working on this one since October. It's a strategy game for 128k machines along the lines of Advance Wars and its clones like Wargroove and others. Most Spectrum strategy games date from the commercial years and are quite arcane and hardcore. I wanted to make something more accessible that could be played solely with joystick or basic keys. Because of current world events I may switch to a medieval/fantasy theme closer to release.

Here’s a screenshot showing some of the units. You can see medium level ‘fog of war’ is active on this map. Some units can see further than others and you can place a unit on a hill to see further. Some terrain provides extra cover for enemy units.



In this screenshot, I’ve turned on the higher level of fog where the map needs to be explored like Civilization. The magenta tiles show where the unit can move. The same pathfinding algorithm is used for enemy movement.



This menu shows actions available to the unit:



Here’s an example battle. Only the heavy tank graphics are currently done.



Most of the functionality is in place, but the big task will be to balance everything and optimise the AI or it won't be playable at all. I'll need some playtesters when I'm in the home stretch, but I'm not there yet.

[redballoon]

A Spectrum version of Advance Wars had been on my list of projects to work on at some point for well over a decade now, but I’m glad to see someone has got around to doing it! Looking forward to trying it out as the original Advance Wars is one of my favourites and I hate turn based strategy games!
I was going for a heavily chunky sci-fi styling, much like the original, so that kind of takes it away from “real world” events, though you’re never really going to escape that completely regardless of the style you use.

[Andre Leao]

Wow!!!! Miniature Battles looks wonderful!!!!

[StanVanman]

Both looking great!

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Advance Wars is my fave GBA game ever, so I'm looking forward to playing on Spectrum!

[clebin]

Thanks everyone! Glad there's more fans of Advance Wars out there - I'd better make sure I do a proper job of it then!

[Ivanzx]

Congrats! They both look good and it is always nice to remake something we did not properly have for the Spectrum. The Advanced Wars also sounds intriguing... are you using ASM or AGD? :O

[clebin]

Congrats! They both look good and it is always nice to remake something we did not properly have for the Spectrum. The Advanced Wars also sounds intriguing... are you using ASM or AGD? :O

Thanks! Both are written in C with the z88dk library/cross-compiler.

I'm also using the sp1 sprite/graphics library but I want to try and replace it with ASM for Miniature Battles as I'm not using most of its functionality there. sp1 it has a huge memory overhead and makes the 128k bank-switching a little awkward. Will need to learn Z80 assembly for that though... C is as low as I go.

[Sokurah]

A Spectrum version of Advance Wars had been on my list of projects to work on at some point for well over a decade now ...

Hah, me too. I love Advance Wars on the GBA.

[Timmy]

I think it's nice that someone is trying to make it happen. I've tried it once but your pictures look a lot better.

[Jbizzel]

These both look brilliant!!

[alejandro-ems]

[clebin]

Thanks again to everyone for the great feedback on the screenshots. It'll help spur me on to finish both games.

A quick update on Gilligan's Gold. I'm pleased with how things have progressed in a short space of time. the core mechanics are there now - wandering around, picking up and dropping items, dropping bags onto bandits' heads, riding mine carts, using the lifts, etc. The bandits don't move yet, I haven't tackled those sloping platforms and there's some graphics/animation missing. Oh, and sound. Remaking it has given me an appreciation for just how much was crammed into the original game.

This video gives an idea of where things are at. Note: For some reason, all the colour has been washed out of the video again and it looks like a ULA+ game.

[clebin]

I've already forgotten what year it is - just noticed I put '22' on the title screen.

Gillian's Gold is quite a bit faster than Bagman and this is faster again, but as @Jbizzel is doing a more faithful update, I figured I can use a bit of license here. I may slow it down slightly yet, but I'm fond of a nippy Chuckie Egg-style platformer.

[Mpk]

If there's one thing that might kill this ( or any similar ) game, it's needing to be pixel-perfect when changing direction e.g. getting on / off ladders.
Movement needs to work like Pacman, where the player can push the up/down while still moving left or right and it navigates correctly when it gets to the junction.

Maybe this does that already, I don't know, but I've gotten annoyed about this with other games repeatedly and had to vent somewhere.

And this looks really nice.

[Daveysloan]

Nice, they both look fab, really impressive.

So much to look forward to in the Speccy scene this year, it's showing no sign of slowing over 4 decades on & I'm here for it.

[clebin]

If there's one thing that might kill this ( or any similar ) game, it's needing to be pixel-perfect when changing direction e.g. getting on / off ladders.
Movement needs to work like Pacman, where the player can push the up/down while still moving left or right and it navigates correctly when it gets to the junction.

Maybe this does that already, I don't know, but I've gotten annoyed about this with other games repeatedly and had to vent somewhere.

And this looks really nice.

Oh, I totally agree. And yes it does work like that (edit: like you’d hope, not pixel perfect!)

Fiddly controls is of the main things that separates a classic like Chuckie Egg from a mostly unloved title like Gilligan's Gold.

[Morkin]

Nice work..! I like the fuzz/blur effect when the sprite gets into the lift, that's a nice touch.

[gabriele amore]

Absolutely love your gilligans gold remake!!

[clebin]

Update:

I had a go at the Amstrad CPC version as suggested by @TMD2003. It's a better game in many ways than the Spectrum. The graphics are nicer and the controls work how you expect them to. However, I didn't warm to it as much as the Spectrum version.

The reason is the enemy AI. Although it's way too harsh on the Spectrum, it does at least force you into certain tactics and strategies to avoid the bandits, like shepherding bandits into a position where you can drop a bag on their heads.

In the CPC version, the bandits move completely randomly so there's no real benefit to trying to knock them out - you just kind of hang around watching them go back and fore until you can sneak past. On the flip-side, the bonus ticks down much quicker so you need to work out a strategy for getting down in the lift and back to the wheelbarrow before the time runs out. So in both versions, many of the deaths occur while waiting a slow lift.

For my version I'm taking some inspiration from (ie. copying) Pacman. Pacman cleverly combines the two approaches - the ghosts periodically switch between a 'chase' mode and a 'scatter' mode, so you get the excitement of being hunted down but you get some respite if you manage to evade capture long enough. Spectrum GG is too hard because you're effectively always in chase mode, while the CPC version is boring because you're always in scatter mode.

Bagman/GG is basically like Pacman with knobs (and bells and whistles and lifts and minecarts) on, so that's my template. I have both modes mostly working barring some tweaks, but the trick will be balancing how long to spend in each. In Pacman, the amount of time you spend in 'chase' mode increases with each level. That's an option here, especially for the 48k version where I can't afford to add extra bandits and new level designs.

A screenshot, although not too much has changed visually:



With the sp1 engine overhead, I'm rubbing up against the 48k limit now and I still have the following to do:

* Bandits decide to wait for the lift
* The dreaded slopes
* Breaking into the sealed chamber with the pickaxe
* SFX

I'm going to see what I can cram into 48k, while also working on a 128k version. In the 128k version I can have more levels, more animation frames, more SFX and hopefully some AY music.

[clebin]

A new video, this time with me prattling on over the top:

[R-Tape]

That looks fantastic clebin. I was really pleased to see the colour clash on the steps - we could explain it away as headtorch glare, but this is the speccy so no need!

I'm looking forward to this. The only thing I miss is the 'have at you' appearance when wielding the pickaxe.

Edit - would an apostrophe on the intro screen make it superior to the C64 one?

[clebin]

That looks fantastic clebin. I was really pleased to see the colour clash on the steps - we could explain it away as headtorch glare, but this is the speccy so no need!

I'm looking forward to this. The only thing I miss is the 'have at you' appearance when wielding the pickaxe.

You're right, Gilligan needs a bit more of the pickaxe wielding psycho about him.

Edit - would an apostrophe on the intro screen make it superior to the C64 one?

Or we could undermine the C64 version by spreading this doctored screenshot all over the web?



... but maybe your way is easier.

[EdToo]

The colours of that screen undermine C64 anyway. Way more dramatic.

[worcestersource]

I really enjoyed the original but this looks like a great take. Good work!