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Work in Progress / back to BASICs

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soapyfish
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Joined: 24th Oct 2003
Location: Yorkshire, England
Posted: 14th Aug 2004 03:41 Edited at: 14th Aug 2004 03:42
Hi all,
Now I have plenty of ideas for games, but all of them need media, media which takes so long to prepare that by the time it's ready I've thought of an even better idea for a game.

So this is how I decided on back to BASICs. It's going to be a small collection of retro games, that I'll have remade but kept the original look. This way, I know I'm making a game that people should enjoy playing (who doesn't enjoy pong) and I won't get bogged down in making the media. Currently I'm planning on including pong, space invaders, breakout, missile command and pac-man. All games that most people enjoy playing and don't include much complicated media.

You could probably argue that this is a waste of DBP's power but I'd rather have a finished game by the end of it then a couple of half finished 3d models and a movable camera. And of course, me being me, It'll still take me absolutely ages to finishe the project, but finish it I will, and yes, you can quote me on that.

Well look here, it's a screenie of what I've got so far. Feel free to comment on how noobie it is of me to call PONG a work in progress.


Formely code2kill
To tell you the truth, I'm just glad I DON'T enjoy playng The Sims.
medwayman
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Posted: 14th Aug 2004 22:59
Sounds good I love playing the oldies, been playing berzerk a lot recently, one of the best of its era in my opinion.

Good luck with your project

Based on Amiga PD game Squigs. Early shots: http://www.custardsoft.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/03.png

soapyfish
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Location: Yorkshire, England
Posted: 15th Aug 2004 03:15 Edited at: 15th Aug 2004 03:17
Thanks for the encouragement (spelling) I've spent about helf an hour today setting up the breakout re-make, it's actually a hell of alot easier to set up the bricks then I thought it would be, just using for and next loops. This way I've got each brick placing itself on screen about a 10th of a second after the one before it, so instead of just a block of bricks appearing on screen the whole grid builds itself, one brick at a time, very nice, even though I do say so myself, here's a screenie (can't see building affect, need to see it in action.) p.s. Nice looking project custard, I'm googling squigs right now, big up the retro massive and all that.


Formely code2kill
To tell you the truth, I'm just glad I DON'T enjoy playng The Sims.
Peter H
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Posted: 15th Aug 2004 03:25
i'll always enjoy the classics

"We make the worst games in the universe."
hyrichter
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Location: Arizona
Posted: 15th Aug 2004 12:15
I love classic games, too. I used to play all sorts of games on our Atari computer. Good luck, and if you need any help, just let me know.

medwayman
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Posted: 15th Aug 2004 20:46
It would cool if you wrote a programme to run all the game exe’s that way people could d/l a new game, pop it in the games folder and run it from a main menu

I stopped developing Quigs a while back in order to catch up on some DIY but I will get back to it soon. After I attempt a competition entry that is.

If you haven’t found it yet, Squigs is on Assassins Vol 137

Based on Amiga PD game Squigs. Early shots: http://www.custardsoft.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/03.png

Izzy545
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Posted: 15th Aug 2004 22:34
If you don't know how to do what Custard said I could easily do such a thing in VB.NET... I'm fairly sure at least... If you'd like I could give it a try.
Peter H
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Posted: 15th Aug 2004 23:02
you would have to use a dll to run exe's...because DB can't do it...

"We make the worst games in the universe."
medwayman
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Posted: 16th Aug 2004 01:30
DBPro can run executables

execute file "???????.exe","",""

Based on Amiga PD game Squigs. Early shots: http://www.custardsoft.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/03.png

soapyfish
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Posted: 17th Aug 2004 04:00
@Peter_H Who doesn't

@hyrichter Thanks for the offer, I'm okay right now but I might take you up on it sometime in the future.

@Custard Nice idea, right now I've got it set up so that from the main menu you select one of the 5 games that you want to play, if this project was a success I was going to work on back to BASICs 2, 3 and 4 etc, each with another 5 classics in. I'm thinking your idea is probbly better though, it would cut down on upload and download times at least, and new games would be released a lot quicker if I only had to finish one at a time.

@Izzy545 Thanks for the offer, I'll give it a go in DB first, just don't leave the country.

update

I'm just about to look for some space invaders flash games, to take some screenies from, which I'll then use to get the sprites set up, I'll post a screenie when I'm done.

I'll also get a bit more of breakout done a.s.a.p. I just need to think of a decent collision detection method and them I'm on the home straight.

Missile Command is still in the pen and paper stage of planning, although actually I tried a remake a few months back and still have the source code somewhere so if I find that I'll be off like rocket (or a missile)

I'm now seriously considering Custards idea, it could be like MAME only without the viruses and legal issues.

Formely code2kill
To tell you the truth, I'm just glad I DON'T enjoy playng The Sims.
Peter H
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Posted: 17th Aug 2004 04:15
@custard- what!?!? i didn't know DBPro could do that!
oh well...learn something new everyday...

@play2kill- i was talking about "DarkBasic"...you know the programming language you're using? (hopefully...)

"We make the worst games in the universe."
medwayman
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Posted: 17th Aug 2004 05:39
Your 5 pack idea sounds good
Whatever you do ill look forward to playing your games

Btw. DBC recognises the execute file command too

Based on Amiga PD game Squigs. Early shots: http://www.custardsoft.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/03.png

soapyfish
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Posted: 17th Aug 2004 07:55 Edited at: 17th Aug 2004 10:17
Hey all,
Well I said I'd post a screenie and post a screenie I will.

As you can see I've set up most of the sprites (which I've added a bit of colour to) and got the bullet collsion sorted. I can use the same method for breakout, because I set the sprites up in the same way, so when I get some more free time I'll have a stab at getting breakout a bit closer to completion, next up, sorting out the alien movement.

I've got some reference pics for pac-man so I can start thinking about getting that started aswell.

EDIT:: I've just found the source code for my missile command remake so I'm already half way through that without even trying.

Formely code2kill
To tell you the truth, I'm just glad I DON'T enjoy playng The Sims.
General X
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Posted: 17th Aug 2004 10:46
Back to basics! maan you gave it a great title!

keep it up

think once play twice sleep third
Izzy545
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Posted: 17th Aug 2004 10:51
Looking awesome!!! I think it would be way cool if you made it like Mame...
Plastico
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Posted: 17th Aug 2004 13:53
those look really great
Code Machine
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Posted: 17th Aug 2004 23:37
Sounds like a good idea
I'm kind of doing something similar myself, but more as a 'warm-up' to practice writing with DBPro, before doing some more difficult games once I get enough experience.
soapyfish
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Posted: 18th Aug 2004 03:25 Edited at: 18th Aug 2004 03:26
@General X Yeh, I think it's pretty good.

@Izzy545 Yeh, what with me being on 56k it would cut down on upload and download times massively if people only had to download one game at a time. I'll do a bit of coding tonight, see if I can come up with a basic file selection type program.

@Plastico Thanks, I ain't exactly the best modeller/pixeller around so I thought it would be better if I kept it simple.

@Code Machine Yep, most people start off with something simple like this, and you can end up with a pretty good game by the end of it.

update
I've sorted out the breakout collision so I'll probably post a screenie of that sometime tonight, I'll see what I can about this MAME clone aswell.

Formely code2kill
To tell you the truth, I'm just glad I DON'T enjoy playng The Sims.
soapyfish
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Posted: 19th Aug 2004 06:45 Edited at: 19th Aug 2004 06:48
I would of posted a screenie earlier but it seemed pretty pointless just posting a screenshot and not having much to say.

Anyway, I've got a screenie now.......


As you can see I've got the breakout collision sorted, I just need to implement scoring, different levels, stuff like that and I'll be done.

I've had a go at making a main 'browser' that lets you look through all the remakes you've downloaded and select which one you want to play and it's going okay. At the moment though I'd have to release a new browser with every remake that I released, I'll just have to think of someway of letting the player select a game without actually knowing what games will and won't be available, it's all very well me putting

but what happens if later on I release a 1942 clone or a robotron clone, or something that isn't included in the original browser but anyway, I'm sure there's quite an easy way of doing it, I'll work it out.

Whatever I do progress may well slow down a bit now because I've started a second project and, just like I said, I'm spending most of my time working on the media, but people seem to like back to BASICs so I won't give up just yet.

Formely code2kill
To tell you the truth, I'm just glad I DON'T enjoy playng The Sims.
medwayman
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Posted: 19th Aug 2004 07:58
Looking good will there be a demo soon?

With regards to the game loader
You don’t have to hard code any of the games info into the programme, just search the games folder and get the information from the exe names. You could also include a set size image and a text file to be used by the loader.

You should also allow the games to search for the game loader exe. This would allow you to determine whether or not the game was activated by the loader, or is at least in the games folder, and display an option to return to the loader programme. If the loader exe is not where it is expected to be then you wont want a return option to be available, as it’s use would crash the game.

Based on Amiga PD game Squigs. Early shots: http://www.custardsoft.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/03.png

soapyfish
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Posted: 20th Aug 2004 01:24
@Custard (well who else would it be, everyone else seems to have buggered off)

Thanks a million for the help, in all honesty I was thinking of scrapping the loader idea and going back to the 5 pack idea, if people have to click on loader.exe then on pong.exe why not just click on pong.exe and go straight to the game you want instead of having to trawl through menus.

I'll definately take you ideas into consideration though and will ponder the idea later tonight.

As for a demo, well I've got PONG and breakout finished to a playable stage, not completely finished but then it wouldnt be a demo if they were would it. I'll ether put this on the web tonight or spend another day or so getting them to a completed looking stage, I'll then concentrate on getting pac-man, missile command and space invaders finished, and then it'll be onto back to BASICs 2 and Spy-der.

Formely code2kill
To tell you the truth, I'm just glad I DON'T enjoy playng The Sims.
medwayman
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Posted: 20th Aug 2004 07:45
You wouldn’t need to click on the game exe. The loader prog would scan the games folder and get the relevant information, and then the user would select the game from a list.

At the end of the day it’s just a novelty thing. Much better to spend your time writing the games

Based on Amiga PD game Squigs. Early shots: http://www.custardsoft.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/03.png

soapyfish
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Posted: 21st Aug 2004 10:55
AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH, my codes been eaten. I opened DBP as per usual, just making sure everything was done and dusted before I posted a demo, and nothing, zilch, zero, wammo.

With every single program I've ever written, I've always backed up the source code, except this ONE, but there's no use me typing this.
I've learnt a valuable lesson and I'll just have to make sure I don't make the same mistake twice. Hopefully I'll find time to rewrite back to BASICs, I know most of what I'd written in my head, but I've lifes about to start getting in the way, like it always does. I suppose, the more time I spend writing this the less time I have to program.

I had best get started then.

Formely code2kill
To tell you the truth, I'm just glad I DON'T enjoy playng The Sims.
the play2kill fan club
MiR
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Posted: 21st Aug 2004 20:20
Umm. I had that problem but the code was ok, only the dbpro file was corrupted. I opened the dba file in notepad and saved it there. Maybe you´ve got the same thing?


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medwayman
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Posted: 21st Aug 2004 20:32
Bad news

Yeah, what MIR said, you may still have the backup file.

I always use the –save all- option (after reading a thread on lost code when dbp first came out) and have never lost any work

If I remember correctly, and don’t take this as gospel, there may have been a problem using the save prompt after shutting down the editor. So I guess the most import save is the one before you shutdown

Based on Amiga PD game Squigs. Early shots: http://www.custardsoft.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/03.png

soapyfish
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Posted: 22nd Aug 2004 05:00
Thanks for the help, no luck unfortunately, but then again I shouldn't even be on the forums, I should be working on back to back to BASICs

Formely code2kill
To tell you the truth, I'm just glad I DON'T enjoy playng The Sims.
the play2kill fan club

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