The gameplay really improved. Going through the first tunnel became possible now.
On Russian forums the authors tells more about this tunnel. In previous versions tunnel's width was taken from the original game unchanged, not taking into consideration that the submarine size changed (it became bigger). That is why it was so hard.
Now the tunnel was made wider, which is definitely a good choice :)
It is much better, isn't it? I really like the GS sound effects (the AY effects are good too). For some reason, the GS in-game tune doesn't play, if it exists (UnrealSpeccy emu), so AY music and GS sfx is a happy medium for now.
Load the second basic in the TZX file, the first one is the game + GS sound. I am not really a fan of GS sound really, doesn't fit the speccy at all. Gimme beeper and maybe AY any time.
I'm not a fan of the lazy "hack a game and add Amiga mod files to it" route that most GS releases take. It is rare for a new game to offer several sound combinations, and the GS sfx are very well done in this game.
I'm not a fan of the lazy "hack a game and add Amiga mod files to it" route that most GS releases take. It is rare for a new game to offer several sound combinations, and the GS sfx are very well done in this game.
Well, after your post I tried them and yes - the sfx in the game are very nicely done, but again, to me, it just doesn't fit the game. The game has low-res graphics and such HQ samples don't really fit :)
This has now progressed to the alpha stage. Tape version, Kempston mouse support, and more. :smile:
I can't hear the GS music (although it was loading something for hours ;) ).
Well, is it necessary to have only 2 missiles at once?
And the final thing - the submarine should not die from the mine when it's already exploding (means - there's no mine in fact).
Just played the new alpha using a sinclair joystick its a great game instantly addictive (getting through the tunnel was a good moment), and plays so well. Really looking forward to seeing the final version.
Kinda reminded me of an old arcade game I used to like called Heli something, I used to be able to complete it when I was at college... It had a similar game play / feel to the controls.
There was a lot of talk about this game, so what's more to add? :) Now, with wider tunnels, it became really playable.
I would just like to notice that although it looks like some game from 1982, it is actually a very advanced engine from a technical point of view. 50 fps, one pixel scroll over almost a whole screen. Close to impossible on Zx Spectrum. Wow :)
Waiting for new games from the author. I have heard some really interesting rumours...
What can I say? Big congrats on bringing this project til the end. It is one of the best ZX Spectrum games released in the last years. Technically superb (almost full screen 1 pixel scroll in 50 fps - never been done before?) and very playable. Great stuff. This definetly brings 2010 to being the best ZX year for games. It has been better than the last commercial ZX years. :)
I am just waiting for two more releases - one from the giant that passed away this year and one with multicolour rendering in-game. Here I am hoping ! :)
I think it would be more safe to say it has illusion of almost full-screen scrolling, actually it is far from full screen, speed in trade to very retro look, with large filled areas and blocky edges.
I think it would be more safe to say it has illusion of almost full-screen scrolling, actually it is far from full screen, speed in trade to very retro look, with large filled areas and blocky edges.
Unfortunately I have to agree with this - although you might have achieved something which you think is technically impressive, it appears to me to be too much at the cost of the game and its presentation - I don't think the "retro" look works at all. I feel that a better game could have been had from it working at 25 or 17fps, and having better graphics and a less pedestrian pace. :(
Well, maybe you should try some other level than "Yeoman" for a less pedestrian pace ;-)
To me, the only level at which it becomes playable in that respect is "Admiral", but at that level the movability of your ship, and the limited number of missiles you can shoot comes into play, and just makes the game frustrating. I guess it's just not one for me.
I really like it, and it is quite a challenge on the harder difficulties. I like the GS music too. 2010 has indeed been a great year for games - 74 released this year and counting! ;)
Im amazed and delighted to see this game released... Its undergone so much tweaking and development that Im surprised that its been allowed to finally exit its beta stage... Yes, its not perfect, but it has undergone perhaps more testing and tweaking than many other games Iv seen released... Personally, I think its a very impressive engine and quite brilliant in a number of respects... Reading the Russian forums, you get the impression that this game really was a community effort, as the author really did take to heart a lot of input from users and testers...
Looking at this thread, it becomes apparent that this game is much like Marmite - you either love it, or hate it... Personally, I love it... Its tempting from a cursory view to compare this game to a horizontal shooter, but thats really not the kind of game that it aims to be. I don't know off top of my head what other ZX titles this would compare well to, and for that reason, I think it fills a niche lacking on the ZX...
Personally, the first thing that wowed me when playing this, was the multiple sound engine choices - that alone, seems unique (if Im wrong, please tell me of any other title that gives you a menu option to switch between three - or even two - different sound engines to adjust music and sound separately???)...
The graphics, do look Atari-ish.. Ill admit that I likewise wondered why they couldn't be more detailed and shaded... Nevertheless, like someone has already said, they do strangely seem to fit well with this type of game... They also seem to highlight and contrast well with the smaller detailed graphics that appear in the bubble trails from your torpedos and other small detail effects... so in a way, the choice of graphical style actually seems to work well... You don't get that from a static screenshot, but its easier to see what I mean when you see it moving.
Someone hinted here that the graphical style was a choice based on the scrolling engine, or some other technical rational cause, Id love to understand that a bit better, if someone here could explain it?...
PS: Just found a link to the old Atari version of the game. If you look at the screen shots on that page, you'd perhaps better understand why the ZX version looks the way that it does...
If we can't add all the individual source files (there are lots!), could we perhaps make a link in the archive page to the above http address, to point users to the source?...
Someone hinted here that the graphical style was a choice based on the scrolling engine, or some other technical rational cause, Id love to understand that a bit better, if someone here could explain it?...
Not much to explain here - it is faster to put few the same bytes in memory than few different bytes. I.e. read-write-write instead of read-write-read-write.
Thanks Shiru, that sort of makes sense... Im guessing that accounts for the caverns blocky style, but can't see that influencing the subs actual design or the mines, which may owe more to porting across the Atari style for the graphics?... The sub has some details that would break up that patten (which, Im assuming demand the same byte to be duplicated either horizontally or vertically?)... Come to think of it, the mines could be drawn in that way... but I don't see how the sub would be... Maybe the sub had to be drawn that way in order to fit in with the graphical style of the other things, like the mines, which might owe something to the routine that your hinting at... Thanks for the insight!
Submarine is just a small single sprite that does not take much time to draw, no need for trade-offs here. There are a lot of mines and background edges on the screen at the same time, drawing them takes most of CPU time, that's why they are blocky. A lot of solid fill on the background is a trade-off too, it allows to redraw only edges of the background to create illusion of scrolling.
If we can't add all the individual source files (there are lots!), could we perhaps make a link in the archive page to the above http address, to point users to the source?...
The latter suggestion has been implemented now. :-)
Comments
On Russian forums the authors tells more about this tunnel. In previous versions tunnel's width was taken from the original game unchanged, not taking into consideration that the submarine size changed (it became bigger). That is why it was so hard.
Now the tunnel was made wider, which is definitely a good choice :)
Cheers for that but why is the tzx file so massive?
Jon.
Well, after your post I tried them and yes - the sfx in the game are very nicely done, but again, to me, it just doesn't fit the game. The game has low-res graphics and such HQ samples don't really fit :)
The graphics seem very Atari 2600 based but so far the beta is very good
I can't hear the GS music (although it was loading something for hours ;) ).
Well, is it necessary to have only 2 missiles at once?
And the final thing - the submarine should not die from the mine when it's already exploding (means - there's no mine in fact).
http://mister_beep.republika.pl/
And I like the card a lot.
http://mister_beep.republika.pl/
Kinda reminded me of an old arcade game I used to like called Heli something, I used to be able to complete it when I was at college... It had a similar game play / feel to the controls.
Took an age to load the file though!
http://zx.pk.ru/attachment.php?attachmentid=23486&d=1293620667
Now the GS card works properly (and it sound really nice, long loading though!).
http://mister_beep.republika.pl/
TZX - http://p-monty.narod.ru/seadragontzx.zip
SCL - http://p-monty.narod.ru/seadragonscl.zip
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fzx.pk.ru%2Fshowpost.php%3Fp%3D344128%26postcount%3D549 - google-translated post.
There was a lot of talk about this game, so what's more to add? :) Now, with wider tunnels, it became really playable.
I would just like to notice that although it looks like some game from 1982, it is actually a very advanced engine from a technical point of view. 50 fps, one pixel scroll over almost a whole screen. Close to impossible on Zx Spectrum. Wow :)
Waiting for new games from the author. I have heard some really interesting rumours...
I am just waiting for two more releases - one from the giant that passed away this year and one with multicolour rendering in-game. Here I am hoping ! :)
Unfortunately I have to agree with this - although you might have achieved something which you think is technically impressive, it appears to me to be too much at the cost of the game and its presentation - I don't think the "retro" look works at all. I feel that a better game could have been had from it working at 25 or 17fps, and having better graphics and a less pedestrian pace. :(
https://twitter.com/bobsstuffgames
https://www.facebook.com/bobs.stuff
http://www.bobs-stuff.co.uk
Well, maybe you should try some other level than "Yeoman" for a less pedestrian pace ;-)
I kinda like the old atari blocky graphics feel, dunno why, but it does fit :)
To me, the only level at which it becomes playable in that respect is "Admiral", but at that level the movability of your ship, and the limited number of missiles you can shoot comes into play, and just makes the game frustrating. I guess it's just not one for me.
https://twitter.com/bobsstuffgames
https://www.facebook.com/bobs.stuff
http://www.bobs-stuff.co.uk
I really like it, and it is quite a challenge on the harder difficulties. I like the GS music too. 2010 has indeed been a great year for games - 74 released this year and counting! ;)
and Battle Of Atlantis
Although the collision detection when in the narrow cavens is highly questionable lol
Actually no, I am happy new games are being released!
Im amazed and delighted to see this game released... Its undergone so much tweaking and development that Im surprised that its been allowed to finally exit its beta stage... Yes, its not perfect, but it has undergone perhaps more testing and tweaking than many other games Iv seen released... Personally, I think its a very impressive engine and quite brilliant in a number of respects... Reading the Russian forums, you get the impression that this game really was a community effort, as the author really did take to heart a lot of input from users and testers...
Looking at this thread, it becomes apparent that this game is much like Marmite - you either love it, or hate it... Personally, I love it... Its tempting from a cursory view to compare this game to a horizontal shooter, but thats really not the kind of game that it aims to be. I don't know off top of my head what other ZX titles this would compare well to, and for that reason, I think it fills a niche lacking on the ZX...
Personally, the first thing that wowed me when playing this, was the multiple sound engine choices - that alone, seems unique (if Im wrong, please tell me of any other title that gives you a menu option to switch between three - or even two - different sound engines to adjust music and sound separately???)...
The graphics, do look Atari-ish.. Ill admit that I likewise wondered why they couldn't be more detailed and shaded... Nevertheless, like someone has already said, they do strangely seem to fit well with this type of game... They also seem to highlight and contrast well with the smaller detailed graphics that appear in the bubble trails from your torpedos and other small detail effects... so in a way, the choice of graphical style actually seems to work well... You don't get that from a static screenshot, but its easier to see what I mean when you see it moving.
Someone hinted here that the graphical style was a choice based on the scrolling engine, or some other technical rational cause, Id love to understand that a bit better, if someone here could explain it?...
PS: Just found a link to the old Atari version of the game. If you look at the screen shots on that page, you'd perhaps better understand why the ZX version looks the way that it does...
http://www.qlam.com/atari/s_seadragon.html
PPS: TO Martijn: Any chance we could add the Open source files to the archive entry in http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0025426 ??
I think the last source can be found at:
http://seadragon.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/seadragon/
If we can't add all the individual source files (there are lots!), could we perhaps make a link in the archive page to the above http address, to point users to the source?...
Still finding it too damn tricky though...but that's just because I'm a bit crap! :D
The latter suggestion has been implemented now. :-)