Artist Required
As some of you may be aware, at the homebrew coding weekend back in July I volunteered to write a Spectrum game to be shown at this year's Replay exhibition in Blackpool. Apparently, the plan is to launch a different game for each of four platforms - Spectrum, BBC, C64 and one other, each based around something that happened at a previous retro gaming event. So I was tasked to come up with a game themed around the kitchens at Byte Back, along with queues, a limited menu and some stormtroopers. Simple enough.
Well, I've just looked at the calendar and realised that Replay takes place in a little over seven weeks, so it's probably about time I made a start on some code for this...
Would anybody be up for drawing some sprites?
Well, I've just looked at the calendar and realised that Replay takes place in a little over seven weeks, so it's probably about time I made a start on some code for this...
Would anybody be up for drawing some sprites?
Post edited by jonathan on
Still supporting Multi-Platform Arcade Game Designer, currently working on AGD 5. I am NOT on Twitter.
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Egghead Website
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Comments
Am I going to be a hero this time?
Fantastic! Okay, here's what I think I'm going to do:
I'll be drawing 3 bytes to the screen each line, pre-shifted to even pixel positions, so that means we can go up to 18 pixels wide. May as well make them the same height, I can use pointers to each sprite frame to avoid awkward calculations.
As for the the main character sprite, you could draw whatever you like, he/she/it will be able to move in 8 directions, but you wouldn't necessarily need to draw it facing each way - think of the robot sprite in Pssst!
I'm thinking of roaming bread rolls for the enemies, and the player will be able to fire hot dog sausages and beefburgers at them, which will turn them into hot dogs or burgers on contact. They'll then drop onto a conveyor at the bottom of the screen which transports the food to the queuing customers at the bottom left and right corners. Perhaps customers could queue "up" the screen, with a wall between them and the main play area and a small gap where the conveyor ends.
I reckon there's have to be a way of showing whether the customer at each serving hatch has ordered a burger or hot dog - maybe a small speach bubble with an icon inside? Something like that. The player would need a switch or lever somewhere to reverse the direction of the conveyor, and somewhere to top up his sausage/beefburger ammunition - perhaps tins or crates dropping onto the screen from above?
Plus any other random bonus collectables or other nasties to avoid. There were a lot of people dressed as storm troopers at Byte Back, so perhaps they might be less patient than other customers, or perhaps they could just be enemies who appear after a while and chase the player around.
You asked that when I was writing Egghead 5, so I stuck the ZX Shed offices on the wrong side of the Styx and dressed you up as a devil...
Thanks for the offer, I'll let you know if I need any more help. As for sprite tools, you can't go wrong with SevenUp.
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Here's a wee question - firing hot dogs and burgers. Burgers are round-ish therefore are okay for firing in 8 directions. Hot dogs - shall I do 4 sprites for each 8 directions?
How many customers and with the speech bubble icon needing space (though maybe overlapping customer graphic - I'm trying to get an idea of size for them, y'see. I'd go for cans for ammunition. I'll think of enemies, bonuses (possibly a drinks can for bonus but may be too similar to can for ammunition but i'll try it anyway, otherwise I'll try for a quenchy cup design....). Bonuses - tomato/mustard sauce type things. Unbonuses - gherkins, onions. Impatient stormtroopers, oh I have an idea for some secret customers, too, if there is space.
Right, I'll make a start and just give you sprites - SevenUp ok? when they are done.
Oi! I wanna be a baddie!!!!! (Pwese pwese !!!)
Rather than roaming bread rolls - why not have rampaging burgers, sausages etc. and the player fires bread rolls which bun up the meat.
To add another twist, perhaps the player would have to regularly top up on ketchup and mustard as well.
A bonus round could include picking up the customer trash against a time limit ( kinda like pac man ) with members of the aninimal liberation front taking the place of the ghosts.
Sounds fab anyhoo.
Oh and the title could be 'All Bunned Up' or 'Burger Me'
I'll get me coat..
Seems a good idea. In which case, I believe there already are some sausage sprites...
With a sub-title 'Banger Management II'..? Or are you trying to avoid that?
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Don't worry too much about customers yet, I won't write any code for them until the main sprites are moving around the play area.
The sprite routine is in, and some of the other infrastructure so I now have a blob on the screen. At least it's a starting point...
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*chokes on his coffee*:-o
:lol::lol::lol:
The player can now move his blob around firing other blobs in 8 directions. Supplies drop from the top of the screen and can be collected for ammunition. Just starting to get some code in to move enemies around, though there's no routine to spawn them yet.
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EDIT: Read the OP ... D'oh!
EDIT: Added [noparse][strike][/strike][/noparse]
I've no idea. I'll quite happily release it as a free download, if Redballoon is happy with that idea. Ultimately, I think the plan is to see what the authors of the other games come up with, then convert each one to form a separate stage of a four-stage game for next year's show. But that's for next year.
As far as progress goes, the action in the play area is now mostly in, I just need to get the conveyor belt moving and put a switch somewhere to toggle the direction. After that I'll have a think about how to write the code for the two queues.
I really ought to get some work done on Milk, no Sugar while I'm thinking about it. A demo version might give TMR something else to stick on the Spectrum he's taking, and I know he has a soft spot for shoot-em-ups.
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I've got a main sprite that I'll finish up in SevenUp and forward on to you. As the game contained Stromtroopers, I went for a small floaty robot type thing, though I suppose the hover-y bits could maybe become tank track type things.
Edit. Actually, is it just my eyes or is that not looking particularly crisp? If not, here's a link to the sprite.
(Now I'm thinking how he could be coloured up using the Buzzsaw game engine...)
- IONIAN-GAMES.com -
That looks excellent, cheers! Top stuff!
No need to worry about masking for this game, all the action happens against a plain backdrop. Just send the SevenUp files to my Hotmail address and I'll start putting them in.
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As things stand, customers don't specifiy whether they want a burger or hot dog, so long as you give them something. However, you have to select the correct ammunition - sausage or burger - to fire at the relevant bap. Firing a sausage at a burger bap won't make a burger. Any burgers or hot dogs you manage to create drop onto the conveyor below, which is switched off at the start of each level. You can start/change the direction of the conveyor by pressing two buttons on either side of the top of the screen. If there's time I'll give some of the nasties the ability to switch off the conveyor when they hit these buttons on later levels.
Suggested titles for the game so far are:
Byte Me
Big Buns (as I've already written a game called Big Baps)
Further suggestions gratefully received.
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It could be "Take a Byte" or "Byte the Dust", but "Byte Me" is still my favorite.
Just combine the two together ... Byte Me and My Big Buns.