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View topic - [Coding competition 2016] Monkey Lad by efry, niloct, surt

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[Coding competition 2016] Monkey Lad by efry, niloct, surt
Post Posted: Tue Mar 22, 2016 11:58 pm
http://www.smspower.org/Homebrew/MonkeyLad-SMS



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# Monkey Lad v0.1

Our entry into the 2016 SMS Power coding competition.

A platformer game engine for the SMS. Run around and stomp on the monsters.
It is best played on an NTSC SMS but will work on a PAL system.

I'm also releasing the code this time which is a little scary. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.


Eric


## Controls

- Button 1 :- Jump
- Left <-> Right :- Move the player


## Credits

- Code + gameplay: Eric Fry (efry)
- Gfx + concept: surt
- Music: Niloct


## Source
<https://bitbucket.org/yuv422/monkey_lad>

The source (except PSGLib) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial license.


## TODO

A bit more work is required to turn this into a proper game.
In no particular order.

- Thoughtful level design
- More monsters
- Scoring
- Collectible items
- Stage bosses
- A story
- PAL timings


## Software Used

- WLA-DX -- http://www.villehelin.com/wla.html
- Z80 Editor -- https://github.com/yuv422/z80editor
- png2tile -- https://github.com/yuv422/png2tile
- PSGLib -- https://github.com/sverx/PSGlib
- Grafx2 -- http://pulkomandy.tk/projects/GrafX2
- Gimp -- http://www.gimp.org/
- LOVE -- https://love2d.org/
- ZeroBrane Studio -- https://studio.zerobrane.com/
- CLion -- https://www.jetbrains.com/clion/
- Tiled -- http://www.mapeditor.org/
- Bitbucket -- https://bitbucket.org/


## Tools

- Master everdrive USB (for testing)
- EasyCap USB video capture device
- NTSC SMS 1
- PAL SMS 2


## Thanks

Thanks to SMS Power for providing a great place to discuss all things 8-bit SEGA.
Thanks also to *psidum* for lots of play testing and feedback. :)

(c) 2016 Eric Fry, surt, Niloct 2016-03-27
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Post Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 12:57 pm
Can you open the doors?

This reminded me of playing Psycho Fox - with that kind of irritating physics which I sort of love :) Before I go on and play further, may I suggest lowering the camera so that it is easier to see below?
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Post Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 2:15 pm
Bock wrote
I suggest lowering the camera so that it is easier to see below?

That's my only gripe with it, too, actually. There are too many leaps of faith that can easily send you plummeting to your death for my taste. But as I understand it, the levels are kind of preliminary anyway, so I wouldn't worry about that yet.

Other than that I think it feels great. The graphics are lovely. I especially like how much they play to the Master System's strengths.
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Post Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 3:18 pm
Bock wrote
Can you open the doors?


The keymaker couldn't make it to the deadline so there are no keys to unlock those doors yet! ^^

There are many things that will change, an almost ready new level, and things will evolve with time.

Thanks for the comments!
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Post Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 11:21 am
Thanks for the feedback guys. :)

Bock wrote
Before I go on and play further, may I suggest lowering the camera so that it is easier to see below?


Yes. Unfortunately the camera logic didn't make it in time for the competition. The camera works a bit better in the prototype. It snaps to certain platforms and doesn't move unless you fall a set distance.

I'm working on some new levels and camera logic at the moment. Hopefully I can post a new version soon. Niloct has some sfx changes in the works too.
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Post Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 6:33 pm
I think it plays and feels incredibly well. And with such a clean and coherent graphics/color style! In a good way it feels almost like it is not an SMS game - or maybe more correctly: It feels like an updated, 'modern' take on SMS platformers :)
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Post Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 10:29 pm
This is very nice tech demo. Can't wait to see the full thing! ;)
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Post Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 12:36 am
I tested this for Efry a bit during development but still in awe at the final entry. A multi directional scrolling game engine, object management routines (sprites), terrain and enemy collision, flexible to import maps, etc. Multiple level support, open source for people to play with and done in an incredibly short development window.

Also credit to Niloct and Surt for the nice graphics and music. A great project.
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Post Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 8:57 am
Lots of potential in this, and runs smooth on hardware.
Please, do work on level design, the engine is absolutely state-of-the-art and the graphics are lovely! :)
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Post Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 12:00 pm
I'm not a big fan of inertia on plataformers, especially if precision is required, and to my taste, there's too much inertia from short distance and jumps.

Everything else looks, sounds and plays really well.
This could be a great game.

No doubt about it.


And oh yeah, i came THIS close of using the same art library on my hack. Now i'm quite glad i went with something completely different. :)
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Awesome game
Post Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 7:00 pm
Awesome game + cool music! Like other people have mentioned on the thread was a bit bummed on some of the "blind" jumps i.e. can't see where you're going to land and the inertia; I kept sliding off into the water and have to start back at the beginning each time - no fair! :) Other than that great - kind of reminds me of the "water / cloud" levels on the original Wonderboy
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Post Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2016 9:24 pm
Wow, that's a really impressive tech demo. Scrolling in all directions, nice animations and graphics. Hats off to you guys! Also really like that you went open source with it as I just read in the comments.
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Post Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 12:31 pm
Hi Guys,

I thought I'd just post a quick update on our progress.

The changes are

  • Multiple level support. The level change is very abrupt at the moment. I'll fix that later.
  • New Life objects.
  • Vertical camera update logic. (still a work in progress)
  • New enemy stomp sfx
  • New collectible fruit objects. (you can't get them yet)


Feedback most welcome. :)

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Post Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 4:04 pm
Very nice. The camera is much fairer now. I also really like the bonus fruit. They look delicious.

Only one part was a little weird. Look at the picture attached. In this screenshot, I'm standing on the top platform, outside of the visible screen area. The camera didn't follow me there, and when I jumped up, Monkey Lad became visible on the lower edge of the screen.
ml_outofbounds.png (1014 B)
ml_outofbounds.png

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Post Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 10:48 pm
Efry:
Could you upload the updates on the Homebrew page as well? Thanks!
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Post Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2016 10:53 pm
The update feels already like a much better game. Needs some more polish, but this could lead into a new Psycho Fox :)
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Post Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 2:58 am
Kagesan wrote

Only one part was a little weird. Look at the picture attached. In this screenshot, I'm standing on the top platform, outside of the visible screen area. The camera didn't follow me there, and when I jumped up, Monkey Lad became visible on the lower edge of the screen.


Yeah I've still got to fix that. There are two issues here. The player shouldn't be visible after they leave the top of the screen and I need to update the camera selectively for given tiles.

At the moment I centre the camera vertically when the player lands on a tile type that has the update camera flag set. (At the moment this is the red platform tiles) I'm in the process of adding an update camera override flag to the unused bits in the tilemap. This will allow for selective camera updates based on the level design not the tile type.

I'm also going to add a force passable override flag to allow for secret passageways. ;-)
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Post Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 3:27 am
Bock wrote
Efry:
Could you upload the updates on the Homebrew page as well? Thanks!


Hi Bock,

Yes will do. I hadn't really intended that version to be official. I'll update with a new version shortly.
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Post Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:36 am
What camera control algorithms do games typically use? The one you describe doesn't seem very familiar...
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Post Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 8:46 am
tibone wrote
And oh yeah, i came THIS close of using the same art library on my hack. Now i'm quite glad i went with something completely different. :)


Are the graphics based on an existing library? How/where do I find out more...? :) (not going to copy or anything - just for my education).
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Post Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 10:22 am
Maxim wrote
What camera control algorithms do games typically use? The one you describe doesn't seem very familiar...


I took inspiration from this page. Which is a very comprehensive break down of different 2d camera setups.

http://gamasutra.com/blogs/ItayKeren/20150511/243083/Scroll_Back_The_Theory_and_Practice_of_Cameras_in_SideScrollers.php

I think they call what I'm doing "platform snapping".

hang-on wrote

Are the graphics based on an existing library? How/where do I find out more...? :) (not going to copy or anything - just for my education).


The graphics were all done by surt. You can find his original tilesets here.
http://opengameart.org/users/surt?

He has a great style and really knows how to get the most out of the SMS palette. :)
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Post Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 11:14 am
Thanks a lot! This is the day I discover Gamasutra and Open Game Art - lots of relevant stuff to study!
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Post Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 12:24 pm
Hi Guys,

I've just added a new version 0.2

http://www.smspower.org/uploads/Homebrew/MonkeyLad-SMS-0.2.zip

Some tiles are now in front of the player.

I've also added a secret area on level 1_2 containing an extra life. :)

I also fixed the camera updates on the second level to stop the player jumping out of the screen. (I've still got to fix that generally in the engine)
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Post Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 1:02 pm
very nice!! :)
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