| 20/12/2007 |
Reported By : RetroCoder |
Cavern Fighter 2 Screenshot
|
Shown below is a screenshot of the Cavern Fighter main ship flying over a couple of fuel dumps. I know the image isn't much to look at but it actually uses most of the key parts of the game engine. Although you can't tell from a static image the whole screen is being scrolled. You have full control over the ship which means it responds to keyboard input. The pipes and fuel dumps are placed on the screen based on the data file created by the map editor. The fuel dumps are strange colours as they are animated (each frame has a different colour). This tests the animation ability of my sprite class which allows the speed of animation to be defined and whether the animation is looped. The base sprite class also allows me to define if the sprite can be destroyed as well as a life rating which decreases by the power of the hit. I have also added a weapon manager class that holds the primary and secondary weapons. There will be several weapons available each with different styles. These will vary from the distance the shot will travel and how much damage it creates. Some weapons will allow repeated shots whilst others allow single shots. During the game you will be able to upgrade your weapons and change between them. I will soon produce a short video so you can see the scrolling in all its animated glory. If anyone wants to help by providing some graphics then please mail me at sjmremakes (at) ntlworld (dot) com. Also check out my Blog for more regular updates, you can also leave some comments. The link is over on the right.
|
|  |
|
| 30/10/2007 |
Reported By : RetroCoder |
Cavern Fighter Editor
|
Before I could start developing Cavern Fighter 2 any further, I needed to create a level editor. I required some raw data to test the scrolling code and data handling. I quickly set about developing an editor using my game library. I wanted this editor to be easy to use, something with a drag-and-drop approach. I also wanted it to be more data driven along with some graphic tile segregation. So far I have almost achieved what I set out to create. All the tiles are loaded into groups and can easily be dragged around the screen. There is no restrictions on the length of the levels or the number of levels. The tiles no longer have to be 32x32 pixels in size. Although the width needs to be a multiple of 32, there is no restriction on height.
Now all I need to do is to finish off the code that saves and exports the data and I can start to use the editor. I'm expecting to have to add a few extra features as I go along but I don't expect anything major. The Editor saves its data as XML so its very easy to add extra settings. I will export the data in a custom format suitable for my game. I don't want to use the bloated XML data for the game so a few routines will need to be created to massage the data into the correct format. I can then get on with the fun of writing the CF2 game code.
|
|  |
|
| 19/06/2007 |
Reported By : RetroCoder |
AdHoc Pictures !
|
I thought it was about time I added some pictures of the AdHoc game so that you can see that its not all a pack of lies. Of course these could all be mock-ups but if they were, they would probably have been made to look more convincing. So far the List Server is fully functional but needs a little more work. I don't plan any work on this server for the moment as it does what it needs to do. The Client application is progressing and now has a set of GUI classes integrated into it. The GUI is based on a set of classes created by John Sedlak (http://jsedlak.org). I have adapted these so that they fit around the way I've created the Client code. At the moment buttons are created based on the available servers. As soon as I create a GUI Listbox these buttons will be replaced. The next phase it to put together a test server so that the client can connect to it. I will then introduce a "chat" dialog and some sort multi-user graphical elements to stress test the whole system. In the future updates to Adhoc will appear here under the "New Work" page. Click on the image for more pictures.
|
|  |
|
| 17/07/2006 |
Reported By : RetroCoder |
The GemMachine
|
A lot of my spare time has recently been spent writing some code for an exciting new game for the ZX Spectrum (both 48k and 128k versions). The creator of the cross platform development application, TommyGun, has pulled together a small development team which has created "The Gem Machine". Members of this team are spread across the world which in itself could have thrown up many challenges. But in only a few months the game is almost complete. This project has shown that it is possible for several programmers to code independently to create a complete application. A lot of this is due to the flexibility of the TommyGun application. If you are interested in coding for older hardware then I recommend you check out TommyGun via the link on the right of this page. The site contains further details and tutorials as well as possible future retro projects.
|
|  |
|
| 02/05/2006 |
Reported By : RetroCoder |
Tanks! For the PC
|
Whilst doing a million and one jobs I've found a little bit of time to write a two player tank game for the PC. There is still a reasonable amount to do and it isn't going to be finished any time soon. I am writing it to make use of my new game engine design which is an improvement of the one used in 'Panic Dizzy'. Once this new engine has proved itself I will make a start on Cavern Fighter 2. All the things I have planed are being merged into this new engine. In the mean time, check out the screen shots of 'Tanks!'.
|
|  |
|
| 28/07/2005 |
Reported By : RetroCoder |
Iron Sphere for the ZX Spectrum
|
I have now turned my back on producing remakes for the PC, at least for a while, and have started work on Iron Sphere for the ZX Spectrum. Once this is finished I may produce a version for the PC and possibly a mobile phone version. Looking to the future I have already started planning a sequel to Iron Sphere which may be called "Escape from castle Iron Sphere".
|
|  |
|
![[Pic]](Images/Month/Dizzy.gif "Panic Dizzy Remake")
![[RSS]](Images/rss_feed.gif "New Work")
