Hello everyone

I would like to share the game I'm working on called Knightmare.

Knightmare is a 1986 vertically scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Konami for the MSX home computer.

The game is still in development. Many features are missing, such as the main screen, score, lives, player collision, power-ups, etc.

Please check out the project on my GitHub: https://github.com/leonicolas/knightmare-cmm2



Edited 2023-11-18 14:32 by LeoNicolas

just tested on mmb4w
so far,  looks better than the original MSX Version
(I had to search at youtube) Your scrolling is more even. The program is still far from finished but you have captured the atmosphere well. NICE!
When you have finished the game engine you only need to swap a few sprites to implement games like 1942 etc


I'm looking forward to the finished version.
Cheers
Mart!n
Edited 2023-11-18 15:14 by Martin H.

Thank you Martin

One big improvement I made was the fine screen scrolling. The Y-axis hardware scrolling was only available on the MSX 2 and the X-axis on the MSX 2 Plus. This game is from MSX 1, which uses modified ASCII characters for rendering the background, which explains the 8 pixels scroll.

btw ..
we had the problem converting the music to the mod...
Here  I found all the music as MOD files for download from the Amiga Version by Hoffman.
Maybe he gives you the permittion to use his Mods https://hoffman.home.blog/contact/
(I dont realy know if he is the creator of those MODs)
Edited 2023-11-18 17:10 by Martin H.

I will take a look, Martin. Using a pure Mod file will help with the file size :)

I uploaded a video with the gameplay of the v0.231118-alpha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT1vP_sk1wE

I will implement the bonus blocks collision tomorrow, allowing the player to collect them.

LeoNicolas

  Quote  

I will take a look, Martin. Using a pure Mod file will help with the file size :)

and you are much more flexible with the ingame music due to the Level or Situations (Endboss etc)

I watched the video, looks promising.
Edited 2023-11-19 20:59 by Martin H.

Nice game, Runs smooth
Thans for sharing, looking forward to the final release.

Volhout

Just watched the video, looks amazing!

Dave.

Very nice indeed so far, Leo. Keep up the good work! :)

Nice game, Runs smooth
Thans for sharing, looking forward to the final release.

Volhout

Today, I implemented the HUD and the score.

I posted a new video showing the gameplay with the updates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esJIlo3pQ0w





@Martin, I didn't use your font definition because the final result was not pixel-perfect. The size and format were a little awkward. I'm using blit to render the font tile from the PNG.
Edited 2023-11-20 14:59 by LeoNicolas

I still have a Goldstar MSX hidden away. :)  I never had this game though.

Hi LeoNicolas,

Too bad the PicoMiteVGA does not have the grey color. This game seems very do-able on a pico too. Maybe it should be on my todo list to change the analog outputs of the picomite to something that allows grey color.

Volhout
Edited 2023-11-20 18:33 by Volhout

Easy enough to do 16 shades of grey (the Pico is way too limited for 50). 405 line PAL is more of a problem though. :)

  Volhout said  

Hi LeoNicolas,

Too bad the PicoMiteVGA does not have the grey color. This game seems very do-able on a pico too. Maybe it should be on my todo list to change the analog outputs of the picomite to something that allows grey color.

Volhout

don't you think, I couldn't translate the Sprites and Tiles to a good locking RGB 121 Versions if necessary? Even without grey
I've got a little bit of practice in it




Just a quick try, I know that the Grass is to bight    
Edited 2023-11-20 20:22 by Martin H.

Hello everyone

The new version has been released :)
Now we can collect the bonus blocks. Only the King block has not been implemented yet.



Gameplay video:

https://youtu.be/O33jJVTAAAI

The source code repo link is in the video description.
Edited 2023-11-26 15:24 by LeoNicolas

Very cool. Congrats.

This weekend version news:
1) Freezing block
2) Enemy shots

https://youtu.be/PUC_imhjJs4

Hi LeoNicolas, I had never come across this game so I did a little research and found a PDF manual for it here and a description:

  Quote  

Knightmare is a vertical-scrolling shoot 'em up game starring Popolon, a warrior who embarks on a quest to rescue the princess Aphrodite from the evil priest Hudnos. The player controls Popolon through eight increasingly difficult stages across a Greek-esque fantasy setting, populated with an assortment of enemies and obstacles, over a constantly scrolling background that never stops moving until a boss is reached, which must be fought in order to progress further. The player must also avoid or take out enemy formations to gain bonus points, and reveal hidden bridges to cross rivers by shooting at it.

Popolon is equipped with a bow and arrows as the main weapon, which can be upgraded or changed by collecting a flashing weapon crystal. Picking up a new weapon grants its initial state and can be upgraded by picking the same weapon twice in a row. Popolon can also obtain temporary power-ups via power crystals branded with a "P" icon that initially appears colored black. These can be cycled through other weapons and power-ups by firing at them, ranging from boomerangs, three-way shots, swords, speed increasers, temporary invincibility and a shield to withstand enemy projectiles. If grabbed in their initial state, these crystals grant extra bonus points instead.

Scattered on the playfield are question mark blocks containing chess-themed magic jewels that can aid or hinder the player by shooting a block to release the jewel. While many of the blocks are visible onscreen, others are hidden and must be unveiled by shooting at the block until the jewel is released. The player can also uncover secret exits within certain stages and warp into the next stage. Getting hit by an enemy or blocked by an obstacle and scrolled offscreen will result in losing a live stock, as well as a penalty of decreasing Popolon's overall firepower to his original state. The player can obtain more lives by earning 100.000 points each time or collecting a yellow magic jewel, but the game is over once all lives are lost.

I ran the game on MMB4W and it went well until it crashed with the error:

  Quote  

Error in line 186: Buffer not in use

Then I ran it on a real CMM2 with the latest beta firmware until that crashed with the error:

  Quote  

Error in line 63: 200 is invalid (valid is -15 to 199

Also the sprites don't display correctly as you can see in the picture;



It looks to me that the parts of the sprites that are meant to be invisible are displayed as black. There must be some difference in the way sprites are supported.

Because I don't get on well with keyboard controls I was going to try to add in joystick support but I decided to put that off and hope that you will, eventually (apparently the original does). If you check out Tom's (thwill) Lazer Cycle game on FITHUB, that includes support for most (if not all) controllers that you can connect to the CMM2.

Bill

  Turbo46 said  

If you check out Tom's (thwill) Lazer Cycle game on FITHUB, that includes support for most (if not all) controllers that you can connect to the CMM2.

Bill of course meant GitHub: https://github.com/thwill1000/mmbasic-lazer-cycle.

Best wishes,

Tom