FX-Unit Yuki: The Henshin Engine for TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine

[elmer]

It's looking great! 

[Michirin9801]

Ladies of Thunder much? ;3

Just a thing, a couple of extra tiles to make it look nicer would be very welcome! Something kinda like this:

deviantart net/./yuki_edit_by_michirin9801-dbg45bc.png

[CrackTiger]

Ladies of Thunder much? ;3

Just a thing, a couple of extra tiles to make it look nicer would be very welcome! Something kinda like this:
deviantart net/yuki_edit_by_michirin9801-dbg45bc.png

The tiles are just in the wrong order. This is how they were designed to be arranged:





And although that particular short stretch is literally the plainest scene in the stage, those specific tiles and the lowest number of unique shades are used to squeeze in dual layer parallax with shading. You can see what it looks like in motion at the 22 second mark in this video:

If everything makes it into the Gods of Lightning stage as planned, there should be around 8 different scenes/types of parallax and only brief periods when none is currently happening. There are also at least as many unique scenes visually, while many popular PCE shooters only have have a single type of scene used for an entire stage. In order to potentially pack in that much variety, things were streamlined considerably from what I had originally planned and assets are reused in different ways as much as possible.

So you can point out little additions that could be added to any particular scene out of context, but there are reasons for why things were designed the way they were. I'm still expecting cuts to happen and am just hoping for a good balance in the end.

[Michirin9801]

Oh okay, that explains a lot (and looks a lot better)

[OldRover]

The only cuts that have happened per se are in a few of the transitions. It wasn't possible to do the proper layering required for a couple of them, and 5-3 (shown above) is no exception. Despite easily being the most complex of the stage 5 regions, 5-1's layout favors seamless layered transitions through careful usage of scroll zones, dynamic tiles, and sprite overlays.

[ToyMachine78]

Can you still pre-order this? KS link is dead, and official website seems to just take you back to main page

[CrackTiger]

The only cuts that have happened per se are in a few of the transitions. It wasn't possible to do the proper layering required for a couple of them, and 5-3 (shown above) is no exception. Despite easily being the most complex of the stage 5 regions, 5-1's layout favors seamless layered transitions through careful usage of scroll zones, dynamic tiles, and sprite overlays.

If that means what I think it does for the first stretch of the stage, it's definitely going to balance out cuts in other places and will be a very impressive experience.


Lords of Thunder stages only feature around 4 scenes of parallax each and no matter how short any branch/section of the Gods of Lightning stage might end up being, it's still going to be a massive level overall.

[sirhcman]

Can you still pre-order this? KS link is dead, and official website seems to just take you back to main page

THEY RAN OFF WITH THE MONIEZ!

All kidding aside, Saru said copies would be available once the pre-orders are fulfilled

[OldRover]

eponasoft.com/yuki-0586.png

[OldRover]

The biggest difference between LoT and HE's GoL stage is that LoT uses a scheme where the level tiles are compressed, then decompressed on-the-fly to build the level as it goes. HE's GoL stage doesn't do this and just loads all the tiles for the stage at once. There isn't enough time to implement LoT's technique, though for the real GoL, that will be done.

[CrackTiger]

I guess the explosion isn't making it in?

[OldRover]

The large explosion looks out of place for 16x16 enemies. It is better-suited to enemies 32x32 or larger, such as the crusty bug, and larger composite enemies, such as the winged dude with fireballs around him. Smaller enemies like the bug, or smaller composites like the worm, are better suited to the smaller 16x16 explosion frames.

eponasoft.com/yuki-0589.png

[Michirin9801]

yuki-0589.png

Whoa, this scene looks pretty friggin' amazing!

[OldRover]

...and yes, that has parallax scrolling there.

[CrackTiger]

Wow, what a relief. I'll send you a 16 x 16 small explosion sprite in the large explosion's colors, so it all ties together.

[Jester82]

Seriously this is looking amazing. Is there a release window for the PC Engine Version? Take your time, will be worth the wait. Just curious...

[OldRover]

And so it was written... and so it was done.

eponasoft.com/yuki-0590.png

[esteban]

And so it was written... and so it was done.

eponasoft.com/yuki-0590.png

[CrackTiger]

Ladies of Thunder much? ;3

Wait until you see the bosses.

[sirhcman]

Seriously this is looking amazing. Is there a release window for the PC Engine Version? Take your time, will be worth the wait. Just curious...

Saru said it would be mid August

[Psycho Punch]

this is quite possibly the best PCE homebrew project to date, keep up the good work!

[OldRover]

One thing I am actually quite proud of is the fact that the game has an attract mode, with actual demo gameplay.

yuki-0610.png, yuki-0612.png

[ParanoiaDragon]

And so it was written... and so it was done.
yuki-0590.png

Just out of curiosity, what kind of parallax we talkin' on that liquid hot magma at the bottom? There gonna be h-int, like Air Zonk's first level(at least, I think that would be called h-int/horizontal interrupt)?

[CrackTiger]

And so it was written... and so it was done.

/yuki-0590.png

Just out of curiosity, what kind of parallax we talkin' on that liquid hot magma at the bottom? There gonna be h-int, like Air Zonk's first level(at least, I think that would be called h-int/horizontal interrupt)?

With HuC you can only have 4 sliding strips. Everything beyond that would be dynamic tiles. Since some of the dynamic tile parallax was already cut to give some to a much more elaborate scene, it's safe to say that this section will only have 4 strips of parallax.

What sucks is that there is apparently still available space for content and it's just the tile limit that's the bottleneck again.

[OldRover]

DAT ENGRISH DOE
yuki-0658.png

[esteban]

Sweet.

But how does medina get this before me?

[OldRover]

...I have no idea what you just said.

[2X4]

I haven't been on here for a long time, but when I saw this I was blown away.  To everyone involved in this, kick ass work.  I will be picking up a copy.  BTW are the levels set in stone?  Maybe you should do a Splatterhouse level...

[blueraven]

Yeah everything is looking great, guys. Well done!

[OldRover]

Unfortunately, there is not enough time to add any more levels to this game. It would mean planning, designing, drawing, and coding in a new level in the course of a mere 10 days, plus an additional soundtrack (the disc is already full so this wouldn't even work) on top of the work that still needs to be done in the next 10 days before the unveiling of the complete game at Game On Expo.

[2X4]

Yes, I know.  Just a little humor there.  Glad to see you working on this awesome project.

[OldRover]

While finishing up one of the GoL stages, I found the most hardcore flaw in the compiler that I think I've ever seen. I am amazed that the compiler did not catch this blatant error:

Code Select Expand

enemyy(enemyy);
That is supposed to be

Code Select Expand

spr_y(enemyy);
and yet HuC did not catch this, and compiled it normally. When the code ran, I got this:

yuki-0684.png

and it started playing the entire ADPCM buffer at 8k. Phenomenal fail.

[esteban]

DAS ist "GSOD" und "horizontal hold"

[esadajr]

10 days! wow! It looks like it was yesterday when the campaign was just a dream.

[OldRover]

Yup, the reveal of the complete game will be on August 11th... just ten days from now. Obviously we will have to have it finished before then... the 9th is the last day I'll be able to do anything for it here so it has to be done by then, as I'll be traveling to Phoenix on the 10th with the final build in hand.

[esteban]

Das ist "good" und "news", comrade.

[BigusSchmuck]

Yup, the reveal of the complete game will be on August 11th... just ten days from now. Obviously we will have to have it finished before then... the 9th is the last day I'll be able to do anything for it here so it has to be done by then, as I'll be traveling to Phoenix on the 10th with the final build in hand.

On my wife's birthday no less, awesome!

[elmer]

Yup, the reveal of the complete game will be on August 11th... just ten days from now. Obviously we will have to have it finished before then... the 9th is the last day I'll be able to do anything for it here so it has to be done by then, as I'll be traveling to Phoenix on the 10th with the final build in hand.

Best wishes for the big reveal/launch at the Game-On expo this weekend! I hope that you guys will be posting photos.

[Jester82]

Eagerly waiting for photos   

[esteban]

[OldRover]

I don't have many pics to spare as I didn't take a lot but here's a few. We did not actually finish the game as planned but our display version was very close to finished. I met with quite a few backers and not a single one of them complained that it wasn't done yet, all sharing the same sentiment: it's better to come out late but complete than to come out on time but rushed and unfinished. Anyway...

Here is Jesse and Chris setting up and doing some camera work:
frozenutopia.com/0apic1.jpg

Jesse hanging out at our booth as the show starts up:
frozenutopia.com/0apic2.jpg

The legendary Kiyoshi Okuma playing the game while his wife Che looks on and Saru and Chris speak with a KS backer:
frozenutopia.com/0apic3.jpg

Us hanging out with some of the CollectorVision guys... I'm the fat, uninspired dumbass in the middle:
frozenutopia.com/0apic4.jpg

Finally, right after the show ended, all of our team present went to dinner with the Hitsparks team; Kiyoshi and Che along with Chris Tang:
frozenutopia.com/0apic5.jpg

It was a pretty good event overall. I'm sure Saru has more pics than I do; I don't tend to take a lot of them.

[esteban]

Splendid. Thanks for the update + pics.

[sirhcman]

Crack/Hack/Fap_Tiger didn't go for the big reveal?

[CrackTiger]

Black Tiger didn't go for the big reveal?

It was in Arizona.

If I can swing it at the time, I'll be at the PGRE.

[haightc]

Black Tiger didn't go for the big reveal?

It was in Arizona.

If I can swing it at the time, I'll be at the PGRE.

Out of curiosity what is the PGRE?

[CrackTiger]

Prince Rupert Gaming Expo

[Gredler]

Out of curiosity what is the PGRE?

I believe it's the portland retro gaming expo

[sirhcman]

Black Tiger didn't go for the big reveal?

It was in Arizona.

If I can swing it at the time, I'll be at the PGRE.

Out of curiosity what is the PGRE?

PRGE (Portland Retro Gaming Expo)

[Gredler]

PGRE Is portland retro gaming expo, I think.

[ParanoiaDragon]

Prince Rupert Gaming Expo

Out of curiosity what is the PGRE?

I believe it's the portland retro gaming expo

Black Tiger didn't go for the big reveal?

It was in Arizona.

If I can swing it at the time, I'll be at the PGRE.

Out of curiosity what is the PGRE?

PRGE (Portland Retro Gaming Expo)

PGRE Is portland retro gaming expo, I think.

I want to say it's maybe the Portland Retro Gaming Expo......but it's also possible that it's the Prince Rupert Gaming Expo......just not sure.