Lucretia - Demon Princess (鬼姫の呪い in Japan) NOW IN BETA TESTING

Started by OldRover, 05/26/2013, 01:12 AM

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Opethian

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OldRover

At last... an update. :) Although progress has been slowed considerably, we're still pressing forward and getting this done. The first beta release will appear on Monday; I will be working all weekend on preparing it. It will take all weekend because we are adding new content, so there will be a lot of tweaking (not twerking) going on here. Tons of test playing, adjustments being made, re-testing, etc etc. The usual battery of processes required to advance the progress in a major way.
Turbo Badass Rank: Janne (6 of 12 clears)
Conquered so far: Sinistron, Violent Soldier, Tatsujin, Super Raiden, Shape Shifter, Rayxanber II

whisper2053

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My Retro Gaming Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/whisper2053

Bernie

And now that I have actual hardware coming, I can be a better beta tester.  :)  Emulation....meh...

Mathius

Quote from: Bernie on 03/01/2014, 10:37 AMAnd now that I have actual hardware coming, I can be a better beta tester.  :)  Emulation....meh...
Way to go, Bernie! What variant did you buy?

OldRover

Making serious progress on the new content. Nando and I just need to coordinate a couple of details.

The core game code is 100% complete; the only code that needs to be added at this point are state machines for any new enemies (I've stockpiled about three dozen generics that can be tweaked to accommodate a wide variety of enemy types), and cutscene code. Most of what needs to be added is simply the content.

I've also used this project to improve the METRO game engine for future projects. METRO now has Lucretia's more advanced animation system, and adding two-player gameplay is just a matter of changing a single #include. Thrust can be enabled/disabled with a single #define in globals.h. Lucretia's complex scoring algorithms have been added as well, including its combo-kill feature. Generic game engine improvement for the sake of OBEY! :D

At some point, I will release all of the game engines to the public for general use. So far, there's Project SONG (traditional RPG engine, used in the Mysterious Song series), Project BATTERY (vertical shooter engine, used in Xymati), Project METRO (horizontal shooter engine, used in Lucretia and Einzelganger), Project VALKYRIE (platformer engine, used in Jungle Bros, Monolith, Paradox Girl, Valkyrie Midnight, and Super Mario Engine), Project FIST (brawler engine, used in Dragon Arm and Golden Axe), and Project DIRTH (overhead adventure engine, used for the Neutopia III prototype and the prototype remake of The Legend Of Zelda). I will probably release some of the more specific game engines as standalones (like the Bubble Bobble and China Doll game engines). I never implemented them as generic engines, since I didn't ever plan on making additional games with them. Source code releases help improve the homebrew scene. :)
Turbo Badass Rank: Janne (6 of 12 clears)
Conquered so far: Sinistron, Violent Soldier, Tatsujin, Super Raiden, Shape Shifter, Rayxanber II

Mathius

Just finally pre-ordered! Yay! Thanks for all your hard work guys. I am really looking forward to this hori shmup.

PS- If the parallax scrolling doesn't completely blow me away I will be asking for a refund.

jk  :P I am easy to please. :)

OldRover

Nando and I ironed out some details required to get this up to speed so work's moving steadily forward. I decided to take the opportunity to also cut out some of the generic utility code that was bloating certain parts... it has had a tremendous impact on the overall size of the game. Simply removing calls to spr_make() and replacing them with intrinsic library calls cuts out 140 bytes each time, and reducing redundant sprite setup lines to a for() loop cut things down by about 1200 more bytes. I've already cut level 1 down by 2 entire memory banks and I've just started optimizing... I can probably get it down much further while still maintaining its high frame rate. As with any HuC effort, things have to be coded as efficiently as possible to maintain maximum performance, even if that means sacrificing size... knowing where to long-form stuff for maximum speed and where to save space by using slower (but smaller) code has become like an art to me. :)
Turbo Badass Rank: Janne (6 of 12 clears)
Conquered so far: Sinistron, Violent Soldier, Tatsujin, Super Raiden, Shape Shifter, Rayxanber II

Bernie


TheClash603

Quote from: Mathius on 03/01/2014, 10:19 PMJust finally pre-ordered! Yay! Thanks for all your hard work guys. I am really looking forward to this hori shmup.

PS- If the parallax scrolling doesn't completely blow me away I will be asking for a refund.

jk  :P I am easy to please. :)
The obeybrew link had a page with links to sections that were incomplete.

Where do I pre-order this?  Looks great.

Mathius

Quote from: TheClash603 on 03/02/2014, 02:24 PM
Quote from: Mathius on 03/01/2014, 10:19 PMJust finally pre-ordered! Yay! Thanks for all your hard work guys. I am really looking forward to this hori shmup.

PS- If the parallax scrolling doesn't completely blow me away I will be asking for a refund.

jk  :P I am easy to please. :)
The obeybrew link had a page with links to sections that were incomplete.

Where do I pre-order this?  Looks great.
Here ya go :)

http://eponasoft.blogspot.com/p/shop-eponasoft.html

OldRover

The beta test is officially underway. The initial test version has been released to the beta team.
Turbo Badass Rank: Janne (6 of 12 clears)
Conquered so far: Sinistron, Violent Soldier, Tatsujin, Super Raiden, Shape Shifter, Rayxanber II

roflmao

Woo!   :dance:  When do you plan on closing pre-orders?  I'm hoping to get in on it, but have a few expenses I need to get out of the way before I start to pick up new obey.

OldRover

Just a quick heads-up... the beta test has been going extremely well and we are progressing nicely!

roflmao, preorders end on release of the game.
Turbo Badass Rank: Janne (6 of 12 clears)
Conquered so far: Sinistron, Violent Soldier, Tatsujin, Super Raiden, Shape Shifter, Rayxanber II

jlued686

Can you maybe give us a "Last call for preorders!" post when the time comes?

OldRover

Quote from: guest on 03/08/2014, 05:50 PMCan you maybe give us a "Last call for preorders!" post when the time comes?
Absolutely. :)
Turbo Badass Rank: Janne (6 of 12 clears)
Conquered so far: Sinistron, Violent Soldier, Tatsujin, Super Raiden, Shape Shifter, Rayxanber II

Opethian

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jeffhlewis

Pre-ordered! Can't wait man. I know you guys put a lot of work into these releases and they look amazing.

TheClash603

Going to stop being a bum and I will get my preorder in tonight!

Game looks awesome, can't wait!

tknjin

I heard about this project during the weekend from one of the customers at the shop.  Who he as well is a PC engine person, and told me about this project.  Got to finally look at it, and it is looking quite nice.  I will definitely put a preorder in soon =)

OldRover

Just added this yesterday... secret level! It's worth one of the highest accomplishments ("trophies") in the game to clear it.

frozenutopia.com/lucretia-0207.png
Turbo Badass Rank: Janne (6 of 12 clears)
Conquered so far: Sinistron, Violent Soldier, Tatsujin, Super Raiden, Shape Shifter, Rayxanber II

HailingTheThings

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pceslayer

pre-order placed!

Looking forward to the game and engine source releases!

touko


schweaty

Quote from: OldRover on 04/01/2014, 07:00 PMJust added this yesterday... secret level! It's worth one of the highest accomplishments ("trophies") in the game to clear it.

frozenutopia.com/lucretia-0207.png
April fools?

Nando


OldRover

Turbo Badass Rank: Janne (6 of 12 clears)
Conquered so far: Sinistron, Violent Soldier, Tatsujin, Super Raiden, Shape Shifter, Rayxanber II

OldRover

Real-life problems continue to plague progress of the beta releases, but it's still moving forward. The game now plays much better than the original demo release. The beta team is doing an awesome job. :)
Turbo Badass Rank: Janne (6 of 12 clears)
Conquered so far: Sinistron, Violent Soldier, Tatsujin, Super Raiden, Shape Shifter, Rayxanber II

Mathius

Quote from: OldRover on 04/06/2014, 02:13 PMReal-life problems continue to plague progress of the beta releases, but it's still moving forward. The game now plays much better than the original demo release. The beta team is doing an awesome job. :)
Group applause for all beta testers!  =D>

OldRover

The game now has a high score list in its demo loop. I put this off for awhile but figured I'd add it now.

eponasoft.com/lucretia-0228.png

Shows the second through fifth high scores here...

eponasoft.com/lucretia-0231.png

... and the top score gets a special display. :)
Turbo Badass Rank: Janne (6 of 12 clears)
Conquered so far: Sinistron, Violent Soldier, Tatsujin, Super Raiden, Shape Shifter, Rayxanber II

Mathius

Not enough cleavage for such a high honor as a top score.  [-(

Aaron, ban hammer please.

Aaron?

MrWunderful

Awesome- I just placed a preorder! Looking forward to this.
Sell me your loose Hu Cards!!

Bernie

This game should earn a place on every shelf here in the forum.  Support homebrew, especially ones like this!!

esteban

Quote from: Mathius on 04/06/2014, 07:30 PMNot enough cleavage for such a high honor as a top score.  [-(

Aaron, ban hammer please.

Aaron?
BAN HAMMER.
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JoshTurboTrollX

Quote from: esteban on 04/07/2014, 09:38 PM
Quote from: Mathius on 04/06/2014, 07:30 PMNot enough cleavage for such a high honor as a top score.  [-(

Aaron, ban hammer please.

Aaron ?
BAN HAMMER.
HAM BANNER!!

IMG
Jossshhhhh...Legendary TurboTrollX-16: He revenge-bans PCE Developers/Ys IV Localizers from PCE Facebook groups and destroyed 2 PC Engine groups: one by Aaron Lambert on Facebook, then the other by Aaron Nanto!!! Josh and PCE Aarons don't have a good track record together! Both times he blamed the Aarons and their staff in a "Look-what-you-made-us-do?!" manner (extortion!), never himself nor his deranged, destructive, toxic turbo troll gang!

OldRover

Turbo Badass Rank: Janne (6 of 12 clears)
Conquered so far: Sinistron, Violent Soldier, Tatsujin, Super Raiden, Shape Shifter, Rayxanber II

ParanoiaDragon

Quote from: OldRover on 04/09/2014, 01:45 PMNew stage added.
eponasoft.com/lucretia-0229.png

Pockets o' parallax... just how Paranoia Dragon likes it.  :lol:
Haha, awesome!  I love me some pockets o' parallax! :)
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Mathius

Quote from: ParanoiaDragon on 04/09/2014, 11:13 PM
Quote from: OldRover on 04/09/2014, 01:45 PMNew stage added.
eponasoft.com/lucretia-0229.png

Pockets o' parallax... just how Paranoia Dragon and Mathius likes it.  :lol:
Haha, awesome!  I love me some pockets o' parallax! :)
Fixed.

geise

This is so very awesome Rove.  Keep it going!  Thank you for all the time you're putting into this.

OldRover

Quote from: geise on 04/10/2014, 01:01 PMThis is so very awesome Rove.  Keep it going!  Thank you for all the time you're putting into this.
Thank Nando and CrackTiger too... it's their pixels. :) I just glue 'em all together on the screen. :)
Turbo Badass Rank: Janne (6 of 12 clears)
Conquered so far: Sinistron, Violent Soldier, Tatsujin, Super Raiden, Shape Shifter, Rayxanber II

seieienbu

This game has a really nice 16-bit look to it.  I don't know a better word to describe my feelings other than "wholesome."  I'm looking forward to giving you my money!
Current want list:  Bomberman 93

geise

Quote from: OldRover on 04/10/2014, 01:08 PM
Quote from: geise on 04/10/2014, 01:01 PMThis is so very awesome Rove.  Keep it going!  Thank you for all the time you're putting into this.
Thank Nando and CrackTiger too... it's their pixels. :) I just glue 'em all together on the screen. :)
THANK YOU BT AND NANDO!!!!!!

Mathius

Quote from: geise on 04/10/2014, 03:01 PM
Quote from: OldRover on 04/10/2014, 01:08 PM
Quote from: geise on 04/10/2014, 01:01 PMThis is so very awesome Rove.  Keep it going!  Thank you for all the time you're putting into this.
Thank Nando and CrackTiger too... it's their pixels. :) I just glue 'em all together on the screen. :)
THANK YOU BT AND NANDO!!!!!!
Thanks guys!

Nando

GO TEAM!!!

thank you guys for the support. Our aim is to make you smile and to hurt your fingers. In a good gaming way of course.

OldRover

Fingers will hurt... oh yes... fingers will hurt.

This guy just got done playing.

IMG
Turbo Badass Rank: Janne (6 of 12 clears)
Conquered so far: Sinistron, Violent Soldier, Tatsujin, Super Raiden, Shape Shifter, Rayxanber II

Nando


T2KFreeker

Another new level? This game just get's bigger and bigger. The Neverending Turbob game! Excellent either way and looking Damn Good to boot guys!
END OF LINE.

OldRover

Thanks to Bernie, I was able to finally test this on real hardware. The line scroll jitter issue that the game had prior seems to be gone now, or at least greatly reduced. I'm not 100% sure why, but I suspect it may have something to do with the amount of inline assembly that has been added to speed things up a bit.
Turbo Badass Rank: Janne (6 of 12 clears)
Conquered so far: Sinistron, Violent Soldier, Tatsujin, Super Raiden, Shape Shifter, Rayxanber II

TurboXray

IIRC, some vram update routines in HuC use small lengths of TIA instruction to copy bits to vram (Tia stalls all interrupts). If it's doing that during active display, it can cause hsync jitter (even with the small amounts it's set to). Do a full listing output and look at the S listing/asm file. You can also tighten up hsync overhead by using the 'user vector' and writing the VDC interrupt handler yourself. That can help too. You can look for code in HuC lib that SEI and CLI inside a routine (a long shot, but should be worth it). Also, if your VDC interrupt code is taking too long on certain instances (trying to do too much inside the routine), it can delay the next line, which will cause jitter.

 Another thing that can stall the VDC interrupt is the Timer interrupt (HuC/Syscard PSG player has an option to run the sound engine timing from it). If you're using that, cli interrupts immediately after clearing $1403. Though you might want to use a 'flag' in case for some reason you get a double TIRQ interrupt; set it on call, clear it on exit, check it on start and if set then RTI.

 You can use sprite color #0 to visually track (in the border) what part of your code/routine/etc is being executed during active display. You can color code different routines as well.

Bernie