Space99 - Development Forum

Want to talks about games you like, would like to see developed on the Oric, it's here.
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Chema
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Post by Chema »

Thanks for your input.

So we've got so far..

1.- Error when both characters overlap (when crossing a room, as in the above pic).

This is quite grave... I think I know where the bug is, but have to think about how to solve it. The fact is that, when crossing rooms, the char is "put" into a coordinate where oter character is already, which should not be possible... WHITE should check this and prevent the character from crossing the room at that point.

2.- Dumps from Euphoric (F9) do not seem to work.

Not sure why this happens. Probably the dump does not include the overlay ram or does not correctly init some internal machine status (like overlay active). Need to ask Fabrice.

3.- Using another key layout (CVBN).

That should be easy, but need Twilighte to change the keyboard routine. Will be done for the final version, I hope.

4.- After restoring the game, doors can't be open until some time passes (15 sec).

This is a weird one. I have to test this, because I never noticed such a thing, and can't think why it could be happening... Anyone apart from maximus encounter this problem?

5.- After dying game restarts with no message.

This shouldn't happen. A Koenig dies. Game Over message should be printed and it should wait for a key press. Will test this and see if there is any situation in which something does not work. However I bet it is just that the player is pressing a key and the sequence is too fast!

6.- Slow loading of manual images.

Will think about something...

As you noticed, speed has been enhanced a bit. This is as far as I could go when optimizing the drawing loop. You will notice that John moves quicker in the bottom part of the screen... something similar happens in Knight Lore for the speccy :)

Any more comments/suggestions/bugs are mostly appreciated.

Thanks indeed for your help.
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Chema
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Post by Chema »

BEWARE I have been reported that there might be a major issue when loading saved games. That might be the reason for some weird behaviours. I will look at it as soon as I have some time.

Fabrice also told me that it seems some passcodes behave strangely with inconsisten naming (the name issues that the passcode is for a certain room, but works in another) and sometimes they even are repeated!

I believe that is somewhat related to the saving/restoring problem. As soon as I learn something new I will let you know.
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Dbug
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Post by Dbug »

For the point 5), perhaps simply waiting for a key to be released before checking for a key to be pressed would solve the problem.

This way if the player died with a key pressed, it will not automaticaly skip the wait key, the player will have to release and then repress the key :)
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Chema
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Post by Chema »

Dbug wrote:For the point 5), perhaps simply waiting for a key to be released before checking for a key to be pressed would solve the problem.

This way if the player died with a key pressed, it will not automaticaly skip the wait key, the player will have to release and then repress the key :)
Yep. In fact that is precisely what is supposed to happen, but obviously it does not work :)
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Chema
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Post by Chema »

Ahh. I think I found that hideous bug.

Indeed there was a major problem when restoring your saved game from disk at game start. A lot of weird behaviours, but most noticeable was the problem with doors not opening.

While I fix this and other bugs, please notice that it works if you load your saved game from an infopost.

There are other bugs I have been solving:

1. Some layout problems that let you enter in non-walkable areas when going from one room to another. Surely there are more, but I think I fixed most of them.

2. Added a feature at selecting level in elevators, so that pressing 'M' at the highest level (Main Mission) selects the lowest level again (Level-H). Same when pressing 'B', it gets from the lowest to the highest.

3. Fixed a bug where a door in the storage area reported as jammed instead of as locked, so the passcode did not work. Now you can enter the area and get the (vital) object that is there :). Only 1 door is jammed, on Main Mission Level.

There are other things to solve, mainly the character overlap question and other details with graphics (the new object's inventory pic does not correctly set attributes and gets messy), but I will need Twilightes' help with this.

I was not able to reproduce the bug Fabrice told me about inconsistent naming of passcodes (one passcode named as A opens B instead). Maybe it was a result of the bug in restoring the game? Not sure...

I wish to post a new beta soon, but for now on, keep working with this version, please. Remember to restore your saved games from infoposts.

Salutes from Moonbase Alpha!
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maximus
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Post by maximus »

Image

:lol:
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maximus
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Post by maximus »

arggh i cannot get out this corner

Image
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Chema
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Post by Chema »

maximus wrote:arggh i cannot get out this corner
ARGHH... another layout problem... Will fix it asap. These complicated room layouts are very nice, but also it is easy to have these problems... You surely went down near the plants where there are no stairs, so you can't get up the platform again...

I hope you saved your game... :oops:
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Post by JamesD »

Couldn't you write a routine in the level editor that scans each screen for such errors and generates a warning?
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Chema
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Post by Chema »

JamesD wrote:Couldn't you write a routine in the level editor that scans each screen for such errors and generates a warning?
Yes, it should be possible. The problem here is time. In addition it won't be something general, as you can allways have objects that can dissappear when colliding with them, or make your hero jump.

The editor has a feature that shows a representation with blocks showing areas that are filled with objects. That helps, but it is inevitable to still have errors. I should walk around all alpha, testing the game to all its extents, but again I need time!

Cheers.
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Chema
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Post by Chema »

Small update.

Maximus did an explendid job with the beta testing and the french version (he made the complete translation) and most bugs have been corrected.

Yes, you read right. Thanks to Maximus, there is a complete french version of the game.

I still have to consider how to solve the overlapping characters bug and some minor details, but the current version (in both languages) is playable and you can complete it.

However, I am considering not to post further versions until the above bug has been corrected and we have an idea about what will happen with the sound and music.

That way we have time to integrate the intro and create two sequences for victory and death (\me looks at Dbug) and release the full game (maybe with new surprises).

Once this is done, and I have some time, I would like to write a programmer's guide for WHITE+NOISE, as well as release the engines, so anybody can create isometric games with them from within asm or C languages. Even a "Space1999:how it was done" with how the engines were used in this game could be nice :)

But that is far future...

Cheers.
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maximus
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Post by maximus »

hi chema, what about news for this great game ?

is it Ready for Vista ? :lol:
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Chema
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Post by Chema »

maximus wrote:hi chema, what about news for this great game ?

is it Ready for Vista ? :lol:
:lol: Well I have been very busy at work these last weeks (and still will be for some time), but if you read the music and sound effects forum of the game, then you already know Twilighte has done the main music! and it rocks!

So I will start working on the integration as soon as I can.

There are still some details to address, like the overlapping character bug (I tried some tricks, but I was not satisfied with the result... may take another approach), and still sound effects are missing.

As soon as we have something else, I will let you know, but I won't have much time for the next 2-3 weeks...

Cheers.
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Chema
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Post by Chema »

Greetings all.

Lots of news. If you follow the music and sfx forum of this game you surely noticed that we are in the process of integrating sound into the game, and it is going at a very high pace!

Currently music and sfx is 80% integrated, all code and data in overlay. Just need to include some ambient sounds (beeps and such) and little else...

I just can say that Twilighte's work is incredible. You won't believe your ears, trust me... Even if music tracks (there are 4 of them!) won't sound continuously in the background (that would be quite annoying), but kept for given moments during the game.

We need to tweak some graphics and I would like to include some credits scroll in the main screen... We have more than 3K free in normal memory, so should be no problem.

In the meantime I would like to ask those of you who played the betas to discuss a bit about the name of the game. Surely "Out of Memory" does not reflect he actual plot, so any ideas are welcome!!

Stay tuned!!
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Post by Twilighte »

Found a bug!
Go to lift, go to another level but when standing on new level press ESC, this appears to crash the controls though Helena's incesant nag at Koenig keeps on happening.
B also does something ikky.
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