Warhawk DS (HK & Flash's DS Diary)

flash · **Reply #120 on:** January 31, 2009, 05:02:03 pm

You will be able to soon, just gotta finish the attack wave structure.. Then on to the detection and explosion code...

so, hold on tight mate!!

Ps. I hope this still retains Warhawks feel, something made it special and I do not want to lose that, whatever the hell it is?

flash · **Reply #121 on:** January 31, 2009, 08:41:05 pm

Quote from: headkaze on January 31, 2009, 04:53:14 am

Coming along really nice there Flash

Now I'm just going to get myself a coffee and go through your source update and wrap my head around it.

Up next for me is

- Adding rotating sprite support
- Fix the scrolling code and background detection
- Start thinking about the app for creating attack waves

Ok, my turn,

Up next for me is

- Implement the special attack waves
- Add collision between bullets and aliens
- Add explosions and scoring
- Add attack wave level structure

I hope to have all this done and working for next weekend!

flash · **Reply #122 on:** February 05, 2009, 09:54:10 am

Well, we nove have the attackwaves working (except specials) and background detection works against the bases. They are destroyred and we are using a sequence of sprites to add explosions to them.
We do have a problem that, every now and again, the explosions (and sometimes craters) appear 32 pixels above where they should

and i am buggered if I can work out WHY?? But, it will be fixed if it costs blood sweat and tears, many many tears

So, I don't wanna release a new build until this is sorted, but - it will be a lot of fun when it does!!

flash · **Reply #123 on:** February 09, 2009, 07:31:06 pm

Here is a new build of the (Delayed) Warhawk code.

LOTS has changed since that last release, so rather than I list all the changes, just play!

Works a dream in hardware also

Sorry for the terrible crater designs, they were the best I could do, I am not an artist and only just a coder, so I realy could do with finding someone to help out with the graphics

Source is not included at the moment as I need to sit down and tidy/comment it better!

There are a few minor things to sort, but...

Tempest · **Reply #124 on:** February 10, 2009, 09:56:28 am

Wow! That looks amazing...
Note to self: Download Emulator, and try give Warhawk a try.

flash · **Reply #125 on:** February 10, 2009, 10:08:24 am

Note to Tempest:

"You bloody well do that!"

(Dualis plays it the slickest, but has a few problems with tiles, no$gba is slowest, but emulates perfectly)

flash · **Reply #126 on:** February 11, 2009, 04:18:31 pm

Hope you grabbed it temp!!!

I now have full attack waves and structures, so they can all be shot and just keep coming!! Up to 64 aliens at once.
I will spend some time just creating a few dummy attack waves and also need to sort some new sound effects out tonight, HK?
Once this is all done, I will post another demo!!

(and this one will really be fun)

HK: I will see what sounds i can come up with, I need a good metalic "ting", a "whoosh", and a full "Orchestria" playing the hits of Trinni Lopez!, pehaps, just the "ting" and an alien explode!

flash · **Reply #127 on:** February 12, 2009, 06:12:40 pm

A nice new update,

Now we can shoot stuff and the attack wave system is working. There are a couple of minor bugs relating to sprite priority with the big "blocky" ship, but that was only put in for fun to see how the attack system handled multiple alien types. This is stuff that is easy to sort out when we get a bit further with proper construction of attack waves. These attack waves are not indicitive of the final patterns, but just there for play. This uses both linear and tracking aliens (with a small hint of curved patterns - these are quite hard to key in manually).

So, have fun and any feedback would be great!

BaDToaD · **Reply #128 on:** February 14, 2009, 10:48:58 am

OMFG!

This is so sweet. I do think at the moment the warhawk has too much firepower but that's irrelevant at this stage. I am blown away by the sheer Warkawkishness of the whole thing

You are still so bloody quick at coding Flash :p hehe.

Cheesy Grins all round!

flash · **Reply #129 on:** February 14, 2009, 02:00:27 pm

Quote from: BaDToaD on February 14, 2009, 10:48:58 am

You are still so bloody quick at coding Flash :p hehe.

Thanks for the compliments BT, it is ALWAYS great to recieve them, and without trying to take the shine off them, HK is just as responsible for the game as I, without him, NONE of this would have got to where it is. HK has been instrumental in showing me the way with arm code and in deciphering the C based dox into a format that I can understand and utilise.
I just wanted to say that, as because it is mostly me that posts the demos does not mean it is me that does all the work, thankfully

I am looking forward to where we can get to next. Alien fire is perhaps the next step, leaving detection with your ship fairly low on the agenda. Having little nightmares about how I can fit the boss battles into the existing sprite code though

So thanks for the words of praise for the project, and remember that any suggestions are always great to recieve also.

BaDToaD · **Reply #130 on:** February 14, 2009, 04:58:20 pm

Indeed nods to HK. Many thanks for the work you've done and you're doing HK.

flash · **Reply #131 on:** February 14, 2009, 06:00:47 pm

HK suggested having a "bloom" or flash effect on aliens that you hit but not destroy. To compliment this HK has written a palette editor to create palettes to "flare" the aliens.
I have this all coded into the game now and it works really well on single aliens, not sure about the "blocky ship", pehaps I should flag that so bloom does not work on that? not sure at the moment.

I will do a SVN update for HK with the source and a little later tonight I will post an nds file for feedback.

The alien bullet code is starting to fall into place, the main structure is now in place and it is just down to spending some time doing them. Believe it or not, the aliens in the earlier demo are all set to fire etc, but the code does nothing at the moment. It is coming this weekend (baring anything unexpected of course)

flash · **Reply #132 on:** February 14, 2009, 11:19:34 pm

Another minor update that just allows the alien shots to move vertically. This is all it does (shot wise).

Also, when an alien is hit that requires more shots, a flash to white is added to add to the effect! This uses HK's palette editor to give us a range of palettes to "paste" onto a sprite. Not sure If I should slow the "fade to normal" down a bit. It is a piece of P to add, so I am open to suggestions here (as always!)

Also, adds a glint to your ship when you fire - not sure about this, but for 4 lines of code, thought I would try it?

Comments welcome (Needed)

Tempest · **Reply #133 on:** February 15, 2009, 12:52:44 pm

Looks good! I like the fact that I cannot be killed. Can you leave that part in, just for me?

flash · **Reply #134 on:** February 15, 2009, 09:06:31 pm

Quote from: Tempest on February 15, 2009, 12:52:44 pm

Looks good! I like the fact that I cannot be killed. Can you leave that part in, just for me?

Ps. You cannot be killed by EVEN more stuff now

Well, another update with the addition of several different alien shot types (not all used in this demo)
Also, added the singular shot type from the original Warhawk.

flash · **Reply #135 on:** February 17, 2009, 10:40:35 pm

Well, another day, another update...

This is not a major one, but a pleasant one - code while listening to the beautiful Lily Allen album "Alright Still".. Makes a change from coding to Suzanne Vega! (which is what i played "The Pawn" to and also coded "Tidemarsh" to

)
Anyway (ps, CRY (EDIT:Smile) is NOT the best track), this is an update that has as much behind the scenes than as is visible. The code now switches between levels upon game start, though this is only selectable in source at the moment - sorry
Also, detection between you and alien bullets is now active - alien bullets can now hit your ship, your ship flashes and the bullet dies, unless it is a NASTY tracking shot.
Also, detection between you and aliens now works. So, if you collide with a simple alien (takes 1 hit), the alien is destroyed and you lose some energy, and gain a small score (21 points). If the alien takes more than one hit, then it is you against the ailien, you both lose energy! You will flash and so will the alien!
Sorry Tempest, but in this version, you can die!

ALSO! I thought this was about time to release the source code, I have not done this for a while, and though it is available from google code, It is nice to post it here now and agan. The archive contains all source, sound effects, and graphics.

Tempest · **Reply #136 on:** February 18, 2009, 01:31:24 pm

It is a sad day...

flash · **Reply #137 on:** February 18, 2009, 01:41:32 pm

Quote from: Tempest on February 18, 2009, 01:31:24 pm

It is a sad day...

you could just compile your own version without the energy check

I just wanted to see how hard it is when you can die!!!

Easy with full powerup and slightly tricky without!

I will release the next version with a cheat!!

headkaze · **Reply #138 on:** February 19, 2009, 01:53:16 am

I like this one how you can die! And the message you get when it happens made me smile (which is my favourite Lily Allen song)

flash · **Reply #139 on:** February 19, 2009, 09:25:26 am

I meant "Smile" earlier and put "Cry" Hmmm... Must be an emotional thing due to the coding

headkaze · **Reply #140 on:** February 19, 2009, 10:06:22 am

Quote from: Flash on February 19, 2009, 09:25:26 am

I meant "Smile" earlier and put "Cry" Hmmm... Must be an emotional thing due to the coding

flash · **Reply #141 on:** February 19, 2009, 10:30:07 pm

Another update and 2 new attack patterns..
There is a slight bug in the Hunters, but this only apears on later levels. I will sort it!
Have fun!

HK: If you download the latest Commit, set the level to 4+ to see the other mode that the Hunters take.

PS. You cannot die on this. I will leave the "die check" off for a while, I only turned it on to test energy loss.

flash · **Reply #142 on:** February 20, 2009, 11:15:09 pm

Ok,

The main game code is now solid (apart from the odd alien explosion that is retained on screen, sometimes? Trying to find that)
So, the job at the moment is to round off the alien fire patterns and get a good amount of different fire types to sprinkle throughout the levels. So, I am taking my time to work through a selection that I have jotted down.
Not sure what to do with the end of level boss fire patterns yet, so trying to also think of them so they can be used to add together to create some nice patterns later on!

any input would be great!

headkaze · **Reply #143 on:** February 21, 2009, 08:36:34 am

What I was thinking for the level boss patterns was hypocycloid movement. Which is basically randomized movement within a circle where it appears to have gavity towards the centre.

flash · **Reply #144 on:** February 21, 2009, 09:46:41 am

I was thinking of a Cyclomoridorroil motion, which is basically a made up word!

Sounds cool though!

flash · **Reply #145 on:** February 22, 2009, 01:13:00 pm

HK:

Was having some thoughts about adding "ID's" to aliens. The idea is that (take the BIG BLOCKY SHIP) some aliens may be constructed from multiple sprites, and if they are indestructable, is would be nice to have the "bloom" affect all the sprites used.
So, setting an ident and doing this should be fairly easy. if ident>0, affect all matching idents. If 0, this is just treated the same.

But, is there anyway to have the ident affect the priority of the sprite, again using the BLOCKY SHIP as an example, when other ships are shot and new ones drawn, these can pass above or bellow the big ship. So, setting it's entire priority to a set level would cure this.

ie.
normal ships, id 0, highest priority
ident specified, just under normal ships (so small ships pass above)
then your shots and alien shots!
then ship explostions
then base explosions

This would also have the benefit of sorting out the boss battles, so that a hit anywhere can affect the hit points and that it will flash as one!

Any ideas mate?

BaDToaD · **Reply #146 on:** February 23, 2009, 01:21:36 pm

Just tried the latest version. Still looking sweet. The Warhawk feel is still there too. Top job guys!

Somehow I think I'm getting too old and slow for games of this genre. I will have to fire up Warhawk on the GP32 C=64 Emulator and get myself up to speed again

I was wondering if it would be easy to add a shield grafic around the warhawk so it came up from nothing to bright and then faded rapidly again when you took hits. It could look cool. If it's too much like hard work or it's a naff idea then please feel free to ignore me

flash · **Reply #147 on:** February 24, 2009, 07:05:14 pm

A shield graphic would be really easy to add, but... we are quite short on sprites and can only hold 64 32x32 sprites in mem at any one time, so this is perhaps something we can try later, if we cam squeeze it in?
We have got a work around on the sprite limitation though, but these are level based.

flash · **Reply #148 on:** February 24, 2009, 09:43:40 pm

Just been playing with a lot of the underlying code, and a little of "what you can see"

so, here are a couple of demo's

One is just a demo of 3 fire types

The other is a demo of big ships (ish) and the "ident" system, used to combine aliens into one. It is fun!

The onscreen numbers display the attack pattern and the patterns ident

ps, sorry for the big alien graphic - I am useless at graphics

Lobo · **Reply #149 on:** February 26, 2009, 12:26:27 am

Hey, guys!

Just to let you know that I've successfully passed the 'What's the yellow long fruit' test so registered I am.
Didn't really know where to post this amazing news, heheh, so here then.
Anyway, I'll join as often, you know, I would rather spend more time on working on stuff after working for bloody capitalists through the day and so on and so forth.

Cheers!