Ghost 'n Goblins for GFX9000 - First steps

Van SkyeWelse

Champion (471)

24-01-2013, 21:24

Wow, looking pretty nice there!

-Thomas

Van Randam

Paragon (1431)

24-01-2013, 21:39

Those level gfx look darn sweet! Keep up the good work.

Van supmsx

Master (158)

25-01-2013, 08:40

Could be a very good step,keep going

Van msd

Paragon (1510)

25-01-2013, 19:25

Cool

Van saccopharynx

Master (175)

25-01-2013, 23:46

Congratulations !!! Indeed, it looks like we (MSX users) are finally going to have a more than decent version of GnG, for not saying what we have always been looking for. The colour combination and the forest depth look just great. Keep going and I hope to see this work finished...

CJ

Van mais1976

Master (172)

26-01-2013, 14:52

Very Nice!

Van PingPong

Prophet (4088)

27-01-2013, 11:51

Why msx2? if gfx9000 can be compatible with a plain msx1 with 64k why not make it available also to msx1 users?

Van assembler

Champion (408)

27-01-2013, 13:23

Thanks for your comments.

The only problem would be the lack of memory mapper, but making the game in ROM format would not be needed. Yes we could do to make it work in a MSX1.

Van Oscar

Guardian (583)

27-01-2013, 13:25

I think if you have a gfx9000 you are not using a MSX1 as base machine... I think MSX needs at least a few games that take profit of all power available

Van Manuel

Ascended (19223)

27-01-2013, 14:14

...begin nitpick...
assembler: MSX2 and having a memory mapper are not the same thing. There are MSX1's with memory mapper (e.g. Yamaha CX5MII/128) and MSX2's without (e.g. Sony HB-G900P).
...end nitpick...

Van Jorito

Mr. Ambassadors (1784)

27-01-2013, 14:35

PingPong wrote:

Why msx2? if gfx9000 can be compatible with a plain msx1 with 64k why not make it available also to msx1 users?

Why MSX1? MSX1 users don't have a gfx9000 so it's completely pointless. Period.

Van DanySoft

Champion (452)

27-01-2013, 21:30

For Jupiter!

You were very good!

By what method did you convert the stage1 in a fixed image or pattern to make a map?

I made a lot of progress to make equal the stage1 in a map with a maximum of 16K (in 8x8 for patterns).
The fact is that they can't are able to automatically fill in the pieces of the puzzle in a stage1 map in memory of MSX!

I searched all over the internet: convert an image (map) in the same pattern for 8x8 screen!

The only program I could find and convert to 8x8 is this link: site parallex

But unfortunately it has a limit of 256 characters!
Screen 5 supports up to 768 cells (256x192 in screen5)
So you can not handle all these 256 patterns ....

I wish you every success with the project GNG x v9990!
A greeting. ;)
DanySoft

Van assembler

Champion (408)

27-01-2013, 22:38

We are using a bitmap with 31 colors. Then, we order the palette and choose the first 15 colors and make a new image, and other image with the rest.
The bitmaps are converted with a program made specifically for GFX9000 by me: it generates G9B files with the tiles (max 256 per file) as many as needed, and MAP files with the tile information, divided into blocks of 16KB max.

Van DanySoft

Champion (452)

28-01-2013, 18:52

but?
have not used the P1 or P2??
This saves space on the VRAM instead of image size!

Even if you are as it is, but it can go the other areas of the game?
I have it all figured out, one of these stages is too large to fill the memory, then there is no room to add more sprites!

I stopped at the point of problem:
convert the original map in 8x8 map, I could not!

greetings
DanySoft

NB: P2 may be the solution for the entire screen including
the stages 2,3 and 4 and can also all the sprites.
I'm working on but I always stop at the point of problem!

Van assembler

Champion (408)

28-01-2013, 18:55

Of course, we use P1.
The bitmap is the base to calculate the tiles and the map.

First stage only uses horizontal scroll, but the multidirectional scroll is ready for the next stages.

Van assembler

Champion (408)

28-01-2013, 20:08

Each layer in P1 has 64x32 tiles, 512x256 pixels. This is not enough to fit the whole map in either case for this game.

So the map is divided into blocks of 16 KB that fit in a memory slot. I select the slot that corresponds to the area I want to display in screen.

i.e. If the whole map has 8192 pixels wide, a slot has information for 8 lines of the map.
8192/8=1024 tiles width
1024x2=2048 bytes each line
16384/2048= 8 lines in each slot

If this map has 512 pixels height:
512/8 = 64 lines
64/8 = 8 slots

We need 128KB of memory to display a map with 8192*512 pixels.

Van DanySoft

Champion (452)

28-01-2013, 21:11

But, you see these numbers, which I have already calculated the size of the stages:

[stage1_parte1 e 2]
oriz: 448
vert:  28
stima: 448 x 24 = 10752 bytes

[stage2_parte1 e 2]
oriz:   124 + 69 + 195 + 58 =446
vert:    60 + 28 +  60 + 28 =    60
stima: 447 x 36 = 16092 bytes

[stage3]
oriz:   194 + 23 + 159 + 71 = 447
vert:    28 + 53 + 116 + 28  = 116
stima: 447 x 36 = 16092 bytes

[stage4]
oriz:   384
vert:    28
stima: 384x24 = 9216 bytes

[stage5] *
oriz:     96
vert:  148
stima: 96x148 = 14208 bytes

[stage6] *
oriz:   64
vert:  148
stima: 64x148 =  9472 bytes

[stage7 - Finale boss]
oriz:   32
vert:   28
stima: 32x24 = 768 bytes

But do not think all of you!?
I can do all by yourself with Gfx9000 but the problem is the emulator openmsx, sometimes it works and sometimes it does not work ....

I wish for a successful development of the project to v9990.
Maybe I'll give you some advice in more '.

greetings

DanySoft

Van assembler

Champion (408)

28-01-2013, 21:44

Each tile in gfx9000 uses 2 bytes, so the memory used is doubled, and in my case, i use 2 planes at the same speed, so the memory need to be doubled again.

I forgot the second plane in my numbers, but 4096x512 is big enough for a map.

To simplify the procesing, the lines length are rounded to the next pow of 2

Van Sarcasmic

Master (149)

29-01-2013, 18:48

Looks nice how did you get the GFX?? When is the release?? Maybe thinking of selling my small collection of big MSX stuff

Van msd

Paragon (1510)

29-01-2013, 18:59

Hey Sarcasmic: Don't sell it

Van DanySoft

Champion (452)

29-01-2013, 20:07

assembler wrote:

Each tile in gfx9000 uses 2 bytes, so the memory used is doubled, and in my case, i use 2 planes at the same speed, so the memory need to be doubled again.

I forgot the second plane in my numbers, but 4096x512 is big enough for a map.

To simplify the procesing, the lines length are rounded to the next pow of 2

Exactly! Because the table is in word and not in bytes as in screen1
with 768 cells 8x8 (but divided in three parts from 0 to 256).
This operation can use more than 256 (up to 4096 patterns in
SCR_A and 4096 in SCR_B !

There is a trick to use in just 16K but
no need to use double single but, in the position of the map
1 = 0x00, 0x01 = 1 ... 255 = 0xFF
in the first part of the stage1 will be used only from 0 to 256,
in the second part of the stage1 will be using from 256 to 512.
This does not need to be loaded from the disk to the second part of stage 1. memory has 512K and can use all the patterns but divide in groups of 256!

Sorry, but sometimes they are a little smarter than you!

greetings
DanySoft

Van PingPong

Prophet (4088)

29-01-2013, 21:59

Jorito wrote:

PingPong wrote:

Why msx2? if gfx9000 can be compatible with a plain msx1 with 64k why not make it available also to msx1 users?

Why MSX1? MSX1 users don't have a gfx9000 so it's completely pointless. Period.

they can get it.
And the power is on GFX9000 not in msx2 or msx1 hw. They are, equals in power, except for gfx. But in this case, we are using v9990, so msx1 power == msx2 power.

Van msd

Paragon (1510)

29-01-2013, 22:09

And then they want to have g9k stuff released on tape

Van Huey

Prophet (2694)

29-01-2013, 22:44

msd wrote:

And then they want to have g9k stuff released on tape

I kind of agree with PingPong this time. If I would make a gfx9000 game I would make it MSX1 compatible too.
Diskdrives and MMC/SD interfaces and flash cartridges do work on MSX1 too.

Van DanySoft

Champion (452)

29-01-2013, 23:24

Ok huey!

MSX is possible to use DISK or ROMflash to launch the game with v9990!
greetings
DanySoft

Van hit9918

Prophet (2926)

03-02-2013, 20:30

I wondered what about a 9990 game is "MSX2".
There is one thing that is MSX1: the bios does not init mappers.
So, at startup of your app init the RAM mapper to default values. This also makes sense for apps who actualy not use the mapper.

This one is not so much "funny requests of low end users", it is more like "programming the much expandable MSX".

Van DanySoft

Champion (452)

04-02-2013, 16:28

Even at times you can use the ROM as a resource to make the game with v9990, then you can mount on MSX1 or MSX2 for you to have a minimum of memory 8K or 16K of RAM.
Sprites do not use the MSX1 but the chip v9990, which in horizontal row 16 sprites! (use P1 o P2).

Greetings
DanySoft

Van guantxip

Paragon (1605)

08-04-2013, 11:25

New video :
http://asm-msx.blogspot.com.es/

Van Manuel

Ascended (19223)

08-04-2013, 13:07

Wow, very impressive! GFX9000+tR power!

Van syn

Prophet (2113)

08-04-2013, 16:50

looks very good.. keep up the good works!

Van JohnHassink

Ambassador (5645)

08-04-2013, 17:49

Very nice!

Van iamweasel2

Paladin (708)

08-04-2013, 22:13

Wow, looks really great. What machine is it running? I trust the music will require MoonSound in order to have the best sound experience, right?

We can only imagine what nice games we would have now if ASCII did the right thing and released Turbo-R with V9978 (V9990 + V9958 compatibility)... Maybe MSX would stay in the market some more years as a commercial platform...

Van assembler

Champion (408)

09-04-2013, 17:23

It's an TurboR GT, emulated in openMSX.

For now, the sound effect is not fully determined, but for now is winning the SCC option.

Van Manuel

Ascended (19223)

09-04-2013, 21:51

You did check on real hardware right? The GFX9000 emulation is not very accurate yet.

Van giuseve

Paladin (753)

19-04-2014, 10:41

Uhmm, a year without news.
Have someone got any info about this?

Van o.geerdink

Hero (588)

19-04-2014, 21:16

iamweasel2 wrote:

Wow, looks really great. What machine is it running? I trust the music will require MoonSound in order to have the best sound experience, right?

We can only imagine what nice games we would have now if ASCII did the right thing and released Turbo-R with V9978 (V9990 + V9958 compatibility)... Maybe MSX would stay in the market some more years as a commercial platform...

MSX was loosing that battle anyway. But now because PC's are so fast and overtaken by consumers the MSX is ready for a second life. MSX is so different now to me I can see myself using it the rest of my life. Making good software for MSX is an art, on a PC it's too easy nowadays. I hope many people feel the same way and other past MSX-ers will rejoin the cult.

Van guantxip

Paragon (1605)

19-04-2014, 22:06

Assembler has continued with this game. A work of Assembler is the development of midi2tmu to add themes .tmu in the game.

Van syn

Prophet (2113)

20-04-2014, 04:24

o.geerdink wrote:

iamweasel2 wrote:

Wow, looks really great. What machine is it running? I trust the music will require MoonSound in order to have the best sound experience, right?

We can only imagine what nice games we would have now if ASCII did the right thing and released Turbo-R with V9978 (V9990 + V9958 compatibility)... Maybe MSX would stay in the market some more years as a commercial platform...

MSX was loosing that battle anyway. But now because PC's are so fast and overtaken by consumers the MSX is ready for a second life. MSX is so different now to me I can see myself using it the rest of my life. Making good software for MSX is an art, on a PC it's too easy nowadays. I hope many people feel the same way and other past MSX-ers will rejoin the cult.

I think it is funny that one of your first posts here on mrc was that you were thinking about selling your msx collection since you didnt do anything with it... and now you ended up buying even more stuff

Van Prodatron

Paragon (1827)

24-04-2014, 15:29

o.geerdink wrote:

MSX is so different now to me I can see myself using it the rest of my life. Making good software for MSX is an art, on a PC it's too easy nowadays. I hope many people feel the same way and other past MSX-ers will rejoin the cult.

I totally agree

Van giuseve

Paladin (753)

07-06-2015, 21:16

Any news about this game?
If yes, what about a 9958 version with scc and no gfx9000?

Van assembler

Champion (408)

08-06-2015, 09:19

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAgLEqI_84c

I wish I had time to make different versions: GFX9000, V9958, V9938, even for v9918. But this is a big game in which you have to consider many things. Make a v9958 version involve reprogramming every object, redefine and reduce graphics. Too much work and too little time.

Van assembler

Champion (408)

08-06-2015, 09:37

This is the current state of development.

http://youtu.be/bz-xBlzYOiE

Van guantxip

Paragon (1605)

08-06-2015, 09:59

Good job, the end in near.

Van Prodatron

Paragon (1827)

08-06-2015, 10:08

Very impressive!

Van ray2day

Paladin (720)

08-06-2015, 12:43

Respect!

Van assembler

Champion (408)

24-01-2018, 18:15

Five years now...

At least the development is almost 100%.
-Place the witches in their place in stages 4,6 and 7 (in this version, arcade stage 3 is divided in two stages)
-Try to "pack" sprites for bat in stage 4
-Include the complete sound library
-Some little bugs.

Van hamlet

Scribe (4105)

24-01-2018, 18:27

I just received a Powergraph lite, which comes with a G&G demo. Played it yesterday and I´m amused that it is a five years old news post! Man, it is really impressive work! Keep going! Please keep us informed and thank you for keeping it alive all the time.

Van journey

Hero (570)

24-01-2018, 19:21

Really a GREAT work!!
Me also have received the demo with the PowerGraph

Can't wait for the full version!

Van valkyre

Hero (631)

24-01-2018, 21:06

It's an awesome work. Nearly there now!

Van journey

Hero (570)

18-04-2018, 17:55

assembler wrote:

Five years now...

At least the development is almost 100%.
-Place the witches in their place in stages 4,6 and 7 (in this version, arcade stage 3 is divided in two stages)
-Try to "pack" sprites for bat in stage 4
-Include the complete sound library
-Some little bugs.

Any news?

Van assembler

Champion (408)

19-04-2018, 11:55

It is not stopped, but I have very little time to develop.

Van Manuel

Ascended (19223)

24-01-2019, 10:40

6 years! But that recent update looked very promising! This is certainly a long running project.... And it shows.

Van Grauw

Ascended (10681)

24-01-2019, 16:57

Linky with an update for future readers:

Progress in Ghost´n Globins now working at full speed on MSX2!!!

Van journey

Hero (570)

22-01-2020, 07:23

I wonder if we will ever see it completed

Van assembler

Champion (408)

22-01-2020, 09:41

For sure.

The game is complete. Now I'm working implementing some hidden features and trying to make it work with only 16KB

Van journey

Hero (570)

22-01-2020, 11:17

assembler wrote:

For sure.

The game is complete. Now I'm working implementing some hidden features and trying to make it work with only 16KB

YEAH!!

There is an ipothetic release date?

Van assembler

Champion (408)

25-01-2020, 09:39

No, sorry.

I would like to finish it this year, but it is the same intention that I had the last seven years.

:S

The only difference is that the game is completed. If I see that is getting too long, I could launch the version for TurboR and 256KB with no extras.

I also want it to end. I dream of Sir Arthur.

Van Manuel

Ascended (19223)

25-01-2020, 22:24

So, what is your TODO list?

Van assembler

Champion (408)

25-01-2020, 22:55

-make the devil's movement less random. More than one devil in screen are really difficult to beat.
-savestates: NO / RAM / FLASH
-work with 16KB only (implies to store map data uncompressed)

betatesting: test 2 complete cycles
Z80
Z80 Turbo
R800

Van iamweasel2

Paladin (708)

29-01-2020, 19:19

assembler wrote:

I would like to finish it this year, but it is the same intention that I had the last seven years.

Been there, done that.

assembler wrote:

The only difference is that the game is completed. If I see that is getting too long, I could launch the version for TurboR and 256KB with no extras.

I also want it to end. I dream of Sir Arthur.

As someone who took nearly 8 years to finish a project, I would say, take your time to finish it, no matter how long it takes. Since you have the game already completed, if you get sick of working on it, you can release what you have done. But while that doesn't happen, you can work on it to make it as good as you want it to be.

That's what I did.

Van hamlet

Scribe (4105)

29-01-2020, 20:14

It is nice to know that you have not given up on this project but are still working on it! Cool!

Van valkyre

Hero (631)

30-01-2020, 20:05

I think that there are 3 or 4 'big' games that have been on the go for several years that are at a similar stage.

Van iamweasel2

Paladin (708)

01-02-2020, 15:52

I believe once released, this game will help sell more V9990 cartridges and boost development to this cartridge. We have already great V9990 games made by Kai Magazine and others, but Ghost and Goblins is a classic that draws much attention, and it helps to show that you can do many things with V9990 plugged in our MSX machines.

Van JGM

Master (139)

09-12-2020, 10:06

I've recieved this game a couple of weeks ago and it is simply AWESOME .
Gameplay, sound and graphics are really impressive!
I know it has been a lot of work to complete this game, many thanks for making this port reality!

But I have to ask!

Any chance you will create a port of ghouls n ghosts as well???

Thanks!

Van assembler

Champion (408)

09-12-2020, 15:30

Thank you for your words, but, no, please, I need Mr. Arturo out of my life

I want to make something, if not original, at least new.

Van Metalion

Paragon (1616)

09-12-2020, 18:29

Hello,
I ordered the game a few months ago, but apart from a Google form return email, I never had any information about the status of my order. Is it normal ?

Van assembler

Champion (408)

09-12-2020, 18:36

O_o

Of course not!

I cannot see your email inyour profile. Can you send me an email to assembler at hotmail.es ?

Thanks

Van Louthrax

Prophet (2435)