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CodeWalrus Website => Game, Software and Music Downloads => Games => Topic started by: gameblabla on February 03, 2017, 12:30:59 AM

Title: [3DO] Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles[Dreamcast][PC]
Post by: gameblabla on February 03, 2017, 12:30:59 AM
Here's a new game i worked on for the Ludum Dare Retro : Evil Australians.

(https://gameblabla.nl/img/evil_aussie_title.png)
Evil Australians is a video game developed by me, gameblabla.
It's a platforming arena game made from scratch with the help of my own library, Gameblabla's Wrapper.
The game has several missions and in each mission, you are stuck in an arena where
you must defeat all the remaining enemies.
To defeat the enemies, you have a rapid-fire gun that can shoot several bullets at the same time.

(https://gameblabla.nl/img/evil_aussie_3DO.png)
3DO version

Story
John, living in Australia, is an avid video game collector.
However, he learns from the news that the Australian government is soon going to ban video games.
John became furious :
he grabs his weapons and swears vengeance on the government.

However 7 years ago,
the government collected his own DNA as part of a secret project.
This secret project allowed the government to steal DNAs from all the aussies.
The Government learned of John's plan and they used his DNA to build an entire clone army of himself.

John is now facing an entire army of himself,
will he make it alive and finally kill the law ?

Controls (PC)
Use a Gamepad or the following keyboard keys :
X : Jump
C : Shoot
Cursor keys : Move

Download
Itch.io (https://gameblabla.itch.io/evil-australians)

Dreamcast (https://github.com/gameblabla/evilaustralians/raw/master/release/Evil_Australians_Dreamcast.zip)
3DO (https://github.com/gameblabla/evilaustralians/raw/master/release/Evil_Australians_3DO_port.zip)
Old PCs on Windows 95/NT4 (https://github.com/gameblabla/evilaustralians/raw/master/release/evil_australians_Win32.zip)
Modern PCs (https://github.com/gameblabla/evilaustralians/raw/master/release/Evil_Australians_SDL2.zip)
N64
(https://github.com/gameblabla/evilaustralians/raw/master/release/evil_australians_N64.zip)
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC, 3DO and Dreamcast
Post by: kotu on February 03, 2017, 12:33:45 AM
At last a program about Evil Australians!!!  :D
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC, 3DO and Dreamcast
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on February 03, 2017, 12:47:47 AM
That story is weird O.O (reminds me of Hong Kong 97). Anyway gonna give it a try later. Glad to see a new game from you, :) albeit with a questionable title :P
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC, 3DO and Dreamcast
Post by: gameblabla on February 03, 2017, 12:50:08 AM
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on February 03, 2017, 12:47:47 AM
That story is weird O.O (reminds me of Hong Kong 97).
Play the game, get the ending and you'll get offended, probably :P
That being said, yes, the story was written in a similar way to HK97 but i swear that was not intentional at first lol

Quotealbeit with a questionable title :P
I know, right ?
KILL DAH AUSSIES ! (Please don't go out and kill them for real, lol)
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC, 3DO and Dreamcast
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on February 03, 2017, 12:56:51 AM
Indeed about the latter. There was already enough singling out of specific nations in the world lately <_<

By the way do you mind if I put tags in your topic title so I can list it in the games download section?
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC, 3DO and Dreamcast
Post by: gameblabla on February 03, 2017, 12:58:24 AM
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on February 03, 2017, 12:56:51 AM
By the way do you mind if I put tags in your topic title so I can list it in the games download section?
Go ahead !
I would be glad to hear your feedback !

I'm also planning a N64 port, like i did with Opossum Massage Simulator.
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC, 3DO and Dreamcast
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on February 03, 2017, 01:01:56 AM
If you do a N64 port you should try to make it compatible with both emulators and the real console, because not everyone can afford the $200 Everdrive :P
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC, 3DO and Dreamcast
Post by: gameblabla on February 03, 2017, 01:04:04 AM
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on February 03, 2017, 01:01:56 AM
If you do a N64 port you should try to make it compatible with both emulators and the real console, because not everyone can afford the $200 Everdrive :P
But doing so would mean violating Nintendo's old TOS and be stuck with a crappy devkit.
Emulators should fix their crappy job, not me :P
On the good side though, it (and Opossum) should work properly again on MAME latest version but i need to try it again.
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC, 3DO and Dreamcast
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on February 03, 2017, 01:49:51 AM
Isn't there a way to do like with web browsers and run different code based on if the game runs on the real thing instead of an emulator? Or is that out of the question? In any case, I personally wouldn't want to develop on a game console if I can't even test the game to see if it works at all. <_<
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC, 3DO and Dreamcast
Post by: gameblabla on February 03, 2017, 02:25:21 AM
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on February 03, 2017, 01:49:51 AM
Isn't there a way to do like with web browsers and run different code based on if the game runs on the real thing instead of an emulator? Or is that out of the question? In any case, I personally wouldn't want to develop on a game console if I can't even test the game to see if it works at all. <_<
That's basically what i did with Opossum Massage Simulator but a bit different : it uses a common codebase among all platforms.
Opossum Massage Simulator actually works on MAME, it's just that later versions broke input support so you can't interact with the game.
I was able to test it by setting checkpoints.
I might do a MAME package so everyone can try the N64 port
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC, 3DO and Dreamcast
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on February 03, 2017, 03:18:47 AM
Ah I see now. And yeah what I meant was like CSS and Javascript, where your code checks which browser the user uses and if it uses IE6, it runs a different piece of code, another for Firefox, another for Opera, etc, when it's impossible to do otherwise without breaking cross-compatibility.
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC, 3DO and Dreamcast
Post by: JamesV on February 03, 2017, 04:50:12 AM
As a fair dinkum Aussie bloke, all I can say is CRIKEY!

This gives me much chuckles :) (Although yes please don't actually kill us, most of us are quite nice.. Most of us :) )
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC, 3DO and Dreamcast
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on February 03, 2017, 04:52:59 AM
Lol JamesV. And yes I agree, especially you and @tr1p1ea :P (still a shame Belle Haven couldn't do the trip to Canada last time D: )
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC, 3DO and Dreamcast
Post by: tr1p1ea on February 03, 2017, 04:56:43 AM
*Laugh hysterically*

Bloody struth mate!

Nice work mate, I like the graphics especially., a classic. This would probably make the news over here :).
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC, 3DO and Dreamcast
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on February 03, 2017, 04:58:38 AM
Maybe @gameblabla could update the title screen to say JamesV & tr1p1ea-approved :trollface:
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC, 3DO and Dreamcast
Post by: gameblabla on February 03, 2017, 09:26:40 PM
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on February 03, 2017, 04:58:38 AM
Maybe @gameblabla could update the title screen to say JamesV & tr1p1ea-approved :trollface:
Wait until they play the game and get the ending :trollface:

Btw, i have updated the game with the new routines from snektron (thanks !) and the clean-up that comes with it.
It should run a little faster on Pentium hardware :P
However this sped up the 3DO port considerably. It is still not fullspeed though...
Title: Re: [3DO] Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles[Dreamcast][PC]
Post by: gameblabla on February 05, 2017, 02:10:17 AM
Bump.
My last release was crashing on level 3 because i forgot to put some outbound checking on the new collision function...
This is a bit embarrassing but i have fixed this.
I also have (tried) to optimize rendering for the background tiles but the improvement is very slight.

All ports were fixed, feel free to download the new version (same link, first post).

Also, i'm working on the N64 port but for now it's very buggy.
Hopefully i can figure this out in the next few hours before the ludum dare closes :P

EDIT: I have ported the game to the N64, it looks identical to the PC & Dreamcast release.
It has no sound because libmikmod, the only sound library available, does not work properly...
The N64 port is very smooth and is fluid, i was honestly surprised !

It is partially hardware accelerated (the background tiles) but everything else is software rendered,
because the N64's RDP (texture unit) has a ridiculous amount of VRAM space : 4k !

To emulate the N64 port, you need to use MESS 0.156 and put the file n64.zip (BIOS files, it can be found in MESS romset) in the roms directory.
Then start the game like so in the command line :
mess.exe n64 -cart evil_australians.v64
And the game will run.
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on February 05, 2017, 05:46:34 PM
Are textures blurred on the N64? Anyway nice to see progress and bug fixes :). I'll try it on the PC soon
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles
Post by: gameblabla on February 05, 2017, 06:12:17 PM
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on February 05, 2017, 05:46:34 PM
Are textures blurred on the N64? Anyway nice to see progress and bug fixes :). I'll try it on the PC soon
Background tiles, which are using the RDP, might still suffer from a second filtering pass on a real Nintendo 64.
The second pass can't be turned off on the RDP through software, sadly.
Everything else is software rendered and thus, they are not affected by the hardware filtering.
The only way to completely destroy the N64's filtering is to use the UltraHDMI and turn on VI-Deblur option.

If filtering is an issue, i can switch the background tiles to software rendered.
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC, 3DO and Dreamcast
Post by: c4ooo on February 07, 2017, 02:53:59 AM
Quote from: gameblabla on February 03, 2017, 12:58:24 AM
I'm also planning a N64 port, like i did with Opossum Massage Simulator.
Not trying to be rude - I just don't understand - why port it to a N64, when most people are going to play the N64 port in an emulator - running on a PC - the original platform? :P
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC, 3DO and Dreamcast
Post by: gameblabla on February 07, 2017, 03:56:57 AM
Quote from: c4ooo on February 07, 2017, 02:53:59 AM
Not trying to be rude - I just don't understand - why port it to a N64, when most people are going to play the N64 port in an emulator - running on a PC - the original platform? :P
Well because poor DJ can't buy an everdrive for 100$...He often complained to me about it. :p
Of course, if you own a Doctor V64 or an Everdrive, that's not an issue.

I will add more levels once MiniLD is done.
The deadline has been extended so i improved the 3DO port, which now works smoothly and is on par with the PC&DC ports.
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on February 07, 2017, 04:20:11 AM
@gameblabla thanks for explaining the blurring issue. Since the game graphics are kinda blocky, would the blur effect be less intense?
Quote from: c4ooo on February 07, 2017, 02:53:59 AM
Quote from: gameblabla on February 03, 2017, 12:58:24 AM
I'm also planning a N64 port, like i did with Opossum Massage Simulator.
Not trying to be rude - I just don't understand - why port it to a N64, when most people are going to play the N64 port in an emulator - running on a PC - the original platform? :P
There are websites that produces custom SNES cartridges for those who either want specific ROMs on a real cart or are willing to sell their own games. There is also a company that publishes Sega Genesis games on real cartriges as well. I don't know if that exists for the Nintendo 64, though. In any case, it would be interesting to know if this game runs on a real console. Now imagine if Gameblabla could make a custom cart+label.

If BeX is a viable development option and is compatible with Deflatemask music, then who knows? Maybe CW could eventually sell Sega Genesis games with Walrii in it via Magical Games Factory or on their own. :P
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles
Post by: gameblabla on February 07, 2017, 04:56:12 AM
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on February 07, 2017, 04:20:11 AM
@gameblabla thanks for explaining the blurring issue. Since the game graphics are kinda blocky, would the blur effect be less intense?
Actually on 2D elements, it's extremely annoying and the second pass makes 2D elements ugly.
if you want to know more about it, check out my life in gaming's RGB video about the N64 :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpy1M6v2_MI (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpy1M6v2_MI)
The 3DO also had a different but still annoying issue : all games were using 480i by default, rather than 240p.
However unlike the N64, progressive scan can be enabled through software and that's naturally what i did with this game.

QuoteThere are websites that produces custom SNES cartridges for those who either want specific ROMs on a real cart or are willing to sell their own games. There is also a company that publishes Sega Genesis games on real cartriges as well. I don't know if that exists for the Nintendo 64, though. In any case, it would be interesting to know if this game runs on a real console. Now imagine if Gameblabla could make a custom cart+label.
While making N64 carts is definitively possible, it is expensive, due to the CIC chip that is required for authentication.
I guess this could be bypassed through the expansion port but nobody other than the Doctor V64 tried that,
especially since some N64 models such as the Pikachu one lacks it.

QuoteIf BeX is a viable development option and is compatible with Deflatemask music, then who knows? Maybe CW could eventually sell Sega Genesis games with Walrii in it via Magical Games Factory or on their own. :P
If Deflatemask can export to VGM then it is BeX compatible. You can also thanks to BeX make a Sega CD version of your game and use CDDA music tracks instead.
But i don't want to deal with BeX ever again, despite me being the proud owner of a Mega CD/Megadrive combo ! :P
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on February 08, 2017, 01:50:47 AM
Thanks for the video. I didn't know that everything was anti-aliased on the 64 (I thought that only textures were)


By the way, fun game, although it would be nice if there was an option to disable the "always shoot in same direction as long as an arrow is pressed" thing, since it makes it extremely difficult to aim toward enemies that moves back and forth.
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles
Post by: gameblabla on February 26, 2017, 06:27:23 PM
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on February 08, 2017, 01:50:47 AM
By the way, fun game, although it would be nice if there was an option to disable the "always shoot in same direction as long as an arrow is pressed" thing, since it makes it extremely difficult to aim toward enemies that moves back and forth.
You actually find my scheme to be worse, playability-wise ? hmm...
I might add an option to disable it, since it's just one single line of code.

The deadline has been indefinitely extended, that sucks as my game (among others) are still not reviewed by the guy and they already
started another MiniLD ! lol

Kind of offtopic but i managed to make my first demo running on the Sega CD32X.
That's right : it's a CD game that can take advantage of the 32X POWER !
But because the example is cographic in nature, i can't share it yet :(
Hopefully i can use it to port other games such as Opossum or even this one.
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on February 26, 2017, 11:04:40 PM
Wait, they extended the deadline indefinitvely? O.O I hope it doesn't end up like the final Void Productions contest (started 2001, ended 2005).

Also glad you managed to make a Sega CD 32X thing lol. Shame that few people own both add-ons/can afford them.
Title: Re: [3DO] Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles[Dreamcast][PC]
Post by: Ranman on March 16, 2017, 06:34:43 PM
This is cool.  8)

I'm really curious about your wrapper library that you developed. Does it allow you to easily move and recompile for the platforms that you mentioned.

Neato!!
Title: Re: [3DO] Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles[Dreamcast][PC]
Post by: tr1p1ea on March 17, 2017, 12:03:17 AM
I actually had a lay-by on the Sega CD 32X but cancelled it when the N64 was announced/released as my aunty had bought us one for Christmas lol!
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on March 17, 2017, 05:17:15 AM
Quote from: tr1p1ea on March 17, 2017, 12:03:17 AM
I actually had a lay-by on the Sega CD 32X but cancelled it when the N64 was announced/released as my aunty had bought us one for Christmas lol!
I did not even have a Sega Genesis back then. As kid, I kept hearing about Nintendo and told my mom I wanted one. But we couldn't afford both at once and we wanted Mario. :P
Title: Re: [3DO] Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles[Dreamcast][PC]
Post by: gameblabla on March 17, 2017, 10:14:50 PM
Quote from: Ranman on March 16, 2017, 06:34:43 PM
I'm really curious about your wrapper library that you developed. Does it allow you to easily move and recompile for the platforms that you mentioned.
Yes, it makes it easier to port games, but you have to stick to some limitations. (due to the numerous platforms it needs to support)
16-bits graphics at 320x240, 60 FPS, no pixel drawing, one joystick is supported etc...
On some platforms like the 3DO or N64, it may need some modifications but on others (GCW0, Atari Falcon, Nspire), it doesn't.

For the CD32X thing, i don't fully understand it and one thing that is particulary hairy : transfer from the Sega CD to 32X.
Since they cannot share memory, it's very difficult to communicate between the SH2 processor and the Motorola proc inside the SCD.
No need how i'm gonna do that (maybe use the Genesis tile layer and read it ?)

As for MiniLD 71, it seems that he never intended to review all games... so it's over already.
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on March 18, 2017, 12:29:27 AM
I would be fine sticking with such limitations personally if I was planning to make a game for multiple platforms, if it meant that I just had to code the game once or only modify a few things thanks to a library.

Also I would advise anyone against making a Sega CD-32X exclusive homebrew, because both add-ons cost like $200-250 with the cables included in total and I doubt that many people had both at the same time. That's unless both can be emulated at the same time (I forgot). It would still be nice to see the CD and 32X power used to their max potential at the same time.


And that sucks about MiniLD 71 D:.
Title: Re: [3DO] Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles[Dreamcast][PC]
Post by: gameblabla on April 16, 2018, 04:53:02 PM
I have ported the game to the Atari Falcon, Atari's very last computer with a Motorola 68030 chip with a 16-bits bus.
Get the port here and give it a try on Hatari with EmuTOS :
https://github.com/gameblabla/evilaustralians/releases/tag/2 (https://github.com/gameblabla/evilaustralians/releases/tag/2)

This version has both music and sound effects. I might add music to the other ports too.
It looks nearly identical to the PC release and the game's executable is 15.5kb for the Non-DSP.
I'm telling you, i'm getting demoscene skills lol.
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on April 16, 2018, 05:16:35 PM
Pics, or it didn't happen :P
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles
Post by: gameblabla on April 16, 2018, 06:09:58 PM
Quote from: xlibman on April 16, 2018, 05:16:35 PM
Pics, or it didn't happen :P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy8x1Qe9oS0

Not sure why you doubted my claims :P
The Atari Falcon is capable of stereo sound and has a true color mode (64k colors).
Sadly, its a bit on the slow side... I'm not sure how well it runs on real hardware.
Did my best to trim down that executable...
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles
Post by: Yuki on April 16, 2018, 06:12:37 PM
Oooh, that looks really nice.
Title: Re: Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles
Post by: gameblabla on April 16, 2018, 06:16:51 PM
Quote from: Juju on April 16, 2018, 06:12:37 PM
Oooh, that looks really nice.
Yeah, now you know why i pestered you guys about this :P
https://codewalr.us/index.php?topic=2336.msg60849;topicseen#new (https://codewalr.us/index.php?topic=2336.msg60849;topicseen#new)

I might work on a VGA DOS version too. (though this probably won't have sound effects, only music)
Title: Re: [3DO] Evil Australians - A new platforming game for PC & consoles[Dreamcast][PC]
Post by: gameblabla on October 24, 2018, 12:47:50 PM
Just saying that after Opossum Massage simulator 64, i also took a look at Evil Australians as well and managed to fix it.In addition to that, i've also added analog support as well as music & sound effects, which is now on par with the PC & Atari Falcon releases.