Post by spenoza on Dec 12, 2022 21:30:53 GMT
Hey folks. I hope you don't mind if I use this thread here to spitball some ideas for a Boulder Dash clone for PCE. I may have to make time to try and learn HuC because I love Boulder Dash and I hate the weird look of the modern versions of it. I want to make something that looks distinctly PCE but also at least marginally cool. I will be using this thread to track my thoughts and ideas while I wait for a moment when I have enough time to begin dabbling.
----Begin Ideas----
I've done some research into the original Boulder Dash. It was created on the Atari 8-bit computer line initially, and the screen space was 20 x 12 tiles big, where each tile is 16 pixels. I'm thinking about using the PC Engine's mid-resolution mode so I can recreate that playing field. This is what I wish Lode Runner on PC Engine had done.
Fortunately, most things in the game work great simply as tiles. I will need to be wary of certain enemy types and when those enemies explode into diamonds, but I may actually be able to use animated tiles for the diamonds. Boulder Dash has this kind of chunky flow to it because it is so grid-based. While some enemies have smooth movement, even the main character sort of snaps to the game grid during movement to help improve control, something I periodically wish Bomberman did (I get toasted far too often because my little bomber ass is hanging out after turning a corner). My goal is going to be to lean on background tiles as much as is possible.
I am also hopeful I can use animated tiles to create some fun visual effects. I'd like to sort of have a lightly animated background behind the dirt tiles, so that when you move the darkness kind of twinkles and scrolls. And if I'm using tiles for the diamonds as well, I can try for making them appear both transparent to bend the glow of that twinkling background just a tad. And while the game tiles are 16x16, I can try to make sure the animations repeat such that they line up at the 8x8 level to save a little data.
The amoeba enemy also works perfectly as animated tiles, and I may be able to add some extra animation.
But I also need to be careful this isn't too slavish a clone. It needs to be more than (or at least different enough from) the original to stand on its own. The game natively only needs a single button, so I may devise some kind of action, contextual or otherwise, for the other button on the controller. I will also need to spitball some new enemy types.
----More Ideas----
I expect movement may be a pain to program. The PC originals had pretty choppy movement, and that worked for the grid-based nature of the game. But console players expect smoother movement. But too much smoothness will reduce accuracy and precision in movement, so movement will have to retain a little jerkiness. That would be just a lot of experimentation, but that's probably what I'll end up having to do.
----Begin Ideas----
I've done some research into the original Boulder Dash. It was created on the Atari 8-bit computer line initially, and the screen space was 20 x 12 tiles big, where each tile is 16 pixels. I'm thinking about using the PC Engine's mid-resolution mode so I can recreate that playing field. This is what I wish Lode Runner on PC Engine had done.
Fortunately, most things in the game work great simply as tiles. I will need to be wary of certain enemy types and when those enemies explode into diamonds, but I may actually be able to use animated tiles for the diamonds. Boulder Dash has this kind of chunky flow to it because it is so grid-based. While some enemies have smooth movement, even the main character sort of snaps to the game grid during movement to help improve control, something I periodically wish Bomberman did (I get toasted far too often because my little bomber ass is hanging out after turning a corner). My goal is going to be to lean on background tiles as much as is possible.
I am also hopeful I can use animated tiles to create some fun visual effects. I'd like to sort of have a lightly animated background behind the dirt tiles, so that when you move the darkness kind of twinkles and scrolls. And if I'm using tiles for the diamonds as well, I can try for making them appear both transparent to bend the glow of that twinkling background just a tad. And while the game tiles are 16x16, I can try to make sure the animations repeat such that they line up at the 8x8 level to save a little data.
The amoeba enemy also works perfectly as animated tiles, and I may be able to add some extra animation.
But I also need to be careful this isn't too slavish a clone. It needs to be more than (or at least different enough from) the original to stand on its own. The game natively only needs a single button, so I may devise some kind of action, contextual or otherwise, for the other button on the controller. I will also need to spitball some new enemy types.
----More Ideas----
I expect movement may be a pain to program. The PC originals had pretty choppy movement, and that worked for the grid-based nature of the game. But console players expect smoother movement. But too much smoothness will reduce accuracy and precision in movement, so movement will have to retain a little jerkiness. That would be just a lot of experimentation, but that's probably what I'll end up having to do.