Zuks!

[hyperfighting]

Hi Everyone!


Thanks so much for checking the project out but more importantly thank you all for the contributions you have made to the PCE scene!

It is wonderful to see the enthusiasm, creativity and joy this little console brings out in people!

You are all legends in my book! I'm happy to be here and to finally have something to contribute.

elmer  your long standing mission of releasing optimal environments for the community is epic!
You are largely responsible for this Zuks work! I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for your help!
I would love to try a new iteration of HuC from what I've read you have alot of recent optimizations cooking! 

DarkKobold It is nice to finally meet the man who sparked the scaling. Damn fine idea you had I just think it's the coolest thing!
Do you mean apply the routine 2x or 3x to the same GFX? TX mentioned this was possible so it has been on my mind to attempt a second attract mode featuring Boss characters and attempting this technique. How is your game coming along? I saw some snippets in the scaling thread!

exodus In my mind I am deep in the game portion. In reality I'm just starting out. I didn't intend make this public for that very reason but 0x8bitdev forced my hand with his incredible tools. In a way I kinda feel fortunate the game coding hasn't begun yet because 0x8bitdev tools are going to offer optimizations and another set of tools to approach the game programming etc. Currently I'm trying to incorporate his methodologies of handling sprites and maps in the current project.

@shmglsky pokun Too clarify the naming stuff. I should restore Zupipi's name (thanks for pointing it out). I got wind the little guys are called Zukko's so I shortened it Zuks kind like a nick name.

[DarkKobold]

May 5, 2022 21:14:56 GMT hyperfighting said:

DarkKobold It is nice to finally meet the man who sparked the scaling. Damn fine idea you had I just think it's the coolest thing!
Do you mean apply the routine 2x or 3x to the same GFX? TX mentioned this was possible so it has been on my mind to attempt a second attract mode featuring Boss characters and attempting this technique. How is your game coming along? I saw some snippets in the scaling thread!

If you're using the exact same code as written, unfortunately it can only do 2x. Turboxray had ideas for different levels of scale, but they don't exist yet. 

Also, I can't take credit for the idea. I saw videos of Paprium with the guys walking in the foreground, and loved the effect. It seemed easy enough to implement (with some help from the experts). 

[pokun]

May 5, 2022 21:14:56 GMT hyperfighting said:

@shmglsky pokun Too clarify the naming stuff. I should restore Zupipi's name (thanks for pointing it out). I got wind the little guys are called Zukko's so I shortened it Zuks kind like a nick name.

I see. I think Zukko is basically the "zu-" prefix, that is also used in Zupapa and Zupipi's names, combined with a "-kko" suffix which may mean child. Child is really "ko" (子) in Japanese but I guess SNK added an extra "k" to make it sound a little bit cuter like a nickname.

[gilbot]

Every time I see this thread I read the game's name as "SUCKS!", which is the exact opposite of what you've achieved from that video.
I don't know whether the name was intentional, but if not it's a bit unfortunate.

[SignOfZeta]

May 8, 2022 13:39:38 GMT gilbot said:

Every time I see this thread I read the game's name as "SUCKS!", which is the exact opposite of what you've achieved from that video.
I don't know whether the name was intentional, but if not it's a bit unfortunate.

Zooooooks, as in a prequel to Zooooopapa.

[gilbot]

It's probably supposed to be pronounced 'Juks' (as in jukebox) owing to the Japanese heritage of Zupapa (developed by FACE and published by SNK, and was actually written as ズパパ officially).
That doesn't prevent me to think of "SUCKS" whenever I see how the letters are arranged in the game's name.

[Deleted]

May 9, 2022 16:33:30 GMT gilbot said:

It's probably supposed to be pronounced 'Juks' (as in jukebox) owing to the Japanese heritage of Zupapa (developed by FACE and published by SNK, and was actually written as ズパパ officially).
That doesn't prevent me to think of "SUCKS" whenever I see how the letters are arranged in the game's name.

Better be safe then and rename it Puckman. 

[exodus]

GADZUKS!!!
you can use that one for free

[spenoza]

May 9, 2022 22:04:56 GMT exodus said:

GADZUKS!!!
you can use that one for free

Well, I guess if you’re gonna RUTHLESSLY SWIPE SOMEONE ELSE’S JOKE, at least swipe a crappy one! 🤣

[pokun]

May 9, 2022 16:33:30 GMT gilbot said:

It's probably supposed to be pronounced 'Juks' (as in jukebox) owing to the Japanese heritage of Zupapa (developed by FACE and published by SNK, and was actually written as ズパパ officially).
That doesn't prevent me to think of "SUCKS" whenever I see how the letters are arranged in the game's name.

I think you actually know this, but "ズ" (as well as "ヅ") is pronounced as [zɯ], not [jɯ] and the consonant is much more similar to the English Z-sound /z/ like in "zone" than the English J-sound /dʒ/ in "jukebox".

I agree that it kind of looks like sucks as we have no Z-sound in Swedish and Swedes typically automatically approximates it as an S-sound in our minds. But the lack of "ck" is what make me see it as zoo.

[hyperfighting]

I'm happy to report I have an official Zuks! update. This would not have been possible without the support of the wonderful people on this forum!



One important aspect of this update was to rough in the gameplay engine. The aim was to add as many bells and whistles as I could to see the impact on performance.
The bells and whistles mentioned equate to 2x Sprites (requires more vram updates than 1x sprites), Sound, Colour Cycling, Animated Tiles.

The game will support 1x and 2x gameplay modes.
Split Screen and Full Screen

Moving forward optimizing the 2x engine and completing the 1x engine will be my focus.
The 1x engine is essentially the 2x Engine but a lot of consideration must be given to offsets to ensure the existing code supports both scales.

At that point the next video will feature a complete playthrough of stage 1. I have no idea how long that will take but that is my plan moving forward.

I am excited to hear what you guys think! I can report I am planning on more gameplay mechanics than what is featured in this video hopefully we will get to see the complete picture in the next one!
spenoza  I noticed you have a thread regarding display resolution my reasoning for 320x224 was used to increase the visible play area. Doing my best to give the player a heads up on what's coming up next.

I need to take a break and load up audreyhepburn Strife Sisters Demo!

[gredler]

This is coming together so well, congratulations on the result of hard work paying off so spectacularly!!! 

Thank you for sharing your progress - it's looking awesome!

The music and sound is great, how did you go about getting that in? PSG via squirrel? 

Very exciting and inspirational to see, bravo sir!

[hyperfighting]

gredler you are the man son! Thanks again for helping recover the GFX assets early on! 

For the story of Squirrel I had to channel my inner Arkhan his tutorial videos mystified me and his positive upbeat approach to the way he wrote his manual was not only helpful but uplifting.
I had no musical experience coming into this. I didn't create the tracks outside of Squirrel and convert them to mml. EX: Arkhan describes building an original track in fruity loops and importing it to 3MLE

I'll describe the method that has been working for me. 

In my case I take preexisting midi files and look for samples that tickle my ear drum. What's funny is some songs you think have what you are looking for and they really don't. Songs you might think are lame have great arrangements.
The samples are so short and you can also combine arrangements from other tracks to get some really unique music pair that with the "samples" the PCE offers you can get some really unique stuff.

1. You are looking for short "interesting loops" of cord arrangements. You can usually tell with the default settings in 3MLE but the true test is the PCE.
2. You have the "interesting loop" then manipulate is as per Arkhan's recommendations and you are making music!
3. Final note have a quick way to compile your project so while making the tracks you aren't issuing too many commands wasting time. Arkham describes this too I can't stress his videos and manual enough.

I found sound FX challenging and still do I've been on the trial error side of things again Arkhan has some great tips. My final advice is get in a mode to dedicate some real time and don't get down on yourself if things aren't going your way right away you need perseverance and it takes a bit to get comfortable. I wouldn't call myself that yet as there is alot I don't know but what I do know is Squirrel is great! 
 

[gredler]

Nice! When we were using squirrel that's what DarkKobold  and I both did for a song each, but I don't think squirrel is an option on our huc build anymore. Glad to see it's still working and getting great results like this. Thanks for sharing your process!

[paranoiadragon]

Looking dope!