DIARY OF A GAME : OMEGA ORB
By Peter Scott
After the completion of Thunderstruck II, I decided that my next game would be something different from the run/jump/collect/use genre. After experimenting with various arcade conversions and some more exotic ideas, I decided on a game featuring a bouncing, flexible character.
However, I wanted also to get away from the usual 'avoid the aliens' gameplay, so this bouncing character was to be equipped with a laser. After several attempts at this idea, I started on a game I called Cyplex, because it sounded suitably hi-tech.
Sunday 18th: Drew up first storyboard. The central character to be called BLIP, as it sounds nice. Blip will be a cute character and, if all goes to plan, should look something like a red squash ball, constantly bouncing and squashing. To add variety, (SHIFT) will boost the bounce.
Tuesday 20th: Adapted storyboard to feature computer networks. Lots of different types. Different commands activated by bouncing on a pad next to screen.
Wednesday 21st: Redesigned Blip to look cuter, with more frames of animation for the 'squash' on impact. Trusty sprite designer crashed!
Thursday 22nd: University homework. Yawn!
Friday 23rd: Finally entered Blip design. Drew up preliminary memory map - I find it useful in game development to draw up a rough plan of what goes where in memory, from &120 up to &7FFF. This determines how many aliens, screens, objects, graphics, computers etc to use and so is vitally important.
Saturday 24th: Scrapped several memory maps!
Sunday 25th/Wednesday 28th: University computer project - PASCAL program to multiply 40 digit numbers. Really exciting stuff, eh?
Thursday 29th: Finalised memory map. Jotted down a plot.
Friday 30th/Monday 2nd: Wrote a new sprite routine allowing Blip to move behind everything, just to be different.
Tuesday 3rd/Monday 9th: Wrote and entered the Blip movement routine. Much use of tables for bounce arcs and animation. I always plan things on paper, then enter them. Usually, as in this case, the final code does not resemble the paper ideas at all, after editing and compacting. Was most pleased with the resulting code - very cute and smooth. Now all I have to do is to write a game around Blip...
Technical information:
200+ detailed screens.
10 spaceships to explore.
32+ animated sprites with pixel by pixel movement.
40 objects.
7 colours in Mode 5 (BBC only).
Scenario: set on a fleet of spaceships fleeing from an exploding
sun. 6K+ of screen graphics; 3K+ of animated sprites; 6K+ of
screen data; 3K of general data; 5K of central program. Note:
these figures may change. Update: the game is being rewritten
to allow much more screen detail and the introduction of random
alien generators. The game is still well inside schedule but
I expect some hassle trying to get it to work on my new Master.
Elk version should take a couple of days."
Click here for larger image
Tuesday 10th: Added extra code to the Blip movement routine to allow suction tubes and spikes, similar to those in Thunderstruck II.
Wednesday 11th: Redesigned the computer action. There will be four types of computer: general ones with 8+ commands, a 'mega' terminal with some character, Terminals requiring codes for access and teleport terminals. Finished a demo version with one screen and only Blip moving to send to ASL.
Thursday 12th: Had the idea of writing a diary along with the game for Dave Reeder's Arcade in A&B. Otherwise, didn't do anything!
Friday 13th: Darryl Still, ASL's Head of Software, liked the game but felt the title sounded too similar to Psycastria by my mate Gary Partis. Decided to try and think up a new name; not an easy task.
Saturday 19th: Showed Cyplex, as it was, to Gary who seemed to like the 'squishiness'. Programmed the object routine for auto-pickup and drop when bouncing on the object. This saves fiddling around on the keyboard for the right key and also saves memory, as pickup/drop are in a fixed set of areas meaning no check for dropping in front of the background.
Sunday 15th: Wrote a letter to Dave Reeder about the game diary idea. Still can't think of a new title. Designed a title screen anyway - I find it helps to give an identity to the jumble of instructions that have to gel together into a game. Also a nice change from machine code!
Monday 16th: Darryl rang, suggesting Omega Orb as a title. Sounds OK to me. It's become a bit of a tradition for ASL to rename my games: Last of the Free was originally just Free and ThunderStruck used to be TimeStorm.
Tuesday 17th: Redesigned title screen, also cannibalised my other games for shared routines: the random number routine, the fire routine (similar to a so far unreleased game Network) as well as general subroutines to print a small character set.
Wednesday 18th: Wrote a colour interrupt routine allowing six colours on the screen at once. Looks rather pretty with the metallic panel I also designed. Totally rewrote the routines 'pinched' from my other games to accommodate new features. Wrote a small demo routine for the title screen.
Thursday 19th: Received the go-ahead from Dave Reeder for the game diary idea. Started on the other sprite/aliens routine. Sent a demo to Dave.
Friday 20th-27th: The aliens routine! Finally managed to get it working on Thursday 26th, with up to six sprites moving around along with Blip. These can be small/large/extra large, randomly appearing/moving, stationary large and small, eight directional fixed/random, large/small, varying speed, highly animated, ones that turn and face in certain directions, reappearing (ie falling drops), a barrier type and TVs with lots of frames of animation for the displays (ie a Max Headroom type chappie).
Saturday 28th-Sunday 1st. Programmed the energy drain when you hit an alien and their explosions on being shot. Planned the screen compact/expand/draw routine. This routine is crucial to the game, especially because of the small memory of the BBC. Entered it and it worked immediately! Most of the code is written, but there is still 15K left to be filled with graphics, screens and puzzles. This is the tough part...
Click here for larger image
Monday 2nd: Debugged the screendraw routine. It is based on that in ThunderStruck II but can print lines of block-combinations made up of four of the normal 12x16 pixel blocks. These can be reversed, printed straight or diagonally and generally made to look as varied as possible. Played my mate Gary Partis' latest - Sphere of Destiny; it goes rather fast! Love the effect when you complete it!
Tuesday 3rd: Added some of the 'frills' - sound on/off, title screen tune, pause and a demo of Blip bouncing on title screen. Also designed and entered the objects.
Wednesday 4th-Friday 6th: Spent most of these days drawing up and rejecting maps. Decided to stick to under 150 screens and concentrate on making these highly detailed. Designed some of the other sprites and the graphics that make up the screens.
Saturday 7th-Sunday 8th: Finally drew up a good map! Worked out where the puzzles go and finalised the layout of the computers. Thought of a nice new plot to suit the new map layout.
Monday 9th: A BAD day! A disc error ruins four hours of work. A silly mistake at University means my 68000 m/code project has to be completely rewritten. Got the flu. Cut my thumb on a wall.
Tuesday 10th-Friday 13th: University project. Had a few ideas about the next game. That's a pain whilst trying to program something else. Hand in project minutes before deadline! Dave Reeder rings for part 2 of diary. Must get a move on, despite the flu.
Saturday 14th-Sunday 15th: A lot of work! Complete the first 14 screens of the game, the landscape layer at the top. The first few are always the worst to do as they must impress and the graphics must be designed as you go along. Put in the game start effects.
Monday 16th-Thursday 19th: Designed a lot of sprites. Wrote the computer handling routine. Changed the energy-drain to take off more per hit - to be nasty! End of term University work. Mega-exciting stuff!
Friday 20th: Arranged a meeting with Darryl Still at ASL. Easter hols begin. Didn't program anything at all!
Saturday 21st-Wednesday 25th:
Entered lots of graphics and screens. Programmed the BLIP death
routine. Memory is getting tight - had to leave out a couple
of the less important computer instructions.
Thursday 26th-Friday 27th: Went to Reading for a meeting with ASL to discuss the future. Signed a new long-term contract. Had yet another idea for a game, inspired by Darryl Still's kittens! Must try and ignore the distractions of other games and concentrate on Orb.
Saturday 28th-Sunday 5th: Screen after screen after screen! Design on paper, type in, edit, scrap, redesign, tweak a bit and then onto the next one without so much as a pause! Well, just one - to admire Firetrack. Love the scrolling! The game itself seems similar to Lightforce, Terra Cresta, 1942 and other C64 shoot 'em ups. Back to Orb: strong tea and loud music is all that keeps me going...
Monday 6th: Took out rather a massive bug that occured after 20 minutes of play. Playtested the first 100 screens and uncovered quite a few glitches and errors. Spent all day correcting them.
Tuesday 7th-Thursday 9th: The final screens! Towards the end the whole process of screen design speeds up as there are much fewer graphics to design and puzzles to enter and check. The cheat function, allowing me to skip to any screen with any object, is vital here for saving time with final screens. Start to plan out the modifications for the Electron version; to sound and the routine to 'squash' the screen.
Friday 10th: FINISHED! Tested the game repeatedly to completion. Wrote the saver disc to allow ASL to produce tape copies. Completed the code for the Elk version on paper.
Saturday 11th: Went to borrow Gary's Electron as mine is long gone. Spent all day fiddling with tapes, testing the Beeb saver disc and the Elk version.
Sunday 12th: Final testing of Elk version. Started to storyboard Ransack! Now, some ideas: 1000 screens maybe; how about 32 sprites moving around at once; too cluttered; lots of blasting; less screens; separate subgames; multi-intelligence characters; fate intervening every so often..."
This article appeared in "A & B Computing", published by Argus Press.
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