Shadow of the Beast (port)

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Diskover
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Re: Shadow of the Beast (port)

Post by Diskover »

Sumez wrote: I was about to point out that it's very common that an inherent Amiga game doesn't get an NES port, but looking it up, I'm absolutely baffled how many ports this game actually did get!
I've always seen the game as primarily an Amiga title, and basically a tour de force of showing off what the system can do, with very little care taken into how it actually played.

Your videos are really amazing looking, and I'm very interested in seeing how the demo ends out on the NES, backed by your expertise. Would it be too much to also wish for an attempt at fixing the terrible gameplay, and make it into a fun game to play as well? :D Or are you only focusing on recreating the graphical experience?
This is just a technical / graphic demonstration.

I do not have enough capacity or knowledge to make the whole game.

Having an engine that makes me scroll simply is almost impossible for me. Imagine making an engine that contemplates multi-directional scroll.

I have been playing with the MMC3. I can split the screen into pieces to simulate parallax, I can even play to change CHR banks partially, and little else.
tepples
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Re: Shadow of the Beast (port)

Post by tepples »

I've been in the scene for years, and I've made an engine capable of 8-directional scrolling. (I cannot give a release date because it is for a client.) But even I shudder at the thought of making an engine that updates the tilemap for different layers at different speeds, as would be required for having one of the layers be more than 512 pixels in width, and combining that feature with 8-directional scrolling.
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Re: Shadow of the Beast (port)

Post by Oziphantom »

For me the hardest part would be getting the large enemies on screen without it being a flicker fest, the game likes everything big.
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FrankenGraphics
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Re: Shadow of the Beast (port)

Post by FrankenGraphics »

AVS and NT mini would handle it better of course, even if most'd play it on the NES or on a NES emulator.
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Diskover
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Re: Shadow of the Beast (port)

Post by Diskover »

Oziphantom wrote:For me the hardest part would be getting the large enemies on screen without it being a flicker fest, the game likes everything big.
In the Sega Master System version, what they do when they arrive at these meetings is to move to a screen where the background is the boss.

https://youtu.be/BnwOih21rbE?t=8m3s

FrankenGraphics wrote:AVS and NT mini would handle it better of course, even if most'd play it on the NES or on a NES emulator.
What is AVS and NT mini?
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rainwarrior
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Re: Shadow of the Beast (port)

Post by rainwarrior »

Diskover wrote:What is AVS and NT mini?
Recent clone systems that both (?) have an option to double the sprite limit to 16 instead of 8, if I recall. (Not sure about the NT, but I'll assume yes based on that comment.)

AVS: http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?products_id=78

The NT is perpetually unavailable, but there are at least a few out there in the world: https://www.analogue.co/pages/nt-mini/
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Diskover
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Re: Shadow of the Beast (port)

Post by Diskover »

rainwarrior wrote:
Diskover wrote:What is AVS and NT mini?
Recent clone systems that both (?) have an option to double the sprite limit to 16 instead of 8, if I recall. (Not sure about the NT, but I'll assume yes based on that comment.
Overcoming that limit is very interesting, but ... I would like to stick to the real limitations of the NES.

As before, there are solutions, and in Sega Master System became the bosses in part of the background, as happened in many NES games as well.
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FrankenGraphics
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Re: Shadow of the Beast (port)

Post by FrankenGraphics »

rainwarrior wrote:that both (?) have an option to double the sprite limit
Yeah, both have a 16 sprites per scanline mode.

NT mini will likely be unavailable for quite some time due to the unexpected demand of their super famicom clone. Preorders of the second batch of those are estimated to ship this autumn and it seems it's all hands on deck to get those out first before resuming production of the nt mini:

https://support.analogue.co/hc/en-us/ar ... ailability

the Super NT is priced to sell, unlike NT/NT mini which are de luxe. I predict they'll come up with a new, cheaper case option for the NT mini following the success of the Super NT eventually.
diskover wrote: I would like to stick to the real limitations of the NES.
And it's very reasonable to do so. Still, these fpga clones will yield a smoother experience of let's say bubble bobble or castlevania even though these games weren't designed around a higher sprites per scanline tolerance.
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Diskover
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Re: Shadow of the Beast (port)

Post by Diskover »

First scroll tests.
The engine used for this scroll is the All-direction scrolling (with small modifications), by Doug Fraker.
Its peculiarity lies in that it works under the NES 4-screen format.
I have to solve errors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFKp4oZ21F8
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FrankenGraphics
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Re: Shadow of the Beast (port)

Post by FrankenGraphics »

I don't know if this is a property of the original game or not, but however dynamic and impressive looking all the parallax is, i think the clouds come off as unnatural when they scroll that fast. They're probably the most distanced objects depicted or at least on an approximate depth level with the mountains, yet they react to camera position like they were hanging in front of everything, which would probably work great for a mist or the like. I'd probably leave clouds scrolling on speed with or slower than the mountains when it's contingent on camera/player movement, but ever so slowly auto-scrolling to indicate movement, wind and depth.
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Sumez
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Re: Shadow of the Beast (port)

Post by Sumez »

That's what the original game is like. Or well, almost. They are really "low hanging" clouds.

Honestly, I think it's an artistic freedom games should be able to take. I love scrolling clouds like that. Nothing to build a creepy atmosphere like SOTN-style fast clouds, too.
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rainwarrior
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Re: Shadow of the Beast (port)

Post by rainwarrior »

They don't really scroll that fast in the original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73JBaFkNZaE&t=12m26s

...but I mean, Diskover is just getting the scrolling working at this point. Tweaking the speed is a trivial adjustment.

Myself I'm hoping there's a few sprites left on the scanline for a blimp. ;)

There's a nice facsimile here, though missing the blimp:
http://www.int33h.com/test/shadow/
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Diskover
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Re: Shadow of the Beast (port)

Post by Diskover »

Put a forest in your life.
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Diskover
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Re: Shadow of the Beast (port)

Post by Diskover »

inside the tree
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OmegaMax
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Re: Shadow of the Beast (port)

Post by OmegaMax »

Very nice
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