Retro Raider

Pater Alf · Post by **Pater Alf** » Sat Aug 02, 2008 1:52

The idea behind the game was to take a modern classic and to retroise, so it looks like it was made for an 8-bit console in the early 80s.

So this is "Tomb Raider" in a good old fashioned 8-bit retro style. You've got to help her to find a mystical cross and there are three levels to beat (in version 0.75). And for all of you who think 8-bit Lara Croft is sexy there is even a nude patch...

Developer: Jayenkai

Download: http://socoder.net/?showcase=13830

Download size: 0.5 MB

Year: 2008

More informations and nude patch: http://www.retroremakes.com/forum2/show ... hp?t=11259

Status: I think Jayenkai will give us permission to host it...

eMTe · Post by **eMTe** » Sun Aug 03, 2008 22:55

When I only saw this thread I thought of asking about nude patch...

Dang, how flat this is.

jayenkai · Post by **jayenkai** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 15:22

Euw! Old screenshots!

Hopefully you're not all getting the old version.. The new one's got an Ammo bar on the bottom right, and a few other special little tweaks.

Also, the "Nude-patch" is no longer required.. Type nekid on the titlescreen, and you'll be happy enough!

teeny shrinks the screen to 1x1 scale, biggy brings it back up, and if you've a saved ghost, type replay to watch it play on it's own..

There's also a level editor in there, too.
Pick the "You - Your Level" level, start as normal, play as normal, etc.
But along the bottom there's little tiles you can plonk down.
Hit F1 to save the level, and then hop into the level directory, rename it, and make another one

Code: Select all

0,0,3,7
k65
l65
N128
O128
o130
a130
B128
A128
D65
E65
0,1,7,7
i224
K65
D225
N130
g130
1,1,7,7
i162
B162
f96
2,1,7,7
n256
e227
H65
f130
K130
3,1,6,7
m322
l322
k322
j322
i322
h322
g322
j65
4,1,6,7
l226
m224
d162
o130
3,2,7,6
N146
4,2,7,6
K256
L224
M224
N224
H160
O224
5,2,7,6
G258
H130
2,2,7,7
o130
J322
E322
F322
G322
H322
I322
G65
H65
1,2,7,7
K162
L162
M162
h97
e130
0,2,7,6
F224
A130
B97
-1,1,7,7
i224
F260
I260
L260
-2,1,8,7
C146
d130
f97
-3,1,7,6
M164
L164
K164
D164
H164
J164
I164
G164
F164
E164
C130

Once done, you can even post it on a forum! It's nice easy plain text!

Pater Alf · Post by **Pater Alf** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 15:56

Yep, it was just this morning when I realised that I played the old version and also took screenies from it (which is strange, because the link in my first post leads to the new version).

About the new version: It's nice that there are three levels (even if the second level made my eyes hurt), but it would've been better if you could play them in a kind of campaign mode. So that you get automatically to level 2 after completing level 1 instead oft getting a "Game Over" and having to select another level by yourself.

But it's great that there is a level editor now. This will give a much higher replaybility to the game.

After all I really love the concept of retoising/demaking modern games. Was it actually you who came up with the idea first? Or was it someone else and you just liked it yourself and made a game using the idea? I just ask, because it seems the concept of demaking game became quite popular during the last few weeks. There is even a competition with this theme over at TIGSource:

http://curlysworldoffreeware.com/displa ... ery_mode=9

Post by **Chroelle** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 17:16

I think the game has some value (at least to me) since I found the whole idea good, and I could get in a Lara-ish mood, though not entirely...Too few pixels.

I liked the game, but not at first, because I didn't figure out how to change levels. But when I did it grew on me.

jayenkai · Post by **jayenkai** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 18:23

A level structure probably would suit it, but..

A) The levels don't really get much harder, they're just the same theme but different!
and
B) I'm really not that good at making levels! (See... Any of my games, ever!)

This is usually the reason why my levels are either partly/mostly randomly generated, or easily editable!! (And when they are editable I'll usually shove in an editor.. somewhere!)

---

The original idea for this game came from Socoder's Wednesday Workshop. It's a weekly coding challenge, where you're given a set theme, and must make a game to fit into that theme somehow.
Week #151 was "Remake a modern game, in a retro style." and that's where the idea for this game came from.

Since I've been making these little games for a while (if not weekly then at least a couple per month, 88 entries in 162 weeks) I've now decided to rebrand my coding blog to coincide with my apparent lack of not-making-games.

www.agameaweek.com is the most obvious url I've ever had, and should be a nice stopping ground for new games!

And, of course, they'll all be freeware, and you can happily pop them on here if you wish.
Um.. Yeah, so that's me spamming

Enjoy the game!

Pater Alf · Post by **Pater Alf** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 0:39

Is there any possibility to change the background in the editor. So that you get a cave background (like in the last screenshot) when you fall down a level instead of the tree background over and over again?

jayenkai · Post by **jayenkai** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 0:56

Scrollwheel if you have'em..

If you dont.. I guess I'm making a new version!

Pater Alf · Post by **Pater Alf** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:00

Ah, that explains a lot. It seems I'm the last man in western civilisation that doesn't own a mouse with a scrollwheel. It's on my to-buy-list forever, but there are always things that are more important. Think I really have to change this soon...

jayenkai · Post by **jayenkai** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:03

OK, what the hey.
I can spend ten minutes playing about with it, why not!

Anything other little quickies I should throw in? Feel free to go wild! (But.... obviously not too wild

)

Pater Alf · Post by **Pater Alf** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:10

As said before, level structure would be great...

And more enemies of course, more weapons (for example a knife when you run out of ammo) and maybe even some more obstacles (like the saw in level three).

Ok, I guess that was kind of wild...

jayenkai · Post by **jayenkai** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:59

Saw?!
Oh, the spinny thing..
Yeah, that's just a none-moving enemy

I cheated!

Um, I'll add a "Next Level" thing on, but the game just loads levels in filename order, so, whether they'll stay put is another thing altogether.
Plus you'll be restarting, all your ammo, health replenished, and stuff.. But that's more so it doesn't break the "X bullets in this level" style ruleset and things..

Knife probably won't work.. On account of the fact that all the enemies move so quickly! By the time you've stuck a knife out, it's already past you by, and taken a chunk of your health!
I haven't bothered to even try it out, of course.. Maybe it will work.. But. I can't see it being all that useful..

I just tried adding spikes, and remembered why the game doesn't already HAVE spikes! Pain in the ass to draw with only 8x16 pixels to draw them in... Other than having bizarre "bottle of wine" styled spikes, of course

Blame the scaling!

And, again, 8x16 space is a little hard for other classic Tomb Raider things.. Can't exactly fit T-Rex in there, can I!
So I added a *cough* bear *cough*

If you want to try drawing your own backgrounds, load up system/151/bg.png, shove 'em in there to test, and plop them here to share.. (of course, I'll be placing them into a preset order so they're not all over the place!) And don't go mad.. Try to think of reusability, rather than drawing an entire scenic background!!

Same link.. Have fun, whinge, moan, complain, and suggest more bits and pieces.

..
Oh, and - / + to change those backgrounds..

Pater Alf · Post by **Pater Alf** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:06

Hey, that's what I call great service. I suggest something and you add it to the game within one hour...

Thank you, man!!!

I really like the bear, it looks so cute and funny (of course it's a deadly enemy). Great!

...and again I don't have a reason to buy a mouse with a scrollwheel (but I think I will buy one nonetheless).

jayenkai · Post by **jayenkai** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 11:23

Probably would've been about 5 minutes had I not spent ages trying to draw spikes again

Glad you like it.. Feel free to request more!

And buy a mouse!

Post by **Chroelle** » Thu Aug 07, 2008 14:10

How about faster shooting weapons? Like a machine gun or something of the sorts.

I might actually go and try to make a background for this game if I can figure out how to.
I think the continous levels was my biggest wish.

Pater Alf · Post by **Pater Alf** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 1:22

Some more things I would like to see in this game:

* Traps like hardly visible wires that create an explosion or automatic gun fire when you touch them, trapdoors or stompers that try to smash Lara
* Small puzzle elements like locked doors that can only be opened if you find a fitting key or a hidden switch before or wall with a small crack that will break down when you shoot at them
* A full-screen mode (or am I just to blind to find it?)

* And a T-Rex of course

I think I will try to create my own level when I work night-shift the next time (which will be in two weeks)...

jayenkai · Post by **jayenkai** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 12:24

OK, I've opened up RetroRaider again (damn you all!) and will have a bit more of a play.

Whilst I'm working on it, I'll let have a little rant/rave

I like the explosion/gunfire ideas.. I'll have a play with that.

Trapdoors.. .. That'd be annoying I'd thing.. The holes are almost invisible enough as it is, in certain backgrounds!.. But heck, why not give it a go, eh!

Stompers, and again Spikes are more of a single-hit, death type thing, and as much as I like those

they're probably not well suited to this game. Especially since you don't have any lives.
You'd probably be really ticked off it you got 90% way through a level, only to splat against a hidden stomper!
(And, no.. I'm not adding lives! that'd take ages, especially with the whole replay ghost thing going on.)

OK, Puzzle stuff.
Right back when I started this, and drew "Lara that actually just looks like Platdude with his Lara costume", I consciously decided to try to steer clear of regular JNKPlat Puzzle elements.
If I go too close, the two games start to blur.
So I stuck with JNKPlat = Puzzle and RetroRaider = Action.

Now, if I start bringing puzzles into the mix, it might mess up that distinction, but since I'm going to have to tweak the bottom of the screen to fit the machine gun into the mix, I might as well spend a bit of time dumping an inventory there, too.

So, Keys/Gates would probably be added.

Not sure if it's been noticed, but there's already walls with gaps at the bottom, duck, wait till she ducks further, then crawl...

Fullscreen mode requires I rewrite certain areas.
Blitz Basic can play around with all kinds of window resolutions, hence this game playing in super-nutso 720x544 resolution.
If I add fullscreen, it's either going to be slightly slower/skewed as it desperately attempts to rescale it, or I'll cheat and shove a border around the thing.
.. If I do attempt it, it'll probably be the border!
But don't get your hopes up.

And I suppose I oughta add another level or two, too..

*sigh* so much work!

Scythe · Post by **Scythe** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 12:38

PA is a demanding fella, but I look forward to playing this game when all the adds have been put in there. It's starting to sound like it'll be great fun!

jayenkai · Post by **jayenkai** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 16:10

Okeydoke..

Additions
1. Machine gun... or rather, faster bullets!
If you pick up the blue bullet, they add to your current ammo supply, and fire at a faster rate.. They fire in the order collected, though, so you might want to be sure you get the blue's last!

2. Kabloowee mines!
Little brown splodges on the floor. Step on/near/jump over them, and kabloowee.. If you jump over them, you're safe, otherwise they'll take a decent amount of health.
Note : Each one detonated = extra points!

3. Inventory!
Your inventory is displayed next to the word "AMMO" when you actually hold anything. You can hold up to 10 items. If you collect anything more, it's just ignored because I didn't put a "Can't hold more items" thing onto the inventory! So, don't pick anything up with your hands full, or it'll be wasted!

4. Keys!
Pick up keys by walking into them. Currently, they're the only things you can hold in your inventory. Couldn't think of anything else!

5. Gates!
Have a key? Walk into a gate to open it up. Any key will do, because otherwise I'd have to do the whole "this key -> this door" stuff in the editor, and that would've been an extra layer of complexity that I really couldn't be bothered with

6. Fullscreen!
Run the game with -f in it's parameters* to run it in fullscreen. It's got a "Amazingly retro BORDER!!" or rather, I didn't bother to scale it, so you're stuck with it like that!
The game runs in a 800x600 resolution. If your system can't handle that, play it windowed!

7. Another level!
Grin and Bear it!

Things left out.
1. Trapdoors!
Needed a whole extra subsection of objects, and I was trying to be quick!

2. Machine gun turrets!
Required another bunch of bullet code!! OMG!WTF!?

3. T-Rex!
I thought about it for a while, but in the end I didn't bother!

End Result
Still the same link, but not the same version!

And still only v0.85! What more can be added!?

* Either create a shortcut, and add -f to it's "target" path, or create a .bat file that does the same kind of thing..

Post by **Chroelle** » Fri Aug 08, 2008 16:15

If making levels is not too hard work, then count me in with making one too.