Diary of a game
6 Dec 1999
I have decided to use Allegro for also the Linux version. The Work in progress
of Linux performs a lot better than the latest official version of
XWinAllegro. And wow... I just made a new alpha test version release for both
DOS and Linux!
2 Oct 1999
Lee has sent me some new graphics. See the new screenshots... They contain a
mixture of old and new graphics but should give you some idea... The weapon
system is now complete and I've been working on some intro sequences and the
first audio routines and some text routines. And just a few minutes ago I
wrote one very important feature... Pause :-)
12 Sep 1999
I've been adding some finishing touches to the new weapon system. It is now so
damn easy for me to add all the remaining (and maybe some new...) weapons to
the source code...
6 Sep 1999
This weapon system redesign seemed to be a good idea. It took half on hour
to plan it on paper, half an hour to remove all the weapons stuff from the
source code and a few hours to rewrite it all. So, I took away all the weapons
from the ship and added shining new weapons in a few hours... And now adding
the remaining weapons will be a lot easier...
5 Sep 1999
I have re-designed... lets just say that I have designed some parts of code
which were related to all the bullets and explosion that had already been
written. As it was, it was a pain in the a** to maintain and update. Now I
just have to remove all the old explosions etc... stuff and write it all again,
but it should be worth the effort...
4 Sep 1999
Just when you thought Xybernoid was dead, comes the next update to these
www-pages... I haven't had much time and resources for developint Xybernoid for
the last three months but NOW it will change. I have written a few lines of
code since that and these pages have now moved to
Retrospecs www-server. Watch this
space, I will be updating these pages more frequently now... :-)
30 May 1999
I just made some quick and dirty alpha release versions of Xybernoid for
Linux/X11 and DOS. They still have the old graphics, even though Hydes first
patches of recoloured graphics look great. If you dare, go and get the alpha-
version...
23 May 1999
The mysterious and dreadful "the whole thing crashes when something explodes in
DOS-version"-bug has now been fixed! Expect a demo soon.
Another RetroSpec member, Hyde Lee has sent me some great looking demo graphics,
and I can't wait go get more! :-)
13 May 1999
Yet another 4 weeks have passed... I would be ready to release a playable
demo or alpha version of Xybernoid for Linux but I would at the same time
also like to release it for DOS and Windows too. And there is a bug with
the DOS (or Allegro) version which keeps on bugging me... :-(
13 Apr 1999
Hmmm... I thought I should make an update because it has been nearly four
weeks since the last update. I have been spending Easter and playing Grand
Prix Legends. Thats all :-) Well not quite, I have been making some small
improvements to the sprite routines. Hopefully my steering wheels
potentiometers would break or something so that I could spend more time on
Xybernoid :-)
I really think that after I get a few things done, I will release a playable
(though quite crap) demo for Linux, DOS and possibly Windows. This demo
features some aliens, shooting and the cyber mace.
17 Mar 1999
I've been having a look at Allegro and especially XwinAllegro. I think I am
going to port Xybernoid to DOS (and possibly to Windows) using Allegro but the
Linux version of Xybernoid will still be using SDL, due to a problem in
vsync()-support in XwinAllegro. I have already compiled Xybernoid in DOS with
Allegro and there were no problems! I am sure the problems start when I start
to have a look at Windows-version... Now I have to maintain two versions
of the graphics routines, one for SDL and one for Allegro, but this seems to
be easier than I thought :)
Last night I made quickly a logo for Xybernoid. I took a loading screen from
Cybernoid, removed the "C"-letter and replaced it with some kind of "X" and
cleaned it up a little bit and used a gradient fill tool to make it look
better. As you see, even GIMP cannot make an artist from completely
non-artistic person like me... :-) I need a better logo...
11 Mar 1999
Some alien attack wave patterns are there. Some of them are a bit like in the
original game, and some of them I quickly invented from the top of my head ;)
So now I can look at the nicely animated alien sprites and wonder when I am
going to code the shooting and collision detection functions so I can blast
those nasty aliens to pieces with huge explosions and sound effects...
I got email from a guy who has finished his Cybernoid clone for DOS long time
ago. The graphics and gameplay is very much inspired by Cybernoid though the
rooms are different. If you want to check it out you can find it at
http://www.geocities.com:80/SiliconValley/Vista/8345/cn.zip
I think the next thing I will do is to have a look at porting the current
Xybernoid version to Windows so that I know is it really possible with not
too much work. I guess I will need DPJGG and SDL-libraries for Windows and
some patience, because I have a feeling that I will have some big problems,
I am not very "Windows-compatible"...
And I really should spice up the www-page...
3 Mar 1999
I have slowly been working on sprites and animation. Most of the sprites have
now been grabbed and some animation functions are now there. I can now fly the
ship through all the rooms from the very first one to the last one. There are
not yet any aliens but the first room has now animation, the vulcano-like
thing and those three things that look like a gun. Have a look at the
screen-shot :-)
22 Feb 1999
Lots of things happened not related to this project. I broke my keyboard (I
have always laughed at those who spill some drink into they keyboards, not
anymore) and then I also bought a printer.
I have now decided that the graphics will be twice the size of the original.
The original graphics look so tiny on 800x600 X window. Almost all the rooms
have now been mapped and 95% percent of the static room graphics have been
grapped. And I may have found somebody to recolour them... :)
Oh, I almost forgot, the name of this game will be Xybernoid (very original
name, isn't it?)
11-12 Feb 1999
I have been slowly updating the map functions etc... Maybe I could next code
some player functions so I could move around the screen :-)
10 Feb 1999
So, it is going to be Cybernoid. Today I have been writing some map related
functions and stuff, while waiting for the Iron Maiden-reunion news.
9 Feb 1999
Wrote some sprite routines. Could be faster though :)
6 Feb 1999
Now the "ball" is bouncing nicely without destroying the background. I guess
I should code some sprite routines now...
3 Feb 1999
Some tests with SDL and a bouncing "ball" animation. The ball destroys the
background...
2 Feb 1999
Decided that I need to remake some Spectrum classic on Linux/X11. I had a
quick look at SDL-library and it seems simple enough for me :) but still
quite effective. I haven't had a look at GAMES yet, because I couldn't
connect to its www-pages...
The "only" problem is deciding which game to remake.
turtiain@iki.fi