A quick post - Check out the review of UFO: Enemy Unknow on the Amiga by UKGN_Zoidberg

I've been hard at work to get Rebelstar 2 finished. And its getting to more people to beta test it and also give their impressions. Mitch on Discord has suggested CharliesFAR #WNW (WHAT'S NEW WEDNESDAY) Twitch stream to show off project development so far. AcidBottle vouched for them. So I was like - "This should be fun!" 

The stream was yesterday, and boy it was a rollercoster for me! You can watch it on the link below  - It's timed to the start of the Rebelstar bit (almost an hour long):

..

WHAT'S NEW WEDNESDAY! | Rebelstar II (Amiga), Ghosts 'n Goblins (Plus/4), Dig Dug II (Amiga) and more... | !wnw !discord - Twitch

While it was a short play it was very eye-opener and I had a few notes taken. Also I can add the Mister to hw supported, but I did find some weird corruptions which do not happen on UAE or original, I have to dig further on what's behind the Mister or the commodities and hacks he might be running.

Joining in were a bunch of people were ULARISBADDLER who's the designer/programmer on ArchRebel Tactics, and NIVRIG who you all know the Rogue Declan game (which seems a major fan of the old Rebelstar / Laser Squad games. 

Also streamers/players like RetroDenmark, Morgan_Just_Games, MitchFrenz, KazReyn and others showed up 

When I saw, the replay above I kept finding that a lot of people were reaching to me and I was completely oblivious, nervously trying to get some instructions to Charlie while he was playing and cursing the time lag.
Sorry people I just was in my little world.

But I guess I'll have to do FAQ sooner rather than later!

I just leave this small clip at the end about Amiga Rebelstar with CharliesFAR opinion and last thoughts on the end of the stream.

Anyway, if you're into Retro - just tune in Wednesday on the CharliesFAR streams! It made me a fan of it! And check out the rest of the stream, specially Amiga Dig-dug 2 by JOTD, the C16 Ghost'n'Goblins, as well the MSX2 Angelic Warrior!

Project status

As of now I would classify above 90 % complete.

The game itself is playable in 1 or 2 player modes from start to finish.

It doesn't crash or have major bugs. All the original game is pretty much here.

The new assets and features, as well as some decisons about these, are the thing keeping it from being 99% complete.

But in its current form is in beta stage. AcidBottle is my main leading beta-tester, and has been an invaluable help. His input more than just bug reporting or suggestion have been a source morality boost, and helping me carry on with this project. This is what he has to say about this project:

"Rebelstar, Chaos and of course Rebelstar 2 are all in existence thanks to Julian Gollop. Have been a massive fan of his games and this genre since way far back, so when I see a remake for Amiga, well now you have got my interest 100%.

Given that many developers are secretive and protective of their games, it was more out of hope I offered my service to bug test. Hardwire reached out and we set about seeing what the status of play is. I use an Amiga 1200 with TF1260, with the option of removing to keep it at stock. WB 3.1 up to 3.2.2 used. There also had to be testing made on WinUAE, PiAmiga etc, since many now choose this option over original hardware.

Now initially, I was blown away, so much ground work and coding had already been done. It was a little rough around the edges, sure, but the basic gameplay is there. Initially there was simply silly bugs to squash, perhaps some text alignment or UI issues, the odd crash. These have all but now been fixed in relatively quick time. During this period the AI and UI were greatly improved, I can tell you now this game is tough so be warned! Thankfully these is now also many difficulty levels to suit everyone.

After achieving a really stable build, with some great work done on higher resolutions to max out the speed. All that is left, is needing polish and fine tuning. 

My humble input has been minimal at best but any bugs reported or features requested are handled or fixed. Feature creep is a thing, so I would say everything you would like to see in a modern remake has been achieved. At 90% or more now complete, this game is shaping up to be a true homage to a legendary series. "

The project % milestone has been reported in AmigaBill news stream.
You can watch and excerpt below:

AmigaBill NEWS - Rebelstar 2 90% complete!

Test hardware 

For now Rebelstar II is confirmed on working on the following hardware:

• Amiga A1200 with 14mhz 020 2 MB Chip Mem (stock machine)
• Amiga A1200 with 14 Mhz Motorola 68020 with 2 MB fast Ram
• Amiga A1200 with TF1260, 128MB 060, mmu and no fpu
• Amiga A1200 with 56 MHz ACA1230 Motorola 68030 and 64 MB RAM
• Amiga A4000 with 25 Mhz A3640 Motorola 68040 and 16 MB RAM
• Amiga A3000 with 16 Mhz Motorola 68030 and 16 MB RAM

• The A500 Mini
• Various instances of WinUAE

AI and internal issues

The AI routines were just about complicated as I imagined at first, but not exactly as I thought.

Adding a specific path finding routine seemed an easier task in the present time, with the internet and such. But the reality is that the algorithms are too heavy for 68000 based machines, specially the lower 7mhz ones. And the only saving grace was that I didn't had movement in real-time but turn-based with individual unit handling.

The approach here would probably be different as the original with the amount of memory would probably work with tables to use path-finding, and the Amiga does an adapted version (by me) of the famous A*. 

I opted for a trying to develop a somewhat simplified and rough version of that (taking in account different unit type movement restriction and cost). That made my find-path code is memory hungry (almost 100kb just for variables) and slow on modest hardware (got up to 40 seconds in the most extreme condition for the map on A500). So, I optimized them with some unit area bounds and some specific table creation for lower models.

With the path-finding and line of sight routines in place it was actually easier to setup a sort of behavior for the computer units to follow.

That was a major milestone for me and allowed me to concentrate on establishing AI behavior for both the Aliens and the Raiders (which is more difficult since they are outnumbered and have more objectives than just kill on sight and drag the game). Also having them handle objects and have different specific purposes. Even when to decide to escape to the Shuttle!

The original

Naturally I didn't have the original source code when I developed it. After having it all running and having a feeling for it, I did wonder if it was too different from the original...

At one time I remembered that maybe I should take a look onto Rebelstar inner workings, so I emailed William Fraser famed by his rendition of LS on java and his site on Laser Squad in general (he did have a small mention to Rebelstar):  Laser Squad Home Page

I asked William Fraser for his input, as he developed the original JAVA versions of both Rebelstar and Laser Squad for JAVA, based on the disassembled original code.  He gently provided me his JAVA source code, as well as providing the original disassembled ASM. While I did this because of weapon damage soft stats and damage calculation regarding the original, and allow me to take a look onto another stuff.

What I found in term of path finding was as I expected a table of routed and region importance. Which makes sense - in the original the aliens can go pretty much anywhere apart from the trees and walls. The only exception is the swamper which only moves on the river.

I wasn't going back on my code now, but in a hindsight somehow, I felt it was the easier route (not necessarily the best - that's debatable).

Naturally other differences stood out on the unit next command selection, something I noticed but never paid too much attention as it seemed not relevant, but after verifying the internal works how it searched through the map and how AI units were handled, it made perfect sense.

Regarding the AI behavior, well my code while different did mimicked in broad terms the original behavior, except for unit entering cover mode. In mine brute implementation the computer AI is more aggressive and persistent. While I knew that was a thing, as I had experienced on the original Rebelstar (not so much on the 2), hadn't thought much about it - as it was much more in with Chaos Theory, let the chips fall where they might... But I should take some notes and come up with my own implementation.

Other stuff stood out such as the computer opponents do not pick up items. In fact, apart from reload they don't really change stuff. So, there's where my version definitely improves! As well as having different AI behavior for type of units and both sides, as well as threat assessment (instead of random enemy unit targeting - which admittedly actually worked very convincingly)!

And if you take in consideration the tools and limited memory Julian Gollop had to contend (and all is Assembly), you got to be impressed. That's when people mention best game creators / designers / programmers his name springs first into my mind. Rebelstar would be topped shortly by Laser Squad on the ZX-Spectrum by the his very own hand.

In a nuttshel - Amiga Rebelstar 2 is not a port of the original. Apart from the name and stats which were public in gameplay, it follows my interpretation of the original - while not trying to be to different. You can still lear something from the Master himself, and I'll be sure to revisit his work and if possible improve on it.
Some game mechanics are similar, but others have a different twist (I'll do an article on that later). And while it would be (a lot) easier to port and then add features, now it's done my way...

So, thanks William Fraser - your help was invaluable  and has been an eye opener for me!

(Edit) - Additional GFX

Since the early days, I had the idea to add AGA graphics. Actually that was going to be the main version. But after having so successfully upgraded the 15 colour ZX minimal gfx to a 32 colour, I thought that was good enough. 

Later on AcidBottle kept pestering about we should be doing AGA graphics, he even take a stab at it. And that kept poking my brain. I left the AGA dir on the game, and even the game option, although it was just ECS repeated. I even forgot to update it, and everyone testing the game would report the game crahsing when AGA was selected.

So I took another attempt (an engineer one rather than a creative one) and well it's not bad. It's got a textured feeling to it, and I accomplished to reduce the almost 256 colour to 128 at the moment. And maybe I'll try to reduce to 64 later on. 

AGA Screenshot in current form (128 colours)

It still requires some tinkering, but that may actually make improve some original gfx routines. So, maybe Rebelstar II will have AGA mode after all...

Labels: Amiga, Rebelstar

If you a take a small piezoelectric buzzer and place it on a computer what do you got? Yes - the popular Sinclair ZX-Spectrum 48k. That's what the original Rebelstar contended with... But you know what? - It had a very distinct and characteristic sound, minimalistic in some aspects, and it actually worked...

What could be re-used, repurposed, altered or thrown away would come with time.

But first we had to add Amiga music - that's a must! And like I posted previously for that purpose  I reached JMD (Simone Bernacchia) which at this stage has a lot of experience with retro Amiga game music (both commercial and non-commercial) - Check it out!

Music

Talking with Simone (JMD /Saimon), he agreed on helping, and he quickly realized I had not a real style or essence established. 

There was nothing to adapt or inspire, apart from the Rebelstar games in Gameboy advance - that we both were shocked with excellent audio quality, (I knew it was really good audio chip, but wow...). And it was clear that this GBA title style did not really fit the retro nature of the original (more UFO vibes than the original Rebelstar lore). So, he chose to go with a synthwave style more akin to the Amiga.

From the man himself (Simone Bernacchia):

"When [Hardwired] asked me to contribute to the game, I had to do some research: while I kinda know the original series - which Lazer Squad belongs to - I did not knew this particular game. Rebelstar, as tactical RPG from the 80s, has lot of things that got improved further on, and which more modern games as Shining Force owes to.

Not a big player but this stuff is right down my alley so I happily cooperate! I decided to approach the music from an 80s B-movie atmosphere point of view: synths and steady rythm machines. 

Memory constraints might limit on how much instruments to use but is not necessarily a bad thing: this forces me to be more creative with the effects and make it sound like it could not! I do my job using milkytracker, that I consider superior to the original protracker thanks to xm support, multithreading (can have more than one song open at once) and lately also scripts that help to process sounds."

At first, we established 2 tunes (as it was divided by a main event) for in-game, and one smaller for briefing/debriefing (as well as start-menu and A500/A600/lower mem models in-game). As the game progressed, we then agreed on three major ingame tunes context sensitive (and two very minor ones), along the briefing one, and two lighter ones for Title screen / start menu and another for the Outro.

Sound effects

One thing I planned at first was amiga specific sounds. Initially, I just sampled the original sounds in emulation. Some were scrapped (such as the end turn and the end game sounds) as it seemed repetitive.

I wished to actually make the sound from data/equation functions, so it would save more space on disk, but while I managed some sounds like that, it proved too much fuss. So, for now I'm keeping as it is.

For now the sounds will be like the original

While it would be good to have more variety, and more broad sound situations it would probably require more thought put into it. Amiga specific sounds may or may not happen. It sure won't be me doing that...

Maybe JMD might be inclined to do that, but seems to me that he is happy with current sounds. Besides there's the size of data to consider. We'll check in the end...

Labels: Amiga, Rebelstar

Amiga Video Modes (To intuition or not intuition...)

When I first envisioned Rebelstar 2 on the Amiga it was to be like my later programming on Amiga. Fully Amiga library driven, fully AmigaOS compliant. AmigaOS 3.0+ and AGA had really opened my view on what games could be on. And the examples were there - take colonization for example.

But usability and performance were still on my mind, besides would make any sense to convert a 48kb ZX-Spectrum game to a specific high Amiga?

Still, I tried to make OS compliant and compatible with all Amigas. But early on I found that outputting to windows was not what I wanted for free mouse scrolling. Writing directly to Screen was more appealing but that also raised problem with keeping mouse pointers GFX synced and Intuition pull-down menus drawing and operating correctly, especially when I introduced double buffering. 

And again, while with v39+ I could probably solve these issues, but not with previous versions without some ugly hacks. Besides the performance was important. High resolution screens (>=640x400), Flicker-fixed on A3000 and DBLPAL or DBLNTSC on AGA would be great... but alas!

Trying to keep compatible with lower models, it was clear that I had to quit OS intuition compliant game, and go for hardware banging as much as possible. PAL and NTSC low-res view modes (320x256/208 pixels). I kept my code with compiler conditioning flags for the fully compatible route (even added a window specific render routine). Maybe it will be good for AGA/RTG support one day...

As mentioned, the original font was redone in FED and then made into bitmap, as it makes more sense in the hardware blitting mode.

A feature that I was somewhat reluctant to add at first, were the faces of all the individual units, and the Alien ones. I thought it would be hell to design the Raiders (each unit a different face). But once started, and got the first two faces right, it really flowed (though it took a while). Actually, the Aliens were more complicated... Go figure.

Some raider portrait graphics - WIP

The Alien units faces are a cross between a "Predator" and "Xenomorph" like, rather than the intent on the original as portraying them as "Xenomorph" like. I mean the xenomorphs didn't carry weapons! So, this makes more "logic". At first I even considered a dinossaur cute look alike alien (that's what I always saw in original gfx in my youth)...

I really struggled... Going through multiple designs, just to discard most of them. Getting a good looking, different enough - yet - recognizable and fitting the Amiga gfx style of the rest of graphics... It was a really dificult task!

Alien portraits - WIP

It was going to be a AGA exclusive, but since I made it with OCS palette in mind, I was able to make it into OCS/ECS version. Still requires more than 1mb chip ram (A3000 and A600 with Chip mem added).

As for a AGA version was considered, but 64 color graphics are not a priority at the moment. AcidBottle did dabble a bit and went a good way on the map graphics, but he wasn't happy with them. Maybe another time...

Another Amiga specific addition was the GFX menus as option to the text ones. While the text options try to resemble as much as possible the original, I added the option to switch to GFX button style layout. They still show the keyboard shortcuts (if possible), but make more sense in a Mouse GUI style environment.

Some GFX buttons (different modes / options)

They're not fixed, instead being processed on the go, allowing for composition of two different bitmaps with some shadowing possible. Allows for more flexibility and also saves some memory. And don't worry when you float over them, there's a text shown below what they are (no confusion needed) ...

Well apart from that a new Title Screen (which I tried doing in the spirit of the original but still being its own thing), I didn't really change on add anything major on the GFX department. And this was devised on Inkscape and GIMP (that were the only PC productivity software used - all the rest was Amiga Personal Paint and other Amiga tools).

On that subject I leave a link which might prove useful for some amiga artists who enjoy using GIMP: GIMP IFF plugin – Blitter Studio

All said and done - I definitelly need a gfx artist for a next Amiga project.

NTSC specific coding

A later GUI problem arose, the NTSC original low-resolution screens were only 8 pixels bigger than the ZX original (and I already added 8 pixels for overscan in height, so that it would allow for at least the same game area the PAL allowed). Still, the real estate that the PAL allowed for a ROSTER and MINI MAP frame in the bottom not possible for NTSC. One could reduce the amount of gameplay area in NTSC, but that would not make any sense it should be at least as big as the original. 

Tactical map and Roster window accessible

So keys were added to allow for quick window display of the roster and map window (the map is slightly bigger and is called tactical map).

Labels: Amiga, Rebelstar

While there wasn't Rebelstar on the Amiga, it's not to say that there weren’t no Tactical turn-based games. And to be more specific SCI-FI with line of fire/line of sight ranged combat.

On that definition these are the released titles:

Breach (1987)

 

Breach 2 (1989)

By the same developer, it improves on somethings but also fumbles in others. 

Once you load the game you're greeted to music title screen. Nice addition, but not particularly memorable.

In the game the first you notice is the isometric view, and I mean really 45-degree angle between all axis. There aren't many games in such a perspective and it's quite simple why. It was only meant for engineering see throughs, not artistic takes on game views with such reduced pixel tiles and sprites. Still a good artist might actually work around it - some things work better than other, individually, but when put together they clash. As they still work as square tiles in an angular grid. It really messes with your head at first before you get used (if ever one gets used).

 

Laser Squad (1989)

Ah! The mighty Laser Squad... what can be said that hasn't been said before!...

Well, a lot. Yes - the music stands out both in the intro and in-game (really memorable and famous in the Laser Squad fan universe)!

 

 

Most game graphics, apart from animated intro and some image cutscenes (which are of variable quality), are a simple recoloring in most cases (based on both the ZX and C64) with limited improvement.

But what lets it down are the controls. Joystick/Keyboard only? More button / menu selections to do things that were almost instantaneous on ZX...  All the rest has been completely added into this version. And it plays accordingly.

In short - the original was exploring the full potential of the ZX-spectrum 48kb. The Amiga version does not, apart from some audio-visual additions, it does not use mouse and the control scheme is more complex/tedious than the original. While decent and playable enough. is a bit of let down for fans of the Julian Gollop original. On a more positive note, the Amiga L.S. offers a 2 player hot-seat game. And I'm sure it was the delight of many gamers.

Space Crusade (1990)

It's SCI-FI but does differ, when using own set of rules from the tabletop, rather than relying on a more "realistic" approach with its own fire rules, turn events, and random placement of units during in-game.

The probability is rather simple set of two different dice (white and red) and number depending on unit, attack/defense situation and bonus/penalty card played / events.

Sot it's difficult to place it on the same tactical level as the rest - but while debatable it is on the same mould.

  

 

It switches between top-down perspective for operations and isometric view for showing units firing/ dying or events unfolding.

It does allow for 3 players hot seat game, cooperative and/or competitive - that and for the fans of the tabletop will place high on their preferences. IMHO, the graphics work much better than the DOS version.

ACT OF WAR (1992)

Public Domain turn based, some will just dub it as Laser Squad clone. 

 

Boasting 3 difficulty levels, it offers line-of-sight as option (that's uncommon) and features explosive scenery.

The graphics are clean and easy to identify. It does not complicate a lot. It's reported that this game was written by Dave Smith in AMOS.

It's probably best with two players, although I cannot point really fault the computer IA - it offers a decent "challenge". 

More info can be found here: Act of War - amigapd

UFO: Enemy Unknown / XCOM (1994/5)

The Magnum Opus of the Gollop brothers for Microprose. Who doesn't know this one? From the Geoscape global management strategy, to the Tactical combat all projecting an amazing intuitive playing experience oozing with atmosphere.  

The dedication and quality are evident in the final product, in either AGA, ECS or CD32 dedicated versions. 

The music is brilliant, and sets the tone for all the play experience. The sounds adequate to good, fit the game in all instances.

The graphics adopt a classic isometric perspective that works so well. The graphics fit nicely and pop out with the relevant details, making it work all the way, with different unit sporting different flesh tones and haircuts (although not having much diversity, it actually works well).

The game mechanics are clearly updated, improved and adapted to all game events, offer enough versatility to make it worth. The procedural generated maps and all the different type of alien, events and actions, allow for so much re-playability. It never gets boring.

This is a big and complex game, and a 68030+ is clearly recommended. I remember playing on my A1200, and having some slowdowns. On my Amiga 4000 it faired adequately.

Taskforce (1994)

A squad level, turn based strategy game for Amiga & Amiga emulators. Originally release for this game was 1994. This game was distributed for free on CU Amiga as a popular coverdisc. In the end of the day this was still shareware.

I'm not too familiar with this one, and I really need to test it more, to give an objective opinion. But it has some nice identifiable graphics (nothing earth shattering) and nice music.

Download from ITCH.IO

Hilt II: The revenge (1996)

Produced by Mark Sheeky (very productive guy!), Hilt II is a sequel of sorts to the dungeon game Hilt, but more like to Taskforce in gameplay.

Very nice graphics with a nice metallic texture and does tick the most of the right boxes on the gameplay. 

It just did not click with me, and I can't quite put the finger on why...

You can download it from AMINET or from ITCH.IO

Final Chapter (2003/4)

Developed by Scot Gordon it's described as a laser squad type of game. But I would classify a sort of mix between Rebelstar / laser squad / space hulk (crusade) / UFO. 

This is a homebrew game, and the author wears that badge proudly. Started in 1993 and done in Blitz Basic, it clearly has the potential to deliver fun to players either as 1 player or much more in 2 player mode.

Rather than try difficult game mechanics, it tries to keep it simple so that the player can get into it with few tries. And it's a game that you feel you can try stuff out. It doesn't try to intimidate or daunt you. It's not to say that it's a walk in the park - but seasoned players will get grips with it quickly.

If I could point obvious faults are lack of music, and some menu options that are not obvious at first glance. But once you're used, none of that will bother or hinder the fun.

Highly recommended! You can download here from AMINET.

Tactical Squad based games but without the SCI-FI setting : 

Frontline(1989)

This is supposedly based on an existing tabletop game, and aims to be overly "realistic".

It really reminds me of sniper tabletop game, specially the monochromatic unit graphics seem like those cardboard/plastic squares with soldiers drawn into it. 

AFAIK, it wasn't that well received, being put on par with the PC version and both regarded as better than the original ST version.

Quite frankly I gave up after 10 minutes. It's really not intuitive or user friendly, and it really requires you to read the manual. And quite frankly the scenarios offered don't seem to offer that much variety.

Sabre Team (1992)

The only thing that keeps this one from joining the above list is not having a SCI-FI setting.

Al the other Squad Tactical based turn tropes are here.

I admit the isometric perspective with show/reveal building rooms does put some disorientation. And I make some stupid mistakes because of that. Not so common with UFO...

It's well regarded as tactical squad turn based game. And I quite recommend you try it, if you haven't already - after all it's not an obscure game.

Task Force (1997/2000)

This is a different game with name Task Force. Written by Jens Granseuer with AmigaOS completely integrated with pull-down intuition menus and all. Viewed from top-down perspective, is totally controlled by mouse. 

Easy to pick up and understand the fundamentals, also provide scenario editor.

Serviceable client for this type of game IMHO.

Can be download from Aminet - game/think/TaskForce.lha

And Now for something completely different:

UFO: Enemy Unclothed

This a parody of UFO/XCOM.

It's well... Strange would be a common word to describe it. Instead of aliens you have mental sexual offenders. Yeah... It's... Well, if you're curious play it yourself!

Maybe there are more games like these around for Amiga...

Labels: Amiga, Games, Laser Squad, UFO