BoulderDash remake

Community Forums/Showcase/BoulderDash remake

Xip(Posted 2008) [#1]
here is the latest project i have been playing around with :)

still allot of work left, a few bugs to sort out and some other stuff, still... if you are a boulderDash fan, it's quit fun to play around with :)

there is currently no levels to load, so all levels are randomly generated.

however, I plan to implement all the original levels ofcourse :)

Is should be noted, that there is no life count, and no diamond count, so you cant relly win a level, will implement this in a near future.

PS: read the README before posting bugs, i think i know about most of them.

Oh and one more thing, I'm looking for help with riping the sound from the original c64 BD game.

any feedback is wellcome :)

http://xip.software.googlepages.com/BoulderDashRemake.rar


some screenshots:







Xip(Posted 2008) [#2]
Typical... the latest feature i implemented before releas seemd stable, but was infact very messed up.

now scrolling after death is very bad, make sure you hit SPACE or scrolling is locked.

im working on a fix for it, but i dont know when it will be up.


also note, if you get a bad level, hit ENTER to generate new.

[edit]
oky, did a quik by-pass of the new code, you no longer have to hit SPACE after death to continue, i will make it look nicer later when i have more time.
link is updated with a working version.


Matthew Smith(Posted 2008) [#3]
Looks good Michael - keep up the good work!


Xip(Posted 2008) [#4]
hehe tanx old friend ;-)

glad you liked it, and nice to see life signs from you again :)


AltanilConard(Posted 2008) [#5]
From the screenshots it looks great, I love the original graphics. I just tried to run it trough Parralels Desktop (as I'm on a Mac), and couldn't get it to work there (the screen froze as soon as it started, I could see the tile map but nothing moved and when I tried to move the entire screen would turn black). Maybe I did something wrong, I'll have a look at it when I'm back home.

PS, did you manage to retreive the music from the original version?

Greets,

Conard


Who was John Galt?(Posted 2008) [#6]
I'm feeling the retro! Nice. Just for info, First Star software (or whoever owns them now) can and do get particularly irate and threatening towards anyone who releases a Boulderdash remake, even as freeware.


GaryV(Posted 2008) [#7]
First Star software (or whoever owns them now) can and do get particularly irate and threatening towards anyone who releases a Boulderdash remake, even as freeware.
I guess BRL will be getting sued since B+ ships with the source for a Boulder Dash clone.

*rolls eyes*


Xip(Posted 2008) [#8]
@Conard
i dont know why it would not work on your system, im not locking to any framerate, and im running in OGL and not DX from defult, so i just assume it would work on mac to.

I can't run DX on my computer(well some random DX applications), it seems DX is not stable on my AX1650 card and it hangs my computer complitly.
so im running in OGL by defult to be safe.

maybe we can try and make some sort of -run in DX- mode suport and see it it helps.

since the original game dont have any form of settings, i dont want to add a settings meny for resolution and other DX and OGL related issues. however... i might add an outside INI file or perhaps let the EXE take parmameters and ship a BAT file for DX mode?

@John

well, yeah... i have read some posts about this on the net as well...
Infact... 90% of all homepages on all BoulderDash remakes on the net has been taken down... scary

Francly i must say im supriced that FirstStar spend so much time doing this, i would anderstand it if i was trying to make money on my project, or if it was a brand new game... but we are talking about a game that is almost as old as I am, and no profit what so ever... infact, my project is meant to honor the old ways and the original, it might even show some people in the new generation who never watched the original what all the fuzz was about.
as far as im consernced, this is a good thing.
not to mention that im not trying to hide that its a remake, or that FirstStar was the publisker, hell i would even add the original intro screen and make a statement just so there is no confussion.

but i guess those lawyers would not care one way or a nother.

I'm almost expecting FirstStar to send me a mail about this, but if thay do...
I will take it down, or atleast... change the graphics and name.
as far as i know, as long as i dont use the original graphics, sound and name, thay cant do anything(right?).

but for now, lets just honor the old ways ;-)

Lets all have a drink to Peter Liepa! xD

/cheers


Xip(Posted 2008) [#9]
GaryV:
well i belive that is the difference, BRL dont use the original BoulderDash sprites as i do, right? (i'm not sure if i have seen the B+ version, but thats what im guessing)

Conard:
no, i did manage to get my hands on a sound editing software(Goldwave) and record the sound from a c64 emulator, but it added enoying 'click's on the end of each sound, so it is useless for my game :(
any help i can get on this would be very nice.


MGE(Posted 2008) [#10]
Change the graphics, sound, etc, and you should be fine. Hell, maybe even throw in a "new" concept to the game. That should be enough to avoid anything. But keep in mind, even if they KNOW they can do nothing legally about it, that won't stop them from sending worthless intimidation notices to indie devs. ;)


Ginger Tea(Posted 2008) [#11]
afaik the demo folder version (that originally came with b2d iir) doesnt use the original levels and although basic isnt the same gfx set either

use of the name, the levels and the gfx, all kinda get you in muddy waters (edit i hadnt read all of one post so i am repeating xip)
icicle works afaik never had any legal issues (and game plagerism was rife in them days), mind you i got mine as part of the plus 4 bundle so only plus 4 owners might know of it

sorry to offend but i dont know why you have to have a pixel perfect version (or two in this case) when people can play the emulated game with a file size no bigger than the jpg

as a learning exercise goes fair dues, im sure the world is full of pong tetris and breakout clones on coders hard drives never to see the light of day, not because they are bad just that they dont bring anything new to the mix


Xip(Posted 2008) [#12]
Ginger:

well... i would not clasify this as a 'learning exercise' ... hense i have been doing this to long ;-)

but i still think you are wrong as far as recreation goes, my goal was to recreate something that was so close to the original, that you could not tell them apart, to honor the old ways.

now... there are a bilion bad boulderdash clones on the net, evry one trying to 'add something new' ... most of them fail badly, and very few is lojal to the origial style and feeling.

I have always wanted to do a BoulderDash game, i dont know why i have not done it before in the 15 years i have been writing code... but when i finnaly did, i wanted it to be just like the game i so loved, and if i remove the graphics i associate with BoulderDash... the sentimental feeling is removed by 90% aswell.

personaly, i love being able to play my all-time favorit c64 game without the need to mess around with emulators.
and the best c64 emulator i have found, is not very good ether.

but i might look in to getting some skilled pixel artist to do some new sets of sprites, but only if it still looks and feels like the original.


Ginger Tea(Posted 2008) [#13]
but i still think you are wrong as far as recreation goes, my goal was to recreate something that was so close to the original, that you could not tell them apart, to honor the old ways.


i forget the film and actor concerned but one then big actor was shown the original film of a movie they were going to remake and he just turned around and said
"just re release this movie"

and some other remakes are so scene for scene it makes you wonder why they bothered

so although i like old games i do feel same gfx same levels same game play how many people would much rather crank up an emu than dl a remake that is too just the same

now... there are a bilion bad boulderdash clones on the net, evry one trying to 'add something new' ... most of them fail badly, and very few is lojal to the origial style and feeling.


same can be said for far too many other retro games im afraid

I have always wanted to do a BoulderDash game, i dont know why i have not done it before in the 15 years i have been writing code... but when i finnaly did, i wanted it to be just like the game i so loved, and if i remove the graphics i associate with BoulderDash... the sentimental feeling is removed by 90% aswell.


myself i wanted to remake icicle works (in STOS) when i was younger, but that never got beyond the really naff gfx and my plus 4 had gone the way of the dodo so i couldnt even just play it for fun either

but the way i see these two clones and other games like them being gfx and level accurate, its like writing out the lyrics to your fave song verbatum where other remakes that refresh the gfx but keep the same game we know and love are more akin to singing the same lyrics
its all someone elses everything nothing added that the emu hasnt got, basically its lacking YOU


Foppy(Posted 2008) [#14]
Looks good and close to the original. Maybe one thing that is at the moment missing in the controls is a kind of "fire button" that you can press, in combination with a direction, to remove the earth or push the rock that is in that direction without actually moving there yourself. (I think this is also in the c64 version.)

It could also be interesting to make a combination of Gauntlet and Boulderdash.. like a kind of Boulderdash where you also have a gun. Or a 3d Boulderdash ;). Hmm actually a 3d version is hard to imagine, since you would have to be walking on a wall all of the time, like a fly, which is not a problem in the 2d version. It's actually a funny game in that sense, it's like top-down and side-on view at the same time.

Here are some remixes to listen to while programming. (You probably know them already.)

http://remix.kwed.org/index.php?search=liepa


Xip(Posted 2008) [#15]
i can anderstand what you are saying... and for most games i would proberbly agree... but this is how i wanted the game to be, the way i remeberd it.

and francly ... i cant stand the c64 emulator im using(the best one... people say). i have not find any way to config the controls, and you are moving with a fracked up Numb-pad variant, using 7,9,5 and / ... i might be possible to change it, but so far with no success.

anyway, thats not relly the point, i just wanted to create the magic i grow up loving, thats all there is to it :)

besides, i have a random-level generator, thats not in the original ;)


@Foppy:

The 'digg sidways without moving' was in before, but i had to disable it temporary, so it will proberbly be in next version.


_33(Posted 2008) [#16]
personaly, i love being able to play my all-time favorit c64 game without the need to mess around with emulators.
and the best c64 emulator i have found, is not very good ether.

CCS64 might be a good choice for emulating the 64.

As for the music, I personally prefer the Atari 8-bit version which sounds brighter.


Xip(Posted 2008) [#17]
CCS64 is what im using, and im not to happy about it.


_33(Posted 2008) [#18]
What's wrong with CCS64 ? I have issues with sound. Since my SBLIve plays at 48khz and the emulator at 44.1, there is clipping in the overall audio out. But besides that, the emulator is fine imho.


Ginger Tea(Posted 2008) [#19]
the page where i downloaded icicle works listed the controlls as aspl oh the heracy everyone (should) knows im a qaop man through and through i dont even like wsad

edit:
and the play area is only 12*12 dont remember it being that small a screen but hey ho


edit:
its true that some games DONT improve on the original and actually take a turn for the worse with new and improved stamped all over it, i thought wouldnt it be cool to do bomberman with x y and z but even the official bombermans got tainted with features that i think they went back or players prefered the original style of game play

but hmm boulderdash bomberman mash up?


Ginger Tea(Posted 2008) [#20]
im sure someone meantioned 3d (just skimmed but cant see it pop out)

aye the way its layed out its kinda like climbing up walls as things fall down, so its deffo not a top down game ;)

but how about having the level displayed at a slight incline? mind you i think some blitzer did this years ago

i just spent the last half hour screen grabbing and trying to knit level one of icicle works together but gave up cos i was mucking it up and missed a bit off here and there, so i did it the old way with a pencil and 5mm square paper, now i have to have a gander at the prg file and see if anything matches up with the data ive got


Ginger Tea(Posted 2008) [#21]
i found a boulderdash theme on my ipod on the way to the shops
dont know if its midi or mp3 or where i got it, but i know you and or conrad were looking for it

edit:
never mind i think its someone elses remake theme and not the original, not that id know it if it bit me, its just tagged as boulderdash ...

on a side note i found icicle works as a java c64 game and it plays a bit better than the plus4 emu even though its still aspl to move :(
so i think i can kick my (was i even going to bother with) remake onto the back burner again


Foppy(Posted 2008) [#22]
but how about having the level displayed at a slight incline?
Hey yeah that's clever. That way you have top-down with gravity.


Xip(Posted 2008) [#23]
feels like i have to start a new thread with updates for this project... since this thread apparenly has become a public scribble pad for evrything-remake :(


Taron(Posted 2008) [#24]
Not too surprising, but think of it as a good thing, since you were highly inspiring with what you're doing!
If you have updates, post the link in your new post, that helps to get the focus back on your clone! :o)

Anything new?


Xip(Posted 2008) [#25]
Currently working on the editor, i have also found maps on all original levels, so thay wont be hard to re-create :)

I'm looking forward to get my hands dirty on the -green Amoeba- block as well, seems like a very fun block to implement :)