sidescrolling game engine
Finally, beta4 is here!
Mar 31st
UPDATE: Fixed missing links in downloads page, sorry for that 🙂
This long awaited release has been delayied several times for adding support for a new platform, the Playstation portable (PSP) and making sure it is a solid, with few bugs version. I hope the delay will pay off and you will enjoy a great game, that still have problems and is not finished, but is finally taking shape enought for a decent test-run, as now you can finish the game from start, or simply input a password and go right to the final stage 😉
Go to the downloads page, and get it for any of the platforms supported: Windows, Ubuntu 12.10, Linux(TGZ), PSP, PS2 and Dingux (we’ll also try to make Open Pandora packages soon) give a try!
New Features:
- Memory leaks fixed
- Killing NPCs drop items
- Editable colorcycle
- Editable link to final boss teleporter room (one has 8, other has 9 teleporters)
- Editable “can fly” property for NPCs
- Better edition for boss faces on stage
- Do not show empty dialogs
- Editable Artifical Inteligences for non-boss NPCs
- Fix the old scroll-lock (screen not moving) bug
- Disappearing blocks
- NPCs returning after dead when out-of-screen
- Logic in editor for jet and coil items
- Logic in game for drop items
- Save on quit/leave
- Fix sound in PS2
- Can set NPC weapons (2) on editor
- New font, new music, new graphics
- SEVERAL, and I mean really SEVERAL bug fixes
- Interrupt charging on door, death and when leaving stage
- Save Castle stages
- Password system
- PSP Port
- 5 Skull Castle stages (with no NPCs yet)
Known Issues:
- Apebot’s stage is abnormally slow in handhelds
- Using L/R with no boss beaten shows an invalid weapon with skull as icon
- Placing Coil item to your left makes player under it, being not able to move until it disappears
Quick Preview of Beta4
Feb 27th
Boss for the second stage on Skull Castle.
Como beautiful waterfall made with the new colorcycle editor.
Second stage on castle.
Creating the first castle stage. We first edit without any graphics, so we can test it before the hard work of placing individual tiles.
New colorcycle edit tab.
New Artificial Inteligence (AI*) editing tab. You can now control the behavior for all NPCs without messing with the game’s code.
New part in editor: you can now add/edit sprites for a NPC each animation type.
Finished the editing of projectiles.
Beta 3 released (Saint Mary Edition)
Jan 28th
This release is a tribute to all people of the beloved city of Santa Maria (Saint Mary) where I lived for more than 10 years and suffered a horrible tragedy yesterday. Rockbot is with all the families and victimis at his mechanical heart.
Get it, as usual, in the downloads section.
Future Iterations
Jan 25th
While we prepara for beta3, we are also looking to the future releases to plan witch features will be incorporated in each one, here is a small glimpse of what will be made:
Beta3: bug-fixing, new Artificial Inteligence (A.I.) system, A.I. for all bosses, Jet item, Coil item, better sprite system in editor and game.
Beta 4: bug-fixing, password system, in-game settings, skull-castle stages, better colision system using different sizes for each individual frame, projectiles/weapond editing
Beta5: bug-fixing, large code-optimization, refine editor and disable all non-used fields, key-config setting
Beta 6: better intro, better ending, inter-stage sequences like Ninja Gaiden, start porting (Android, Dreamcast, XBox, PSP)
RC: After that, a series o Release Candidate versions will be released, keeping file-format compatibility and focused only on bug fixing. Versions 1.X will have automatic file-format conversion, so; if you create a game using 1.0, the file should work fine on 1.X editor (and after adjusts to fill the new parts, playable).
Version 1.1: Artificial Inteligence editing, optimization using threads, create multiple NPCs using the same graphic-file with different colormaps
Version 1.2: Implement two simultaneous players
This surely will take a longe time, as this is a one-man project, but having a road map is good to keep us motivated to create a game that people will enjoy and a future engine that people will use to make their own Megaman-like games> Please, keep an eye on us and get reasdy to test beta 3 next need 😉
Happy birthday Rockman/Megaman!
Dec 17th
Today is a very special date, as Rockman (Megaman in USA) celebrates it’s 25th anniversary!
Watching the release of Street Fighter vs. Megaman that was made by a fan and now supported by Capcom-Unity also makes a homebrew developer like me smile a bit and again focus on working in Rockbot’s code once again after a while.
And for that special date, I need to write an explanation on Rockbot’s current status:
The lack of news was due of me being a bit tired, as a single person developing almost everything into a game sometimes becomes boring, you have no one to exchange ideas with or some support when doing hard tasks. With day-work requiring much of my strenght and causing pain in my spine due to long hours sitting in a chair in front of a PC, Rockbot work was put aside for a few months.
In the last week I was finnaly able to resume working on it, and already coded all of Ape Bot’s Artificial Inteligente (AI) and great part of Daisie Bot’s too. Most of work is to create small functions such as “jump_to_player” where the enemy will execute a jump in the direction of the player, function that will be used not only by robot masters, but also small enemies. Another area of work are special attacks and improving a lot of the projectiles system, so it supports a large number of attack types and variations. In short, a lot of boring work that will drasticaly improve all enemies on the game and, when you play our next beta and face Ape Bot, you WILL undoubtly understand 🙂
So, when is the next release? Well, I have 10 days of vacations in this year’s ending, that probally win’t help much, as I will travel and won’t have much time to code, but in february I’ll get more 20 days, so expect something in middle-march. Our plan is have all bosses working fine – instead of just standing there – and special weapon (coild, jet) working again, and with some luck, get sound working on PS2 and get a build for PSP.
That is it, good christmas and happy new year to everyone!
Playstation 2 Package added
Aug 5th
[lang_pt-br]Adicionada versão de PS2 na página de downloads. Por hora está sem som, não identifiquei a razão ainda pois meu ambiente de desenvolvimento para o PS2 precisa de alguns ajustes que farei durante a semana (preciso comprar mídias de CDROM para gravar o ps2link com as configurações corretas de IP para minha rede atual). Esta versão também NÃO funcionará a partir de um CDROM.
Adquiri mais um novo hardware a ser suportado em breve… aguarde novidades![/lang_pt-br]
[lang_en]Added PS2 version in the downloads page. For now, sound isn’t working and I could not identify the reason, as my dev enviroenment for the PS2 needs adjusts that I’ll make during the week (I need to buy CDROM medias to burn ps2link with the correct IP configurations for my current network). This version also will NOT work from a burnt CDROM.
I bought a new hardware to be supported soon… wait for news![/lang_en]
Guess wich system is making a comeback?
Aug 3rd
[lang_en]Thanks ro ragnarok2040 for helping me to compile Rockbot for PS2. Except for the sound and threads that needs to be fixed, things are running just fine for a first build![/lang_en]
[lang_pt-br]Obrigado ao ragnarok2040 por me ajudar a compilar o Rockbot para PS2. Exceto pelo som e threads, que precisam ser corrigidos, as coisas estão rodando simplesmente bem para um primeiro build![/lang_pt-br]
Opening Rockbot on PS2
Open Pandora package online
Aug 2nd
[lang_pt-br]Adicionado pacote de Open Pandora nos downloads, obrigado ao sigma nl pelo pacote!
Estamos tendo trabalho para compilar o jogo para Playstation 2, e deverá levar um tempo até conseguirmos pois o SDK para este sistema está abandonado por mais de dois anos e ninguém tem o conhecimento necessário para ajudar a resolver o problema com o linker. A boa notícia é que breve teremos um novo hardware portátil a ser suportado oficialmente, se tudo der certo.[/lang_pt-br]
[lang_en]Added Open Pandora package in downloads, thanks to sigma nl for the port!
We are having a hard time to compile the game for Playstation 2, and it shall take a bit long until we sucefully port it as the SDK for this system is not supported for more than two years and no one have the needed knowledge to help us fix the issue with linker. The good news is that a new portable system should soon join the official supported devices, is all goes well.[/lang_en]
At last, welcome beta2
Jul 29th
[lang_pt-br]
Depois de muita demora (tudo culpa do Playstation 3, hehehe) lançamos uma nova versão, bastante revisada e melhorada, do jogo e engine Rockbot.
Para obter os arquivos, vá até nossa página de downloads.
Confira as mudanças completas no arquivo de TODO/Changelog.
[/lang_pt-br]
[lang_en]
After much delay (all fault of the Playstation 3, heheh) we are releasing a new version, much improved and expanded, of the Rockbot game and engine.
To get the files, go to out downloads page.
Check the full changes list in the TODO/Changelog file.
[/lang_en]
A bit of vacation
Jun 8th
[lang_pt-br]Olá a todos. Primeiro, gostaria de pedir desculpas pela falta de novidades no blog por um período tão longo; segundo, explicar a falta de novidades ultimamente. COmprei uma TV de 40 polegadas LCD/LED e um Playstation 3, que, por sí só já explica porque não tenho trabalhado no Rockbot. Estou me divertindo aos montes jogando alguns jogos da geração atual e, consequentemente, tenho muito pouco tempo para desenvolver em casa; além disso, está esfriando aqui no sul, então ficar em casa na frente do PC de noite não é muito chamativo.
As boas novas são que eu não gostei bastante de Megaman 9 e 10, acho que as fases são fuleiras, com uma dificuldades que lembra o Megaman 1, com armadilhas que estão lá não para tornar o jogo mais desafiador, mas simplesmente para matar o jogoador até que ele memorize a fase toda.
Eu plano retomar o trabalho de correção de bugs e implementação de novas features no Rockbot, e para começar, farei algumas mudanças, como a resolução que passará para 320×240, the é o tamanho da tela do Dingoo A320 e é bem suportada no Playstation 2. Isso não apenas vai corrigir alguns bugs, como também será mais simples portar estágios do Megaman, já que o NES tem 224 linhas verticais e estávamos usando somenta 200 até então. Além disso, cada sprite do jogador terá sua própria dimensão para fins de colisão, tornando o sistema muito melhor.
O próximo beta também irá ter os estágios repletos de inimigos ao invés do vazio atual, então, fique atento![/lang_pt-br]
[lang_en]Hey all. First, my apologies for not updating the blog in such a long time; second, let me explain the lack of news lately. I bought a new 40″ LED/LCD TV and a Playstation 3 console, that, by itself explains why I’m not currently working on Rockbot. 🙂
I’m getting a lot of fun playing some new-gen games, and thus, there is very little time for developing at home; plus, its getting really cold on south hemisphere, so, staying in front of the computer isn’t very compelling. The good news, is that I disliked a lot Megaman 9 and 10, I think the levels are just cheap, with a dificulty that remembers Megaman 1, with traps that are placed not to make things harder, but to just kill the player until he memorizes the whole stage.
I plan to soon resume work on bug fixing and a new missing new features on Rockbot, and to begin, I’ll be adding some changes, such as resolution, that will be now 320×240, that is the size of Dingoo A320 screen and is well supported in PS2. This will not only fix some bugs, but also, better support porting stages from Megaman, as the NES is 224 vertical lines and we were using only 200 so far. Also, each player sprite will have its own size for colision, making it much better.
Next beta also will feature stages filled with enemies instead of empty ones, so keep tuned.[/lang_en]
