Jason Tribbeck's Equinox Thu 18th August 2005 (build 938) I've been busy the past few days (with my brother's assistance!) Added some cut scene animations Re-rendered old POVRay images in LightWave Used new player ship ('dirty' version) Changed title sequence Added more levels - including some different types of levels Added volume controls for music and effects Changed object-hitting-ship sound to a low thud Added controls to disable/enable banks of weapons Reorganised resources directory so it should work on E format drives Fixed problems with compression code Fixed a couple of problems with the music play routine Uses Choices$Write to hold saved games, keys and volume levels Mon 30th May 2005 (build 589) Had a bug reported where it didn't initialise - turned out if you didn't have a joystick attached, you'd get an error. Mon 30th May 2005 (build 585) I had a number of interesting commercial requests that meant I've been delayed in doing more work on Equinox, plus I've been writing most of a sequencer to create the music on. The Wakefield show has now finished, which means I've spent this weekend doing some more work. Added music using FahZhi play routines (16-bit only at present) Added some basic sound effects (explosion's okay, but gun and clang need some more work) Added some more levels (two more enemies) Added joystick support Compiled with StubsG, so same code should run on anything - however, has not been tested on Iyonix... Wed 01st December 2004 (unreleased) Although it appears as though I haven't done anything, I have been! Composed two tunes; one for the main game, the other for the title/shop Put title/shop music (44.1Khz, 16-bit sound system only atm) - standard ADFS is too slow! Wed 24th November 2004 (build 488) Removed final vestiges of interrupt code (may be very slightly slower though) - if it crashes, you should still have control over your machine! Fixed problem with 32-bit BlackBox Identified potential crash location from error report (creates a BlackBox report if it happens) Allowed AC ships to fly slightly faster than you Allowed AC ships to cloak Possibly (very probably) identified and fixed crash that was being reported Tue 23rd November 2004 (build 461) Finished user-definable keys Allowed cursor keys and return to contol menu Allowed cursor keys to ship in main game Made the vortex scanner blob brighter Fixed calculation for items that are too expensive Displays how many credits you need if you do not have enough Mon 22nd November 2004 (unreleased) Removed calling C in IRQ - should mean that it's: Probably more stable More likely to produce a BlackBox report if it does crash Reversed energy bar usage Started work on user-definable keyboard layouts Sun 21st November 2004 (build 378) Produced Iyonix native format Added 'n', 'd' and 'i' after build version (for 'Normal', 'Debug' and 'Iyonix') Made AC level harder; still needs some work Added new asteroids level Moving asteroids have more variety in their orbits If an enemy hits the location of a dead player, it is no longer hit Changed wording from 'version' to 'build' Fixed a problem in earlier release (347) with Iyonix Rewrote AC level AI - much better! Adjusted scanners so they are more accurate Fri 19th November 2004 (build 306) Just one thing over the past few days - added crash detection mechanism (some beta testers had found problems where it was crashing - this should allow me to debug it more thoroughly) Tue 16th November 2004 (build 100) Modified menu code so vsync occurs after bank swapping (was in the main game; just not the menu) - should work on ViewFinder now Modified star plotting code so it's quicker, and uses less memory - should remove artifacts seen by one beta tester on SA RPC + Adjust Modified menu code so it doesn't refresh as much With those three modifications, running in debug (!DDT, single screen bank) doesn't flicker as much Pressing ESCAPE while player is exploding returns to main menu immediately Pressing ESCAPE when viewing/selecting map returns to main menu Pressing ESCAPE when in main menu selects "Exit game" - unless "Exit game" is already selected, in which case it exits the game Added Right-CTRL + ESCAPE is immediately exit no matter where you are Fixed bug in version counting code - wasn't incrementing on changes to any file (version number set to arbitrary value) Mon 15th November 2004 (build 44) Beta testers are reporting that the game is too easy, so I've: Altered prices for equipment Fixed price of selling a seeker launcher (was giving 1/10th of what it was meant to!) Increased the amount of damage suffered when colliding with objects, and being shot Made energy increase more slowly Tweaked amount of energy used for firing Tweaked number of credits offered for enemies Reduced credit bonus Added "Not Done" level graphic (people were getting confused) - they're purple (but not very clear [which doesn't really matter - there won't be any in the final game!]) Ship does not dampen as much (in linear motion) Added version number (to bottom right hand corner of Equinox status box) Scanners are zoomed out a bit If an object goes off the long-range scanner, the echo (blob) will be at the closest point that is on the screen Added a new level with some old 'friends' - sector FI... Sun 14th November 2004 Fixed bug where explosions could be seen over scanners Implemented load/save of games Produced first example release since 20th March 2003! Made manualette Sat 13th November 2004 Renamed "Cloak" to "Weapons disruptor" (makes final code easier) Implemented slow time Implemented weapons disruptor Player can now be killed Escape now triggers ship detonation Failure to complete mission restores original status (stops players from completing most of a level, collecting credits and so forth, and then restarting it with new goodies) Player explodes in shrapnel (which can kill enemies - although the score does not count because of above) Fri 12th November 2004 Added new shop graphics Rendered exit shop and exit game graphics Shop works completely (although not all items can be used once bought) Added particle emitters for missiles Improved jet emissions for main ship when you can fly fast Energy bombs are now implemented Tweaked values for maximum speed and so on Sorted out bug where particles could overwrite the surrounding graphics Changed screen redraw algorithm to use a faster approach for the background Thu 11th November 2004 Changed menu fonts from fixed-width, non-antialised to antialised variable width fonts - using code from WarZone! Set up http://equinox.tribbeck.com/ for this site Re-re-rendered player ship (cockpit was slightly transparent) Rendered all the shop graphics (33 new images - took most of the day) Wed 10th November 2004 Found out that I don't have the original graphics for the main menu, main background and map icons, so I'm having to recreate them (with the new Lightwave renderings which I needed to do anyway) - whoops! Added support for creating map icons in the graphics convertor Added 'keep original size' setting for graphics convertor Created new map icons Re-rendered player ship in LightWave Created new main menu icons in LightWave - very cool! Added text describing the current menu item The shop wasn't started because the graphics needed redrawing first (the shop will use the same system as the main menu, so they all need to be there). Tue 09th November 2004 Added other weapon types (including code and graphics) Tidied enemy counting code Fixed temperature calculation code Removed 'E' key Tomorrow, I'll start on the shop, and possibly create a new distributable... Mon 08th November 2004 Added more Lightwave graphics Added code to allow enemies to create other enemies Added "Launcher" enemy (and levels) Added bonus level Sun 07th November 2004 Added new Lightwave/X1 graphics Added ships that shoot at you Started code for proper weapons Added weapons temperature and energy bars Added moving asteroid levels Sat 06th November 2004 It's difficult doing development in my spare room, so I've moved my RiscPC into the dining room. This is the main reason why I've not been doing any work on it for a long time... Added new background graphics Ported the graphics conversion stuff to Windows, and added a front-end for it Started using LightWave to generate spinny graphics Used Xara X1 to create main bullets Fri 05th March 2004 Almost a year since it's last update Added credits bonus Levels now marked as completed Fixed calculation of %ge completed Displays scores & credits Thu 20th March 2003 Okay, so it's been a while! Added asteroids, bullets and bullets hitting things. Added credits. Vortex only appears when all confrontational enemies are killed. E key still present. Text appears on game startup. Note that you cannot travel through the vortex yet. Explosions not yet implemented. Possible problem with scanners and timing (just noticed). Tue 11th June 2002 Changed scanners to red, and 120x120 Added scanner context lines (short rangs scanner shows screen, long range scanner shows short range scanner) Objects are now eclipsed by scanners Fixed keys list above (return was listed as fire, whereas it is actually space) Added firing (no bullet defined yet, so I've used the credit graphic - graphics will be created once I've got the Linux box up and running) Added (temporarily) 'E' key demonstrates 9 weapons firing at full speed (shows what happens if you buy lots of cooling and lots of weapons) THIS WILL BE REMOVED. Note this slows down on a StrongARM machine, so I will add the option for background graphic on/off, as well as possibly the vectored thrust particles Mon 10th June 2002 Added start of level object creation code Added object handling code Stars now appear beneath scanners Objects appear /above/ scanners (to change) Added scanner display Added vortex (but no functionality yet) Background game graphic /may be removed/ (for speed) Fixed (unseen) sprite display bug Scanners /may/ become slightly larger (140x140 instead of 128x128) or slightly smaller (120x120) to allow faster background replotting. Smaller is more probable... Scanners /may/ become the same colour (red?) Short range scanner will have screen indicated on it Long range scanner will have short range scanner indicated on it Tried it with the cache off - although it's slow, the thread locking code seems to work fine (ie. plotting slows down, but game doesn't) Sun 09th June 2002 Added first part of game engine Added parallax starfield Original sprite code now works with new format sprites Added exhaust particles (was originally going to use delta speeds, since you'd only get exhausts when you change speed. However, it looked odd, so it was changed to absolute speed) Adjusted default speeds, and removed player's starting bonus Added ability to build debug versions (no screen banking, no IRQs) Press Escape to return back to menu selection Created the icon Sped up wipe fades Fri 07th June 2002 Added map display / selection (use ZX'/) Added ship status (probably iconise it later) Added PRINT key for screen saves ("RAM:$.Equinox") Once play starts, returns to title screen Player starts slightly better off than they will Still haven't created icon... Thu 06th June 2002 First stuff to be shown... Currently, only Up/Down/Select/Abort works, and there's only one menu list... -- Copyright © Jason Tribbeck 1994, 2002-2004 --