Final Smash

Paragon (1138)

21-03-2021, 02:37

Hi all,

It's time for me to introduce you the project I've been working on almost every night for a few months: Final Smash, a tennis game for MSX1.
It's far from being finished, but it's far enough advanced that I'm starting to believe that I'll finally finish a game for MSX!

You can try the 48K ROM: fs0200.rom

The "training" mode is almost fully functional.
The default input are : Keyboard arrow keys + [Space] + [N] (but you can change input into options).
When in-game, you can press [Esc] to return to Main menu, or [F3] to activate/disactivate flickering shadows.

The game is not finished and not tuned at all, so I don't need qualitative feedback; however, I would be very interested if you could try it on real MSX1 and tell me if it works well (I only have a MSX2).
I don't use the Bios functions at all (not even the ISR) so I'd like to be sure that everything is 100% compatible (especially with Toshiba's VDP clone).
I would like to know:
- Does the game start? ^^
- Is the display not buggy? (you can use OpenMSX/blueMSX as a reference)
- Is the flickering not too strong?

The game is programmed in C with my own game library (CMSX). There is nothing revolutionary, but I could give you an overview of the techniques I used for the game if you are interested.

PS : Music and SFX are placeholders (music is from Firestarter+HDS).

http://msxvillage.fr/upload/fs0200_title.jpg

http://msxvillage.fr/upload/fs0200_train.jpg

EDIT: I don't know why my images are not displayed in this post.

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Van gdx

Enlighted (6438)

21-03-2021, 08:44

I tested on an MSX1 (60hz). It seems work fine. Very promising game, congratulations!

I still give some feedbacks:
- Let's make we don't have to choose between keyboard and joystick. It's easier to do than if we press Space, we play the keyboard, and the joystick is the button and it's more pleasant for the player.
- Make the selection in the menu possible also with the joystick.
- I hope you will make a ambience a little more tennis match (MSX style not real of course) instead of this music.

Van aoineko

Paragon (1138)

21-03-2021, 12:22

gdx wrote:

I tested on an MSX1 (60hz). It seems work fine. Very promising game, congratulations!

Thanks! Could you please tell me the model of MSX1 on which you tested the game?
(I will make a list of known compatibility)
I forgot to mention, but the game is made for 50Hz VDP and don't support 60Hz one yet (I mean, there no speed adjustment).

gdx wrote:

- Let's make we don't have to choose between keyboard and joystick. It's easier to do than if we press Space, we play the keyboard, and the joystick is the button and it's more pleasant for the player.
- Make the selection in the menu possible also with the joystick.

I plan to allow the all the 5 input settings to be usable in the menu (including keyboard and joystick).
I don't plan to allow more than 1 input setting per player in-game, but I could change the default setting according to the button pressed on the Press start page. For example, if player press joystick trigger, I can set the joystick as the default setting for player 1.

gdx wrote:

- I hope you will make a ambience a little more tennis match (MSX style not real of course) instead of this music.

As I said, music and SFX are "placeholders" ; They are there to test if these features work and if the needed data fit into my 48K ROM.
I don't know yet if I'm going to try to make the music by myself, but in any case, I do wish to have a music that remind us of good old tennis games (something full of energy).

Van ToriHino

Paladin (927)

21-03-2021, 12:40

I tested it also on the Casio PV-7 and apparently you either need at least 16K of RAM or the RAM is used from $C000 (where on this machine it starts on $E000). Yes, this config is one of the very few which has only 8K of RAM, that's why I also test the game i'm working on at this config.

Van gdx

Enlighted (6438)

21-03-2021, 12:43

I tested on the National CF-2700 + Sunrise CF + MMM.

I think the game would be better with music during the presentation then sound effects and very short music depending on the situation during the game. This avoids making the game boring quickly.

Van tfh

Prophet (3430)

21-03-2021, 13:05

During the game, you could also consider doing it the same way Konami did: Tennis sounds & audience
For the rest: I like where this is going!

Van aoineko

Paragon (1138)

21-03-2021, 13:26

tfh wrote:

During the game, you could also consider doing it the same way Konami did: Tennis sounds & audience

This is the plan. Music will be for Title, Main-menu, Score-board and In-game Menu (if any).
The rest of the time, there will be only the sounds of tennis (which are very important to understand the game system). Indeed, you can do 3 types of shots (button A, button B and buttons A+B) and each one will have a slightly different sound to help the other player to react.

ToriHino wrote:

Oh, I also forgot to mention that the game currently requires 16K of RAM.
In fact, I think I'm not using more than 2-3K now so I'll probably try to make it compatible with MSX with 8K of RAM.
(As I don't use the Bios, I can use freely the Working Area)

EDIT:
@ToriHino: Can you please try this version with RAM starting at E000h : fs0200_8k.rom

Van journey

Hero (577)

21-03-2021, 14:51

aoineko wrote:

Hi all,

It's time for me to introduce you the project I've been working on almost every night for a few months: Final Smash, a tennis game for MSX1.

GREAT!!!

Van geijoenr

Champion (392)

21-03-2021, 16:43

I looks pretty good, but in my opinion too similar to Konami's.

I would add more movements to the character to make the game play richer, I mean more combinations regarding the way you can hit the ball.

Van aoineko

Paragon (1138)

21-03-2021, 17:18

geijoenr wrote:

I would add more movements to the character to make the game play richer, I mean more combinations regarding the way you can hit the ball.

There are already 3 types of shots:
- Flat (button A): Adverage shot
- Slice (button B) : Bell shot with backspin on bounce
- Topspin (button A+B) : Straight shot with top spin on bounce

Each of those shot can be :
- Short (stick on backward direction)
- Medium
- Long (stick on forward direction)

Each shot can also be :
- Cross-shot (ie. trigger to left when shot from right)
- Safe shot (no direction trigger)
- Straight shot (ie. trigger to right when shot from right)
The sooner you press the fire button, the greater the angle.

And finally, all this is managed by a "realistic" physics.

I don't know Konami Tennis well, but I dont think they handle all those features. ^^

That said, my game is not tuned at all for the moment so I don't expect player to feel the full richness of the gameplay.
I'm already busy adding all the features I'm going to need.
Then I'll do a first tuning pass and do some playtesting to get feedback from players.
One thing at a time.

Van ToriHino

Paladin (927)

21-03-2021, 18:06

aoineko wrote:

EDIT:
@ToriHino: Can you please try this version with RAM starting at E000h : fs0200_8k.rom

Yes, works fine now :)