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Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Gaming => Topic started by: klx300r on September 05, 2018, 08:11:55 PM

Title: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: klx300r on September 05, 2018, 08:11:55 PM
from amigaworld thread: https://amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic_id=42236&forum=9&start=0&viewmode=flat&order=0 (https://amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic_id=42236&forum=9&start=0&viewmode=flat&order=0)
Development was suspended for a few weeks due to another project (a book not related to computers), but then it resumed with these changes: * added spaceship tilting when it moves sideways;
 * improved music;
 * saved some RAM by replacing general-purpose routines with game-specific ones;
 * drawn boss;
 * made the game run from (2) floppies;
 * written manual;
 * written installer;
 * drawn icons.

There is enough RAM left to add bossfights, more UFO types, and dynamic generation of the scrolling middle layer (and possibly improving the quality of some sound samples). The biggest issue will be stuffing everything into the 2 floppies (at the moment there are less than 110 kB free).
By the way, of all the icons shown in the picture, only the ones surrounded by squares, which are in the old 4-color format, will be used, precisely to use as little floppy disk space as possible.

(https://images2.imgbox.com/e4/d9/vfcnCRtj_o.png)
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on September 05, 2018, 09:18:47 PM
@klx300r

Thanks for opening the thread (and telling me that these forums are open again)!


@all

I've started working on the game in November 2017, and I've released a few progress reports in the meanwhile. Here are a few video previews that show how the game evolved over time (check out the descriptions in the videos for more information).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69zl4HYAShI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1og-4VjkbgE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jApqi3DVgls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QX9BLVNH3U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sDg0zni9ac
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESdTO2-xGkk

A quick recap is also available on the game's page (https://retream.itch.io/SkillGrid) in my itch.io space (https://retream.itch.io).
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: klx300r on September 05, 2018, 09:41:50 PM
@klx300r

Thanks for opening the thread (and telling me that these forums are open again)!

my pleasure  :D
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on September 10, 2018, 03:42:09 PM
The dynamic tile-based generation of the middle layer is done. Besides looking cool, it saved about 30 kB of floppy disk space at little CPU cost.
The picture shows various experiments and the final choice (the blue-purple gases/clouds).

(https://images2.imgbox.com/ad/70/uspn8o5f_o.gif)
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on September 14, 2018, 07:51:47 PM
Video preview #6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNmP6qFXMvc

This video demonstrates these new features:
 * procedural generation of bottom and middle layers;
 * new bottom and middle layers graphics;
 * spaceship tilting;
 * touched up music.

And here are some later experiments with alternative tiles and color schemes:

(https://images2.imgbox.com/43/36/cY4C4lHk_o.gif)

Currently I'm leaning towards the saturated red clouds, as that's less confusing to the eye and produces a smoother effect.
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: BigBan on September 22, 2018, 01:34:07 PM
can't wait to play this awesome game. Where to download this for PC. Any Idea please
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on September 22, 2018, 01:40:45 PM
Sorry, the game is for AGA Amigas only.
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: klx300r on September 23, 2018, 11:30:43 PM
Sorry, the game is for AGA Amigas only.
ONLY AMIGA ;)
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: BigBan on October 16, 2018, 10:58:49 AM
can this played in IOS?
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on October 16, 2018, 11:16:11 AM
can this played in IOS?
Sorry, the game is for AGA Amigas only.
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: Fat Barry on October 16, 2018, 11:41:27 AM
You could always get an AMIGA... ;)

Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: klx300r on October 17, 2018, 03:23:21 AM
@ BigBan
ONLY AMIGA (https://forum.amiga.org/Smileys/default/wink.gif)
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: Wyers on October 19, 2018, 10:56:53 AM
can't wait to make use of Privacy Pursuits (https://privacypursuits.com/) and play this awesome game. Where to download this for PC. Any Idea please

What a world we're living in! New Amiga-only games still being released. Love it! haha
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on October 28, 2018, 10:06:37 AM
Development slowed down a bit in the past couple of months, but still a number of (important) changes have been made:
 * added bossfights;
 * added CHASE cell (the UFOs chase the spaceship for 5 seconds);
 * moved HUD icons column to the left side;
 * touched up graphics;
 * made various improvements/fixes;
 * extended/improved manual.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbdfSSvK8lk

Future:
 * the final boss graphics will be totally different;
 * the background graphics might change as well;
 * there are 47 kB of floppy disk space and 140 kB of RAM left: they will be used to make improvements and/or to add new features.
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: klx300r on October 28, 2018, 02:21:17 PM
@ saimo
Boss fights & more polished..LOVE IT! :o :-*

@ Wyers
great 1st post & welcome aboard  ;D
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on October 30, 2018, 12:57:00 PM
Third totally different version of background graphics. This is just a proof-of-concept, and the final graphics will mosy likely look different. As a bonus, this video also gives a glimpse of the reworked boss graphics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9l2G43KtDw
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on November 03, 2018, 12:56:48 PM
The game is getting closer and closer to completion (in fact, there is almost no floppy disk space left)!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5USEUxpV0XA

This juicy eighth preview demonstrates these new features:
 * UFOs escapes feature (if 30 UFOs escape in a row, it's game over - see double-UFO bar in the HUD);
 * DAMAGE cell (broken shield; halves the shield level);
 * HALT cell (halts the spaceship for 2 seconds; see hand bar in the HUD);
 * NUKE cell (destroys all the UFOs on screen);
 * TURN cell (changes randomly the direction of all the UFOs on screen);
 * UFOs/FAST (makes the incoming UFOs move on average at fast speed);
 * UFOs/SLOW cells (makes the incoming UFOs move on average at slow speed);
 * two new UFO types;
 * reworked boss graphics and sound;
 * reworked backgrounds graphics (still temporary);
 * adapted/updated HUD;
 * better explosion sound;
 * better boss AI;
 * more points awarded by boss;
 * a resurfaced glitch that causes sprites to be occasionally rendered in the wrong (and hardware-wise theoretically impossible) colors :p

https://www.retream.com/SkillGrid
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: klx300r on November 03, 2018, 08:18:10 PM
love all the updates ! :D
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on November 06, 2018, 03:40:52 PM
I have about 100 kB of RAM and 4 kB of floppy space left, and I'm trying to come up with something to use them and make the game better before releasing it.
One of the options I'm considering is adding a little sub-game based on this dot-matrix engine I wrote a few months ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB6wgJbj0Gg

I've been itching to make a game with it for a long while, but I never came up with an idea that convinced me. This really feels like the proper occasion to use it.

For the tech geeks...
This engine for AGA Amigas displays 4 colors (+ background color), has chunky dots (i.e. each dot can be written or read with a single byte memory access), and doesn't require any chunky-to-planar conversion (i.e. it's almost as if it were a hardware native video mode). I have a few variants of it, including one that has non-dotted background graphics.

For the curious ones...
Computer simulations of pinball dot-matrix displays fascinated me ever since I saw Pinball Fantasies. In fact, I've faked them in a couple of my games (an unreleased game and the old versions of MeMO (https://www.retream.com/MeMO)) and even based a whole game (Huenison (https://www.retream.com/Huenison)) on them. Less than one year ago I pulled my A1200 out of the closet and powered it up again. It had been many years since I had coded something for it, and this is one of the results of the experiments I started doing on it.
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on November 15, 2018, 12:57:21 PM
It's time for another update...

Major piece of news: as you can see from the pictures kindly provided by RGCD and Tony Aksnes, SkillGrid has been adapted to the Amiga CD³²!

(https://images2.imgbox.com/61/d0/0sDnqTuB_o.jpg)
(https://images2.imgbox.com/c4/4d/Qs1yjhid_o.jpg)
(https://images2.imgbox.com/ee/f5/WTQm0Crr_o.jpg)

Other changes:
 * added missiles;
 * changed the way the MULTIPLIER cell deactivates;
 * changed the behaviour of the REPAIR and DAMAGE cells in Music Mode;
 * made timer tick when 10 or less time units remain;
 * refined gameplay parameters;
 * multiplied points by 5;
 * added pause;
 * added 4 new UFO types;
 * touched up some graphics;
 * made screens transitions 100% smooth;
 * made many internal improvements/optimizations/fixes;
 * improved/adapted/extended manual.

Note: the sub-game idea based on the dot-matrix engine mentioned previously had to be dismissed due to lack of space.
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on November 29, 2018, 02:38:16 PM
New video preview... and there's a lot to see in it! In fact, it shows many of the changes from the (massive) changelog below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBHGjaJRlhE

CHANGELOG
* Changed music from 14-bit mono to 8-bit stereo.
* Improved audio tracks mixing.
* Added mothership fight.
* Added asteroids.
* Added DOUBLE FIRE cell.
* Added screen flashing when the NUKE cell is caught.
* Made NUKE cell cause a 1 unit damage to bosses.
* Improved destruction sound effect for NUKE cell and boss.
* Made various changes to the effects of cells.
* Restricted the types of cells to a selected subset during the first 30 seconds of play.
* Made the boss weapon mouth and bolt flicker to give the former a more dangerous feel, and make the latter easier to see.
* Improved transformation of bosses.
* Added a little graphical effect to the boss.
* Changed pitches of cell catch sounds (making them more distinguishable and shorter).
* Added speech warnings.
* Added looping to alarm sound.
* Increased the minimum scrolling speed so that it can never become (dangerously) too slow.
* Changed title / pause / game over screens.
* Made various other improvements/optimizations/fixes.

(So you've spotted the RGCD logo in the title screen and you're wondering if that perhaps means that the game is going to be released also as a cool physical package? Hush hush... don't tell anyone, but rumor has it that such a package will contain the floppies for Amiga 1200 and Amiga 4000, as well as a CD for Amiga CD³²!)

https://www.retream.com/SkillGrid
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on December 07, 2018, 10:06:55 AM
Want to read a cool preview from someone who tried the game first hand? Just check out this cool blog article (https://blog.amigaguru.com/skill-grid-a-new-amiga-shooter-nearing-completion) by Tony Aksnes!

By the way, work on the packaging is about to start, so hopefully you'll be able to get the game from RGCD Q1 2019 ;)
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on December 11, 2018, 12:09:47 PM
Great news: development is complete! Now work on the packaging for the RGCD (https://www.rgcd.co.uk) release has started.

(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/05/05/VlBhgygX_t.png) (https://images2.imgbox.com/05/05/VlBhgygX_o.png)
Click to enlarge.

CHANGELOG

* Added skull baddie.
* Added milestones.
* Fine-tuned gameplay parameters.
* Improved boss and mothership AI.
* Added blinking halt sign.
* Added danger warning for when the shield is really low.
* Redrawn a couple of UFOs.
* Improved asteroids graphics.
* Made various optimizations/improvements/fixes.

https://www.retream.com/SkillGrid
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on December 18, 2018, 11:53:49 AM
If you're curious about how the scrolling works, this video is for you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wjSqNVRV1w

To fully appreciate it, please read the technical details below. Please note that some knowledge of the Amiga hardware is required.

Given that about 80% of the RAM that the standard Amiga 1200 and CD³² are equipped with is allocated for music (which is not standard tracker modules, but conceptually MP3-like as detailed in this article (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/pushing-limits-vintage-computers-part-2-simone-bevilacqua/)), SkillGrid uses a number of tricks to fit all the rest (code, graphics, and sound effects) in the remaining memory. Some of them are shown in this video.

The background is made of three parallax-scrolling layers:
 * the bottom layer consists of a bitmap that is much taller than the screen;
 * the other two layers are rendered dynamically by blitting graphic tiles as needed - this is necessary to have graphics change all the time and, at the same time, allows virtually endless layers at the small cost of the memory taken by the tiles graphics;
 * the two layers are not buffered, but are just slightly taller than the screen: the incoming tiles are rendered in the out-of-screen areas, thus hiding the drawing process to the eye (with buffering, almost twice the RAM would have been needed, instead);
 * all the layers are wrapped around in real time by the Copper (as explained in the next paragraph); this mechanism allows the layers to occupy exactly the amount of RAM needed by the graphics (i.e. no extra RAM is required for the twin copies otherwise necessary to smoothly restart scrolling when a layer has scrolled entirely).

The layers wrap-around trick is implemented like this:
 * the line that a layer starts to display from at the top of the screen can be any (for exampe, if a layer is 300 lines tall, any line between 0 and 299 can be the line displayed at the very top of the screen); this is obtained by telling the Lisa chip (through the BPLxPT registers) that the bitplanes of the layer start at the addresses corresponding to the chosen line;
 * if/when the bitplanes of the layer are entirely displayed but the screen has not been entirely redrawn yet, the Copper writes on the fly the addresses of line 0 to the BPLxPT registers (for example, if the topmost line was 280, when the 20th visible line of the screen has been drawn the bitplanes bottom has already been reached, but there are still 256-20 = 236 screen lines to draw, so the Copper brings the bitplanes addresses back to the very beginning; the result is that the bottom of the bitplanes is visually followed by their top);
 * therefore, the Copper has to continuously wait for the screen line(s) where it is necessary to reset the BPLxPT registers and then perform the writes; normally only one layer per line needs to be wrapped around, but, depending on the position of the layers, occasionally two or even three layers end on the same line and thus have to be wrapped around at the same time;
 * the Copper code (Copperlist) that performs such operations is generated by the CPU every frame after the screen has been drawn entirely, according to the current scrolling position.

In the first part of the video:
 * the blue layer is the bottom layer (layer 0);
 * the green layer is the middle layer (layer 1);
 * the red layer is the top layer (layer 2);
 * the lines marked with T0/T1/T2 indicate the top of layer 0/1/2;
 * the lines marked with B0/B1/B2 indicate the bottom of layer 0/1/2.

It is worth noting that since the tiles of the top layer are hexagons, they are vertically shifted by half a hexagon every other column. As a consequence, the bottom row tiles in the odd columns actually need to have the upper half blitted at the bottom of the layer, and the bottom half at the top of the layer. Due to the fact that the layer is made of two bitplanes, up to four separate blits might be necessary to render a tile.
In the second part of the video, these tiles are those that are crossed by the horizontal line that marks where the layer wraps around.
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on December 24, 2018, 11:04:25 AM
Little Christmas gift: preview of the inlay that will grace the RGCD (https://www.rgcd.co.uk) package!

(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/f8/8b/k5uIvcEr_t.png) (https://images2.imgbox.com/f8/8b/k5uIvcEr_o.png)
click to enlarge

The package will include a CD, a nice manual, a few surprises and, optionally, also two floppies. The CD can be used to play the game on the Amiga CD³² and also to install the game on the Amiga 1200/4000; moreover, it contains also the ADF images of the floppies.
To be released (hopefully) in Q1 2019.

https://www.retream.com/SkillGrid
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: klx300r on December 24, 2018, 08:27:55 PM
looks great ! :D
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: Pyromania on December 27, 2018, 03:02:30 AM
Cool new Amiga game!
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on December 27, 2018, 12:25:32 PM
One more little gift: this medley will let you enjoy the music that will rock your Amigas!

https://soundcloud.com/retream/skillgrid-medley
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on December 30, 2018, 02:04:08 PM
The first draft of the manual is done! Now it's only a matter of fixing the errors (if any) and changing a name...

(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/a5/55/UMvksfwq_t.png) (https://images2.imgbox.com/a5/55/UMvksfwq_o.png)
click to enlarge

The manual will consist in a 16 pages jewel case booklet, as the game CD will come in a jewel case inside a gorgeous clamshell box.
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on January 02, 2019, 01:21:44 PM
For the joy of all the AmigaCD³² consoles out there, here's the initial design of the CD:

(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/c7/54/8OlRfeCs_t.png) (https://images2.imgbox.com/c7/54/8OlRfeCs_o.png)
click to enlarge

Actually, the CD contains also the ADF images of the floppies and a pre-installed copy of the game for A1200s and A4000s ;)
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on January 05, 2019, 07:40:23 PM
The design of the floppy labels has been kept intentionally simple. It might still change, but probably won't be much different from what shown in this mockup.

(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/b1/3d/WrnLZCnE_t.png) (https://images2.imgbox.com/b1/3d/WrnLZCnE_o.png)
click to enlarge
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on January 19, 2019, 03:43:16 PM
The CD jewel case tray inlay is now done, too.

(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/73/b2/5mH7VyBo_t.png) (https://images2.imgbox.com/73/b2/5mH7VyBo_o.png)
(click to enlarge)
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on January 22, 2019, 01:45:44 PM
Just a quick note to let you know that I've started posting the pages from the manual so that you can learn the game details even before it hits the shelves. Every day I'll post a new page on the Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/R37R34M/), Twitter (https://twitter.com/R37R34M), Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/RETREAM), and itch.io (https://retream.itch.io/skillgrid) pages of RETREAM - if you're curious, just head over there (they're all publicly accessible, even without account) ;)
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on February 03, 2019, 12:51:59 PM
Here's a massive gameplay video that will let you see what you have read in the manual - and it shouldn't be too long until you can also experience it ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLLtD4nr5ck

Don't think the game is crazy: you haven't played it yet to fully appreciate its madness ;)
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: Karlos on February 03, 2019, 08:02:04 PM
Brilliant!
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on March 26, 2019, 09:00:53 PM
IMPORTANT NEWS

This CD...

(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/56/b2/rmI4nRMp_t.jpg) (https://images2.imgbox.com/56/b2/rmI4nRMp_o.jpg)
click to enlarge

... might not look much, but it's the proof CD received by RGCD (https://www.rgcd.co.uk) from the duplication company: the SkillGrid (https://www.retream.com/SkillGrid) copies are in production and will be available for purchase shortly!

Note that the final CD will look like this mockup:

(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/c7/54/8OlRfeCs_t.png) (https://images2.imgbox.com/c7/54/8OlRfeCs_o.png)
click to enlarge
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: klx300r on March 27, 2019, 09:21:41 PM
great news can't wait to buy it  :D
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on March 28, 2019, 02:23:24 PM
@klx300r

And I can't wait for you to have it in your hands :)


@all

Some details about the physical package. RGCD will offer two very generous options:
 * basic edition: jewel-cased glass-mastered CD with 16 pages booklet, 2 floppy labels, RETREAM postcard;
 * deluxe edition: clamshell box containing the basic edition plus 2 floppies, 4 badges pack, A3 poster (optionally rolled in a separate container), RGCD postcard, RGCD vinyl sticker.

Pictures and prices will be made public when the packages are ready.
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on April 05, 2019, 02:55:34 PM
While the CDs are being produced, some materials have already reached the RGCD (https://www.rgcd.co.uk) headquarters...

(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/8b/6d/CVzhA030_t.jpg) (https://images2.imgbox.com/8b/6d/CVzhA030_o.jpg)
(click to enlarge)

(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/a2/dd/Wx6e2Jhi_t.png) (https://images2.imgbox.com/a2/dd/Wx6e2Jhi_o.png)
(click to enlarge)

https://www.retream.com/SkillGrid
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: klx300r on April 05, 2019, 07:05:57 PM
looking great and love the feelies and poster just like the 80's  ;D
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on April 17, 2019, 08:33:46 AM
Yesterday RGCD (https://www.rgcd.co.uk) received the CDs, so now all that's missing to complete the deluxe package is the floppies - and that's already being taken care of ;)

(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/25/35/w2QtUI7c_t.png) (https://images2.imgbox.com/25/35/w2QtUI7c_o.png)
(click to enlarge)

https://www.retream.com/SkillGrid
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on April 26, 2019, 03:36:28 PM
The wait is over! You can snatch a copy of SkillGrid right away, choosing between the gorgeous physical editions by RGCD and the digital download.

BASIC EDITION: jewel-cased glass-mastered CD with 16 pages booklet, 2 floppy labels, RETREAM postcard, RGCD postcard, RGCD vinyl sticker.

(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/1c/95/69IVw2kY_t.png) (https://images2.imgbox.com/1c/95/69IVw2kY_o.png)

DELUXE EDITION: clamshell box containing the BASIC EDITION plus 2 floppies, 4 badges pack, A3 poster (optionally rolled in a separate container).

(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/fa/e4/UQOro6GL_t.png) (https://images2.imgbox.com/fa/e4/UQOro6GL_o.png)

(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/3a/7c/Jn5ZSVfD_t.png) (https://images2.imgbox.com/3a/7c/Jn5ZSVfD_o.png)

(https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/20/48/X5X1Usyp_t.png) (https://images2.imgbox.com/20/48/X5X1Usyp_o.png)

Information and digital download: https://www.retream.com/SkillGrid
Physical editions: https://rgcd.bigcartel.com/product/skillgrid-amiga
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: klx300r on April 27, 2019, 06:12:59 AM
Yahoooooo! ;D that poster is gonna look sweet in my mancave  8)
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on June 22, 2019, 10:47:09 AM
@all

In a thread on a public forum, I've read that no developer does the effort to allow his hardware-hitting game to quit and return to the OS: well, I'd like to let you know that I did include such function in SkillGrid - all that's needed is pressing [ESC] from the title screen. I did my best to take over the machine at startup and release the resources when quitting in the cleanest and most compatible way.

Also, in the same thread, it's said that hardware-hitting games shouldn't really be expected to run flawlessly on all the Amiga setups, given the huge variety of configurations. While it's true that it's impossible to have the game tested on all the configurations out there, I did a big effort to have the game running perfectly and in exactly the same way on a wide range of very different machines.
These are the systems (running a variety of AmigaOS versions from 3.1 to 3.9) that SkillGrid has been tested on:
 * A1200
 * A1200 + M-Tec Viper T1230
 * A1200 + Blizzard 1230 MK IV
 * A1200 + Blizzard 603e 68060
 * A4000/040 + Cybervision + Prisma Megamix
 * A4000 + Cyberstorm MK III 68060 + VA2000 + VA2000CX + Buddha IDE + SCSI2SD + network card
 * Amiga CD³²
 * several A4000 68040/68060 UAE configurations

(Many thanks to James Monkman, John Scolieri, Tony Aksnes, and Trevor Dickinson for testing the games on their machines.)

It's worth noting that the release was delayed by a couple of months due to the game crashing randomly and shortly after launch on the second A4000 listed above. I simply refused to release a product that seemed to suffer from such an issue. After a difficult investigation and countless tests (the machine and I were 6 time zones apart), it became clear that the problem was AmigaOS being unstable: in fact, a complete reinstallation of AmigaOS solved the problem.

Of course, I can't guarantee that SkillGrid will work on each and every exotic Amiga system out there, but I did strive to make the game as much compatible as possible, so it's safe to say that SkillGrid will run fine on any stable AGA Amiga system.
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on June 27, 2019, 08:54:15 AM
One day I woke up with the song The Man with the Gun (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k41em4dr30g) by Press Play On Tape (http://pressplayontape.com) playing in my mind. Somehow, a mental connection was born: how cool would it have been to have a piece of that song as the music for SkillGrid (https://www.retream.com/SkillGrid)'s Music Mode? So, I spent a little time to cut/mix excerpts from the song and to add them to the game. And then I didn't stop there: also all the other music pieces were replaced with parts I extracted and adapted from the same song. This video shows the result - and how good the audio engine of the game is ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD0BkmJvpeY

Important:
* this version of the game is not publicly available;
* the game has its own original soundtrack (https://soundcloud.com/retream/skillgrid-medley).
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: klx300r on September 06, 2019, 11:55:18 PM
just read the great article about SkillGrid in the latest Amiga Future and I fully agree with what the auther (Graham Humphrey) pleads all Amiga users with AGA systems to do & that is buy it and support the developer (Simone Bevilaqua/ RETREAM) for creating such an "extremely impressive piece of design and coding by an accomplished developer, and is exactly the sort of effort that deserves support and enthusiasm.."

Bravo Mr. Humphrey   :D
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on September 06, 2019, 11:58:56 PM
I didn't know about this. Thanks klx300r for reporting it and, of course, thanks to Graham Humphrey for such nice words!
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on December 06, 2019, 02:20:51 PM
@all

Just a quick heads-up to let you know that, after some months, the deluxe edition is back in stock on the RGCD store (http://"http://eab.abime.net/"https://rgcd.bigcartel.com/product/skillgrid-amiga")!

(https://images2.imgbox.com/a3/01/HVESi0MA_o.png)
Title: Re: SkillGrid-new AGA game in the works by saimo !!!
Post by: saimo on December 06, 2019, 02:28:20 PM
Sorry, the link in the previous post is broken. This is the correct one: https://rgcd.bigcartel.com/product/skillgrid-amiga