NEW GAME: Killer Bees

[gazj82]

Please find my first ever Blitz Basic project in the zone "killerbees.adf".

EDIT: Version 1.1 released, now A500 compatible.

Aminet link





It is a conversion of my favourite game on the Phillips G7000 machine. Unfortunatly because the machine was quite rare people don't know of this fast pace game. The original was written by Bob Harris in 1983.

I have already done a ZX Spectrum port in 2014 so it seemed like a good project for Blitz.

I developed this on my A1200 with an 030 at 50mhz. It ran lovely until I tried to run it on a plain A1200 (Thanks FS-UAE) then I had too start blitting objects every other frame to keep the game speed

I can't get it to even boot using Kickstart 1.3, although I think it will be way to slow on a A500 anyway. Somone much better than me can most likely optimize it tho. The source is included.

So I guess the minimum requirements for now are 68020 and Kickstart >1.3

Instructions below

Killer Bees

Amiga Version V1.0

Original Phillips G7000 version by Bob Harris 1983
Amiga version by Gary James 2017


This unusual and exciting game provides plenty of scope for you to test your reactions, with no fewer than 20 different challenge levels.  With the aid of a swam of bees, controlled by Joystick in port 1, your aim will be to sting and ultimately destroy a squadron of Beelings... blue and red invaders from another world.  And the longer it takes, the more difficult it becomes, because the Beelings speed up and the swarms of deadly coloured bees guarding them become increasingly hostile.  When you successfully eliminate them all, the game will automatically move to a higher challenge level.

Loading a the game
Insert your killer bees disk into your miggy’s disk drive and wait for the title screen.

Starting the game
When the game has finished loading, you can push the joystick left or right to change between standard sound effects and the enhanced voice sounds that were used by the G7000;s voice module.

Press fire when ready to start.

Your swarm of white bees will then appear in the centre of the combat area.  Shortly afterwards a squadron of invaders come onto the combat area.  Note blue Beelings move in a counter clockwise direction, the red ones anti-clockwise.

Now you can start earning points by stinging the invaders.  Each sting slows the Beeling down until it dies and is buried.  A gravestone confirms the kill... and a handsome points bonus for you!  It also blocks the path of those still alive.  If on the other hand you don't kill it quickly, the stung Beeling will gradually recover and speed up again.

Enemy swarms
While your white bees are chasing the Beelings, keep a careful lookout for deadly enemy swarms.  Each white bee that comes in contact with an enemy swarm will perish instantly.  Up to four swarms of these coloured bees are assigned to protect their masters.  And as time goes by, they change colour and acquire new powers.  The enemy swarms always arrive as Green Guardians, which simply roam about the combat area in a random fashion... but contact with them is nevertheless fatal.  In time they will evolve into aggressive Red Devils which will actively pursue and attack your swarm!

The power of the Sting Ray
There is one way in which your bees can protect themselves other than by simply evading the enemy.  By pressing the FIRE button, your bees will fire a broad and lethal Sting Ray horizontally across the screen,  This will completely wipe out any enemy bees in its path – green or red – at the same time earning you valuable bonus points.

Soon, however, another swarm of Green Guardians will come through the tunnels to replace the victims.  Moreover, once your have fired the ray you won't be able to use it again until it has been recharged.  And the only way to do that is to kill another Beeling.  When it is recharged, a flashing flag will appear on the sides of the screen.

Challenge Levels
When the whole Beeling squadron has been destroyed the game automatically restarts – with a complete white swarm, but one challenge level higher.  In this way, the game gets progressively more difficult, with the Beeling invaders and the enemy swarms moving ever faster.  The game ends when all your white bees are eliminated.

Scoring
Each sting on an beeling................22 points
Each enemy swarm wiped out …. 15 points

Bonus points are also awarded for each challenge level completed and are calculated as follows.  10 points for each surviving white bee.  This figure is then multiplied by the number of the challenge level.  The multipication factor increases with each challenge level.  Bonus points are automatically added to the current score.

[DamienD]

Nice one gazj82

...guess this means that I need to add another system / entry into this thread then: Ports / Conversions --> Amiga

Edit: done!

[gazj82]

Originally Posted by DamienD

Nice one gazj82

...guess this means that I need to add another system / entry into this thread then: Ports / Conversions --> Amiga

Edit: done!

Guess you will... Sorry

[Nobby_UK]

Can't get it to run:

Wrong number of arguments
and something about an IF statement.

I think it will not even start on WB 1.3
is Coz it is Fast File Format ?

# EDIT
Got it working by loading Workbench
Showing All Files and
Clicking on Pseudo Icon.

[gazj82]

Originally Posted by Nobby_UK

Can't get it to run:

Wrong number of arguments
and something about an IF statement.

I think it will not even start on WB 1.3
is Coz it is Fast File Format ?

# EDIT
Got it working by loading Workbench
Showing All Files and
Clicking on Pseudo Icon.

I will look into this. I think I left a bit of code in there where pressing the left mouse button exits. So make sure you don't do that. I will try to get it running on 1.3 (didn't realise FFF wasn't a thing on 1.3) and will then upload an update.

[gazj82]

I still can't get this to even boot on a A500. A A600 will boot and you can here the game running but see no graphics on the screen. Has anyone have any ideas.

[Cobe]

Check boot block in winuae when creating adf.
And add diskfont.library for ks1.3.

[utri007]

Originally Posted by gazj82

It is a conversion of my favourite game on the Phillips G7000 machine. Unfortunatly because the machine was quite rare people don't know of this fast pace game. The original was written by Bob Harris in 1983.

I have Philips G7000 machine and some games, including killer bees.

[gazj82]

Originally Posted by Cobe

Check boot block in winuae when creating adf.
And add diskfont.library for ks1.3.

Thanks for your help. The disk was created on a real A1200 using the "install df0:" command. I guess this creates the same boot block. I already have diskfont.library and some others. I have even taken the workbench 1.3 versions in desperation.

Thanks for your help tho.

[Cobe]

Oh, I posted before I peeked at disk. So now when I did look at it, I think ks1.3 need all those commands you used in s-s such are LAB, Skip, Eval... in C folder.

[gazj82]

Hi Cobe.

I simplified the startup-sequence without that loop. Just to keep things simple. But it still won't boot on a A500. It begins to load and then just hangs. Even if I get it to load I still don't think it will display the graphics as a A600 or A500 config with Kickstart 2.0 loads but nothing shows up on the display. I can however hear the game sounds.

[Cobe]

I took a look at code and of course it wont work with 8 bit planes on nothing but aga. I compiled it quickly for 6 bit planes. It works, kinda.. Title screen is appropriately ugly and game works but enemies are not visible.

[gazj82]

Originally Posted by Cobe

I took a look at code and of course it wont work with 8 bit planes on nothing but aga. I compiled it quickly for 6 bit planes. It works, kinda.. Title screen is appropriately ugly and game works but enemies are not visible.

Well that is good to know. I am just trying to start up blitz basic on an emulated A500. So if it runs at a decent speed I will try to tweak the graphics. Good to know about the max bitplanes for further projects.

Thanks for you help. Hopefully a ECS compatible version is coming.

[Cobe]

As I see your using 16 colors. So go for 4 bit planes thus you should gain speed. And I don't see why u used dual playfield. I turned it off and heads of 2 enemies appeared but the rest occasionally flash so blitter probably doesnt have enough time to catch up..

[gazj82]

Well I have changed the game to 4 bitplanes and got rid of the dual playfield. I must admit I haven't still entirely understood setting up the display.

Problem now is I can't get the colours to display correctly even in game. I have resaved the graphics in 8 colours.

[Shatterhand]

Originally Posted by Cobe

As I see your using 16 colors. So go for 4 bit planes thus you should gain speed. And I don't see why u used dual playfield. I turned it off and heads of 2 enemies appeared but the rest occasionally flash so blitter probably doesnt have enough time to catch up..

You probably should use a double buffer to avoid stuff flashing.

[Cobe]

Yeah, thats the next thing I'd suggest after he sort out graphics and palettes for 3 or 4 bitplanes if that alone doesnt help. But the thing at the moment is it's not flashing as it usually does before you realize you must go with double buffering, its far worse, some gfx are almost invisible actually and they only blink really shortly and partially now and then.

[Neil79]

Article done
http://www.indieretronews.com/2017/1...7000-game.html

[gazj82]

I need one colour for sprites too. The sprite is part of my normal pallette. i.e it is grabbed from the same bitmap as other graphics. The best I can do is get it to work with 6 bitplanes. Anything else and the colours get really screwed up and no matter how I try to load the pallette in the colours are all just wrong.

I did find that I had an AGA fix offset set (which I guess I needed when using 8 bitplanes), turning this off made 6 bitplanes possible.

I have no idea how to setup double buffering unofrtunately. Still loads to learn

[gazj82]

Originally Posted by Neil79

Article done
http://www.indieretronews.com/2017/1...7000-game.html

Great, Thanks