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In this shoot-em-up, you control a dragon; you have 3 types of power-up: lightning, fire and wind. You can also combine different types of power up for different shots, that is, lightining + lightining. lightining + fire and so on.

For now, this game is still on a prototype stage.

Weapon combinations:

- Basic: Lightining, Fire, Wind
- Combinations:
-- Thunderbolt (lightining+lightining);
-- Hellfire (fire + fire);
-- Tempest (wind + wind);
-- Firebolt (lightining + fire);
-- Thunderstorm (lightining + wind);
-- Firestorm (lightining + wind).

Sega Master System controls:

-- Button 1: enables/disables powerups;
-- Button 2: fire;
-- D-pad: move the dragon around.

This game was originally made for the SHMUP JAM 1 - Dragons

- Github repo: https://github.com/haroldo-ok/dragon-blaster
- Itch.io page: https://haroldo-ok.itch.io/dragon-blaster

Routines that may be found in the source code:
- The metasprite/animation routines used in my other recent games;
- A routine that allows to make sprites follow a preset path on screen; those paths can be either be hand made, or be converted from the files generated by a spline editor (source code for the editor); the script in "tools/convert_splines.js" performs the conversion;
- It also includes a powerup system inspired by Gunstar Heroes.

dragon_blaster-1.png (7.48 KB)

Screenshot

dragon_blaster-0.3.sms.rom-only.zip (6.12 KB)

ROM for version 0.3

dragon-blaster-0.3-source.zip (47.47 KB)

Source code for version 0.3

It looks really good! I like the shooting styles and how they move.

haroldoop wrote

In this shoot-em-up, you control a dragon; you have 3 types of power-up: lightning, fire and wind. You can also combine different types of power up for different shots, that is, lightining + lightining. lightining + fire and so on.

For now, this game is still on a prototype stage.

Weapon combinations:

- Basic: Lightining, Fire, Wind
- Combinations:
-- Thunderbolt (lightining+lightining);
-- Hellfire (fire + fire);
-- Tempest (wind + wind);
-- Firebolt (lightining + fire);
-- Thunderstorm (lightining + wind);
-- Firestorm (lightining + wind).

Sega Master System controls:

-- Button 1: enables/disables powerups;
-- Button 2: fire;
-- D-pad: move the dragon around.

This game was originally made for the SHMUP JAM 1 - Dragons

- Github repo: https://github.com/haroldo-ok/dragon-blaster
- Itch.io page: https://haroldo-ok.itch.io/dragon-blaster

Routines that may be found in the source code:
- The metasprite/animation routines used in my other recent games;
- A routine that allows to make sprites follow a preset path on screen; those paths can be either be hand made, or be converted from the files generated by a spline editor (source code for the editor); the script in "tools/convert_splines.js" performs the conversion;
- It also includes a powerup system inspired by Gunstar Heroes.

Nice! =)

This game is promissing. Just add music and a better framerate for a step more.
Jogo promissor! Só adicionar uma trilha sonora e melhorar um pouco a velocidade e ficará jóia.

very cool! I like the concept and the graphic! Can I suggest adding some other dragon race?

Wow it looks like Christmas has come early again this year. Kind of reminds me a lot of Pigarus. Can't wait to give this a go.👍👍👍

Thanks to everyone for the interest. ;)

Version 0.4 is now available:

- Implemented a script to convert Tiled (TMX) maps into an usable binary format (no compression, yet);
- Modified the scrolling background to stream rows of tiles from the map.

dragon_blaster-0.4.png (6.86 KB)

Screenshot

dragon_blaster-0.4-2.png (6.29 KB)

Screenshot

dragon_blaster-0.4.sms.zip (6.97 KB)

The ROM for version 0.4

It looks good! Can you elaborate on how the Tiled script works?

hang-on wrote

It looks good! Can you elaborate on how the Tiled script works?

Thanks! It is pretty simple: it is a node.js script that uses the tmx-parser package to read the TMX file, checks if it is an orthogonal map with a width of 16, then picks the first available layer, converts the IDs of its tiles into a byte array, and dumps that into a binary file.

For now, it uses no compression, but I intend to implement some form of compression, as well as support for map objects, to represent attack waves.

Thanks for the pointers - I'm in your Github now! :)

Version 0.5 is now available.

Not much done, just some minor refactorings and map compression support (for now, just a line-based RLE).

dragon_blaster-0.5.sms.zip (7.13 KB)

The ROM for version 0.5

Do you have a rough idea of when this will be playable with collision detection?

haroldoop wrote

Version 0.5 is now available.

Not much done, just some minor refactorings and map compression support (for now, just a line-based RLE).

8BitBoy wrote

Do you have a rough idea of when this will be playable with collision detection?

haroldoop wrote

Version 0.5 is now available.

Not much done, just some minor refactorings and map compression support (for now, just a line-based RLE).

Right now, I intend re-use the libraries for a game that I'm making for a game jam that I am participating now; any enhancements made during that time (that will probably include collision) will probably be backported afterwards

Reminds me of Dragon Spirit,I really like the projectile patterns.

MightyMax wrote

Reminds me of Dragon Spirit,I really like the projectile patterns.

Yes, my thirst thought was to make something like Dragon Breed, but I doubted I could make the segmented body within the deadline; also, I originally wanted to make it scroll sideways, but that would mean I would have to fight more often against the 8 sprites per line limitation and, as a result, it ended up looking like Dragon Spirit. The powerup system came from the jam's limitation of just 3 upgrades; that inspired me to use a weapon combination system, like Gunstar Heroes.

Hi, did you think at any boss? What do you think about a big dragon lich?

GiovanniFalco wrote

Hi, did you think at any boss? What do you think about a big dragon lich?

I intend to create enemies and bosses based on various fantasy creatures; a dragon lich would be a great idea.

haroldoop wrote

I intend to create enemies and bosses based on various fantasy creatures; a dragon lich would be a great idea.

Very cool

haroldoop wrote

GiovanniFalco wrote

Hi, did you think at any boss? What do you think about a big dragon lich?

I intend to create enemies and bosses based on various fantasy creatures; a dragon lich would be a great idea.

I knew you would like it! For some ideas or graphic design help, feel free to ask. It will be super cool!

GiovanniFalco wrote

haroldoop wrote

GiovanniFalco wrote

Hi, did you think at any boss? What do you think about a big dragon lich?

I intend to create enemies and bosses based on various fantasy creatures; a dragon lich would be a great idea.

I knew you would like it! For some ideas or graphic design help, feel free to ask. It will be super cool!

Thanks! Let's see how the project goes. 👍

Version 0.6 is now available!

Now with:
- Shot versus enemy collision;
- Enemy versus player collision;
- Plenty of slowdown! 🤣

I have merged the collision code from my other game jam entry, and it seems to be working.

BTW: does anyone know of any SMS emulator that supports profiling? The game is in need of some optimization, but knowing which routines are contributing the most to the slowdown would definitely make the correction faster.

dragon_blaster-0.6.sms.zip (8.09 KB)

The ROM for version 0.6

dragon-blaster-0.6-source.zip (75.66 KB)

Source code for version 0.6

Emulicious has a nice profiler. Give it a symbol file and it works even better.

Maxim wrote

Emulicious has a nice profiler. Give it a symbol file and it works even better.

Many thanks, it works perfectly.

Emulicious profiler screenshot 2021-11-16 172255.png (54.1 KB)

Version 0.7 is now available!

This release has no new features, but does have a few performance enhancements:

- Vastly improved the speed of the enemy-versus-shot collision checking by using auxiliary data structures to quickly determine if there exist any shots on a given row/column;
- Slightly improved the actor movement and drawing code by adding a few extra variables to reduce the amount of indirections.

dragon_blaster-0.7.sms.zip (8.33 KB)

The ROM for version 0.7

dragon-blaster-0.7-source.zip (76.83 KB)

Source code for version 0.7

The dragon theme reminded me of this boss in Kenseiden, which is a bit of a mix between a dragon and hydra.

Also, Ive recently discovered this new sms game called flight of pigarus, also a shoot 'em up, which looks shockingly good. Should be a good reference.

Looking very nice so far.

How far off do you think we might be to a finished/playable game? Loving the work so far!!!!

haroldoop wrote

Version 0.7 is now available!

This release has no new features, but does have a few performance enhancements:

- Vastly improved the speed of the enemy-versus-shot collision checking by using auxiliary data structures to quickly determine if there exist any shots on a given row/column;
- Slightly improved the actor movement and drawing code by adding a few extra variables to reduce the amount of indirections.

8BitBoy wrote

How far off do you think we might be to a finished/playable game? Loving the work so far!!!!

haroldoop wrote

Version 0.7 is now available!

This release has no new features, but does have a few performance enhancements:

- Vastly improved the speed of the enemy-versus-shot collision checking by using auxiliary data structures to quickly determine if there exist any shots on a given row/column;
- Slightly improved the actor movement and drawing code by adding a few extra variables to reduce the amount of indirections.

Thanks for the appreciation!
I'm not entirely sure of how long it will take to finish it; supposing I manage to keep the focus long enough, it may be ready in a few months; there will probably be something playable somewhere in between.
Long term, I intend to turn it into a reusable engine.

Hello, again;

Version 0.8 is now available. It merged some of the improvements made for Winter Shooter:
- Now there's a score on screen;
- Added a countdown timer;
- Implemented a time over sequence.

dragon_blaster-0.8.sms.zip (8.81 KB)

The ROM for version 0.8

dragon-blaster-0.8-source.zip (79.61 KB)

Source code for version 0.8

Look forward to giving this a try Haroldo!!

haroldoop wrote

Hello, again;

Version 0.8 is now available. It merged some of the improvements made for Winter Shooter:
- Now there's a score on screen;
- Added a countdown timer;
- Implemented a time over sequence.

Hello, again!

Version 0.11 has been released; basically:
- It positions the enemies and powerups according to predefined locations defined on the map file, instead of using placing them randomly;
- Also, it is now possible to have more than one powerup on screen at the same time.

This version has been made for Improve My Game Jam 22

dragon_blaster-0.11.sms.zip (12.26 KB)

The ROM for version 0.11

haroldoop wrote

Hello, again!

Version 0.11 has been released; basically:
- It positions the enemies and powerups according to predefined locations defined on the map file, instead of using placing them randomly;
- Also, it is now possible to have more than one powerup on screen at the same time.

This version has been made for Improve My Game Jam 22

Hi, friend. Controls dont working for me. 2 emulators tested: Fusion and Emulicious. Input used: Keyboard.

segarule wrote

haroldoop wrote

Hello, again!

Version 0.11 has been released; basically:
- It positions the enemies and powerups according to predefined locations defined on the map file, instead of using placing them randomly;
- Also, it is now possible to have more than one powerup on screen at the same time.

This version has been made for Improve My Game Jam 22

Hi, friend. Controls dont working for me. 2 emulators tested: Fusion and Emulicious. Input used: Keyboard.

Hello;

That's really weird; I tested the game primarily on Emulicious, with keyboard input.

haroldoop wrote

segarule wrote

haroldoop wrote

Hello, again!

Version 0.11 has been released; basically:
- It positions the enemies and powerups according to predefined locations defined on the map file, instead of using placing them randomly;
- Also, it is now possible to have more than one powerup on screen at the same time.

This version has been made for Improve My Game Jam 22

Hi, friend. Controls dont working for me. 2 emulators tested: Fusion and Emulicious. Input used: Keyboard.

Hello;

That's really weird; I tested the game primarily on Emulicious, with keyboard input.

Well, i tested now with usb gamepad with setup active and not worked too.
Eu testei com um controle de pc configurado no Fusion e botões definidos no setup e não funcionou também.

segarule wrote

haroldoop wrote

segarule wrote

Hi, friend. Controls dont working for me. 2 emulators tested: Fusion and Emulicious. Input used: Keyboard.

Hello;

That's really weird; I tested the game primarily on Emulicious, with keyboard input.

Well, i tested now with usb gamepad with setup active and not worked too.
Eu testei com um controle de pc configurado no Fusion e botões definidos no setup e não funcionou também.

I just re-downloaded and retested it now, both using the latest version of Emulicious with Java 8 installed, and using Kega Fusion 3.64. both on Windows 10; no problems here; there must be something very specific causing this behavior, specially considering that the game's input code wasn't modified on this version.

Dragon Blaster 0.11 on Emulicious.png (43.33 KB)

Screenshot on Emulicious

Dragon Blaster 0.11 on Fusion 3.64.png (69.48 KB)

Screenshot on Fusion

haroldoop wrote

segarule wrote

haroldoop wrote

segarule wrote

Hi, friend. Controls dont working for me. 2 emulators tested: Fusion and Emulicious. Input used: Keyboard.

Hello;

That's really weird; I tested the game primarily on Emulicious, with keyboard input.

Well, i tested now with usb gamepad with setup active and not worked too.
Eu testei com um controle de pc configurado no Fusion e botões definidos no setup e não funcionou também.

I just re-downloaded and retested it now, both using the latest version of Emulicious with Java 8 installed, and using Kega Fusion 3.64. both on Windows 10; no problems here; there must be something very specific causing this behavior, specially considering that the game's input code wasn't modified on this version.

Really weird, considering that i also use Win 10 and Fusion 3.64. My Emulicious not is updated but i dont think that is problem with any version. In time, i tested both emulators with others games, for example RType and everything works fine.
EDIT: I tested again and now it works fine. I think that could have been some conflict with emulator. When it was reseted after shutdown my PC, yesterday, must have solved the problem today. Im sorry.

segarule wrote

haroldoop wrote

segarule wrote

haroldoop wrote

Hello;

That's really weird; I tested the game primarily on Emulicious, with keyboard input.

Well, i tested now with usb gamepad with setup active and not worked too.
Eu testei com um controle de pc configurado no Fusion e botões definidos no setup e não funcionou também.

I just re-downloaded and retested it now, both using the latest version of Emulicious with Java 8 installed, and using Kega Fusion 3.64. both on Windows 10; no problems here; there must be something very specific causing this behavior, specially considering that the game's input code wasn't modified on this version.

Really weird, considering that i also use Win 10 and Fusion 3.64. My Emulicious not is updated but i dont think that is problem with any version. In time, i tested both emulators with others games, for example RType and everything works fine.
EDIT: I tested again and now it works fine. I think that could have been some conflict with emulator. When it was reseted after shutdown my PC, yesterday, must have solved the problem today. Im sorry.

That's a really weird situation; it does not seem to be an emulator-specific problem, since both of us tested the same two emulators on each of our machines; it also does not seem to be a strictly ROM-specific problem, or else it would have had the same behavior on both computers.

Let's try to isolate this better:
- Does this problem happen with older versions of Dragon Blaster?
- Does it happen with my other games? https://haroldo-ok.itch.io/
- Does it happen with, say, some other game compiled with "devkitSMS"?

haroldoop wrote

segarule wrote

haroldoop wrote

segarule wrote

haroldoop wrote

Hello;

That's really weird; I tested the game primarily on Emulicious, with keyboard input.

Well, i tested now with usb gamepad with setup active and not worked too.
Eu testei com um controle de pc configurado no Fusion e botões definidos no setup e não funcionou também.

I just re-downloaded and retested it now, both using the latest version of Emulicious with Java 8 installed, and using Kega Fusion 3.64. both on Windows 10; no problems here; there must be something very specific causing this behavior, specially considering that the game's input code wasn't modified on this version.

Really weird, considering that i also use Win 10 and Fusion 3.64. My Emulicious not is updated but i dont think that is problem with any version. In time, i tested both emulators with others games, for example RType and everything works fine.
EDIT: I tested again and now it works fine. I think that could have been some conflict with emulator. When it was reseted after shutdown my PC, yesterday, must have solved the problem today. Im sorry.

That's a really weird situation; it does not seem to be an emulator-specific problem, since both of us tested the same two emulators on each of our machines; it also does not seem to be a strictly ROM-specific problem, or else it would have had the same behavior on both computers.

Let's try to isolate this better:
- Does this problem happen with older versions of Dragon Blaster?
- Does it happen with my other games? https://haroldo-ok.itch.io/
- Does it happen with, say, some other game compiled with "devkitSMS"?

No. I believe that problem was with my PC. Today worked fine.

Quote

- Does this problem happen with older versions of Dragon Blaster?

Curious. Yesterday the older versions dont worked too. I tested 0.4 and 0.7.

segarule wrote

haroldoop wrote

segarule wrote

Really weird, considering that i also use Win 10 and Fusion 3.64. My Emulicious not is updated but i dont think that is problem with any version. In time, i tested both emulators with others games, for example RType and everything works fine.
EDIT: I tested again and now it works fine. I think that could have been some conflict with emulator. When it was reseted after shutdown my PC, yesterday, must have solved the problem today. Im sorry.

That's a really weird situation; it does not seem to be an emulator-specific problem, since both of us tested the same two emulators on each of our machines; it also does not seem to be a strictly ROM-specific problem, or else it would have had the same behavior on both computers.

Let's try to isolate this better:
- Does this problem happen with older versions of Dragon Blaster?
- Does it happen with my other games? https://haroldo-ok.itch.io/
- Does it happen with, say, some other game compiled with "devkitSMS"?

No. I believe that problem was with my PC. Today worked fine.

Quote

- Does this problem happen with older versions of Dragon Blaster?

Curious. Yesterday the older versions dont worked too. I tested 0.4 and 0.7.

Okay... thanks for the testing. ;)

Author	Message
haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	[WIP] Dragon Blaster - A dragon themed shoot-em-up Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2021 10:45 am
	In this shoot-em-up, you control a dragon; you have 3 types of power-up: lightning, fire and wind. You can also combine different types of power up for different shots, that is, lightining + lightining. lightining + fire and so on. For now, this game is still on a prototype stage. Weapon combinations: - Basic: Lightining, Fire, Wind - Combinations: -- Thunderbolt (lightining+lightining); -- Hellfire (fire + fire); -- Tempest (wind + wind); -- Firebolt (lightining + fire); -- Thunderstorm (lightining + wind); -- Firestorm (lightining + wind). Sega Master System controls: -- Button 1: enables/disables powerups; -- Button 2: fire; -- D-pad: move the dragon around. This game was originally made for the SHMUP JAM 1 - Dragons - Github repo: https://github.com/haroldo-ok/dragon-blaster - Itch.io page: https://haroldo-ok.itch.io/dragon-blaster Routines that may be found in the source code: - The metasprite/animation routines used in my other recent games; - A routine that allows to make sprites follow a preset path on screen; those paths can be either be hand made, or be converted from the files generated by a spline editor (source code for the editor); the script in "tools/convert_splines.js" performs the conversion; - It also includes a powerup system inspired by Gunstar Heroes. dragon_blaster-1.png (7.48 KB) Screenshot dragon_blaster-0.3.sms.rom-only.zip (6.12 KB) ROM for version 0.3 dragon-blaster-0.3-source.zip (47.47 KB) Source code for version 0.3

Gordman Joined: 21 Aug 2012 Posts: 366 Location: Berlin, Germany	Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2021 6:43 pm
	It looks really good! I like the shooting styles and how they move.

EmuBoarding Joined: 06 Aug 2015 Posts: 156	Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2021 5:31 am
EmuBoarding Joined: 06 Aug 2015 Posts: 156	haroldoop wrote In this shoot-em-up, you control a dragon; you have 3 types of power-up: lightning, fire and wind. You can also combine different types of power up for different shots, that is, lightining + lightining. lightining + fire and so on. For now, this game is still on a prototype stage. Weapon combinations: - Basic: Lightining, Fire, Wind - Combinations: -- Thunderbolt (lightining+lightining); -- Hellfire (fire + fire); -- Tempest (wind + wind); -- Firebolt (lightining + fire); -- Thunderstorm (lightining + wind); -- Firestorm (lightining + wind). Sega Master System controls: -- Button 1: enables/disables powerups; -- Button 2: fire; -- D-pad: move the dragon around. This game was originally made for the SHMUP JAM 1 - Dragons - Github repo: https://github.com/haroldo-ok/dragon-blaster - Itch.io page: https://haroldo-ok.itch.io/dragon-blaster Routines that may be found in the source code: - The metasprite/animation routines used in my other recent games; - A routine that allows to make sprites follow a preset path on screen; those paths can be either be hand made, or be converted from the files generated by a spline editor (source code for the editor); the script in "tools/convert_splines.js" performs the conversion; - It also includes a powerup system inspired by Gunstar Heroes. Nice! =)

segarule Joined: 23 Jan 2010 Posts: 473	Posted: Sun Oct 24, 2021 9:06 pm
segarule Joined: 23 Jan 2010 Posts: 473	This game is promissing. Just add music and a better framerate for a step more. Jogo promissor! Só adicionar uma trilha sonora e melhorar um pouco a velocidade e ficará jóia.

GiovanniFalco Joined: 02 Mar 2021 Posts: 17 Location: Rome	Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 7:47 am
	very cool! I like the concept and the graphic! Can I suggest adding some other dragon race?

8BitBoy Joined: 15 Aug 2019 Posts: 300 Location: Lancashire UK	Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 5:28 am
	Wow it looks like Christmas has come early again this year. Kind of reminds me a lot of Pigarus. Can't wait to give this a go.👍👍👍

haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	Version 0.4 is now available. Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2021 10:20 pm
	Thanks to everyone for the interest. ;) Version 0.4 is now available: - Implemented a script to convert Tiled (TMX) maps into an usable binary format (no compression, yet); - Modified the scrolling background to stream rows of tiles from the map. dragon_blaster-0.4.png (6.86 KB) Screenshot dragon_blaster-0.4-2.png (6.29 KB) Screenshot dragon_blaster-0.4.sms.zip (6.97 KB) The ROM for version 0.4

hang-on Joined: 23 Mar 2013 Posts: 612 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark	Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2021 6:42 am
	It looks good! Can you elaborate on how the Tiled script works?

haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:51 am
	hang-on wrote It looks good! Can you elaborate on how the Tiled script works? Thanks! It is pretty simple: it is a node.js script that uses the tmx-parser package to read the TMX file, checks if it is an orthogonal map with a width of 16, then picks the first available layer, converts the IDs of its tiles into a byte array, and dumps that into a binary file. For now, it uses no compression, but I intend to implement some form of compression, as well as support for map objects, to represent attack waves.

hang-on Joined: 23 Mar 2013 Posts: 612 Location: Copenhagen, Denmark	Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2021 11:42 am
	Thanks for the pointers - I'm in your Github now! :)

haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	Posted: Thu Nov 04, 2021 10:21 pm
	Version 0.5 is now available. Not much done, just some minor refactorings and map compression support (for now, just a line-based RLE). dragon_blaster-0.5.sms.zip (7.13 KB) The ROM for version 0.5

8BitBoy Joined: 15 Aug 2019 Posts: 300 Location: Lancashire UK	Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2021 1:10 pm
	Do you have a rough idea of when this will be playable with collision detection? haroldoop wrote Version 0.5 is now available. Not much done, just some minor refactorings and map compression support (for now, just a line-based RLE).

haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	Posted: Fri Nov 05, 2021 3:53 pm
	8BitBoy wrote Do you have a rough idea of when this will be playable with collision detection? haroldoop wrote Version 0.5 is now available. Not much done, just some minor refactorings and map compression support (for now, just a line-based RLE). Right now, I intend re-use the libraries for a game that I'm making for a game jam that I am participating now; any enhancements made during that time (that will probably include collision) will probably be backported afterwards

MightyMax Joined: 09 Nov 2021 Posts: 12	Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2021 3:48 pm
MightyMax Joined: 09 Nov 2021 Posts: 12	Reminds me of Dragon Spirit,I really like the projectile patterns.

haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2021 8:14 pm
	MightyMax wrote Reminds me of Dragon Spirit,I really like the projectile patterns. Yes, my thirst thought was to make something like Dragon Breed, but I doubted I could make the segmented body within the deadline; also, I originally wanted to make it scroll sideways, but that would mean I would have to fight more often against the 8 sprites per line limitation and, as a result, it ended up looking like Dragon Spirit. The powerup system came from the jam's limitation of just 3 upgrades; that inspired me to use a weapon combination system, like Gunstar Heroes.

GiovanniFalco Joined: 02 Mar 2021 Posts: 17 Location: Rome	Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2021 4:33 pm
	Hi, did you think at any boss? What do you think about a big dragon lich?

haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2021 8:11 pm
	GiovanniFalco wrote Hi, did you think at any boss? What do you think about a big dragon lich? I intend to create enemies and bosses based on various fantasy creatures; a dragon lich would be a great idea.

MightyMax Joined: 09 Nov 2021 Posts: 12	Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2021 2:49 am
MightyMax Joined: 09 Nov 2021 Posts: 12	haroldoop wrote I intend to create enemies and bosses based on various fantasy creatures; a dragon lich would be a great idea. Very cool

GiovanniFalco Joined: 02 Mar 2021 Posts: 17 Location: Rome	Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2021 9:17 am
	haroldoop wrote GiovanniFalco wrote Hi, did you think at any boss? What do you think about a big dragon lich? I intend to create enemies and bosses based on various fantasy creatures; a dragon lich would be a great idea. I knew you would like it! For some ideas or graphic design help, feel free to ask. It will be super cool!

haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2021 9:05 pm
	GiovanniFalco wrote haroldoop wrote GiovanniFalco wrote Hi, did you think at any boss? What do you think about a big dragon lich? I intend to create enemies and bosses based on various fantasy creatures; a dragon lich would be a great idea. I knew you would like it! For some ideas or graphic design help, feel free to ask. It will be super cool! Thanks! Let's see how the project goes. 👍

haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	Version 0.6 is now available. Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 12:06 am
	Version 0.6 is now available! Now with: - Shot versus enemy collision; - Enemy versus player collision; - Plenty of slowdown! 🤣 I have merged the collision code from my other game jam entry, and it seems to be working. BTW: does anyone know of any SMS emulator that supports profiling? The game is in need of some optimization, but knowing which routines are contributing the most to the slowdown would definitely make the correction faster. dragon_blaster-0.6.sms.zip (8.09 KB) The ROM for version 0.6 dragon-blaster-0.6-source.zip (75.66 KB) Source code for version 0.6

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 15017 Location: London	Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 8:57 am
	Emulicious has a nice profiler. Give it a symbol file and it works even better.

haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2021 8:25 pm
	Maxim wrote Emulicious has a nice profiler. Give it a symbol file and it works even better. Many thanks, it works perfectly. Emulicious profiler screenshot 2021-11-16 172255.png (54.1 KB)

haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	Version 0.7 is now available! Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2021 9:27 pm
	Version 0.7 is now available! This release has no new features, but does have a few performance enhancements: - Vastly improved the speed of the enemy-versus-shot collision checking by using auxiliary data structures to quickly determine if there exist any shots on a given row/column; - Slightly improved the actor movement and drawing code by adding a few extra variables to reduce the amount of indirections. dragon_blaster-0.7.sms.zip (8.33 KB) The ROM for version 0.7 dragon-blaster-0.7-source.zip (76.83 KB) Source code for version 0.7

rpgista Joined: 02 Nov 2021 Posts: 10	Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2021 5:23 am
rpgista Joined: 02 Nov 2021 Posts: 10	The dragon theme reminded me of this boss in Kenseiden, which is a bit of a mix between a dragon and hydra. Also, Ive recently discovered this new sms game called flight of pigarus, also a shoot 'em up, which looks shockingly good. Should be a good reference. Looking very nice so far.

8BitBoy Joined: 15 Aug 2019 Posts: 300 Location: Lancashire UK	Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2021 1:07 pm
	How far off do you think we might be to a finished/playable game? Loving the work so far!!!! haroldoop wrote Version 0.7 is now available! This release has no new features, but does have a few performance enhancements: - Vastly improved the speed of the enemy-versus-shot collision checking by using auxiliary data structures to quickly determine if there exist any shots on a given row/column; - Slightly improved the actor movement and drawing code by adding a few extra variables to reduce the amount of indirections.

haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2021 1:46 pm
	8BitBoy wrote How far off do you think we might be to a finished/playable game? Loving the work so far!!!! haroldoop wrote Version 0.7 is now available! This release has no new features, but does have a few performance enhancements: - Vastly improved the speed of the enemy-versus-shot collision checking by using auxiliary data structures to quickly determine if there exist any shots on a given row/column; - Slightly improved the actor movement and drawing code by adding a few extra variables to reduce the amount of indirections. Thanks for the appreciation! I'm not entirely sure of how long it will take to finish it; supposing I manage to keep the focus long enough, it may be ready in a few months; there will probably be something playable somewhere in between. Long term, I intend to turn it into a reusable engine.

haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	Version 0.8 is now available! Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2022 11:52 pm
	Hello, again; Version 0.8 is now available. It merged some of the improvements made for Winter Shooter: - Now there's a score on screen; - Added a countdown timer; - Implemented a time over sequence. dragon_blaster-0.8.sms.zip (8.81 KB) The ROM for version 0.8 dragon-blaster-0.8-source.zip (79.61 KB) Source code for version 0.8

8BitBoy Joined: 15 Aug 2019 Posts: 300 Location: Lancashire UK	Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2022 12:04 pm
	Look forward to giving this a try Haroldo!! haroldoop wrote Hello, again; Version 0.8 is now available. It merged some of the improvements made for Winter Shooter: - Now there's a score on screen; - Added a countdown timer; - Implemented a time over sequence.

haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2022 9:02 pm
	Hello, again! Version 0.11 has been released; basically: - It positions the enemies and powerups according to predefined locations defined on the map file, instead of using placing them randomly; - Also, it is now possible to have more than one powerup on screen at the same time. This version has been made for Improve My Game Jam 22 dragon_blaster-0.11.sms.zip (12.26 KB) The ROM for version 0.11

segarule Joined: 23 Jan 2010 Posts: 473	Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2022 11:51 pm
segarule Joined: 23 Jan 2010 Posts: 473	haroldoop wrote Hello, again! Version 0.11 has been released; basically: - It positions the enemies and powerups according to predefined locations defined on the map file, instead of using placing them randomly; - Also, it is now possible to have more than one powerup on screen at the same time. This version has been made for Improve My Game Jam 22 Hi, friend. Controls dont working for me. 2 emulators tested: Fusion and Emulicious. Input used: Keyboard.

haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2022 12:03 am
	segarule wrote haroldoop wrote Hello, again! Version 0.11 has been released; basically: - It positions the enemies and powerups according to predefined locations defined on the map file, instead of using placing them randomly; - Also, it is now possible to have more than one powerup on screen at the same time. This version has been made for Improve My Game Jam 22 Hi, friend. Controls dont working for me. 2 emulators tested: Fusion and Emulicious. Input used: Keyboard. Hello; That's really weird; I tested the game primarily on Emulicious, with keyboard input.

segarule Joined: 23 Jan 2010 Posts: 473	Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2022 12:57 am
segarule Joined: 23 Jan 2010 Posts: 473	haroldoop wrote segarule wrote haroldoop wrote Hello, again! Version 0.11 has been released; basically: - It positions the enemies and powerups according to predefined locations defined on the map file, instead of using placing them randomly; - Also, it is now possible to have more than one powerup on screen at the same time. This version has been made for Improve My Game Jam 22 Hi, friend. Controls dont working for me. 2 emulators tested: Fusion and Emulicious. Input used: Keyboard. Hello; That's really weird; I tested the game primarily on Emulicious, with keyboard input. Well, i tested now with usb gamepad with setup active and not worked too. Eu testei com um controle de pc configurado no Fusion e botões definidos no setup e não funcionou também.

haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2022 11:24 am
	segarule wrote haroldoop wrote segarule wrote Hi, friend. Controls dont working for me. 2 emulators tested: Fusion and Emulicious. Input used: Keyboard. Hello; That's really weird; I tested the game primarily on Emulicious, with keyboard input. Well, i tested now with usb gamepad with setup active and not worked too. Eu testei com um controle de pc configurado no Fusion e botões definidos no setup e não funcionou também. I just re-downloaded and retested it now, both using the latest version of Emulicious with Java 8 installed, and using Kega Fusion 3.64. both on Windows 10; no problems here; there must be something very specific causing this behavior, specially considering that the game's input code wasn't modified on this version. Dragon Blaster 0.11 on Emulicious.png (43.33 KB) Screenshot on Emulicious Dragon Blaster 0.11 on Fusion 3.64.png (69.48 KB) Screenshot on Fusion

segarule Joined: 23 Jan 2010 Posts: 473	Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2022 2:02 pm
segarule Joined: 23 Jan 2010 Posts: 473	haroldoop wrote segarule wrote haroldoop wrote segarule wrote Hi, friend. Controls dont working for me. 2 emulators tested: Fusion and Emulicious. Input used: Keyboard. Hello; That's really weird; I tested the game primarily on Emulicious, with keyboard input. Well, i tested now with usb gamepad with setup active and not worked too. Eu testei com um controle de pc configurado no Fusion e botões definidos no setup e não funcionou também. I just re-downloaded and retested it now, both using the latest version of Emulicious with Java 8 installed, and using Kega Fusion 3.64. both on Windows 10; no problems here; there must be something very specific causing this behavior, specially considering that the game's input code wasn't modified on this version. Really weird, considering that i also use Win 10 and Fusion 3.64. My Emulicious not is updated but i dont think that is problem with any version. In time, i tested both emulators with others games, for example RType and everything works fine. EDIT: I tested again and now it works fine. I think that could have been some conflict with emulator. When it was reseted after shutdown my PC, yesterday, must have solved the problem today. Im sorry.

haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2022 5:22 pm
	segarule wrote haroldoop wrote segarule wrote haroldoop wrote Hello; That's really weird; I tested the game primarily on Emulicious, with keyboard input. Well, i tested now with usb gamepad with setup active and not worked too. Eu testei com um controle de pc configurado no Fusion e botões definidos no setup e não funcionou também. I just re-downloaded and retested it now, both using the latest version of Emulicious with Java 8 installed, and using Kega Fusion 3.64. both on Windows 10; no problems here; there must be something very specific causing this behavior, specially considering that the game's input code wasn't modified on this version. Really weird, considering that i also use Win 10 and Fusion 3.64. My Emulicious not is updated but i dont think that is problem with any version. In time, i tested both emulators with others games, for example RType and everything works fine. EDIT: I tested again and now it works fine. I think that could have been some conflict with emulator. When it was reseted after shutdown my PC, yesterday, must have solved the problem today. Im sorry. That's a really weird situation; it does not seem to be an emulator-specific problem, since both of us tested the same two emulators on each of our machines; it also does not seem to be a strictly ROM-specific problem, or else it would have had the same behavior on both computers. Let's try to isolate this better: - Does this problem happen with older versions of Dragon Blaster? - Does it happen with my other games? https://haroldo-ok.itch.io/ - Does it happen with, say, some other game compiled with "devkitSMS"?

segarule Joined: 23 Jan 2010 Posts: 473	Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2022 6:02 pm
segarule Joined: 23 Jan 2010 Posts: 473	haroldoop wrote segarule wrote haroldoop wrote segarule wrote haroldoop wrote Hello; That's really weird; I tested the game primarily on Emulicious, with keyboard input. Well, i tested now with usb gamepad with setup active and not worked too. Eu testei com um controle de pc configurado no Fusion e botões definidos no setup e não funcionou também. I just re-downloaded and retested it now, both using the latest version of Emulicious with Java 8 installed, and using Kega Fusion 3.64. both on Windows 10; no problems here; there must be something very specific causing this behavior, specially considering that the game's input code wasn't modified on this version. Really weird, considering that i also use Win 10 and Fusion 3.64. My Emulicious not is updated but i dont think that is problem with any version. In time, i tested both emulators with others games, for example RType and everything works fine. EDIT: I tested again and now it works fine. I think that could have been some conflict with emulator. When it was reseted after shutdown my PC, yesterday, must have solved the problem today. Im sorry. That's a really weird situation; it does not seem to be an emulator-specific problem, since both of us tested the same two emulators on each of our machines; it also does not seem to be a strictly ROM-specific problem, or else it would have had the same behavior on both computers. Let's try to isolate this better: - Does this problem happen with older versions of Dragon Blaster? - Does it happen with my other games? https://haroldo-ok.itch.io/ - Does it happen with, say, some other game compiled with "devkitSMS"? No. I believe that problem was with my PC. Today worked fine. Quote - Does this problem happen with older versions of Dragon Blaster? Curious. Yesterday the older versions dont worked too. I tested 0.4 and 0.7.

haroldoop Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 919 Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil	Posted: Sat Aug 06, 2022 6:23 pm
	segarule wrote haroldoop wrote segarule wrote Really weird, considering that i also use Win 10 and Fusion 3.64. My Emulicious not is updated but i dont think that is problem with any version. In time, i tested both emulators with others games, for example RType and everything works fine. EDIT: I tested again and now it works fine. I think that could have been some conflict with emulator. When it was reseted after shutdown my PC, yesterday, must have solved the problem today. Im sorry. That's a really weird situation; it does not seem to be an emulator-specific problem, since both of us tested the same two emulators on each of our machines; it also does not seem to be a strictly ROM-specific problem, or else it would have had the same behavior on both computers. Let's try to isolate this better: - Does this problem happen with older versions of Dragon Blaster? - Does it happen with my other games? https://haroldo-ok.itch.io/ - Does it happen with, say, some other game compiled with "devkitSMS"? No. I believe that problem was with my PC. Today worked fine. Quote - Does this problem happen with older versions of Dragon Blaster? Curious. Yesterday the older versions dont worked too. I tested 0.4 and 0.7. Okay... thanks for the testing. ;)

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View topic - [WIP] Dragon Blaster - A dragon themed shoot-em-up