r0x by Retro Gamer CD [web] & No Extra [web]
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RGCD PRESENTS A NOEXTRA GAME
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+ RRRRRRRR 0000000000 XXX XXX +
. RRRRRRRRR 000000000000 XX XX . *
RR 00 00 . XXXXXXX
RR + 00 00 . XXXXXXX .
. . RR . 000000000000 XX XX .
o RR 0000000000 XXX XXX o
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RELEASED AT OUTLINE 2009 FOR THE ATARI SCENE
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0. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. THE GAME (ARCADE MODE)
3. THE GAME (VS BATTLE MODE)
4. ADDITIONAL FEATURES
5. CREDITS
6. CONTACT US
7. VERSION HISTORY
8. FINAL WORDS
+-------------------------[ 0. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ]------------------------+
To play r0x you will need a 2MB Atari STE, a joystick/joypad (two for two-
player), a colour VDU and a loud soundsystem plugged into your STE L/R audio
ports.
A friend to play against is optional, yet strongly recommended.
+----------------------------[ 1. INTRODUCTION ]----------------------------+
Commander Perez was not a happy man. He sat alone in the cold empty bridge
of the TTA Military Frigate 'Irata', gravely contemplating his current
situation. Up until now the mission had run smoothly - his platoon had all
but wiped out the renegade death squads of Proxima Centauri in an intense
ground battle and they'd reclaimed a previously captured warship in the
process. It had looked as though it would be medals and cigars all across
the board for his surviving troops on their return to Sol - but not any
more...
From assessing the ship's log it appeared that one of the mechanics had left
a 3D skin-flick playing in the training holo-deck whilst Perez and his crew
were stored in suspended animation on the long trip home. Unfortunately,
playing the movie repeatedly over several millennia had completely drained
the ships primary battery banks dry. As a result of this, the ship's computer
followed emergency protocol, cut life support down to a minimum and
jettisoned all expendable personnel - basically everyone except Perez
himself. Somewhere out in the cold vacuum drifted his entire crew, floating
in their survival suits, catatonic and completely oblivious to the danger
they were in.
To make matters even worse, the ship's navigation system had apparently
failed during the crew-dump procedure. Perez had been awoken deep in
uncharted space.
"Computer!" Perez barked, "Where are we? Give me a nav report!"
There was no reply. Perez leaned out from his chair and swivelled the
navigator's VDU round to face him. The screen was blank, empty except for a
row of 8 bombs and what appeared to be a cursor in the shape of a bumble bee.
Unfortunately, as part of a military cost-cutting exercise the majority of
the Irata's previously cutting-edge computer hardware had been replaced by
vintage (yet serviceable) 68000-based systems. Perez had in fact signed the
authorisation papers permitting the changeover in return for an extra week's
paid R&R.
"What the frakk is this?!" Perez roared. He furiously stabbed at the buttons
on his terminal and initialised a mid-range radar scan on the bridge's main
display. The top of the screen was a chaotic blur of echoes and the ship was
flying on a direct collision course.
"What the frakk IS THIS?!" Perez roared (again). He pulled a lever and the
ship launched a probe out into the cosmos ahead. It survived about 50 seconds
before impact, but not before it had relayed a short burst of video
information.
"Computer! Give me full manual control and initiate evasive protocol
Delta-Nine-Zero. Lock down all external apparatus and raise shields NOW!"
Commander Perez began to grind his teeth nervously, his brow beaded with cold
sweat. The mother of all meteor storms was heading straight for the Irata.
+-----------------------[ 2. THE GAME (ARCADE MODE) ]-----------------------+
r0x is a game of skill.
In the single-player Arcade mode, your goal is to earn as many points as you
can and survive as long as possible. You control the Irata's movement via
the joystick and have a limited number of smart bombs that are activated by
pressing the primary fire button.
When you start the game, r0x, treasure, bonuses, 'maluses' and cosmonauts
will begin to fall from the top of the screen. Bonuses (bombs, E-X-T-R-A
letters and lives), treasure and cosmonauts should be collected, whereas
r0x and maluses (reverse controls and skulls) should be avoided.
In the top right corner of the screen you'll see a distance counter. This
shows how much longer the current wave of r0x will last. The HUD also
displays your current score, how many smart bombs and ships you have left
and any E-X-T-R-A characters you've collected (get the full set and you're
awarded with an extra life). There's also a space where an exclamation mark
will appear if you accidentally pick up a 'reverse' malus, but hopefully you
won't make the mistake of collecting one of those too often.
Smart bombs clear the screen and are a lot of fun to use, but we recommend
save them for emergencies only. As you progress deeper into the meteor storm
you'll often encounter situations where you cannot avoid a collision and
it's these times that the bombs will prove most useful.
Want to get an insanely high score? Lightly grazing the sides of r0x earns
you serious danger points.
+----------------------[ 3. THE GAME (VS BATTLE MODE) ]---------------------+
r0x is a game of death.
In the two-player battle mode there are no bonuses or maluses, just r0x and
cosmonauts. Both players start with three lives (and no bombs) and it's a
competition to collect the most men. When both players have died, the one
who has rescued the most wins the round.
In the case of a draw situation, the player to survive the longest wins.
+-------------------------[ 4. ADDITIONAL FEATURES ]------------------------+
Right, that's the basic instructions out of the way. So what else does the
game feature?
* A menu screen with a message displayer. Make yourself a coffee, sit back
and see if your name is in the extensive 'greets' list. ;)
* An in-game playing guide (not that it's really needed).
* A hi score table. (Woo-hoo!)
* A quit to desktop option.
* A SECRET menu screen (read the messages in the displayer for a clue on
how to access it - or just hack our game till you find it! :P
That's about all. A lot more was originally planned (shop/trading, end of
level sequences, etc.), but as r0x is basically an unashamedly simple game
we decided that adding features like these wouldn't really benefit the
game-play enough to warrant the effort required to implement them.
+------------------------------[ 5. CREDITS ]-------------------------------+
So, who were the r0xx0r's behind this game?
Design....................................................Heavy Stylus (RGCD)
.............................................................TomChi (NoExtra)
GFA Code.....................................................TomChi (NoExtra)
Graphics.....................................................C-Rem (MJJ-Prod)
..........................................................Heavy Stylus (RGCD)
.............................................................Templeton (CSVD)
Music........................................................Dma-sc (SCT-ONE)
.............................................................TomChi (NoExtra)
Sampled Speech / SFX......................................Heavy Stylus (RGCD)
.............................................................TomChi (NoExtra)
Testing / Additional Help.........................................GGN (D-Bug)
.................................................................Xerus (STOT)
Based on the meteor storm bonus stage in Edgar Vigdal's Deluxe Galaga (Amiga)
+-----------------------------[ 6. CONTACT US ]-----------------------------+
If you'd like to get in touch to provide feedback, bug reports or anything
else, just drop us a mail!
heavystylus@yahoo.co.uk (Heavy Stylus)
tomchi@free.fr (TomChi)
+---------------------------[ 7. VERSION HISTORY ]--------------------------+
Version 1.0 - Initial Outline 09 release.
+-----------------------------[ 8. FINAL WORDS ]----------------------------+
Work on r0x originally started back in the beginning of 2008 as a joint
project between Heavy Stylus (RGCD) and El-Tel (EJT/RGCD). The initial plan
was to use ripped sprites from Deluxe Galaga on the Amiga and we were
intending to code the game using STOS. However, when the sprite sheets and
basic design document were complete, El-Tel had to abandon the project due
to work commitments - leaving Stylus with a plan but no-one to help him
execute it.
Some time later, after posting about the project on the D-Bug forum
(www.dbug-automation.co.uk) TomChi emailed Heavy Stylus asking permission to
create the game. Several changes immediately came into effect; the ship
would have full movement around the screen, a bonus system was designed and
a two-player battle mode was discussed. TomChi had the basic engine up and
running within a few weeks. C-Rem kindly pixelled a seriously 'rocking'
intro screen.
In March 2009, Stylus demonstrated the WIP version of the game as part of
the homebrew showcase at ByteBack 2009 (a retro gaming event in the North
of England). Around the same time, Stylus' friend Ptoing expressed an
interest in the project and submitted a couple of sprites to demonstrate
his view of how the game should look. Sadly, nothing further came of this. :(
A month later TomChi contacted Stylus with a real surprise - the sprite
sheet had been completely redrawn by Templeton and the game instantly looked
about 1000x cooler! :) However, C-Rem's excellent artwork no longer suited
the visual style of the game so it was dropped - or was it? ;)
Early May, with the deadline only days away and no-one available to pixel any
new screens for the game, Stylus sat down at his PC and worked for two nights
straight on creating all the additional (non-sprite) graphics and logos you
now see in the game. After a few more difficult evenings the sampled speech
and retro sound effects were added, and TomChi managed to get the game
running a complete cycle for the first time.
Finally, after a year of on-and-off development, the Battle Mode and last few
bits of code were completed at the Outline party.
<< Heavy Stylus Says >>
This project, whilst difficult at times, has been an incredibly rewarding
experience and both TomChi and I are really pleased with the end result of
our labours. Ever since I was a kid I always wanted to be part of an Atari
game-dev team - and although I didn't do half as much work as Tom, I still
feel satisfied that I contributed something to this prod. Considering my
limited art ability, I'm really pleased with the visual style of r0x - it's
amazing what you can achieve with some decent true-type fonts, Corel Xara
and Paintshop Pro ;)
I'd like to say a big thank you to my loving wife Cassie for patiently
putting up with the hours I've spent on this game.
<< TomChi Dit >>
One hour before deadline, it's almost sure that r0x will enter the compo.
The last 24 hours were almost uncertain, but then, even if not polished and
not even completely finished, it runs from start to end, in both modes and
that was the most crucial point as the 2 player mode was coded here in OL.
As I missed Crazy-Q before leaving home, Dma-Sc kindly proposed to make some
fast compos to have original tunes :) Thx a lot mate !!!
I'm now waiting for him, to pack the game and then send it to the orgas :)
Note to myself: do never start a game around a simple routine and then add and
add and add stuffs, just have a complete project set in stone and then start
coding ... Tomchi soon off to bed ;)
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