Windows Clone: Boulder Rocks! 3D

Everything about the modern clones and remakes.

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CWS
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Windows Clone: Boulder Rocks! 3D

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Volutar
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Post by Volutar »

Very nice implementation.
Unfortunately slightly different caves and not frame-by-frame gameplay... hence easier and definatly unorthodox.
negundo
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Post by negundo »

Hi Everybody!

Yes this is not BDCFF caves but please looking to this site sometimes ;)

New version with BDCFF format, beter editor and new elements comming soon ;)

Regards.
Rado W. Negundo.
Sarr.
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Post by Sarr. »

i wasn't sure if i should create a new thread so i just continue that one. hopefully it will be noticed ;]

finally there is a new version of BR3D available - please visit http://gad.art.pl/opis.php?i=365 - and try it yourself.

there are a few significant changes since the last version:

- game logic is implemented so that it matches the original one - creatures' movements, slime predictability, etc. that includes non-rapid but during-the-map-scan player update [selectable from the game options] - so all of you guys who like a classic gameplay can be happy now [including myself];

- BDCFF format is now supported, however it is still limited - only BD1/BD2 enigne based games can be fully enjoyed at the moment. that means the origial BD1/BD2/BD3 games and quite a lot of custom sets created in CK are playable. if you see 'import dirty' info after selecting your BDCFF file - means there are some issues that might make the game impossible to play [eg. unsupported cave elements, advanced settings for other BD-engines like 1stB/CrLi/CrDr]. in such case have a look at the error log to know more. there are plans to support more in the future;

- random layer fill algorithm is now placing cave elements like in the original BD-engine. however, there is a twist - unlike BD-engine, BR3D is not limiting you to use max 4 random elements subset - you can use more that that. that is one of the BR3D extensions [keep in mind that the caves which are using BR3D extensions won't play the same in other clones that support BDCFF format, eg. GDash];

- the editor has been adapted to support BDCFF format and reflect changes in the game logic - essentially there are a lot more parameters to set and there is a new way to define random elements layer [for the reasons described above]. keep in mind that BR3D editor is not operating on cave objects [eg. Ractangle, FillRect, Raster]. you can think of it more like of an enchanced CK editor that allows creating games authored for 5 difficulty levels with separate parameters set per level [maps are converted to object-based format if some random elements are beging used];

would be nice to hear some constructive criticism from all of you guys!

BR,
Sarr.

PS. thanks to cirix for online support.
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CWS
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Post by CWS »

The new version is really really nice! :) Especially the selectable graphics options and effects are great! It's a little bid sad that there is no Unix version of it so I play it in my virtual machine on Windows 7... ;)

It has really great potential! The GUI of the editor is not that clear and easy going as GDash but I think it will grow with every new version - I'm sure of that! Moreover I miss the many additional elements GDash provides (and originally are comming from the various Boulder Dash versions on C64) like Bombs, Clocks, Acid, Keys, etc. These are really necessary to be able to play all BDCFF caves available for GDash - I think to be fully compatible with the GDash engine should be the highest priority because if it is compatible with GDash (and its games) it is also compatible with all C64 Boulder Dash games...

And another thing: The game selection method is very inconvenient. Have you ever thought what if there are hundreds of games in the directory? With the method you use at the moment it would take a lot of time to find the right game. There should be a list on the screen or a file requester should open as soon as the user would like to select another game. At the moment your game even crashes when a BDCFF game is selected with unknown elements in it...

Keep on going! :)
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Post by Sarr. »

selecting cave sets is made to fit into the overall title screen 'feeling' - like in the original game - selecting the options just by tilting the joystick... unfortunately it won't work nicely for 100+ sets - true ;]

for the best feeling BR3D should be played full-screen [except for the editor of course] - and the problem is that it is not that easy to create an intuitive cave set selection system that would work in full screen - without pop-up windows and 'open file'-style dialogs. any suggestions for that?

i've forgot to mention one of the nicest [at lest for me] features of BR3D - the statistics ['s' key on the title screen] - that was something missing in GDash - now you can immediately see which caves you've played, and which ones you should try again, also, high score, best time, most collected diamonds.

interesting thing with those crashes... any not supported features detected in the bdcff file should just make the importing 'dirty', effectively preventing the user from fully enjoying the game - which will happen if you try to load some non-BD1/2 compatible sets since there are a lot of features and GDash/BDCFF extensions not implemented yet - there are only few sets bundled with the game that were tested and are playable. more are planned to be announced after testing and as the features are implemented. but there should be no crashes... can i ask which set did you try to load?


BR,
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CWS
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Post by CWS »

Because of the cave sets selecting: leave it the way it is but provide an additional method when pressing e.g. "c" (for cave sets). When pressing "c" a list of all caves and cave sets that are in the directory "levels" should be shown on the screen and should be able to be selected there the same way you did it with the options (maybe with the page up/down keys to scroll faster through the list).

The crashes occure when I place the .bd files of "Dustins RockFort" in the "levels" directory. It seems that your game even crashes because of the file names (like "Rock Fort 1 - The Long Way.bd") - it does not show them in the list - as soon as I reach the file in the list by pressing home several times your game crashes.

By the way: It would be nice to be able to define all keys of the game in the setup program (also the keys for selecting games, options, etc.). As I would like to play this game on my real arcade cab on a MAME PC I do not have a keyboard there - only joysticks and 3 buttons per player (MAME layout). If I could define the keys that are supported I could fully use this game on my real arcade cab! :)
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Post by GAD Zombie »

Hello
It's my first post in this forum.
I'm the author of BR3D. Thank you for your comments. It's very important to me. New version of BR3D is the first release with BDCFF support, so it may contain some bugs. We (me and Sarr) are collecting all bug reports and will be working on it. I hope that everything will be corrected soon. I'll try to add custom keys for game title screen and options in next version.
If you have more comments, please write it here.
GAD Zombie
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Post by Sarr. »

i've tried caves\Dustin\RockFort_1-_The_Long_Way.bd from GDash - as expected, my CaveSetIO.error.log is full of unsupported features [eg. attribute Story, cave object RandomFillC64, etc.]. however, it loads and is set to import dirty.

when it crashes on you, does it leave any info in the error log file?

BR,
Sarr.
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CWS
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Post by CWS »

Sarr. wrote:i've tried caves\Dustin\RockFort_1-_The_Long_Way.bd from GDash - as expected, my CaveSetIO.error.log is full of unsupported features [eg. attribute Story, cave object RandomFillC64, etc.]. however, it loads and is set to import dirty.

when it crashes on you, does it leave any info in the error log file?

BR,
Sarr.
It's not RockFort1, no, it's "Rock Fort 3 - Rockford's Dream.bd" that's crashing the game! There is simply no info in the error log file.

By the way - it does not look that good in the editor that the words are cut off as they do not fit in the provided space like "Bonuslife as rewa...", "Amoeba growth sp..." so I have to make the window larger to see what's ment. On the other hand the column on the right side is far too wide. So my idea - make the left column wider and the right narrower then the words will fit and it will look better. Have a look at GDash - it's solved there perfectly!

And another thing: There is a bug in the first cave of Rock Fort 1 - after collecting the diamont I have to walk through the border on the left side to reach the exit on the right side. This is not possible in your game! The random seed in all caves is not imported correctly.

Scrolling is also too slow in some cases.
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Post by Sarr. »

concerning problems with RockFort_1-_The_Long_Way.bd - as i've mentioned, the cave set is marked as import dirty - which means that there are some not supported features used and the game might not play correctly - all these are listed in the error log. for that particular set there are not all the features supported yet [cave object RandomFillC64 and yes getting 'around' the cave is not implemented] - basically at this moment BR3D supports only a basic subset of boulder dash cave elements, objects, etc. from BD1/BD2 engines - to play advanced caves made in gdash you'll have to wait... until all of them are supported...

we don't even know which of the gdash-extended features to implement first ;]

i have gdash 20090503 - i cant find a cave set such as "Rock Fort 3 - Rockford's Dream.bd"... where can i get that infamous cave set? since i'm responsible for bdcff support in BR3D i'd like to have a look at it...

Sarr.
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Post by CWS »

Just look here at the forum in the news section! You can download it there!
subotai
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Post by subotai »

Before complaining again, I just want to say: wow 8)
Really nice work. It seems that you also adore Rockford by Mastertronic. Why don't you implement the snakes, the water and fire taps and the other elements of this game? Would be really nice! And your game would be the only remake that supports these elements. Be aware, the water and fire move only every fourth frame, not every second! Back to your game...

The 3d-Graphics remind me of the Amiga games. The Amoeba movements make me feel dizzy, and I like that. :D I also like, how you use sound effects. I'm used to wear earphones when playing games, and it is amazing to me how you can "hear" the location of the growing amoeba, especially when moving from one to the other side of the cave. Thanks to Fmod :-)

So what I have to complain a little bit... :twisted:

Code: Select all

D = Dirt; O = Outbox; B = Boulder; 
G = Gem/Diamond; W = Brickwall; I = Inbox;

DOD
DDD
BDG
WDW
DID
When moving from the inbox to the outbox, the diamond should fall first, in your game, it is the boulder that falls first.

Gdash is a very good reference, and I adore it so don't misunderstand me (especially Sdash in "Fullscreen mode" with joystick support). But the best reference is always the Original, not another Remake ;-) So check the C64-Games by using an emulator.

subotai
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Post by LogicDeLuxe »

subotai wrote:So check the C64-Games by using an emulator.
Of course, also there are some differences between the different engines. GDash addresses this by having several switches to alter the behavior of certain aspects.
I can't say much for Rockford, though. The C64 and Atari 8 bit versions are probably not worth bothering. The Amiga version is the reference, which should be pretty much the same as the arcade.
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Post by Sarr. »

everything is all right. let me elaborate on that a bit...

see, previous versions of BR3D were not supporting BDCFF and the logic was implemented in its own way - as a result, the game was not 100% compatible with the original BD. there are some tricks and hacks involved in the original engines that are not easy to spot at first sight. however, the new version of BR3D supports BDCFF format and is capable of emulating the original engine more closely.

you have to know that there are 2 control modes in BR3D: rapid and classic. rapid is the same as it was in the previous versions, where player moves as soon as any direction is picked, which suits new 3d look&feel where animations are smooth [there is no lag between pressing a key and rockfor moving]. classic mode emulates BD engines movement, where the player moves only during map scan along with the other cave elements. classic mode also involves original tricks and hacks of the BD engine, like elements preferring to fall left, like in the example that you've mentioned.

so, in shorts, to achieve game behaviour that is matching the original BD game, make sure you have classic control mode selected. i'm pretty sure you have rapid one selected. just go to the options, 'O' key from the title screen.

PS. classic mode is behaving like the original BD control mode - logic wise. however it is a bit tweaked, input wise [input sucks in the original BD]. so, in BR3D, you don't have to keep the key pressed exactly during the map scan to move one field - you can just tap a key and release it, and rickford will move 1 field during the next map scan. in BD that annoyance was making it hard to perform certain routines [unfortunately same for GDash, since it emulates BD engine as it is]. in BR3D it's gone, so the frustration can be kept on more reasonable level ;]
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