MSXdev'14 #5 - Pretty Kingdom | MSX Resource Center

Nerlaska enter MSXdev'14 with Pretty Kingdom, a puzzle game reminiscent of Eggerland, Skooter and Pixess. The objective? Find all treasure on each floor to unlock the door to the next level.

Relevant link: MSXdev'14 #5 - Pretty Kingdom

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Comments (18)

By sd_snatcher

Prophet (3678)

15-06-2014, 17:41

So many nice entries this year! Congratulations for the contestants!

BTW, a small suggestion: since MSX1 games don't set the monitor refresh rate, I think it would be nice to publish in the specs if the game was designed for 60Hz or 50Hz. For some games this make quite a difference in the experience.

By BokanoiD

Rookie (27)

15-06-2014, 22:33

Next to Uridium my favorite of this year. Very nice Skooter-like puzzler with gradually increasing difficulty. Graphics and sound fx are of high standard and very likable. Downside: Controls feel a bit fiddly at times; you need to be exactly lined up to move yourself/a block somewhere or get a block shot.

By anonymous

incognito ergo sum (116)

16-06-2014, 07:51

Why was I immediately thinking "Stone of Wisdom"? Well, it's only in the looks at first sight. This is an interesting game, that deserves to be regarded as its own entity. You'll surely won't forget the first time you go into 'ghost' mode.
I must say that the controls sometimes are a bit quirky and hard to, well, control. Especially when facing blocks. Not to mention that an 8-directional means of moving would elevate the gameplay a lot.

The graphics, I think are tasteful and do exactly what they need to do. Colour contrast seems to be well-balanced and looks like there's put quite some thought and planning in it.

I thought at first "Wow, cool music jingles, I do recognize this style!", but then I remembered, oh yeah, [WYZ] did the sound here, so ofcourse they are good.
I would really like a "more K" version with some in-game music (hint, hint)...
Nice sound effects as well.

By DrWh0

Paladin (842)

16-06-2014, 13:01

Wonderful entry but I really, really miss music in-game, and better enemies (they are " a bit" dumb), if the game had those improvements i am sure that this game could have been the winner of this year, but I think it will be second or third.

By Randam

Paragon (1431)

17-06-2014, 07:43

Great game! From the first moment I booted it, it sucks you in making you to play more. I do agree with JohnHassink and DrWho that in-game music would be really nice in a "more K" version. But a very solid entry as is.

By ro

Scribe (5064)

18-06-2014, 19:38

Nice MOG sfx

By nerlaska

Master (166)

19-06-2014, 17:27

Taking in account some user feedbacks .. I have just uploaded a new ZIP with this fixes:

- Player can move with diagonals
- Player collision response improved
- Shots collision have been improved. Now you can break 2 box at time.
- Player speed has been increased a bit (1 pixel more fast!!)
- Added a start blinking time for the player when enters to a stage.

The PK team only wants your enjoyment and satisfaction Smiley

Long life for MSX!!

By sd_snatcher

Prophet (3678)

19-06-2014, 20:23

It got even better! This game should come with an addictive warning sticker.

I see by your code that you have put some great effort in coding according to the guidelines. Your game runs flawlessly even on the worst known "troublemakers" like the Sony HB-F500P and on the NEOS MA-20.

If you would like to, it would require very little effort to make it pass the AcidTests. These are the results:

- Acid1Test-slots : Keeps reseting
- Acid2Test-hardware : Runs, but without sound and the keyboard is unresponsive (joysticks work fine though)

The hardest test is the Acid2Test and it already runs with minor problems.

[nitpick mode]
Shouldn't the player celebrate when he is inside the door, and not besides it?
[/nitpick mode]

By Randam

Paragon (1431)

19-06-2014, 21:17

Nice improvements! Thanks for the upgrade of your already good game. The player speed upgrade makes the game a little easier too.

By nerlaska

Master (166)

20-06-2014, 07:36

Thank you for your comments!

About AcidTests ...
Could you explain me what is mean "Acid1Test-slots: Keeps reseting"?
And why sound and keyboard is unresponsive? is in a specific MSX model? because in MSXTurboR and MSX Philips the game play sounds, music and the keyboard is ok.

Apologize for my ignorance about AcidTests. I am a bit mixed up

Thank you.

By DrWh0

Paladin (842)

20-06-2014, 12:20

Good update guys, thanks

By sd_snatcher

Prophet (3678)

20-06-2014, 14:14

Hi nerlaska!

No need to apologize.

As a developer, you seem to care about the compatibility of your games. And very probably you test them in as many machines as you can (real or emulated), to be sure that it will run fine. But, as you know, the MSX standard is wildly flexible and there are quite a lot of different designs out there. You probably would waste a lot of time if you had to test it on every possible MSX configuration, wouldn't you?

To save your (certainly scarce) development time, wouldn't you be happy to have some machine configured as the worst case scenario? Such machine would combine the eccentricities of every known "troublemaker" MSX machine into itself. Making your program work in such harsh environment will make it sure that it will run fine in many other more domesticated designs out there, and minimize the amount of machines that you'll need to test.

It's very similar to the Internet Browser compatibility issue. For the Internet browsers, the WWWC AcidTests were created, and after that the browsers compatibility got much higher and everyone benefited from it. Borrowing from the same idea, I created the MSX AcidTests as a tool to help MSX developers. They're virtual machines to be emulated under openMSX.

And just like the WWWC AcidTests, it was better to split the tests into specific categories, to allow the developer to focus in one aspect at a time.

The following emulated machines were created until now:

- Acid1Test-slots, aka "usual hardware in unusual slot configuration": It stress your memory & slot handling routines.
- Acid2Test-hardware, aka "unusual hardware in usual slot configuration": It stress if your routines make use of the BIOS instead of direct I/O. Also known as "compliance to the MSX coding guidelines test". This is is by far the most challenging test.

So, if you feel like the AcidTests can be a good tool to help your testing/debugging, be welcome to use it.

By Manuel

Ascended (19691)

20-06-2014, 16:48

I recently added the Daewoo CPC-51 Zemmix V machine, which as RAM in slot 0-2 (thanks NYYRIKKI). That's probably also unusual

sd_snatcher: perhaps I should simply add these acid-test machines to the openMSX archive?

By sd_snatcher

Prophet (3678)

20-06-2014, 20:19

That would be awesome!!

If you're really going to add the AcidTest machines to openMSX, then I'll do some improvements I was holding until now, and send you the new ones via SF interface. What do you think?

By anonymous

incognito ergo sum (116)

21-06-2014, 04:54

Thanks nerlaska, these improvements really lift the gameplay to awesomeness. I already beat the game, and just want more now.

By Manuel

Ascended (19691)

22-06-2014, 21:59

sd_snatcher: sure, please update them to the latest insights and clean them up (no commented out parts, using the new filenames, etc.).

By Maggoo

Paragon (1218)