[dano]

After an extended stay in development Hell I'm going to see if I can get Batty Junior finished.  I've spent the last month-and-a-bit dusting down the code, adding new features, new levels, fixing bugs, tweaking the game play and trying to work out how to get the multi-player bits working (in short - not for this release but I'm working on it).

I've got some more stuff that I want to add before making an "official" release, but for what its worth here is a snapshot of the current code for Windows and Linux (compiled on Ubuntu 9.04 but should work on other Intel x86 based distros).

http://dans-remakes.sytes.net/batty_059.zip

So what exactly has changed since 2008?  Well, to quote the readme file:

Changes from Demo 2

* New Feature: High Score saving
* New Feature: Configuration saving
* New Feature: Game pause
* New Feature: New levels (Now 29 levels instead of 15)
* New Feature: Multiple routes though game
* New Feature: Number of baddies increases as the game progresses
* New Feature: Achievements. . . .
* New Feature: Retro "power up"
* New Feature: Two player alternating mode

* Bugfix: Destroying UFO with ball now only removes "Smash" power up
* Bugfix: Prevent shots from removing indestructible bricks
* Bugfix: Brick collision code speed-ups
* Bugfix: Removed delay again
* Bugfix: Gravwarp now visible during death sequence

* and various other minor tweaks and code cleanups. . .

The Windows binary accepts the following parameters:

/gl        -      use OpenGL graphics
/dx        -      use DirectX graphics

[saulc12]

Like the look of this but somehow I think it would look even nicer if the graphics were closer to the spectrum original.

[caffeinekid]

The graphics are pretty close to the originals already, just smoother rather than blocky?

Good to see you back on the case, Dano.

[hitm4n]

Does everyone get a huge sound delay ? Game plays absolutely fine, but sound is delayed for all effects.

[dano]

Ah, that sounds familiar (no pun intended).  I'll have a hunt through the retroroids code as I'm sure there was a similar issue there with the sound driver that BlitzMax uses by default.  IIRC it mainly affects Windows Vista machines. . .

[caffeinekid]

I have a strange feeling of deja vu!

Sound problems do tend to crop up now and again.

[SuperJerk]

  Cool game.  Looking forward to its official release!  I too am getting the sound delay (using Vista).  I'd guess either the mixing buffer is too big or (more likely) Windows WaveOut is being used, which has some pretty bad latency (learned that the hard way).

[dano]

Right, I've patched the Windows version to use DirectSound by default (along with DirectX for the graphics) - hopefully this'll work better on Vista (and Windows 7).  The download link (above) should pull down the new version.

[hitm4n]

nothing diff for me. 0.59 sounds exactly same.

[dano]

Bugger.

Right, I've switched to OpenAL (and included the OpenAL32.DLL alongside the Windows binary).  Hopefully THIS will fix it. . . (Uploaded to the same old place. . .)

[RobF]

I have a strange feeling of deja vu!

Sound problems do tend to crop up now and again.

*falls off chair*

[hitm4n]

works perfect now.

[saulc12]

The graphics are pretty close to the originals already, just smoother rather than blocky?

Good to see you back on the case, Dano.

Yeah I know they are close but I think that in some way they look nicer blocky and with just that little less colour - just a personal taste I guess, but I like the style of the original, thought it was pretty effective for a spectrum.

[dano]

Yeah I know they are close but I think that in some way they look nicer blocky and with just that little less colour - just a personal taste I guess, but I like the style of the original, thought it was pretty effective for a spectrum.

Well, there IS the retro mode power-up (and unlockable game mode) which makes it a little bit more blocky.  Just a touch though, nothing too extreme. . .

[saulc12]

Well, there IS the retro mode power-up (and unlockable game mode) which makes it a little bit more blocky.  Just a touch though, nothing too extreme. . .

Sweet, maybe a bit more blocky than I meant hihi...

[RobF]

Well, there IS the retro mode power-up (and unlockable game mode) which makes it a little bit more blocky.  Just a touch though, nothing too extreme. . .

See, I'm weird. I love that.

[Happymonster]

Me too.. That looks cool.

[dano]

See, I'm weird. I love that.

Me too.. That looks cool.

Cheers guys!

I've done a little more work on the game over the weekend (inbetween complaining about the new Red Dwarf) so I'll probably be updating the 0.59 beta to include the two-player alternating mode later this evening, I just need to finish a couple of little bits first.

Update:

I've got through the bulk of it earlier - so I've updated the good old first link to the latest code.

[Maupin]

Nice.  I've never played Batty but I liked this.  Is that pants-ripping fart sound when the player loses a life straight from the original? 

8-Bit powerup rocks.  I also like the scrolling background one.  I thought the gun powerup was a sombrero for the longest time until the absence of an offensive powerup clued me in.

I found the way the paddle moved to be a bit tricky.  Fine movements are impossible... just tapping it sent it much farther than I intended.

Made it all the way to level 6 and didn't see any invisible bricks!!! WTF man I thought by law all Breakout games have to include a level with a ceiling of invisible bricks right over the paddle.  Must not have reached that level yet I guess.

[dano]

Nice.  I've never played Batty but I liked this.  Is that pants-ripping fart sound when the player loses a life straight from the original? 

8-Bit powerup rocks.  I also like the scrolling background one.  I thought the gun powerup was a sombrero for the longest time until the absence of an offensive powerup clued me in.

I found the way the paddle moved to be a bit tricky.  Fine movements are impossible... just tapping it sent it much farther than I intended.

Yeah, the FartyFX (tm) are all sampled from the original 48K Spectrum game, and the music from the C64 version (so a bit of a mix really).

The speed of the bat movement is pretty close to the original (ie a bit too fast) unless you play in "Junior" mode which slows things down a tad.  I'm currently going back through the code to try and get it back in some sort of order before implementing the two player simultaneous mode, but I'll be looking at tweaking the gameplay once that's done.

I'm still in the process of sorting out the graphics and the gun one is certainly on my hit list.

Made it all the way to level 6 and didn't see any invisible bricks!!! WTF man I thought by law all Breakout games have to include a level with a ceiling of invisible bricks right over the paddle.  Must not have reached that level yet I guess.

Damn! I just KNEW I'd forgotten something ;-)