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I posted this over at the FB forums, so I figured I'd post it here as well. I've been asked to write a PC port of the classic game Neutopia, and I've decided to use FB to do it. At the moment, I'm writing the complex graphics engine for the game (it's like a mini-emulator) which will take a lot of work so I can't show off a lot of screenshots just yet but here's a simple one from the title test code:
![[Image: neutopia-testshot.png]](http://www.nodtveidt.net/neutopia-testshot.png)
The game will be released under the GPL, which means free source code too.
Since this is essentially a contracted work, it's required to be finished, and I now have a little less than 6 months to finish it in. The graphics and sound are all the same as the original game (this IS a port after all, not a remake). The game uses bass.dll for sound (the free license is compatible with the GPL), and it will use Aflib2 for some things as well, since it's a 256-colour game (the original never needed the full 512 colour spectrum). I have no intention of porting this to alternate OSes, as that's not part of the deal, but I'm sure someone could make a Linux port easily with the sourcecode. Also, the game supports gamepads natively, including POV-style (hat switch).
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Looks good! Keep us up to date on it ;)
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It's been awhile since I've coded this kind of thing so it took some time for the knowledge to come back but once it did, things started moving quite smoothly. I've got the title sequence about half-done now, not much I realize but it's one of the only parts I can straight-code without the need for the special graphics engine (since that's designed exclusively for the mapper and text handler). I got the 8x16 font put into a datafile, and the palette arrangement is about 25% done (palette planning is always fun). Anyways, here's an actual shot of the title sequence...note that it is pixel-perfect to the original (took some tweaking):
![[Image: neutopia-intro.png]](http://www.nodtveidt.net/neutopia-intro.png)
Not much to look at just yet but hopefully I'll have some in-game shots available by the end of this coming week. Palette planning is really the time killer here, as everything has to be laid out very uniformly...
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Goddamnit you're making me wanna crack open FreeBASIC again...must...resist...Free..Basic...Must...Resist...
Anyway...must...resist...Free...Basic...Looks good. Never heard of Neutopia, might have to do a quick wiki search...must...resist...Free...Basic....
Anyway, this looks...must...resist...Free...Basic...good, be sure to keep us up to date, and don't...must...resist...Free...Basic...make me break out the whip and chain you to the...must...resist...Free...Basic...PC to make you program faster! :reallymean:
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutopia
Not a very good wikipedia entry though, quite bare. Not a whole lot of information to be found on the game, even on NEC fansites.
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So it's an official, buyable Zelda-clone then? And I thought enough unofficial free ones existed...
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Quote:...must...resist...Free...Basic...
:o No reason to resist.
Quote:So it's an official, buyable Zelda-clone then? And I thought enough unofficial free ones existed...
There cannot be enough zelda clones out there :bounce:
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When you became so much into C++ you tried to write a simple Pong game in FreeBASIC and hid a mental blank, they is a reason to be both worried and not wanna go back and spend a day relearning FreeBASIC (I say a day because all it would be is a refresher course).
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A day you can surely spare :wink:
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Why haven't I seen this post before? This is looking great thus far. Any more news?
Screwing with your reality since 1998.
