Prince of Persia

Norbert wrote:I'm working on a (non-PoP-related) 3D multiplayer platform game, using Irrlicht and Bullet.
Learning a lot of new things, it's very challenging but at the same time - so far - surprisingly doable.
I still have a lot of work ahead of me, of course, but I'm pleased with the progress I'm making.
Maybe, one day, several years from now, I'll post some screenshots in this thread or link to a place where the game can be obtained.

I've decided to start a developer diary, and I just uploaded a first video about the progress I'm making:
http://www.sparkours.com/videos/sparkours_001.webm

I think it's a good idea making to make it simplest but not simpler. It would be interesting to see how the project is growing, i'll be expecting for new versions of Sparkours

There could be many options for new items, like teleporters, doors opening with keys/buttons/... , chompers, change of gravity, etc.

Also it would be interesting to make different play modes, like solo, competitive or cooperative levels doable with k-players, etc.

Good luck with that great project!

I'm working on the sequel to Shaw's Nightmare, Shaw's Nightmare II.

Improvements I've made to Sparkours in the last 1.5 months:
http://www.sparkours.com/videos/sparkours_002.webm
It's not a lot but it's slowly getting better.

Norbert wrote:Improvements I've made to Sparkours in the last 1.5 months:
http://www.sparkours.com/videos/sparkours_002.webm
It's not a lot but it's slowly getting better.

In February I'll pick up apoplexy again (to finish the final 3.0, then add SDLPoP stuff), but for now I'm going back to working on Sparkours.
For Sparkours I still need to tackle some complicated networking stuff, it's not going to be easy...

I'm working in my mod (it took me 10 years, and still there are lots of things to do)

I moved from working on Sparkours to working on a Zeldaesque game.
An amateur pixel artist is helping me with the graphics.
We'll see how long this project lasts.

poirot wrote:I'm working in my mod (it took me 10 years, and still there are lots of things to do)

I guess it's what you mentioned here: viewtopic.php?p=18061#p18061

Norbert wrote:I moved from working on Sparkours [...]

I see you uploaded the last version: http://www.norbertdejonge.nl/Sparkours/

You may remember that I wrote I had pre-ordered an HTC Vive.
I've now launched a new website, VR on Linux.

It uses a custom built content management system (CMS) that I've written from scratch.
It's a flat-file CMS, it does not use a database.
I was looking for a proper flat-file CMS, but nothing I could find was good enough.
(Either it had no spam prevention or it didn't allow for multiple editors or it didn't store comments locally or didn't have BBCode, and so on.)

I've released a new version of my go program "gtkgo".
Only for Linux, for now. The website is here.
I had not worked on it for more than 17 years, so I had to migrate from GTK+ 1.2 to GTK+ 3.18, among other things.

Norbert wrote:I moved from working on Sparkours to working on a Zeldaesque game.
An amateur pixel artist is helping me with the graphics.
We'll see how long this project lasts.

Still working on this.
Today I finished the dialog tree system that loads from modular XML files, so the protagonist can now talk with NPCs.
It's starting to look like an actual game.
Still a lot - probably years - of work ahead, of course.

Norbert wrote:

Norbert wrote:I moved from working on Sparkours to working on a Zeldaesque game.
An amateur pixel artist is helping me with the graphics.
We'll see how long this project lasts.

Still working on this.

I hope this will turn out better than Sparkours!

Norbert wrote:I've released a new version of my go program "gtkgo".
Only for Linux, for now. The website is here.

Then maybe you should change the text that says "Download (GNU/Linux and Windows)"?

I've temporarily stopped working on my Zeldaesque game to work on a stand-alone level editor (i.e. not part of apoplexy) for one of the PoP1 ports.
I will provide more information in a week or so.
The release itself is about two weeks away, so most of the work is already done.
(I've already worked on it for several weeks.)
I see you shiver with antici...

Norbert wrote:to work on a stand-alone level editor (i.e. not part of apoplexy) for one of the PoP1 ports.

I wonder which port is it...

Here's a bit more information.

David wrote:I wonder which port is it...

It is the port for the Game Boy Color (GBC).

Tomorrow, 2 November, I will release a mod of that port.
The mod uses only 1 room per level.
(Plus, now and then, a closed-off room to the left, to make it seem as if the prince arrived from there.)
The majority of the rooms incorporate something unique to the GBC port.

Next Monday, 7 November, I will release the level editor.
Its GUI is virtually identical to that of apoplexy.
There are, however, several differences.
For example, the port ignores - they do exist - event numbers of raise and drop buttons, and uses a separate list.

This means there are about 5 days between the release of the mod and the level editor.
The idea is that this turns the mod into a 5 day challenge.
How many levels can people finish before the editor arrives...
The levels are not hard and do not contain difficult tricks.

Several levels are (much) easier to finish once the level editor is available as an inspection tool.
In theory, there is enough time for someone to figure out the compression algorithm.
(Especially with the availability of both the original port and a mod.)
In practice, now that the arrival of an editor is so close, why would anyone bother.

A couple of days from now I'll write a bit more about the differences between the DOS and GBC ports.
Then I will also explain why I picked the GBC port and which coding challenges I faced and how I tackled them.