In Progress Streets of Rage X (Windows / Android) Beta 33

[oldyz]

@Kratus

what is going on with the cop stuff?

if i remember correctly, even in the elevator level , police car would work fine and it was really cool to see the camera go down several floors so you could see the car roll in and fire...
i did not care if it took a long time. only flaw was to see the cop firing in a wrong angle.

the only level it did not work was inside the penthouse becasue it would have been goofy as hell to see the car driving into the penthouse,
(altho it would have been funny to see it on the elevator going up fast and then fire through the entrance)
kinda like this nonsense

but i always figured that for that level it could have made better sense to scroll back, see a wall explosion and see a police helicopter on the outside area, fire a misile or rocket from right to left, scroll back inside and see the result -
additionally if the trigger was on a windowed area, the police helicopter would appear outside the window and fire towards the inside.

i mean, in order to fix this: (i would not fix it, its perfect)

Or for other indoor places or hard to reach areas, i can see the camera scrolling back, the cops arriving on a police boat, jetsky, boats or motorcycle and fire a "heat seeking missile" of sorts - i would even go as far as seeing them arrive on these just for the lulz:

(remember to keep the cop car sound and break squeek/screech)
(basically, i would adapt the police animations/prescence to the level instead of a one size fits all, specially for sor2 and sor 3 levels)

 

[Kratus]

@Kratus

what is going on with the cop stuff?

if i remember correctly, even in the elevator level , police car would work fine and it was really cool to see the camera go down several floors so you could see the car roll in and fire...
i did not care if it took a long time. only flaw was to see the cop firing in a wrong angle.

the only level it did not work was inside the penthouse becasue it would have been goofy as hell to see the car driving into the penthouse,
(altho it would have been funny to see it on the elevator going up fast and then fire through the entrance)
kinda like this nonsense

but i always figured that for that level it could have made better sense to scroll back, see a wall explosion and see a police helicopter on the outside area, fire a misile or rocket from right to left, scroll back inside and see the result -
additionally if the trigger was on a windowed area, the police helicopter would appear outside the window and fire towards the inside.

i mean, in order to fix this: (i would not fix it, its perfect)

Or for other indoor places or hard to reach areas, i can see the camera scrolling back, the cops arriving on a police boat, jetsky, boats or motorcycle and fire a "heat seeking missile" of sorts - i would even go as far as seeing them arrive on these just for the lulz:

(remember to keep the cop car sound and break squeek/screech)
(basically, i would adapt the police animations/prescence to the level instead of a one size fits all, specially for sor2 and sor 3 levels)

@oldyz

Honestly I like how SOR4 simplified the police car and I tried to follow similar steps, it works like if a guided missile was fired from anywhere close to this place, it makes sense. The only doubt now is about the background box where the car appears, I made some changes since the last video I posted.

About the camera moving, it may work in SOR1 route due to most levels being single and plain, but for SOR2/SOR3 variations it would be a pain to code in certain levels like the SOR2 Stage 7 elevator. In addition, I would need to solve the problem that happens if the cop is spawn at the "xpos" zero, there's no level back in order to move the camera and if I move the "xpos" forward it can result in events being triggered early.

Another problem is related to the elevators, specifically the SOR1 Stage 7. In SORX this level simulates the elevator going up using a fake movement, only the bglayer is moving but in fact the panel stays on the same height and there's no level below, like the original game has.

I'm considering the idea of adding a helicopter in rooftop areas, I already separated the Adam's helicopter's sprites (obviously replacing Adam) which appears at the SOR3 Stage 6. But there's many things under the hood to be considered before any change in the cop call system.

 

[oldyz]

@oldyz

Honestly I like how SOR4 simplified the police car and I tried to follow similar steps, it works like if a guided missile was fired from anywhere close to this place, it makes sense. The only doubt now is about the background box where the car appears, I made some changes since the last video I posted.

About the camera moving, it may work in SOR1 route due to most levels being single and plain, but for SOR2/SOR3 variations it would be a pain to code in certain levels like the SOR2 Stage 7 elevator. In addition, I would need to solve the problem that happens if the cop is spawn at the "xpos" zero, there's no level back in order to move the camera and if I move the "xpos" forward it can result in events being triggered early.

Another problem is related to the elevators, specifically the SOR1 Stage 7. In SORX this level simulates the elevator going up using a fake movement, only the bglayer is moving but in fact the panel stays on the same height and there's no level below, like the original game has.

I'm considering the idea of adding a helicopter in rooftop areas, I already separated the Adam's helicopter's sprites (obviously replacing Adam) which appears at the SOR3 Stage 6. But there's many things under the hood to be considered before any change in the cop call system.

well, the cop car with a black background seems a bit too simple - and way too fast
however, adding a background behind with a render or image of a nearby area or artwork of different prespective of the level itself would work.

about Xpos zero, now that i think about it i don't remember ever trying to summon the cops at the beginnings of stages...

how did the original megadrive even handle it?.

only thing i can suggest for xpos zero is script tha changes "special attack " the animation to the black/background solution, Or have the car just appear from the nearby edge of the screen, hit any entities on the way and the cop fire a close quarters weapon, like flash grenade or tear gas

indeed other areas would be very challenging, and that is where there is an opportunity to have fun with the cop assists, - branch dependant in conjunction with xpos scripts can solve the problems if camera movements are limited, use a background of a nearby locale from another perspective, have cops arrive on horseback, bicycles, from a roof, windows , from the foreground background, etc

for example, in the factory stage, when you summon the cops you can see a mini movie of sorts of a cop with a sniper rifle in a nearby depot, fade and see an special attack where you can make tribute to virtua cop, where you see the aming reticles and the surrounding villians taken out by shots....

 

[Kratus]

and way too fast

Yeah, indeed this was intended to not lose the action too much, the original is too slow IMO.

about Xpos zero, now that i think about it i don't remember ever trying to summon the cops at the beginnings of stages...

how did the original megadrive even handle it?.

Maybe they programmed the level starting from an xpos higher than zero. Another possibility is a level loop, the SOR1 level design is simple to repeat on the same way OpenBOR does with bglayers. However, it can be complicated to reproduce at the SOR2 Stage 1 for example, once it has not only left/right directions but up/down too, including diagonal walls.

adding a background behind with a render or image of a nearby area or artwork of different prespective of the level itself would work.

Yes, similar to @O Ilusionista said and in fact it's an alternative to the darkening effect. There's some things I want to test yet, currently I'm trying to combine the xpos with cameraoffset function to see if it's possible to move the camera at least in certain levels.

 

[O Ilusionista]

@Kratus I liked the resutl, but I saw some people at your channel asking for the classic way - and we know this would be a huge work.

My suggestion is the same: use a box (or a stripe, like in SO4) using screen (or prerendered backgrounds) and call it a day.

 

[Kratus]

One more test
Maybe it can solve the "xpos zero" problem, but in this case I will need to create the helicopter for the semi-open areas.
Then if the player walks to a xpos higher than the car sprite size, I can move the camera back normally.

 

[O Ilusionista]

One more test

hum not bad
I saw that the fire effects appears to be stuck on the enemies when the bomb hits the ground, thanks to the pause.
To bypass this, you can add an invisible frame with delay 1 at the start of the animation (I do this all the time).
With that, you won't see the flame getting stuck while the game is paused

 

[Kratus]

hum not bad
I saw that the fire effects appears to be stuck on the enemies when the bomb hits the ground, thanks to the pause.
To bypass this, you can add an invisible frame with delay 1 at the start of the animation (I do this all the time).
With that, you won't see the flame getting stuck while the game is paused

Thanks
The fire effect is stuck due to the entity enumeration script freezing all entities and spawning the fire effects manually, I still need to add a filter to avoid freezing effects.
I'm liking the results, there's a chance of adding both classic/new methods, I need to make a few more tests.

 

[Wombat2112]

@Kratus Amazing and a good memory of an super fun series. I still have my Genesis Model 1 and 2 plus the original carts of the series.. In some ways you have cleaned your game up better than the original Sega Releases. That's talent. I hope I can one day create something half as good as you have. I admire your work that I have seen

 

[Kratus]

A few more advancements....

@Kratus Amazing and a good memory of an super fun series. I still have my Genesis Model 1 and 2 plus the original carts of the series.. In some ways you have cleaned your game up better than the original Sega Releases. That's talent. I hope I can one day create something half as good as you have. I admire your work that I have seen

Thank you very much, friend

 

[O Ilusionista]

Amazing

 

[16-bit Fighter]

Great tests! The one that simulates SOR's one is my fav!

I thought about the cop call and the idea I had is the car runs with a speed effect background ala SFA and when it stops a background of the stage replaces the former one.

 

[O Ilusionista]

Great tests! The one that simulates SOR's one is my fav!

I thought about the cop call and the idea I had is the car runs with a speed effect background ala SFA and when it stops a background of the stage replaces the former one.

Not a bad idea at all

Anything had crossed my mind - I think makes more sense if the car always come form the left side (if you are walking right). This give me the feeling that the cops are walking with me. Because when the car comes from the same direction than enemies, sounds like he was with them...

Hahaha crazy idea: what if the car can run over the first enemies it find on its path?

 

[SRC267]

Not sure if I found a bug, but when you play with CPU partner and fight Barbon boss, if you don't move and let CPU fight, Barbon doesn't rip his shirt off, he just stays there until you make a move towards him, even if CPU is next to him and fighting Galsia and Donovan.

 

[pudu]

Not sure if I found a bug, but when you play with CPU partner and fight Barbon boss, if you don't move and let CPU fight, Barbon doesn't rip his shirt off, he just stays there until you make a move towards him, even if CPU is next to him and fighting Galsia and Donovan.

This is indeed a small mistake, all enemies except the Boss will act

 

[oldyz]

Anything had crossed my mind - I think makes more sense if the car always come form the left side (if you are walking right). This give me the feeling that the cops are walking with me. Because when the car comes from the same direction than enemies, sounds like he was with them...

Hahaha crazy idea: what if the car can run over the first enemies it find on its path?

the cop car behind players makes sense, since the players clear the path and they are a distance behind watching out---

as for the car hitting enemies, i would reserve this for position zero or positions in stages where the camera can't move a lot or hardly moves, but you can have space where the car can come from the left side of the screen, with alternate close quarters weapons like flash grenades, tear gas (with effect similar to pepper) and something that makes all enemies dizzy (depending on which character triggers it) and after the car can reverse back the same way it came...

for stages that scroll up to down or down to up, the cop coming out of a nearby window and tossing stuff similar to the helicopter might work - the script that modifies the various cop animations will end up big...

kind of related, i have been looking into police related games made by sega, plus there is a bunch of content/sprites that could be used, and that i would use only oncertain stages -

for example an ESWAT cameo would be nice to see on some SOR3 based stages... since sor3 deals alot with cyborgs and robots...

 

[oldyz]

Sega cop content 01

 

[Kratus]

After some tests I found a way to make the cop car always come from the left side no matter if the xpos is at zero or not. I created a fake panel using a fglayer which gives an impression as if the level has some extra space at the beginning, but once the true panel was not changed, all the level size and spawn positions stays intact.
A bit laborious but at least it's better than remaking every level, adding this extra space and updating every enemy spawn "at", which is currently fine.

According to the feedback and the test results, I think now it's possible to simplify the code and remove the darkening method and the cop car at the right side of the screen, maintaining the classic left side car and the helicopter in levels where it makes more sense (or in some levels where a car can be complicated to spawn).

Hahaha crazy idea: what if the car can run over the first enemies it find on its path?

Yeah haha, I'm adding atboxes to allow the cop car to hit enemies if they are off-screen.

Not sure if I found a bug, but when you play with CPU partner and fight Barbon boss, if you don't move and let CPU fight, Barbon doesn't rip his shirt off, he just stays there until you make a move towards him, even if CPU is next to him and fighting Galsia and Donovan.

This is indeed a small mistake, all enemies except the Boss will act

Indeed this is intentional, some bosses have spawn animations that are protected until a certain "xpos" is reached in order to follow every step correctly and enable/disable statuses/animations in the proper sequence. About Barbon, the same thing happens on the original SOR2 too, I just replicated it but I can reduce the trigger xpos a bit.

 

[SRC267]

Jet Boss
There's a bug with Jet using CPU partner, Axel doesn't let Jet come forward, maybe because I've set A.I. to aggressive stars. He shows at the end, but he wasn't showing for ages before i started capturing the footage.

 

[Mr.Hunter]

Jet Boss
There's a bug with Jet using CPU partner, Axel doesn't let Jet come forward, maybe because I've set A.I. to aggressive stars. He shows at the end, but he wasn't showing for ages before i started capturing the footage.

It is rather necessary to work with a processor partner,
since your mistake can work with other enemies at some levels,
I checked it from my own experience