Affinity:Sorrow

[Zebbe]

Affinity:Sorrow is a new game for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, developed by Team Mysidia, of Hangman SG fame. Keeping up with the tradition of new games for Sega's 16-bit system, Affinity:Sorrow is an RPG (I have a feeling this will lead to complaints from people who contribute nothing, it happened before...). I really love RPGs and the project seems very promising so far, but it's still quite early in development, so we need to give it some time. I wish the Mysidia Team the best of luck with this project, and I can't wait to see what innovations they will bring to the Mega Drive/Genesis scene.

Here is the link to the official page of the developers, Airwalk Studios:

http://www.airwalkstudios.com/as.php

[Kamahl]

Hehehe, ANOTHER one, wow, we really want to take that "king of rpgs" title away from the SNES don't we sega fans?

[Sik]

The fun thing is that I think some comment on this site before mentioned that the Mega Drive actually had more RPGs than the SNES... just they weren't as well-known (in fact, aren't pretty much all the well-known SNES RPGs from Square?).

[Zebbe]

I think the PlayStation 1 is the King of RPGs .

[Kamahl]

Well the Saturn is also the king of shooters... from the 5th generation

[QuickSciFi]

Well, I'm on board. I enjoyed Hangman. I'm certain I'll enjoy this one, too.

[kokujin]

The PC is the king of RPGs, but the DS is a close second.

[Guntz]

Yeah, when are we going to see some action games? How about a shooter, platformer, beat em up, fighting game or even a puzzle game? ANYTHING is better than yet another RPG at this point.

[InternalPrimate]

I'm all for another new Genesis/MD title, but am I the only one who wants to make fun of the title?!? Is it a new video game or a d-bag t-shirt?

[Sik]

Yeah, when are we going to see some action games? How about a shooter, platformer, beat em up, fighting game or even a puzzle game? ANYTHING is better than yet another RPG at this point.

Anybody wants to finish Project MD? =P

[Chilly Willy]

Anybody wants to finish Project MD? =P

What does it need still?

[Sik]

Complete all the levels, do the bosses, implement saving, credits, cheats, etc. (I think Oerg may attempt to port the sounds to the new Echo, I wonder when he'll do it, he was checking the docs for doing that)

[Chilly Willy]

Complete all the levels, do the bosses, implement saving, credits, cheats, etc. (I think Oerg may attempt to port the sounds to the new Echo, I wonder when he'll do it, he was checking the docs for doing that)

Oh, is that all? That's practically done!

Saving and credits should be pretty easy. Cheats would probably be next. Bosses are probably the hardest of the list. Levels aren't hard, they just need someone with the ability to make good levels. It's like art or music - it's a skill that you have or don't have; it's also subjective as to whether you're any good.

[Sik]

I guess I hihacked the thread already? =P (there isn't much to talk about Affinity anyways... I mean, a scrolling tilemap and some random sprites? That's all, really?)

Oh, is that all? That's practically done!

Easier said than done (though it's true it's more than 50% complete, with eight levels practically finished...)

Saving and credits should be pretty easy.

Saving isn't going to be easy. Look into the options menu, you'll find out that two of the options deal with copying the savegame data in the Mega CD back-up RAM (essentially allowing you to take the savegame out of the cartridge). That requires loading the Mega CD BIOS to get it mess with the memory (and no, I don't think that messing with the filesystem directly would be a good idea, there's a good reason why it's part of the firmware).

Credits should be easy, yes, but we need to design them =P

Cheats would probably be next.

And unlockables? And easter eggs? =P

Bosses are probably the hardest of the list.

I guess we'll need a good programmer here. Also I don't want lame bosses, Dark Stephany is meant to be merciless. Just look at her (incomplete) behavior in Binary Fury, she never stops moving. And it looks lame because her attacks aren't programmed yet. When she rams onto the floor, she's meant to cause a wave that you have to jump (also when she bounces off the floor is the only time you can attack her). And when she flies over you she's meant to drop bombs all over the screen. Yes, that's evil =P

Also I was planning to make the last level a mini-shump. Homage to Segagaga's final boss =P

Levels aren't hard, they just need someone with the ability to make good levels. It's like art or music - it's a skill that you have or don't have; it's also subjective as to whether you're any good.

In the case of Waterlava, it'll probably involve programming some new objects. In fact, two power-ups were planned for that specific level (a fire power-up and a water power-up).

Also you missed my "etc." part. The intro is extremely incomplete (do you really think it's meant to end at the 3D starfield?). Also there was the suggestion of adding bonus stages. Also some screens are incomplete (score tally, anyone?). Lots of sound effects are missing too. And what about tiny details? Rhombuses just vanishing is lame, how about making them blink or something? Yeah, there's a lot to be done yet.

EDIT: also don't forget the game is written 100% in assembler, using snasm68k/asm68k/asmx syntax, at that.

EDIT 2: also if anybody decides to continue Project MD officially (i.e. not a fork) then that person will have to accept my licensing ideas for this game, period. If you don't like the idea of not having any kind of DRM and not sending C&D to ROM sites that try to host the game, don't even bother with it.

[Chilly Willy]

Easier said than done (though it's true it's more than 50% complete, with eight levels practically finished...)

I was being sarcastic.

Saving isn't going to be easy. Look into the options menu, you'll find out that two of the options deal with copying the savegame data in the Mega CD back-up RAM (essentially allowing you to take the savegame out of the cartridge). That requires loading the Mega CD BIOS to get it mess with the memory (and no, I don't think that messing with the filesystem directly would be a good idea, there's a good reason why it's part of the firmware).

It's a CD game? I thought it was a cart. Cart sram is easy to deal with. CD bram is a little more work.

Credits should be easy, yes, but we need to design them =P

It's just as well you wait to the end to do that.

And unlockables? And easter eggs? =P

You said cheats, not easter eggs.

Lockables are more work depending on what they are. A different playable character would depend on how different their moves are from the regular character. Simple example - "new" character with same moves and whatnot is relatively simple compared to new character with all new moves.

I guess we'll need a good programmer here. Also I don't want lame bosses, Dark Stephany is meant to be merciless. Just look at her (incomplete) behavior in Binary Fury, she never stops moving. And it looks lame because her attacks aren't programmed yet. When she rams onto the floor, she's meant to cause a wave that you have to jump (also when she bounces off the floor is the only time you can attack her). And when she flies over you she's meant to drop bombs all over the screen. Yes, that's evil =P

How hard it will be for a programmer depends partly on how well documented the boss actions are - that and how much trouble it is to do those actions on the console. For example, having a thousand spears suddenly impale a character would be a bit tough to pull off on the MD. Having a light flash and the opponent falls over dead would be easy (but not very good for a move).

Also I was planning to make the last level a mini-shump. Homage to Segagaga's final boss =P

Sounds pretty cool.

In the case of Waterlava, it'll probably involve programming some new objects. In fact, two power-ups were planned for that specific level (a fire power-up and a water power-up).

Yes, certain things about levels requires coordination with the programmer. I'm not sure how much more you planned to add to the levels.

Also you missed my "etc." part. The intro is extremely incomplete (do you really think it's meant to end at the 3D starfield?). Also there was the suggestion of adding bonus stages. Also some screens are incomplete (score tally, anyone?). Lots of sound effects are missing too. And what about tiny details? Rhombuses just vanishing is lame, how about making them blink or something? Yeah, there's a lot to be done yet.

I mentioned above the "practically done" was sarcasm. In particular, the last 5% of the game is often 90% of the work, and you're not even that far yet.

EDIT: also don't forget the game is written 100% in assembler, using snasm68k/asm68k/asmx syntax, at that.

Meh - assembler is no biggy. Not to me at least. Been coding in pure assembly nearly as long as not. I've always enjoyed 68000 programming in particular. It does limit the pool of talent you can draw from, though. At least there's the point that many MD programmers learned the 68000 (and often the z80). As a comparison, how many PC programmers know assembly of any kind?

EDIT 2: also if anybody decides to continue Project MD officially (i.e. not a fork) then that person will have to accept my licensing ideas for this game, period. If you don't like the idea of not having any kind of DRM and not sending C&D to ROM sites that try to host the game, don't even bother with it.

Well, it is your game and ideas, so it would make sense that you'd have that kind of control over it.