Release Pandora-Opensonic : Sonic Clone For Pandora V1.3

[zx-81]

Hi All,

OpenSonic is a free open-source game based on the "Sonic the Hedgehog" universe. It introduces a different style of gameplay called cooperative play, in which it's possible to control 3 characters simultaneously. See http://opensnc.sourceforge.net/home/index.php for more details about it.

Thanks to Hitnrun who ported allegro to pandora, i've been abled to modify a bit OpenSonic (mainly to get a fullscreen and to add frame skip option) and run it on my pandora.

It might be good to overclock a bit for better performances.

Sources are included, and this package is under the GNU public license, read doc files for more information about it.

OpenSonic for pandora


Enjoy,

Zx.

PS: This port is dedicated to my son Alex ...

 

[EvilDragon]

Wooot

Got that on my PC and was thinking that it would be a cool game on the Pandora?

Does sound work? 'cause Hitnrun seems to have trouble with ZeldaClassic sound using allegro yet?

 

[zx-81]

Sound should be ok ... Btw i'm taking my list of things to port from this list :
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/43625-open-source-games-that-you-like/

 

[CPUnltd]

NICE ADD!!!

 

[Hitnrun]

Hi All,

OpenSonic is a free open-source game based on the "Sonic the Hedgehog" universe. It introduces a different style of gameplay called cooperative play, in which it's possible to control 3 characters simultaneously. See http://opensnc.sourceforge.net/home/index.php for more details about it.

Thanks to Hitnrun who ported allegro to pandora, i've been abled to modify a bit OpenSonic (mainly to get a fullscreen and to add frame skip option) and run it on my pandora.

It might be good to overclock a bit for better performances.

Sources are included, and this package is under the GNU public license, read doc files for more information about it.

OpenSonic for pandora


Enjoy,

Zx.

PS: This port is dedicated to my son Alex ...

Did you recompiled allegro with the arm flags, or you used the binary download I provided? Compiled with the right flags, it got a nice speedup on Zelda Classic.

EDIT: just in case, I uploaded my optimized allegro lib on my host:

http://www.rangelreale.com/pandora/liballegro-4.4.1.1-pandora1.tar.gz

 

[God Ginrai]

Btw i'm taking my list of things to port from this list :
http://www.gp32x.de/board/index.php?/topic/43625-open-source-games-that-you-like/

Great idea! I just took a look at that list, and it is a goldmine of things I would love to see ported.

-God Ginrai

 

[zx-81]

@hitnrun : i've used your first binary version. Using the latest one it's a bit better, but it doesn't change radically the speed (i win 1 fps).

Thanks for your new package

 

[conso]

damn, I've spend several days creating a custom tileset/sprites for that game, with tux, beasty and that bsd-fish as replacements for sonic, tails and knuckles. The main-developer didn't seem very interested until a year or so later, but nearly all graphics I'd created are lost :/

I might actually redo those graphics, as I think open graphics could really help the project gain popularity.

 

[Trip]

Looks like a lot of fun

Ok, that does it! All these top ports from you guys have pushed me over the edge. I'll be sending Craig and co. an email asking what my place in their line is. I tried not to do it knowing that they have a lot of work on but I now really need to know when I will be able to play the crap out of this stuff

p.s Another class port zx-81

 

[EvilDragon]

Well, it's a first quick port, but needs some working on, I guess

1. Controls: Seems like it is using PC controls. Jump with Space... didn't find the key to switch characters. And you can't seem to change the layout in the options menu
2. Although it runs with 80fps (according to the FPS Meter), scrolling isn't very smooth.

Apard from those two issues, it works really well already

 

[zx-81]

Well, it's a first quick port, but needs some working on, I guess

1. Controls: Seems like it is using PC controls. Jump with Space... didn't find the key to switch characters. And you can't seem to change the layout in the options menu

Yes, i didn't change the default mapping, i may change it to 'X' as jump and 'Y' as switch characters ...

2. Although it runs with 80fps (according to the FPS Meter), scrolling isn't very smooth.

OpenSonic is not well known to be really fast. It has been done for a 1Ghz PC i guess ... The FPS meter is not accurate at all, and even if use overclock the pandora, i'm using a frame skip set a '1'.
(you need to modify the pnd to change that value).

 

[Hitnrun]

@Hitnrun : i've used your first binary version. Using the latest one it's a bit better, but it doesn't change radically the speed (i win 1 fps).

Thanks for your new package

Hmm really? ZC seemed to come from 30 to 40fps, but I might not remembered correctly the previous value. But it visibly faster.

How do you do scaling on allegro? Zelda Classic already did its own scaling, so I did not bother to see how it is done, I may look at it to see if it helps you.

Also, does Sonic have in-game music? For ZC I just put a patches.dat on the binary directory, and music plays, you may try this.

 

[zx-81]

@Hitnrun : i've used your first binary version. Using the latest one it's a bit better, but it doesn't change radically the speed (i win 1 fps).

Thanks for your new package

Hmm really? ZC seemed to come from 30 to 40fps, but I might not remembered correctly the previous value. But it visibly faster.

How do you do scaling on allegro? Zelda Classic already did its own scaling, so I did not bother to see how it is done, I may look at it to see if it helps you.

Also, does Sonic have in-game music? For ZC I just put a patches.dat on the binary directory, and music plays, you may try this.

In OpenSonic there are several parts of the code that should be rewritten to gain speed. Allegro blit stuff doesn't seem to be the bottleneck in this version. I've haven't look further, the goal was only to get it working and to use your allegro package .

 

[fusion_power]

I'm a Sonic Fan and I already tried some Fan-Made Projects, this here is new for me, THX for the hint. Another Game for my upcoming Pandora.
GFX seem from the 32X Game "Chaotix" or so, but this shouldn't explain the performance problems. I guess the GFX are not a problem, equal stuff runs well emulated even onto the GP2X.
Like zx-81 already mentioned, these Games are usualy made for PCs and there you don't have to take much care of Speed-Optimizing (Sonic Robo Blast etc..) But I'm sure the Pandora can handle this game here very easily, with some optimizing of the (Spaghetti?) code.

Does the Editor also can be run from the Pandora itself? Would offer interesting possibilities. ^^

 

[zx-81]

I'm a Sonic Fan and I already tried some Fan-Made Projects, this here is new for me, THX for the hint. Another Game for my upcoming Pandora.
GFX seem from the 32X Game "Chaotix" or so, but this shouldn't explain the performance problems. I guess the GFX are not a problem, equal stuff runs well emulated even onto the GP2X.
Like zx-81 already mentioned, these Games are usualy made for PCs and there you don't have to take much care of Speed-Optimizing (Sonic Robo Blast etc..) But I'm sure the Pandora can handle this game here very easily, with some optimizing of the (Spaghetti?) code.

Yes, for sure.

Does the Editor also can be run from the Pandora itself? Would offer interesting possibilities. ^^

i haven't tried, but there is no reason why it should not work

 

[fusion_power]

Tested the Game onto my PC: Surprise, It run Full Speed there. Somehow I had to think onto "Lost Vikings" during testing OpenSonic.
But it didn't detected my Arcade Joystick and Keyboard is not very fun to play with. 1 more reason to use the Pandora Port! And yes, I detected that you can easily enter the Edit mode within a level with pushing F12, Nice Tech, I love ingame Editors. I wonder if my old selfmade Tileset could be adjusted for this game... ^^""

 

[HackModford]

Awesome! Works Great.

Just a couple request.
I set the scaling mode to normal (which I prefer over stretched graphics) but the window ends up to the left. Can you center this?
Also we need remapped buttons.

Thank You

 

[EvilDragon]

2. Although it runs with 80fps (according to the FPS Meter), scrolling isn't very smooth.

OpenSonic is not well known to be really fast. It has been done for a 1Ghz PC i guess ... The FPS meter is not accurate at all, and even if use overclock the pandora, i'm using a frame skip set a '1'.
(you need to modify the pnd to change that value).

Aaah, that explains it, thanks
Was wondering why it was still stuttery with 80fps, but if that's messed up...

 

[zx-81]

Here is a version with keys remapped (A,B,X,Y) and the screen is not centered in normal/tiny mode.
http://zx81.zx81.free.fr/public/pandora/opensonic/opensonic-v1.3.1.pnd

 

[emil10001]

How do you start the game now? Nothing is working to get passed the main menu.