...till a new beginning, once again, yes.
RealLife© got Mike in the middle, and when it arrives, it arrives and you can do very little to revert.
We're still alive, and we shall finish it! Oh Death take me tonight if I'm speaking sham (ouch).

Meanwhile, I stared at the walkers, and I thought they're crap! So, in a hour free at work, I did few changes in the overall animation, transforming an icy eyeblinking machine in a bully mechanic seeker. Look at the images, on the left the old version, on the right the new one.

167! I fulfilled a whole sprites pack! Hey it's a goal!
Yes, beside adjusting some little refinements and chitchatting about how things have to work, I bagged all the needed in order to have a baddie capable to appear exactly in the dead angle of your eye, making the most with the infamous pods: they now appear from the shadows.

It's a 7 frames further consumption, the blank frame is the last one, #167, which will be used for several other nice features.

Of course, having a filled sprite pack doesn't mean that's will be the final sprites set for the level 1, but now I know I can build up one. To complete a good sprites showcase, I also reversed a couple of baddies, in order to have left-to-right attack waves too.

Ok, what now?
Well, we told you we're pointing to have a test level. This mainly means we only need code about weapon system, and baddies' attack waves. And we're very close to complete all of this!
But hey, wait a moment: why loosing time and gray matter in order to get closer to the player's whises regarding the baddies' habits, instead of allowign the user himself to built insert and play his own enemies'paths?
So, that's how it comes the idea to release a sort of...mmm..XeO3 Test Suite! With this one you will be able to draw your nastiest groups of attacking baddies, then compile the script in order to autoembed into the test level, hence play it! You will watch the stuff, finally, and everybody could contribute to the final version offering his best waves.

Making use of a large approximation in order to have yielding worktimes, we can assume we'll release XeO3 Test Suite (or how the heck it will be called) before xmas 2007. Well, I really hope "a lot before" but let's talk serious and secure. So wait for it, it's coming!

Yes, this should be the very last pickup we would need for the game, and it should be used for the Plain Shot. Mike seems to be very busy in these days, and that means this new sprite still needs Mike's blessing, but I think you can trust me and consider it case closed.

I'm placidly proud of this 6 frames animated stuff, it's not the easiest in the whole world to animate, and it would look cooler on real monitor, where pixels merge and are kneaded in the video display.
Ok now let's Mike finish the whole weapons and pickups system, meantime I could finally help him with the attack waves for our test level's demo release.

I'd drawn a solid hexagonal pickup we probably shall use for momentary invincibility. Our ship can look invincible in a cheap way: it can flash like baddies do when shot, and probably that will be the solution.

The hexagon experience has been a little but tough one, this is what I learned.
I drew a wonderful hexagon with light and shadow effect along the corners. An hexagon is perfect to do on a 320x200 resolution machine. The width/height ratio is 1.6 and we can assume one single pixel has to be similar too in this proportion. Avoiding annoying explications, this means that if you put your pixels in a neat diagonal, you'll get a 30° angle instead of 45°.
If an hexagon is your target, you can place the bisections in vertical. Hence, the hexagon's 60° angle between two bisections now only needs our beautiful "fake" diagonal with a 30° angle with the plane.

Ok the result was nice. Then, I tried to rotate it in 4 frames, changing all the shadows at any frame. Hell, but it would mean I had to rotate by 15° a crappy bunch made in 8x16x4 resolution!
I tried and tried, and must say I obtained a certain outcome, but all the other frames were a bit worse than the "magic" one, and the final result was between mediocre and almost sufficient.
That's because I did that simple "lighthouse" animation (which is not bad in all, Mike suggested me to make it smoother but that means 12 frames...12 frames oh my gosh!).

So this is the first thing I learned. the second is: draw simple animations for elaborate sprites, draw elaborated animations for simple sprites.
Good, on with the Plain Shot pickup now.

Little graphics improvements, combined with fundamental chitchattings about weapons and pickups.

Me and Mike had a decisive Messenger session, in order to reach a practicable solution for the weapons/pickups system, looking forward to a playable test level.
Several things has been refined, but the notable change is that the initial weapons now can be considered as a real 4th weapon which can be enhanced along 6 levels. Plain Shot's levels don't look different while changing level, nor they show progress in bullet's power: when enhanced, Plain Shot increases bullets on the screen, simply. Of course it means we need a new system sprite. One new, or maybe two, if we would have one more for the temporary invincibility.

Two sprites are just gone. In facts, I decided to add one frame to both the side shots pickups, and now their pickups look better.
Another little smoothing has been given to the level1 map. There were too many mines at a certain point, that make the gameplay to be too much claustrophobic. Hence, I dropped some...

Ok, must admit: I'm pretty troubled about graphics and levels building up.
There are so many little issues, painful like needles under the skin, and even worse hooked altogether in a dangerous ring-a-ring-o'roses...with needles!

The worst comes from the background animation code theory. I did the 1st level's background move with no special care, and in the end it supports two 2 chars and one 1 char continuous animations (5x turrets up/down, 8x mines), and a series of cascade animations: two 1 char 3x little orbs, two 2 chars 4x orbs and a 2 chars 7x light tube.
I was almost sure I could change these variables level per level. No, instead no, simply no no and no: in the next levels, I must subdue my background animations exactly to those frames and memory locations. Also, at the moment I dunno if another continuous animation can be performed, besides turrets and mines.
Mike told me that background animation issue will be one of the last to be solved. Unfortunately, it jeopardizes my work on graphics and level building up right now, don't force me to write here the sad succession of troubles all interdipendent each other.
Little step after little step, we shall get rid of all them, but we're moving on a pillar's planet: nothing can be taken as definitive.

Anyway, I had my very first attempt in composing the level's map, and have to see, I completed almost 10% with great satisfaction, but wasting 35 3x3 blocks out of 199 available (counting the blank one out).
Also, I spotted a mistake done my me: I was sure to reserve 4 empty chars, but I'd wrongly used the forbidden 4 chars memory where we perform the bullet's masking. Overall, memory is gone. Then I needed to have an empty that shut off the stars in background, hence I had to sacrifice one char too!
Pretty hard, guys! :(

Ok, I'll hang on with the level building up, though I know since now that must keep prepared to change big slices of it, if it will be needed, no tears!
That's how the level's first seconds look like, but I admit it doesn't look as well as the real view on a monitor.

Though I'd been taken by other +4 projects too, I'd manged to finish the 2nd level's graphics charset.

Well the above sentence doesn't tell the full truth.
First of all, I deliberately left out a 4 characters slice, in order to save some when I would need them to solve squared overlapping issues between different elements; if they won't be fully used for this, I'll decide in the very end the final destination for spare ones.
Moreover, I just decided which chars must be animated, but I didn't animate them yet, 'cause the rewriting of main code will tell us if I can have another continuosly animated element, like the burning flame for example, even with turrets and mines. If not, I have to do it periodical, hence I must prevent the player's ship from reaching a deadly unfair blank char (when the flame quenches, that blank char keeps to be energy soaking). As Mike told me: they can just wait now.
Moreover, equally as for the 1st level's building up, several contingencies and unexpected wills may decree the death for a graphic element, and the birth of another one.
Finally, a little new graphic touch has to be fed up with some chars, and I must decide how many and which of them.

Apart of all those facts, I've begun to play with XeO3edit again in order to achieve the best from my new set. And, must say, I prepared a really versatile set of graphics, that let me try so many changes in chars'mixing to achieve several different backgrounds.
And this sounds to me like a sort of "suitable trouble", because I see so many paths toward me... But: less words, let's start instead.

We have to admit it: the deep rewriting of sprites cache system had been a hard blow to the constant flow of developing we'd taken in this lucky project's period.
The whole to-do list written by Mike few days ago, has to be considered as thwarted, until he'll find time patience and mood in order to sit down in front of a monitor and clean it up. The code of course, not the monitor itself. It's a pity, to have this quench of burning in passion exactly in time of big steps. On the other hand, that's a necessary issue, and we can't miss it out.

Again on Mike's to-do list, I'd seen he listed "add loading screen" very soon, and I did read it before, oops.
Anyway, what should I do while Mike decides his own moves? Well, its quite obvious that I can't put my hands on the big bosses, because there's no chance at the moment to decide their buildup technique.

Probably, the best thing to do now is beginning to rewrite the early 2nd level's background graphics. I remember the older version was poor, because I had to force in the boss'graphics too, and those large mohai heads were quite big and expensive. I've just drawn some 4 chars wide columns (but those chars work well by 3 too...), and all the necessary slices to build up little temples. I also resurrected the old turret in order to convert it in a brand new mythological form, with a 4 frames animated 1 char fire on it. Hope that another continuous backgroud animation, in addition to mines, wouldn't be a severe slow down of the whole stuff.

I've written in a list all the elements I wanna have into this level (boulders, diagonal roofs etc...) in order to don't miss any, also I just have an idea about the 2nd level's midboss; then, the new sprites will come, waiting for big boss too. Before all of these, I could get start in squeezing the level's music into the new music format, as I just did for level 1.
Hence, my priorities will be:
- 2nd level's background graphics
- 2nd level's tune
- 2nd level's map buildup
- 2nd level midboss graphics'n'animation
- 2nd level's new sprites

Heeey, some days ago Mike has written a post on some far c64 forum about his almost average skill about shoot'em'ups. But no, you cheated, I saw you gettin'coins in a row!
Allow me to introduce you our brave space warrior Mike, fighting in the Galaxy of Current Work in Progress.

Not bad the dude, uh?
Yeah, don't care the older sprite version you'd seen inside, like the ancient 3 frame animated meatballs. You just spotted one of the two most garish features we added: a 95% complete frontend. The remaining 5% is for options and a certain margin of uncertainty about my XeO3 logo (do you like it, though the limited memory Mike allowed me to use?). Yeah, because when Mike popped up with the starfield (greytone at that early time), we virtually calculated no memory left to spend for anything else. Though this, he didn't limited me so much eventually. And, don't ask me because of which miracle, he managed to keep the logo without cutting it. Guys, hope you're close to value the effort!

Well I expect now you to tell me which is the second bbbbbbbigger feature. The bu...the bulll...oh, no spanish folklore here, be serious. The bullets, yeah!
Yes, Mike used the same technique he implemented for the turrets'bullets too, and now the coarse and lame black box that usually surrounds character based shots is gone forever, allowing a professional bullet's gfx overlapping on the whole background. And, useless to say, I love it!

Bad news for my musician's side: having an unexpectedly cool frontend, now we really need a frontend music. Needing a frontend music would mean I have to cut tunes of minor importance in order to make space for the former. Cutting tunes would mean a global rearranging of the whole instruments'pack in the music file that will take me to...omg I have to rewrite all the music! Panic!
No panic at all, I'll try to keep the music theme, at least. But I'm almost sure that some of my prefer features (the Pan's flute in the 2nd level's ingame tune, for example), can be considered gone forever. But I don't wanna give up on the jingles front, saving a bit of both game over and end level jingle, in a brand new shorter composition.
I'm sharpening my blades, yyaarrrrr!

It was so clear that the pod I'd drawn few days ago were lacking shadowing/lightning effects on the core ball, our mate Chicken too has pointed out this in the comments. He commented when I was just at work in order to drop some shadows on that milled sphere I loved so much, and of which I was so proud.

Once animated (and it was cool!), I'd shown it to Mike, and Mike told me it's odd, especially in that "milling"; he suggested me to draw a simpler shape.
Ok ok, glass or metal? Ah, you said it's up to me? Ok glass then. I'd drawn a nice pod with a central glass ball, and I was very proud of it too. Once Mike saw it, he told me there still was so much black, and black is the devil, and the devil uses to subvert our project's karma, and that's bad; he then suggested me to draw a simple ball.

Ok ok, metal, metal then, solid metal. Hence, I'd drawn a wonderful core of metallic sphere, that works so good in the glorious PAL video blurring, especially the light pixel in the bottom because it's surrounded by darker ones, and the overall effect is perfect. Mike saw it, then he sent back a .png image (one of those humiliations that can kill a graphician's heart in a finger's snap) that would show me his idea: a simple ball. A ball, done like a ball, a ball, a ball, actually a ball , a ball for true.

Ok...ok... I did two versions of the...the very simple shape: one with shadows, and one with no light effects, and this time, Mike told me he may be pleased by the former, but he also told me it has to be up to me, in order to choose a definitive one.
And when I was almost mentally prepared to hardly freeze in my position, he said "Oops now I see them on the real PAL video machine, yeah both glass and metal are cool.".

The question is: would he probably love the very first one with the milling, if he used to see it on the real iron, from the beginning?
Nobody will know. And I wanna die today.
But first, lemme put all the music into my blog.radio.