Karoshi MSX Community

(http://www.relevovideogames.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/mlk_logo.png)

Title: Malaika
Developer: Relevo Videogames
Year: 2013
Code: RLV914

Game size/RAM reqs: 16KB ROM / 16KB RAM
Game genre: Platform / Arcade
Misc: Prequel to Karoshi's "Malaika Prehistoric Quest"

Download: RLV914_MALAIKA.zip (http://www.relevovideogames.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/RLV914_MALAIKA.zip)
Download: FIXED 1.1 VERSION! (http://www.relevovideogames.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/RLV914_MALAIKA_R1.zip)*
Download: FIXED 1.2 VERSION! (http://www.relevovideogames.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/RLV914_MALAIKA_R2.zip)**
* Fixes some bugs, specialy the one making the game run slow @60Hz.
** Fixes some bugs regarding colissions, speed and laser colissions amongst other minor fixes ;-)
Thnx to: makinavaja, theNestruo, MSXKun, MrSpock and Manuel Pazos for reporting bugs!



(http://www.relevovideogames.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/mlk01.png) (http://www.relevovideogames.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/mlk02.png)

(http://www.relevovideogames.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/mlk03.png) (http://www.relevovideogames.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/mlk04.png)


Malaika returns to our MSX computers! And this time she is facing her very first challenge
on a different game genre. Enjoy this 16KB platform game full of joy, catchy musics,
tons of color and action, in the shape of classics such as Bubble Bobble!


(http://www.relevovideogames.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/mlk_cover.png)

Maybe the improved version of a game announced since 2008 under the Karoshi area :

(http://www.passionmsx.org/images/news-passionmsx/skyride1.png)(http://www.passionmsx.org/images/news-passionmsx/skyride2.png)

We can't wait more !  ;D

Nope, not Skyride :D, although Utamu the pterodactylus will appear in this new game too! (as a secondary character, btw) :malaika:

Announced on the 'other' MSXdev' website :

http://msxdev.msxblue.com/?p=1903

More information, artworks and final screenshots added!  :malaika:

tic tac tic tac....
Mode cizaña on:
What will happen to this game? Will it be finally released? Will maki eat a full post posted by him on this forum? I hope so!! Finish the game!!!

I guess you will eat your words in 3, 2, 1...  :malaika:

Well done, RELEVO Videogames team, you are really the Masters of MSX platform games ! :)

http://msxdev.msxblue.com/?p=1972

Z+X? What happend to SPACE+M? What kind of sorcery is this!? ;D

...

oh, and has :malaika: the legal age to be drinking beer and cocktails?

nice

I'm enjoying as a child with this game.
It has the style of old games.
Very nice & very polished game.

Go one level we have this year.

Maki in politics_mode=on
Did I said anything about eating words? NEVER! LIARS!
Maki in politics_mode=off

Good,
I will try it later.

I really adore that "bubble bobble" scent and soul from the game... I like a lot bubble bobble game, really, I'm a fan of that arcade... and thats why I like a lot this game but... this game is really good and amazing on a TurboR with R800 mode but...
maybe its the screen used or the game engine or maybe you wanted it like that, but I find it slow on z80 mode :_(

A little bit faster game would be perfect and a serious candidate for 1st place, but its slow in my opinion :(
Anyway, I love the IA of the enemies! the way the use to kill you jumping when its necessary... I love it.

Jon, I want a faster version of the game!!! :(

EDIT: I think the speed problem is present when you play in z80 mode at 60hz.  It seems to be much faster with 50hz....

Aww, it seems like a nasty bug caused for the final hurry... sigh...  I'll fix it asap!  :-[

(Edited: checked and it's true. Last time additions to the game, make it slower on 60hz!)

please... please... dont say the word BUG anymore... I had enough of it yesterday u_u;

Well yes, it is a bug (not a feature). Game should run smoother ;-)

Also, right now, at 50hz, I will make it a little faster... but I dont know if its possible right now with the engine you have created.
Is there enough free cpu to do it? please, say YES!

Yes ;-). It is a matter of change a couple of stupidities. My fault, making the last minute tests in 50Hz instead of 60Hz ;-). On 50Hz it works as it should, but 60Hz should make it faster, not slower. As I've said, the classic stupid last-time bug.

Updated with a fixed ROM!.

What's fixed:
- Last minute changes made the game run slow @60Hz machines. Now fixed!
- Some sound problems (thanks MSX Kun!)
- Some sprites reach SPAT END and thus every sprite disappeared for just a little
period of time. Fixed! (thanks theNestruo!)

Of course, the original one submitted for the contest is still there, but as they were some stupid mistakes caused
by the hurry, and they were so easy to fix, we've decided to make it now. Keep on enjoyin' Malaika! ;-)

Hey Jon, what a funny, playable and enjoyable game you did! Makes me remember Bubble Bobble, of course, but also Magical Tree and Goonies. Graphics are great too; specially the tileset.

On the "negative" side, only two considerations:
- The "Z/X issue" vs the more classical SPACE/M (or even SPACE/UP), but this is completely personal
- Collision detection against alien beams is too harsh; I'm pretty sure the beam has killed me without touching my hair :(

Are the diamonds a tribute to British Bob? ;) I'm pretty sure Malaika has inherit some code from it, but the overall quality jump you've done is impressive.
Good job! Congratulations!

Thanx for your comments, theNestruo!

The engine for this game has been entirely rewritten, but it shares logic from both Invasion of the Zombie Monsters and British Bob. It is the first time that we create an engine that mixes both hardware sprites and software patterns moving at the same time: items and how items are managed throughout the game has been a major improvement, as they can animate independently, as long as detect floors, have them own "lifetime", etc... But the biggest challenge here was a fully rewritten enemy engine, based on different values defined for the enemy to manage its intelligence and properties. That's the most innovative thing on this game compared with other Relevo productions: we really do not wanted fixed-path enemies here ;-).

Also, another thing we did not want was another up-to-jump game ;-), so here button 1 and 2 from the stick are used: try to play it using a gamepad for the definitive arcade experience! The decision to choose Z and X instead of SPACE and M comes from the most common keys that console and arcade emulators use as default: also certain classic MSX games, such as that Wonder Boy clone, uses these keys too, so we took them instead SPACE and M, that are too "Nemesis"ish to me.

Ah, and the diamonds are not a reference from British Bob, but for Rainbow Islands and also Malaika Prehistoric Quest, where jewels are the main item. If you are familiar with Rainbow Islands items, there are eight color diamonds you can collect, and them appaerance depends on the place on the screen your killed enemy drops: that concept has been completely integrated on Malaika, as it gives depth an certain strategy when you kill enemies if you want to get every EXTENDED letter, that are, in fact, borrowed from Bubble Bobble.

Also, item system has been strongly influenced by Parasol Stars, where there are certain places that are marked as "item zone", and you can get items from there. Also, hidden items are not "fixed": they are picked up from an item list, so it is now where you shoot, but also what is the next item what really matters. Once you get items, the ones that will appear will have a higher value! If you are looking for "cameos", hope you find the Enchanted Crown from the land of Hyoth! ;-). Also, powerup items are obtained sequentialy, so you can control where they will come. There are lots of things to master on Malaika!

Another new thing in Malaika is the new ost: Wyz has done a fantastic work, not only remaking classic Malaika music, but also with new compositions! A little cool ending has been added too, just for those who are able to finish the game with no continues.

It has been tricky to get the game engine, graphics, musics and 32 stages into the 16KB limit. That's the main reason the game requires 16KB RAM: there are packs of compressed code that decompresses and executes in RAM, because of game size. The future 1.2 version will have no additions to the game, but it will be 32KB in size, so it can be playable on MSX models with just 8KB RAM ;-).

Thank everyone for the feedback, and keep on enjoying the MSXdev contests!

A.W.E.S.O.M.E., man. thanks.

I like this game so much. I remember tumble pop, the old classic from data east. It has some nice features like discover item shooting at walls or collecting letters for extra life.

Very playable, one of the best Relevo games.

Nice and good-looking one. Music is very nice!... it has been a long time since we could play a new game of that kind, so it's really welcome :)

It's a pity the deadline rush caused the already mentioned bugs :/ ... I really thought it was quite weird watching the player moving that slow! :P

I also think you shoud change the action buttons a little bit. It's not a problem for me not to use SPACE+M, but I think you shouldn't use Z+X, because there are problems where you press RIGHT+UP+Z... that gives an unintentional X pressing (so Malaika jumps when it's not intended and that made me lose a few lives). I think it's better to use SHIFT+Z or even X+C.

Thnx for your comments, Imanok!


Well, you don't really have to push UP... but hey, it is something being requested by many users, so I'll consider to add aditional keys for the controls, it is something really minor: but anyway, I am pretty confused for that many reactions against de use of Z and X ???, I really think it is a very comfortable config to play! ::)

I know there's no need to push UP... but I do it instinctively from time to time (because of lots of platform games that require it)  ;D


I made my comment about it mainly because people mentioned the issue before ;)

I guess you just designed the controls thinking about people playing with gamepads (and I love playing with the keyboard).

Nah, in fact it was the contrary. I really wanted a game with a console touch, without the "up to jump" feature! And I play lots of games on my PC that uses Z and X and action buttons (I am a keyobard gamer too). But hey, probably it is just me, and the rest of the world hates the cursors+z+x combination...

For people who use blueMSX and don't have a joystick and dislike the Z and X keys, there are 2 solutions :

a) use the virtual joystick after having changed the mapping in the Input editor (I recommend  button A = SPACE, button B = Graph/Left Alt)

b) use the keyboard after the following changes :

- go to the Keyboard Config sub-directory
- make a copy of the blueMSX Default.config file (security measure : what follows will modify the original file)
- go in the keyboard part of the Input Editor
- map the Z key of the MSX to another PC key (I recommend SPACE)
- map the X key of the MSX to another PC key (I recommend LeftAlt)
- click on Ok to quit the Input Editor
- keep a copy of the modified blueMSX Default.config file on another location on your harddisk (for a future new use)

I love it because I can't give up playing it

but... I would prefer playing with up key for jumping and space key for shooting :D

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Z and X is going to become the new "PSG register bug of doom", or what? ;-), c'mon, when you play snes, megadrive, mame, gameboy emulators on your PC keyboard, everybody uses UP to jump and SPACE to shoot? Can't believe it! :magicalstones:

Anyway, thanx for the reception: if that's the biggest complain that most of you have about the game (it can be altered by changing a couple of lines of code), then is more than ok to me.  :malaika:

Let's play and Shut up about keys ! :)  ;D ;D
From spanish language: "are eager to touch the eggs" ;)

That's indirectly the same... consoles don't use the "up to jump" feature because of the gamepad :)


Probably because the RIGHT+UP+Z combination doesn't give the unintentional X pressing that happens with MSX machines/emulators ;)

CURSORS+X+C is almost the same and the problem I mentioned doesn't happen ;)

I prefeare the Jon option about jumping: A-> shoot   B-> jump   up-> NOTHING!  or go up on stairs.
I hate when, in some games like IOZM, when I play with my gamepad, accidentaly I push up and the guy jumps when I dont want... and sometimes it makes me lose one up!
Also, with that, the space key can rest a little more because we use it in lot of games. (X and Z are good options)
But, of course, maybe, the best option for everybody can be a "configure" option inside the game.

Makinavaja

I love you, maki! Could we play pong together again? :angel:

Yes, we can... at next Barcelona MSX users meeting, 22th June, l'hangar, Bcn

It seems I opened the Pandora's Box with my comment. Feel kind of guilty now :-\

I was just wanted to show my completely personal and subjective point of view; SPACE+M (or SPACE+GRAPH or SHIFT+Z) "smells" like MSX to me, so I found weird the use of other combination.
About "up to jump", it's very uncomfortable to me (it's comfortable on cursors but unbearable with joystick/joypad), so "button to jump" is fine for me.
What about having both keys at the same time? Z and SPACE for one trigger and X and M for the other? Would it cause key shadowing problems?

Congratulations Jon!! ... It's a funny game with very pretty graphics. It has little details that make me feel like it was a game of 80's.
It seems like a Relevo's spin off of "Bubble Bobble" with Malaika in the lead role :malaika: !!! . Do not take it as a bad thing ;)
Continue the good work!!  ;D

Thnx nenefranz! your comments about graphics, coming from you, are highly appreciated! Gommy gfx are really cool, keep up the good job!  :)

This is one of games with more professional look. Really pretty graphics, very msx, but the playability is slow and monotone, the game gets boring fast. It's not a very original idea, a bubble bobble/snow bros/... clone (original? seriously) with the Malaika sprite. Everything shows that the game has not been tested at all and another proof is that it has need two fixes already.

Btw, here you have a video from Vampier with a full speedrun of the game, with some helps from openMSX ;-)
spoiler alert: it is a full run with all stages and the final ending. I just share it for the lazyest ones ;-)

You can watch it here (http://youtu.be/_uheepkq7JU) :D

Bah... too late, I finished the game yesterday^^

What is the meaning of this! :police:
I don't understand Espanol ;)

Oh and ZX, is great for PC (and ZX Spectrum!)... we are more used to Space + Grph. But I really don't think it's a *that* big problem, even though i was a bit confused at the titlescreen, pressing Space, Space, Enter, and then thinking "huh? no keyboard support then?"

Woops, spanish! I'll change it layer SORRY!! :(

Needless to say that graphically Malaika is very attractive, the game genre is very appealing, and both the main character and the enemies are charismatic. But... most of this very positive aspects come from a previous game.

Besides, I think the game somehow fails in the gameplay. Maybe I should play a little more, but the game didn't challenge me. Not because it is too easy, but because all I have to do to go through the game is to shoot. If I just jump a little and shoot then I go through the game. No need of a strategy. No need to think. As I said, no challenge.

In my opinion, some more testing on the game, some more complex enemy behaviors, and some more complex screens forcing the player to think and to move a little more would lead to an exciting game. But as it has been presented, it is not. Very nice and colorful and charismatic, but not challenging and, thus, not as fun as it could have been.

Hi Mr Spock, thanx for your review!! Anyway, I don't agree with your opinion. I really think the game is quite challenging, and I bet you don't finish it with no continues *that* easy ;). I agree with you on your thought that the game is a "no brainer", but that does not make it non-challenging and non-exciting: in fact, stages keep going complex and different enemies, as jumpers, shooters or flyers, with different speeds and grades of intelligence appear during the game, in a balanced way.

I think it is a matter of taste, and you stated your opinion very clear... but I would ask you to play it a little more, in a "serious" way (no continues, etc): I bet you'll see it is not a piece of cake or something done in a rush with no work in the details ;)

I didn't said it was too easy... it is more like the kind of difficulty is not the one I expected in this game genre. I was not expecting a "brainer" game, I know this is not a King's Valley, but some more than just shooting and passing screens. Some more challenge. But you are right: I'll give it a second chance in the next days and play it a bit more.

Moreover, I did not say you programmed it in a rush (did you? ;-) ), but it is true that some details are not as polished as it should. Nonetheless, I'll play it a little more.

However... I couldn't play the fixed version on my Turbo R. Sort of strange problem: the menu appeared, but the slime-option-selector just moved randomly. I tried in on my A1ST both using LOADROM and TRLOAD on the SD/MMC.

Thnx Mr Spock! Hey, perhaps you play it agan and you still don't find it any funny! Perhaps it is just me, that I find it enjoyable just because it's my "children" ;-)

Abuot the game not working with loaders in turbor, dunno: it is a simple 16kb rom using 16kb ram, and it just uses bios for everything, even sticks calls or vram transfers: did not get any problen on the machines I've tested it, so I've got no clue... Playing it on cartridge did not made any failure here :-/.

Try with ODO and force restart with CTRL. It works that way on my TR from the SD too.

Awesome graphics!!  :o

Congratulations!  :D

Very good graphics, professional looking and pleasant music and fx, in the line of Relevo games. I had a parenthessis in my "gamer live" and, although I'm trying to update me about the classics listening podcasts and reading blogs, there are games that I didn't known, like Bubble Bobble. So to me it's the first time I play a game like this and I found it entertaining. And with this nice music, graphics and different behaviours of the enemies as you are advancing, it's easy to pass and pass screens. One of my favorites too!

Excellent game, Mr. Jon!

I have played countless hours playing with my brother to Bubble Bobble, Snow Bross and Tumble Pop so may be I will not be completely objective.

Your games are always professionals, in graphics and musics and Malaika is definitely a Relevo's daughter. But what I would empathize is the perfect playability of Malaika. I mean, the level design, the difficulty, the enemy design...

If I have to mark some improvement at Malaika is that I don't feel comfortable with the shoots beind stopped by knocked enemies. :P But, hey, may be it's a personal taste.

Would love to see this game for two players. It would be incredible. I suppose 16 kb is simply not enough space.

Congratulations!

I finally managed to play Malaika a bit more! So now I can make more specific comments :P

First of all, there are two things I'd like to say. First, in spite of the "things that I don't like", Malaika is a more than decent entry for the MSXDev. I decided not to vote it because of the tech problems that were patched past the deadline and because of some of the playability issues that I'm going to mention later. Without the technical issue, I think I would have given it 1 point and without the playability issues, it could have been one of my favourites. Second... I have nothing personal with Malaika. I feel I have to say that, because sometimes in the forums things go personal when they should not. I'm simply writing about it because platformers are one of my favourite game genres.

So, let's begin. One of the most evident problems is that due to their behavior, enemies tend to concentrate on the same place. Of course not always, but almost. In the first screens this is more than evident, especially in the screen with "RELEVO" written on top. In that screen, just to put an example, very soon all enemies concentrate on the same platform leading to a lot of flickering. But flickering is not actually a problem. The problem is of playability: when this happens, winning does not depend on strategy or ability or being fast, it only depends on luck. The only way to go through many of the screens is trial and error.

In general, the game depends too much on luck, on the "unfair" kind of difficulty. Thus, the game is "easy" because of the continues. Without them, it becomes almost unplayable because it leaved me with the feeling that winning or losing was outside my hands. Slightly improving the level design and the enemy AI would greatly improve the game playability, that's my opinion.

On the technical side, I found some flaws, not as important as the playability one. Also, I think you may be able to solve them easily. First, do the game speed increases as you kill enemies to make it more difficult? Or is it a problem of the engine? Second, about the sprite flickering. In a game with so many cases with too much enemies on a row, flickering should be exceptionally good. And it is not... I am not an expert on this issue, but I remember some threads here and in MRC about good ways of doing flikering. Finally, not sure about that but... are there some collision-detection problems? or it was that sometimes I don't know who hit me due to sprite flickering?

So... that's it. Nice Dev entry, for sure!

Thank you, Mr. Spock!

I'll give a look at those technical issues you've pointed, as every possible improvement to the game is more than positive! ;) Regarding the random deaths and problems with enemy behaviors I just disagree: level design makes you die, and enemies are strategically placed in specific stages to concentrate and force you go where they are, but anyway this will lead to a long and perhaps useless discussion. What's really true is I really apreciate you've taken the time to try it again and review it.

Anyway, I'm planning a future "Malaika 2" with this very style but into a 32KB ROM with more enemies, scenarios and items/powerups: perhaps you could join the testing crew and/or help on level design? :)

I think that I said enough about this game on older posts.
But, after playing it more I think, again, that this game needs to be faster or, just like mrpock says, make it faster with last enemies (like bubble bobble)
Also, there are the sprites flickering when there are a lot of enemies on the same platform. With a better level design, or just controlling on how much enemies can be on the same platform could be a good idea, but maybe I'm asking for too much... so please ignore me if Im saying something impossible...

Good work jon, good work!
Im waiting for that extended version!