Karoshi MSX Community

Title: Gommy Medieval Defender
Publisher: Retroworks
Developer: Dimension Z - NeneFranz
Year: 2013
Genre:Arcade
Code: DMZ-004

Game size/RAM reqs: 16KB ROM / 16KB RAM

HISTORY
In the medieval age wars used to be a routine and in Gommyland castle, everything was ready for the enemy invasion. The kingdom was at stake, and at dawn the enemy armies stood in front of the wall. Gommy took his armor and got ready to defend the place together with his mates... but everything wasn't so easy: his superiors, the king, vassals, servants and soldiers had disappeared.

He looked everywhere for them but the battle was about to start. What to do? Finally, he decided to start the battle and beat everyone who dared to climb the high and imposing walls of the castle.

Will you help him in his mission?



** Spanish translation **

Hola a todos, aprovechando que hoy 13-05-2013 se cumple el 5º Mes desde que se inicio el desarrollo del juego, vengo a presentarlo de manera oficial al concurso. El juego esta practicamente terminado al 95% y empieza la fase de Betatesteo.

HISTORIA:
En la era medieval las guerras estaban a la orden del día y en el castillo de Gomilandia, todo estaba preparado para la invasión enemiga. El reino estaba en juego y al amanecer los ejércitos invasores ya estaban a pie de muro. Gommy se puso su armadura y se dispuso a defender la plaza junto a los suyos... pero no todo era tan fácil, sus superiores, el rey, súbditos, sirvientes y soldados habían desaparecido.

Los buscó por todas partes pero la batalla iba a comenzar ¿qué hacer? Finalmente decidió empezar la batalla y despachar a todo aquel que osara escalar las altas e imponentes paredes del castillo.

¿Querrás ayudarle en su misión?

** Spanish translation **


(http://imageshack.us/a/img801/8868/gommy42.png)  (http://imageshack.us/a/img209/7517/gommy43.png)  (http://imageshack.us/a/img198/4433/gommy44.png)

Full English Pack
http://www.dimensionzgames.com/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/download.php?id=26

Pack Completo en Castellano
http://www.dimensionzgames.com/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/download.php?id=25

Great, a new entry!! Btw, I've made some corrections to the entry post, mostly because this MSXdev'13 forum is an english forum, and you were writing your game info first in spanish: please, let's keep it international! ;)

As I've said, a nice one. Keep them coming!

Nice to see all that extra colour over Spectrum original! :) As a fan of Teodoro´s very colourful title screen  ;), I wish Pagantipaco could make even more colourful version of Spectrum´s loading screen to be used as Gommy´s title screen. :)

It exists a colorful new redrawn version of the title screen. ;)  http://karoshi.auic.es/index.php?topic=2438.0 (http://karoshi.auic.es/index.php?topic=2438.0)
All graphics are redrawn for this new MSX version of Gommy. Obviously are based on the ZX's originals, but are totally news. :)
More graphics were made for this version, although you can't see them in the game. ;)

Historical info:
The Teodoro's title screen was drawn by Pagantipaco ... but the MSX version was recolored by me :)

Thank you for this very educational history lesson, NeneFranz! :) I am happy to hear you did recolorization of Teodoro! :) Maybe I should play Teodoro again and check again that title screen or manual if nenefranz was mentioned there, thought now I have some slight feeling that in that screen there read nenefranz.  ??? Though some time has passed since I played it last time. :)

Why we can´t see more graphics in MSX version?  ;) Is it a secret?!  :D I guess somebody drawn more graphics than memory or game design allows. :) Well, that´s not a bad thing, just a pity we can´t see them. Hmmm... maybe somebody could show those not used graphics here? *hint hint* ;) Nice to see MSX version of Gommy´s "loading screen"! :) I actually liked very much of that original Spectrum loading screen too! Many thanks to the artist! :)

I have one suggestion for Gommy code, before you make a cartridge version. Please make bilingual cartridge! :) I am wishing this because my Teodoro cartridge is a spanish language game. I have nothing against spanish language, in my opinion it gives game a nice "exotic touch", :) and surely it is nice for spanish speakers to have spanish language MSX games.  I just can´t properly translate everything when I find a new question mark box, :) I understand some parts though. :) But for a non-spanish speaker, it would be easier to read english. :)

Maybe there could be a nice little language selection just after booting screen? :) Or in title screen one could press certain key to toggle between spanish and english languages. :) I hope you can fulfil my kind little wish. :)

Happy programming!

Announced on the 'other' MSXdev' website :

http://msxdev.msxblue.com/?p=1906

I'm proud to announce the release of "Gommy Medieval Defender". I have added the link to both game packages (English and Spanish). I hope you enjoy the game as much I did developing it.

Great! It's very colorful and funny! I like it ;)

Congratulations, Pepe! A really nice entry and a very playable game.

Congratulations.

This game it´s so good. I like so much of speccy version, and its MSX version is really unbelievable!

Thank you!

Luiz Eduardo
http://retrogamesrevival.blogspot.com.br/

Thanks!!  It's great for us to know that you are playing and enjoying the game.  ;D ;D ;D
Yes, it seems unbelievable that the game could fit in only 16KB. A hard work of Pepe!!

Amazing and a really top production! :o. Congrats to pepe and nenefranz, this one is a blast! :D

Excellent game ! :)

http://msxdev.msxblue.com/?p=1937

Good work.

I really had a fun time playing around with the game.
Also impressed to see the amount of content only 16kb (music, gfx etc).

Congratulations!

This game is really funny! Its mechanics is so simple but it's so amusing! I love the music also, specially that of Game Over (grrrr).

I'm afraid I can only get to the first boss. I will try harder!  :P

Just a suggestion for next versions, wouldn't be great a Hi-Score table?  ::qbiqsray::

---

Edit: I have just reached the 10th stage. F*** arrows!

I reached the 28th stage yesterday! Wow. I wonder how many stages there are!

But I will stop for now. I feel like standing on my balcony, looking down for somebody trying to climb up my wall... :griel:

@Tono: Thanks for play! You have passed the half of the game, there are 40 stages!! :)

Hi
Recently I tested the game after some gauntlet hardcore session. u_u; no comments about that session XD

About the msxdev game, I found it funny and playable, thats important, but the used colours for graphics... well, aren't they a bit weird? What I mean is that sometimes I had problems looking for enemies, and that was the colours fault, just this.  Im not a programmer and Ive never dessigned any graphics for msx, so I dont know if its possible improve it just changing the colours. 
Maybe you wanted the game look like this to increase the difficult level: those blue colors on the first level after the first boss seemed like your player were fighting at night...  As I said, Im just a player, not a programmer/designer, so excuse if I have said something harsh or weird because of my ignorance on this ^_^;

Anyway, thanks for the game! Keep working like this :)

Don't worry makinavaja, I don't get your comment as a harsh or weird comment. :)
You are right, the "blue tinted" levels take place at night, so this is the reason it's hard to see the enemies. But on the other hand, in "morning levels"  8), there shouldn't be too difficult to see the enemies, but sometimes, this problem appears. The key is the lack of space in ROM. :(  We only have space for one color template for enemies, and it isn't fit well for all levels. The game can be played although could be more difficult in some levels cause this "feature". In a bigger rom this problem could be solved.  ;)

Thanks for your comments and playing the game.  ;D ;D

Haha, I thought palette was intentionally choosen to make the game salty ;)

It's a lovely game, and the motto "easy to learn, hard to master" applies. Instant classic! I really have the feeling that the size has been hard in this particular game: I hope there will be an improved version, without the 16kB limit. You guys are definitely great as a team!

Graphics are so good than you can almost feel the wall texture, though sometimes is hard to tell what is obstacle and what is background. I love the skeleton sprite! It's a shame we can't see the front of the enemies :(
The music is catchy. But, after playing for a while, more tunes will be appreciated.
Someone suggested a hi-score table; what about an endless mode for parties competitions? A two player mode (versus) would be EPIC! (but not so easy to implement as the hiscore or the endless mode)

On the downside, there is some slow downs; specially noticeable when the archers appear :( They (and their arrows) are the only enemies that can overlap other enemies, so I guess the slow down is related to the erase/print functions...

Great job! Congratulations!

simple, addictive, technically excellent. a fantastic game. thanks

Best coded game of the contest, at least in my opinion. Nice music that really fits in the game. I don't like this kind of games so much, but it's a very good game. Congratulations !!!.

Nice and easy concept, reminds me of the the early arcade games :)

It has some visibility issues, with the enemies vs the walls, but I've read it will be improved in the extended version... I really hope so :). IMHO The playability would improve a lot if two rocks could be used at the same time, and you could control in some way the direction where the rocks roll after falling over an obstacle. I wish you to consider that for the extended version ;)

@phsoft: I'm glad to know you like the game. Thanks.  ;D

@habish: Thanks! It was a very hard work of Pepe  8) (with help of some people) to implement all features of the game in only 16KB.

@Imanok: Thanks!! ... we are taking note of all suggestions. There are two suggestions that seem to repeat: enemies visibility and ability to shot out two rocks. The first one I think that could be solved easily. And the second one we will think how to do it. More improvements will come!!

About the rocks direction... I know it is random, but it feels unnatural when the rock falls over a border and rolls to the inside of the platform, instead of rolling out and continue falling.

 ;D ;D ;D ;D  you are right "TheNestruo" ;)  ... this is the third suggestion repeated!! KITCHEN EAR!!  ;D ;D ;D
All these ideas aren't in the original game, but could be an improve in the gameplay.

One of my first top 3 games that finally don't get into my final votes...

I'm really sorry, as it is a really well done MSX adaptation from the original game. In this aspect, the MSX recreation, the game just shines: the character looks amazing, also rocks and scenarios: perhaps the enemies mixes a bit too much with the walls, but I can deal with it. Also the final bosses are awesomely detailed. In the coding department, it is obvious the hard work done to make it fit in just 16KB! So it has not been the excellent MSX conversion, but I guess the game itself: sometimes is too random, enemies go slow and suddenly speedy, when you drop a rock and hit an obstacle, you can not knoe where the rock is going to go (the logical way would have been to go to the most near corner of the object the rocks collides).

That's the reason why I prefered other games: it was about the gaming experience they gave to me. Gommy is funny, but perhaps needs some twists in its gameplay or how the main engine is concepted, mostly on how the rocks work and change direction. Anyway, a really really good entry, a top one: it is just that this year is too difficult to decide. Congrats for the release!

This is my favourite game in the competition, professional, a lot of SFXs and music, a playability well tested (really fun and always asking me for playing one game more), the controls answer fast, the sprites move fast and smooth, works even in a TR, no problems in PAL/NTSC, professional package(manual, stickers), ... well, as i said its my favourite entry in the competition, what are you waiting? PLAY IT!!

Well... nice game, but with some huge problems. Most of them have already been said. For example, graphics are confusing and often the enemies can barely be seen over the background. Also, enemies are pattern based and, thus, have blocky motion. Sprites would have been much better, especially in a game where enemies move vertically so that it should be easy to avoid having too much sprites horizontally.

Also, losing a live when failing a shot during boss battles is... annoying. I found myself in game over several times without knowing why... until I realized that missing shot means missing live :P

So, in my opinion this could have been a nice game but too much wrong design decisions have been taken. Also, surprisingly,  the Speccy version has more details and complexity than the MSX one... So, it seems that some of the design mistakes are only in the MSX port...

@MrSpock: Thanks for you opinion and playing the game.  ;D ;D
We don't agree with all your opinions, although this is a good thing ... no all people can think the same.  ;D

The problem of visibility of some enemies in some stages could be arranged with more color templates, but with a cost of more rom space ...
space that is expensive in a 16KB ROM.  :( Any way, I can understand that some people could had problems playing the game.   :D

Although the enemies move vertically in the game, there are a lot of situations where there are more than five or six enemies in a row (maybe some players haven't reached these levels).
If enemies had been sprites there would be a lot of flickering, so it isn't easy to avoid. We think that was a good decision going to a tile based. Maybe we are wrong.

Could it be too annoying to punish the player when fails a shot?  ??? ...  You can think that it is a way to make the player think twice before shot. ;) 
Without punishment the game would be too easy, not? and then, other players could complaint us about the "easyness" of the game.  ;D

It's true that the speccy version has some details that there aren't implemented in the MSX version. We want to change this lack with an improved version.
But ZX version is a 48KB game, and MSX version is a 16KB rom  :D (not a megarom  ;D), so we were forced to take some hard decisions to finish the game  :(.
In this case the original version has the advantage over the new one. On the other hand, the MSX version is more fast, colorful and smooth than the original   :laugh: ...
so we think that isn't worse than the speccy version.  ;D   

We think that too much bad decisions weren't taken, but yes some hard decisions in order to fit the game in 16KB.  :(
All agree that game can be improved, we think so too.  ;)

A game with superb graphics and professional looking and music. But has details for me that finally has lost puntuation. Difficulty may be is not as calibrated as I expect.  Same screen sometimes I found too easy and others too much dificult. The boss (spectacular graphic) is too easy to lose all lives respect the other screens. The random behaviour of the stones breaks a little the time of the game (for me). Finally, it's tired for me differentiate soldiers from the background. But eh! it's a very good game with an important work behind. Without these details it was one of my favorites. Congratulations!

is very playable and very fun!  :D
i like this!
Congratulations!