ZX Spectrum by Gandulf - EN

Shadow Fields, once it is ready for release, will be available for download on the itch.io platform Shadow Fields Itch.IO There will initially be a completely free download option, in TZX and TAP formats, containing the full game. Later on, I may publish the source code, documentation, and development materials on the same platform.

For stage management I’ve developed two external tools in C#: Tap Manager: It takes the original TAP and the TAPs for the different stages, strips their headers, assigns a new type flag, and recalculates the checksum byte. This way, once the code is assembled, I end up with a single TAP containing all the blocks (the game is not a multiload; it loads everything at the start). Path Generator: It creates a route pattern for the enemies, with random components, so I don’t have to design them manually or reuse the same ones. At the moment there are 3 working stages, each with its corresponding final boss. In the menu, the “Credits” and “Hi-Scores” options are now functional, each with new music assigned to them. I’m including a video where you can see everything in motion. I have added a cheat/developer menu, to make testing easier and for less skilled gamers 😄 Note: The video is particularly choppy . With the latest Spectaculator update my license stopped working, so I’m using SpecEmu...

I’ve been struggling with the game’s sound. For the first time I left the beeper for effects, and everything now goes through the AY-3-8912. It’s taken me quite a while to understand how trackers work to handle sound effects. As for trackers, I’ve tested three engines: Vortex Tracker : I had already worked with VT for music at certain points in previous games, but not for sound effects. The player takes up quite a lot of space, and I haven’t found a way to generate a relocatable source to integrate into the code, so for now I’ve discarded it. WYZ Tracker : It looks promising, but I haven’t seen a way to import; it only works with files generated in Augusto Ruiz’s own tracker. I think to use it I’d need to get in touch with the authors, and I’m not sure it’s supported. I’ve set it aside for now. Arkos Tracker : This has been my provisional choice, at least. I haven’t had any problems integrating the player into the code (though you need to use a couple of external tools to be able to us...

 I’m still working on the game. I’ve made a bunch of code optimizations that aren’t visible, and on top of that I’ve added: Support for power-ups Functional scorer (you can see the points and the available weapon) As for the game engine, there’s not much left: fine-tuning collision handling, adding some animation to the ship (although Zynaps doesn’t have any and nobody seems to care… 😄), and levels management. After that, I still need to work on the menu part, but that’s not part of the engine—it’ll be the last thing. A link to the latest test: See you later!

 I’ve added basic management for the final bosses. The sprites are in full color, so I can’t give them smooth movement. If I want smooth movement, I have to sacrifice the color and make them monochrome (with the bosses having free movement, I can’t use the tricks I apply to the tiles to avoid color clash). Reminder: All the graphics are made by me, and I’m not a graphic artist. Some I like, others not so much. We’ll see what happens with this by the end of development. Here’s the video: See you later!

Stage destruction is now active , and the scoreboard is up and running.  I’ve added a shield bar to make things fairer, so you won’t get wiped out on the very first hit.  Difficulty settings will be selectable from the menu, with several different factors to tweak the challenge. Here's the video link: See you later!