State of the Rewrite

[SpookyAndrew]

[EDIT] I think i'm done - check out the techbeta!

Goals:
- enable TBP to run on machines with lower specs
- remove the need for XNA, DotNet and Directx install
- allow for fast easy port to Linux, MacOS, etc.
- enable the ability to fine tune the game
* change resolution
* turn shader on and off
* etc.
- add an 'easy' level set to ease some folks up to the difficulty level
- per level checkpoint save file
- support more controllers/joysticks while maintaining the Xbox360 support

Solution:
- rewrite entire code base to C with OpenGL under SDL as the graphics library
- still using Bink from Rad Game Tools as the video player (its REALLY good!)
- OpenAL for sound

Current State:
DONE:
- game play - AFAICT it plays EXACTLY like the original
- main menu
- extras - mostly done
- pause menu - mostly done
- controller/keyboard input
- rumble on 360 controller
- video player integration
- general sound functionality
- font rendering subsystem
- conversion of old *.bin files to new
- very strange v-synch vs tearing speed issue on old hardware (this was HARD)
- introduce a 'debug' mode that logs everything
- Options
-- video setup - graphics
--- resolution (left right arrow menu, note on optimal res)
---- confirm with timer messagebox
---- add pixel-multiple resolution to res list for windowed mode
--- scaling: pixel perfect, maintain aspect ratio, stretch to fit
--- shader level: off, simple, full
--- parallax: simple, full
--- fullscreen, windowed
--- paper texture: on, off
--- v-synch: on, off
--- reset default settings
-- controller - graphics
--- add deadzone adjustment for gamepads
--- add new buttons for generic gamepads / joysticks to sheet
--- make sure dpad works in menu system as the analog stick
--- make sure that keyboard works along with other control systems in game play
--- integrate controller customization
-- main - graphics
--- music volume
--- sfx volume
--- checkbox for restart confirmation - this is for speed runs
--- language selection part - hint hint! -DONE for now
--- delete save files and blood badges
- Pause
-- connect to options
- End of level title screen
-- connect to leaderboards
- Chapter selection
-- connect to leaderboards
- Extras
-- bonus levels
--- connect to leaderboards
- config
-- added FORCE_30FPS flag and function
- Sound
-- effects with stereo panning
-- music with girl-hurt filter
- Ending video, credit and credit-sequence video
- some sort of z sorting weirdness ... i have an idea ...
- parallax in non-720p res shows vertical line from fractional error
- Can't set keyboard input, only responds to ESC once you try entering a new key
- When changing joypad directional input to d-pad you press B to exit instead of A to accept
- extras messed up in 853x480 in pixel perfect, windowed
- typo in Halloween level - see label - receive not recieve
- redoing a level results in end credits
- gallery view is messed up
- checkpoint ring collision bubble has the top edge missing
- gamepad vs joystick button assignment issue
- With dpad input selected, when changing resolutions it bugged out and went way too fast, after moving to another option it went back to normal - can't replicate !!!
- if I "save and exit" in an area with buzzsaws, the buzzsaw sound effect remains in the menus and so on.
- there is a TONNE more in the section - i've forgotten some stuff and used a broad brush in listing what is done.
- tweak sound
- add screen blanking to none full-fill in full screen - add as flag to config.txt
- add '[' and ']' to possible bind keys
- Leaderboards
-- set-up high scores arrays and names, etc.
- Steam integration
-- add new blood badges and leaderboards to steam
---- add bonus levels to leaderboards
-- change cloud save settings on steam

TO DO:
- Testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing, testing

Please note - the list is not exhaustive. Often, new issues come up as i code.

When most of the above minus the Steam integration is done i will put this up in the Beta section for general testing of video, audio and input issues. The Beta version of the game will not be able to register Achievements and post scores to Leaderboards.

When will this all FINALLY be done? Heh, as soon as i can ... you can watch my progress here. I'll update as i go.

Thank you all for your patience.

[pon]

Thank you for all your hardwork on this!

[Revelanth]

I must admit that I had lost all hope in ever seeing TBP rewrite being done due to the long time without any news of its progress. I'm very glad to know that you're still working on it

[SLAVA UKRAINI]

Thanks for the information. I'll be sure to update my review of the game!

Good luck with the rewrite and thank you for updating this awesome game for us demanding PC users.

[Jalorda]

Nice to see this return again. I think any other dev would've given up partway and left it in a unfinished state. Have a squirt for your troubles

[autangerine]

Thank you for all your effort. I'll admit I'm looking forward to generic controller support. It made me smile to see that you'll try to do it. Thanks!

[neruocomp]

Just got the game and its great

[Warpstealer]

It is nice to see you show the community that you are trying to work on it. Though I may not be able to play at this moment, I will be patient and understand that fixing issues requires time. I can't wait to finally get to play your game.

[Kzz]

Nice work, its great to see the effort you've been doing with the rewrite. If we ever lost hope, this just made us find it again. Thnx for the hard work. We'll be patient and wait until we can play it XD

[Wormwood]

It's good to see there are still improvements being made. Been loving this game since I got it.

[SLAVA UKRAINI]

I can't believe this game escaped my radar for so long. :P

[Ace]

Okay it's bugging me, how do I get the sweet tbp emoticon?

[SLAVA UKRAINI]

Probably from crafting a TBP badge.

[Revelanth]

They're the best set of Steam emotes imo:

[alcrøwhol poisoning]

Glad to see the rewrite is still taking place. Hopefully this doesn't interfere too greatly with your other projects.

Originally posted by SpookyAndrew:

often, issues come up as i code.

;_;

Ganbatte, oniichan!

[SpookyAndrew]

2014.06.27 - What i'm working on:
-- music with girl-hurt filter

The issue is that we made the game in XNA and used the XACT tool for sound. This gave us access to the "Q" filter and the "frequency" filter, which we made use of in making the music sound "crunchy" when the player is down to one heart. After some searching i found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_factor . My maths don't suck but seriously!?! And AFAIK there is no Q filter for OpenAL so what to do? My initial idea was to approximate this using the mixer/equalizer but it soon became clear that the result would be off and we need the music to sound as close to what we had as possible. I could write the filter math and run that on the raw buffer as the data is fed to the soundcard but this seems very dicey and not particularily portable (we want this ported to Linux and Mac). Then i landed on the idea of prerecording the music in full "hurt-girl" state and cross fade between the regular and hurt tracks as needed. Problem is that OpenAL doesn't seem to have a simple way of keeping two sound tracks synchronized. So here is where the experimental coding comes in. This is today.

btw, if anyone can offer suggestion/ideas - i'm all ears :) Thanks!