Airport - WIP

[Xavi92]

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Airport (WIP)

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Username: Xavi92
Project Title: Airport
Time to Complete: Still in progress
SDK: PSXSDK
Genre: Simulation
Latest Release: https://github.com/XaviDCR92/Airport/latest
In Development: Yes
Initial Release Date: 2017
Last Date Updated: 03 JAN 2021
Controller: DUALSHOCK
Players: 2
Memory Card: N/A
Languages: Eng
Region: Currently PAL
Burn and Play: Yes
Executable Included: No
Source Included: Yes

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This is a game that I have been working on for a few months now. Since currently I don't have that much time to dedicate on it, progress is quite slow, as you can see. The idea of this game is to play as an ATC (Air Traffic Controller) and control all inbound and outbound flights appropiately. Source code, as well as final BIN/CUE, are available for download.

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Video link (proxied through Invidious):
https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=ecAIbxQDJeY

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Source code available at https://github.com/XaviDCR92/Airport
Latest release available at https://github.com/XaviDCR92/Airport/releases/latest

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[Administrator]

That is really cool! Excellent!!

[Xavi92]

Thanks a lot, Shadow! Your support is encouraging me to keep on this project.

[gwald]

Impressive man! keep up the good work!

[Shendo]

Neat, I like it. You captured the feel of those isometric tactic games on a PS1.

[Xavi92]

Some more work

https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=ZT8Wq8K2nM8

[Xavi92]

Some more progress. This time, also a funny bug happening at the end of the video...
https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=OqJttsxL51Y

[Xavi92]

Time for a new video. This time I had to make some important internal modifications because sprites being rendered in bad order (e.g.: aircraft would be overlapping building sprites). Also, aircraft list menu has been simplified quite a lot.

https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=NyR83cbrh28

[Xavi92]

Since CDDA support is currently broken (only works under PCSX-r), I have uploaded on Github a tiny copy of the final BIN/CUE image including application data. Hope you enjoy it!
https://github.com/XaviDCR92/Airport/tree/master/Bin

[Xavi92]

Development has been on a halt for some time, but I think it's time to take it on again. This is a simple map editor I've built using Qt/C++.
https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=YKBQ2ePsuis

[gwald]

wow, that's very pro!
Looks good!

[Xavi92]

Thanks a lot! I'll post a new update within the next days about the game progress.

[Xavi92]

More progress:

* New 16x16 level featuring 2 runways.
* New level selection menu.
* Framerate improvements.
* Added "Next aircraft: # seconds" information on aircraft list.

https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=BpvBzIPp8iE

[mxtp]

Checked out your game. It's great, i like it and your graphics engine is great. Couldn't get it to run in PCSX on Linux but was able to play it on my Raspberry Pi with Retropie and there it worked with lr-pcsx-rearmed.
I've played it and i have to admit the learning curve is steep.

Issues i had
-Options menu is not available, but i see MemoryCard in your source
-Fonts and Button Sprite's are a bit hard to read
-when scrolling, tiles on the left side of the screen which are partially visible disappear

Suggestions
- sound and explosion sprite when 2 airplane collide
-more levels, please (some easier ones to get into it easier, and some harder ones for experienced)
-support for Playstation Mouse

[Xavi92]

Thanks a lot for your feedback. It makes me very glad to see someone liked my game. Since this is your first post here, is it too much to ask where did you get to find my game?

Anyway, let me explain myself about the issues you have reported:

-Options menu is not available, but i see MemoryCard in your source

That's true: I developed a library (MemCard.c/MemCard.h) which builds on top of PSXSDK's memory card functions. Only loading from memory card is possible right now, but writing to it shouldn't be too complicated, either.
Actually, if you press while the game is running, it should show you the memory card contents.
On the other hand, as you said "Options" menu is currently disabled. Take into account the game is in an early stage and many things are still missing.

-Fonts and Button Sprite's are a bit hard to read

I've heard that criticism from other people as well. Fonts being 8x8 square pixels don't really help much - probably making them a bit bigger would improve that. Either way, I'm not a graphics designer, so probably I'll end up looking for free fonts out there.

-when scrolling, tiles on the left side of the screen which are partially visible disappear

That shouldn't be happening with PCSX-r. Probably you are running another gfx plugin. Airport has been tested using P.E.Op.S. Soft Driver 1.18. I've only experienced such problem with pSX (psxfin) emulator, but it looks fine on my computer and under real hardware (tested on SCPH-102 and SCPH-5502). This video was recorded using PCSX-r: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpvBzIPp8iE&t=31s

- sound and explosion sprite when 2 airplane collide

It just makes me laugh this being the very first thing everyone suggests me to do!

-more levels, please (some easier ones to get into it easier, and some harder ones for experienced)

I wrote the map editor for Airport a few months ago, so until then it was difficult to write new levels manually. Game design is something I'd like to do after the whole engine (or at least most of it) is done. Only this way I can create more exciting levels and playability.

-support for Playstation Mouse

Even if source code is not that prepared for it, I had PlayStation Mouse was in mind even before the game concept was conceived. However, PSXSDK lacked support for it, so I bought one to develop new drivers for it.

Again, I'm very happy that you enjoyed the game! Even if the PSX is a niche platform, one of the reasons why I like writing games is for people to enjoy them.

[mxtp]

I found your game on this website in the homebrew section. I'm starting in development for Playstation. Researching and get what's needed to develop on the Playstation. I've been going through stuff where the source is available to get a better understanding. Modding before start coding. I saw that yours is still active and give you some feedback. I also think it's great when editors are provided like your map editor. Thus, the community can contribute with translations or content and it is up to the programmer to decide whether or not to include them. Nice that you host your project on github.
Thank you for the key combination to access save menu.
The problem with scrolling was solved immediately by changing the BIOS in PCSX-r. I had used the SCPH-1002 BIOS because I also use it as a console. With SCPH-5502 BIOS it works great in emulation.
I also tried to run it on my SCPH-1002 with modchip. Without success, it got stuck while loading in the same place every time. I have tried different blanks, burners and speeds. Made a video of it, maybe it'll help you locate why it's happening.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjWbl4iKj6A

[Administrator]

Looks like the CPU generated an exception and the system locked up.

[Xavi92]

It could be due to several reasons (incompatible compile-time flags, file not found, etc.). It is difficult to guess without debug output.
If you need a ready-to-burn CD-ROM image, please let me know and I will provide you one.

[MrQuetch]

Hi, Xavi92.

I like your Airport game you have coming along. I hope you can continue working on it. Do you plan on releasing your source for the newer versions? It would be cool to learn from. Either way, I look forward to your progress regardless. I'm familiar with the C programming language, but the PS1 is pretty new to me. I'm glad there is a forum where I can receive the help I need.

Thanks.

[Xavi92]

Do you plan on releasing your source for the newer versions? It would be cool to learn from.

Source code is always updated into Github as soon as I make significant progress, so you can already check it out and learn as much as possible from it.