MSXDev'06 #06: Sudoku

Another MSXDev'06 entry has just been released! And it's one that's better left untouched by those developers who're still working on their entries, or they'll miss their deadline. From Daniel Vik and Vincent van Dam comes Sudoku, a very polished MSX version from this widely popular puzzle.

With only a few weeks left, it's safe to assume that games are in their polishing stage at this moment. There's no doubt about it that more games will be released in the next few weeks, with some of these games being highly anticipated ones. It seems that the end of 2006 will be great once again, thanks to the MSXDev challenge! In total, six entries for the MSXdev'06 competition have been released by now.

Relevant Link: MSXDev website

Comments (23)

By dvik

Prophet (2200)

11-12-2006, 20:30

@msxdev crew: The screenshot on the website is only 256x192 and the sudoku gfx was designed with the border in mind, so the screenshot looks a bit cut off. Maybe do a 272x240 screenshot instead?

By mars2000you

Enlighted (6432)

11-12-2006, 20:55

I can fix that !

By mars2000you

Enlighted (6432)

11-12-2006, 21:07

Already fixed !!!

By dvik

Prophet (2200)

11-12-2006, 21:21

Nice (and it worked well with your web design too)

By viejo_archivero

Paragon (1395)

11-12-2006, 21:26

By wolf_

Ambassador_ (10093)

12-12-2006, 01:52

* bows for the sprite overlay \o/

By sirpaul484

Rookie (23)

12-12-2006, 04:52

looks like a solid game.. I enjoy it

By KNM

Master (172)

12-12-2006, 12:25

Hey!Nice work!Congratulations!

By dvik

Prophet (2200)

12-12-2006, 20:12

* bows for the sprite overlay \o/

Thanks. We're using quite a few sprites (in fact there are 32 sprites both in the menu and in the actual game)

By wolf_

Ambassador_ (10093)

13-12-2006, 01:17

I had to count actually, at first sight I couldn't exactly figure out what was going on. But well, double mode and cells not being a traditional 16x16 etc. helps.

By dvik

Prophet (2200)

14-12-2006, 08:59

@snout: Maybe you can use this game in your emulator comparison? I just tried it in a couple of different emus with quite interesting results (listed in order of how I think they performed):

blueMSX - run without glitches
openMSX - run without glitches (minor flicker on the menu image and screensplits are visible because borders are very wide)
fMSX - runs pretty smooth except sound is distorted in game and not present in intro, no support for big sprites and missing split from green to black.
paraMSX - distorded sound, bad split on intro, no green border at the end of game screen.
NLMSX - Big problems on logo, flicker on menu image, splits are way off in 50Hz machines.
redMSX - timing problems, Seems to miss frames. Missing green to black split in game screen.
ruMSX - Major sound problems, no split on intro, no borders on game screen.
brMSX - hangs with a black screen
----
mess - wasn't able to run the rom image for some reason (I'm no expert on mess so maybe some user error on my side)
MSXPLAYer - don't have a version that can run rom files

OCM - Haven't tested but it would be interesting to know. Can anyone try? (I actually think it will run without problems)

NOTE: The game engine is different from MSX1 and MSX2, so running the game in emulated MSX1 may give very different result from MSX2. Typically the MSX2 version is emulated better than the MSX1 version.

By Huey

Prophet (2694)

14-12-2006, 14:15

So tricks over gameplay for this one?

By wolf_

Ambassador_ (10093)

14-12-2006, 14:34

gameplay? what gameplay? it's a sudoku, what gameplay do you need?

I'd say this version is a very good MSX version of the game, it looks decent. The only thing I'm not sure about is the titlescreen with that flickering pic. While I get the idea of having more colors, I wonder whether it would also have been possible to make a decent picture without flickering, just by doing good pixels. (Just look at Malaika and the cancelled Lux, good pics without flickering)

By Huey

Prophet (2694)

14-12-2006, 15:00

Well; The game just feels more like a demo than a game to me Which isn't a bad thing ofcourse but i'm a very practical guy. I just don't see the added value of the screensplits for example.

If I look at the entry technicaly. I think this one is the most advanced (yet).

By dvik

Prophet (2200)

14-12-2006, 18:05

gameplay was the most important thing when developing the game. A lot of effort was put into making the game feel smooth. And we added some extra sudoku features, such as when you have two numbers on the same row somewhere and you press c (check) you'll see where your conflicts are. The splits are just to get nice gfx and to utilize a bit more than just the draw area (and I can agree with wolf_ about the menu picture but I couldn't resist using the 105 color images for something )

By Manuel

Ascended (19302)

14-12-2006, 19:29

dvik: about the borders: use this:
set display_deform horizontal_stretch
this only works in the SDLGL-PP renderer, for now.

By snout

Ascended (15187)

15-12-2006, 09:17

hmmm... I'm not that much of a Sudoku fan, but I really like the way this has been done on MSX! Nice MSX1/MSX2 differences... which gives it quite the 'pro' touch. Big up!

By Manuel

Ascended (19302)

15-12-2006, 18:41

By the way, what are the differences between the MSX1 and MSX2 version? I don't see differences, to be honest.

By dvik

Prophet (2200)

15-12-2006, 20:03

I don't think there are too many visible differences between MSX1 and MSX2. The game engine is quite different though. MSX1 synchronizes everything using VINT while MSX2 uses both VINT and HINT. MSX2 also has a different palette. There are also minor differences between 50/60Hz.

By Latok

msx guru (3927)

28-12-2006, 00:07

1chipMSX - runs pretty smooth, the split in the intro screen doesn't work though. Apart from that, I don't see any difference with the game running on a real MSX turboR. Screensplits in the game itself are visible, right? I see some flickering on the top and bottom of the screen. Both on 1chipMSX and real MSX turboR.

By dvik

Prophet (2200)

28-12-2006, 20:26

I haven't tested the game on a TR (since netiher me or I think Vincent don't have one). The splits are clean in all MSXes up to MSX2+ though. So if there are flicker on the OCM its probably a timing bug in the OCM.
Of course there is a chance that the update I did a week ago or so was not 100% correct but I tested it quite well.

Also it depends on how wide your borders are. If they are wide and the flicker is at the end it may explain it. My borders aren't that wide and I don't know how to make them wider (would have been nice to do to make sure the spit is timed as good as it can be)

By dvik

Prophet (2200)

28-12-2006, 20:32

The intro screen is done in screen 0, and most emulators doesn't handle timing in screen 0 very well. So in OCM it could be that just screen 0 is not working correctly. Typically emus handles timing in other screen modes much better.

Just curious, does the OCM show the bottom screensplit in the game correctly (should be about 8 pixels below the sudoku board). This is another thing most emus don't emulate correctly (for example the borderscroller in MSX Unleashed).

By Latok

msx guru (3927)

31-12-2006, 12:57

I'd say the bottom screensplit works just fine on 1chipMSX. No strange behaviour there

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