Screen Resolution
The choice in the end was 800x480
Why?
Gradius Gaiden has excellent detail at 320x240, but in the end decided to go wide-screen as more and more games use this, also the fact that most screens are no longer 4:3 ratio this makes sense.
Plus the higher resolution makes the use of transparencies and over effects look nicer.
PlayStation Gradius Gaiden - 320x240
Blank Gradius - Heavens Gate - 800x480 Wide Screen
Title Screen Loop
After playing hundreds of shoot'em-up's on the PC Engine over the last few weeks it's been a breath of fresh air with the games.
I cannot stand stuff you cannot skip, if i've had to watch one more 'made by' and crappy intro again and games are getting worse for it. On the PSP or PC some games have three or four 'made by' short animations and logo's you have to watch.
- You should be able to skip the Intro straight to the Title screen
- No matter how important a cut scene is to the plot you should be able to skip it
- At any part of the loop like when the demo is playing or it's on the Ranking screen, if you press start it takes you straight to the Title screen
- The Game should have an Auto save feature for the scores and game settings
- In the Option Setting Screen you can set to automatically skip the 'made by' and Intro screens
Loading
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Made By GameStone - Gradius Home World (Ultra short logo screen) (Can skip to Intro)
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Intro - (Can skip to Title)
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Title Screen
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If Button Pressed Bring Up Menu
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Demo
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Ranking 1-10
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Loop+1
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If Loop < =3 goto Title
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Goto Intro
Title Screen Menu
Just a standard Press Start Button
Four standard options
Game Start, Rankings, Option , Exit
Game Over Loop
Are there any credits left? - If no Show Game Over
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If yes show Continue Screen
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Show Game Over Screen
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Is there a high score?
- If no Show Ranking - Title Screen
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If yes show Name Entry Screen
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Show Ranking Screen
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Back to Title Screen Loop
Weapons
Standard
[Speed Up] [Missile] [Double] [Laser] [Option] [?]
Three different styles depending on weapons collected.
Bottom bar is the weapon bar for the game with nothing selected, the 2nd one up (yellow coloured) is to show you which weapon you are currently on but have not selected yet, the top bar is for weapons you already have.
Ranking
| Rank | Name | Score | Age | Round/Stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 char | 3 char | 8 char | 2 char | 2-2 char |
| 99 | ABC | 99999999 | 99 | 99-99 |
| 1 | GST | 57600 | 27 | 1-6 |
| 2 | ||||
| 3 | ||||
| ... | ||||
| 10 |
Font
I've been tweaking the font over the last few weeks.
It contains:-
- Modern Font (4 colours) - Menu displays.
- Classic Font (4 colours) - In-game score display
- Modern Font with gradient fill (4 colours) - Ranking display
- Modern Font with gradient fill, hand edited to make the edges smooth (4 colours) - Titles for Options, Ranking, Continue and Game Over.
