"Lords of Thunder: PC" (Updated 1/23/2022)

PCEngineFX · 09/21/2007, 01:36 PM

SUMMARY
Lords of Thunder: The Return of Landis is a PC port/refit of the original TurboGrafx Super CD version of Lords of Thunder. I have been having an itch to revisit my old PC port project for a while now and have decided to recreate the project from scratch.

Since I have no formal coding experience, I will be making this project again in Game Maker. I know it will run better in other languages, but since I don't know any, this is the only option. Every effort will be made to optimize the game for lower-end machines but I can't make any promises.

GRAPHICS
Graphics will be taken from the original game and enhanced slightly - the aim is to upgrade the already existing graphics but at the same time keeping the spirit of the original look and feel of the game.

LEVEL DESIGN
Layout design will also be changed not only for coding limitations but for personal preferences as well. The ultimate goal is to recreate the entire 1st level of the game and if possible, add a few special "easter eggs" for people to find.

SOUND/MUSIC
Sound FX will be sampled from the original hardware (in this case a TurboDuo). As for the music, I am looking into having the stage 1 and title tracks remastered/remixed.

Feel free to post your comments & questions in this thread. I will be posting updates here as development continues.

UPDATES
10.02.2007 - v0.1 tech-demo released (see post #19)
10.03.2007 - v0.1b graphical refinement (see post #32)
10.06.2007 - v0.2 Landis movement test (see post #37)
10.13.2007 - v0.3 Bird enemy, score/health added (see post #51)

01.23.2022 - v0.X WIP rebuilt demo with modern tools???

DOWNLOADS
https://www.pcengine-fx.com/downloads/
https://www.pcengine-fx.com/downloads/LoTTRoL_03.zip (OG 2007 build)

Back in the day I worked on a PC port of Lords of Thunder - recently I've had the desire to revisit it again with modern day tools. If you'd like to try out how far I got, link provided (no install needed). Screenshot of said build. pic.twitter.com/9yjwxrND2V
— Aaron Nanto (@pcenginefx) January 24, 2022

NecroPhile · 09/21/2007, 01:48 PM

Good to hear that this project is getting another look. Any plans to finish or recreate Dracula X after you finish LoT, or is that just a lawsuit waiting to happen?

PCEngineFX · 09/21/2007, 01:55 PM

I personally don't have any fears of a lawsuit considering the nature of the project, but yes - I'd like to re-visit Dracula X mostly because of the many hours I already invested into making the basic engine. I'm going back to finishing LoT first as it is much easier to code/assemble than a platform game.

Kitsunexus · 09/21/2007, 02:46 PM

Quote from: Pcenginefx on 09/21/2007, 01:36 PMFirst off, this is not LoT 2 - this is a PC port/remake of LoT from the original TurboGrafx Super CD version. I have been having an itch to re-visit my PC port project for a while now and have decided to re-create the project from scratch.

Since I have no formal coding experience, I will be making this project in Game Maker.

At least it isn't the Games Factory. :p And I CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS! ^___^ ^___^

PCEngineFX · 09/21/2007, 03:41 PM

Kitsunexus, you've played LoT before right?

...and I've not heard of Games factory.....need to look into this

Edit: Games factory (now Games Factory 2) looks pretty limited but the more powerful version called Multimedia Fusion 2 looks not too bad. I might try a short test to see what differences there are between them.

Kitsunexus · 09/21/2007, 04:00 PM

Quote from: Pcenginefx on 09/21/2007, 03:41 PMKitsunexus, you've played LoT before right?

...and I've not heard of Games factory.....need to look into this

Edit: Games factory (now Games Factory 2) looks pretty limited but the more powerful version called Multimedia Fusion 2 looks not too bad. I might try a short test to see what differences there are between them.

Yeah, LoT rocks. And FUCK The Games Factory. Get DarkBASIC.

Actually, screw DarkBASIC, PlayBASIC is more optimized for 2D.

NVM again, this optimizes DB for 3D, http://darkbasicpro.thegamecreators.com/?f=2dplugin AND PlayBASIC games dont load for me.

PCEngineFX · 09/21/2007, 04:27 PM

I'll stick with GameMaker then...

nat · 09/21/2007, 04:54 PM

Aaron, when can I expect the Macintosh port?

PCEngineFX · 09/21/2007, 04:57 PM

Boot camp is all I can tell you

Turbo D · 09/21/2007, 06:02 PM

I am really excited for this Aaron

PCEngineFX · 09/21/2007, 08:48 PM

Added cool announcement image!

Keranu · 09/21/2007, 09:03 PM

Awesome image!

Kitsunexus · 09/22/2007, 01:43 AM

Quote from: Pcenginefx on 09/21/2007, 04:27 PMI'll stick with GameMaker then...

GameMaker rules. And I live the pic, it reminds me of RE4, Ikaruga and 300 at the same time. ^_^

PCEngineFX · 09/22/2007, 03:15 AM

Yah it does have the 300 feel to it - I remembered the epic 5 page or so magazine ad back in the day for LoT and wanted to keep with the same "cloud" feel...looks more like a movie than a game come to think of it.

Turbo D · 09/22/2007, 03:23 AM

It looks awesome

esteban · 09/22/2007, 01:35 PM

Nice

Once you finish the "straight" port of the first stage, you might consider adding a second loop of the first stage with some goofy sprites swapped in -- just for fun!

Who wouldn't want to play as Bravoman instead of Landis in the second loop?

PCEngineFX · 09/22/2007, 06:41 PM

Oh that would be fun........an "unlockable" character for beating the game perhaps...I don't know if I could stand hearing "BRAVO" each time I fired though!

Keranu · 09/22/2007, 08:10 PM

Quote from: Pcenginefx on 09/22/2007, 06:41 PM...I don't know if I could stand hearing "BRAVO" each time I fired though!

I could!!!!!!

PCEngineFX · 09/22/2007, 11:50 PM

Keranu, I think you could stand anything

On a side note, I just bought the full version of Game Maker 7 (I used GM6 previously) today and moved my old source files from my archives to my mega-awesome quad-core computer. Now I'm ready to rock on this

PCEngineFX · 10/03/2007, 12:20 AM

Lords of Thunder: The Return of Landis - v0.1

DOWNLOAD: https://www.pcengine-fx.com/main/lottrol/LoTTRoL_001.exe (2.3MB, Windows OS)

NOTES: Welcome to the first remake-release of the old Lords of Thunder PC port project (now called "Lords of Thunder: The Return of Landis"). In this tech demo 0.1 release, the basic engine for the stage 1 ("Dezant") background parallax has been created and the background graphics slightly enhanced from the original game. Since I am limited as to how many layers of parallax I can have due to speed issues (3=lame!) I did some blurring of the back layers to give a depth-of-field effect.

At this stage of development, the tech demo (which runs at 30fps at 640x480) should run perfectly smooth and is optimized as much as possible.

Kitsunexus · 10/03/2007, 02:45 AM

Dude, fuck the older computers. We all have good computers. Make it the best game you can make it.

Keranu · 10/03/2007, 03:20 AM

I love the depth of field effect!

One small graphic suggestion I would like to make is for the shades in the sand that don't blend in because they aren't yellow. Just swap them with darker shades if you can.

Kitsunexus · 10/03/2007, 04:04 AM

I love the effect as well. I wish I could full-screen it to use as a screen saver.

PCEngineFX · 10/03/2007, 04:11 AM

Quote from: Keranu on 10/03/2007, 03:20 AMI love the depth of field effect!

One small graphic suggestion I would like to make is for the shades in the sand that don't blend in because they aren't yellow. Just swap them with darker shades if you can.

Are you talking about the bottom part of the sand where it is darker than the rest...or just smooth out the sand in general?

PCEngineFX · 10/03/2007, 04:21 AM

Quote from: Kitsunexus on 10/03/2007, 04:04 AMI love the effect as well. I wish I could full-screen it to use as a screen saver.

Please re-uploaded the package - I've made it so that you can now re-size the window to any size you want (while maintaining the aspect ratio). No full-screen exclusive mode though at the moment.

Joe Redifer · 10/03/2007, 05:59 AM

Is this just a straight port using existing graphics... kind of like running the CD in an emulator in effect? You should redraw everything. Also, the Lords of Thunder graphic you created would look awesome... with a Band-Aid placed on it.

PCEngineFX · 10/03/2007, 11:41 AM

Quote from: Joe Redifer on 10/03/2007, 05:59 AMIs this just a straight port using existing graphics... kind of like running the CD in an emulator in effect? You should redraw everything. Also, the Lords of Thunder graphic you created would look awesome... with a Band-Aid placed on it.

It's pretty much a straight port using existing graphics (just like my previous Lords of Thunder PC Port Project). However this time I'm enhancing the graphics in a way to improve on what is there already - not adding/redrawing anything...mostly to smooth out the look of the game.

Believe me, I'd love to make brand new gfx...however I'm not that good of an artist to do it justice.

Kitsunexus · 10/03/2007, 01:42 PM

Is the music going to be a re-use of the game's Redbook, or will it be new .XM/.IT

PCEngineFX · 10/03/2007, 02:20 PM

Quote from: Kitsunexus on 10/03/2007, 01:42 PMIs the music going to be a re-use of the game's Redbook, or will it be new .XM/.IT

It will be re-use of the game's redbook audio with possible enhancements.

PCEngineFX · 10/03/2007, 02:28 PM

The next item I am trying to work on is expanding the amount of parallax in the engine without using too much manual code. The original game has the appearance of many layers of parallax and without using manual code, I'm stuck with 3 layers in my engine. One thing I might try to further the effect is to make the furthest mountains static since they would be so far away they shouldn't be moving in the first place.

Kitsunexus · 10/03/2007, 05:59 PM

Quote from: Pcenginefx on 10/03/2007, 02:28 PMThe next item I am trying to work on is expanding the amount of parallax in the engine without using too much manual code. The original game has the appearance of many layers of parallax and without using manual code, I'm stuck with 3 layers in my engine. One thing I might try to further the effect is to make the furthest mountains static since they would be so far away they shouldn't be moving in the first place.

Can't you just "borrow" parallax code from someone?

PCEngineFX · 10/03/2007, 07:51 PM

Not in this case. I looked all day on the Game Maker forums and nobody had the same issue. I did post up there asking about my issue with parallax and was told that I'd have to code something in to make it work. Trying this now.

PCEngineFX · 10/03/2007, 09:55 PM

Lords of Thunder: The Return of Landis - v0.1b

DOWNLOAD: https://www.pcengine-fx.com/main/lottrol/LoTTRoL_001b.exe (2.5MB, Windows OS)

NOTES: In this release, all of the background graphics have been refined. The purpose of this project is to not remake the original game, but to enhance/refine it while maintaining the spirit of the graphics/gameplay. At this point in time, I'm happy with the gfx and parallax. Changes include:

-Refined the score/life bar graphic to look more realistic.
-Sky/horizon now extends under the bottom of the score/life bar
-Both sets of mountain ranges now blend in with each other (a graphical mistake by me originally)
-Furthest mountain ranges no longer move.
-Totally changed the original sand texture from dots to something that looks like sand with depth of field.
-Ground layer now has transparent sections (shows new sand texture behind it) as well as extended ground texture curves to be more pointed.

Keranu · 10/03/2007, 11:44 PM

Quote from: Pcenginefx on 10/03/2007, 04:11 AM
Quote from: Keranu on 10/03/2007, 03:20 AMI love the depth of field effect!

One small graphic suggestion I would like to make is for the shades in the sand that don't blend in because they aren't yellow. Just swap them with darker shades if you can.
Are you talking about the bottom part of the sand where it is darker than the rest...or just smooth out the sand in general?

The part where it's darker. There is a green and purpleish color below and I think it would look nicer if they were replaced with darker shades of yellow/orange/brown. But the smoothing you did in the recent screenshot looks great!

Turbo D · 10/04/2007, 01:48 AM

Much better, I'm ready to play now

Kitsunexus · 10/04/2007, 03:16 AM

Nice demo, definite improvement over the first. What's up with the 2.5MB file size though? It's not a problem in anyway, it just seems like it shouldn't be that big for 8 pictures and no sound.

I gotta say though I really love the demo, this is going to be a kickass game.

The desert setting reminds me of that old 2600 game, Mega Force (but with better grafx, natch.

).

PCEngineFX · 10/04/2007, 01:30 PM

With Game Maker, the files needed to run the EXE without Gamer Maker installed is about 2MB or so - this is why with only 350kb worth of graphics, the file is 2.5MB.

If I think of any further refinements to the background graphics, I'll put them in. I would like to fiddle with the buildings in the background some to make them more realistic... but otherwise, next up is inserting Landis into the mix.

PCEngineFX · 10/06/2007, 01:44 PM

Lords of Thunder: The Return of Landis - v0.2

DOWNLOAD: https://www.pcengine-fx.com/main/lottrol/LoTTRoL_02.exe (2.6MB, Windows OS)

NOTES: After about 4 hours of copying code, figuring out bugs and testing...Landis is now in the game and is able to be moved around (no shooting yet!). Even though I have my old game maker file to copy from, it doesn't copy 1 for 1. Variables change, and the movement in the old LoT:PC wasn't totally fleshed out so I had to figure out how to fix the remaining movement issues.

MAJOR CHANGES:
-Addition of a controllable Landis. Landis is a complex character - first off there are animations for flying forward/back, moving up/down, running on the ground, running fast on the ground to the right, flying backwards on the ground, and that's just for movement. You can control Landis using the wsad or arrow keys. No shooting as of yet. If you find any bugs PLEASE let me know.

MINOR CHANGES
-Implemented a 4th layer of parallax! (now the furthest mountain range move...yay!
-Smoothed out the edges on the ground layer.
-This demo is not infinite (unlike previous versions) - it will end in a short time.

Turbo D · 10/06/2007, 02:05 PM

This is great progress Aaron

I like how he can be controlled with the wasd keys

Kitsunexus · 10/09/2007, 03:35 PM

AWESOME.

PCEngineFX · 10/10/2007, 02:02 PM

1st post has been modified with updated goals and expectations for the project. One cool item I want to point out is that I now plan to have a remixed soundtrack in the game

I'm currently working on allowing Landis to shoot (hit two big logic bugs last night which I have yet to solve...doesn't help when you have a wife trying to get your attention with her...assets)...while I was doing that I found a bug that everyone can try in the current demo. Want Landis to move faster? Press the key in both WSAD and ARROW keys at the same time and see him speed up.

NecroPhile · 10/10/2007, 03:39 PM

It's looking better and better, but screw Landis (he can wait when wifey calls).

Keranu · 10/10/2007, 11:42 PM

Aaron, he's an image edit I made showing what I had in mind earlier of replacing the green shade with a brown to blend in with the sand more:

/returnoflandiscolorchanca1.jpg

Not sure if that's up your alley or not, but just my suggestion.

PCEngineFX · 10/11/2007, 01:30 AM

Keranu,

Oh, you mean the very bottom sand area (now I see it). Yah, this is something I can change.

Now, I have a question for everyone. Do you like me updating this post with smaller releases, or would you rather wait until I put in a lot of stuff for a more major release? (but taking longer?)

Keranu · 10/11/2007, 01:46 AM

I kinda like the smaller updates

.

Kitsunexus · 10/11/2007, 02:41 AM

Smaller rules. ^_^ Who's remixing the tracks?

EDIT: I'm not going to remix this, I tried to remix the title, I made an AWESOME "BYOOOOOOOOOW" to start out the mix, it sounded like 40 Alpha-Junos but it was only 1 instance of SuperWave P8, but it's not coming out good otherwise, so forget it.

Kitsunexus · 10/11/2007, 09:17 AM

You should add random secret characters (StriderHiryuMvC.png). ^_^

Turbo D · 10/11/2007, 02:35 PM

I like the small releases as well

Quote from: Kitsunexus on 10/11/2007, 09:17 AMYou should add random secret characters. ^_^

That would be bad ass. I would love to play lords of thunder as Hiryu

PCEngineFX · 10/11/2007, 03:15 PM

Quote from: Kitsunexus on 10/11/2007, 09:17 AMYou should add random secret characters. ^_^

Wow, nice link! All ready for me to put into the game...........

Ultra Luigi · 10/12/2007, 01:26 AM

Yeah, small releases is good. This demo is looking great.