šŸ” Chicken Invaders 1 Remastered #02

Letā€™s first set some broad goals for this remaster:

  • We want to preserve the spirit of the original game as closely as possible. Although there are many bells and whistles we could add to the gameplay, thatā€™s exactly what the rest of the episodes have done, and there is no point in re-treading that path. Ideally, we want the mechanics of the game to remain identical to the original.

  • We want to keep things simple and minimize the amount of work we need to do. This is supposed to be a relaxed side-project, and we donā€™t want it to turn into a marathon. We already have CIU for that. Besides, we donā€™t want this to take too long, as itā€™s holding up development on other projects (there is already the CI soundtrack, iOS, and Android already waiting in line).

Keeping this in mind, hereā€™s what should be remastered, to a first approximation:

  • The game should launch and function as expected on modern versions of Windows.

  • More input methods (customizable keyboard, joypad, mouse). No touchscreen, though, because no mobile (see below).

  • Any minor bugs that are straightforward to fix.

By the same token, hereā€™s whatā€™s not going to be added in the remaster:

  • The gameā€™s frame rate. The original runs at a constant and fixed 25 fps (26 actually, but itā€™s close enough) and due to its implementation, this cannot be sped up or slowed down as in more recent episodes (CI2 has the same limitation). In CI2, Iā€™ve bitten the bullet and sped it up from 25 fps to 30 fps (which is still constant and fixed) in order to cleanly sync with 60fps (which I think is enforced on iOS?), but it required extensive adjustments to the code which Iā€™m not willing to do in this case.

  • The gameā€™s aspect ratio. Changing this would require changes to wave layout and other cascading modifications. Even CI2 doesnā€™t actually change the aspect ratio ā€“ the game is still fundamentally 4:3, it just stretches the screen horizontally. We can easily do that for CI1 using UVEā€™s existing functionality (ā€œLetterboxā€).

  • No re-rendering / upscaling of graphics (time travel note: Iā€™ve since changed my mind about this, but historically this was the original decision, so letā€™s roll with it for now). Graphics will simply be ā€˜convertedā€™ from the existing assets.

  • The firing mechanics. No fancy auto-firing. One click ā†’ one fire. Thatā€™s the way we did it in the previous millennium.

  • No global high scores. Global high scores encourage players to cheat. And it requires too much supportive wiring (internet connection, uploads, central database).

  • No anti-cheat. Although this would certainly be possible, without global high scores itā€™s a moot point. Cheat your heart out. Nobody cares.

  • No mobile ports. Simply too much hassle.

  • No code modernization. Looking at the original code written in 1999 makes me cringe(*), but Iā€™m not going to touch it any more than I absolutely need to. Tidying it up will be wasted effort ā€“ none of it will be visible to the players.

(*) On the positive side, it highlights how much better my code has become over the years. Programming is a never-ending exercise in refinement. You have certainly improved after your first year, but you are still improving after your 20th year.

Unknown at this point:

  • Should built-in cheating methods be preserved?

Next part in the series

Start at the beginning

26 Likes

Since thereā€™s going to be better UI to change settings, perhaps prevent the trouble of trying to f9+f10 to allow cheats (or uh, was it debug?) to just add the allow cheats button we have in every game. But hey, cheating is way easier now that no anti-cheat measures here.

So, if you want players opinion on this:

Should built-in cheating methods be preserved?
  • Yes.
  • No.
0 voters

Makes sense since we already have a remade version of it in CIU.

Iā€™m guessing we wonā€™t have Multiplayer then.

We surely wonā€™t, that would require a lot of effort, and perhaps, money in a short timespan.
But weā€™ll surely have the ā€˜two players on one computerā€™ feature.

1 Like

So, are you gonna allow HQ2/3X mods for this purpose?

1 Like

Can you add new features in ci1 remastered look like (the house of the dead) original version was just playing the game for nothing but in the remake version you can buy some weapons and custom your items etcā€¦

Well, the remastered version will be identical to the original one.
The only difference will likely be:

  • New UI
  • ability to run correctly on modern machines
  • And better resolution

And thatā€™s it.

2 Likes

Is CI1 gonna get translations too? I know it has almost nothing to translate, but was just wondering.

1 Like

Thatā€™s disappointing. Why even bother with that remaster then.

Why not?

Auto clicker goes br brrrr.

1 Like

As a person who uses Linux and can run a DirectX 7 application easily, you have no rule over this land. CI1 goes down to 2 fps on Windows 8 and higher, unless dgvoodoo is used (which still doesnā€™t solve the fact that it canā€™t be alt-tabbed without issues). The menu fade animation drops the frame rate down to 3, too.

4 Likes

Probably for the best.

Still, CI1 Remaster is a weird side project to tackle.

ci players after learning the definition of ā€œremasterā€

definition

Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic.

1 Like

Two-player mode will be preserved. But clearly not internet multiplayer.

No

KIds these days :sweat_smile:

14 Likes

So the game will be in English only?

Yes this very good news i hope this add to ciu but i donā€™t think so this well be add ._.

Uhhā€¦ CIU has a massive multiplayer system (99 players). What did you expect? :neutral_face:

1 Like

you mean these things where in CI 2 - 5 i canā€™t use cheat engine to find values? like values are encrypted in some sort of ways (by the way i was playing CI4 and i used allow cheats and managed to find all of the values for the missiles, not that i can do anything with them since idk WTF is going on, like soooo many doubles/floats/ints like wtf, you certainly did a great job at encrypting the values in the games)