Steel Ranger trailer Covert Bitops 2017-12-11 | Action / adventure game for the Commodore 64. Out now!Physical edition: http://www.psytronik.net/newsite/index.php/c64/95-steelrangerDigital edition + free demo: psytronik.itch.io/steelrangerCovert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.ioTrailer by Johannes & Marja Kuipers.
Green Beret C64 no death safe longplay Covert Bitops 2023-10-24 | Longplay of Green Beret on the C64 with the aim to show as 'safe' way of playing as possible.- Prefer to knife enemies lying down.- Never let a blue rifleman run toward you for a long time while you are upright, as they might shoot without warning. If they are facing away, they might also turn and fire.- Knife the green karate guys before they jump over you; mash the fire before they come into contact.- Ladders are not safe as riflemen, bazooka guys and white commandants will climb up or down. Cross them as quickly as possible.- Brown enemies and the blue-grey grenade guys will fall down from ledges, while riflemen, karate guys and commandants jump. Be mindful of the spot they will fall into.- You are safe from thrown grenades while lying down.- When waiting for a parachutist to be finished with their landing, keep knifing the screen left edge in case an enemy appears.- Kill the dogs by lying down and mashing the fire button. The same strategy is also applicable for the final confrontation.- Use the special weapons to clear mines and mortar emplacements. The grenade is more effective when thrown lying down. The version played is the Remember jewel crack; in the original version throwing a grenade lying down was notorious for the possibility of crashing the game!In this video, the third level has a bug at the end that the final commandant never appears and thus we don't get the bazooka shots; therefore precision knifing the helicopter pilots' heads while jumping becomes necessary.The longer you survive, the more frequently the enemies shoot and throw grenades. However, if you are able to clear the game with only a few deaths, you can keep playing indefinitely due to the extra lives awarded.After playing for a long time, various glitches such as enemies running backwards will begin to appear.
Steel Ranger 2 Teaser #1 Covert Bitops 2023-09-10 | Early gameplay from upcoming Steel Ranger sequel in early development. Scenery layout and enemy placements are not final. In this game, you'll gear up with a new generation Ranger suit and use both your rifle and blade to combat a new threat emerging from the ruins of the barren Earth.
Redraw-based scrolling optimizations Covert Bitops 2021-08-04 | Showing 3 optimization levels of single-buffered screen scrolling on the Commodore 64, based on redrawing the screen from the tilemap each time the screen has scrolled one char length. In this system, tiles are 2x2 chars and there can be both "one color per tile" and "unique color in each char of tile" types of tiles. 3 levels of optimization shown, with decreasing rastertime use (shown as grey in border)1) For "one color per tile" -tiles, only the changing edge of colors is redrawn. This skips half of the color RAM writes for horizontal or vertical scrolling.2) Skip color RAM redraw for areas of tiles that have the same color. This is what MW ULTRA shipped with.3) Like 2), but also optimize away screen RAM redraw for repeating chars in the scroll direction. For this test, this means the sky and the fence pattern, which results in very little rastertime used. Partial redraw is visualized by clearing the screen and resuming scrolling.Test graphics from MW ULTRA. Music is "Fight the Machine" from 2006.
Hessian intro glitch Covert Bitops 2020-08-15 | Glitch found over 4 years after game's release. If you roll exactly when exiting the container in the beginning, the roll continues (normally your animation is reset to standing in place) and you get to see the drone enemy levitating in place in the air, waiting for its turn in the story to kill the scientist.
MW ULTRA prologue second half Covert Bitops 2020-08-01 | New Commodore 64 game. OUT NOW! Showing the second half of the playable prologue. Available as cartridge or digital download from Protovision https://www.protovision.games/games/mwultra.php?language=en and as disk from Psytronik Software http://www.psytronik.net/newsite/index.php/c64/128-mwultraCovert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.ioPsytronik Software homepage:http://www.psytronik.netProtovision homepage:https://www.protovision.games/
MW ULTRA prologue first half Covert Bitops 2020-05-16 | New Commodore 64 game. Showing the very beginning with the first half of the playable prologue. Available as cartridge or digital download from Protovision https://www.protovision.games/games/mwultra.php?language=en and as disk from Psytronik Software http://www.psytronik.net/newsite/index.php/c64/128-mwultraCovert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.ioPsytronik Software homepage:http://www.psytronik.netProtovision homepage:https://www.protovision.games/
MW ULTRA main theme Covert Bitops 2020-05-16 | New Commodore 64 game. Main theme played in a sound test program, with rastertime shown. Available as cartridge or digital download from Protovision https://www.protovision.games/games/mwultra.php?language=en and as disk from Psytronik Software http://www.psytronik.net/newsite/index.php/c64/128-mwultraCovert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.ioPsytronik Software homepage:http://www.psytronik.netProtovision homepage:https://www.protovision.games/
MW ULTRA meeting the band Covert Bitops 2020-04-04 | New Commodore 64 game. Showing story-oriented gameplay from the beginning after prologue. Available as cartridge or digital download from Protovision https://www.protovision.games/games/mwultra.php?language=en and as disk from Psytronik Software http://www.psytronik.net/newsite/index.php/c64/128-mwultraCovert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.ioPsytronik Software homepage:http://www.psytronik.netProtovision homepage:https://www.protovision.games/
MW ULTRA construction site gameplay Covert Bitops 2020-03-16 | New Commodore 64 game. Showing gameplay with varied (not always useful) tactics at the construction site and some dialogue. Available as cartridge or digital download from Protovision https://www.protovision.games/games/mwultra.php?language=en and as disk from Psytronik Software http://www.psytronik.net/newsite/index.php/c64/128-mwultraCovert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.ioPsytronik Software homepage:http://www.psytronik.netProtovision homepage:https://www.protovision.games/
MW ULTRA tunnels nonlethal gameplay Covert Bitops 2020-01-15 | New Commodore 64 game. Traveling through the tunnels below the city, avoiding hazards and trying to take out enemies without killing them this time. Being in cover is now shown by the player sprite flickering. Available as cartridge or digital download from Protovision https://www.protovision.games/games/mwultra.php?language=en and as disk from Psytronik Software http://www.psytronik.net/newsite/index.php/c64/128-mwultraCovert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.ioPsytronik Software homepage:http://www.psytronik.netProtovision homepage:https://www.protovision.games/
MW ULTRA wheel loader bossfight Covert Bitops 2019-12-06 | New Commodore 64 game. Not necessarily final version of one of the bossfights, against a hostile wheel loader. The bucket blocks gunfire, and the driver also fires back. In 1986 or so it was the dream of my 8-year old self to implement heavy machinery as an enemy in a game, and over thirty years later the dream is realized! The fight music is composed by Kamil Wolnikowski aka Jammer.MW ULTRA is joint published by Psytronik Software (disk version) and Protovision (cartridge and download versions)Covert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.ioPsytronik Software homepage:http://www.psytronik.netProtovision homepage:https://www.protovision.games/
MW ULTRA police dog simulator Covert Bitops 2019-11-09 | New Commodore 64 game. In this test a dog enemy is assigned under player joystick control. The street thugs stand no chance! DISCLAIMER: unfortunately the final game will not feature playing as a dog.MW ULTRA is joint published by Psytronik Software (disk version) and Protovision (cartridge and download versions)Covert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.ioPsytronik Software homepage:http://www.psytronik.netProtovision homepage:https://www.protovision.games/
MW ULTRA lawless district test Covert Bitops 2019-09-16 | New Commodore 64 game. OUT NOW! Available as cartridge or digital download from Protovision https://www.protovision.games/games/mwultra.php?language=en and as disk from Psytronik Software http://www.psytronik.net/newsite/index.php/c64/128-mwultraTested here is a level further on from the game, where a neighborhood militia keeps order in absence of the police. The grapple gun maneuver doesn't quite go as planned :) In tradition of the recent Covert Bitops games, the music here is "Out in the Dark" from the Okko project http://www.mikseri.net/artists/okko.153486.phpCovert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.ioPsytronik Software homepage:http://www.psytronik.netProtovision homepage:https://www.protovision.games/
MW ULTRA enemies Covert Bitops 2019-08-15 | Upcoming Commodore64 game. Fights against enemies in the city and picking up their weapons. Note: though most attacks shown here are lethal (skull & crossbones sign) the final game should be also possible to complete non-lethally. Covert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.io
MW ULTRA outside scenery + more grapple gun Covert Bitops 2019-03-31 | Upcoming Commodore64 game. Showing some work-in-progress outside scenery (no enemies yet!) and more fooling around with the grapple gun. The music is originally from 2002, called "True Oldskool Gamemusic" but remixed / remade here.Here, the only animating part of the background is the reflection of the moon with a subtle wave animation. Writing the short pieces of background animation code is almost like C64's version of writing vertex / pixels shaders :) Covert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.io
MW ULTRA Hades Club visit Covert Bitops 2019-02-12 | Upcoming Commodore64 game. Visiting one of the inside locations, the Hades Club heavy metal bar, with no NPCs yet. The song played inside the club is called "Moment of Hate," see http://www.mikseri.net/artists/revenant/moment-of-hate/155679Covert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.io
MW ULTRA grenade bounce testing Covert Bitops 2019-02-12 | Upcoming Commodore64 game. Testing grenade bouncing after rewriting the physics / collision to work without hacks. Previous Covert Bitops games used to sum vertical + horizontal velocity when checking collisions against diagonal slopes to prevent glitching through, but this could result in too early collision. Now movement happens first horizontally, then vertically, and slope crossing is checked separately for both axes.Covert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.io
MW ULTRA Unused Loaders Covert Bitops 2018-12-23 | Two initial attempts of composing the loading music for the upcoming game MW ULTRA. The second covers the loader tune of the original Metal Warrior. Third one (will be heard in the final game) hopefully ended up yet a little better!Also released as .sid files (+ GT2 source files) at: cadaver.github.io/music.html
C64gameframework example game Covert Bitops 2018-12-03 | Simple sidescroller game (with reused Steel Ranger assets) implemented for learning purposes as part of the c64gameframework project. The same engine code is used in the upcoming MW ULTRA game, featuring 22 row scrolling with flexible color RAM updates (varying color-per-char or color-per-block.)Github project: github.com/cadaver/c64gameframeworkCovert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.io
MW ULTRA Titlescreen menu & permadeath mode testing Covert Bitops 2018-10-28 | Upcoming Commodore 64 game. Testing the title screen start / load game / save game options, and a permadeath mode which is not supposed to even be available from the start, as it's rather brutal. Permadeath saves are marked with skull & crossbones sign, and here we deliberately get our ass kicked to save a "game over" state, which you can't continue from. In original (non-permadeath) mode you can naturally save & continue unlimited times.Covert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.io
MW ULTRA close combat test Covert Bitops 2018-10-03 | Upcoming Commodore 64 game. Testing close combat tactics against multiple enemies. Compared to stealth, it's almost inevitably more messy and dangerous, and requires good timing or keeping on the move. Placeholder enemies still being used. A short preview of the "city" music plays here.Covert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.io
MW ULTRA stealth & nonlethal tactics Covert Bitops 2018-09-23 | Upcoming Commodore 64 game. Testing the stealth combat mechanics by hiding behind cover, using flying kick to knock out the first enemy (with damage bonus due to surprise), then firing the gun to gain the other enemy's attention. Note the enemies don't look below the platform they're standing on as long as they're not alerted / suspicious yet. Background graphics, enemies & enemy idle behavior are still placeholder!Covert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.io
MW ULTRA dart gun multiple knockout bug Covert Bitops 2018-07-26 | Having fun with bugs .. The sleeping dart gun from MW4 returns in MW ULTRA, producing more damage after the hit. It's supposed to stop after the enemy is knocked out (= falls to zero hitpoints.) A bug in the code caused the dart to check its own hitpoints instead, which are never zero, so we get a more extreme multi-knockout and multiple drop of the weapon being carried by the enemy :)The enemy is the player's doppelgänger because of being a placeholder for testing.Covert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.io
MW ULTRA grapple testing Covert Bitops 2018-07-21 | New Commodore 64 game. OUT NOW! This video shows testing with a Batman the Movie / Bionic Commando style grapple gun from early development in 2018. Graphics here are completely placeholder and do not reflect the final game! Available as cartridge or digital download from Protovision https://www.protovision.games/games/mwultra.php?language=en and as disk from Psytronik Software http://www.psytronik.net/newsite/index.php/c64/128-mwultraSpecial thanks to Graham for the square root routine, which was needed for the rope length / swing position calculations: http://codebase64.org/doku.php?id=base:fast_sqrtCovert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.ioPsytronik Software homepage:http://www.psytronik.netProtovision homepage:https://www.protovision.games/
MW ULTRA Inside theme Covert Bitops 2018-07-01 | The "inside buildings" theme from upcoming Commodore64 game MW ULTRA. Music player CPU use (rastertime) shown in white in the border. Beginning of the song is an intentional homage to the "Earth" tune from Last Ninja 3 by Reyn Ouwehand.Covert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.io
MW ULTRA player movement & city backdrop test Covert Bitops 2018-06-06 | After Steel Ranger, this was the next Covert Bitops Commodore64 game, called MW ULTRA. It's a reinterpretation / reboot of the first Metal Warrior game. There were long-standing plans to do that on some more powerful platform, but turns out the C64 still has untapped potential! Finished in 2020, and now available as cartridge or digital download from Protovision https://www.protovision.games/games/mwultra.php?language=en and coming soon as disk release from Psytronik Software http://www.psytronik.net/newsite/index.php/c64/128-mwultraThis video shows player movement and attacks, early city backgrounds and early sound effects. Scrolling is based on complete redraw of the screen directly from the tilemap. Each tile can update its color RAM in one of three ways: color-per-char with char / colorcode the same (totally inspired by Quod Init Exit II), color-per-tile, or leave color RAM untouched for optimization. No double buffer is needed, both the screen & color RAM are updated in one go from top to bottom.Covert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.ioPsytronik Software homepage:http://www.psytronik.netProtovision homepage:https://www.protovision.games/
Covert Bitops music player history Covert Bitops 2018-02-18 | A look at the music playback routines used in Covert Bitops games so far + the newest and most limited MiniPlayer at github.com/cadaver/miniplayer. Games were instrumented to show the music player CPU use (rastertime) in the border. For Metal Warrior 1 & 3, which had no music editor, the music was composed directly in source code.
Steel Ranger character creation, intro & beginning Covert Bitops 2017-11-09 | Commodore 64 action / adventure game available at http://www.psytronik.net/newsite/index.php/c64/95-steelranger Shown here: character creation, interactive intro sequence & beginning of gameplay.Psytronik homepage: http://www.psytronik.netCovert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.io Steel Ranger work-in-progress page: cadaver.github.io/wip.html
Steel Ranger security tower & first boss Covert Bitops 2017-10-08 | Commodore 64 action / adventure game available at http://www.psytronik.net/newsite/index.php/c64/95-steelranger Gameplay from the Security Tower level up to the first boss fight.Covert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.io Steel Ranger work-in-progress page: cadaver.github.io/wip.html
Steel Ranger first machine encounter Covert Bitops 2017-09-04 | Commodore 64 action / adventure game available at http://www.psytronik.net/newsite/index.php/c64/95-steelranger Gameplay from the first encounter with machine enemies. Music is no longer placeholder! Covert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.io Steel Ranger work-in-progress page: cadaver.github.io/wip.html
Steel Ranger title theme, fixed audio Covert Bitops 2017-08-14 | An action / adventure game for the Commodore 64. Ingame sound test screen playing the title theme. Reupload with better audio quality.Covert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.ioSteel Ranger work-in-progress page: cadaver.github.io/wip.html
Steel Ranger early gameplay Covert Bitops 2017-07-09 | Commodore 64 action / adventure game. Shows early gameplay & the first enemies that were implemented to the game. Music is placeholder in this video!Covert Bitops homepage: cadaver.github.ioSteel Ranger work-in-progress page: cadaver.github.io/wip.html
