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Koules for GCW Zero v1.0


Download link:   http://www.gcw-zero.com/file.php?file=koules.opk

Koules is a fun & silly physics-based homebrew game released in 1995 by Jan Hubicka for Linux. It is one of the first arcade-style games ever released for Linux and I've always liked playing it. So, I decided to bring it to the handheld masses. It actually took a lot of work for me to bring this to 320x240 handhelds, especially since it required a total SVGAlib->SDL conversion among many other things. So, I hope you enjoy it.   

You are the big yellow ball with eyes. You must knock out the other balls that come towards you (Evil Koules fighters). Small blue balls give you extra mass, while small green balls give you extra acceleration. Yellow balls give you tons of both. White balls steal all your power-ups. Gold balls allow you to steal power-ups from other balls. There are 99 levels and as you progress, the game introduces new elements and gets quite a bit harder. I suggest playing on the "HARD" difficulty for maximum fun, once you pick up the basics.

Don't worry, the game will explain the new elements to you as you move along.

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CHANGE LOG:   
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v1.0:  First release (GCW version):
* Adapted from my previous GP2X/Wiz ports:
* Added g-sensor/analog stick support
* Two-player-on-one-device support
* Added music by DST @ nosoapradio.us (Creative Commons 3.0 License)
* Added cool randomly-generated plasma background
* Adjusted volume of two sound samples that were too loud
* Fixed major bug in original game regarding fread()/fwrite() of rc files.
* Made HARD difficulty mode the default mode.. MEDIUM difficulty is too slow and easy.
* Adjusted NIGHTMARE difficulty mode to actually be playable.
* Adjusted HARD difficulty mode so that your player has a bit less mass (hard was also too easy).
* Fixed various bugs, especially in menu.c

Pre-v1.0:  Initial SVGALIB->SDL conversion also by Dan Silsby (senquack)

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TIPS:
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Instead of charging at everything you see, try to trick enemies into chasing you and dodge them at the last second. You can get them to crash into walls and the red/green holes that appear. Use the green "magnetic holes" for moving in a slingshot effect.

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CONTROLS:
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START: Pause
SELECT: Exit to main menu
L+R TRIGGERS: Re-calibrate g-sensor

In one-player mode: you move with either the D-PAD or the A/B/X/Y buttons, your pick. G-sensor and analog stick control can be enabled from the main menu. If the g-sensor fails to work, that is a bug in the firmware currently being worked on. If you power-off your unit and hold the reset button for 30+ seconds that should get the g-sensor working again.

In two-player mode: two people play on one device, either deathmatch or cooperatively. Player 1 uses the DPAD and Player 2 uses either the A/B/X/Y buttons (GCW held horizontally) or the analog stick (GCW held vertically).

NOTE: I tried to make the G-sensor deadzone as good as I could, too little and you can't stand still.. too much and you are jerking the unit around like mad. Truth is, it is a little bit more difficult to play with the g-sensor but it's still fun.


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CREDITS:
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Original game by: Jan Hubicka
Music by: DST of nosoapradio.us (Creative Commons 3.0 License)

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SOURCE CODE:
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https://github.com/senquack/Koules-for-Handhelds

First official repository game to use the g-sensor (and it's totally optional)   There is a Descent 2 OPK floating around that uses it also, but I haven't tried that one.  I'll admit, it's more of a novelty at least in my game. It makes the game harder to play.. I tried to find the best deadzone that balanced sensitivity without having to jerk the unit around too much in all the directions. No matter how I tried to adjust the deadzone, it was still not that great.  But it's still fun.

Note that you cannot use the g-sensor while lying down in bed: The unit must lie more a bit more parallel to the ground than that because the g-sensor does not work when oriented perfectly vertical.

This game appeared to have 30 FPS output, and I wondered whether it was possible to have it output at 60 FPS.

The good news is that by modifying koules.c line 1984 as of commit d6d0240:
VfTime = 1000000 / 25;to read:
VfTime = 1000000 / 60;it started outputting at 60 FPS. But the bad news is that the game runs per frame, not per time, so it went 2.4 times too fast. Thanks senquack for the hint to the location of this code in the source

Muchas gracias Senor!