The Legend of Beryl Reichardt

[Opry99er]

*****The Legend of Beryl Reichardt*****

 

 

Hello all, this is the game I've been messing with for a while... over a year now. Anyway, it's a CRPG that will be created in TMS9900 Assembly language. Initially I had planned to do it in XB, and many of the examples and discussion revolves around that. Attached to this first post is a regularly-updated txt file discussing what is accomplished, what needs to be done, and the development journey of doing an RPG. =) Take a look at this video I just posted today (6-2-10) to YouTube. =) I have pasted below the video a short synopsis of the game setup pasted directly from my old blog::: The textfile attached to this post goes into a bit more detail and will continue to be updated. Thanks for taking a look, and please feel free to comment, post, critique, or whatever. I have tough skin. =)

 

 

A few screenshots

 

A Small section of the Forest World

 

 

A working "menu" root.

 

 

This is a shot of the battle screen--- Beryl has just slain a skeleton with the "Fireslash" magic.

Berylupdate.txt

Edited July 13, 2010 by Opry99er

[Opry99er]

And as usual, the emoticon crap again... LINE 190 should be "DISPLAY AT(3,eight):....

[Wickeycolumbus]

And as usual, the emoticon crap again... LINE 190 should be "DISPLAY AT(3,eight):....

 

You can disable emoticons. First click the plus sign here:

 

 

Then un-click the check mark by "Enable emiticons"

 

 

It works!

[The Codex]

Ha ha, try the code tags mate. They're a lifesaver on any technical forum.

 

190 DISPLAY AT(3,:"THE LEGEND OF";" BERYL REICHARDT";
200 DISPLAY AT(20,4):"CHARACTER DEFINITIONS";
210 CALL SPRITE(#1,100,2,50,60) :: CALL SPRITE(#2,104,2,50,90) :: CALL SPRITE(#3,108,2,50,120)
220 CALL SPRITE(#4,112,2,50,150) :: CALL SPRITE(#5,116,2,80,75) :: CALL SPRITE(#6,120,2,80,105)

 

Woo, they even do some rudimentary syntax coloring!

 

Meanwhile, glad to see you bringing this project over. It looks great, love the character screens too. I'll tell you now, programming an RPG is pure hell and harder than it first seems like it should be by about a factor of four. But it's so worth it in end. Looking forward to more on this one!

Edited February 5, 2010 by The Codex

[Opry99er]

Codex,

thanks man... I know it's a pain in the arse, but I'm willing to work on it. Since there is no deadline for it's completion (i.e. "Honeycomb Rapture") I will be more apt to take my time and get it "right," if such a thing is possible. Creating the proper "character-specific" values and knowing how to properly document and catalog while including a user interface that is friendly to the gamer is going to be a bi*ch. =) Keeping track of each character's stats, vitals, items.... and doing it all in a 30 year old computer environment with 16k of RAM to work with.... 16K!!!!! Anyway, we shall see how it goes. I will FOR SURE keep automatic SPRITE motion out of pretty much the whole game, save a few cool "shooting" animations. But hey... I'm looking forward to getting into it, once Honeycomb is complete. As a RPG guy, I will probably be asking you some foundational questions as we move forward. Thanks again

 

Owen

[InfernalKeith]

Looking forward to see this one grow and develop... Owen, we end up on parallel paths on a lot of our endeavors, did you ever notice that? I've got my Downward game that was my 'baby' till the Herding Cats project, and the contest, came up, and I'm looking forward to getting back to it. Mine's definitely an "RPG-lite" but it'll have a lot of trading and bartering elements, kinda similar to the old BBS game TradeWars 2002, so adding that in the "map crawl" context should be interesting.

 

So is Honeycomb pretty much finished? I still have so much to do on Herding, and the days keep getting away from me. I got sidetracked cleaning up my 'war room' in the basement today, so now my Mattel Aquarius and my Apple IIgs are finally set up and in their place of honor, my stereo is back up and running, and my turntable is cleaned up and working... but no TI coding. :/ Eh, it's only 10:30... better put on another pot of coffee.

[Opry99er]

It seems that we DO end up on similar paths... We have similar interests, it seems, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'll share all the knowledge I gain with you and the Atariage community right here on this thread, and I will also watch your thread as well for new techniques to use... since we are both working on RPG-type projects. Mine is very different from yours in context, but there is a good chance that alot of programming elements will compare very closely... Elements such as::

 

1) "Score Keeping" **How to keep track of "life," "money," "magic?"

* Anyway, not all will be the same, but I intend on creating a very specific mathematical engine that keeps track of all the variables and values in an organized "file drawer" so to speak.

2) Level advancement **How to determine increase in experience or "level"

 

Anyway, we can be of service to each other in some ways... I think that's pretty cool.

 

Honeycomb Rapture.... Well, if this weren't a public forum, I'd have a few 4 letter words to spew about the most recent developments. Since I got this new laptop with Windows 7, the emulation has been my real enemy. Don't get me wrong... Tursi's Classic99 is brilliant, and almost certainly not the problem. Perhaps it is user error, but I can't seem to get programs to access assembly subroutine object code for graphics and sound enhancement in emulation. It is user error, I am almost 100% sure. But I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. Tonight I intend on using the debugger in Classic99 to diagnose my ills. Tursi has offered to help me debug and figure out the problem. That's the thing about him... He is always only an eMail away with the answers to any question you may have about his emulator. That's my favorite thing about Classic99... I just figured it out. It's the support from the author.

Back to the subject--- Honeycomb is not far from done. It's about 4 hours from done, coding time, if I have figured it right. That is barring any serious bugs or mysteries... But that stuff happens. =) May be 4 hours, maybe 40. Either way, it'll be done by the deadline. Getting the music to CALL LOAD and CALL LINK has been a blast. It plays in the background while I operate the joystick, seamlessly. =)

 

Owen

[InfernalKeith]

Dude, I thought of another one! I have my Lemonade Mafia concept sketched out, and you did Lemonade Stand! You definitely had the momentum on that one, though - it was finished the first time I encountered you, I think, and mine's gonna be notes on graph paper for a LONG time - at least till Downward is done, and I might tackle Manifest Destiny before it, too.

 

I'm loving the shared knowledge and experiences - I think we're on the verge of a software renaissance for the 99/4A, if not already into it. Getting people from other platforms involved, getting former 99'ers back into the fold, taking advantage of forgotten knowledge and the brainpower of our collected experts... it's a pretty awesome thing to behold.

 

I'll stop hijacking your thread to gush now. Onward!

[Willsy]

Consider moving your character data into a text file. Then you can code a simple loop and define your characters by loading them from disk.

 

That way, you don't fill program memory up with redundant character definitions.

 

Even better, you can have a LOADER program that loads and defines the characters, then RUN "DSK...." your main program... The character patterns will remain defined in VDP, but take up NO program space at all

 

M

Edited February 5, 2010 by Willsy

[Opry99er]

Thanks for the tip Willsy... As this is just a demo, I was not all that concerned with optimization. When I get into the real game (sometime in the next month or so) I will be learning to do ALL my screen draws with A/L so that the graphics appear immediately when you enter the next room or next screen..... Think Zelda or Old Dark Cave (available for download at tigamesfelf)... I will set up all the screens into object files (maybe) and call link them each time the player enters a new area. This will be the first real assembly work I've ever done, and I imagine that screen draws will not be too tough to code. Karsten showed me how to use SEG$ in Honeycomb and I did not use it on this little character screen.... Not 100% comfortable with it yet. But I can't wait to start work on this little RPG o' mine. I'll have to finish honeycomb first... Ugh, it's wearing me out. Anyway, thanks for the input my man! Check out the new Honeycomb updates on the thread.... It has the old CALL COINC(ALL,C) still.... Will be adding the CALL COINC(Wills is king) sub today... Should make it MUCH better, as your program is fast as greased lightning. Thanks!!

[sometimes99er]

Looks very nice !

[sometimes99er]

I have several RPGs on my list. One is a Rocket Propelled Grenade game (RPG). I reinstalled Diablo 2 and wasted maybe 3 hours in a flash before removing the darn thing. I did play that WoW reaching level 25 or something. There are too many to remember. I must admit I have never ever played ToD.

 

[Opry99er]

My four favorite (most emotionally memorable) RPGs were ToD, Faxanadu (probably my favorite), Mystic Quest, and Grandia II (Dreamcast).... Elements of all these will more than likely find their way into this project.. This project will either piss me off out of the community and game writing--- or it will be my masterpiece and will put me in the TI--99 hall of fame. . Haha

[+adamantyr]

Looks good! Can't wait to see it in action.

 

What kind of gameplay are you going for? Something like Zelda? Real-time or turn-based?

 

Adamantyr

[Opry99er]

Thie will be more like "Old Dark Cave" than Zelda... but Zelda would be a good example of the scope of what I'm trying to achieve. The combat will be a combination of real time and turn based... smaller enemies will be dealt with on a real-time basis--- larger enemies in a turn based. You will control 4 characters to start, but your party will be represented by the main character only on the play screen. Once a combat is entered into with a larger enemy, it will become a side view of your party on the left and the enemy on the right... It will be turn based in the respect that your players take turns attacking, but the enemy will be able to "interrupt" your turns.... Again, all this is very preliminary. =)

 

Owen

[Opry99er]

 

 

Here's for all you guys who don't Copy and Paste. =)

[sometimes99er]

Suddenly I remembered Heroes of Might and Magic 2. There’s a nice demo available at pcworld.com (22 MB). Originally released Sep. 1997, but runs without mod on my XP. Again a few hours disappeared into thin air playing that darn thing. Anyways, I think it’s quite inspirational. Maybe one could take a few elements and make a tribute game of sorts.

 

Below is what I call travel and home, but then there’s combat, trade and a few other essential scenes.

 

 

HOMM3 was good too, but not as cute. HOMM4 was boring. Never tried HOMM5, which uses a true 3D engine.

 

[Opry99er]

Nuts.... Wish we had access to that range of colors.... . I always loved Grandia II from Dreamcast---- it was one of the best storylines and THE best combat engine I've ever seen.... Hands down. . If I could copy that combat engine, "LOBR" would be pretty wicked with combat.

Edited May 28, 2010 by Opry99er

[Opry99er]

I meant BEST, not beat.

[Opry99er]

I was bored. =)

 

 

 

 

So... the flying red thing is animated... he is actually moving in all kinds of directions... it's not random though, I just wrote a quick movement routine to check out how it would look. Code, BELOW!!!!!

 

 

100 CALL CLEAR :: CALL SCREEN(2)

110 CALL CHAR(136,"FFFFFFFFF3793C1F0F07030101000000FFDFFFFFE7CE9CF8F0E0E0C0C0808000")

120 CALL CHAR(140,"FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF")

130 CALL CHAR(100,"273D07FFFFDBD9D9D1C183070F0A0A08E4BCE0FFFFDB9B9B8B83C1E0F0505010")

140 CALL CHAR(104,"0C062177251709050709112141E21538306084EEA4E890A0E09088848247A81C")

150 CALL CHAR(108,"1F171D1F01070B132363070810103838D15FD5C484FCC4C4C4C0E01008081C1C")

160 CALL CHAR(112,"0040700F057F47070A1264080808000000020EF0A0FEE2E05048261010100000")

170 CALL CHAR(141,"1818181818181818")

180 FOR I=1 TO 31 STEP 2 :: CALL HCHAR(1,I,136) :: NEXT I

190 FOR I=1 TO 31 STEP 2 :: CALL HCHAR(2,I,137) :: NEXT I

200 FOR I=2 TO 32 STEP 2 :: CALL HCHAR(1,I,138) :: NEXT I

210 FOR I=2 TO 32 STEP 2 :: CALL HCHAR(2,I,139) :: NEXT I

220 CALL SPRITE(#2,100,7,32,200,0,-10) :: CALL MAGNIFY(3)

230 CALL SPRITE(#1,104,16,152,64)

240 CALL SPRITE(#3,108,8,152,32)

250 CALL SPRITE(#4,112,16,46,54)

260 CALL VCHAR(2,8,141,5)

270 CALL HCHAR(22,1,140,96)

280 CALL COLOR(14,16,1)

290 FOR I=1 TO 400 :: NEXT I

300 CALL MOTION(#2,5,-10) :: FOR I=1 TO 300 :: NEXT I :: CALL MOTION(#2,0,-10) :: FOR I=1 TO 200 :: NEXT I

310 CALL MOTION(#2,-5,-10) :: FOR I=1 TO 200 :: NEXT I :: CALL MOTION(#2,0,10) :: GOTO 290

Edited February 9, 2010 by Opry99er

[The Codex]

Groovy, I really like the look and motion of that!

Edited February 9, 2010 by The Codex

[sometimes99er]

Cool !

[Opry99er]

Hey thanks!! I don't think this is anything other than me being bored (and a little inspired) and messing around with graphics. . I had contemplated using this screen (or a variation of it) as one of the multiple points of view I wan to use for this game...

 

1) Overhead

2) (pseudo) Sidescrolling

3) First person (for firing 'magics')

 

I had hoped to get some work done on Honeycomb today, but wasn't interested enough.... Started working on a sound converter to go from XB sound to AL, for CALL LOADing.... Then got sidetracked and started messing with this screen.... It's just a little screenshot with some lame motion, but it gives me alot of ideas. Thanks alot guys!

Edited February 9, 2010 by Opry99er

[Opry99er]

So, the next step (for which there is no timetable) is to figure out the motion of the characters on the....

 

1) Map screen

2) Cave screen (the forest screen will be the same motion as the cave screen---pseudo-sidescroll)

3) Overhead battle sequence

4) First person (shooting magics and arrows)

 

The first one will be easy... no sprites, just position to position motion, controlled by arrow keys or joystick

The second, sidescrolling, will be a bit tougher... Making characters move is easy, but creating a side scrolling effect is tough in XB... even with assembly help. It won't be a true "scroller," but when you reach the right side of the screen, it will move to the left and you will be in a new screen. This will be accomplished (faked) by erasing the screen characters from right to left and drawing the new screen simultaneously... (yea.... big job) Anyway, The overhead battle sequences should be pretty much the same as the map screen, but SPRITEs will be used for firing "magics" or "arrows"... Still, pretty easy. I'm trying to add a first person shooter element to this, sort of while you're in battle.... If your turn comes up and you choose to use magic or fire arrows, you go into a first person mode wherein your enemy (enemies) appear on the screen and you have a "bullseye" of sorts... Just a little added eye-candy thing. =) Keep you updated as stuff happens. Probably won't be immediately though, as my Honeycomb deadline is coming up quickly.

 

Owen

[sometimes99er]

There certainly seem to be a lot of “arcade” stuff there. Are the battles going to be static animations with certain outcome based on health, strength, magic etc. ? I think good static animations could be fine, and they wouldn’t give you the COINC headache. You don’t even have to use autoMOTION, you can be pixel perfect with LOCATE.