The Legend of Beryl Reichardt

[Opry99er]

Sometimes,

Thanks for "gandering.". . The main battles with the more powerful "bosses" will simply be a turn-based attack and defend sequence. Nothing arcade about it---except the first person mode..... Which I am rethinking..... It is not necessary and would probably be more hassle than it is worth. But you're right, the side-scroll animation is a bit "arcad-y". It will be a small section of the actual gameplay, and it will mainly be just to add a little arcade flavor in there for variety. COINC detection will be oh so easy, as you will not have more than one enemy at a time in motion during the side-scroll. The main cave navigation will be overhead/top down with no SPRITEs... The sidescroll only happens just before you reach a boss and immediately following the boss (to retrieve whatever treasure lay behind the boss). .

[The Codex]

You could definitely do something sprite-based in the style of the classic Japanese RPGs that use side-view "party vs monster" combat displays. These aren't true arcade sequences, so much as displays that play out the results of combat (similar to ToD, only with more visual depth and motion). Something like this:

 

 

Many RPGs took this a little further and put environmental graphics in the background, depending on where the party is (in a forest, exploring ruins, etc). That could be doable as well, depending on how much memory is left over from the sprites.

[Opry99er]

Yep... That's gonna be the style... The navigation will be primarily top down, but battle with big bosses will happen as you suggested.... Think "Dragon Mix" (for the TI) meets Grandia II. . Only, it will be a true turn based combat engine... The bosses will be much larger than the party.... So no real motion except for "still" and "attack" patterns. Dragon Mix is an educational game, but the Dragon in that game is about the size I'm planning for the bosses.

[Opry99er]

Thought I'd add a bit of "magic" to the screen. This is pretty lame, but I thought I'd post it. =)

 

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")

175 CALL CHAR(88,"00042011084003131303400811200400002004881002C0C8C8C0021088042000")

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

295 CALL SPRITE(#5,88,16,152,64,-10,10)

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

305 CALL DELSPRITE(#5)

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

 

 

 

[Opry99er]

Well, Honeycomb... Buggy as it is, is finished. I can strip the music out and it works just fine... I'll have it fixed soon enough. . Anyway, here's the next installment of "Legend of Beryl Reichardt" dev.

 

Variables implemented:

 

BERL-life

BERM-magic

BERE-experience

 

the same goes for all 4 characters... For reptoslicer::

 

REPL

REPM

REPE

 

etcetera.....

 

BTW, if you haven't tried out the above code for magic, give it a whirl. I'll post a screenshot of the "map" screen today or tomorrow!!!

[The Codex]

Sounds like a candidate for an array, though that can be less intuitive to read for some folks. For example, with one array for attributes, you could store all four characters (assuming there's always four and never more or less). Then using index variables for each Character and Attibute, you can refer to them easily. I'm out of practice with XB, so this is pseudocode, but I'm sure you'll get the idea.

 

REM Index values for Character

CBER = 0;

CREP = 1;

CMRK = 2;

CSKY = 3;

 

REM Index values for Attribute

ALIF = 0;

AMAG = 1;

AEXP = 2;

 

DIM ATTR$(4,3);

ATTR$(CBER,ALIF) = ATTR$(0,0) = is BERL

ATTR$(CBER,AMAG) = ATTR$(0,1) = is BERM

ATTR$(CBER,AEXP) = ATTR$(0,2) = is BERE

ATTR$(CREP,ALIF) = ATTR$(1,0) = is REPL

 

Just a thought, as you may not really gain anything by switching to an array. But the geek in me wanted to bring it up.

Edited February 18, 2010 by The Codex

[Opry99er]

Sounds very interesting!!! I'll consider this as I move forward!! I have decided to move forward with this game as opposed to putting it in hold AGAIN. This was my first planned project for the TI, but I was not a skilled enough programmer to do it properly, and I recognized that. I put it on hold to do Lemonade Stand, and then I put it on hold again so I could enter "Honeycomb Rapture" into the contest. Now, with two games under my belt, I have the necessary "stuff" to try to tackle my first RPG. ((I hope anyway..... )) I will be requiring the assistance of a skilled assembly programmer for help in screen draws, graphic implementation, etc... Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce to you the co-developer of "The Legend of Beryl Reichardt," Mr. Mark Wills!!!! He will be posting here as well, and with his help, this game will be complete by The Faire!!!! Watch for Updates to come rapidly over the next month.

[The Codex]

Good news, that! A team is nice for keeping a complex project like an RPG going, and you can learn from each other and play to your strengths. Please feel free to call on me for any RPG advice as well, if you wish.

Edited February 18, 2010 by The Codex

[Opry99er]

Codex,

Absolutely, man. Your ToDR stuff blows my mind. =) You have more knowledge of the greatest RPG for the TI than anyone else alive right now. ToD is definitely a magnificent starting point for understanding what can be possible on the TI, and there is truly nobody else I can think of who knows more about that than you. This forum will be an open discussion and conversation of the concepts and processes concerning the development of "Beryl" and your input is (and will continue to be) invaluable! Here's what I need first and foremost....

 

*A concept of how to setup and maintain the massive # of variables that will be used

*The outline of program-flow (how the game will move from map to cave to battle and back out again)

 

These are the first conepts that I'm trying to outline and understand while I work on graphics and variable implementation. When a few of the fringe things get complete, I want to get into the meat of the game, and this will be the place to do this. Atariage is proving to be a marvellous place to share and grow ideas, and Codex.... I'm sure glad you're here. =)

 

Owen Brand

[InfernalKeith]

I did the cut-and-paste... the graphics look great, dude. Can't wait to see this project grow.

[Opry99er]

Thanks Keith!!! I'm pretty excited about the prospects--- especially with whiz kid from Tashkent agreeing to lend a hand with graphic implementation into AL. The variables, gameplay, battle sequence statistic stuff, etc will

be done in XB, but all the graphics for screen-draws, maps, and so forth will be CALL LOADed so as to speed up the transition time between screens. Adamantyr knows as well as anyone that loading from diskette is the only way to achieve "scope" and that's what I'm going for... It will be pretty easy to have 6 or 7 XB programs on a diskette representing the different "phases" of the game, all with graphical AL support--- at the end of a phase, just "RUN DSK1.MAP" then after a location is selected on the map, "RUN DSK1.CAVE1". The cave will have several stages of varying difficulty, CAVE1, CAVE2, etc... Each XB program will have it's own set of supporting AL subroutines which allow for fast screen draws and such for entering the next "part" of the stage. It's still conceptual at this point, but I will have 3 weeks on the road in March to dedicate 3 or 4 hours a day to working on it. Home, it's hard to get much done, but I will be working on new graphics for each stage of the game in the next couple of weeks while I'm here and can get some time. I'm working on a preliminary "map"

right now that's shaping up very nicely.

[Opry99er]

Hey... I am working on the map screen for "The Legend of Beryl Reichardt" and I am moving the player around using ESDX.  I do not want for the motion to be continuous if the key is held down... I want individual keystrokes only.  Currently I have a loop that moves the character just fine around the screen (eliminating wrap) but the player can currently hold down a key and achieve continuous motion.  I'm sure there's a quick fix for this, but I've never tried to move characters this way before.  I am doing the programming in the newest version of Classic99.  Any help would be appreciated.   

[+adamantyr]

Hey... I am working on the map screen for "The Legend of Beryl Reichardt" and I am moving the player around using ESDX.  I do not want for the motion to be continuous if the key is held down... I want individual keystrokes only.  Currently I have a loop that moves the character just fine around the screen (eliminating wrap) but the player can currently hold down a key and achieve continuous motion.  I'm sure there's a quick fix for this, but I've never tried to move characters this way before.  I am doing the programming in the newest version of Classic99.  Any help would be appreciated.   

 

When you check status after calling KEY, there are three potential values:

 

• 0, no key is pressed
  
• 1, a new key is pressed from the last time you called KEY
  
• -1 the same key as previous is pressed from when you last called KEY
  

 

If you wrote something like this, it would prevent holding keys:

 

100 CALL KEY(0,K,S):: IF S<=0 THEN 100

 

Adamantyr

[Opry99er]

Perfect... Just gotta change "=" to "<="

 

thanks.

[Opry99er]

I had totally forgotten about this video!!! I had started work on some graphic renderings of the game characters and posted this about a year ago. I probably did the code for this 2 years ago though, and did it ALL on graph paper. =) Enjoy--- BTW, I think these were all originally done in console BASIC-- I converted them to XB, but I don't even remember if I still have these files. If I remember correctly, I used character sets above 14, and it wouldnt run in XB. =) I'll probably find them in some hidden file somewhere in a thumb drive in a desk drawer.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 18, 2010 by Opry99er

[The Codex]

Good stuff man. And yes, I do love you Beryl.

[Opry99er]

Alright--- this is a VERY preliminary screenshot for a dungeon screen. No stats are displayed yet, just the outline of what it MIGHT look like. =) Hope you enjoy

 

 

 

[The Codex]

Nifty. Is this exploration mode?

[Opry99er]

Yep... Right before the "battle"sequence. If you want that sword, buddy you're gonna fight for it. . Those pesky cave spiders. Hehehe.. This is just a mockup though. Just some fun to keep me interested

[Opry99er]

 

 

Something new to chew on

[sometimes99er]

Dribble, slobber, drool ... Looking good, old man

 

[The Codex]

Woo, I like that! Coming together good there.

[Opry99er]

Try this one on. =) Got a key here, inverted color scheme. I like this one better

 

[Opry99er]

I have been inspired lately by my two favorite games of all time on any system anywhere---"Tunnels of Doom" and "Faxanadu". ToD is an obvious one, but many of you may have never played Faxanadu or know it's origins. It is the only real RPG I know of on the NES--- and it's a side-scroller. Not quite a dungeon crawling "top-down" turn based RPG, but the storyline, the mystery and landscape are epic in proportion. If you get a few minutes (and are unaware of this game) do a search for it on YouTube and bask in it's glory!!! The Legend of Beryl Reichardt will make use of certain elements of this classic masterpiece such as the intricate music, interactive "store" and "town" sequences, and fully developed storyline. I was discussing the concept and plot

with Willsy and he gave me a great piece of advice. He suggested that I take a bunch if time and think about all the elements of the game I want to include before starting the coding... I have a tendency to just jump into coding the game before it's mapped out in my head completely, but with a game like "Beryl", that would be a huge mistake. These screenshots are basically just to show different sequences that are possible and to inspire me to keep going. So far, I've done the following for my planning stage::

 

*Developed each character's story and purpose in the quest

*Worked up the overall goal of the quest

*Generally outlined how the "pieces" of the game will interact with one another (battle sequence ties into exploration sequence ties into map

mode, etc..)

*I have begun to write music for the different levels

*Working on how to keep up with variables and scoring

*working out "motion" for the party and how the player will "control" the players

 

These are some ideas that have been running through my head and I am writing them down as I go. Hopefully by mid-March, I'll have some sort

of playable demo that will showcase the game engines. Til then, watch for more screenshots and whatnot. . Thanks for all the positive comments!!!

[The Codex]

Agreed, I like the reverse coloring better as well. And definitely plan out as much of the game in advance as you can, because shoe-horning ideas into an RPG takes a ton of refactoring, or some ugly hacked code at best. Advanced planning also helps you manage the game assets, which on a TI means you'll hit the limit sooner rather than later.