Ature

[yuppicide]

Dear Yuppicide,

 

It was intentional that a heart is always dropped at your home. It's your own home so you can relax a bit there.

 

Good idea.

 

As for the bad collision detection, I know about it, but I don't see any way to make it better within the limitations. If anyone could suggest something by looking at the source code, it would be nice. When such a thing happens to me when playing, I just suck it up and press reset. Sorry.

 

Yeah, I get you. Might be too much to work in, but a simple solution could be that you can't get pushed off the screen when being hit by an enemy.

[beoran]

Dear Yuppicide,

 

Yes, it's probably a good idea to prevent you from being thrown off the screen or through a wall. I'll see if there's anything I can do about this within the memory limits.

 

Kind Regards,

 

B.

[yuppicide]

I understand people who want to try and squeeze a game into 128 bytes, 1k, 2k, etc.. but for the average person like myself who isn't trying to accomplish anything other than making a fun game, I just say fuck it. We're not living in a time when a 16k chip costs a lot.

[beoran]

Dear Yuppicide,

 

I can actually agree more or less with your feeling. However, my main reason for making this game, though, was as a sort of 'ramp up' or exercise if you like for my other full blown game project, "Eruta", a 2D classic looking action RPG for Linux/OSX/Windows. I wanted to see if I could get the game concepts in a very simple machine, that had very low art requirements. So that's why I don't want to invest too much effort in Ature. I just want to make sure it's playable and fun, and bugfix it where possible, but I don't want to go out of my way for it. I hope you'll understand.

 

As you hopefully could see from Ature, I have many good ideas for making an action RPG, but the art requirements for a good-looking 2D game are very high. No wonder the industry moved to 3D, it's much less work, because a 3D model can be reused, while this is harder for 2D art. But I don't like the feel of 3D models.

 

So anyway, I got a bit discouraged in making Eruta, so that's why I tried my hand at Ature, with rather satisfactory results. Perhaps I should be more daring with Eruta, make sure the game plays well even when the art is not too good, and release many public beta's, while polishing on the art later. All this aside, though.

 

Kind Regards,

 

B.

[KevinMos3]

I say find a way to port your Eruta ideas to the Atari.

 

But seriously, I just played through the game on my harmony cart. I really enjoyed it. I've killed every boss I could find (including the final boss Ikaza) and rescued my beloved (does he/she have a name?) at the Numen tree. I hit reset and continued searching for more items.

 

I have 6 items at the bottom of the screen but I'm not sure what they all are.

• One of them is the Numen Shield.
• There's the Numen Sword.
• Another is the Numen book.
• Another one is the Book of Striking (was that issued by a union?).

I don't know which icons are for those last two listed, but I know they're there. Now I need to figure out what the other two items are. Are there more than six items in the game or do I have them all? Also, is there a max to how much you can level up, because I think I've reached it?

 

Three ideas:

• The boss that guards the Numen Sword is too close to the color of the background and I could hardly see him at all on my TV. I just had to strike wildly and used all but one of my Numen leaves to beat him. It would be nice to make him a color that you can see more easily.
  
• It would be good to make your manual into a doc file so you can use images from the game to let people know what the various items look like.
  
• Would it be possible to add an inventory screen or a pause screen by toggling the Color/BW switch? Just a screen so you could see your level and how many points are needed to reach the next level.

You mentioned in an earlier post that you were thinking of adding music to the title screen, ending, or the game itself. I think this would be a nice addition (especially at the title and ending).

 

Again, great work.

Edited July 3, 2010 by KevinMos3

[yuppicide]

I've been playing this more as well. I've gotten a lot further, but still haven't beaten any "bosses". I got to one in that black castle after I turned on the lights, one to the bottom right that looked like a giant jelly fish, and someone carrying some kind of large stick of some sort. All three killed me. I haven't managed to get any items yet.

 

I love how the game has so many secrets to find.

 

If we have a way to fix the problem getting stuck, it would be great for a cartridge release. There's one screen where you can actually walk through and into a wall and be stuck on the next screen. Maybe more, but that's the only one of those I can find. The other ones were all a result of having been pushed by an enemy.

[yuppicide]

I am not sure, but I think someone should make a walk through for this.

 

I started to make screen captures to make one big map, but got bored of doing it.. more fun playing.

[beoran]

[edit: submitted by mistake ]

 

Dear KevinMos,

 

I'm glad to hear the game also plays on the original hardware.

 

As for your questions:

 

I didn't want to give a name Sygne's beloved, nor specify any gender. I'd like to leave it up to the player's imagination.

 

There are 8 items in the game, although the 3 Numen leaves only show up as one item in the inventory. All 8 items are alluded to in the manual. And yes, I'm a union member.

 

Your level can go all the way up to 99. Every level you need (level / 2 ) + 1 experience point to level up. however, if you win the game and

continue playing, your level will be maxed out at 99, so no need to level up anymore, just look around leasurely and try to find any missing items.

 

As for your suggestions, I'll change the color of the boss somewhat. It was intentional that that boss is difficult to see, however, not /that/ difficult. I'll update the manual into an html file with images, and link a walkthrough to it. An inventory/status screen would be nice, I see if I can do anything with the B/W switch. As for the music, I wrote a bit of music for the start, game over, and the end. It's not great, but it's probably a nice extra.

 

 

Yuppicide:

 

I have a map automatically generated from the source code (it's a big spoi ler, though) and I can write a walkthrough, although I hope people will at least try he game without it. Since I'll probably update the game for some of KevinMos's suggestins, I'll look into the collision detection problem as well. But, if you find any place where you can just walk off the screen and end up stuck, this is a bug in the map design, so please tell me where this happened.

 

Kind Regards,

 

B.

Edited July 4, 2010 by beoran

[beoran]

Dear yuppicide, i've uploaded a new version (look at the top of the thread) whihc should prevent ythe player from being kicked off the current screen by an enemy. I'd still love to here about the room where you got stuk, though.

 

Kind Regards,

 

B.

[KevinMos3]

I am not sure, but I think someone should make a walk through for this.

 

I started to make screen captures to make one big map, but got bored of doing it.. more fun playing.

I'm out of town right now, but when I return home I plan to make a map for this game.

Nevermind. I posted a reply without refreshing the page in a while so I didn't see beoran's response about generating a map from the source.

 

 

 

Dear yuppicide, i've uploaded a new version (look at the top of the thread) whihc should prevent ythe player from being kicked off the current screen by an enemy. I'd still love to here about the room where you got stuk, though.

I was concerned that without being knocked off the screen, it might be easier to die from an ambush. Sometimes being knocked off was helpful. However, after playing for a few minutes in Stella, I've not yet run into a murderous situation. I'll spend some time playing it on my harmony cart when I return home. BTW, the intro music is a nice addition.

Edited July 5, 2010 by KevinMos3

[yuppicide]

I will try the new version shortly.. it's very easy to get to the screen you get stuck on.. here's how:

 

Go right, up. You can walk through the blue piece as seen here:

 

 

and end up here:

 

[yuppicide]

Like the new title screen music as well.. didn't care for the death music..

[Atari_afternoon]

Thank you for the new version, beoran

As usual (for me), I´ll give it intensive treatment with Stella DS later accompanied by my bedtime tea 8-)

[yuppicide]

That little "-" enemy is hard to kill.

 

I haven't been able to beat him yet. I haven't been able to get that shield thing or the yellow switch behind the wall yet.

 

Great game.

[beoran]

I uploaded yet another new version at the top of this thread (sorry for the short delay), in which I added a few more blocks to the map there so you shouldn't be able to get stuck like that anymore. I also changed the game over music, although I don't know if it's better.

 

The _ is indeed the hardest foe to beat to beat of them all. And some f the puzzles are rather complicated. But I'm glad you're enjoying the game.

[beoran]

Dear KevinMos3,

 

Attached to this message is the map in text format. Look at it with a notepad with line wrap turned off and you letter type set to very small. I warn everyone, it's a HUGE SPOILER, so don't look at it until you're finished with the game, or feel you're totally stuck.

 

Kind Regards,

 

B.

ature_map.txt

Edited July 6, 2010 by beoran

[yuppicide]

Where can I get this? I'm interested also.

 

Let's see I keep doing the same stuff, but getting no further and the damn - kills me.

 

Dear KevinMos3,

 

Attached to this message is the map in text format. Look at it with a notepad with line wrap turned off and you letter type set to very small. I warn everyone, it's a HUGE SPOILER, so don't look at it until you're finished with the game, or feel you're totally stuck.

 

Kind Regards,

 

B.

[beoran]

Oops, forgot to include the attachment. You can find the map attached to my modified previous message.

[yuppicide]

Yeah, there's no way I'm going to understand that map lol. Is the map really that big? Notepad I keep scrolling to the right for awhile.

 

Oops, forgot to include the attachment. You can find the map attached to my modified previous message.

[beoran]

Ok, I was able to generate an image from the text map, attached to this post. No colors though, I'm lazy today.

 

But, if you just want to finish the game, you don't need to defeat the -. The - is an optional boss, as are many things in this game. The Numen Armor, Numen Shield, Book of Healing and the Book of Striking are all four optional, and not needed to finish the game, though they all make it quite a bit easier each in their own ways.

 

Basically, to finish the game, there are 2 approaches: one is a more battle oriented way where you must fight your way to 3 bosses and gather the 3 leaves they guard, and use them to break the curse. A second, less battle oriented, but more crafty approach involves solving some difficult puzzles to get the Numen Sword, and use that to break the curse. If ypu want more hints I'll send them to you in a private message.

 

Kind Regards,

 

B.

[yuppicide]

Wow.. holy sexy, Batman! That map.. I have no idea how you made it, but it looks very Zelda-ish if you do it like that.

 

Looks like I've been through most of the map, except for a few areas.

 

You should definitely get this on Cartridge.. we should get someone to make up a comic book looking Zelda-like label and then you should post this over in the Homebrew forum to get more attention.. don't just post a link here.. post your latest binary and instructions as if it were a new post.

 

You should definitely make another one of these.. keep the same basic elements, but a bigger map.

 

Again, wow.. love that map.

[beoran]

Well, I'm glad to hear you like the map.

 

As for getting on a cartridge, the game is zlib license, so anyone can do this freely if they'd like as long as they gve me credit for the game. I hope of course that they would just sell at bare cost, but again, I don't care for any profits from this, I just made this game for my own fun.

 

I'd love someone to draw me a label, but I don't know anyone who could do this, so I'm open to your advice. I'll probably make a post to the homebrew forum also, but I'll probably make a PDF file for the documentation, with the screenshots included.

 

As for making another game like this, but bigger, I will and it will be "Eruta", but it will not be for 2600. I know it's very ambitious but I hope to make that game 50x bigger. And it will have all of the essential elements of Ature and more. If I finish it in my lifetime, that is.

[KevinMos3]

Thanks for the map. It looks great and really changes how I view the game. As for being a spoiler... I'm not trying to brag, but not for me. I pretty much had it mastered after having played through the game a few times and having collected all the items.

 

For the label, you might want to ask Atariboy2600 (who does great work), or just post a label contest.

 

edit: I added color to your map and resized it to the proportion you see when playing the game. Now we have an excellent black & white version that makes the elements clearly visible as well as a color version. Also, I made a map that shows all the enemies and switches but I'm not uploading it right now. If people would like to see it, I can upload it as well, but since it's more of a spoiler than the one made by beoran, I will just wait and see if someone wants it.

 

On another note: I noticed that the switch on the bottom of the map below the palm trees can now be accessed by land after doing something. Is this a feature you changed? I've included the way that I used to flip the switch below in a spoiler button. If readers other than beoran want to see an alternate way to flip that switch, you can click below too.

Before, I would flip that switch with legendary strike.

 

 

Also, I've noticed that if you enter some of the boss screens with your sword drawn, the background is a different color. For example:

• The background of the boss screen (that's at the bottom of the map in the ocean) will be red instead of black. The same color of red as the boss.
• The boss screen in the top-left corner of the map will be purple instead of red-brown.
• Is this intentional?

And lastly, I found a bug and a somewhat bug.

• Bug: After beating the game with the latest binary, I hit reset to continue playing. The end game music flubbed up and played a constant tone for the rest of the time until I exited the game.
• Somewhat bug: You can get stuck in the yellow-green block if you enter the screen from the left side and move between the top and bottom blocks toward the enemy. He will shoot you and knock you up into the block so you have to reset the game to get out. This is not a big deal because a person can simply learn from that mistake and not do it again. Since you can reset the game without losing all your progress, I wouldn't really call it a bug. More of a slap on the hand. Here is a screenshot of what I'm talking about:
  

Edited July 8, 2010 by KevinMos3

[beoran]

Dear KevinMos,

 

Thank you for that map. If you don't mind I'll use that map, after covering up the secret areas, as the map in the manual I'm working on.

 

As for the spoiler, yes, this was completely intentional. In Ature, there are in most cases two ways to achieve any goal. The second way to reach that switch was intended for players who don't collect the 3 leaves but go for the Numen Sword in stead.

 

The changing of the background color when entering the boss rooms is a bug which I also encountered myself, but I'm yet clueless as to why it happens. I'll try to see if I can fix it later after I finish the manual.

 

As for the other two bugs, I'll also look into them, but I can't promise anything for the last one, as there's already some code to prevent the player from being kicked back into a wall, but sometimes it fails, apparently, and I'm at a loss on how to fix it. But, let's just do as you say and call it a feature, or a trap in stead, as the player can always reset to go back home.

[KevinMos3]

Thank you for that map. If you don't mind I'll use that map, after covering up the secret areas, as the map in the manual I'm working on.

Sure, go right ahead. I had the color situation with the boss in the Top Left screen backwards. I've updated the post with the correct colors for when you enter the room without sword drawn.

 

However, I went a step further and made the map as a Photoshop PSD file with layers. This file has the map with opened areas, unopened areas, enemies, items, switches, and solution labels, each with its own layer. The map has each screen separated like a grid for easier reference.

 

@ beoran: I'll PM you this file. If anyone else wants this, it's 1.75MB which is too big to be sending multiple people on my dialup connection, but I can send png's with solutions shown and not shown.

 

For example, here is the map with NO paths open, Bosses & Switches SHOWN, common Enemies NOT shown, Secret Switches NOT shown, Items NOT shown:

 

With the PSD file, you'll be able to make any combination you want and you can easily erase hidden areas.