game like zelda?

[eegad]

Were there ever any games released for the Atari 8-bits that were similar in gameplay to Legend of Zelda?

 

 

[+MrFish]

Zelda

[Mclaneinc]

Naughty boy MrFish

[peteym5]

I was trying to do something like that for my RPG Adventure game engine starting with the Secretum Labyrinth games. I am in the early stages of making another adventure game with this engine. Need input on what I can put into this game.

[Justin Payne]

I was trying to do something like that for my RPG Adventure game engine starting with the Secretum Labyrinth games. I am in the early stages of making another adventure game with this engine. Need input on what I can put into this game.

Did you write up a game spec? That's a great way to get your ideas down and identify what works and what doesn't, not to mention allowing others to view your ideas and make suggestions. I've used a template I found online. It was a little heafty for the concepts I came up with but those sections were easily cut out.

[peteym5]

I designed a generic engine, each screen or "room" is a procedural drawn Antic 4 screen, so many can be compacted to fit onto a cartridge or limited amount of RAM. It can be assembled to run from the 64K Williams, XEGS, or AtariMax carts, or make use of extended memory like the 130XE. Number of rooms is limited to whatever size cartridge or RAM you intended to run the game from. I am working on ways to pack the screen room drawing data into even smaller memory areas. The multiplexer allows 8 multicolored sprites from player/missile graphics. Currently is limited to 5 monsters to reduce flickering plus a character you control.

 

Any other information you require? I will be adding more upgrades to this RPG Adventure Game engine before I dive into making more games with it.

[Wally1]

galahad and the holy grail is pretty cool

 

but more like 2600 Adventure

[+Larry]

What are the hardware requirements for Zelda.xex? Doesn't seem to like my NTSC XL's. Maybe PAL only? I just get a black screen that never goes away.

 

-Larry

[Justin Payne]

I designed a generic engine, each screen or "room" is a procedural drawn Antic 4 screen, so many can be compacted to fit onto a cartridge or limited amount of RAM. It can be assembled to run from the 64K Williams, XEGS, or AtariMax carts, or make use of extended memory like the 130XE. Number of rooms is limited to whatever size cartridge or RAM you intended to run the game from. I am working on ways to pack the screen room drawing data into even smaller memory areas. The multiplexer allows 8 multicolored sprites from player/missile graphics. Currently is limited to 5 monsters to reduce flickering plus a character you control.

 

Any other information you require? I will be adding more upgrades to this RPG Adventure Game engine before I dive into making more games with it.

Well, that's a start. You might want to answer questions like...

1. Is each room the same size

2. Does each room have the same amount of doors

3. Are their different types of rooms. What is the world settting?

4. Besides monsters, what else will exist in these rooms?

5. Who is the player? What is he equipped with? Can he carry more than one item? Does he have health? Upgrades?

6. Does the game have a goal or goals?

7. Does the character have a backstory

8. How many mosters are their? Are their different types and how do they differ (color, damage, ability).

 

I could go on all day but this is where a design doc really comes in handy. A technically able game doesn't always mean a good game. Gameplay is the most important thing to do before writing a single line of code. There are games that didn't follow this model but I think it can save a lot of coding later on since you already would have a good idea of the end product.

[fultonbot]

I have not played them since 1983, But I recall Stuart Smith's games like "Ali Baba And The 40 Thieves" and "Return Of Heracles" having a lot of similarities to Zelda.

"Ali Baba" was the first computer I ever finished. I think I finished it in 2 days during school break Xmas 1983, the year I got my Atari 800 for Christmas.

[Mclaneinc]

What are the hardware requirements for Zelda.xex? Doesn't seem to like my NTSC XL's. Maybe PAL only? I just get a black screen that never goes away.

 

-Larry

Tried it under emulation in Pal and NTSC on a 64K XL and it worked fine..

 

Just remember that its a scrolling map with a zelda sprite but there's no interaction, purely a demo with a zelda tune..

[+MrFish]

What are the hardware requirements for Zelda.xex? Doesn't seem to like my NTSC XL's. Maybe PAL only? I just get a black screen that never goes away.

 

I just tried it on a stock NTSC 800XL using SIO2PC, RespeQt, and the "Boot Executable" option and it worked fine. So maybe there's some conflict with whatever loading method you're using.

[peteym5]

Well, that's a start. You might want to answer questions like...

1. Is each room the same size

2. Does each room have the same amount of doors

3. Are their different types of rooms. What is the world settting?

4. Besides monsters, what else will exist in these rooms?

5. Who is the player? What is he equipped with? Can he carry more than one item? Does he have health? Upgrades?

6. Does the game have a goal or goals?

7. Does the character have a backstory

8. How many mosters are their? Are their different types and how do they differ (color, damage, ability).

 

I could go on all day but this is where a design doc really comes in handy. A technically able game doesn't always mean a good game. Gameplay is the most important thing to do before writing a single line of code. There are games that didn't follow this model but I think it can save a lot of coding later on since you already would have a good idea of the end product.

 

Well, that's a start. You might want to answer questions like...

1. Is each room the same size

Each Room is an Antic 4 screen. I used the Super IRG trick that alternates between two fonts to simulate more colors. The instructions to draw the room compact to about 60 to 70 bytes depending on how complicated I make things.

2. Does each room have the same amount of doors.

No, you can not draw any walls along any part of the screens edge. When you go off the edge of the screen, you pop into the next room on the opposite side. There is an over ride function that you be sent to a desired room.

3. Are their different types of rooms. What is the world settting?

You can control the color palette, change music, position of monsters, and objects. There are locked doors that require a specific key to open. Currently the room index is one byte and has a range of 256 rooms. I could make it two bytes and could have a range of 0 to 65536. I probably will not go past 400 rooms. The bigger you make things, the more issues you can run into with debugging it.

4. Besides monsters, what else will exist in these rooms?

Treasures, Potions, Weapons, Idols, blocks that can be pushed to open hidden doors or cause things to appear. Keys, Locked Doors, Scrolls, and other usable items.

You have Restart Idols. When you die and continue, you go back to the last idol you touch.

Heath Idol. Heal Hitpoints.

Wisdom Idols. Look at your experience and promotes to next skill level.

5. Who is the player? What is he equipped with? Can he carry more than one item? Does he have health? Upgrades?

I never named the player for Secretum Labyrinth, as you are being the character in the story. He can carry multiple items. Weapons are selected by pressing 1,2,3,...etc on the keyboard. Health is hitpoints.

Has an experience-hitpoint system. Higher levels means higher total hitpoints. I may upgrade to using more attributes, but won't go overboard like Advance Dungeons and Dragons.

 

6. Does the game have a goal or goals?

Goal can be collect all the hidden treasures. But can add things like needing to kill monsters or reach a certain room.

7. Does the character have a backstory

I wrote up a short story that pops up when the splash screen, and additional pieces are told inside the scroll giving hints.

Between the demo and the cartridge game, I linked the story together. There are some hints for the cartridge game are in scrolls in the demo and vice versa to encourage people to buy the cartridge. The stories for the two games touch on each other.

 

8. How many monsters are their? Are their different types and how do they differ (color, damage, ability).

There are many different types of monsters with movement control parameters, default hit points, speed, and method of attack. I believe the cartridge game had 40 types of monsters, demo had about 15.

 

I have plans to upgrade the game engine to compact things down further. Like have a single byte in the room data with the bits to indicate which doors are opened or closed.

 

I am currently tied up with some other game projects, but hope to get back the Adventure/RPG thing soon. I might do a third game within the Secretum Labyrinth series. If I get an interested people, I might assist them in designing an interdependent adventure game.

[Mclaneinc]

I think the only way to do Zelda justice would be use of the VBXE, with that you could do a decent clone of Speris Legacy (Amiga)

 

For me the Super Nintendo Zelda just blew me away, I'd never played the Nes game so as the game starts and you find yourself out in the rain with the orchestral music and super cute graphics, I was hooked and boy, was there a game under the hood...

Edited May 14, 2016 by Mclaneinc

[emkay]

I think the only way to do Zelda justice would be use of the VBXE, with that you could do a decent clone of Speris Legacy (Amiga)

The Zelda Demo posted by Playsoft shows there is no need for using "Non 8 Bit" Hardware like the VBXE.

[Mclaneinc]

The Zelda Demo posted by Playsoft shows there is no need for using "Non 8 Bit" Hardware like the VBXE.

Yes I like the demo but at its heart its purely a scrolled map with a sprite and some music, there's no actual game mechanics in, I'm just wondering how much of an 8 bit you would need to do it.

[Heaven/TQA]

SNES Zelda was my first game when bought an SNES 1992? And I was hooked as demo coder by the rotating trident at the beginning after the Nintendo logo

[Mclaneinc]

Yes, Zelda was / is cool as hell, like Castlevania: Symphonies of the night on the PSX I defy anyone to start playing and put it down without NEEDING to have another go.

[+MrFish]

SNES Zelda was my first game when bought an SNES 1992? And I was hooked as demo coder by the rotating trident at the beginning after the Nintendo logo

 

Great, we'll mark you down for doing the intro/title.

[www.atarimania.com]

How about Fury - The Wrath of Taljun Cathu?

 

Unfortunately, I don't think the game is winnable. Either there's a nasty bug near the end or the version floating around wasn't cracked properly.

 

--

Atari Frog

http://www.atarimania.com

[Mclaneinc]

Nice, was enjoying that until it froze after shooting the blue plant things...

[emkay]

Yes I like the demo but at its heart its purely a scrolled map with a sprite and some music, there's no actual game mechanics in, I'm just wondering how much of an 8 bit you would need to do it.

0.7

[+MrFish]

How about Fury - The Wrath of Taljun Cathu?

 

I like how the enemies continue to shoot at your lifeless carcass after you've died.

Edited May 14, 2016 by MrFish

[devwebcl]

How about Fury - The Wrath of Taljun Cathu?

 

Unfortunately, I don't think the game is winnable. Either there's a nasty bug near the end or the version floating around wasn't cracked properly.

 

--

Atari Frog

http://www.atarimania.com

 

I didn't know this game... it is very zelda-ish indeed... cool info

[peteym5]

Well, that's a start. You might want to answer questions like...

5. Who is the player? What is he equipped with? Can he carry more than one item? Does he have health? Upgrades?

 

I could go on all day but this is where a design doc really comes in handy. A technically able game doesn't always mean a good game. Gameplay is the most important thing to do before writing a single line of code. There are games that didn't follow this model but I think it can save a lot of coding later on since you already would have a good idea of the end product.

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/245765-secretum-labyrinth-the-legend-now-available-on-cartridge/?hl=%2Bsecretum+%2Blabyrinth&do=findComment&comment=3377785

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/231275-secretum-labyrinth-kings-gold/

 

Forgot to mention last night because I had a long day at work. The character and weapons does have upgrades. Like Zelda, there is a 2nd sword and 2nd Bow&Arrow that can be found that will cause additional hit point damages or the arrow shoots faster. Some upgrade I am considering adding is an armor system and shops you can trade/purchase upgrades.

 

I believe I did a fairly good job of doing action game play. I did not want to do a turned based RPG where the action keeps stopping and you keep getting prompted what to do next during battle.

 

Although there is a demo and youtube videos, sales been going slow for the cartridge game. That is why I had not jumped into making the sequel. It may be because people had past issues with someone I am no long associated with.

 

 

Look at the attach videos and link to the other thread.

 

 

Edited May 14, 2016 by peteym5