LASooner Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 I have a question about Dragon's Lair that I'm hoping one of you guys can answer... How many unique and individual ways are there to die in this game anyway? I'm guessing you've seen most of these already 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 42? ...lee This is the only acceptable answer. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarilovesyou Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 I'm not a TI Guy but MAN this is simply incredible! Fantastic work, well done! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted February 28, 2019 Share Posted February 28, 2019 I'm guessing you've seen most of these already Yes, sadly, a lot of them. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LASooner Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 42? ...lee This is the only acceptable answer. In the book "Salmon of Doubt", a collection of Douglas Adams' unfinished work and transcribed speaking engagements, there was a passage about the meaning of 42. Douglas Adams was a self described computer nerd, Deep Thought was the most advanced computer ever created, and generated the number 42 as the answer to life the universe and everything. 42 is the ASCII code for an asterisk, which is the computer language version of "Whatever you want it to be", the answer to Life the Universe and Everything as generated by a computer is "Whatever you want it to be" which I think is absolutely amazing way to present it. Douglas left us way too soon. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InfiniteTape Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 #27 received. Such an amazing job, Tursi! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+9640News Posted March 1, 2019 Share Posted March 1, 2019 #26 Received. Absolutel amazing, and such great care and quality in the packaging. Beery 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwantgames:) Posted March 2, 2019 Share Posted March 2, 2019 So now we have Dragons Lair, when can we expect Space Ace? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted March 2, 2019 Author Share Posted March 2, 2019 So now we have Dragons Lair, when can we expect Space Ace? I have no intention of working with future licensed works. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted March 2, 2019 Share Posted March 2, 2019 I have no intention of working with future licensed works. That fun, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwantgames:) Posted March 2, 2019 Share Posted March 2, 2019 I have no intention of working with future licensed works. You could always tell someone else how to do it lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 I have no intention of working with future licensed works. I like it! Direct, non-ambiguous language. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 I have no intention of working with future licensed works. So you're hiring Don Bluth to animate an original title now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted March 3, 2019 Author Share Posted March 3, 2019 That fun, eh? The process was not bad in and of itself, it's just not terribly interesting to me. I did it because it had never been done and because even I would have said "that's impossible" back in the day. But being under time limits and reporting restrictions is not so fun - I wasn't even allowed to let someone else handle the sales on this. So you're hiring Don Bluth to animate an original title now? THAT would be awesome. But I think it's a tad out of my price range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 But being under time limits and reporting restrictions is not so fun - I wasn't even allowed to let someone else handle the sales on this. Yeah... I speculate it is deliberately difficult as a deterrent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted March 3, 2019 Author Share Posted March 3, 2019 You could always tell someone else how to do it lol There's nothing hard about it. Just tedious. First, obtain the video. There are likely rips of Space Ace floating around out there, or just buy one the PC versions. That's easier, cause the scenes will likely be separate video files. Convert the video to the TI. For instance, by running it through my video conversion scripts. Consolidate the resulting video frames into a single block so you can get frame offsets. Step frame-by-frame through the resulting video and note the frame index of each junction point. (ie: start and end of each scene, start and end of each input block). Generate a list of frame sequences based on the above. This will handle the junctions through the video for input (valid or not) and provide the map that you will use to enter the data tables. In Dragon's Lair, I use a simple playback engine wherein each scene is split into a sequence of blocks. Each block contains 1 or more frames of video which are played out in sequence. Each block has the following data: - first frame to play - number of frames to play - whether or not this is a death animation (ie: the player will lose a life after this one plays) - hint icon to display (up, down, left, right, sword, none) - valid joystick inputs (all others are ignored) - correct joystick inputs (some scenes allow more than one, this is really only used as a speedup hint in the final game) - the address of which block to play next for each joystick input (up, down, left, right, sword) or timeout (no input) - if the scene is a timeout and there's no next block, the game knows that the scene is finished. So, you would need to create these lines of data for the entire game - think of a spreadsheet format. That part would require no changes for Space Ace. The scene selection logic is hard coded. This code's job is to determine which scene will play next, and there are two blocks. One simulates the arcade sequence, and the other simulates a revised home edition. I got information about the sequencing from http://www.dragons-lair-project.com/games/related/sequence.asp I did attempt to parse the original source code, but it was difficult to follow and the reverse engineered versions I found didn't include the data tables. Anyway, this code would be different for Space Ace, as would obviously the menus. And all the menu screens are distinct bitmap images, since I went whole-hog on the laserdisc simulation concept, so you'd want to redraw all that artwork. Ace seems to be about 25 minutes long, so not much longer than Dragon's Lair at about 22 minutes. Digital Leisure was fine to work with and fairly friendly about it. I would expect they'd be willing to license other tasks, but you need cash up front. Programming the final cart is easy enough - I program the flash in an EPROM programmer and solder it to the board. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted March 3, 2019 Author Share Posted March 3, 2019 Yeah... I speculate it is deliberately difficult as a deterrent. It's not difficult from that side of things. They got good money for it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 It's not difficult from that side of things. They got good money for it Crowdsource funding then? I have no problem volunteering your work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 We demonstrated the game at the CTIUG meeting today. The 2:21:00 mark (or close to that) is the start of the presentation. https://youtu.be/wVRpFSPTvWk 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted March 3, 2019 Author Share Posted March 3, 2019 Crowdsource funding then? I have no problem volunteering your work It's not money, I'd just rather work on my own stuff than someone else's. Dragon's Lair was a legend, so it was okay. Now if you want to crowdfund my work, I'm on board. Or if you want to pay me to consult, sure. But otherwise, I did my part. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted March 3, 2019 Author Share Posted March 3, 2019 (edited) We demonstrated the game at the CTIUG meeting today. The 2:21:00 mark (or close to that) is the start of the presentation. There were some questions I thought I heard in the background audio... - Don't be a hero! Turn on hints. (edit: ah, you did eventually) - Speech synthesizer is not used. - it's not a port, I had to write all the code. - Yes, it's joystick 1 Edited March 3, 2019 by Tursi 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted March 3, 2019 Author Share Posted March 3, 2019 (edited) Also: don't forget about practice mode. If you haven't learned all the scenes, then take your time! One more hint: the hint arrows don't appear until the last chance you have to move. Often you can move earlier, and in some scenes directions other than the one specified are also legal. Edited March 3, 2019 by Tursi 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tursi Posted March 3, 2019 Author Share Posted March 3, 2019 Invoices for numbers 35-47 have been sent. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+arcadeshopper Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 Invoices for numbers 35-47 have been sent. https://giphy.com/gifs/movie-the-sandlot-3oeHLdMOyYLnjZ2CfC Sent from my LG-H872 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick99 Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 Number 12 arrived safely to Sweden and is now played with great joy! Thanks Tursi! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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