+Andrew Davie Posted July 14, 2019 Share Posted July 14, 2019 (edited) When I look at a screenshot like the attached, I start dreaming about doing a Sokoban once again. I first started playing with Sokoban using playfield graphics back in about 1998... I've noticed there are a couple of Sokoban efforts on AtariAge, but perhaps it's time to do one using the tile engine used for Boulder Dash. Look at the image below and think about walls, boxes, and a man. Not far off already.... Here's an animation of one version, giving the basic concept... Edited July 14, 2019 by Andrew Davie 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted July 14, 2019 Author Share Posted July 14, 2019 I reckon I could have a working playable version in under a week 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hizzy Posted July 14, 2019 Share Posted July 14, 2019 Yes!! A new game from you would be great! It's Christmas in July!! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted July 14, 2019 Author Share Posted July 14, 2019 I have "pushing boxes onto target squares" mostly working.. sokoban_vid1.mp4 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted July 15, 2019 Author Share Posted July 15, 2019 I have done some more work on this, and now you can push the boxes in any direction. As you can see, I'm just using some leftover Boulder Dash graphics for placeholders, but there's no actual Boulder Dash in here; it's just running the generic character-display engine. I've also added one of the actual Sokoban screens. The jiggly squares are the 'target' positions. These disappear when you put something on top of them, so that's still a "to do" but other than that, the game is now basically playable. sokoban_vid2.mp4 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted July 15, 2019 Author Share Posted July 15, 2019 Here's a "solve" of that first level. Just remember the four pulsing dots are where the boxes need to go. The dots should be visible when there's not a box there but they don't stay around when something else moves over them at the moment (to be fixed). At the point I get the four boxes onto the four dot positions, that's that level solved. sokoban_vid3.mp4 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dionoid Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 Wow, this looks really good!!!! So cool to see Rockford playing the Sokoban game ? Good to see you coding the '2600 again, Andrew! And too bad that I joined AtariAge only 1.5 years ago, so I missed the opportunity to buy Boulder Dash for the '2600 (which was one of my favorite games on the C64) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted July 15, 2019 Author Share Posted July 15, 2019 Just a different colour scheme, which I like better, and a faster "solve". I'm procrastinating. Bit of glitching there; I'll have to revisit the timings of the engine. sokoban_vid4.mp4 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high voltage Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 Sokoban on C64, way back, played it for hours, great game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dionoid Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 (edited) Just wondering: would it be technically feasible to do 1 PF-pixel horizontal scrolling instead of 4 PF-pixel? Or is this impossible in a display kernel? I guess this was also discussed during development of Boulder Dash, but I cannot find it when I do a forum search. Edited July 15, 2019 by Dionoid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted July 16, 2019 Author Share Posted July 16, 2019 8 hours ago, Dionoid said: Just wondering: would it be technically feasible to do 1 PF-pixel horizontal scrolling instead of 4 PF-pixel? Or is this impossible in a display kernel? I guess this was also discussed during development of Boulder Dash, but I cannot find it when I do a forum search. Not with this engine, no. I doubt it would be possible without external co-processing power. Give people an inch and they want a mile!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AW127 Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 Ha, looks great. I could also imagine a nice PENGO clone with these graphics, only the enemies must be created. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted July 17, 2019 Author Share Posted July 17, 2019 2 hours ago, AW127 said: Ha, looks great. I could also imagine a nice PENGO clone with these graphics, only the enemies must be created. Yes, I think that might be feasible. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted July 17, 2019 Author Share Posted July 17, 2019 More fiddling, and I added another level... still just fiddling. Actually the prime motivation is more to get the source code into a releasable format with no IP issues. Writing Sokoban lets me carefully go through it all and decide what stays and what goes, while still having something that is functional. Hopefully in a week or two I can release the source for this and everyone can see the magnificence that is the tile engine soko2.mp4 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
root42 Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 What video service are you using to embed your videos? For some reason I can't play them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted July 17, 2019 Author Share Posted July 17, 2019 17 minutes ago, root42 said: What video service are you using to embed your videos? For some reason I can't play them... No video service. They are just run of the mill .mp4 files I upload directly via the "choose files" option in the AtariAge editor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
root42 Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Well, then iOS simply doesn't like the forum software or vice versa. Will watch the videos once I get home to a desktop browser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 49 minutes ago, root42 said: Well, then iOS simply doesn't like the forum software or vice versa. Will watch the videos once I get home to a desktop browser. It's not just iOS. Safari (Mac OSX) doesn't like them either. I had to switch to Chrome to view them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted July 17, 2019 Author Share Posted July 17, 2019 I've done a bit more work. Tweaked the palette, although there should be a different colour scheme for each level. I now have the 'targets' not being wiped by the player moving over them. I still have to fix up them disappearing when a box moves over. Not a big issue. There's a glitch when the player first moves, but apart from that it's looking OK. I'll have to redo the graphics so there are no IP issues soon, and then I guess I could release a binary... that is, if anyone even likes sokoban sok5.mp4 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dionoid Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 15 hours ago, Andrew Davie said: More fiddling, and I added another level... still just fiddling. Actually the prime motivation is more to get the source code into a releasable format with no IP issues. Writing Sokoban lets me carefully go through it all and decide what stays and what goes, while still having something that is functional. Hopefully in a week or two I can release the source for this and everyone can see the magnificence that is the tile engine Looking forward to the source code of the title engine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted July 18, 2019 Author Share Posted July 18, 2019 Well, now it's fully playable. Everything seems to be working OK. I have to change the graphics, of course, and fully clean out anything related to BD. But most of the engine is clean already, and I should be on course to release a binary in about a week. It plays pretty well. I wonder if there's any interest in a polished, cartridge version... sok.mp4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 That looks great! How many levels do you think you could fit in a 32K ROM? A menu would be useful as well (to start at a particular level, you could possibly make codes that you'd need to enter, similar to games like Chip's Challenge). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted July 18, 2019 Author Share Posted July 18, 2019 Just now, Albert said: That looks great! How many levels do you think you could fit in a 32K ROM? A menu would be useful as well (to start at a particular level, you could possibly make codes that you'd need to enter, similar to games like Chip's Challenge). There is a compressed sokoban exchange format. I am toying with the idea of allowing you to enter the compressed string, and the game will interpret it and effectively have infinite level capability. But, failing that, I think I could fit perhaps a few hundred levels or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 Just now, Andrew Davie said: There is a compressed sokoban exchange format. I am toying with the idea of allowing you to enter the compressed string, and the game will interpret it and effectively have infinite level capability. That would be pretty cool!! How long would this string have to be? Hmm, a quick search revealed this page. Just now, Andrew Davie said: But, failing that, I think I could fit perhaps a few hundred levels or so. Why not both? ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted July 18, 2019 Author Share Posted July 18, 2019 1 minute ago, Albert said: That would be pretty cool!! How long would this string have to be? Hmm, a quick search revealed this page. Why not both? ..Al Well, yes... that's what I meant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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