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WIP Wizard's Dungeon


BydoEmpire

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ZeroPage Homebrew will be playing WIZARD'S DUNGEON on tomorrow's (Tue Feb 16, 2021) stream LIVE on Twitch at 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 2AM GMT! Hope everyone can watch!

 

 

Games:

 

 (SET VIDEO TO 1080P60 FOR FULL QUALITY)

 

 

 

Edited by ZeroPage Homebrew
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I added a whole bunch of stuff, fixed some bugs, hopefully didn't create a bunch of new ones.  I'm not going to share all the secrets, but here are a few highlights in this week's update:

- new main menu with four "pages" of instructions - it'll cycle every few seconds or use joystick up/down to select

- new sfx and background "music." Just SFX for now. I had a music playing system written using tsound and it didn't work, so I ripped that all out and replaced with this system... then afterwards I realized what the bug likely was in the original system. :( I'm sure I'll be tweaking music and sfx right up to the end.

- added new treasure types - you'll have to play and discover

- added magic items - what are they, where are they, and what do they do? 

- added new enemies - the deeper you delve, the more dangerous your foes

- fixed clear color bug

- fixed level init bug where not everything was being reset correctly for the 1st level

- new pause menu layout

- make significant tweaks to difficulty ramp and enemy/item spawning code

 

wd_title.JPG - Shortcut.JPG

wizarddungeon_wip.bas.a78

Edited by BydoEmpire
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During @ZeroPage Homebrew's twitch stream last night, James had quite a few issues with the game locking up and in fact he wasn't even able to get through the first maze/dungeon because of it. I tested this latest build using my DF cart last night on my 7800 and didn't encounter any issues at all. James was using a concerto so it might be related to that but I got through 4 dungeons last night when playing and didn't have any lockup issues. 

 

I've sent you a PM regarding some other things I noticed though and one small graphical bug glitch on the map screen.

 

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54 minutes ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

During @ZeroPage Homebrew's twitch stream last night, James had quite a few issues with the game locking up and in fact he wasn't even able to get through the first maze/dungeon because of it. I tested this latest build using my DF cart last night on my 7800 and didn't encounter any issues at all. James was using a concerto so it might be related to that but I got through 4 dungeons last night when playing and didn't have any lockup issues. 

 

I've sent you a PM regarding some other things I noticed though and one small graphical bug glitch on the map screen.

 

I took a ton of notes based on ZPH's twitch stream.  Lots of things to tweak and fix, which was awesome.  It's always so insightful to see people play a WIP and understand what the frustrating and sticking points are.

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2 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

During @ZeroPage Homebrew's twitch stream last night, James had quite a few issues with the game locking up and in fact he wasn't even able to get through the first maze/dungeon because of it. I tested this latest build using my DF cart last night on my 7800 and didn't encounter any issues at all. James was using a concerto so it might be related to that but I got through 4 dungeons last night when playing and didn't have any lockup issues.

It'll be great when I get my DF cart (hopefully soon!) so I'm able to narrow down where issues like this are arising from. I really wanted to play a lot more of Wizard's Dungeon last night, it was a lot of fun!

 

- James

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This week's update:

- fixed a number of concerns & bugs from ZPH's twitch stream

  • 100hp potion bug (it was fun to see you trying to figure out why one potion gave 100 hp, most maxed at 50 - that was just a bug. 50hp is max)
  • ghosts move faster (hint: definitely use the map to find the best route)
  • updated enemy spawn positions (they're less likely to spawn on top of the player, but I'm not happy with how it is now. I'll continue to tune)
  • tuned enemy hp so it's not quite as many shots in the beginning

- fixed gravestones reappearing after use (hopefully for real this time!)
- tightening up enemy/player collisions and knocking back enemy after a hit

  • the bat's movement make him tough to hit now, so I need to tune

- removing lots of duplicated code
- fixed bug where pause/map cleared out gates immediately

- retain weapons level-to-level

- added a bunch of code to support for new weapon types/levels - it's used but nothing new added yet

- reworked distribution of enemy types and items for each level

- a bunch of new enemies, mostly in later levels

- all magic items hooked up w/ unique powers

- new sfx

- special (and hopefully cool) surprise at the end of every 4th dungeon!

- hit the 48k limit and starting to get creative ;)

 

I added a ton of new code, so as usual it's a WIP and I likely introduced some new bugs ;)

 

I tested in JS7800 going all the way through, a few minor things I noticed but nothing egregious. Enjoy!

 

wizarddungeon_wip.bas.a78

Edited by BydoEmpire
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Wow, in fixing the bat's odd destination/movement code, I noticed that half of the AI code I wrote weeks ago wasn't even hooked up or being used.  lol.  Fixed now.  Kind of disturbing how I didn't even notice some parts weren't actually working.  I think I had hooked just enough of it up to make me think it was working... ;)  Anyways, fixed now and way more tunable for the next revision.

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3 minutes ago, BydoEmpire said:

Wow, in fixing the bat's odd destination/movement code, I noticed that half of the AI code I wrote weeks ago wasn't even hooked up or being used.  lol.  Fixed now.  Kind of disturbing how I didn't even notice some parts weren't actually working.  I think I had hooked just enough of it up to make me think it was working... ;)  Anyways, fixed now and way more tunable for the next revision.

This feeling I know well :)

 

 

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Update this week

- fixed enemy AI systems

- revamped weapons - now each has 4 levels of power

- level up weapons by picking up the 'next' version (e.g. if you already have a sword, pick up another sword to level up)

[Edit] Note: I think there's a bug w/ scrolls not leveling up your spells properly, but it doesn't kill the game.  Need to investigate tomorrow.

[Edit] Yup, it's not working... I don't have tons of time today but I'll try to fix and update if I can.  Oh well, that's why it's a WIP.

- display now shows the current weapon and its level (1-4), but you cycle through as usual

- new enemy types, but some aren't hooked up yet

 

I tested to the 5th level in MAME (including getting past the 'surprise' on level 4).  Some bugs I'm aware of but nothing blocking or major. It gets tough. You have to know when to run away, and I got lucky in one case where I found a potion right when I was down to 2 health.  I love when that kind of thing happens in games!

 

I really want to fix enemies spawning right on top of you, and a couple other related things.  That's next on my list, along w/ more weapon tweaks.

 

wizarddungeon_wip.bas.a78

Edited by BydoEmpire
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Making some really great progress with this game.  I love the sound effect every ~5 seconds.  It is perfectly atmospheric and a nice alterative to having a complete background soundtrack, and worlds better than nothing at all.  Great job!  

 

The Wizard is evolving very nicely.  The complimentary blue and purple tone highlights are spot on.  It gives the sprite some depth and personality.  Similar can be stated about the game overall, it too has picked up some nice depth and a personality of its own.  This is developing beautifully.

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3 hours ago, gambler172 said:

Hi

glad to see,how it gets better and better with

every new version.Only thing i can criticize is,

that sometimes,lots of enemies surround you

from Nowhere and you loose lots of Hitpoints.

greetings Walter

While this is true, there are a few things that you will pick up on as tips for surviving longer. If anything it needs to be ramped up a bit as I my last play session, I cleared through the mazes 3x before I finally shut the game down to do more testing and playing on other games.

 

- One thing is that you will start to pickup on where the enemy spawn points are. They seem to be in different places depending on the screen design so you will learn this and know to walk away from those areas.

- Getting the ring early will help so I strongly advise to try and explore all the rooms until you are sure you have found everything there is on that level map. This means leaving the exit alone until you have explored fully.

- Once you have the ring a few other magical items, you will find that the game becomes more manageable to play since you will end up with the advantage.

- Get those weapons anytime you see them. Once you get them powered up (Especially the sword), you will be ripping and tearing through the rooms honestly.

- Remember that the map now shows you where the gravesites are that you have visited. Once you are low on health, simply go to one of those rooms with a gravestone. Purposely get killed off and quickly regenerate at the gravestone. Doing this will instantly clear the screen of enemies and give you 30 health points to continue trekking on for further exploration. Also remember that you can't have more than 50 health so if you are still in the 40s on health and come across a potion, I would make note of where it was and leave it until you need it.

 

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On 3/2/2021 at 8:27 AM, -^CrossBow^- said:

- I would make note of where it was and leave it until you need it.

Hint: there is a magic item that will help greatly with this, though I'm still tweaking how and exactly what is displayed.

 

I've greatly refactored how enemies are spawned, and I've got a first pass of code that should prevent enemies from spawning right underneath you.  Hopefully I can get a new version posted this weekend with improvements in those areas.

 

The sword is still way overpowered, so take advantage of that until my code to ramp that down starts working ;) 

 

Thanks for the kind words everyone, this has been a ton of fun.

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Update this week, getting close to what I'd consider alpha. 

- refactored enemy spawning system
- adding ability to pre-spawn a certain number of enemies in a room (kind of like Berzerk)
- don't allow enemies to spawn right on top of the player (probably needs tweaking)
- fixed swords being too powerful. Still needs tweaking, but I think they play well now.
- show which weapons you have on pause screen
- when you have the right magic item only show items on map, not treasures... less cluttered
- tweaked tileset a bit

- a little surprise for when you you reach stairs.  I had a system in place, and I felt the stairs shouldn't be... unguarded ;)

 

There seem to be too many rooms with gates, I'll look into that, but it doesn't cause any particular problem.

 

wizarddungeon_wip.bas.a78

Edited by BydoEmpire
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Well, I added and fixed a bunch of stuff... it was working great.  Then I ran into an error that didn't make sense. I uncommented a line that "should" have worked, and the error went away.  Scrolled up in the output:

 

3 bytes of ROM space left.

 

Lol, guess I won't be adding much more without a cleanup and optimizing pass.  I have tons of debug code in there, though, so as I strip that out I can edit some more. Fortunately I can also tweak a lot by changing data, not adding code.

 

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I freed up 500 bytes, but there's one more thing I want to add.  I also haven't hooked up hsc support yet either, not sure if that'll fit.  Still, I consider this an alpha version.  Lots of tweaking and tuning but almost everything is there that I want.  Fixed a bunch of random bugs, some I knew about some I discovered while testing.

 

2021/03/11
- new interior layouts
- level 0 arrows don't bounce off walls anymore, but do 2 damage instead of 1
- cache off and restore enemy state when leaving/returning to a room
- new background sfx for each level
- fixed bug with starting room changing if you leave & come back
- flash "find gravestone" text when in ghost mode
- ghosts are no longer blocked by gates
- changed timing of enemies spawning
- magic item tweaking
- fixed bug with gates appearing in rooms they shouldn't
- show dungeon level on pause screen
- restore level 3 music after defeating boss instead of level 0
- I *think* I fixed a crash if you die too many times and keep playing - this might have been what ZPH saw on his twitch screen. Seems likely, but didn't test enough to find out. If I get a chance I might undo my fix and try it.

 

To add (if I can get it in 500 bytes, or free up enough space)

- HSC support

- scoring bonus after defeating the evil wizard based on how many rooms you explored

- minor graphics tweaks

- gameplay turning

 

wizarddungeon_wip.bas.a78

Edited by BydoEmpire
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Update this week, feels like some pretty solid improvements.  I think it's coming together as a game.  It's also at that fun stage where I'm out of ROM space, so every addition requires a bit of cleanup or refactor to free up space. It's been interesting to see how many bytes of ROM space each type of addition (new enemies, new treasures, etc) takes.

 

2021/03/21
- fixed bug w/ losing weapons after each level
- fixed bug w/ map sprites getting chopped off in some emus & real hardware
- first pass of HSC support (haven't tested thoroughly, so I'd be interested to know how well it works)
- first pass of having 3 difficulty levels (see instructions - right now it just changes how health is restored after each level)

- a couple new enemy types (I'm pretty happy about these, I think they turned out well)
- award 'exploration bonus' after each level (100 points per room, but reaching all 64 rooms is a bonus of 10,000)
- scoring tweaks
- some other minor tweaks and improvements to the level generation

 

wizarddungeon_wip.bas.a78

Edited by BydoEmpire
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