Where on the Earth is Lucia Cupertino?

[TiTom]

I love Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. It's a great franchise and my inability to find something like it on the '99 proved a perfect reason for me to learning how to code. I won't have the skills to optimize anything arcade-like, but I probably could come up with a decent game like this.

 

Being the visual learner that I am, I wanted to make a splash screen first. With a little brainstorming, my son and I came up with the title Where on the Earth is Lucia Cupertino. So, here it is: 

 

I'm using the XB 2.9 G.E.M. and specifically The Missing Link. I am shocked at how easy it is to use and how much I have been able to accomplish in just a few hours here and there. I'm plodding along and I'll probably share what I come up with in this thread. 

[jrhodes]

That looks great! I love the Carmen games. The TI also has a kind of similar game, "Who's behind the Mexican UFOs".

Edited February 9, 2023 by jrhodes

[pixelpedant]

E.T.'s Adventure at Sea also has characteristics in common with this genre.  Go to various locations around the world, and collect clues to hone in on the location of E.T.'s ship. 

[TiTom]

@pixelpedant I will have to check that one out! I also have to say that your video on TML was what really got me thinking about making a game. The windows feature is really great.

Edited February 12, 2023 by TiTom

[TiTom]

I should have realized that someone on the internet recorded all the cities that Carmen visited in WITWICS. So, my playing the game with a notepad for the past week wasn't strictly necessary. It’s been a hoot figuring out the game methodology and working on my version. Here’s London, but the day of the week isn’t working. I have no idea why:

 

 

I haven’t decided how much of a parody this should be. Could it be a computer history version of WITWICS (Lubbock Texas, north of the Permian Basin is known as the birthplaces of this computer and rock-and-roller of note, Buddy Holly.) or it could just be a clone with all the same cities and clues. Really, figuring out the game play and what I can leave out is a challenge.

[jrhodes]

First off, that screenshot looks awesome!

As long as it gives the player the same vibe of a Carmen game, i'd say you succeeded.

Doesn't necessarily need to be a straight up clone of WITWICS. A few Texas Instruments references / easter eggs would be cool though. 🙂

[TiTom]

I know this isn't a blog, but I wanted to share some progress that I made on this project. No, there isn't new code for anyone to try even though I have been working on some. Sorry about that. However, I have been doing a few things that will ensure some modicum of success when things get farther along.

 

A. Working Iron

I got a PEB. It was a good deal, but it took a while to make its way to Phoenix. It arrived in fairly good, but original shape. That necessitated a disassembly, cleaning, and upgrade. The power supply is working very well, but I am prepared to replace it if necessary. I did swap out the fan with a much quieter 110v 80mm unit that I found online. After two seconds of the old one I knew it had to go. I also contacted Chris and bought the 838-IO Plus card. I opted for the kit version in red because I love soldering. What I didn't love is making that cable. Talk about a challenge. In the end I was able to make the cable (no shorts) and assemble the board with no problem. It worked on the first try. Goodbye firehose hello garden hose.

 

B. Compilers

I know that WOEILC(Where on Earth is Lucia Cupertino) will need to be compiled. I want it to be compiled. If that's the way it's going to be, I needed to learn how to use the JUWEL4 package. So, I have been making a lot of sample programs and compiling them. I've said before that I want to use TML in making this program and  @senior_falcon has really great visual instructions for compiling BASIC programs with TML. Without these impressive manuals I would be sunk. This is what I love about the TI community. Great development resources and friendly people.

 

C. WOEILC

The biggest part of this project, so far, has been creating the clues that are used by the player to find Lucia Cupertino. My intention was to have at least 30 locations because that's what WITWICS had. 30 is a tall order. I decided to cut it in half to 15. I think that the gameplay wouldn't be impacted as much and with a good number of clues from which to pull, 15 won't seem too anemic. Also, I want this to Here's my list so far:

 

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Canberra, Australia

Gaborone, Botswana

Toronto, Canada

Beijing, China

Cairo, Egypt

Paris, France

Athens, Greece

New Delhi, India

Tokyo, Japan

Seoul, South Korea

London, United Kingdom

Mexico City, Mexico

Lubbock, Texas, United States*

Cupertino, California, United States*

 

*These are gag locations--all part of the lore of Lucia.