Wilheim Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 1 hour ago, amarok said: I don't know the technical details of the device. Is it a sort of cartridge or something completely different? How fast it can read/write the data into its memory? Anyway, it would be really great to make possible to run Time Wizard on a stock 64kB Atari. It’s a cartridge I’m developing. It contains a 512kb flash rom and 512kb sram. The banking system is similar as the megacart, using 16kb banks. Currently I’m testing it before I’ll release a Developer’s Edition. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irgendwer Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 Congratulations. That's a well deserved 1st place! 7 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beeblebrox Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 Congratulations. The amount of effort, skill, creativity and time involved to creating such an engine on the A8, and one that is clearly fun to play, has clearly been rewarded. Well deserved. Can't wait to play it. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNameOfTheGame Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 Congratulations. Well deserved! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 I like Amarok's games among other things because they have a lot of style, very classy. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matosimi Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 Congratulations, can't wait to play it and beat it. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amarok Posted October 29, 2023 Author Share Posted October 29, 2023 At last the day of release has come! 😀 I honestly admit that I couldn't wait for the moment when I would be able to make the Time Wizard available to everyone. I am very pleased to attach a floppy disk image that contains self-starting game. Please remember that an Atari computer with at least 128kB of RAM is required to run it. I hope the game will meet your expectations and give you a lot of fun. I would appreciate any questions or comments from you. 🙂 P.S. Thank you very much for all congratulations. It is really nice of you. 🙂 time_wizard_abbuc_2023.atr 22 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darwinmac Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 It looks like a great game. I have played the contest version since I am an ABBUC member. However, it looks like it may require better platform skills than I have now. I keep dying on the spikes on level 3? Bob C 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 1 hour ago, darwinmac said: I keep dying on the spikes on level 3? Yes, but you can keep undying. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DjayBee Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 2 hours ago, MrFish said: Yes, but you can keep undying. Groundspike Day? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarsImNetz Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 Hi amarok, also from my side the second place winner of abbuc contest 2023. Congratulations. This is really a great game. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 Great game, thanks and congratulations! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNameOfTheGame Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 13 minutes ago, LarsImNetz said: Hi amarok, also from my side the second place winner of abbuc contest 2023. Congratulations. This is really a great game. Congrats to you also! Night Knight is very well done. Could easily have been the winner. Keep up the good work! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matosimi Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 (edited) i've already beaten the game. nice nice... it screams for more levels Edited October 30, 2023 by matosimi 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steril707 Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 Congrats. Game seems awesome. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xrbrevin Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 another great game - thanks, youre really spoiling us! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdefabri Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 Awesome! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amarok Posted October 30, 2023 Author Share Posted October 30, 2023 6 hours ago, LarsImNetz said: Hi amarok, also from my side the second place winner of abbuc contest 2023. Congratulations. This is really a great game. For me, your Night Knight deserves for the first place as well. ABBUC members think the same :). 5 hours ago, matosimi said: i've already beaten the game. nice nice... it screams for more levels Thanks for playing. It seems you are the next person who wants more levels. I definitely have to think about it. 1 hour ago, xrbrevin said: another great game - thanks, youre really spoiling us! That's my mission . Can one praline be for me, please? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billkendrick Posted November 1, 2023 Share Posted November 1, 2023 Fantastic work. I've been eager to play this since seeing some videos of it a few months back. Even my teenager was impressed by the visuals. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tebe Posted November 1, 2023 Share Posted November 1, 2023 On 10/30/2023 at 5:06 PM, amarok said: For me, your Night Knight deserves for the first place as well. ABBUC members think the same :). But "Time Wizard" is a more original idea than porting a game from another platform. Yes, competition was high. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yautja Posted November 1, 2023 Share Posted November 1, 2023 (edited) @amarok, your game is totally amazing! The concept and execution are flawless. How could you make a machine with such limited memory like A8 "remember" the player's moves to the point to "rewind" all of them? Edited November 1, 2023 by Yautja 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted November 1, 2023 Share Posted November 1, 2023 2 hours ago, Yautja said: @amarok, your game is totally amazing! The concept and execution are flawless. How could you make a machine with such limited memory like A8 "remember" the player's moves to the point to "rewind" all of them? 64K XRAM. 48K XRAM is used to rewind and 16k XRAM for other things. But Amarok can explain it in more detail. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amarok Posted November 1, 2023 Author Share Posted November 1, 2023 2 hours ago, Yautja said: How could you make a machine with such limited memory like A8 "remember" the player's moves to the point to "rewind" all of them? Information about the game state for a given frame (1/50 of a second) is stored in the extended memory. It contains information such as: horizontal and vertical position of the hero, horizontal and vertical speed of the hero, the hero's condition (e.g. touches the ground, jumps, falls, climbs, enters a portal, dies, etc.), counter (used as additional time information for the hero's state, e.g. for an animation frame or change of the speed), states of items such as buttons, force fields, disappearing platforms, but only those that are activated by buttons and are not resistant to time manipulation, type of sound effect, duration of the sound effect (frame number from the beginning of the sound). The whole thing takes 8 bytes per frame, which gives 400 bytes per second. In the game, I have 48kB of extended memory for storing history, which allows me to record about 2 minutes of gameplay. I use the additional 16kB of extended memory for some assets. Items that are activated by buttons but are resistant to time manipulation do not need to have a remembered history, because rewinding of time does not change their state. In the case of moving platforms, force fields and disappearing platforms (that are not activated by buttons), lasers and robots, states are calculated based on the frame number from the beginning of the game. The situation is similar with playback of music, as opposed to sounds effects, which are not as predictable as the music. There are two frame counters - one that runs all the time from the beginning of the game in a given level regardless of whether manipulation of time active or not. The second one which specifies the frame number associated with the recorded history is affected by rewinding of time. The first counter allows to calculate the states of objects resistant to time manipulation, and the second one allows to calculate the states of other objects and playback of music. Additionally, there is stored an information in which frame a given hourglass was collected. Thanks to this, it is possible to calculate when the particular hourglass should disappear or reappear in terms of time shift. Of course, this only applies to hourglasses, which are not resistent to time manipulation. I hope this description isn't too confusing. But overall there is no magic here. 7 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beeblebrox Posted November 1, 2023 Share Posted November 1, 2023 2 hours ago, amarok said: Information about the game state for a given frame (1/50 of a second) is stored in the extended memory. It contains information such as: horizontal and vertical position of the hero, horizontal and vertical speed of the hero, the hero's condition (e.g. touches the ground, jumps, falls, climbs, enters a portal, dies, etc.), counter (used as additional time information for the hero's state, e.g. for an animation frame or change of the speed), states of items such as buttons, force fields, disappearing platforms, but only those that are activated by buttons and are not resistant to time manipulation, type of sound effect, duration of the sound effect (frame number from the beginning of the sound). The whole thing takes 8 bytes per frame, which gives 400 bytes per second. In the game, I have 48kB of extended memory for storing history, which allows me to record about 2 minutes of gameplay. I use the additional 16kB of extended memory for some assets. Items that are activated by buttons but are resistant to time manipulation do not need to have a remembered history, because rewinding of time does not change their state. In the case of moving platforms, force fields and disappearing platforms (that are not activated by buttons), lasers and robots, states are calculated based on the frame number from the beginning of the game. The situation is similar with playback of music, as opposed to sounds effects, which are not as predictable as the music. There are two frame counters - one that runs all the time from the beginning of the game in a given level regardless of whether manipulation of time active or not. The second one which specifies the frame number associated with the recorded history is affected by rewinding of time. The first counter allows to calculate the states of objects resistant to time manipulation, and the second one allows to calculate the states of other objects and playback of music. Additionally, there is stored an information in which frame a given hourglass was collected. Thanks to this, it is possible to calculate when the particular hourglass should disappear or reappear in terms of time shift. Of course, this only applies to hourglasses, which are not resistent to time manipulation. I hope this description isn't too confusing. But overall there is no magic here. I honestly am in awe of how you had the brain space to factor all this in. A standard platformer is complex enough without the complexity of such an engine recording so many variables. I can only imagine your coding room must have been plastered with post it notes, string connecting it all, and crazy symbols all over the walls heh heh. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted November 3, 2023 Share Posted November 3, 2023 ZeroPage Homebrew is playing Time Wizard on tomorrow's ZPH stream LIVE on Twitch highlighting all the incredible ABBUC 2023 entries! Hope you can join us for part 1 tomorrow! Fri Nov 2, 2023 | LIVE @ 12PM PT | 3PM ET | 7PM GMT WATCH LIVE: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/ WATCH LATER: https://youtube.com/zeropagehomebrew/ Games: Night Knight (2023 WIP | A8) by Lars Langhans @LarsImNetz / Konstantinos Giamalidis @TIX (Additional Graphics) Time Wizard (2023 WIP | A8) by Krzysztof Piotrowski @amarok Caverns of Eris (2023 WIP | A8) by Peter Prodehl @PPR Der Schränker 3 (2023 WIP | A8) by Janko Grewe @Kveldulfur (Code) / Thomas Allen (Music) / Matiasosa (Title Music) Retro Maze (2023 WIP | A8) by Peter Hinz @RetroCoder / Cerebus 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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