*ALL PHYSICAL COPIES ARE SOLD OUT*: REALMS OF QUEST V (Digital version is available)

Discussion, Reviews & High-scores

Moderator: Moderators

User avatar
rubygolem
Vic 20 Drifter
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2014 5:17 pm

Re: Work in progress: REALMS OF QUEST V

Post by rubygolem »

Hey that's great. I spent a bit of time playing around with the character creation. Pretty cool.
castle_rivaria.png
castle_rivaria.png (8.07 KiB) Viewed 1142 times
Rolled up some enormous strength on one character
Iscreem.png
Iscreem.png (5.55 KiB) Viewed 1142 times
Though the same character also has 1 charisma, but hey who cares about charisma when you've got 45 for strength, haha. The character will be good for a while until his age hits old and anyone at that point would be vulnerable to succumb from old age if you had 3 or less points on any stat.
Last edited by rubygolem on Sat Mar 11, 2017 1:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
rubygolem
Vic 20 Drifter
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2014 5:17 pm

Re: Work in progress: REALMS OF QUEST V

Post by rubygolem »

Also, just wondering about the Demondim and Proteus classes. The Proteus I imagine as being some sort of underwater godlike creature I suppose? and the Demondim seems the race that created the Ur-Viles. Either way they seem more like races than classes so I'm a bit confused as to what each of these classes would do in comparison to the rest of the usual classes? :o Thanks.
User avatar
Ghislain
Realms of Quest
Posts: 1279
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2004 12:54 am

Re: Work in progress: REALMS OF QUEST V

Post by Ghislain »

rubygolem wrote:Also, just wondering about the Demondim and Proteus classes. The Proteus I imagine as being some sort of underwater godlike creature I suppose? and the Demondim seems the race that created the Ur-Viles. Either way they seem more like races than classes so I'm a bit confused as to what each of these classes would do in comparison to the rest of the usual classes? :o Thanks.
I borrowed Ur-Vile (race) and Demondim (class) from the original 1977 PLATO computer game Oubliette:

http://www.zimlab.com/oubliette/plato/f ... LIETTE.pdf

... which they borrowed from the Thomas Covenant fantasy books. And PLATO Oubliette lists Demondim as a class. Realms of Quest IV (and now V) is heavily influenced by Oubliette (as were Wizardry and Bard's Tale) and I've been impressed with it for a number of years now. You can actually play it on iOS and Android (one of the original programmers from 1977 actually ported the game).

In my game, the Demondim are the most powerful spellcaster class. Kind of like Sage, but they can't cast spells until Level 3, and they must be of Chaotic alignment. I've revised the Ur-Vile, giving it more IQ and WIS as well (4D6 for each). I probably should post my updated race/class charts.

As for Proteus, it is basically a "Jack Of All Trades". Since that name would be too long, I searched far and wide on the internets (a few years ago, mind you) and I believe at the time (2014) I found this:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthre ... ACH-please
Last edited by Ghislain on Sat Mar 11, 2017 3:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
User avatar
Ghislain
Realms of Quest
Posts: 1279
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2004 12:54 am

Re: Work in progress: REALMS OF QUEST V

Post by Ghislain »

rubygolem wrote:Hey that's great. I spent a bit of time playing around with the character creation. Pretty cool.

Though the same character also has 1 charisma, but hey who cares about charisma when you've got 45 for strength, haha. The character will be good for a while until his age hits old and anyone at that point would be vulnerable to succumb from old age if you had 3 or less points on any stat.
Sometimes the game gives freaky bonuses. Basically, if you roll perfect 6s for an attribute, you get to roll another 1D6 and add to the ability score and you can keep rolling again over and over if you keep rolling 6 with the subsequent dice rolls. But I "fixed" the dice so that you have a 3 in 8 chance of rolling a 6 on a 6 sided die. I might have to revise that.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
User avatar
Ghislain
Realms of Quest
Posts: 1279
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2004 12:54 am

Re: Work in progress: REALMS OF QUEST V

Post by Ghislain »

Today I started working on the inventory system, creating routines that let you select a player's item.

I also added a feature to the main menu where you can press F7 to choose between 3 fonts:

Deluxe - The font used in Realms of Quest V (Upper and Lower case). The lower case letters were actually used in Realms IV.
Legacy - The original font that was used in Realms of Quest I-III. This one does not have lower case characters.
System - The VIC-20 font (Upper and Lower case)
realms5.jpg
realms6.jpg
realms7.jpg
Last edited by Ghislain on Sun Mar 12, 2017 7:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
User avatar
orion70
VICtalian
Posts: 4337
Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:45 am
Location: Piacenza, Italy
Occupation: Biologist

Re: Work in progress: REALMS OF QUEST V

Post by orion70 »

Yes! System fonts! Thanks for that!
User avatar
Ghislain
Realms of Quest
Posts: 1279
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2004 12:54 am

Re: Work in progress: REALMS OF QUEST V

Post by Ghislain »

orion70 wrote:Yes! System fonts! Thanks for that!
I know that the RPG Sorcery used the system font as well. http://www.kdef.com/geek/vic/vicbjsw.html#rpg

I should look the code for Sorcery and see if I can change it so that you can save your game in progress to disk. Since most VIC-20 users use emulators, disk drives and even SD cards nowadays, this would be a great way to showcase the game again.

Today, I did more work on the main menu screen as well as the inventory system. I remember how difficult it was for me to do the inventory aystem in Realms III. Eight years later, it's much easier for me to reimplement it again. I'm not even looking at the original source code all that much -- I'm mostly recreating it from memory.

I've said it numerous times here on this forum -- the key to computer RPG game design is making the inventory system and how it relates to all aspects of the game. Wearing a certain item enhances the armor, damage bonus attributes, etc. As well as allowing you to use it's powers.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
User avatar
Ghislain
Realms of Quest
Posts: 1279
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2004 12:54 am

Re: Work in progress: REALMS OF QUEST V

Post by Ghislain »

realms5.jpg
I made some adjustments to the attirbutes for the player races -- most notably the Kobold and the Ur-Vile. Kobolds now get an IQ of 2d6 and an AGI of 4d6. Ur-Viles get an IQ and WIS of 4d6 each -- the only player race that has a 4 or greater in both of these now. Ur-Viles and Humans -- the only ones with high IQ and WIS attributes that can be Chaotic then can be good candidates for the Demondim class.

I figure that the game should be balanced and that the advantages of choosing one over another are a little bit more obvious.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
User avatar
rubygolem
Vic 20 Drifter
Posts: 29
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2014 5:17 pm

Re: Work in progress: REALMS OF QUEST V

Post by rubygolem »

Ghislain wrote:I borrowed Ur-Vile (race) and Demondim (class) from the original 1977 PLATO computer game Oubliette:

http://www.zimlab.com/oubliette/plato/f ... LIETTE.pdf

... which they borrowed from the Thomas Covenant fantasy books. And PLATO Oubliette lists Demondim as a class. Realms of Quest IV (and now V) is heavily influenced by Oubliette (as were Wizardry and Bard's Tale) and I've been impressed with it for a number of years now. You can actually play it on iOS and Android (one of the original programmers from 1977 actually ported the game).

In my game, the Demondim are the most powerful spellcaster class. Kind of like Sage, but they can't cast spells until Level 3, and they must be of Chaotic alignment. I've revised the Ur-Vile, giving it more IQ and WIS as well (4D6 for each)....
Oh wow. Yes now I can definitely see the Oubliette influence on RoQ4. I remember Snafaru's Oubliette fanpage, and I had created some characters on the C64 version but never really got around to playing the game. Maybe someday. CRPG addict also wrote about the game a few years ago.

The Survival Manual for Oubliette is fantastic and thorough. Since Ur-Ville's will make the best Demondims, I'll have to make one in my party when the time comes. Think I'd pass on the proteus, but that's just me. Will Bard's get their own song/spells? or are they basically like a fighter/mage character?
User avatar
Ghislain
Realms of Quest
Posts: 1279
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2004 12:54 am

Re: Work in progress: REALMS OF QUEST V

Post by Ghislain »

I was just thinking, since this game will access the disk drive quite a bit, is there is a fastloader that I can embed to my game? I'd prefer that I can relocate the memory location so I can integrate it more easily.

Basically, I want to present a fast disk loader option if the user is using a disk drive on a VIC-20 and they need it. I don't want such users to have to wait for an inordinate amount of time as the game loads data during the game.

Obviously, users who use an emulator (without true drive emulation turned on) and those with JiffyDOS would disable the fastloader.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
User avatar
Ghislain
Realms of Quest
Posts: 1279
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2004 12:54 am

Re: Work in progress: REALMS OF QUEST V

Post by Ghislain »

I'm adding a major feature that did not exists in the previous games. You can now view the details of an equipped item from the VIEW CHARACTER screen. I added a sub-menu at the bottom to allow the player to remove items, view items and exit.

Once you select an equipped item to view, it shows you additional details such as how much damage it does, what bonus to your armor class that you receive, as well as the special power it comes with, the percentage chance of the item being destroyed if it's power is used and what the item becomes if it's destroyed.

You'll also be able to view your ally's statistics, like Hit Points and what types of attacks that it can do.

I figure that the player will have an easier time using this feature instead of having to refer to the documentation. I also intend to allow this feature to be used when the player looks at the inventory menu screen (for convenience).
realms6.jpg
realms5.jpg
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
User avatar
Mike
Herr VC
Posts: 4816
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2004 1:57 pm
Location: Munich, Germany
Occupation: electrical engineer

Re: Work in progress: REALMS OF QUEST V

Post by Mike »

Ghislain wrote:I was just thinking, since this game will access the disk drive quite a bit, is there is a fastloader that I can embed to my game?
I'd use the version of SJLOAD that loads to $0400. That will work with any JD-enabled drive, including all SD2IEC variants. The other 'old-style' fast-loaders *) I know for the VIC-20 are either slow (Easyload), or specific to PAL/NTSC **), and *none* of them work with SD2IEC drives. In Mah Jongg, I just prompt the user with "USE SJLOAD? Y/N" beforehand ***) - here's a streamlined version of the prompt:

Code: Select all

1 DN=PEEK(186):PRINT"{DOWN}USE SJLOAD? Y/N"
2 GETA$:IFA$="N"THEN5
3 IFA$<>"Y"THEN2
4 SYS57809"SJ-0400",DN,1:POKE780,0:SYS65493:SYS1024
5 PRINT"{CLR,WHT}LOAD"CHR$(34)"MAIN"CHR$(34)","MID$(STR$(DN),2)
6 POKE631,19:POKE632,131:POKE198,2
Users with a JiffyDOS-KERNAL or those who run the game with TDE off in VICE answer the prompt with "N". :)

Greetings,

Michael



*) those which load fast transfer code into the drive and execute it there
**) Hypra-System (PAL), TurboDisk (NTSC), and only in case of Hypra I have source available so it could easily be relocated
***) it's the $B000 variant which is used there and which requires RAM in BLK5 instead
User avatar
orion70
VICtalian
Posts: 4337
Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:45 am
Location: Piacenza, Italy
Occupation: Biologist

Re: Work in progress: REALMS OF QUEST V

Post by orion70 »

Ghislain wrote:I know that the RPG Sorcery used the system font as well. http://www.kdef.com/geek/vic/vicbjsw.html#rpg

I should look the code for Sorcery and see if I can change it so that you can save your game in progress to disk. Since most VIC-20 users use emulators, disk drives and even SD cards nowadays, this would be a great way to showcase the game again.
This would be great. As a reminder of all things Sorcery, there's this old thread here in Denial. Sorcery suffered from several bugs, including the "orientation" one, and no possibility to save games. It was refined, and now it has mappable dungeons you can choose pressing a letter at the beginning; proper savegame feature; and correct monsters generation. Brendan Jones himself came here to discuss several topics and create the one-file "alpha version" (24K needed) which is in fact the most recent fully tested and working incarnation of the game.

I really love this tiny little RPG straight from the 80s. My very first avatar was a Sorcery screenshot.

[WOW, eleven years ago!]
User avatar
Ghislain
Realms of Quest
Posts: 1279
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2004 12:54 am

Re: Work in progress: REALMS OF QUEST V

Post by Ghislain »

Mike wrote:**) Hypra-System (PAL), TurboDisk (NTSC), and only in case of Hypra I have source available so it could easily be relocated
***) it's the $B000 variant which is used there and which requires RAM in BLK5 instead
I'm wondering if there is a non-wedge version of EASYLOAD -- I just want something that can be easily relocatable in a small corner of the RAM and just run there.

I could also use Hypra-System and relocate the starting address for PAL machines. Is Turbo-Disk the one that was published in COMPUTE!'s Gazette? I'm familiar with that program. I can always disassemble the code and look at all of the major jump and jsr points.

I'd like to support SD cards as well. I use SJLOAD myself as I patched my MEGA-CART to use it. I see from your link that there is source code for SJLOAD, and I'll see what I can do with it.

I won't implement fastloading routines until I am finished the game, of course. But it's good to know what resources are available right now at the moment.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
User avatar
Mike
Herr VC
Posts: 4816
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2004 1:57 pm
Location: Munich, Germany
Occupation: electrical engineer

Re: Work in progress: REALMS OF QUEST V

Post by Mike »

Ghislain wrote:Is Turbo-Disk the one that was published in COMPUTE!'s Gazette?
Yes, that's the one. Be wary though, the first release had some bugs and there exists a second, bug-fixed release.

Frankly put though, I wouldn't bother with any of these EasyLoad, Hypra-System or TurboDisk anymore. A user with a real CBM drive has always the option to install JiffyDOS, which is a far better solution (in the long run) than any of those other floppy speeders. Not only does JiffyDOS accelerate LOAD, but also SAVE, and all other kind of disk I/O with OPEN, PRINT#, INPUT#, GET#, CMD and CLOSE. SJLOAD has the same feature set in that regard, and should be the first choice for anyone with a SD2IEC drive.
Post Reply