New release: the Evil Castle

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Thu May 15, 2008 6:58 am

Hi there,
Here is a small game for VIC-20 expanded with 16K RAM.
It's a classic text-only RPG/adventure, in which you are a knight with the mission to enter an enchanted castle, defeat monsters, and find the secret exit.

It was developed in pure BASIC, as a modification of a type-in adapted to the VIC, with slightly modified rules, map, and room descriptions. Humble effort, compared to programming skills of other guys here.

I saved it onto a tap image, and created also a brief separate introduction ("ec intro" on the tape), coming on screen with a tele-type style, to add some eighties flavour.

For further details, please read the enclosed instructions in pdf format.
I hope you will have fun playing this as I did programming it; feel free to modify it or correct errors if you find some.

I also created a new post in the "VIC-20 releases of 2008", General Topics section.

d0c · Post by **d0c** » Thu May 15, 2008 4:09 pm

istnt it possible to make an d64 image??

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Thu May 15, 2008 6:07 pm

Thanks! I love this genre.

Post by **Jeff-20** » Thu May 15, 2008 8:38 pm

A text adventure should play as well on an emulator, right? I guess I don't have to wait for the weekend to enjoy this.

gklinger · Post by **gklinger** » Thu May 15, 2008 11:19 pm

2008 is shaping up so nicely.

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Fri May 16, 2008 1:31 am

Thank you guys.

I just received a couple of PMs from Mayhem - he will be so kind to include the game in the GB20.

He spotted some spelling errors (one in the intro: mistery instead of mystery) and at least two flaws in the game (your score increases as you repeat the "display score" command; you tend to lose weapons or the torch during fights a little too often).
Please, be patient and tell me if you find any error, so that I can correct them all together and provide a definitive version for you and the GB20.

@Jeff: no problem to run EC with VICE.

@d0c: download it here

@glinker: [digression] shaping up nicely, except for some continuous fights between certain members of the forum

What if we ALL focus on the VIC-20? And remember it's a FRIENDLY computer? [/digression]

d0c · Post by **d0c** » Fri May 16, 2008 4:27 am

thanks orion70

and also remember to release a disk version of the "definitive version" here at denial...

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Mon May 19, 2008 4:06 am

On the last (rainy) weekend, being free from any business, I modified the Evil Castle as follows:

- Spelling correction;
- You don't drop the torch anymore during fights;
- You drop your weapon during fights less often, and only if you don't wear armor;
- The phrase "You hit the (monster)... but you miss him" (a logical non-sense) became "You hit the (monster)... but do no damage";
- Eliminated the score bug;
- Eliminated another major bug: monsters suffered a loss of 2 points even when you did no damage! It's little harder to defeat the strongest ones now.

I edited the corresponding thread in General Topics.
That's all folks.

d0c · Post by **d0c** » Mon May 19, 2008 2:01 pm

thanks for the much needed update

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Mon May 19, 2008 2:28 pm

That seems better balanced now... one extra suggestion, how about earning some cash when you defeat a monster? Given the treasure is randomly placed, you may luck out and not have enough money to buy some food to regain some health after a tough fight.

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Mon May 19, 2008 2:49 pm

Great suggestion... I will take note and put it in EC_Rev2 as soon as I have at least one or two more things to fix. Thank you!

MacbthPSW · Post by **MacbthPSW** » Mon May 19, 2008 7:00 pm

I'm really behind on my C= hobbies so I won't get a chance to try this for a while; but congrats on the release, it's exciting to see yet another new game this year

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Tue May 20, 2008 1:39 am

Thank you. As I wrote, it's a humble basic (in both senses) text game, but... happy to contribute.

BTW, if anyone needs the map, just PM me (but most of the game fun is to find out how to get to the exit room).

orion70 · Post by **orion70** » Tue May 27, 2008 1:45 pm

Evil Castle Rev_2 up and running. Main changes:

- Changed completely the color combinations. It looked pretty good before in VICE, but I realized it was awful on the real VIC; so, I turned to white background and darker characters.
- You earn cash when you defeat a monster. You'll know how much when you meet him; the stronger the foe, the higher your reward.
- When you have the sword AND the axe, you fight with both of them at the same time. This gives you a little advantage...
- ...but you can always lose them during the fight, UNLESS you wear the armor.
- Strength lost and current strength points are always specified.
- Two lines of credits at the beginning (yes, I'm so vain...).
- I created a cassette cover for the virtual tape (completely unuseful, but I had fun with it).

Download links:

TAP VERSION

DISK VERSION (no intro)

MANUAL

CASSETTE COVER

All links in other threads updated.

Cheers

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Wed May 28, 2008 9:25 am

orion70 wrote:- I created a cassette cover for the virtual tape (completely unuseful, but I had fun with it).

No! Not useless at all. The cover really sets the mood that it's a real VIC-20 game just like back in the 1980s!