[**Commercial Release Is Now Available**] Realms of Quest IV

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Ghislain
Realms of Quest
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Post by Ghislain »

I've created a list of 137 items (magical and non-magical) that are available in the game.

Code: Select all

  .byte "NONE",0  ; 0
  .byte "AXE",0  ; 1
  .byte "BROAD SWORD",0  ; 2
  .byte "CLUB",0  ; 3
  .byte "DAGGER",0  ; 4
  .byte "MACE",0  ; 5
  .byte "QUARTER STAFF",0  ; 6
  .byte "SHORT SWORD",0  ; 7
  .byte "WAR HAMMER",0  ; 8
  .byte "CHAIN MAIL",0  ; 9
  .byte "LEATHER ARMOR",0  ; 10
  .byte "PLATE MAIL",0  ; 11
  .byte "ROBE",0  ; 12
  .byte "SHIELD",0  ; 13
  .byte "MAP QUEST",0  ; 14
  .byte "AXE OF CHARMS",0  ; 15
  .byte "AXE OF CIRGAR",0  ; 16
  .byte "AXE OF LORDS",0  ; 17
  .byte "AXE OF MIGHT",0  ; 18
  .byte "AXE+1",0  ; 19
  .byte "BALMUNG",0  ; 20
  .byte "CUTHBERTS MACE",0  ; 21
  .byte "DAGGER+1",0  ; 22
  .byte "DAGGER+2",0  ; 23
  .byte "DAGGER+3",0  ; 24
  .byte "DEATH BLADE",0  ; 25
  .byte "DEATH DAGGER",0  ; 26
  .byte "EXCALIBUR",0  ; 27
  .byte "HAMMER OF THOR",0  ; 28
  .byte "KARGEN HAMMER",0  ; 29
  .byte "MACE OF WARGIR",0  ; 30
  .byte "MACE+1",0  ; 31
  .byte "MACE+2",0  ; 32
  .byte "MAUL OF NANREG",0  ; 33
  .byte "ROD OF CLOUDS",0  ; 34
  .byte "ROD OF COMMAND",0  ; 35
  .byte "ROD OF DEATH",0  ; 36
  .byte "ROD OF HEALING",0  ; 37
  .byte "ROD OF KINGS",0  ; 38
  .byte "ROD OF LIFE",0  ; 39
  .byte "ROD OF RESCUE",0  ; 40
  .byte "STAFF OF DIM",0  ; 41
  .byte "STAFF OF FEAR",0  ; 42
  .byte "STAFF OF FIRE",0  ; 43
  .byte "STAFF OF GLORY",0  ; 44
  .byte "STAFF OF LIFE",0  ; 45
  .byte "STAFF OF LIGHT",0  ; 46
  .byte "STAFF OF ORCUS",0  ; 47
  .byte "SWORD OF CHARM",0  ; 48
  .byte "SWORD OF LIGHT",0  ; 49
  .byte "SWORD+1",0  ; 50
  .byte "SWORD+2",0  ; 51
  .byte "SWORD+3",0  ; 52
  .byte "SWORD+4",0  ; 53
  .byte "WIZARD'S STAFF",0  ; 54
  .byte "CHAIN MAIL+1",0  ; 55
  .byte "CHAIN MAIL+2",0  ; 56
  .byte "CHAIN MAIL+3",0  ; 57
  .byte "CHAIN MAIL+4",0  ; 58
  .byte "COAT OF ARND",0  ; 59
  .byte "ELVEN ARMOR",0  ; 60
  .byte "LEATHER+1",0  ; 61
  .byte "LEATHER+2",0  ; 62
  .byte "LEATHER+3",0  ; 63
  .byte "MITHRIL MAIL",0  ; 64
  .byte "PLATE MAIL+1",0  ; 65
  .byte "PLATE MAIL+2",0  ; 66
  .byte "PLATE MAIL+3",0  ; 67
  .byte "PLATE MAIL+4",0  ; 68
  .byte "PLATE MAIL+5",0  ; 69
  .byte "ROBE+1",0  ; 70
  .byte "ROBE+2",0  ; 71
  .byte "MITHRIL SHIELD",0  ; 72
  .byte "SHIELD+1",0  ; 73
  .byte "SHIELD+2",0  ; 74
  .byte "SHIELD+3",0  ; 75
  .byte "BISHOP'S GEM",0  ; 76
  .byte "GEM OF ANNIHIL",0  ; 77
  .byte "GEM OF COTIAR",0  ; 78
  .byte "GEM OF DEATH",0  ; 79
  .byte "GEM OF FIRE",0  ; 80
  .byte "GEM OF HEALER",0  ; 81
  .byte "GEM OF HEALING",0  ; 82
  .byte "GEM OF HELIA",0  ; 83
  .byte "GEM OF ICEPIC",0  ; 84
  .byte "GEM OF METEORS",0  ; 85
  .byte "GEM OF MISSILE",0  ; 86
  .byte "GEM OF NIMROD",0  ; 87
  .byte "SORCERER'S GEM",0  ; 88
  .byte "AMULET OF ISIS",0  ; 89
  .byte "BISHOP'S RING",0  ; 90
  .byte "CROWN OF MIGHT",0  ; 91
  .byte "DAPHNI'S RING",0  ; 92
  .byte "EYE OF VECNA",0  ; 93
  .byte "HOLY CROSS",0  ; 94
  .byte "IMPERIAL RING",0  ; 95
  .byte "NECKLACE/MISSL",0  ; 96
  .byte "PLATINUM RING",0  ; 97
  .byte "RING OF DEAD",0  ; 98
  .byte "RING OF PROT+1",0  ; 99
  .byte "RING OF PROT+2",0  ; 100
  .byte "RING OF PROT+3",0  ; 101
  .byte "RING OF REGEN",0  ; 102
  .byte "RING OF WORLDS",0  ; 103
  .byte "RING/HERACLES",0  ; 104
  .byte "RING/INVISIBLE",0  ; 105
  .byte "RING/WIZARDRY",0  ; 106
  .byte "SEERING STONE",0  ; 107
  .byte "SILVER CROSS",0  ; 108
  .byte "FULL HEAL POT.",0  ; 109
  .byte "HEALER POTION",0  ; 110
  .byte "HEALING POTION",0  ; 111
  .byte "HOLY WATER",0  ; 112
  .byte "POTION OF DEAD",0  ; 113
  .byte "POTION OF LIFE",0  ; 114
  .byte "POTION OF LONG",0  ; 115
  .byte "POTION OF SPED",0  ; 116
  .byte "POTION/CLAIRV",0  ; 117
  .byte "POTION/CURE P",0  ; 118
  .byte "BOOK OF BEASTS",0  ; 119
  .byte "BOOK OF BEAUTY",0  ; 120
  .byte "BOOK OF DARK",0  ; 121
  .byte "BOOK OF HEALTH",0  ; 122
  .byte "CODEX I PLANES",0  ; 123
  .byte "NECRONOMICON",0  ; 124
  .byte "RECORD OF SPED",0  ; 125
  .byte "SCROLL OF DUMA",0  ; 126
  .byte "SCROLL OF FIRE",0  ; 127
  .byte "SCROLL OF HEAL",0  ; 128
  .byte "SCROLL OF LIFE",0  ; 129
  .byte "SCROLL OF MAPS",0  ; 130
  .byte "SCROLL/COTIAR",0  ; 131
  .byte "SCROLL/DEATH",0  ; 132
  .byte "SCROLL/FLESH",0  ; 133
  .byte "SCROLL/LIGHTNG",0  ; 134
  .byte "SCROLL/SLEEP",0  ; 135
  .byte "TOME OF LIGHT",0  ; 136
  .byte "TOME OF MAGI",0  ; 137
To those who are curious about how I will use the VIC-20's memory for this game, this is how I will do it:

Memory addresses:

673 not sure what to use this for yet
828 disk load routines + temp data
4096 screen memory
4608 64x64 pixel Image 1 or Maze Data buffer
5120 64x64 pixel Image 2 or Maze Data buffer
5632 64x64 pixel Image 3 or Maze Data buffer
6144 Font
6656 Logo + wireframe graphics
7168 Reverse Font Chars
7680 Displayed Frame (64x64 pixel image)
8192 Machine Language Routines (8K)
16384 BASIC Program (8K)
38400 unused screen color RAM is used for race, class and spell data

The castle menu, dungeon and battle modules are loaded into memory location 16384. Memory locations 4608-6655 is a 1.5K buffer area where graphics and maze data are loaded here as needed.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
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Ghislain
Realms of Quest
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Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2004 12:54 am

Post by Ghislain »

Today I programmed the character sheet display. The following is what you see when you view a newly created character.

Image

This game will use the classic D&D (as in pre-3rd edition) THACO and AC system. Whenever you equip an item, you can then view your character to see if damage, THACO and AC have improved as a result of having it equipped.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
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orion70
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Post by orion70 »

Ghislain wrote:I've created a list of 137 items (magical and non-magical) that are available in the game.
Spoiler! :P
pallas
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Post by pallas »

That screenshot, with that elf name, and all the rest, is starting to make it look a lot like pool of radiance :-)
Which is a good thing indeed! I wasted months on the SSI games back then ^__^
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Ghislain
Realms of Quest
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Post by Ghislain »

orion70 wrote:
Ghislain wrote:I've created a list of 137 items (magical and non-magical) that are available in the game.
Spoiler! :P
And I just programmed the routine for buying items in the market-place

Image
pallas wrote:That screenshot, with that elf name, and all the rest, is starting to make it look a lot like pool of radiance :-)
Which is a good thing indeed! I wasted months on the SSI games back then ^__^
I remember playing PoR all the way through. Lots of fun.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
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Ghislain
Realms of Quest
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Post by Ghislain »

I programmed the routine to sell items back to the store (at half price) yesterday. I'm making this game one piece at a time, just like the Johnny Cash song says.

I was thinking about it some more, and I definitely now want to program the dungeon and combat module into the same program listing in order to limit disk loading time between travel and combat (the Anniversary edition of Realms II certainly suffers from this a lot). While this might be difficult to do, I think it will be possible to pull this off. Especially considering that I've squeezed as much as possible into the 3.5KB of unexpanded memory for so long, it's like second nature to me.

And of the 8K I reserved for ML routines, only 4700 bytes are used so far. The only other things left to program in ML are the monster graphic swapping routines (150 bytes or so?) and the routine to draw the wireframe graphics of the dungeon. If I can fit all of the ML into 6K, that gives an additional 2K for the BASIC program section.

And if I surpass the 16K limit, then I can just scrap that idea and use the full 32K of memory. The concept of "What would a 16K RPG game running on a VIC-20 look like?" is kind of arbitrary anyway. I make retro games as a sort of alternate history/reality at this point, but also for the fun aspect of it. And with the internet, I can find an audience unlike the 1990s when I only made VIC-20 games for myself.

How is the ML/BASIC working out so far? I'll be honest and say that it would run faster if it was pure ML--but doing such a project would be a lot more time consuming. And I don't have the luxury of free time as I used to back in 2009.

It's not unbearably slow--I use ML for sections such as highlighting menu options and to display graphics. I'd say it's certainly faster and more responsive than Temple of Apshai on the VIC-20.

I'm not trying to match or surpass Realms III in terms of graphical presentation or instant responsiveness. I'm not doing in-game music, save for a tune that's played at the title screen. But the added complexity to the game will certainly cater to the CRPG afficionados. Realms IV will have it's own look and feel.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
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Ghislain
Realms of Quest
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Post by Ghislain »

I just programmed the routine to equip items from inventory on to the character.

I remember the hardest part of programming Realms III was the inventory management routines. This time it was a lot faster to do--most likely because it was done in BASIC which can handle such things more easily from a variable array standpoint.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
malcontent
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Post by malcontent »

I feel your pain about programming item management in assembly...
I'm sure battle algorithms will be much easier in basic as well.
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Ghislain
Realms of Quest
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Post by Ghislain »

malcontent wrote:I feel your pain about programming item management in assembly...
I'm sure battle algorithms will be much easier in basic as well.
It certainly feels like I'm getting more things done faster this time, though I'm not spending as much time compared to the previous game.

Today, I completed a lot of the castle menu options. Here's how the castle menu looks like when you have a fully formed party.

Image

The only ones left to do are:

INN - rest at the inn to recover HP, spell units and train for levels
LEAVE - to leave the castle and enter the dungeon (it loads the dungeon program module)
TEMPLE - to donate money to cure disease and resurrections
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
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darkatx
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Post by darkatx »

This game is looking rather sexy!

Image

I'm not the cheating kind but a man has needs!!! :D
Learning all the time... :)
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Ghislain
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Post by Ghislain »

darkatx wrote:This game is looking rather sexy!

I'm not the cheating kind but a man has needs!!! :D
Ha!

I think I've done enough work on the castle menu module for now; so I'm now working on a dungeon editor.

Image

I'm going to be editing dungeon mazes on an actual VIC-20, so each dungeon floor's dimensions will be 22 x 23 squares.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
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Ghislain
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Post by Ghislain »

I just finished designing the maze for level 1.

Image

I post this here because it's going to be the only map available in the player's manual--so I'm not really spoiling anything by posting it here.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
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darkatx
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Post by darkatx »

Looking at your avatar of ROQ III and your current ROQ IV layout...I have to admit that its vastly improved and is already promising to be a superior sequel to the series.
I always thought that the idea of using Basic for the menu systems made perfect sense in terms of development.
Looking forward to the NPC's ;)
Learning all the time... :)
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Ghislain
Realms of Quest
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Post by Ghislain »

darkatx wrote:Looking at your avatar of ROQ III and your current ROQ IV layout...I have to admit that its vastly improved and is already promising to be a superior sequel to the series.
I always thought that the idea of using Basic for the menu systems made perfect sense in terms of development.
Looking forward to the NPC's ;)
Thank you. Even though it's not as responsive as the previous, there are a lot more features. If I ever do Realms V, then I can convert the game engine's BASIC portions into ML. The game engine, RPG system and tools I'm making for this one will make it easy to create future installments (if I make them). The game is entirely data-driven.

I've already started programming the dungeon routine. Hopefully, I will soon make some major progress with the 3D wireframe graphics.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
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Ghislain
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Post by Ghislain »

Yesterday I programmed the dungeon editor so that I can provide text descriptions for NPC and boss monster interaction and special area descriptions. The first level of the dungeon is now fully designed and I can now begin to seriously program the dungeon traveling module of the game.

I also programmed a significant portion of the wireframe graphics when you travel in the dungeon.

I'm fairly satisfied at how fast I'm making progress so far. And the dungeon designer tool has really made things easier by not having to manually enter any data by hand.

I think the most time consuming thing to do will be to digitize old school D&D monster images to 8 bit format. I originally envisioned doing about 100 monster portraits, and I still want to do so. Playing Realms of Quest IV will be a lot like playing the original Monster Manual on the VIC-20.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
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