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

Discussion, Reviews & High-scores

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Kweepa
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Post by Kweepa »

I recommend using github to make "backups".
You can then have the entire history of development browsable.
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Ghislain
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Post by Ghislain »

Kweepa wrote:I recommend using github to make "backups".
You can then have the entire history of development browsable.
Thanks, I'll look into that. My backup process pretty much consists of making daily copies of the D64 image that I'm working on.

I finished programming the monsters' special attacks for the combat module. Bad news for that is I've only 500 bytes left to program the spells and the monster summons for that.

I might have to give up on the idea of making this into a 16K game and make it 24K instead.

So for now, I am switching focus on programming the other aspects of the game.

Image

As you can see, it might cost a lot more to stay in those nicer rooms, but they recover your party a lot quicker. And it is also here where you can rest in order to train for higher levels when you have enough experience.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
malcontent
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Post by malcontent »

So how is time a factor in the game? Is there a time limit? Or is it just for character aging?
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Ghislain
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Post by Ghislain »

malcontent wrote:So how is time a factor in the game? Is there a time limit? Or is it just for character aging?
Character aging will be a major factor in the game. When a character reaches what is considered to be 'old' age, they lose 1-3 points in one of the STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA stats. When one of these reaches zero, the character dies permanently (cannot be resurrected, so it's hit points are set to 0).

Image

Poor Smasher has died of old age. Rather than going out adventuring, he preferred to spend his time sleeping in the stables.

I was going to put in a mandatory retirement age (80 for humans) but then I thought that it would be more fun to allow characters to be used as long as possible while their stats begin to deteriorate when they reach old age instead (60 for humans). If a character has fairly high stats, then a human can actually live beyond 120 years as long as their stats are high enough not to die from old age.
"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 continue to make good progress. I worked on routines to deduct hit points when a party member is poisoned, fixed some minor bugs, and started to work a little bit on the level 2 map.

If this game is going to have a manual, it should include a map of the first dungeon level to help beginners out.

Image

It is recommended that players use graph paper to map out levels 2-10.
"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 »

It seems like I've been working forever on the combat module, but I finally programmed all of the magic spells in it. At one point, I was seriously considering dropping the idea of making this into a 16KB game when it looked like I couldn't squeeze much more memory out of it--but then I looked for redundancy and repetitiveness and found a way to get free space.

Image

IN the screenshot above, the player is choosing from the Level 2 Wizard spell book.

The only things left to do in the combat module is the boss encounter and the routine to use magic items.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
malcontent
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Post by malcontent »

Moving around the map is a little frustrating/disorientating when you can't see the back walls of the cell in front of you, that is to say, the short little dead ends and the 2x2 rooms.

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Ghislain
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Post by Ghislain »

malcontent wrote:Moving around the map is a little frustrating/disorientating when you can't see the back walls of the cell in front of you, that is to say, the short little dead ends and the 2x2 rooms.

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I am aware of that. Basically, the line of sight algorithm lets you see this much:

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_|_|_
 |^|
To see one level ahead, I would need a lot more memory to be able to do this:

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_________
 |_|_|_|
   |^|
I know how to write such a routine, but I've done so much cramming in the 16K version that I think it would only be viable in the 24K version.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
malcontent
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Post by malcontent »

Code: Select all

  _ 
_|_|_
 |^|
How about just the one wall right in front?
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Ghislain
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Post by Ghislain »

malcontent wrote:How about just the one wall right in front?
It can't be done that way because if the player finds itself in this position:

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 ^
... it would look like this:

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 _

 ^
... with this a tiny wall square far away without the walls on each side.

That's why the wide view is needed in this context.


PS Edit: I do intend to bring a better 3D view for the 24K version. The way that the 16K/24K versions will work is that the boot loader will detect the amount of free memory and then load the appropriate modules necessary. The 24K version will combine the dungeon, combat and treasure modules into a single program file and reduce disk access, along with the more in-depth 3D view.
"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 finished the design for the 2nd level of the dungeon along with allowing the player to climb down stairs. I noticed a few bugs in the combat module as a result--3 row battles produced some unexpected issues which I will correct.
"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 »

Image


While all of the combat spells have been programmed, I still have to do the non-combat ones.

Today I worked on those spells that help you travel through the dungeon. The travel spells are:

LIGHT(L) -- lets you see through the darker portions of the dungeon
DETECT MAGIC(M) -- lets you see teleporters and spinners
INVISIBILITY(I) -- lets you travel without having to fight wandering monsters (since they can't see you)
WIZARD'S EYE(W) -- lets you see secret doors
DETECT TRAPS(T) -- lets you see pit traps and avoid falling into them
DETECT EVIL(E) -- lets you ambush wandering monsters because you can sense their presence first
TRUE SIGHT(S) -- invokes light, detect magic, wizard's eye and detect traps all at once.

In the example screenshot above, the player was able to detect and see a trap pit because the DETECT TRAP was invoked (it would have also been detected because TRUE SIGHT was also in effect).
"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 »

Some good news to those who want to hear it: the main game engine is basically finished (barring any bugs or things I forgot to do, of course).

You can download an emulator-ready version of the game here (with VICE 2.4):

https://sites.google.com/site/gdbsite50 ... ects=0&d=1

To play it, just unzip the file to a directory and double click on realms4.bat in Windows. If you use Mac or Linux, well I'll let you figure out how to play it on those machines ;)

If you encounter any issues, please post them here. Keep in mind that this is the 16K version. Once the 16K version is complete (as in, bug-free), I will use it to make the 24K version where disk access will be reduced, the 3D map view will be improved, etc.

Also included is a partially-completed PDF manual for reference.

Also note that while the game engine is finished, only the first 3 levels have been programmed. So if you climb down to level 4 and the game crashes, that is why.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
SkydivinGirl
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Post by SkydivinGirl »

It's just amazing what you've accomplished on the VIC! I look forward to seeing more. :)

Heather
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Ghislain
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Post by Ghislain »

SkydivinGirl wrote:It's just amazing what you've accomplished on the VIC! I look forward to seeing more. :)

Heather
Thanks, much appreciated. While I'm not as technically advanced as some of the programmers here--they can practically chase the raster beam in their sleep like it was second nature to them. But I do find a niche where I make games that have been generally neglected in the VIC-20 sphere, which is what all retro game programmers/hobbyists like to do.

There was some disappointment that I dropped the idea of making a C64 Realms of Quest game, but there are hundreds of C64 RPG games and I would be competing against that back catalog. But as I stated in the PDF manual for this game, I do plan on refurbishing an old C64 rpg game I made way back in the 1980s, which is going to be included on side 2 ("Realms of Quest 64: Catacomb" -- it was originally called "Ultimate Quest: Catacomb")

It would have been pretty cool if a game like Realms of Quest IV was advertised in the classified ads section of COMPUTE! magazine back in 1985. It does run on 16K (24K being recommended) so such a game requiring a disk drive with that type of memory expansion would have been a bit unusual, but not impossible to find an audience.

In retrospect, I think this game would have been better if it was 100% ML, but it would have taken much much longer to program it and debugging it would have been a lot harder (I don't have the luxury of free time like I used to). But it has a lot of cool features that the predecessor doesn't have. 111 monster and NPC portraits is quite a huge number, by any stretch.
"A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him." -- Ezra Pound
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