split/OT from: Marooned

[HarryP2]

Hi! If you want to create a new text adventure and have cc65, you can try out my AdvSkelVic65 program. It is the base code around which you can build your own text adventure. You can find it at https://sourceforge.net/projects/cc65extra/files/game/. It is heavily optimized, and the Vic20 version's main executable as it stands is worth 2.33k. Try it out!

BTW, does anybody here have a good Vic20 text adventure to recommend?

[HarryP2]

BTW, if you are and want to produce more optimal code, try the printtok() function. You can find the definition at https://sourceforge.net/projects/cc65extra/files/ui/. Try it out!

[DarwinNE]

Hello,
glad to see that the panorama of text adventures on the VIC is growing!

I wrote a few of them and the VIC+32k was one of my target platforms:

https://darwinne.itch.io/two-days-to-the-race

https://darwinne.itch.io/the-queens-footsteps

https://darwinne.itch.io/silk-dust

[HarryP2]

I downloaded them. I plan to try them out later. Thanks!

[HarryP2]

I liked them. I like text adventures but don't get far in them.

BTW, I just updated the program. Main edit: heavy optimizations. Try it out!

BTW, can somebody test out my tokenization technique and tell me how well it works?

[chysn]

I am, in fact, creating a new text adventure. It's been pretty time-consuming. I realized this was because I was trying to use a top-down approach, where I tried to build an engine around the game. That's not how I work, though, and I should have realized this.

So I sort of scrapped everything and started over. Now I've got an engine on which I can build several interactive fiction games. The engine's data format is surprisingly expressive for its size (sub-1K), and I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with it.

In the coming weeks, I'll post a proof-of-concept mini-adventure for unexpanded VIC. This will have 6-8 rooms, and will demonstrate various capabilities of the engine, with a win condition and a little side-quest or two.

For reference, the engine has roughly the capabilities as the Scott Adams system, with some cool extras.

[HarryP2]

Just curious: what language are you using to build your text adventure?

[chysn]

Just curious: what language are you using to build your text adventure?

Just regular 6502 for the engine. The games themselves are 100% data-driven.

[HarryP2]

Hi! chysn: I ask you to compare your text adventure engine to mine and tell me and everyone here which is better and why. I am an egotist and want to hear good things about my products but will accept negative feedback. My engines are available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/cc65extra/files/game/.

[huffelduff]

I ... want to hear good things about my products

Hi there HarryP2,

There is something that I would like to ask you: Could you provide a small adventure game with your framework?
That would allow me to learn your framework through example.

If you're looking for something easy to implement, how about the small adventure 'Tower of mystery' from the book: Compute's guide to adventure games P161. The PDF scan is available online for download. Just a thought

Greetings

H

[chysn]

Hi! chysn: I ask you to compare your text adventure engine to mine and tell me and everyone here which is better and why. I am an egotist and want to hear good things about my products but will accept negative feedback. My engines are available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/cc65extra/files/game/.

I'm not really sure what to look at. There's a million files there. Echoing what huffelduff said, I'd need a PRG file with something playable to say anything about it. Otherwise, I'd just say that mine is better because there's a playable game

But seriously, I'm probably not going to get into comparisons. Judging by the sheer number of files, it seems apparent that yours probably does more stuff. The VIC-20, with its tiny screen and tiny memory, has trained me to boil games down to their essence, and VICfiction is another example of that*. What you get here is a 1980s-style interface, but with an elegant data format that lets me express just about any puzzle I can think of without adding more code.

What I do need to do is build some kind of authoring tool. For one thing, I'm getting sick and tired of counting to 21 columns while trying to write prose. I'll probably build a tool to turn JSON-formatted data into XA data, automatically handling numeric IDs and word wrapping.

* For example, it's a safe bet that your system allows you to carry more than two things at once. I figure... how many hands does a person have, anyway? So carrying at most two items is a hard limitation of my engine. It makes the inventory-handling code really small.

[Mike]

[...] I am an egotist and want to hear good things [...]

Once again, provoking moderator action most probably is not something you want.

[chysn]

My engines are available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/cc65extra/files/game/.

Even if you've got something playable for another platform, like C64, I'd be very interested to see it in action. Always happy to fire up VICE.

If you're looking for something easy to implement, how about the small adventure 'Tower of mystery' from the book: Compute's guide to adventure games P161. The PDF scan is available online for download. Just a thought

I never new this book existed, but I'm checking it out. I may implement the same adventure, as it might help me cover some bases.

[beamrider]

[...] I am an egotist and want to hear good things [...]

Once again, provoking moderator action most probably is not something you want.

I am puzzled as to why the quoted post would provoke moderator action?