Thanks all. I will post screenies as I progress.

There will be two program, a game engine that can read Zelda map files. One will be my custom release, with a built-in map (two of them, and several dungeons to be exact).

Then there will be a standard map-playing engine, that may run custom made maps. I will hopefully soon release a custom map-creation program that will allow you to make your own Zelda maps.

One of the differences will be in magic usage. Whereas, in Zelda, you need items to use magic and those items control that element, in my version, there are three power levels of magic, depending on the item you have (3 items you can collect). Then, as you progress through the game, you gain control over different elements (defeating bosses allows you to learn spells), and can cast a spell in that element. Sometimes, a dungeon will be set apart from land by a body of water and is inaccessible...that is until you gain ice power. Then, you can freeze the water and create an ice bridge. Often, that is the only way to advance.

I hope noone has an issue with the new magic system. I just didn't want to code in like 25 items.


Also, when you get up to the "dark world", you will find that the final dungeon cannot be reached. That is perfectly fine. Just whip out your mirror and warp back to the "light world". I will set up the maps to compliment each other. By warping back and forth in the right places, you can collect otherwise unreachable stuff, and get to the final dungeon.

The main world map is currently under development. It will be 90x70 tiles (10 screens x 10 screens, each screen 9x7 tiles) . That makes the map size 6300 kb. There will another map of equal size. Both maps, as well as the dungeon maps, will be held as data in the main program, which makes the main program:

executable size+6300 for light world+6300 for dark world+1575 per dungeon for 6 dungeons(9450)

executable+22050 data bytes.

During runtime, an external "map" appvar will be used. It will never become more than 6300 bytes large.

Will this much data be a problem? Any ideas?

this amount of data will be bad for a normal TI-84+, which would have about enough archive space for this and 2-3 apps.
This is a major problem, as I have 3 apps that I don't want to get rid of(e.g. xLib), but I'm still looking forward to this. Is there any way to make this a bit smaller

OK, I'll check that, but I seem to remember having less than 22000 RAM left

Yes. The data held in a program does not change the executable size. I'm allowed to have an assembly program being 16000 kb, just as long as the executable part is less than 8000 bytes. The data part of my program will feed data to the appvar holding map data. So, when playing in the world, the appvar holds a 6300 byte chunk of data that has the map in it. Then, I enter a dungeon. This calls a subroutine that gets the map data for that dungeon, then deletes the old appvar for map data and writes the dungeon map into it. Then, the subroutine returns to the main program. Except, now, the map being read is the dungeon, not the world. Once you clear the dungeon, a subroutine runs, and the world map is written back to the appvar and then we return to the game again.

There are two world maps held within the main program as data:

The light world- 6300 bytes (90x70 tiles)
The dark world- 6300 bytes (90x70 tiles)

There are six dungeon maps:

each will be 1575 bytes (45x35 tiles)

all of this will be saved as data within the main program, and used to dynamically change the "map data" appvar. The executable itself will be actually pretty small, if my thoughts are correct, and still work great.

What my question is is, will the size of the executable + data be too large for the calc? Should I make it an app?

A small request: Can someone out there who programs with Axe help me out with programming AI subroutines. I need enemies on the map to move toward the player and attempt to bump into him, unless the invisibility spell is active (in which case, the enemies movements are random). Once I get all the data written, I will send out what variables hold active spells, as well as what marks an enemy on the map.

srry can't read all that from my ps3 on my crappy tv, BUT to copy that data to the appvar you must have it in the app itself 1st

Anyway, I'm working on my own RPG. right now, it's pretty crappy, but I have a basic battle system ~80% done. do any of you have any hints on a world map(e.g. tilemaps, general theme)?