Omnimaga
Omnimaga => Discontinued => Our Projects => Chip's Challenge for Ti-Nspire => Topic started by: apcalc on August 27, 2010, 10:25:44 am
-
I have been working on this project for a little while now (although I have made very little progress because of Block Dude/Trapped), but after I finish Trapped, this will be the next project I will be working "full time" on. Right now, I have a small amount of the game engine working, and the drawing routine is working (except for the fact I have not drawn the sprites yet, so no screenshots yet :P). I am getting pretty good at 2-D games like this, as they all follow the same basic game engine as Block Dude, except more/different cases have to be added to the engine.
I still have lots to do, but I thought I would announce this project now just to let everyone know. It is going to be a while before this is finished (probably not until around next summer, maybe longer :(). Hopefully, if I have some time and I don't feel like working on Trapped, I will start on a few of the sprites and post a screenshot here! ;D I have been making good progress on Trapped, so that might be done sooner than expected, giving me time to work on this! :)
Latest Screenshots:
(http://img.removedfromgame.com/imgs/1288483689-CHIPS0001.gif) (http://img.removedfromgame.com/imgs/1288818472-CHIPS0003.gif) (http://img.removedfromgame.com/imgs/CHIPS0001.gif)(http://img.removedfromgame.com/imgs/CHIPS0007.gif)
-
Wow nice to see Chips coming to the Nspire already :)
I hope you can easily convert the levels to integrate them in your game. Calc84maniac converted them, which speed-ed up the development. I hope you finish it :)
-
I don't see level conversion being too much of a problem as I plan on making all of the levels external from the main program, because including all of the levels would make the program HUGE!
If it comes to the point where I have to type all of the levels in from full pics of the levels and it is holding up the release, I can release it with the first 50 levels or so, and then add the others in level packs released later. :)
Also, custom external level support is planned. :)
-
Awesome, apcalc! I certainly hope people will be n-spired by you and start to make nspire games of their own!
-
Excellent! I'm sure Calc84 would give you help if you need it, but I doubt if you will judging from your other games. Good luck apcalc! ;D
-
Cool!
It would be nice if the game used the original chips.dat file that contains the levels in the PC version of the game.
-
Ooooh! That was one of my favorite games ever. I saw it on the PC first, then found it on the calc a few years ago. If it looks as good as nspire block dude, I'm sure it will be awesome :)
-
How big would all levels be? Because Calc84maniac managed to fit all 150 (plus the entire game) in about 160-170 KB
-
There's actually an open-source engine coded in C, if you want to try porting that. It might help if you want a lot of accuracy to the original game. I think it's called Tile World :)
-
Oh yeah-I remember Tile World.
-
Never heard of that one, but I don't play puzzle games a lot on the computer (except Portal). Mostly on calc, so it might be why.
-
is this going to be 16 level greyscale!
/me can't wait...
-
Sweet. Yet another game being ported to Nspire :) To bad I don't have one :P Hope things go well with this :D
-
epicness! With the Nspire's speed, perhaps some cool little graphical effects could be worked in?
-
I will probably move this to its own sub-forum tomorrow or tonight.
-
I was looking over the code for Tile World, and it looks like it might be pretty easy to port it to the Nspire instead of completly starting from scratch. It seems as if it does not use too many functions that we don't already have for the Nspire. The main problem would be printf(, but I could just use dialog boxes. :) This would lead to several advantages in the game:
1. I would probably finish faster, as I would not have to start from scratch
2. It would read the original .dat files for Chips Challenge, which would save me time from importing levels
3. As calc84 said, the game would be very accurate
4. No level editor would need to be written, as a computer one could be used to make it into a .dat file, which could be used by my program
The only drawback to this would be that I could not include the original level .dat file. But, I am sure I could get permission to include the CC Level Pack 2 .dat file!
-
Yeah, Tile World is a pretty fun clone, but iirc it doesn't support entering passwords to go to a specific level, but maybe that was because I was using an old build for Windows CE.
Also since I have the Full Windows Entertainment Pack from Win95 getting the .dat file won't be an issue for me. :P
-
I was almost sure when I was going through the source I saw a function that allowed entering a password, but if it is not there, I will just add it in. :)
-
What does printf( do? Does it just display text? Having text seems like a major issue on the Nspire from what I read so far. Couldn't you just create a custom font routine? Even in TI-83+ BASIC it's possible (although it's very large compared to xLIB/DCS, Axe and ASM)
-
Exactly right, DJ. He'll probably end up needing to make a custom routine (or using dialog boxes, like he said).
printf() is difficult to get working because, on the Nspire, it doesn't output to the screen, but to an internal serial port, IIRC.
-
Exactly right, DJ. He'll probably end up needing to make a custom routine (or using dialog boxes, like he said).
printf() is difficult to get working because, on the Nspire, it doesn't output to the screen, but to an internal serial port, IIRC.
The nice thing about a custom font is, though, one can create "letters" that aren't exactly letters. In S.A.D., I use Belthium Crystal Icons, Oxygen Icons, and Lobster Icons as part of the font.
-
Well, bwang wrote a DrawStr( function that I could use also. printf( essentinally draws text to the screen, but it also allows you to add numbers, other variables to the string. I don't think this will be too much of a problem, thankfully!
-
I wonder if eventually ExtendeD or someone else will write a text routine for Ndless. Text seems like an essential programming command to me x.x. And yea Hot Dog. In old FF games, they had stuff such as armor and weapon icons.
-
Ah, yes, I forgot the 'f', for 'format' ;D. You've checked the source to make sure it doesn't over-use this, I assume?
-
Well, I really have only had time to skim over the source, as I am busy with work for school, but once I have some free time (probably this weekend) I will look through the source a bit closer to make sure it won't be too hard to port.
-
Yeah, writing your own printf() would be a pain. Does C for the Nspire have the sprintf() function, which you could use with DrawStr()?
-
Sprintf is defined for the Nspire, but I am not sure if it can be used (it might be like printf, only for RS232). I will have to check with someone to find out exactly, as I never have really used it.
-
sprintf() writes to a string, which is exactly why I suggested it.
Coupled with DrawStr(), your problems are solved :D
Edit: Well, mostly :P
-
So how were these routines discovered? I know TI didn't just GIVE them to people who used ndless!
-
I believe the Ndless team disassembled the OS and looked through them to find all of the functions.
-
epicness! With the Nspire's speed, perhaps some cool little graphical effects could be worked in?
I agree-animated tiles would be awesome!
-
I agree, we need to show the community the true power of the Nspire :P
-
I wonder if eventually ExtendeD or someone else will write a text routine for Ndless. Text seems like an essential programming command to me x.x.
Yes, I'm planning to either find more OS syscalls related to text display and widgets, or integrate custom functions in Ndless as libraries.
But this is a low-priority task, any contribution is welcome. With nspire_emu and a good disassembler, this should not be too difficult to some of you.
-
Aah ok I see :). I guess someone could maybe write one. It would be nice if he let the user use his own fonts too and maybe even write a font editor and let him exclude unused fonts if he wants.
-
Do we have vprintf() symbols yet? That would allow us to use the OS libraries to format the string.
The problem with porting existing code is that (1) No standard library usually causes existing code to throw many syntax errors, and (2) We do not have full support for static variables.
-
Yeah, porting code by copying and pasting would probably be very hard.
Even when I say I am going to "port" Tile World, I moreso mean that I might copy pieces of code from Tile World (ex, the game engine) and write other parts myself.
-
It's time to show ti the power of the nspire
-
(2) We do not have full support for static variables.
This has been implemented in the current development branch of Ndless and will be shipped with the next release.
-
Great! Do you think the next one will be soon? Will it be Ndless 1.2 or 2.0?
-
The scope is not clearly defined yet, but probably not 2.0.
-
Aaah ok I see. Good luck on Ndless!
-
Here is a little update on this!
I finally got the drawing engine working; here is a little screenshot of it. Right now, it is only drawing a test map of white and gray squares. Hopefully, I can get more added soon!
(http://img.removedfromgame.com/imgs/1284832942-TEST0005.gif)
-
Cool to see updates. Can't wait to see some graphics in action :)
-
Wow, great screenie!
-
Nice! Good luck getting more done on this. ;D
-
Here is a much better screenshot of this. I put a slight key delay in and I made it so your current position is a gray square (the other gray squares act like walls).
(http://img.removedfromgame.com/imgs/1284908383-TEST0008.gif)
-
Nice, also the executable seems kinda small so far. I wonder how large it will be once finished. Do you think it might be the same size as the TI-84+ version (if we do not take sprite data into account)?
-
Well, that is kinda small because (1) There is almost nothing to the actual game engine (it only checks if you hit a wall or not) This will be much more complex when I add more things (2) I have not done anything regarding things like monsters (these could pose a challenge to me) (3) that "level" is only a 15x15 array. The actual levels are much larger.
I have no idea how large this will be when finished.
-
Ah ok I was wondering mostly due to the levels. I think calc84maniac simply converted them automatically or used them as they are (which is why the game was finished so fast if I remember), but I don't know if they used some sort of compression.
-
Here is a nice reference for the Chip's Challenge level format: http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/ccfile.html (http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/ccfile.html)
I just included the literal data from the CHIPS.DAT file and parsed it.
-
This is looking really nice already :D Cant wait to see more progress! ^^
-
Looks really cool :) Can't wait to see more progress. Good luck!
-
Looks great! Nice job. ;D
-
Here is a nice reference for the Chip's Challenge level format: http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/ccfile.html (http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/ccfile.html)
I just included the literal data from the CHIPS.DAT file and parsed it.
Ah I see, nice idea :D
-
The game is awsome dude! even better than the game itself! what language are you doing this on? how many megs will it be?
-
The game is awsome dude! even better than the game itself! what language are you doing this on? how many megs will it be?
This is being programmed in C. I have no idea how large this program will be, as I have just barley started it.
-
I thought there was an update, but instead I lost the game, 3 times :(
-
I thought there was an update, but instead I lost the game, 3 times :(
This time, there is an update, but, just to keep the record: The Game, The Game, The Game! :P
Do I see animated tiles? It is a kinda poor implementation of this, but it is a start! ;D
(http://img.removedfromgame.com/imgs/1288483689-CHIPS0001.gif)
-
Wow, awesome!
-
Wow animated tiles will be really great!
-
Wow, i love the animated tiles! adds much more to the game! you could do much more than just flashing animations and stuff...
-
(http://img.removedfromgame.com/imgs/1288540801-CHIPS0002.gif)
-
(http://img.removedfromgame.com/imgs/1288540801-CHIPS0002.gif)
I liked your post and I think NDless capabilities are just huge :)
-
Nice again. Will this be the character that will be in the game?
-
Great! Simple but powerful.
-
Nice again. Will this be the character that will be in the game?
I have not decided yet. I probably will not be making most of the graphics for this, though (I just found a picture on google of chips challenge, and converted the character to grayscale).
Do you like it? Or should I change it?
-
I like it, personally.
-
First alpha release posted in the "Beta Releases" thread!
(http://img.removedfromgame.com/imgs/1288818472-CHIPS0003.gif)
-
Wow...
That's awesome! I wish I had an Nspire now, lol.
Of course, I can always play this on my 84+SE. :P
-
It doesn't look Microsoft-ish on the TI-84+, though D:
-
It doesn't look Microsoft-ish on the TI-84+, though D:
Ah, comeon, give yourself a break. The Ti-84+ has terrible,terrible resolution and doesn't have built-in grayscale. With that little to work with, you still made an awesome looking game
-
Yeah, I was so excited when I saw that on ticalc. I hadn't played in years, and it was fun to play it again.
-
I agree, I loved the 84+ one. It was also the first 84 chips clone to ever come out. You did a nice job on it calc84maniac. :)
Same for Apcalc so far. I wish I could try the beta right now. :)
-
wow the game is far developed from when i checked before! welldone apcalc!
-
Sadly, I think I found a major problem with the animated tiles. :'(
I sent this to my calc today to test it, and, the Nspire's screen is so terrible, that you can't even tell that the tile is changing. The two screens just blend together. Right now, I have almost no delay on this, so it could be (hopefully) that slowing this down a bit will fix it. Nonetheless, the flashing looked great on the emulator at that speed, which worries me that if I slow it down, it won't look good. :(
-
Sorry to hear. I think you should slow down the animation. is it ok at 2-3 FPS?
-
I think the entire game is supposed to run at around 10FPS, which is probably low enough for TI-Nspire screen to look good enough. gbc4nspire runs at about 12FPS I think (the gameboy's 60FPS divided by the frameskip of 5)
-
Awesome! I was a big fan of the original and the 83 port (though I was disappointed that he forgot to edit the help text, please make sure to remove all references to colors... :D)
Hope you get the animated tiles sorted out.
-
calc84maniac: but doesn't gbc4nspire synchronize with the screen refresh? Could you tell us more about this?
-
I think the entire game is supposed to run at around 10FPS, which is probably low enough for TI-Nspire screen to look good enough. gbc4nspire runs at about 12FPS I think (the gameboy's 60FPS divided by the frameskip of 5)
Yeah, but what he means is that at 10 fps, the animations are too blurry.
-
calc84maniac: but doesn't gbc4nspire synchronize with the screen refresh? Could you tell us more about this?
Nah, gbc4nspire was written before anything was known about that stuff. All I use in gbc4nspire is keypad input, writing to the frame buffer, and using a timer to process frames at around 60Hz (every 5th frame is displayed to the screen). The timer is ignored if you hold down the "*" key, though.
Edit:
DJ, apcalc never said that it ran at 10FPS, he said that he had no almost delay, so it was probably running at a much higher FPS
-
Thankfully, adding a delay (for the record, about 20 times slower) in the time between each frame switch makes it look much, much better on calc! :D
Also, I lowered the key delay so the game is much more playable now. :)
-
Cool to hear :)
-
Awesome! I was a big fan of the original and the 83 port (though I was disappointed that he forgot to edit the help text, please make sure to remove all references to colors... :D)
* Pssst, the author of the 83 port has the post right above this one... O.o
In all seriousness, I'm glad there's progress on this even if you have to lower the framerate. :)
-
Added:
-Hint Text
-Water
-Fire (not shown in screenshot)
(http://img.removedfromgame.com/imgs/CHIPS0001.gif)
-
(http://img.removedfromgame.com/imgs/CHIPS0001.gif)
This does look GREAT!
The hint text is like text( in NSpire Basic, and the game looks very challenging, is there a 83+ series game similar to this?
-
Yes, there is an 83+ version of Chip's Challenge, by calc84maniac:
http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/421/42148.html
-
http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/421/42148.html (http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/421/42148.html)
This looks just as cool. Nice job making a 'conversion'.
-
Ok, I need some help here. I am in the process of deciding how the program will run different .DAT files. Which of these options would you prefer:
(1) Have a computer program parse the data file, and you send one .tns file to your calc which will play the data in that file only (calculator independent, except for the fact that the acutal .tns document is run on the calc).
(2) Have the calculator program act much like gbc4nspire, asking you to select a .DAT.tns file at the beginning of the program, and it parses it on the spot (computer independent).
(3) A blend of these two. A computer program that will parse the .DAT file into a .tns file, but there will still be a menu at the beginning of the calculator program asking you to select a level set.
-
I guess you should maybe go with the more user-friendly way, unless it's too complicated to code. I kinda like 3, though.
-
(4) Choose a nice file extension, and submit a patch for Ndless to support extension association (the general idea is described here (http://ourl.ca/3840/142563)) I would gladly integrate :)
Even a patch for a part of the feature would really help.
-
Wow, that looks great! Nice job! ;D
-
I would prefer option 2, as it makes it easier to use the same user created level packs as the computEr version.
-
In honor of CCLP3, I thought it would be appropriate to post an update on this!
All for "action" tiles (fire, water, ice, force blocks) are supported! :)
(http://img.removedfromgame.com/imgs/CHIPS0007.gif)
-
Whoa, that looks awesome! I wish I had an nspire with all these awesome games!
-
Looks nice! COuld you remind me what does CCLP3 stands for, though?
I'm glad to see more updates on this!
-
Chip's Challenge Level Pack 3. It is a second community created level pack to complement the original CHIPS.DAT. This, along with CCLP2, will probably be what I include with the final release of this game (along with a few intro sets, as these sets are tough from the start :P).
-
Ah cool, did you ask them permission, though, or is it abandonware?
-
I didn't ask for permission yet, but I doubt I will have too much trouble, as other Chip's Challenge programs (such as Tile World/Tile World 2) include these sets with the actual program.
-
Oh I see, well I guess you should be good then.
-
Chips Challenge is the first project hosted on nspforge. Welcome!
-
Chips Challenge is the first project hosted on nspforge. Welcome!
Yeah, I hope there are many more to come ;D
-
Just a little update here.
Sadly, I have not made any progress on this or Trapped since my last post. :(
Ever since the end of Christmas break, my teachers have been slaughtering me with work, as with upcoming state testing, I will be losing a month of classes (particularly in AP classes, where not only will we lose a month, we have to finish a month earlier to begin with :().
I still have ideas brewing in my head all the time for both this and Trapped, and, as soon as I get a little free time again, work will resume at full force! :)
-
Ouch, good luck. I hope you don't have to quit the project or something. It would suck X.x
-
Hi friends,
nspforge has been updated.
I added a download plugin to host your releases. It comes with a download counter. It will help you to manage your project.
Regards and have fun
-
Wow, its been a while since I posted here!
I finally decided to restart work on this project. Nevertheless, after looking at my old code, I realized how hard it would be for me to implement things such as monsters, switches, etc. with it, thus I decided to rewrite the game engine from scratch. Here are the results so far!:
(http://img.removedfromgame.com/imgs/NSPIREVIDEO0024.gif)
Hopefully, much more progress will come in the next few days, before I go away (with no computer access :'() next week!
-
Good luck Apcalc!
-
I wonder if that is still alive? ??? That looks awesome by the way :D
-
Yes, this is still alive! I was just working on it a bit the other day (sadly, I ran into some major issues with my level converter :().
Here is my plan: because I know it will take me a while to implement the monsters, I am working on a release of this with the features I already have added and about 25 levels.
-
Looks really nice!
And hard...
-
Will you be updating this for the Nspire CX?
-
Yes, this will be made to support the CX! :)
-
That's good to hear. Hopefully other Ndless game creators do the same in the future too. :)
-
I remember playing this on some old computer or emulator. CX version will be awesome! Good luck!
-
This a good code and I like. ;D
-
Honestly I thought the 84+ version ran smoother than the PC version :P and this one runs about as smooth as the 84 one.
-
@cyanophycean314
Did you use stems and pi for your username? And doesn't your username mean blue plant or something like that?
-
That's kinda of topic in this thread ;)
It would be better to PM stuff like this.
-
Uh yeah, that's pretty off topic...
But anyways - cyanophycean was a SCRIPPS National Spelling Bee Spell Bowl word that one girl missed maybe three or four years back. She mispelled it cyanophytion or something. Anyways, I like that word. 314 does stand for pi. Now you know.
Oh yeah, cyanophycean means blue green algae