Author Topic: "Lost Legends" for 84+, An ASM RPG (Read 51056 times)

Halifax · « **Reply #165 on:** November 13, 2007, 09:18:00 am »

THE POST 13520704

QuoteBegin-Liazon+12 Nov, 2007, 19:30

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QUOTE (Liazon @ 12 Nov, 2007, 19:30)

QuoteBegin-Spikeman+12 Nov, 2007, 6:37-->

QUOTE (Spikeman @ 12 Nov, 2007, 6:37)

Ah okay, I was under the understanding that many bcalls and such were not allowed. In short, it's not as hard as I thought. I'm anxious to start working on something, where should I start?

ya, we've been constantly updating and keeping in touch using googlecode and the SVN, so you could probably look there and here for any updates.

atm, Halifax and I are finalizing the text standard. From what Jim e told me, using bcalls for text is generally bad in gs because interrupts are disabled (so no GS interrupt running). I've tested it w/ my temporary appSafePuts routine, and it isn't as bad as he says. However, it only comes in dark gray, since only one layer of gs is affected by the bcall. Designing it from scratch looked like a good idea since the text is aligned 8x8 sprites, and we have the flexibility of 3 colors of text, as well as invisible text lol.

We've been laying some ground work for the most part. When I get a chance, I'll organize all the map based events into categories, and we can probably discuss how to implement it in code.

For now, I'd just say check the SVN and the googlecode page, and get familiar with the code we've been working on now. Probably get used to how to use RGP and graymapper, though it wasn't documented too well.

I suggest you get wabbitspasm, or SPASM and wabbitsign separately from revsoft. We'll be using those instead of TASM and devpac8x. We'll also be using wabbitemu for emulation, and I think that's already been included in the SVN.

I think that's it for now. Thanks so far

Also to expand on that, make sure you document anything, and everything that can be documented so other programmers can jump right in. Try to keep code clean.

Explain disabilites in your code, ideas on implementations, what needs to be done still, etc.

Also try to structure things in a nice fashion so things aren't strewn all over the place, and this will generally lead to a cleaner, well-produced, and easily expandable codebase.

P.S. I always communicate through issues in the googlecode project, and I check them 3-4 times in a day daily.

Halifax · « **Reply #166 on:** November 14, 2007, 11:46:00 am »

THE POST 13522671

Well, after compiling only half the text for this game, it came out to 1577 bytes.

So just by taking a stab in the dark, I will say that the text will be around ~3200 bytes. o.o

Either way, after reading through basically half the script, I can guarantee you that the story will be very good!

Well, I will try to get the other half of the script compiled by the end of tonight, and possibly some coding on the text display routine.

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #167 on:** November 14, 2007, 11:59:00 am »

THE POST 13522712

wow 3200 bytes thats not big, you compressed it right? o.o

cuz in RL2 there was around 35 KB of text iirc, same for RL3

Keep it up progressing guys!

Liazon · « **Reply #168 on:** November 14, 2007, 11:59:00 am »

THE POST 13522714

o.o

that's like no text. that's like almost the amount of RAM we use up for gs o.o

Halifax · « **Reply #169 on:** November 14, 2007, 12:05:00 pm »

THE POST 13522736

Oh really? lol, well then, I thought it was a lot.

And no, the text is not compressed yet, but I intend on compressing it.

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #170 on:** November 14, 2007, 12:06:00 pm »

THE POST 13522742

k

Zera · « **Reply #171 on:** November 14, 2007, 01:25:00 pm »

THE POST 13522879

I kept the dialogue relatively short and to-the-point. Mainly, because the screen dimensions don't give space to work with, but there were also concerns about file size.

I hope it doesn't end up ressembling an early NES translation.

Liazon · « **Reply #172 on:** November 14, 2007, 01:40:00 pm »

THE POST 13522921

don't worry, I think it's fine.

well, I meant 3200 bytes is not a lot compared to how much RAM we allocated for RGP and Graymapper, which is ~3500 iirc. idk if that's actually a lot of text, but probably more than most non-RPG games (maybe even most RPGs). but ya, compression will be nice if we want to keep this under a page i hope

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #173 on:** November 14, 2007, 03:16:00 pm »

THE POST 13523098

QuoteBegin-grendel+14 Nov, 2007, 19:25

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QUOTE (grendel @ 14 Nov, 2007, 19:25)

I hope it doesn't end up ressembling an early NES translation.

You should have seen the Reign Of Legends 2 translation in english o.o

It was the second of my calc games I translated in english

Halifax · « **Reply #174 on:** November 14, 2007, 05:31:00 pm »

THE POST 13523269

Oh...we are trying to keep things under 1 page? I mean, I was thinking 2 pages would be a fine limit because it seems that 1 page won't be enough. (just thinking...)

~70 tiles
16x16 = 32 bytes
2 layers = 70 * 2 = 140
140 * 32 bytes = 4480(I think) bytes

4480 + ~3200 bytes = 7680 bytes

So yeah, I guess we have like half a page left. Nevermind, we can keep this in one page especially with compression. Good call, Liazon.

This post has been edited by Halifax on 14 Nov, 2007, 23:32

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #175 on:** November 14, 2007, 06:04:00 pm »

THE POST 13523307

You will never fit an entire RPG in one page o.o

Unless you meant the sprite/text data only

Halifax · « **Reply #176 on:** November 14, 2007, 06:08:00 pm »

THE POST 13523312

Well yeah, I think we can fit it on one page. The overall bytes above were the requirements for data, without compression. This would mean that, even without compression, half a page is left for game coding.

kalan_vod · « **Reply #177 on:** November 14, 2007, 06:11:00 pm »

THE POST 13523318

A RPG in one page? I have to see this, even jamolta (spelling?) wouldn't fit on one page, not to discourage the progress or anything

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THE POST

Halifax · « **Reply #178 on:** November 14, 2007, 06:15:00 pm »

THE POST 13523320

I wouldn't doubt that it wouldn't be able to fit into one page. In fact scratch that total above. o.o

Geez, I forgot the 72x32 enemies. o.o

So...:

72x32 = 144 bytes
144 bytes * 16 enemies = 2304 bytes

7680 + 2304 = 9984 bytes

Which leaves only about ~6,000 bytes for game code. So yes it will possibly be two pages.

(Note: This does not include the size of the mapper code, the size of all the maps, or the size of the font set.)

This post has been edited by Halifax on 15 Nov, 2007, 0:16

Zera · « **Reply #179 on:** November 15, 2007, 05:48:00 am »

THE POST 13523836

Aren't you forgetting the 96x64 px 4-level grayscale cut-scenes?

And let's not forget the character portraits!