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Zera:
Whence things have their origin,
Thence also their destruction happens,
According to necessity;
For they give to each other justice and recompense
For their injustice
In conformity with the ordinance of Time.

I have been working on some ideas for a prequel to Shadow over Ragnoth. The story takes place several centuries before the game's events, and details the War of Heaven, along with mankind's struggle to claim the gods' abandoned power for themselves. You assume the role of Anaximander: A knight in the historic kingdom of Osgoth. This is a solo adventure, only featuring one playable character. (akin to game's like Dragon's Quest) The battle sequences are done in a similar style as Shining Force, or Fire Emblem. You're tasked with exploring an area of map with a limited movement scheme, and engage in turn-based battle sequences with targets on the map. There will either be a primary objective, (such as defeating a boss) or you will face a random encounter where you must defeat all present enemies. (or escape)



Anaximander's abilities aren't necessarily limited to that of a classical knight archetype. He'll gain spells throughout the course of the game, and be able to find equipment that will grant him passive abilities. (such as a random chance to counterattack when struck by an enemy)

Battles will feature short animations between character and enemy interactions. This might be a two-frame animation of Anaximander swinging his sword, for instance. There will also be some kind of spell animation, whether it consists of just a couple of frames, or some spell effects that simply flash on the screen. There won't be any need for masking, as the character and enemies will have their own reserved space; and any effects that are super-imposed on top of them would be large enough to cover most of the graphic, anyway. I don't want to do anything extremely fancy and technically-pressing. This is intended to be a fairly short and straightforward explanation of events prior to Shadow over Ragnoth, to set the stage for the game's history.

Status engine-wise, I wanted to go with something much more simple. There will only be a handful of basic statistics, and their ranges won't span very high. I haven't decided on character growth, but I may go with a traditional experience level system. There won't be things like elemental modifiers, per se. I wanted to do something where certain suits of armor would provide protection against specific spells, or allow enemies to have this protection as part of their natural defense. (likewise for the converse)

Platform-wise, I thought it might be interesting to give TI-86 a try. Bearing in mind its technical limitations, I thought a monochromatic game with just a handful of assets might be easier to fit into memory.

DJ Omnimaga:
mhmm quite nice. Someone would have to find a text and sprite routine for the TI-86, though, for the following reasons:

1) TI-86 BASIC is by far much slower than TI-82, 83, 83+ and 85 BASIC. A 4 fps game on a 83+ would run at 2 on a 86. If sprites were displayed pixel by pixel or using lines(, it would take a long while. If no sprite routine for BASIC coders exists on the 86, we're screwed. In terms of TI-BASIC speed, the TI-86 is almost a Casio.

2) In any BASIC language, it is impossible to use custom font routines. We would have to resort to using an ASM routine for that. If none exists for the 86, we're screwed.

3) Code is much larger on the 86 than any other TI calc, even when tokenized. While 96 KB is a lot of RAM for a BASIC RPG, on the 86, memory may get filled up much faster than you expect. Splitting the game into chapters might still be necessary.

Otherwise, this would be very feasible on a 83+ with the help of xLIB or Celtic III (preferably the later since OS 2.53 MP won't run xLIB). The game would just need to be adapted for the smaller screen

I like the layout, though. Also if done on 83+, overworld can be 3 level grayscale if we desire, as long as there is no scrolling and that the floor doesn't contain any single pixel of gray. 4 level could be possible too, but then the game would have to be SE-only

Otherwise, for 83+, there's axe parser, but I am not sure if it allows the making of massive games.

For the font routine, it could be possible on the 86 to have a custom routine to display letters, but it would be like this:


--- Quote ---{8,5,12,12,15,0,26,5,18,1,27->L1
For(Z,1,dim(L1
If Z=1
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=2
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=3
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=4
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=5
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=6
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=7
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=8
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=9
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=10
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=11
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=12
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=13
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=14
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=15
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=16
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=17
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=18
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=19
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=20
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=21
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=22
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=23
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=24
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=25
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=26
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=27
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=28
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=29
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
If Z=30
Then
<code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line>
End
End

--- End quote ---
Where <code to display the corresponding char pixel by pixel or line by line> would display the corresponding list character at the corresponding location. I never coded for the 86 but it,s just to give an idea. Unless someone have a different smaller way, it might be extremly large x.x

Zera:
As far as custom font routines are concerned, would that be feasible with Celtic or xLib?

DJ Omnimaga:
it would. In fact it would be faster. However, Celtic III and xLIB are not avaliable on the TI-86. The code on the 83+, if I guessed correctly, would be smaller, but yeah it would probably still be much slower than using the default TI fonts.

Another thing: the TI-86 is barely used anymore in the TI community. It was discontinued somewhere around 2001-2003 and never was as popular as the TI-83 and 89 series before. A game for it would probably have a much poorer audience.

EDIT: Now that I think about it: if Axe Parser gets support for external TI-BASIC variables such as being able to read from Str1 inside Axe, the font routine could be done in Axe.

Zera:
I see your point. I was looking at the technical specs and thought it was kind of interesting as a platform, but I didn't realize how unpopular it also is. On the other hand, everything I've been working on so far is easily adaptable to a 96x64 resolution:



I want to go ahead and post a bit more info about the setting and storyline, to set things up:

Chapter 1: The Hand of Fate

Anaximander begins training in Osgoth's Lyceum with other knights from his brigade. During this time, the player is given a tutorial as to how to function in combat.

Night falls, and Anaximander is approached in his quarters by his comrade and best friend, Heraclitus, who informs him that Lord Democritus has requested an audience with his most trusted men. By Heraclitus' recommendation alone, Lord Democritus has agreed to include Anaximander as part of a secret order. This order is tasked with the eradication of an underground faction said to be plotting a coup against the royal family.

Hoping to earn the Lord's trust and further his rank, Anaximander accompanies Heraclitus' brigade to the remote region of Wynn. A gathering of mages, and their families, are spotted in a small encampment within the forests. The males are put to slaughter, believed to be insurgents; but Anaximander begins to question his orders when Heraclitus calls for the murder of both women and children. Heraclitus demonstrates the slaughter of a young girl, claiming the seeds of their people should be wiped from the earth. Anaximander, in indignation, relinquishes his rank, and stands his ground against Heraclitus and the remaining forces of the brigade. Anaximander is inevitably overpowered and left for dead...

Dispassioned over the actions of his former comrade, Anaximander sets out on his journey to uncover the truth behind this new order, and the underlying intentions of Lord Democritus.

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