Omnimaga
Calculator Community => Other Calc-Related Projects and Ideas => TI Z80 => Topic started by: SirCmpwn on July 11, 2010, 03:27:49 am
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Hi folks!
So, as you know, with limited computer, assembly, and Axe resources, I've been playing with pure TI Basic for the last week or so. This will continue until the 19th. However, there is good news.
I am announcing Edge, the next pure TI Basic RPG to grace your calculators! It features amazing graphics, great battle mechanics, and an enthralling story. I have already done the tilemapper (the very same one I have mentioned elsewhere), exploration, and the basic engine. Much of the battle graphics are done as well. I am extremely satisfied with the quality of graphics. If not for the speed in tilemapping, and the slowness of certain sprites, it would look like it was done in assembly. The only downside is it takes a moment to load each map, and some of the battle animations are slow. However, this is not a problem whatsoever. The tilemaps use 5x3 tiles, with a combination of ASCII and text sprites, and because of the small tile size, and entire town can be rendered and be explored without changing maps. The sprite speed is not an issue, and it does not get in the way of gameplay. In several places, I use the delay to my advantage, rather than using rand(XX.
Guys, I'm really excited about this game, and as soon as I can transfer it to an emulator, you will get screenshots galore. It is a beautiful games, and I can barely tell that it uses ASCII tiles and has some sprite limitations.
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No big deal about some minor slowness in Pure BASIC, it's to be expected. I'm really excited to see what you've come up with as well! ^_^
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That at the least sounds promising. Makes me curious about all the tricks you used to get it so small and fast.
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Wow nice to hear you are working on a RPG. I can't wait to see screenshots, hoping you don't get a RAM clear (or are forced by you-know-who to mem clear x.x). Sometimes with TI-BASIC, if coded well, we can create amazing looking stuff that doesn't really run that slow.
I wonder what will be the story about?
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Sounds awesome! Can't wait to see what it looks like!
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That at the least sounds promising. Makes me curious about all the tricks you used to get it so small and fast.
Erm, did I say anything about "small?" I've already run out of RAM twice and had to re-organize things. I'm pretty much forced to release it in episodes, because a full game will *not* fit in RAM.
As for the story, I'm keeping it secret, but I will post the opening lines:
Welcome... to Edge.
This world, Edge, is a fantastic place.
Its namesake - the Edge - is where this flat planet ends. It is the literal "end of the world."
However, something like this cannot possibly exist. The universe simply won't allow it.
Luckily, Edge has found a simple and effective solution:
Magic.
I could go into great detail, but you will learn in time.
My point is that you are needed. I have some... associates that have requested you by name. I've taken the liberty of erasing most of your memory, for the time being. I have also woven your new story into the recent history of Edge.
Speaking of names, have you thought of a new one?
[Prompt for name]
...[name]...
An...ironic choice.
Hmm... You are a pawn, [name]. You and me both.
Until next time. We'll be in touch. Until then, get used to Edge. It's a nice place. Heh heh...
Anyway, I worked a bit on the engine today, pretty much finished the battle system, and I put NPCs and signposts into the map engine.
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That at the least sounds promising. Makes me curious about all the tricks you used to get it so small and fast.
Erm, did I say anything about "small?" I've already run out of RAM twice and had to re-organize things. I'm pretty much forced to release it in episodes, because a full game will *not* fit in RAM.
As for the story, I'm keeping it secret, but I will post the opening lines:
Welcome... to Edge.
This world, Edge, is a fantastic place.
Its namesake - the Edge - is where this flat planet ends. It is the literal "end of the world."
However, something like this cannot possibly exist. The universe simply won't allow it.
Luckily, Edge has found a simple and effective solution:
Magic.
I could go into great detail, but you will learn in time.
My point is that you are needed. I have some... associates that have requested you by name. I've taken the liberty of erasing most of your memory, for the time being. I have also woven your new story into the recent history of Edge.
Speaking of names, have you thought of a new one?
[Prompt for name]
...[name]...
An...ironic choice.
Hmm... You are a pawn, [name]. You and me both.
Until next time. We'll be in touch. Until then, get used to Edge. It's a nice place. Heh heh...
Anyway, I worked a bit on the engine today, pretty much finished the battle system, and I put NPCs and signposts into the map engine.
Would using something like BasicBuilder be useful in putting all the episodes into one app? Then like have a menu at the beginning choose which episode to do. I don't know. It seems better in my head of how to do this haha.
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I am ready... to be taken to the Edge. :D
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The problem with basicbuilder is that it can only generate one-page apps. If his programs can't fit in 24KB of RAM, there is no way they can fit in the 16KB of a one-page app.
SirCmpwn, sounds cool! Can't wait to hear more about it!
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Oh ok, thought you could make multipage apps. Nevermind then.
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Basicuilder also slows down games with more than a few subprograms. I never really liked it myself, but it can be usefull if you are super intent on Memory and Aesthetics
I cant wait to see some screenshots of this!
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Ah ok, well there goes my idea lol. Someone should build a new BASIC program to app program that does multiple pages and doesn't slow stuff down. That could be useful.
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The slowdown is extremely difficult to fix. I could see multipage, though.
The way BasicBuilder does it, IIRC, is that it has a parser hook to intercept things like "prgmYOURSUB" or "Asm(prgmASMSUB"
When it sees that, it copies the corresponding program from the app to a temp program in RAM, and executes that temp program.
So it's probably the copying and the hook that slow it down, I guess.
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The story seems interesting. Also BasicBuilder is limited when it comes to RPGs due to the 1 page issue. There are also other limitations, if I remember. People bugged me to convert all my games to BasicBuilder before, and I did not because it was impossible. I challenged those who tried to prove me wrong to do it themselves, but they never did attempt to convert the games themselves.
Another limitation are pics that needs to be renamed, but for you it may not be a problem since you use text sprites.
Btw once you can download ASM programs again, do you think you will add XCOPY to the game, or are you planning to keep it 100% pure-BASIC?
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I wanna make some comments on the story so far. Specifically, this:
Hmm... You are a pawn, [name]. You and me both.
Until next time. We'll be in touch. Until then, get used to Edge. It's a nice place. Heh heh...
I see where you're going... but it just doesn't make much sense. You start with explain that "we're all pawns in something bigger" then then just suddenly cut off with a farewell. Seems like you'd either have to explain it more or take out the whole pawn part for now to be introduced when it can be explained. As it stands, it just looks so condensed.
Also, "Until next time. We'll be in touch. Until then..." seems repetitive. You could take out "Until next time" easily and it'll actually sound better. In fact, doing that may make the 'pawn' part not sound as bad cut off like it is.
To continue with the repetitiveness, we have "...get used to Edge. It's a nice place." when we started off with "This world, Edge, is a fantastic place." Just seems like we heard it before, and we have. The entire 'farewell' could be changed to fit much better but how to change it would depend on the direction the story is going.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Really, I'm just wanting screenshots but thought I could help out a bit here since it just sounded so off to me but seemed like something that could be really great.
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Screenshots tomorrow, friends! I just got back from Hawaii about an hour ago.
Additionally, three days ago, I lost everything I had worked on for Edge. I have since recovered around 3/4 of it.
Also, as for the intro, the farewell is going through some serious changes. There is some things I wanted to convey that are hard with text.
As for XCOPY, I will probably be forced to use it :(
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Ouch, what happened? Did your batteries die or something? This happened to Meishe91 yesterday. The low batt msg showed up for like 5 seconds x.x
I'm glad you are back, I hope they let you get on a bit at least (and that your projects will remain intact). I'm glad this is still progressing, though. As for XCOPY, it might be a good idea if you want automatic chapter switching or to fit the game in one chapter while still being big. It will still show what BASIC can do in terms of RPG and the like with minimal ASM libs. Can't wait for screenshots
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I'm still not sure what happened, but the whole thing was deleted. I had a backup and everything.
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Glad you're back and can't wait to see these screenshots! I'm sorry to hear about the memory wipe though, that sucks but glad you had a back up and have almost all you had back.
By the way, what does XCOPY do exactly?
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XCOPY allows you to copy archived programs into RAM. Illusiat 13 defunct RPG project uses it, since the game won't fit in RAM.
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Ah ok, gotcha. Is that what tifreak is using with PP?
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Welcome back, SirCmpwn. Too bad for the data loss... :(
On the other hand, can't wait for screenshots! Keep up the good work! :)
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Too bad Sir, but at least you've recovered most of it. This sounds like a cool game! I can't wait to see what it looks like. :) Good luck Sir! ;D
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Screenshots!
The first one is of the main game engine, the walking and talking and such. It shows off the tilemapper and the dialogs.
The second one is the battle engine. It has enemy sprites and names, as well as an HP gauge, and the player has an HP, and MP gauge with numerical representations as well. The menu you see there is dynamically generated at runtime and can have either enabled or disabled items (notice the change in cursor), and can show mana costs for each item as well.
Nothing you see here uses pictures, excepting the tilemapper, which stores the result of its efforts in Pic1 so that it can be redrawn quickly after battles and dialogs.
The version before all this was deleted included 20 spells, animations for each of them, and a more extensive enemy roster. I will be adding all of this again in the near future.
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Very nice, sir!
I expect great things from you. :)
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Thanks!
In other news, I got my calculator restored and I am now working on my new Axe entry, since Advance Wars was destroyed and I don't have time to finish it before the competition. Let's just say that my new entry will really show off what Axe is capable of :).
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Hints on what it is? :P
that said, the screenies are awesome!
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A hint is that it will be in the form of an application.
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That means that it is massive.
Mother 3 needs work.
I may be out of this contest.
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Looks cool Sir! The speed is definitely awful, like you said, but the quality is very good.
Keep up the good work! :)
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It looks very sweet SirCmpwn! Can't wait to see more.
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How did i miss this before? Oh Well
That looks totally cool :) It really does look almost asm like, although the speed isn't, it doesn't matter because it creates pretty sweet looking maps :) Good job! And good job on the battle engine as well :]
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The data loss sucks, but I'm glad that you were able to redo it (very quickly too I might add). This looks really impressive! Great job so far! I can't wait to see your entry for the contest either. :)
*edit for spelling
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Looking good! It's also great to see you back!
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The tilemaps take a while, but are big enough to explore without having to load another, and the battle engine is quite fast.
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Ah ok, gotcha. Is that what tifreak is using with PP?
Nope, he uses Celtic II, I think. He used to use Resource. XCOPY is a spinoff of Resource, but it was made much smaller.
Screenshots!
The first one is of the main game engine, the walking and talking and such. It shows off the tilemapper and the dialogs.
The second one is the battle engine. It has enemy sprites and names, as well as an HP gauge, and the player has an HP, and MP gauge with numerical representations as well. The menu you see there is dynamically generated at runtime and can have either enabled or disabled items (notice the change in cursor), and can show mana costs for each item as well.
Nothing you see here uses pictures, excepting the tilemapper, which stores the result of its efforts in Pic1 so that it can be redrawn quickly after battles and dialogs.
The version before all this was deleted included 20 spells, animations for each of them, and a more extensive enemy roster. I will be adding all of this again in the near future.
Wow nice usage of text sprites. Good job so far :) While map loading is slow (can be partially solved by saving the last two or three map visited inside pics, if you got the space, and recalling the appropriate pics when visiting the maps again. It could keep the last 3 maps in memory. ROL3 only kept one in memory, when entering menus/battles) walking seems pretty fast considering you are using some form of graphical sprites.
a more extensive enemy roster
At first I misread roster as lobster :P
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Ah ok, gotcha. Is that what tifreak is using with PP?
Nope, he uses Celtic II, I think. He used to use Resource. XCOPY is a spinoff of Resource, but it was made much smaller.
Screenshots!
The first one is of the main game engine, the walking and talking and such. It shows off the tilemapper and the dialogs.
The second one is the battle engine. It has enemy sprites and names, as well as an HP gauge, and the player has an HP, and MP gauge with numerical representations as well. The menu you see there is dynamically generated at runtime and can have either enabled or disabled items (notice the change in cursor), and can show mana costs for each item as well.
Nothing you see here uses pictures, excepting the tilemapper, which stores the result of its efforts in Pic1 so that it can be redrawn quickly after battles and dialogs.
The version before all this was deleted included 20 spells, animations for each of them, and a more extensive enemy roster. I will be adding all of this again in the near future.
Wow nice usage of text sprites. Good job so far :) While map loading is slow (can be partially solved by saving the last two or three map visited inside pics, if you got the space, and recalling the appropriate pics when visiting the maps again. It could keep the last 3 maps in memory. ROL3 only kept one in memory, when entering menus/battles) walking seems pretty fast considering you are using some form of graphical sprites.
a more extensive enemy roster
At first I misread roster as lobster :P
Ah ok, thanks.