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Cart #46871 | 2017-11-30 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
3

New version avaliable, not much going on in this one, basically a graphical rework and a code refactoring (again), also changelos on the 7th tab, also not mentionned in the changelogs the appearence of the Health and money, as I am unsure it'll be of use yet, same for the few "music tracks".

This version is called 0.41

For the ones unaware, this is a prototype for a text based adventure game, based of the phantasy star II adventure series for the sega channel on the megadrive (japan only when released, even though some fan translations exists but this isn't the place for that).

As usual the graphics and sounds can be reused, the game too, you know the deal, don't be a bad person, and I won't be mad.

enjoy, and don't look yet at the code to use it as an exemple, it is still clunky.. but better!

first version post (0.35):
I know I am not using the pico-8 enough, however, I'm still using it from time to time.

This time, I wanted to do a test to see if it would be possible for me to do the mechanics of a game similar to "Phantasy star II text adventure", which is a text based gamewith some graphic elements for important situations.

This "picoture" should not be seen as a game that is close to completion, as the code is clunky (first time I am doing this kind of game, all engines included), the graphics are ininspired for most of them (I am not a good pixel artist).
Now that it's said, let's talk a bit about the game, and more specifically, this version:

there are 6 commands:
go north
go south
go east
go west
use: let's you use the map when you cannot use an object, if an object can be used, it'll be used automatically
look: let's you look the current area, sometimes looking at somthing will let you pick objects (in the 0.35 beta: a key and a compass)

the goal of the 0.35 beta is to go to the forest, there aren't much interactions yet, but it does work.

Trivia:
-The 0.35 beta has been done in one week, from graphics to code, and believe me, I refactored the code more than once.
-The code is using mostly sprite detection rather than flags, this could surely be optimised a lot, as most situations of interactions are "well I use this object so change the sprite to this one that looks exactly the same but isn't the same ID" (I said it was clunky).
-the map is used to draw the.. map on screen, however it is also used to detect where you can go using the first sprite flag.
-in PS2 Text adventures, there were no maps at all ingame,and the gaphic changed only during special events, such as battles, I tried to change that a bit.
-There is currently no battle system in this game.
-the graphics being displayed in the center of the screen are upscaled two times their original size to reduce the number of sprite needed, hence the low quality.
the title screen is using 1/8th of the availiable sprite memory for the castle and logo, upscaling is also used in this case.
-there are not a lot of comments currently, I plan to change that when I'll have time.
-the A array tells the game which sentence appears at which screen, the B array tells which upscaled sprite should be drawn at which screen, they are manipulated by the look and use commands sometimes (usey() and looky() functions)
-there are unused (yet) art inside the cart, of course I consider you can use them freely for any uses as always.

I won't have much time to work on it before next year I think, I may do tiny little things but nothing major until then, however I'll read every comments you may have.

one advice I'll give: be careful of the compressed size if you are doing such a game, it can go high real quick!

have a good day.

PS: little hello to Kirizu, which motivated me to make something instead of nothing, Hi Kiri o/.

previous version:

0.35:


P#46678 2017-11-25 00:45 ( Edited 2017-11-30 17:01)

Very cool idea, especially love the little pictures.

The Compressed size is the biggest battle, for sure.
One idea might be to spread the game across multiple carts?
...and with the new feature in PICO-8 to load carts by ID, it could still work/play on the BBS.

Just a thought - all the best! :D

P#46681 2017-11-25 03:37 ( Edited 2017-11-25 08:37)

I did not even thought of that, I should look into it one day to see how to do it properly, perhaps it would be possible to load specific data from other cards so the main card only has the code while the others have the data for each "region" (which would not be really "cheating the limits" as older CD games would do this to spread data across CDs).

However that might go beyond the current scope of the picoture game, but who knows if I won't make another, better PS2 text adventure clone.

Thanks for the suggestion noneless.

EDIT 30 nov.

I did a slight update (0.41), mostly graphical improvement (as far as my eyes are concerned), so yep, not much going on but still something, code has been refactored too.

By the way, if you wondered, I have still not a clear idea where I am going with this as the limitations are the real bummer text wise (and I have chosen to keep it at one cartridge if possible), but I'm enjoying what I am doing.

P#46682 2017-11-25 04:36 ( Edited 2017-11-30 17:08)

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