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). there are 6 commands: 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:
2 comments
Concept:
This is my first real project on the Pico-8, it is a pretty simple game (kind of a 1 input game), based off rotation mechanics, it's pretty rudimentary yet I tried (and probably failed ^^'') to have a clean code, it has 31 one screen levels and uses the full tilemap space availiable on the cartridge, the code contains multiple functions, categorized under "level status", "drawing functions", "motion functions", "collision functions", and "game loop" (_init, _update and _draw). Even though the difficulty curve is kind of a fail I consider this game to be finished.
Commands:
Use (X) or (O) to change the rotation, and try to get to the end of the level (green square).
Rules:
-The arrows tiles will move the squid/ball if the ball is in contact with them (square collision check);
-If the lower part of the squid touches a green square, the level is won;
-If the lower part of the squid is over a pit, you lose, there are however unlimited lives.
Levels
The levels are drawn in the tilemap area, however the player and ball initial positions, as well as the rotation speed and the attraction speed of the arrows and the level title are defined in the initiatelevels function (level 0 is the informations of the titlescreen and does not count as a real level), there are 31 levels, I'll introduce the first seven ones (I may edit this post if someone wants me to do a description of the other levels):
1.go to the green area: this level is quite simple, even though the ball rotates quite fast, pretty straightforward.
2.purple tiles affect the ball: this level introduces the arrows tile, the attract value is high enough to show the power they can have.
3.the tentacles are what count: in this one, which is pretty easy, the title gives you the info that it is not the full sprite of Squiddy that interacts with the holes and the green area, but the tentacles/lower part.
4.keep focus: pretty easy level, nothing much to say.
5.spooky scary skull: the first "not so easy" level, it is also a reference to "scary spooky skeletons".
6.is it a s or a 5, who knows?: another easy level, that shows that you can be helped by the arrows too.
7.do not move: an automatic level, because why not ^^.
As you will see, there are some references to other games thrown in there, and sometimes just random things I thought of.
Why this game as a first game?
Because I liked this mechanic when I first did it but could never actually do it in a full game, I thought "why not do it in pico?"
Can I borrow the graphics, sound effects, mechanics, and other things?
Of course you can, even though the licence implies that you must not use this game for commercial purpose and that you need to credit me, I accept gladly that you can utilise it for those purposes without credits if you do enough changes for it to not be the same exact game (I should say don't just reskin it for exemple, but in the end just don't be a idiot and I will be fine).
Have fun playing/modifying the source ^-^.
Licensing precision:
Squiddy’s cartridge itself at the time of posting of pico-8 is under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
However, this was meant to be applied to the actual cartridge itself so nobody would simply wrap it up and sell it directly, the squiddy game concept (known as an unreleased work named under Rolly, made also by myself) ( http://rolly.netlify.com/ ) had no license attached to it, same goes for the squiddy character, I consider that anyone can use the squiddy character and game mechanics for their purpose as long as it’s not basically reselling the pico-8 cartridge itself, also the squiddy character belongs to me but may be used by others.
Sorry for the unclearness of the licensing, it is also tricky for me to understand those things clearly to be honest as I am not a lawyer, if you need more informations you can contact me, tbh if I wasn’t worried people would be able to take the cartridge itself, wrap it up and resell it one way or another, it would be as public domain as it could be.
