Friday, July 16, 2010
Sound
I really need to start working on the sound effects for my game. I think this is going to be a whole new kettle of fish as far as issues go for using the same effects on pc/psp/gp2x etc but it should not be too bad. The first plan is to hopefully just use the SDL mixer and my own WAV mixing routines..
I have a nice USB microphone but it really picks up ANY noise in the house so.. going to take me a while to get some nice sounds recorded for spell affects and such.
Filed Under : Computers • Development • Fishguts •
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Monday, July 05, 2010
CRPG Addict
I thought this morning I’d give a plug to a blog that’s been in my rss reader for some time, CRPG Addict.
So far he has played through games listed on the wikipedia page for DOS in release order.
Right now he is on to playing Might and Magic 1 after a mixup in Bards Tale II.
I do particularly like the GIMLET post.
THE RULES
There must be rules. Otherwise we have chaos. These are my rules as I work my way through every PC CRPG ever published.
1. Wikipedia’s list is my Bible. The titles on this list are heavily biased towards CRPGs commercially released through established publishers. I understand there are some really good freeware, browser-based, and otherwise noncommercial RPGs out there, but honestly this project is taking enough time as it is. I’m also going to work through the list based on initial publication date, even if the version I’m playing is a re-release or newer port.
2. Only PC RPGs. To appear on my play list, the game has to have been released for DOS or the PC, if only as a port. I’m not going to frig around with C64 or Apple II emulators.
3. No hints, no cheats, no walkthroughs. We didn’t have these in the 1980s, and I don’t need them now. If I make mistakes, or it takes me a little longer, well that’s part of the fun of the game. I will only use the Internet to solve technical problems. I will allow myself one exception: if anyone reading this blog wants to post non-spoiler gameplay hints to problems I’ve posed, I’ll use them.
4. I don’t have to win every game, but I must at least make a sincere effort to play it. I’m writing this initial posting after already starting on my project. The second game I played (as you’ll soon read) was an early version of Rogue. It took me four months of playing to beat it. It became almost an obsession. Four months is an acceptable time to beat some games if the world is big enough (think Daggerfall), but the reason it took so long to beat Rogue is that the game is punishingly difficult. After even a few days of playing it, there was really nothing new left to discover. I won’t do this for every game. I will devote a minimum of six hours to each one, but if after that I’m having no fun or the play is repetitive, it’s on to the next game.
4. If the game is still available commercially, I will buy it. I believe in rewarding game developers and publishers for their hard work. But if it is not avaiable commercially, I will have no compunction downloading it from abandonware sites or otherwise obtaining it illegally.
Filed Under : Computers • Computer Gaming •
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Saturday, June 12, 2010
New C128 Goodies
I have some new goodies for my C128DCR! JiffyDOS Roms to replace my C64 and C128 Kernel ROM as well as a new SD/uIEC plugin, this is a disk drive replacement letting me use SD cards… very cool. No more drive head banging.
C128DCR Kernel Rom
Replacment C128 and C64 Kernel ROM Images, all packed into 1 chip (the backside is a 1571D drive rom)
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SD/uIEC
SD Card Reader for C128DCR replacing venerable old floppy disk drive
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Thursday, June 10, 2010
EECore 1.6.9 bug test
pre square bracket block :: :) :roll: :lol: :) :angry:
pre angled bracket block ::
code square bracket block :: :) :roll: :lol: :) :angry:
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Monday, May 31, 2010
Smoothing rough edges
I’ve finally got around to smoothing some of the rough edges in the combat engine. We have a somewhat animated spell affects flying across the screen, and special cases which I am going through one by one.
* HOLD (done)
* SLEEP (testing)
* POISON (testing)
* CHARM (testing)
Still have another 4 or 5 flags to code and test (things like turning undead, etc).
Filed Under : Computers • Development • Fishguts •
Tags: Spells
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Refactoring
I’m in the middle of refactoring some of the combat code to allow me to target any space on the map not just NPC’s. This will allow you to drop gas clouds on terrain and use space between to funnel enemies down etc and play more advatange with the terrain.
Most of my code tho takes an NPC as a target, so I’ve got to tweak things a bit.
Filed Under : Computers • Development • Fishguts •
Tags: Combat
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