CafÃ©man's Blog - The Adventure II timeline

RSS Bot · October 24, 2017

2001-2002 -- Alan and I begin the game and design 75% of what it will be like. Raccoon joins as the artist.
2002-2005 -- Raccoon Lad & I discuss 5200 limits, we design and create screens, and program the game.
2005-2006 -- mostly just me finishing and debugging the program and trying to accomplish my own vision within dwindling memory space.
Jan - March 2007 -- Since I have to wait for the game to be manufactured, I do add a few things like the Dragon Trap, then test some more.
May 2007 -- 5200 version of Adventure II is published by AtariAge!

...

Sept and Oct 2010 - PGT (Tep392) ports code to 8bit format, including both XEGS and Atarimax Bank-switching formats, and other mods involving OS, keyboard code. Added Bryan's AA splash screen. I now have a lot more memory to work with overall, but need to shift things around some more.
2011 - overhaul of Random Item hiding logic, creature behavior, and overhauled hiding of the 3 Bat Eggs/Dots. Distribute code and data to different banks to leverage out available total memory. Use one bank for a character set to get prettier text on title screen.
2012 - address bugs with collision and troll sprite 'remnants'. Changes to map paths, create new EXITS on hedge screens so Hedge Maze is the hub between Ice and Dark kingdoms, not the Green Castle itself like in 5200 version.
Oct 2012 - first PRGE demo.
2013 - experiment with new sounds; add more wood plank bridge building; Added end-game statistics. Implement one-button control scheme which was suggested on the forums. More gameplay tweaks and bug fixes. Timing seems different running on A8? New box artwork is done by David but we do not reveal it. Release first demo in AA Homebrew forum, with resulting feedback. PJT fixes PORTB problem. My homebrewing desktop computer has a problem at end of year, lost some data and felt burned out. Quit for a while.
2014 - project on hiatus due to too much real-world stuff like home waterproofing and other home repair and other crap that happened this year.

2015 - I got a new Lenovo i7 laptop, so I restored and reorganized my AdvII folders and files, and started working on it again. Added content and tweaks, fixed new bugs that got introduced, continued to get frustrating trying to add new content into the original hard-coded engine!
2016 - project on hiatus. Just can't get to it. Can't really remember why! Too busy living life I guess. There is an up-to-date PRGE demo in October.

Jan and Feb 2017 - with a real "Git'R Dun" determination, completed engine optimizations. Fixed DLI screen color errors that had been plaguing me. Give Alt Icons special abilities. Add 14 new rankings and overhauled rankings determination logic. Opened up Sword collision so it will harm a dragon , even if you are not carrying it (I know that is how 2600 Adventure worked, but if you play 5200 AdvII, a dragon will glide THROUGH an uncarried sword unharmed. Not any more!)
Sept and Oct 2017 - fix rankings bugs. Revised Title screen - all options are selectable via joystick. continue to add content and work on years-old list of items. I finally purchase Atarimax USB programmer, to test on real hardware. Another PRGE demo showing new Title Screen and options like Dark Mode. New artwork is revealed in a banner at PRGE show.

Left to do at end of October 2017:

1. The final major thing on my list is the overhaul of the sound / music engine. All videos and demos up until now have still used the original 5200 sounds, which originally were hardcoded into small static tables, hamstrung by lack of available ROM. Now is the time to rework some of the sound engine and finalize the new sounds of the game.
2. Play testing, using Atarimax cart and Atari 800XL. I only recently bought the USB programmer and as I'm typing this, I have still not actually used it, although others have played the game on real hardware. With the 5200 version, I played and tested that game endlessly, looking for crashes or bad game-ruining bugs. I need to do that with the XE version now , too.
3. Poor Albert ... Manufacturing of carts, printing of manuals and boxes ... but at least he doesn't have to clean those stubborn 5200 carts with their super-glued labels! We hope to publish in early 2018!