Evil Magician Returns (Adventure-type game)

[Byte Knight]

When you have the chalice and then die, do you lose the game? I had that happen and I couldn't find it again.

 

No, the chalice is supposed to go back to the room where you got it from... Apparently you can't access data arrays from a different bank. It's all fixed now. Here it is and I also updated the file from a few posts back.

emr3.bin

[accousticguitar]

Thanks, I'll try it again.

[gambler172]

Hi Byte Knight

 

Just checked the last version.A really good game,but the wizard,who guards the chalice is much too hard.I could not beat him,although i played a long time.He is much too fast and i have no chance to hit him,cause he shoots faster than me.It would be also great,if you can shoot in all directions.

greetings Walter

[Byte Knight]

Hi Byte Knight

 

Just checked the last version.A really good game,but the wizard,who guards the chalice is much too hard.I could not beat him,although i played a long time.He is much too fast and i have no chance to hit him,cause he shoots faster than me.It would be also great,if you can shoot in all directions.

greetings Walter

 

Hi Walter,

I'm glad the game is challenging for you! Try to shoot him while moving diagonal (towards the wizard and down). Also, if he's to close to an entrance, go in another way briefly to "lure" him away. He'll stay in the same position that you left him until you enter the room again. Adventure was always more of a horizontal game so that's why you and the wizard can only fire sideways.

Edited February 23, 2009 by Byte Knight

[gambler172]

Hi Byte Knight

Thanks for the tips.I made it now.....

Great game.

greetings Walter

[Legend]

Great game. Nice twist on adventure.

 

Although, I agree with others about being able to shoot vertically as well. The player and the wizards should. I really don't get what you mean by adventure always being more of a horizontal game. There are plenty of places in the game where the player must take a path up or down. The player could also hold the sword (or any other object) from above or below. You could even hold the sword by the players corner. I would often hold it above when entering a room from the bottom of the screen. Plus the enemies always came at you from any direction, including above or below.

 

new enemy type would be nice if possible.

 

-Legend

[Byte Knight]

Great game. Nice twist on adventure.

 

Although, I agree with others about being able to shoot vertically as well. The player and the wizards should. I really don't get what you mean by adventure always being more of a horizontal game. There are plenty of places in the game where the player must take a path up or down. The player could also hold the sword (or any other object) from above or below. You could even hold the sword by the players corner. I would often hold it above when entering a room from the bottom of the screen. Plus the enemies always came at you from any direction, including above or below.

 

new enemy type would be nice if possible.

 

-Legend

 

Hey Legend,

 

I totally understand what you're saying. However, the sword never actually points north or south. Also, I think it would be too easy to kill the white wizard if you could shoot in any direction. It seems I'm in the minority though on this horizontal stuff...

[yuppicide]

Thanks for the screen shot. The game looks great! I feel like I'm playing Adventure for the first time all over again, not knowing the maze yet.

[Legend]

the sword never actually points north or south.

I kinda thought that was what you meant by being a horizontal game. BY the same logic, you should only e able to shoot to the right. lol. (I'm just playing around. )

 

Also, I think it would be too easy to kill the white wizard if you could shoot in any direction.

 

THat's a good point. Maybe the white wizard could have some sort of shield that makes it harder for the player to shoot him from above or below. Or maybe just plain impossible. (Like magic boots and hat)

 

I'm not a programmer, so I have no idea just how hard that may be to do. Just a suggestion though to even out the idea of firing in all directions.

 

p.s. A couple simple power-ups might be cool to give it another little twist.

Edited February 25, 2009 by Legend

[Byte Knight]

Hi guys,

 

Here's an update of my game. Because of my inefficient programming, it's now 16k... Here's what's new:

 

• The game now has sounds! I'm particularly proud of the item pick-up sound - very close to Adventure...

• Wizard death animation instead of just disappearing.

• You now have 4 lives to finish a level.

• Added "boss battle" once you have golden chalice and have killed red wizard.

• I changed the levels :

Level 1: Simple - like level one of Adventure. Good for figuring out mazes. Red wizard can't shoot fireballs. One apprentice (white wizard).

Level 2: Red wizard can shoot fireballs, fixed items. One apprentice. Boss battle.

Level 3: Hard - random items from 14 levels, multiple apprentices, boss battle.

Yet to do:

 

• Put title screen back into program.

• Add Easter Egg

• Music for title screen and ending?

 

Check it out!

 

emr5.bin

[accousticguitar]

Nice! The sounds really add to the game.

[Byte Knight]

Nice! The sounds really add to the game.

 

Thanks, I agree. I played around with Tone Toy 2008 to get the sounds. It's amazing how many familiar Atari game sounds you can get out of it!

[gambler172]

Hi Byte Knight

Very nice game.One of the best in Batari Basic.

greetings Walter

[gambler172]

Hi Byte Knight

I played the actual version for a longer time.Game 1 is easy to beat.But Level 2 and 3 are nearly impossible,if you do not find your weapon quickly.There is no chance to escape the wizards,without a weapon.And 4 lives are finished very soon.

greetings Walter

[Byte Knight]

Hi Byte Knight

I played the actual version for a longer time.Game 1 is easy to beat.But Level 2 and 3 are nearly impossible,if you do not find your weapon quickly.There is no chance to escape the wizards,without a weapon.And 4 lives are finished very soon.

greetings Walter

 

Walter,

 

Thanks for all of your feedback... How about this - Left difficulty switch A (pro) gives you 5 lives, left difficulty switch B gives you 10 lives.

 

Some strategy when you don't have the staff:

1. Hide in a room that has an item and don't pick it up right away. The white wizard won't follow you into that room.

2. Sacrifice one of your lives to grab an item knowing that you'll keep it.

3. Run like hell!

 

Here's the updated file:

emr6.bin

[jrok]

Great game. One thing I noticed is that since you are using the ball for the player, it seems like you always have at least two unused sprites on almost every screen. It just seems a little wasteful to not use these for enemies or other mechanics. I see a lot of screens with just one object on them (the ball), when you have five objects available. It would be nice to see you incorporate the other four more.

 

Anyway, I like it so far.

 

Cheers,

Jarod.

Edited March 7, 2009 by jrok

[Byte Knight]

Great game. One thing I noticed is that since you are using the ball for the player, it seems like you always have at least two unused sprites on almost every screen. It just seems a little wasteful to not use these for enemies or other mechanics. I see a lot of screens with just one object on them (the ball), when you have five objects available. It would be nice to see you incorporate the other four more.

 

Anyway, I like it so far.

 

Cheers,

Jarod.

 

Hey jrok,

 

I't's true - I haven't played around with multiple sprites much yet... The collision detection seemed complicated. This is my first game that basically started out as a set of 3 by 3 rooms and trying to get the enemy to follow the player from room to room. One of the problems that I've had is that you use up a lot of variables keeping track of room number along with x and y postions. I used data tables for the fixed items, but with two wizards, 2 missiles, and the player, those variables get used up fast. Also, I prefer games that when you kill something, it doesn't come to life again once you leave the room. I agree that the game is not all that graphically pleasing like your games (that shower game is incredible), but I think the gameplay itself is a lot of fun, especially level 3.

 

Thanks for checking out the game!

[Byte Knight]

Here is the game map if anyone's having difficulty figuring out the map. I printed it out originally to place items:

 

[jrok]

I agree that the game is not all that graphically pleasing like your games (that shower game is incredible), but I think the gameplay itself is a lot of fun, especially level 3.

 

Thanks for checking out the game!

 

I know what you mean about the difficulty of of trying to track offscreen objects and room positions. The first game I tried to program with bB was called "Armageddon Complex." I tried to do it as a sort of Commander Keene-style platform adventure, and my main goals were to track offscreen objects and draw playfields and enemy/item starting positions from arrays. Not only to it eat up a lot of variables, but it caused lots of timing problems as well. I eventually just shelved it, it was so maddening.

 

The gameplay is definitely a lot of fun. I wasn't talking about graphics at all. I just meant that it might be nice to see another mechanic at play just to throw a wrench into the mix. For instance, I play the game for time, and have a set route that I take every time. I basically just race down through the "serpentine" path on the left, grab the key, grab the skull, snipe the Red Wizard and go back the same way. Non-random Adventure was also about speed when you memorized the locations of everything, so I don't mind that at all. Meanwhile the bat was an interesting "X factor' that would change up gameplay every time you played. That's all I meant.

 

What if the score value ticked down from 999,999 during play, so high scores would be based on time. That wouldn't use up any variables at all. Or how about a magic spell that a wizard could cast in a room that could send you to a different part of the maze, or invert your controls or something?

 

Anyway, good luck! Like I said this is a very good game so far. I like it a lot!

 

Cheers,

Jarod.

Edited March 7, 2009 by jrok

[gambler172]

Here is the game map if anyone's having difficulty figuring out the map. I printed it out originally to place items:

 

Hi Byte Knight

Thanks,this makes it easier to play.

greetings Walter

[Byte Knight]

I agree that the game is not all that graphically pleasing like your games (that shower game is incredible), but I think the gameplay itself is a lot of fun, especially level 3.

 

Thanks for checking out the game!

 

I know what you mean about the difficulty of of trying to track offscreen objects and room positions. The first game I tried to program with bB was called "Armageddon Complex." I tried to do it as a sort of Commander Keene-style platform adventure, and my main goals were to track offscreen objects and draw playfields and enemy/item starting positions from arrays. Not only to it eat up a lot of variables, but it caused lots of timing problems as well. I eventually just shelved it, it was so maddening.

 

The gameplay is definitely a lot of fun. I wasn't talking about graphics at all. I just meant that it might be nice to see another mechanic at play just to throw a wrench into the mix. For instance, I play the game for time, and have a set route that I take every time. I basically just race down through the "serpentine" path on the left, grab the key, grab the skull, snipe the Red Wizard and go back the same way. Non-random Adventure was also about speed when you memorized the locations of everything, so I don't mind that at all. Meanwhile the bat was an interesting "X factor' that would change up gameplay every time you played. That's all I meant.

 

What if the score value ticked down from 999,999 during play, so high scores would be based on time. That wouldn't use up any variables at all. Or how about a magic spell that a wizard could cast in a room that could send you to a different part of the maze, or invert your controls or something?

 

Anyway, good luck! Like I said this is a very good game so far. I like it a lot!

 

Cheers,

Jarod.

 

Hey jrok,

 

Thanks for all of the ideas. I can't do the bat because I'm out of variables (except for a few bits). I can't do the score thing because I use that for inventory (I edited the score graphics). But the spell would be doable - maybe slowing down the player, speeding up the enemy, or turning the room dark. I'll think about it...

[MausGames]

Hey jrok,

 

Thanks for all of the ideas. I can't do the bat because I'm out of variables (except for a few bits). I can't do the score thing because I use that for inventory (I edited the score graphics). But the spell would be doable - maybe slowing down the player, speeding up the enemy, or turning the room dark. I'll think about it...

 

You actually do still have at least 5 variables free, and you can fairly easily use the score for an inventory AND to keep score.

[Byte Knight]

Hey jrok,

 

Thanks for all of the ideas. I can't do the bat because I'm out of variables (except for a few bits). I can't do the score thing because I use that for inventory (I edited the score graphics). But the spell would be doable - maybe slowing down the player, speeding up the enemy, or turning the room dark. I'll think about it...

 

You actually do still have at least 5 variables free, and you can fairly easily use the score for an inventory AND to keep score.

 

So how would I get 5 more variables?

 

The way I did the inventory was to blacken out the 0 (make the graphic all 0's), and change digits 1 - 5 to the items in the score graphics file. Then when you pick up the gray key it adds 500,000 pts to the score, golden key adds 10,000 points, etc... Is there a better way to do this?

[MausGames]

As far as variables, you have the last 4 playfield variables, they are unused in non-scrolling games, plus at least one of the AUX variables. There are probably another 3-5 that you could take advantage of besides those, but I'm not sure without examining your code. Things like missileheights, sprite x/y's, missile x/y's - on screens where those objects are not used. You can make a sprite blank and use it's x/y's as variables, you can change missile's x to be off screen and use it's missiley and missileheight as variables. There are a few others that I cant think of off the top of my head.

 

As for the score/inventory, look here:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...t&p=1524325

 

edit: by the way, to have both I think you need to use 3 variables to store the values of the score in when showing the inventory.

Edited March 8, 2009 by MausGames

[Frotz]

One problem I noticed is that if you hold down game-select, the game number continuously changes. It should be a one-shot.