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Wyvern Tales


Ninjabba

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Wookie had a dream about creating a streaming content game like the old CD-based Playstation games. The idea would be to read in new graphics when the player walks all the time. So who is up for implementing World of Warcraft for the Lynx?

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Wookie had a dream about creating a streaming content game like the old CD-based Playstation games. The idea would be to read in new graphics when the player walks all the time. So who is up for implementing World of Warcraft for the Lynx?

Karri, with what you know about the Lynx, do you think it's possible? I guess you'd have to load data in an interrupt, and then you'd have to deal with the block/offset issue. For an 8-way scrolling game that is going to be pretty ugly... there's probably no good way to organize the data for faster loading.

 

I haven't actually looked at the SDcard API, so maybe it would be possible, and practical... I guess someone will have to do it to prove it can be done. :)

 

One thing that probably would be possible and quite interesting, is to release a game that could load levels from SD card, so that users can create their own levels and just put them on SDcard along with the ROM of the original game. Or an RPG with additional maps/quests, etc...

Edited by Shawn Jefferson
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Ahhhh yes......Miner 2049er or even better, Bounty Bob Stikes back.....or.....Mr.Robot and his robot factory !

 

Man I'd "kill" for a A8/5200 emulator on the Lynx.....hey, same processor at much higher speed, should be "easy" (LOL).

Well emulating A8's player/missiles (= sprites) should be a breeze for the Lynx but displaying all the text and graphics modes would be a serious challenge. I think the sound hardware should be able to mimic Pokey pretty nicely, at least it's also four channel....

 

Ah, but I'm dreaming away.....we should probably return on topic, sorry !!!

Edited by Level42
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It acts much like a tape drive (the original design I believe), and you actually have to "seek" to the location in the block that you want to load into memory, by reading the values from cartridge and discarding them. It's one of the (beloved/hated?) limitations of the Lynx.

 

This feature definitely added a few extra years to my development cycle. Learned a lot from it, but not sure if I like it. A large portion of the difficulties that I faced were also due to my own inexperience, but I had to constantly refactor the code to make everything fit in memory

 

 

Haha, that would be cool, Wyvern Tales II - World of Warcraft!

 

 

That's something to look forward to :lolblue:

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Karri, with what you know about the Lynx, do you think it's possible? I guess you'd have to load data in an interrupt, and then you'd have to deal with the block/offset issue. For an 8-way scrolling game that is going to be pretty ugly... there's probably no good way to organize the data for faster loading.

 

The gametime needs to be separated from the drawing loop. 8-way scrolling is not what I had in mind. I would like to think about it more like having local interaction with objects next to you. The 8-way scrolling world would be just a skin in the distance. Eye candy like in WoW. With a little clever programming you would change the background tiles when you get further in the game like in pseudo 3D driving games. One background would be 320 x 204 pixels allowing you to turn 360 degrees in x or y direction. The image could be split into 40x51 pixel segments. You need only enough segments in RAM to fill the view and when you move you load in more segments from the cart. If you add an action/status bar then 15 segments (3 x 5 x 40 x 51 pixels) is enough leaving plenty of memory for text, sound and objects. Hmm. perhaps I should team up with Ninjabba for Wyvern Tales II - Mists of Terra.

Edited by karri
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  • 4 weeks later...

When working on my new demo game and learning to load in stuff from cart I've noticed that 512kb is not THAT little for graphics, but the whole thing is still an interresting concept. I think Karri already did some streaming tests (post somewhere in the programming forum). Maybe not from SD, I don't know.

 

I remember someone commenting earlier in another thread about when would this kind of thing stop being a "real" Lynx game anymore too. Personally I think that much of the best entertainment / games / music / art has emerged because of all kinds of restrictions, but this idea is totally restricted enough, I mean that RAM is still pretty tiny :grin:

Edited by Turbo Laser Lynx
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Well, seeing games like Space Harrier and GTIABlast on the A8 platform which use WAY more storage/memory then we could have had BITD I say: why not ? It is still the same essential hardware doing the job....same processor, same graphics hardware, same sound hardware.....only more data....I don't see the problem.

Edited by Level42
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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Happy new year as well!

 

I've been silent on this topic indeed, but can promise you that things are moving in the background! The game is actually done and there's some final testing happening. I've been busy setting up the necessary contacts for production, and you can expect a quality package once I have the last pieces in place.

 

Sorry, I can't provide a demo.. it would mean extra development that could potentially introduce issues (it's a very delicate codebase after many years) or spoil a lot more than it should.

 

Rest assured, it will be released, and I'm dedicated to make sure everybody interested will get a copy.

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I've been silent on this topic indeed, but can promise you that things are moving in the background!

 

Trolls, slimy creatures and wyverns. They creep in the background and attack when you least expect it.

 

Nice to hear that the code is finished. I can hardly wait to see what you have added. New spells? Secondary quest line to extend all the way to Terra? Some more gaming time in the tower?

 

Save one copy from the first product run for me :)

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Happy new year as well!

 

I've been silent on this topic indeed, but can promise you that things are moving in the background! The game is actually done and there's some final testing happening. I've been busy setting up the necessary contacts for production, and you can expect a quality package once I have the last pieces in place.

 

Sorry, I can't provide a demo.. it would mean extra development that could potentially introduce issues (it's a very delicate codebase after many years) or spoil a lot more than it should.

 

Rest assured, it will be released, and I'm dedicated to make sure everybody interested will get a copy.

 

Thank you so much for the update, I appreciate the response. :thumbsup:

Since you're unable to provide a demo, I'll let that slide if you sign my copy of the game, Lol. ;)

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Happy new year as well!

 

I've been silent on this topic indeed, but can promise you that things are moving in the background! The game is actually done and there's some final testing happening. I've been busy setting up the necessary contacts for production, and you can expect a quality package once I have the last pieces in place.

 

Sorry, I can't provide a demo.. it would mean extra development that could potentially introduce issues (it's a very delicate codebase after many years) or spoil a lot more than it should.

 

Rest assured, it will be released, and I'm dedicated to make sure everybody interested will get a copy.

Put me down for a cart.

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