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WIP - Imp


jacobus

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I have new game in the works – this time a Diablo clone! OK, calling it a ‘clone’ is a bit of a stretch… I am writing a game that a very distant cousin to Diablo, smaller, plainer and simpler. To acknowledge its obvious lack of stature, my working name for the project is “Imp”.

 

I actually started Imp way back in 2014, dropped it in favour of Dungeon Hunt and recently picked it up again. In hindsight I’m glad I waited - from a technical point of view this game is a lot more challenging than DM and I’ve managed to learn quite a bit more about the language (QUICK) in the intervening year or so.

 

Imp features a large scrolling playfield – 128 x 48, multiple levels, melee and ranged weapons, multiple NPCs and an interactive equipping/outfitting section.

 

Memory optimization is key with the Quick environment, and my executable code is currently around 12K with most of the main features roughed in. I’ll have the luxury of using the remaining memory for polish and extras. (Quick limits the program to 20K of main code)

 

The plan is to have about 10 levels, each populated with scenery, objects, NPCs etc. Using the magic of LPE compression I should be able to fit them along with the game and all supporting data onto a 90K floppy. And of course, all of this will run on a stock 800 with 48K.

 

Control is via either a mouse or joystick with a few commands accessed via the keyboard – the mouse is the preferred method.

 

Please note: The colours and many of the graphics are still very preliminary!

 

https://youtu.be/90OmMoxDnT8 https://youtu.be/f7WzJFm9HcA

 

 

Fog of War

This was an interesting feature to implement, I played around with several different techniques but came back to the simplest one – I have two copies of the map. The first one called the Player Side is on the left and initially entirely filled with a single character (fog). The second, called the System Side contains all of the map, NPC and POI details. As the player moves their character over the Player side, I draw a (before rounding) a 12 by 7 character ‘window’ of playfield graphics from the System side to the Player side at the current player position. The player is prohibited from ever visiting the system side and the illusion that the fog is rolled back to reveal the playfield is maintained.

 

Playfield Graphics

The perspective graphics are a pain to design but have great impact. Just to keep things interesting I’ve allowed for an entirely new character set to be defined and used for each level. This will allow the terrain and NPCs to keep evolving as the game progresses. Of course it also makes for a lot more design work for the level developer(s)!

 

Dashboard

No RPG game is complete until you can get killed while fooling around with weapon selections. The Imp dashboard will allow the player to select their defensive capabilities on one hand (shields etc) and their offensive weapons with the other. The exception here is the ranged weapon which forces the player to put down their shield to use. Both armour/shields and weapons are leveled and will accumulate damage as they are used. The playfield can contain specialized areas (store/smithy) where items can be bought/sold/repaired/upgraded.

 

NPCs

Aside from the active opponents in the game, you will also be able to interact with doors (locked with a set of keys), break barrels and ransack chests for treasure (redeemable at the local store).

 

Weapons

Currently the player has both melee and ranged weapons available, I’m debating about including a magical element…

 

 

I plan to release this game to the community when complete (although a very small cartridge run is a possibility). In order to get to that point however, I have a lot of work – levels to design, sounds/music to create and lots of play testing to accomplish. If anyone is interested in helping with any of these tasks, please feel free to contact me.

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Looks great, the graphics as-is are better than a lot of games I paid good money for.

 

Only criticism: the character following the pointer. I wonder if the game would feel less abstract and more interactive by having the player control the character, not the pointer.

 

Other than that, and even with that, love it.

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Looks impressive. Atari is sadly lacking for roleplaying and dungeon-crawlers - fair enough we have the AR and Asphai games but not much beyond those.

 

Hmmm,

atarimania lists more than 100 RPG for the A8 (some as 2D, some as 3D and some as text) - have not counted how many of them are dungeon crawlers... (and their list is not complete):

http://www.atarimania.com/pgelstsoft.awp?system=8&type=G&genre=4&step=25

http://www.atarimania.com/pgelstsoft.awp?system=8&type=G&genre=5&step=25

http://www.atarimania.com/pgelstsoft.awp?system=8&type=G&genre=6&step=25

 

Here are some german RPG dungeon crawlers:

- Lankhmar: http://a8.fandal.cz/detail.php?files_id=5931

- Labyrinth of Death: http://a8.fandal.cz/detail.php?files_id=4142

- Castle Blackthorne (playable demo): http://a8.fandal.cz/detail.php?files_id=5566

 

 

Anyways, I like the preview of IMP !! This looks like another great "Jacobus" game...

Edited by CharlieChaplin
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  • 2 weeks later...

Now that reminds me something.... ;) maybe after Arsantica 3 I resurrect Beyond Evil :)

That would be awesome!

 

@Jacobus, great stuff looks good in its current form already...

 

Not my sort of game BUT its great to see people still having the impetus to produce games for the old machine, thank you...

 

I'll still give it a play, I may be converted even now :)

Thanks very much! Still a long way to go!

 

Looks great, the graphics as-is are better than a lot of games I paid good money for.

 

Only criticism: the character following the pointer. I wonder if the game would feel less abstract and more interactive by having the player control the character, not the pointer.

 

Other than that, and even with that, love it.

I've had a couple of people mention this, so I'll give it some thought. One argument for it, is that the dashboard requires a mouse to navigate efficiently - and since you are already using the mouse there, using the mouse for the game seemed logical.

 

Anyways, I like the preview of IMP !! This looks like another great "Jacobus" game...

Thank you! :grin:

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Update!

 

I’ve attached a playable demo of Imp! It works, but there are lots of things still left to do (including all sound), however, there should be enough here for you to get a feel for it. The first level is fairly complete; you’ll need to navigate the playfield, unlock doors, collect stuff, fight off a bunch of monsters and locate the exit. Good news, the monsters are all pathetically weak and you can’t get killed! (how great is that?!)

 

If you find the exit, you should start again in level 2 (which looks almost identical to level 1). I’ve included three levels in the game, they are all more or less the same, but the game will likely crash after level 3.

 

I have not tested using real hardware, but I don’t anticipate any compatibility issues.

 

Control via Mouse 2 or Joystick 1 – the spacebar switches between current weapons and the bow.

 

One last thing – I find few things more irritating than seeing large numbers of people downloading one of my programs, and very few people commenting on it. So please, if you’re going to take the time to download, please post a comment! I do this just for the attention, and if I don’t get enough, chances are the game won’t get finished! :-)

 

 

Imp.atr

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I'll have the decency to pass you some comments on the game.

 

I am pretty amazed that you managed to squeeze quite so much out of "Quick!". What you're working on is a far bigger project than I thought that Quick! could handle. Top credit to you there.

 

I've never been too much of a fan of games of this type, so I won't pass comment on it like that because it is unfair. It's like someone producing some wonderful classical music, but if I don't like classical music....

 

I've noticed the odd pixel of the "cloud" being left behind, so that'll need examining. I've also seen the pointer (when it is far away from the player) slow down to an absolute crawl and it takes a long time to get back near to the player. I am playing with joystick (through Altirra emulation). Could you implement something so that if the joystick has been pressing for a long time in one direction that it speeds up a little?

 

I enjoy the "large world" feel to the game, that is pretty impressive. How are you implementing the graphics, are you using tiles at all? I see that you're using compression which is wise for something like this. Are you able to dynamically load levels in from disk as you need them?

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Very impressive!

 

From the visual point of view there could be some improvement to graphics, but it all depends on a graphics talent you could "hire" for the job. Definitely the panels would help an immersion with less default fonts and colours.

 

Anyway, keep it up!!!!!

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Actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would as these types of games are not my thing which says a lot.

 

Yes, graphic trash from the fog of war needs sorting, a pointer that rotates to show the way you will be going would be nice rather that it just be in one direction. Maybe highlighting the options you can change before you click on them just to show they are options that can be changed rather than just stats. Lastly and I know its a very early version but just in case, I found myself stuck in the lower left corner of the play area with an enemy standing next / above me, I could not move in any direction and it took me ages to realise I had zero health as nothing flashed up to say I was dead :)

 

The last bit is NOT a criticism as I know you just released this to show the current mechanics, just saying about it so if any more beta's come out they will show you are dead rather than trapped :)

 

Overall I really enjoyed it and hope you carry on with it, its like Zombies (can't remember the release name of the game) but with a lot more to it...

 

Excellent..

 

Paul.

Edited by Mclaneinc
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Looking good, I can see with some changes/ a little polish this is going to be fun and interesting game. I think a magical attack like a fire circle around the player would be cool.... to be used in later tougher level when surrounded by enemies.... shouldn't be too taxing and could be a refreshing return to simple effective magic in a game..

Edited by _The Doctor__
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Trying latest ver on 130XE - with the mouse the cursor is leaving vertical trails but is nice and responsive. In contrast the joystick works ok but is slow.

 

He seems to get stuck on the left side.

Would be good it it indicated what you have collected

 

Hope you can add some basic sounds soon ;)

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  • 3 years later...

Hmmm, @jacobus

 

your signature reads "Completed: ... (several games), Imp, ..."

 

When did you complete Imp and errm, did you upload a newer version here at AA ? The latest copy I could find was from March 7, 2016 and this was just the playable demo. Or was the full version only available on disk / cart. from you ?!?

 

And what happened to "Cranston's Farm" ?!? Was it released anywhere for download ?!?

 

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5 hours ago, CharlieChaplin said:

Hmmm, @jacobus

 

your signature reads "Completed: ... (several games), Imp, ..."

 

When did you complete Imp and errm, did you upload a newer version here at AA ? The latest copy I could find was from March 7, 2016 and this was just the playable demo. Or was the full version only available on disk / cart. from you ?!?

 

And what happened to "Cranston's Farm" ?!? Was it released anywhere for download ?!?

 

Hi Andreas

 

I think I got a little carried away when I added those two to the "completed" section.  Imp is done in that the program is done, but I am still (yes - after several years) still working on the levels.  I have a few weeks over the holidays - I'll try to give it some attention!  Cranston's Farm is another matter - I thought it was all good and then I showed a copy to StefanD.  He pointed out a few dozen major issues and shook his head sadly.  I'm not sure if I should scrap this one entirely or gut it and start over.  Another complicating factor is after watching my youngest play the latest Zelda game (on the switch),  I am inspired to try to create a very very large open world type game.  I think I can do this with a 1mb cartridge and a version of the Imp engine.  Will be very interesting to try!

 

Anyways, thanks for the nudge - I will revisit it soon!

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