Jump to content
IGNORED

WIP Wizard's Dungeon


BydoEmpire

Recommended Posts

That's awesome @Blues_Bloody, I can't wait to see it on a real label! ;)

 

I took a stab at making the tentacle thinner and less of a "whipping" motion.  I updated it to more purplish color, but I'm not totally happy, the lighter shade is still more pink. This is how it looks on BupSystem for me.  Binary attached if anyone wants to see it in motion.

image.png.950a12ab669ff2e8bfe9e85fb52a89e0.png

wizd_210429.bas.a78

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The new tentacle animation looks great!

 

While there may be differences among displays for colors, BupSystem does tend to lean darker and some hues deviate more from the typical; especially compared to a CRT.

 

Here's how the tentacle's coloring appears under A7800:

 

552649940_7800WDTent.PNG.d977fded8c360df6718c7c11eed37b96.PNG

 

The spoiler contains a color chart for a typical "Warm" NTSC system, which provides a good middle-of-the-road temperature conditions.

 

 

 


555351498_7800PaletteWarm.thumb.PNG.f67d12539e5641514d9535a0f7840971.PNG
 

 

 

Currently, tentacle is utilizing $50, $54, $56:

image.thumb.png.a151b1c3617e714f6fb42458b1eda493.png

 

Try utilizing one hue range higher, $6x - at least for the lightest ($56 --> $66) value, if not all three:

image.thumb.png.03118027a4f99768b3418f9a7fa2b085.png

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Trebor said:

The new tentacle animation looks great!

 

While there may be differences among displays for colors, BupSystem does tend to lean darker and some hues deviate more from the typical; especially compared to a CRT.

 

Here's how the tentacle's coloring appears under A7800:

 

552649940_7800WDTent.PNG.d977fded8c360df6718c7c11eed37b96.PNG

 

The spoiler contains a color chart for a typical "Warm" NTSC system, which provides a good middle-of-the-road temperature conditions.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 


555351498_7800PaletteWarm.thumb.PNG.f67d12539e5641514d9535a0f7840971.PNG
 

 

 

Try utilizing one hue range higher, $6x - at least for the lightest ($56 --> $66) value, if not all three:

image.thumb.png.03118027a4f99768b3418f9a7fa2b085.png

Thanks Trebor, I'll try some other emus.  I did a version with $6x for all three colors but liked $5x better.  I'll try mixing and matching, thanks for the tip.  It'll take some playing around to see what's best.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Trebor said:

While there may be differences among displays for colors, BupSystem does tend to lean darker and some hues deviate more from the typical; especially compared to a CRT.

The default YIQ offset is shifted by a few degrees in NTSC, probably wherever the chroma knob in my development console was plus some handwaving. I've seen this brought up a few times and (while I'd like to nudge the parameters eventually) do need to ask - have any of you tried using the Color Dialog (F4) for getting the palette closer to your taste, and if so, did it work?

 

That was kinda the point, to just twiddle some tv-style knobs until it looks right instead of making tuned palettes by hand.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, TailChao said:

The default YIQ offset is shifted by a few degrees in NTSC, probably wherever the chroma knob in my development console was plus some handwaving. I've seen this brought up a few times and (while I'd like to nudge the parameters eventually) do need to ask - have any of you tried using the Color Dialog (F4) for getting the palette closer to your taste, and if so, did it work?

 

That was kinda the point, to just twiddle some tv-style knobs until it looks right instead of making tuned palettes by hand.

Ooh, that's nice.  I didn't know the color dialog existed.  Very cool feature!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, TailChao said:

The default YIQ offset is shifted by a few degrees in NTSC, probably wherever the chroma knob in my development console was plus some handwaving. I've seen this brought up a few times and (while I'd like to nudge the parameters eventually) do need to ask - have any of you tried using the Color Dialog (F4) for getting the palette closer to your taste, and if so, did it work?

I have to an extent.  Realizing the percentage may be more user friendly than posting degrees, for "Hue" and "Warmth" it does make it a tad more challenging.   Nonetheless, I did come to a rough approximation/range, but honestly haven't spent too much time on it. 

 

Perhaps some CRT effects, or even just screen cropping options, are hopefully on the not too distant horizon (?)

 

Anyhow...for v0.9.6.3

 

Brightness = 100% - 105%

Contrast = 105% - 110% 

 

Hue  = -23% thru -30% for PAL
Hue  = -9% thru -16% for NTSC

 

Saturation = 60% - 80%

 

Warmth = 29% Factory (Cool)
Warmth = 36% Ideal (Warm)
Warmth = 43% Common (Hot)

 

...As always, YMMV.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/30/2021 at 3:29 AM, BydoEmpire said:

That's awesome @Blues_Bloody, I can't wait to see it on a real label! ;)

 

I took a stab at making the tentacle thinner and less of a "whipping" motion.  I updated it to more purplish color, but I'm not totally happy, the lighter shade is still more pink. This is how it looks on BupSystem for me.  Binary attached if anyone wants to see it in motion.

image.png.950a12ab669ff2e8bfe9e85fb52a89e0.png

wizd_210429.bas.a78 48.13 kB · 11 downloads

Hi BE

looks much better,than the older one 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Trebor said:

I have to an extent.  Realizing the percentage may be more user friendly than posting degrees, for "Hue" and "Warmth" it does make it a tad more challenging.   Nonetheless, I did come to a rough approximation/range, but honestly haven't spent too much time on it. 

No worries, as long as the feature is (roughly) doing what it's supposed to. I'll add your suggested tuning to the BupSystem thread (the formula hasn't changed since 0.9.6.0's addition of the Brightness and Contrast parameters).

 

 

12 hours ago, Trebor said:

Perhaps some CRT effects, or even just screen cropping options, are hopefully on the not too distant horizon (?)

I can see the horizon but can't discern how far away it is :( . The only video fixes for 0.9.6.4 are some Direct3D 9 texture update nudges and the formerly mentioned Color Dialog's [Cancel] button not actually, uh... cancelling.

 

A reminder for everyone as well - while I can't invest as much time in BupSystem as I was previously, tossing issues like this in its thread guarantees I'll at least be aware of them.

 

 

14 hours ago, BydoEmpire said:

Ooh, that's nice.  I didn't know the color dialog existed.  Very cool feature!

It's been hiding there since early 2016 (before the emulator was publicly released), mostly because writing one matrix formula seemed less intensive than eyeballing all those hues.

 

Anyway, let's hop in the Chron-o-John and wind the thread's focus back to the nuances of tentacles.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I found an interesting bug today, trying to play through after not having done much with it for a few weeks.  I was on level 2, about halfway through exploring the level, and killed all the statue minotaurs in the room with the stairs.  Then I left and explored the rest of the maze but the stairs were gone. They didn't show up on the map and are no longer in the level at all.  I don't see an obvious reason for the bug looking through the code, so I'm trying to find some repro steps.

936132957_nostairsbug.thumb.JPG.2d5aa752bc3b83e4dea31fcc8e3f77fc.JPG

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aha.  If you kill all the enemies in the room and get a potion, picking up that potion will clear out whatever item was in the room previously (including stairs).  Fixed below.

 

Latest version attached

 

2021/05/09 Update

- added created/label art credit pages to main menu
- fixed bug with items & stairs disappearing after picking up potion spawned by killing all enemies
- added faster debounce time when you hit an enemy

 

 

wizd_210509.bas.a78

Edited by BydoEmpire
  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Played through the game last night on normal. (Thats the only level I've played the game at LOL!).

 

So two issues came up although they were not game breaking:

 

1st issue is one that has been around for a while. If you are in a room with gates and then pause just as they are starting to open, you will frequently end up with the gates being stuck closed. Or so it seams... if you pause to go back to the map and come back out, then the gates will be fully removed from the screen at that point so you can proceed. But it does happen often and has been something that happens for quite a while. Again, not game breaking but just something that can throw someone off if they aren't sure how to deal with  it.

 

The 2nd issue was a new one and I thought at first it was game breaking. Here is what happened:

 

I got to the evil wizard and was trying to defeat him. He killed me and as expected, I was teleported to a random room on the opposite side of the map. Made my way back to the evil wizard only this time...the room was empty and I must have wondered around for about 20 secs or so locked in the room with nothing to do. I was about to shut the system off or reset it when suddenly the wizard did appear and the fight was on. I was able to defeat him this second time but yeah...I was quite worried there for a bit on why the delay? Any ideas on this?

 

I do have a complete video capture of that gameplay session but it is QUITE long as the new difficultly in the game as compared to the past makes it take a bit longer to get through than it did previously which is of course, the point of the changes. If @BydoEmpire is interested, I can try and up it somewhere so he can review the game play for himself to see if he spots anything else.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

The 2nd issue was a new one and I thought at first it was game breaking. Here is what happened:

 

I got to the evil wizard and was trying to defeat him. He killed me and as expected, I was teleported to a random room on the opposite side of the map. Made my way back to the evil wizard only this time...the room was empty and I must have wondered around for about 20 secs or so locked in the room with nothing to do. I was about to shut the system off or reset it when suddenly the wizard did appear and the fight was on. I was able to defeat him this second time but yeah...I was quite worried there for a bit on why the delay? Any ideas on this?

 

Interesting. I saw something very similar a few weeks ago.  I can't remember if I thought I put in a fix or just ignored it because he did show up.  Definitely needs to be fixed, thanks!

 

The gate bug, yeah, that's been around forever.  I looked into it briefly, but didn't spend tons of time because it wasn't blocking. It'd be nice to fix, it's kind of weird.  Maybe I'll take another look with fresh eyes.

 

Do you feel the game is harder now?  Sounds like it.  I can't remember what I changed over the last month or so that might have made it harder, but I did make it faster to shoot (shorten debounce time) if you kill an enemy which really ought to make it easier if you're ganged up on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is only more difficult in that it isn't a linear in the maze anymore. I know that sounds crazy, but now that there are more openings in the rooms, I find myself using and studying the map screen more than I did previously. There are also some odd things that can occur where you are at full health and then suddenly a few enemies bounce oddly around the corner of an obstacle and now surround you and your health drops drastically at that point taking in multiple hits from multiple enemies at once. Almost like it is multiplied on the damage they are doing to you?

 

And you know me, I wanted to find all the wizard's magical artifacts and explore every room so it just takes me longer anyway. But yes I do feel the game is harder now. One thing is that in later levels, the enemies appear to start to move faster, they aggro towards you much more often and in groups, and at least on last nights playthrough, I was getting a LOT of minotaurs and those guys are bullet sinks...

 

Okay in thinking about this when I should be working I think I figured out the issue with the Wizards room and his not showing up.

 

The way the game works now, all new rooms you visit will have monsters as soon as you enter them. But if you leave those rooms and go at least 2 rooms away and then come back, those monsters won't be there initially and won't start to reappear until some time has passed while you are in the room. It is this mechanic that allows a player to quickly travel back to a point they were last at on a maze level so they don't have to fight everything again.

 

Same thing is happening in the Wizard's lair. You first enter it and because you haven't been there before, the wizard shows up to kick your butt. If he is successful, you are whisked away to a random room on the opposite side of the map maze as a ghost and have to find a gravestone. Because of the distance you have been sent and having to get back there, it is making that room empty just like the others before it until some time has passed that the wizard finally shows up. I'm pretty sure that is what is happening here.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

The way the game works now, all new rooms you visit will have monsters as soon as you enter them. But if you leave those rooms and go at least 2 rooms away and then come back, those monsters won't be there initially and won't start to reappear until some time has passed while you are in the room. It is this mechanic that allows a player to quickly travel back to a point they were last at on a maze level so they don't have to fight everything again.

Can I let you all in on a little secret?  This "feature" was not something I intentionally added, nor do I know why it's doing that.  I like that it's there, and I looked into it briefly but didn't really figure out why the spawn rate isn't reset correctly... but it's pretty nice so I left it. 

 

Bug? Feature? it's a fine line... lol.

 

It does intentionally only save enemy position/health/etc details for the previous room.  That's known and specific code to handle it. I don't think it's related to the above, but maybe...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, BydoEmpire said:

Can I let you all in on a little secret?  This "feature" was not something I intentionally added, nor do I know why it's doing that.  I like that it's there, and I looked into it briefly but didn't really figure out why the spawn rate isn't reset correctly... but it's pretty nice so I left it. 

 

Bug? Feature? it's a fine line... lol.

 

It does intentionally only save enemy position/health/etc details for the previous room.  That's known and specific code to handle it. I don't think it's related to the above, but maybe...

Well it seems that the Wizard's room is following in the same sequence as any normal room. First time I enter it, the Wizard shows up. If he defeats me, I'm sent back to the other side of the map and have come back. I'm certainly going to be way more than two screens away or at least have to go through more than two screens to get back to the wizard again. As a result, just like any other room, the wizard doesn't appear when I first enter again until sometime has passed and then he is just suddenly there to come back and try and finish me off again.

 

So it does follow the same pattern as any normal room would.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

BTW I recorded the whole play session last night but it took me over 2 hours to get through the game LOL!

 

I also time it just now in the video. The wizard didn't appear back in the room on the second attempt for over 30 sec. (34sec according to the video time).

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

BTW I recorded the whole play session last night but it took me over 2 hours to get through the game LOL!

 

I also time it just now in the video. The wizard didn't appear back in the room on the second attempt for over 30 sec. (34sec according to the video time).

Thanks @-^CrossBow^- - I fixed the wizard bug. I now know what the problem is with the gates after unpausing, too, but fixing it the easy and clean way will take 300 bytes I don't have.  I'm going to think about how I can do it more efficiently.  Thanks as always for the info.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

May 15, 2021 Update:

- Fixed the wizard not spawning properly if you revisit his room

- Tweaked enemy spawn rate and AI

- Updated HSC ranking names and scores

 

I'm thinking about how to find a couple hundred more bytes - then I could fix the gate problem and tighten up the enemy collision detection. I don't like that they overlap the walls a lot when moving left and right, especially the taller enemies.

 

wizd_210515.bas.a78

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Fixed a number of bugs and annoyances, and tweaked a few things.  I think it plays pretty well now.  I did go all the way through the game yesterday (before a couple of fixes) start to finish with no cheats.  Took me about an hour and 15 minutes, scored about 195,000, 255 rooms explored (not sure which one I missed).

 

I'm getting close to declaring this "final" - let me know if you find any bugs or anything you'd like to see tweaked.  I'm going to make as few changes as possible and as "surgically" as I can (99 little bugs in the code, 99 little bugs. Take one down, fix it up good, 103 little bugs in the code), but I still want it to be the best it can be.

 

2021/05/22
- tweaked enemy wall collision code so they won't walk through walls with the bottom half of their sprite (at least not as often)
- fixed gates not reappearing correctly after pause
- fixed ghosts always spawning immediately after unpausing in BOSS room
- reordered which magical artifacts are found on which levels
- fixed bug with bats getting stuck on bottom of half walls in one particular room
- fixed bug with lightning where sometimes enemy would get pulled into player instead of pushed always

 

Latest binary attached.  Talking to Albert about a cartridge release as well.  Nothing to share at the moment, but stay tuned.

wizd_210523.bas.a78

Edited by BydoEmpire
  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I am just finding this topic. Adventure games like ataris original adventure, adventure 2, galahad and the holy grail (8 bit - and my all time favorite game PERIOD) as well as dark chambers (even gauntlet a little, but its not the same) are my favorite kinds of games, and sadly - unless you get “silly” like zelda crap, there really isnt much out there.. 

 

It looks like things stalled on this game? Will it run on a 7800 multi cart? Emulators are fine and all - but I love playing on real hardware… subscribing!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/31/2021 at 8:41 PM, doctor_x said:

I am just finding this topic. Adventure games like ataris original adventure, adventure 2, galahad and the holy grail (8 bit - and my all time favorite game PERIOD) as well as dark chambers (even gauntlet a little, but its not the same) are my favorite kinds of games, and sadly - unless you get “silly” like zelda crap, there really isnt much out there.. 

 

It looks like things stalled on this game? Will it run on a 7800 multi cart? Emulators are fine and all - but I love playing on real hardware… subscribing!

Crossbow and ZPH have played it on multicarts, it should work as far as I know.

 

 

I haven't been posting much lately.  The game is basically done at this point, I've fixed the bugs I'm aware of that I want to fix.  I may the tweak difficulty, enemy movements, spawning, etc. to make it more fun, but that's tough to do when you're so close to the game.  If anyone has any feedback or things they'd like to change, by all means let me know.  I also want a little time away from the game so I can be a bit more objective.  I've also been a little burned out and wanted to do some other things for a while.  Stay tuned!

 

I am talking to Albert about getting carts done, and I'm fleshing out the story in the manual.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...