Author Topic: [Axe/Asm] BOULDASH (Read 18026 times)

Zemmargorp · « **on:** August 25, 2014, 12:29:28 pm »

Hi, everyone !

Today, after approximately one month of work, I'm pleased to present you BOULDASH, a Boulderdash clone, one of my favorites games. It runs at 6 MHz, uses animated sprites, let you chose between level packs, reads levels (appvars) from archive (without unarchiving), takes less that 4000 bytes, and should be bug-free !

Quote from: Wikipedia

The game's protagonist [...] must dig through caves, [collecting diamonds to unlock the exit], while avoiding [moving creatures] as well as obstacles like falling rocks, and the constant danger of being crushed or trapped by an avalanche, or killed by an underground explosion.

Download here !

To play the game :
- use the arrow keys to move
- [ENTER] to suicide while playing
- [CLEAR] at anytime to quit

Working on a level editor... beta version here.

The game is almost finished, and already playable. I'm still working on it : I'd like to port it to assembly, to add a bar at the bottom of the screen with time and diamonds counter, to add new objects, and to change other little things. Once the game finished, I'll probably publish the code source. Currently, it's unreadable : I mixed Axe and assembly (though it's possible to make the game in pure Axe), nothing is commented, and I optimized the code everywhere.

You can ask me any question, tell me what you think of it, and send me ideas of features to add/improve.

Zemmargorp · « **Reply #1 on:** August 26, 2014, 08:43:44 am »

I hope you've not waited too long

!

Here's the first version of the game, with a demo level pack and a real level pack, for less than 5400 bytes ! I'm still working on ~~new levels (you'll probably like them), and~~ a level editor. I'll then work on the game, but as you can see on the screenshots, it's already fully playable.

Waiting for your feedback...

EDIT : Sorry for the two people who downloaded UNDERGROUND, but the final level was missing ! I re-uploaded it. Have fun !

EDIT 2 : Game's update and new level pack here.

EDIT 3 : If you want to play FREEFALL, check this link.

Matrefeytontias · « **Reply #2 on:** August 26, 2014, 08:45:00 am »

That looks nice

so if I understand correctly, that's Axe with bits of ASM in it, and you want to eventually redo it entirely in ASM ?

Zemmargorp · « **Reply #3 on:** August 26, 2014, 08:55:51 am »

Quote from: Matrefeytontias on August 26, 2014, 08:45:00 am

That looks nice so if I understand correctly, that's Axe with bits of ASM in it, and you want to eventually redo it entirely in ASM ?

Thanks ! You're good at finding great games

Yes, made in Axe, with parts in assembly. I started by writing the game in Axe, and then I added some parts in assembly (such as the code to search level packs through the VAT, the code to load a level and decompress it, etc.). I think I saved 1000 bytes by writing some parts to assembly.

And I'd like to translate the full code in assembly, to save some more bytes. It'll also improve the speed of the game, which is required if I want to add some new features to the game.

Matrefeytontias · « **Reply #4 on:** August 26, 2014, 08:57:41 am »

Quote from: Zemmargorp on August 26, 2014, 08:55:51 am

Quote from: Matrefeytontias on August 26, 2014, 08:45:00 am
That looks nice so if I understand correctly, that's Axe with bits of ASM in it, and you want to eventually redo it entirely in ASM ?

Thanks ! You're good at finding great games

What is that supposed to mean ?

Also about ASM, well good luck with it, 'cause it doesn't seem like an easy deal.

Zemmargorp · « **Reply #5 on:** August 26, 2014, 09:08:21 am »

Quote from: Matrefeytontias on August 26, 2014, 08:57:41 am

Quote from: Zemmargorp on August 26, 2014, 08:55:51 am
Thanks ! You're good at finding great games
What is that supposed to mean ?

Also about ASM, well good luck with it, 'cause it doesn't seem like an easy deal.

Try the game, you'll see !

Well, I don't know why it would be hard... There's only 6346 bytes of code, which isn't so complicated, and half of it is already in assembly ! If I can't translate a part of the code, I would still be able to decompile Axe's code to assembly and then use it.

ClrDraw · « **Reply #6 on:** August 26, 2014, 09:39:59 am »

This looks cool

have you tried making the sprite turn to face the direction its going?

Zemmargorp · « **Reply #7 on:** August 26, 2014, 09:45:22 am »

Quote from: ClrDraw on August 26, 2014, 09:39:59 am

This looks cool have you tried making the sprite turn to face the direction its going?

Thank you ! I haven't tried yet, it's on my to-do list. I'll maybe chose to redraw another sprite, symmetrical this time : it should be easier than changing the way the display works. I'll see...

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #8 on:** August 26, 2014, 11:07:20 am »

Looks very nice. Since there is already another Boulder Dash game for the TI-83+ you definitively need to make sure to include new features that stand out from the others and make it compatible with 6 MHz calcs to give people a reason to choose your game instead of Jimmy Mardell's. It looks very nice so far and gameplay too so it's a good step in the right direction.

Here is the other game by the way: http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/109/10951.html (it was originally for the TI-82, 83, 85 and 86)

Zemmargorp · « **Reply #9 on:** August 26, 2014, 12:26:01 pm »

Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on August 26, 2014, 11:07:20 am

Looks very nice. Since there is already another Boulder Dash game for the TI-83+ you definitively need to make sure to include new features that stand out from the others and make it compatible with 6 MHz calcs to give people a reason to choose your game instead of Jimmy Mardell's. It looks very nice so far and gameplay too so it's a good step in the right direction.

Here is the other game by the way: http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/109/10951.html (it was originally for the TI-82, 83, 85 and 86)

Thank you !

Let's see this other clone... Hey, it's well made ! A bit slow, though. And it looks a bit more retro than my version of the game. It says made by Jimmy Mardell and Sam Heald... this name rings me a bell ! It's the man who made Super Mario for z80 calculators. Definitely, he worked on good games !

Yes, I'll include new features, and I've already thought of some. (If anyone has ideas, submit them !) Providing a level editor, for instance, is a good point. By the way, my game runs at 6 MHz, so it's already compatible with TI-83+.

aeTIos · « **Reply #10 on:** August 26, 2014, 12:45:10 pm »

I should pick up the BoulderDash version for NES. It seems like a fun game. I still want Bubble Bobble, though

But it's expensive :x

Eiyeron · « **Reply #11 on:** August 26, 2014, 12:47:39 pm »

Quote from: aeTIos on August 26, 2014, 12:45:10 pm

I should pick up the BoulderDash version for NES. It seems like a fun game. I still want Bubble Bobble, though But it's expensive :x

I missed it, it was at 30€...

I remember playing Boulder on FX-9860, this one looks fine too!

Sorunome · « **Reply #12 on:** August 26, 2014, 03:31:38 pm »

Don't say something was bugfree, just say instead that there are no known bugs

Anyways, judging from the screenies, this is looking nice

DJ Omnimaga · « **Reply #13 on:** August 26, 2014, 09:48:07 pm »

Quote from: Zemmargorp on August 26, 2014, 12:26:01 pm

Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on August 26, 2014, 11:07:20 am
Looks very nice. Since there is already another Boulder Dash game for the TI-83+ you definitively need to make sure to include new features that stand out from the others and make it compatible with 6 MHz calcs to give people a reason to choose your game instead of Jimmy Mardell's. It looks very nice so far and gameplay too so it's a good step in the right direction.

Here is the other game by the way: http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/109/10951.html (it was originally for the TI-82, 83, 85 and 86)

Thank you !

Let's see this other clone... Hey, it's well made ! A bit slow, though. And it looks a bit more retro than my version of the game. It says made by Jimmy Mardell and Sam Heald... this name rings me a bell ! It's the man who made Super Mario for z80 calculators. Definitely, he worked on good games !

Yes, I'll include new features, and I've already thought of some. (If anyone has ideas, submit them !) Providing a level editor, for instance, is a good point. By the way, my game runs at 6 MHz, so it's already compatible with TI-83+.

Yeah since it's by Jimmy Mardell, this means that when the guy released that TI-83 Boulder Dash clone, the Super Nintendo and Sega Mega Drive were still in production and the Nintendo 64 had just come out. In addition to that, Z80 calcs were not as documented as they are today. As a result, yeah a lot of older games are much slower than newer ones despite the fact there isn't much going on at once on on the screen.

But back in the days, it's incredible how close to real console games calc games were compared to today

Zemmargorp · « **Reply #14 on:** August 27, 2014, 05:03:56 am »

Quote from: Sorunome on August 26, 2014, 03:31:38 pm

Don't say something was bugfree, just say instead that there are no known bugs

Anyways, judging from the screenies, this is looking nice

I wrote it should be bug-free ! There are no known bugs, that's true, but it should be bug-free because I seriously analysed each part of the program, doing instructions step-by-step for some on a emulator, and now I can't see how the game could crash one's calc (except if, of course, the level pack is faulty). There may also be minor bugs, but I made several tests and looked deeply at the code, and I didn't found anything.

Whatever, thank you for the feedback

!

Author Topic: [Axe/Asm] BOULDASH (Read 18026 times)

Zemmargorp

[Axe/Asm] BOULDASH

Zemmargorp

Re: [Axe/Asm] BOULDASH

Matrefeytontias

Re: [Axe/Asm] BOULDASH

Zemmargorp

Re: [Axe/Asm] BOULDASH

Matrefeytontias

Re: [Axe/Asm] BOULDASH

Zemmargorp

Re: [Axe/Asm] BOULDASH

ClrDraw

Re: [Axe/Asm] BOULDASH

Zemmargorp

Re: [Axe/Asm] BOULDASH

DJ Omnimaga

Re: [Axe/Asm] BOULDASH

Zemmargorp

Re: [Axe/Asm] BOULDASH

aeTIos

Re: [Axe/Asm] BOULDASH

Eiyeron

Re: [Axe/Asm] BOULDASH

Sorunome

Re: [Axe/Asm] BOULDASH

DJ Omnimaga

Re: [Axe/Asm] BOULDASH

Zemmargorp

Re: [Axe/Asm] BOULDASH