Taking a quick break with no work on this for about ~1 week, I'm working on computer stuff until then for fun while. Have time this summer .  Porfress resumes very very soon.

The time when I came home from my camping trip and got straight on my computer and realized that I wasn't in the mood for coding so I decided to make tiles and I threw some old ones out and fixed/remade them and then took a dump and then came back to the computer and realized I had well over 400 tiles now and well over 600 sprites done and 2000ish lines of code done so I decided to screw productivity tonight and make a mockup of what I think the game is now gonna look like in its "new" form... also known as:


Time for update!


So, assuming you're normal and didn't read that useless stupid sentence above, I decided to post progress (this time on both omnimaga, cemetech, and a few other places -- many places haven't heard an update from me from a *long* time).  I decided the code I wrote in z80 assembly for the 84+ concerning the source of TaN was rather.. stupid.  I'm not a great z80 coder.  I'm sure as hell not writing my dream game in a language I kinda sorta know.  So, I decided for one final change -- This is being written in C, using SDL for Audio and Graphics (and key input too I guess, but that's rather obvious).  I know, "ASHBAD YOU STUPID ASH FREKIN' JUST FINISH THIS GAEM" is what you all think.  But this time I promise (I was just kidding the last 6 times when I promised) that this is the *final* attempt I'm making to develop this game.  Either I make it this time, or it simply dies forever.  I made myself promise.. myself this deal, so that I would finally feel continuously motivated to work on it.  And, after switching to making this a computer project, this game has never been doing better!

Here's the deal: I decided to keep *all* the old graphics for the computer version (it's rather original for a computer game to be really old school with 4 level grayscale 8x8 sprites/tiles) and it's turning more and more into a zelda-esque game from a final-fantasy-esque game.  The original version for the calculator was planned to be a FFV-like game, with no overworld fighting; the first Axe version was a mix of that and some overworld sword action; the assembly version (of which I made multiple screenshots that should be still present in this thread) was pretty much pure zelda, but with a weird FF feel still looming; now, I can't say it has *anything* that could possibly remind you of FF.  The graphics are a mix between Zelda:LA's calming and smooth yet cartoony style and Zelda:ALTTP's detailed and *beautiful* graphics that always pushed me through a world of imagery that made me feel like Link.  I may have used these two games for graphics inspiration, but everything I've made is 100% original, all of it made by me.  I don't like the idea of using other people's graphics for an original game made by me.  The feeling puts shudders through my spine.

Here's a recent mockup I made in paint ~20 minutes ago that shows what the general style of graphics look like now, with an experimental HUD and screensize (everything is scaled by 3x for PC, to make it easier to see yet still not *too* pixelly) -- I'm thinking of making the room size much larger to something like 14x20 tiles per room.  Here is the mockup:




On a side note the main map is growing a bit; it's being expanded now.  The new map very much resembles the old, and is only like 30% finished, but here's a quick look at what it's starting to form:




As you can see it's a WIP.

Coding wise, it's doing okay.  About 2000 lines of code, but mostly meant for wrapping low-level SDL things into hi-level functions I can use much easier.  So not much yet, give it a few months.

So, update complete!

Yeah, the gameboy effect is intended I was actually really considering multiple color schemes, like where tiles are blue, and sprites are red (like in pokemon blue on a GBC) but I'll probably just do it with a changeable overall color -- easy enough to program, it would seem

Also, I'm not quitting calc games, just taking a long hiatus.  When I go back to calc stuff I'll most likely be developing mostly for the prizm.

Edit: in the mockup, Trio has zero health and zero magic he'd be dead there and with no backup magic to save him.  Woops, forgot the actual bars between the bar holders

Aaaaw hellz yeah. More progress.

If you need chiptunes, I'm always available!

Actually, keep your inbox open -- I'm only an *okay* composer, and I'm planning to only use a few of DJ's songs (I've asked a long time ago, I should ask again), so I may need quite the share of music.  I suppose in due time I shall be ringing on your inbox's doorbell

I see Ashbad.

Also I have another idea, although this would require resizing the maps , but it's not really necessary: NES style maps

Oh it's like Game Boy, but 256x224 instead with 16 colors at once

I guess it could be for a sequel or something. Finish the current version first (although I think generally when a game serie spanned from NES to GB the sequel came on the GB and the prequel on the NES, but I guess it doesn't matter much )

Good luck regardless

This is a computer project now O_o? Oh well, gl anyway haha. I need to get back to work on A:P....