Project 2

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lcurtisboyle
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Nov 05, 2020 9:47 pm

Re: Project 2

Post by lcurtisboyle »

Finally catching up on the forums, and was intrigued by all the descriptions of this work in progress game. But it seems the download link has been removed. Is it still available somewheres to try out?
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Bosco
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Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2014 11:49 pm
Location: Nottingham, UK

Re: Project 2

Post by Bosco »

Hey Curtis.

Project 2 is Circe's Island. :D

I took down that early demo a good while back simply because it wasn't representative of the game anymore. Also, I haven't been posting on the forum much since the time many of the regulars migrated to Facebook. I actually prefer the forums so happy to start posting updates again if people are interested (I know development isn't everyone's cup of tea). Naturally I'll keep updating on Discord too.

The new mechanic I described previously is almost complete (to first pass) so hopefully I'll have something to share very soon. :)
tjewell
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Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:58 pm
Location: Cambridge, England

Re: Project 2

Post by tjewell »

Definitely interested in updates here! Keep us posted! :)
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robcfg
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Re: Project 2

Post by robcfg »

Yes, please!

Keep us posted here. I am not much of a facebook guy, especially because finding anything there is impossible. I like to be able to easily search older posts.

Cheers,
Rob
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Bosco
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Location: Nottingham, UK

Re: Project 2

Post by Bosco »

Ok, first pass at portals. This is a game mechanic which I've been meaning to implement for a long time but kept being pushed down the priority list. I wanted to incorporate several secret stages into the game which the player could only reach via magic doorways. Portals can only be opened once the player has collected four requisite items. So for example, to open the Pirate Portal which warps to Captain Bones' Treasure Horde the player must first find the Cutlass, Telescope, Treasure Map and Tankard of Grog.

Video captured with Win10 XBox Game Bar. Never used it before so may not be using optimum settings (portal appears to flicker more violently than in XRoar). The game is rigged to make testing easier. I've disabled a bunch of stuff (enemies/timer) and modified tables to spawn the items I need. Also I'm not touching audio until I've rewritten the code to combine multi-channel music and effects.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZCcCsX ... sp=sharing
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Bosco
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Re: Project 2

Post by Bosco »

For anyone wanting to know a little more about Circe's development I thought I'd include a brief summary of how this feature was implemented. So imagine a four digit combination lock represented in binary by a single byte eg. %1111 0000. The top four bits each represent part of the combination. Some pickups have a similar byte which behaves as a key eg. %0111 0000. In this example notice the most significant bit is zero so when the lock byte is logically AND'd with the key byte the state of bit 7 will change. The lock is now one quarter open. Repeat this process with the remaining three keys (1011, 1101,1110) and the lock byte will look like this %0000 0000 ie. equal to zero. Obviously in ASM we can easily test for a zero outcome following a previous instruction and branch to a different area of code to open the portal.

Each time a key object is tested the state of the lock byte is compared before and after. If the lock byte changes it means the player has found a new key (yay!) and a pop-up appears on screen to that effect. If a key item has already been tested then the lock byte remains the same and play continues uninterrupted.

I mentioned earlier that I wanted to incorporate several secret stages so how does a key item know which portal to open? The answer lies in the lower four bits of the key byte. These bits are in fact an offset into a table which holds the addresses of each portal.

Lastly how is a key item identified by the game's logic? Well for the longest time I simply grouped similar items together in memory. This is a great technique for keeping things simple and will get you quite far. However once I started dealing with items belonging to multiple groups, I decided to bite the bullet and add item flags. So if an item's `Key' flag is set, it's a key. Go do key stuff. :)
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robcfg
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Re: Project 2

Post by robcfg »

This is brilliant!

Looking forward to playing it :mrgreen:
lcurtisboyle
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Joined: Thu Nov 05, 2020 9:47 pm

Re: Project 2

Post by lcurtisboyle »

I will be mentioning this (and showing the video) on the New portion of CocoTalk on Saturday (last weeks show was running long, and there wasn't a ton of news, so expect a news heavy show this week. No interviews this week, so the show should be a managable length... yeah, right. ;) )
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Bosco
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Re: Project 2

Post by Bosco »

It still needs finessing but for now I'd rather press on with other tasks and return to this later.

The word "ENTER" will blink above the door and the door itself won't flicker until just before it times-out. I may make it materialise rather than pop-on and display an alternate graphic of the door, half open, when the player interacts with it (hit fire button while touching the door sprite). Also sound effects and music so the player knows they've achieved something cool! :D
sorchard
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Joined: Sat Jun 07, 2014 9:43 pm
Location: Norwich UK

Re: Project 2

Post by sorchard »

Your demos never get old. Every aspect is done to such a high standard that it's a pleasure to see.

If you're looking for a more critical opinion, my eleven year old says your game looks cool. And this is from someone who is obsessed with playing Terraria and Mindustry online with his friends :)
Stew
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