Sinclair ZX80 / ZX81 / Z88 Forums

I've always wanted to create a tile based game, similar to Ultima, on the ZX81, but I wasn't sure you could actually make one. My first attempt in pure BASIC using string arrays displayed well, but was way too slow to move around (even using fast). I decided to use MCODER instead. After trying a couple of different ways to print the tiles, I finally have a prototype that is fast with decent movement. Since my ZX81 died a few years back, I'm testing on in an emulator. I'd be curious how it runs on a real ZX81.

You can view the code here or play it online here.

Note it is still a prototype. There isn't much to do yet except move around and some place holder commands. Feedback and suggestions welcome!

Welcome to the forums.

It looks quite good - although I am not quite sure what the aim is going to be - what game is 'Ultima' and what are the controls?

RWAP wrote:Welcome to the forums.

It looks quite good - although I am not quite sure what the aim is going to be - what game is 'Ultima' and what are the controls?

Thanks RWAP. Sorry, should have noted that the controls are A - west, W - north, D - east, and S - south. You can try other keys to see what happens, but not much works yet except movement. You can use Q - quit to rebuild the world.

The first Ultima (I-V) were tile based adventure games form the 80's. My first exposure was Ultima III on the C-64. It would be nice to add monsters with combat, some stores, chests, and some random dungeons. My focus was on proving I could create the graphics, I still need to work on the game mechanics.

Looking good, i like the animated tiles, and was quite suprised at the speed of the redraw, looking forward to playing the final thing