New game - "Laby"

[bbock]

Hello everybody,

recently I finished my first version of my ZX81 game called "Laby" (short for "labyrinth"). It is written in C (z88dk) with the help of a reasonable amount of optimisation in assembly language. I posted the first beta versions a few weeks ago in the German forum (http://forum.tlienhard.com/phpBB3/viewt ... ?f=2&t=459), here is a pure english version of the final V1.0 (I called it "V1.0e" ).

laby.jpg (15.29 KiB) Viewed 16007 times

When the program starts up, you see a logo screen waiting for a key being pressed. Then you may choose your keyboard settings. The program uses scan codes instead of standard C functions, so that it recognises multiple keys pressed at the same time. It is easier to walk around edges this way, because the little man doesn't stop moving if you change the direction and you pressed the key for the new direction before releasing the old one.

So, what's the game all about?

Your man ("O") walks around in a labyrinth and tries to collect all those flashing crystals. Ok, sounds easy so far, but there are some ghosts spooking around - you should avoid contact if you don't want to lose a life! From time to time it's suddenly getting dark in the labyrinth, so that you can see only the nearest surrounding area. There are items to help you with the darkness hassle: there is a lamp (inverted "+") which enlarges the visible surrounding area, and you can switch on the light completely (inverted "*").

You see the number of lives, the collected items, and the current level in the status bar at the bottom.



Have fun!
Bernd

[sirmorris]

I wait 20 years for some decent games and then loads come along at once

Thanks - I'll try this out real soon!

[bobs]

That's a good little game, well done.

A couple of things you might want to think about for v1.1e...

Make the game auto-run when it starts - I had thought that maybe it hadn't loaded correctly the first time.

There seems to be a bug as when you redefine the keys you can use the same key more than once - i.e. you could use the same key for both left & up, or even for all directions. (I find this in a lot of games)

I think the A.I. of the enemies is a little too random - personal taste perhaps - maybe introduce different strategies for them? Clockwise / anti-clockwise wall-followers, homing, and most-travelled path can all be easily implemented and should run fast enough on a Zeddy.

I'm thinking there are six levels, as when I completed the sixth it gave me a game-over screen? Would have been good to have a game-complete screen instead, but if you press neither Y or N when asked for another game it exits to BASIC again (guessing you have to press Y to have another game?)

Love the idea, especially of the lamp, and well executed. Nice to have somebody else writing machine-code games for the '81.

[RWAP]

Welcome to the forums and glad to see another new game

If you feel that you have finished programming the game, please let me know - we can move this topic to "Software" rather than "Development".

I would also like to add details and offer the game for download from my website:
http://www.rwapsoftware.co.uk/zx81/zx81_software.html

Please let me have your permission to add this.

[bbock]

That's a good little game, well done.

Glad to hear that from the developer of many gorgeous ZX81 games, among which are "Virus" and "Boulder Logic"!

Make the game auto-run when it starts - I had thought that maybe it hadn't loaded correctly the first time.

Well, yes, the z88dk doesn't do that automatically (at least not for the ZX81 target; Spectrum games start automatically). But that's easy - I will change that for the next version.

There seems to be a bug as when you redefine the keys you can use the same key more than once - i.e. you could use the same key for both left & up, or even for all directions. (I find this in a lot of games)

Ok, that's right - and an easy modification, too. I'll add the checks.

I think the A.I. of the enemies is a little too random - personal taste perhaps - maybe introduce different strategies for them? Clockwise / anti-clockwise wall-followers, homing, and most-travelled path can all be easily implemented and should run fast enough on a Zeddy.

Hmm - I like the ghosts' "stupidness"... Some more opinions on that?

I'm thinking there are six levels, as when I completed the sixth it gave me a game-over screen? Would have been good to have a game-complete screen instead, but if you press neither Y or N when asked for another game it exits to BASIC again (guessing you have to press Y to have another game?)

Yes, currently there are six levels, and the memory is almost full. I was trying to split the game into a loader, which places the data above 32k, and the main application, which uses the regular 16k memory block. I'm still investigating on this topic.

Love the idea, especially of the lamp, and well executed. Nice to have somebody else writing machine-code games for the '81.

In fact it's not pure machine code. It's C source with (a lot of) assembly optimisation.

[bbock]

Welcome to the forums and glad to see another new game

If you feel that you have finished programming the game, please let me know - we can move this topic to "Software" rather than "Development".

I would also like to add details and offer the game for download from my website:
http://www.rwapsoftware.co.uk/zx81/zx81_software.html

Please let me have your permission to add this.

Thank you very much. I'll definitely let you know; I guess v1.1e will soon be finished, although there might still be successors. There's a ZX Spectrum port available, too. See http://forum.tlienhard.com/phpBB3/viewt ... ?f=6&t=482

I feel honoured, and it's a pleasure for me to give you the permission to offer the game for download. If you are interested in the source code, you may have that, too.

Bernd

[Shaun_B]

Nice little game - good work!

Regards,

Shaun.

[bbock]

Ok, here's V1.1 have fun!

Changes to V1.0e:

1. It is no longer possible to define double keys in user defined key settings.
2. Support for multiple languages through conditional compilation (currently German and English only).
3. In Yes/No checks only Y or N keys are accepted.
4. "Game complete" message when finished instead of "game over".
5. Auto-run
6. There is a seventh level

Please report any bugs found; else I'd consider this one as the final version.

Bernd

[bbock]

If you feel that you have finished programming the game, please let me know - we can move this topic to "Software" rather than "Development".

No more complaints, so I think we can say programming is finished - although you never really finish a program...

Bernd

[Andy Rea]

Hi Bbock,

nice little game you have there, the lamp bit reminds me alot of an old apple game i once played, that used a window to magnify the playing area.

anyway, might i ask how you are storing the level data maps ? if you are using a single byte for every screen character i fell it is a lot of wasted space, perhaps using a bitmapped method for the walls with a small data chunk for the positions of the baddies, colectible items, i think this would free up some space to allow more levels to be added. i think the entire level could be coded this way in approx 100 bytes give or take a few

All the best Andy