newcoleco: Chateau Du Dragon?

[Aswald]

That game really interests me. What exactly is the object, and could you describe it briefly?

"Island of Foxes" may be similar in concept.

[newcoleco]

The idea of "chateau du dragon" was taken in a BASIC programming book.

It's an adventure game where you have to go in a castle, find a key and open the treasure chest and then come back with the treasure. There is no map on screen but the game description tells you where you start (North-West) and where you have to go (South-East). Each time you move one step, you can find objects or fight monsters. It's in the medevial time so it's why there is a Dragon in the castle to stop you.

There are a few place to go like the fountain in front of the castle where you have to decide if you drink water or not. Maybe the water is good for you... maybe not.

Why a treasure? because "save a princess" is not the only possible goal for an adventure game.

[Aswald]

So you don't need to show a map for an RPG? "Island of Foxes" has a "map" of roughly 20X30 spaces, with the Temple mazes being 16X16 (randomly generated). You have complete freedom of movement; it isn't like Dragon's Lair, which is "linear" in concept.

I designed the game to randomly place a number of things (monsters, settlements, Temples, the Basilisk's Citadel, etc.) each time you play, so no two games are ever alike.

All-text games are an interesting possiblility for the ColecoVision and even Vectrex and Atari 5200; since little or no memory is taken up for cosmetics, they can be quite complex.

By the way, I believe I've figured out a way to allow one to continue the game by use of an entry code. If it does work, then...

Did you know that Lord of the Dungeon has over 100 different monsters, including the Dark Lords? If there's an enemy even more powerful than they are, then I don't want to encounter it!

[newcoleco]

I didn't know about Lord of the Dongeon.
In fact, I have no information about this game.

Maybe I'm wrong but...
I think Power Lords is not a real ColecoVision game prototype. I found something suspect in this game. The pause button is not '*', it's '#' and it's not normal. I have done this error (swaping '*' and '#') with one of my project named DACMAN v1.0 and corrected later in v1.3. I have done this error because I tested DACMAN with VirtualColeco (the keypad is not correctly emulated : it swap '*' and '#'). So, i think Power Lords is not a real ColecoVision game prototype. The second choice is : Power Lords was modified before releasing it.

[slapdash]

I think Power Lords is not a real ColecoVision game prototype. I found something suspect in this game. The pause button is not '*', it's '#' and it's not normal. I have done this error (swaping '*' and '#') with one of my project named DACMAN v1.0 and corrected later in v1.3.

Eh, could be that the programmer made the same mistake, and since it's a proto, it never got fixed.

[Aswald]

Are the monster encounters and such in Chateau Du Dragon random? The combat sequences seem to be, judging by the screenshots.

As for Power Lords: Probe 2000 used to advertise the game, so a prototype may have existed. Lord of the Dungeon did, in fact, exist, so Power Lords was possible. The pause doesn't HAVE to be the "*" key; in Boulder Dash, it's the "0" key, with "8" allowing you to continue.

It would be really nice if the Commodore 64 version of "Island of Foxes" could be completed well before the CGE 2003. Maybe, just maybe, someone familiar with programming for the Commodore 64 AND ColecoVision could translate it, because it sure doesn't look as if I ever will!

I avoid using too many variables by POKEing values directly into memory spaces, and PEEKing them when needed (such as Hit Points). Of course, you can add and subtract from them as needed, as long as you don't go over 255 or under 0.

[newcoleco]

The actual demo show you combats in random. It's only a demo to test the concept of a textual game.

But not in the original idea. The "monster encounter" will be only 50% random... and 50% predicable (differents monsters where you are in the map).

[Aswald]

Regarding the "mapping" question in "Island of Foxes..."

Hmmm...got it! I don't really want to put a map on the screen, since I don't know how well this would work for a homebrewer trying to port it over for a ColecoVision.

So, instead, you press the "#" key on the keypad (the joystick is not used), and, IF YOU HAVE ALREADY ENCOUNTERED IT, directions are given for the 3 Settlements, 3 Globe Mounds, 2 Teleport pads, and the Basilisk's Lair. For example:

/You move West.
*You are in a meadow.

/You move North.
*You are in a wooded area.

*Woora is 5 steps South; 8 steps West.
*Pendalis is 2 steps East.
*North Teleport is 7 steps North; 2 steps East.

That should work out nicely! Of course, there can only be 32 spaces across, so the text will have to consider this...maybe:

*Woora- 5 South; 8 West.
*Pendalis- 2 East.
*N. Teleport- 7 North; 2 East.

If this works, then other role-playing games will almost certainly follow!
Maybe Chateau Du Dragon can be one; text-games were great, like Zork.