To newcoleco...

[Aswald]

Brain reactivates...

I didn't understand what you meant by file size- it isn't simply like the memory size in a Commodore 64, which is essentially a big block for programs?

My understanding of programming limits is rather simple: any given console or computer has a certain amount of information it can hold. In the case of the Commodore 64, the limit (if you program using BASIC) is roughly 40K RAM. Of course, you can divide up a program using disks; most RPGs did this. I guess the console equivalent is "bank switching."

It doesn't seem likely that "Island of Foxes" would fill up the ColecoVision's 32K ROM limit- the game just isn't that big or complicated. Most of it has a pre-drawn map, with "you" as a memory location moving on that map; what happens depends on what "character" on the map you move that location onto. If you move "North" (up), you subtract 32 from your current location (I've set up the C-64 version to use -32 instead of 40)- if the character your location lands on is, say, #45, then you go to the subroutine that informs you that you are in a meadow, and that an Elolypa is there. All information relevant to Elolypa combat is loaded (I use PEEKs instead of variables) into the appropriate locations for the combat subroutine. Since the odds of an Elolypa hitting you are 60%, 60 is loaded into, say, memory location 30018. The computer PEEKs this location to see what the odds are (if it was an Ariskyloc, that number would be 70 instead of 60).
I did this so one combat subroutine could be used for all combat sequences.

Hopefully, sometime in the forseeable future I can get a working Commodore 64. But I hope anyone reading this isn't expecting a game that will blow Lord of the Dungeon or Wizardry out of the water; it isn't. It's just a simple, pleasant, text game. Nothing more.

Should I make the map visible as you progress? It wouldn't be very difficult.

[newcoleco]

I will try to explain here.

The Hi-Tech C compiler for CP/M is an old C compiler and because of that there is a few limits. One of these limits is reach if your one of your source file in C is too big for the compiler or too complex (too many constants, variables, functions, etc). To avoid this problem, you must structure your program in many different files like one for the DATA of the MAP, one for the DATA of the SOUNDS, one for the DATA of the TITLE SCREEN, etc...

For the project Miss Space Fury, I reach the limit of the compiler. I didn't seperate the calls to show the title screens, the sub-function for the menu and the game engine. All this code in one single C file makes the compiler crash (too big for the compiler).

My project Gamepack was done this way : the main C file will have only the code to show the title screen and the menu. Then, the main program call an extern routine to play the selected game. This way, my Gamepack project is a set of many different little C files one for each game in the Gamepack, one C file for the menu and two others for the DATA of the sounds and the title screen. Otherwise, the project can't be compiled.

I hope your project is going well.

My opinion is your game will be great for the colecovision game system.

Take care!

[Aswald]

"I hope your project is going well."

"My opinion is your game will be great for the colecovision game system."

Thanks for the encouragement!

Unfortunately, this project isn't going anywhere until I can get a Commodore 64 working again. Maybe it's just the power supply, although this seems highly unlikely; it seems as if the Commodore 64 itself is also out. Until I get a working power supply, there simply isn't any way to be sure.

Island of Foxes is a text (or mostly text- should I include a map? It would be viewed by shifting where the Commodore 64 "looks" with the screen memory. I've used this method before.) game. All choices are multiple choice, the choices being presented at each appropriate situation. (/ is a sword symbol.)

*You are in a meadow.
/ You move North.
*You are in a meadow.
/You look East.
*There is a wooded area there.
/You move West.
*You are in a meadow.

*There is an Elolypa here!
*It attacks!
*It hits!

*You have 21 Life Points.

Do you 1)Fight, 2)Flee, 3)Vanish?

/You Fight!
*You score a hit!

*The Elolypa attacks!
*It misses!

*You have 21 Life Points.


Note that "vanishing" is only available to the Lumamage.

The "Map" is about 20X30, and the mazes in the Temple Ruins are 16X16. Do all-text games use such large mazes and environments? The game is NOT linear.