I am working on a secret project, in a title you guys should be familiar with. Here's what I'm asking for. I need a character sprite and two sword sprites, one sword looking normal, the other looking magical (in hex, please). On a calculator screen, what should the tile size be for an RPG? 8x8? The sprites will need to be that size.

8x8 is a nice balance between detail and sprites per screen, but two distinct 8x8 sword sprites is a tall order. I'll see what I can come up with.

Thanks amigo.

I'm horrible with secret projects, so I'm making it unsecret. At least to some degree.

It will be a Zelda clone, with a twist. It will play like your traditional Zelda (master sword, enemies, ect.), but in order to defeat the final stage, you need to enter the "dark world". In the dark world, it will be designed so that no path can directly reach the final stage. Instead, you need to travel to a dead end, warp back the the "light world", travel to another point, then warp back to the "dark world". The magic power will be a little different and have different effects. There will be two default maps in the game, the "light world" and the "dark world". But, then, the engine will have support for user-made levels and I will work on a level builder.

There will the following memory usage by this program.

executable size (still unknown)
90x70 light world map (6300 bytes)
90x70 dark world map (6300 bytes)
45x35 dungeon 1 map (1575 bytes)
45x35 dungeon 2 map (1575 bytes)
45x35 dungeon 3 map (1575 bytes)
45x35 dungeon 4 map (1575 bytes)
45x35 dungeon 5 map (1575 bytes)
45x35 dungeon 6 map (1575 bytes)
character data (unknown size)
map sprites (unknown size, but under 1000 bytes)
text (unknown size)

That will make the total compiled size over 25000 bytes, so, I will use Axe's "compile to app" feature. My only question is... there is a space limit of 16000 bytes (1 page) for apps (that is as high as Axe can support); does that include the data? Or is it just the executable that needs to be under 16000 bytes? Because I know that the executable will be well under 16000 bytes.

All of it. The executable and the data. I recommend putting the program itself in either an app or a program (depending on...). In my opinion, you should put each new map / dungeon as a new appvar (unless you want to put some of those smaller maps in one appvar).

But, when compiling to a regular program, it is just the executable that needs to be under 8000 bytes, right?

Correct. (Unless you're trying to execute appvars )

How much would I slow down the game, if I had some Zelda music running throughout?

Or if not throughout, at least in the title screen.

Since sound is interrupt based, I dont think it slows down the game
`-` (or so I hear)

You won't slow it down too terribly. Go ahead and add sound (it will be a cool feature if a real song was in game )

How should it be done? Interrupt?

oh wait, I think interrupts is just to keep the timing of the sound. once again, I don't know much asm and I am just saying what I have picked up from others `-`

Quigibo posted some code on Omnimaga to play sound. Let me find it real quick.

http://ourl.ca/4129/100021

Playing sounds from an interrupt is a significant overhead, depending on the quality that you want to achieve. I'd try to dissuade you unless you're writing pure ASM and are very comfortable with the language. Do you still need those sprites, by the way?

I'd be happy to have a look at them. I'm open to many options.

Here's some randomness I came up with, but I'm not too thrilled with any of them. Do you have any other options on the table at the moment?

they are pretty good.

I have [03050A14A850E0D0] and [070D1BB6EC78F0D8]

Very nice! Are you set on 8x8 at this point, or are you still considering alternatives?

I'm going to be doing 8x8.

I also will need some help with AI on the enemies, but I'm not even close to that. Still typing in the oodles of map data.


Are there any good .8xp to app converters that will convert a program written asm to an application, so i don't have to provide the data separately. I hate setups where you have to send more than one variable. I prefer things that install the data, or at least have it in the program, but I understand that creates size issues.

Actually, what about your "installer" idea? That would theoretically work just as well for ASM programs as BASIC programs. Souvik1997 is working on an extensible installer, so perhaps you two could join forces.