SOLDIER: The Forgotten Soul

[TylerMcL]

Yes, I am the creator of the long-lost game, Final Fantasy Theta. I have abandoned the complete idea of the game -- but for very good reasons! I have finally learned assembly, and am just disgusted at how limited and un-optimized the Texas Instruments' BASIC is. Thus, I have already begun this new legend. It is going to build off of many of my ideas from Final Fantasy Theta, yet, still be completely different! And better, I must say!

So here's my story from the summer:

Sorry that I have not been online for the past few months; I have not had computer access whatsoever, and I am currently sitting in my local library (here in the wonderful state of Michigan! ) I will not again be online, probably until school begins again, and I regain full access to my laptop. (which is going to be around the 2nd of september)

However, all the while, I will be working on this masterpiece on an older Windows 98, 233mhz pentium II processor with 96 mb of memory!

I do apologize for the previous game and its' abandonment I do promise, however, this game is going to revolutionary to the TI assembly community! That's a promise! I have read several guides for learning, and am continueing to do so! (I have even read several books on this stuff!)

If you guys thought that my original idea for Final Fantasy Theta were "alright" or "good" or even "amazing!" -- just wait until you guys see the work on this! lol

Oh yeah, and one last thing, I am somewhat planning for this to end up being a three game series that I hope to continue working on all through college as well!

The first one: SOLDIER: The Forgotten Soul

The second one: SOLDIER: (I haven't thought of a good name yet...)

The Third, and final one: SOLDIER: Final Fantasy

I am sorry that I do not have anything to display as of now, however, any type of remarks or ideas that would like to be seen in this game are always appreciated. :)

I'm planning to incorporate sliding menus (menus that just don't magically *disappear*. They'll actually slide to and from off the screen )

And I really want to (most likely in the second game) create some type of engine that allows your partner to follow behind you. It's most likely to be a mage or a chocobo (like the old-school pokemon, where pikachu follows you around everywhere! )

EDIT: Just kidding, my flash drive has a copy of the Title ScreenShot and a really early copy of my source file. But... I can't release a copy of the source code, for obvious reasons. (it's not done and released yet!! )



I'll be back in just a couple of weeks! Sorry about the inconvienience!

[vanchagreen]

Very good! Sounds great!

[Liazon]

good to hear from you again CDI! it's nice you've learned ASM. it'll make this a pretty good project

[cjgone]

Nice without a computer for now, you get a good amount of time to plan out the game.

[TylerMcL]

Well, I've got my computer back for the day for reasons still unknown?? (parents are weird... )

So I was wondering if anyone could be able to help me out here:

-I'm looking for a program for windows that is better for source writing; as in comparison to Notepad. I once read about some type of program (maybe from asmguru??) that displayed how many clock cycles were counted and how many bytes the program is so far.

-Also, I'm very interested in learning how to design in greyscale. I have 85% of all the sprites designed, but it would be nice if I could make them greyscale. Does anybody know of any amazing tutorials on how to assemble greyscale? (Someone's source code that uses greyscale as well would be much appreciated )

EDIT:

*** OH YEAH!! Here's my big issue. I'm still pretty new with the whole assembly thing (obviously) so this last question is for all the "pro's" out there: Has someone yet created a movement system that uses sprites with the map -- as in like uses a "compressed" map to *buffer the actual screen. I'm not quite sure what I'm asking, but obviously using a Tilemap for all of the maps in this game would be most idiotic. Help?

[cjgone]

You can use something on the lines of NotePad++ for editing/writing. You can use an emulator to see how many bytes a program is or the real calc.

I don't think clockcycles are important in a game, but that's just me.




Atually greyscale is really easy to use if you don't want to understand the actual library (I use greyscale and I don't understand the library ).

In Greyscale there are two buffers, one called the dark plane, and one the light plane.

The library, using some cooler techniques, (in short) copies the dark plane to the LCD 2\3's of the time, while copying the light plane 1\3 of the time. By switching between the two buffers, 2 shades of grey can be made ( dark grey = 2\3s on screen, light grey= 1\3).

It doesn't really matter if that makes sense, but it would help if you understand. :P

If you had a sprite like:

[Liazon]

[TylerMcL]

what one is better:

-crimson editor
or
-Notepad++
??

I'm working on making the engine work for the smooth scrolling... It has not been going well at all... ugh, this is fun

[benryves]

I use Programmer's Notepad, myself. Good luck with the project!

[cjgone]

[TylerMcL]

So I'm having fun trying to center a 8*12 sprite in the middle of the screen... it's goin pretty good. But I have just a few more questions that maybe you guys would be able to help me with:

1. How in the heck do I map out a decent engine that allows for you not to run into things, yet be able to enter through doors, pass over bridges, walk over grass, and such?!? Ugh... I mean I'm sure I could do it while using tons of bytes, but what's a good way to do it without having a separate hit detection map?

2. So I'm also trying to display graphics (that I designed) along with text on the same screen. For example, on the title screen (the one where I have the logo with "new game" and "save game") when I code for it to copy the Soldier logo, then without refreshing the screen, try to display the text, it only displays the text -- not the picture! What the heck? Do I first have to "b_call(_GrBufCpy)" after copying the logo to the display memory, before I try to "b_call(_PutstrV)" or whatever the command is?

By the way, I decided to go with Notepad++ for editing. Very useful! And pleasing to the eyes :)

I'm also in the progress of downloading Asmsuite.zip. Supposedly it has functions designed for sprites, and making it all much easier. Yeah -- we'll see about that!

OH YEAH!!

3. I'm also going to create this game under the APPS menu on the calc, just for professional purposes. I'm really trying to look for some type of scholarship out of this... I'll be starting college next year, and working at circuit city and Arby's just isn't cutting it! (Or at least I'll have some type of example of interest for when applying to go to college to become a computer engineer )

EDIT: ASMSuite seems to be quite amazing for those still getting familiar with z80 commands! It has tons of pre-made control structures and sprite support, ect.

[cjgone]

Uh, if you use something like vputS it automatically copies the text to the graph screen. However, if the text is written to the home screen, it'll switch from the graph screen (can't see the title screen) and display the text.
I don't use text really, so I can't help their, sorry.


Anyway, a tile map is the way to go for writing an RPG (collision detection).

Basically, a tile map is a matrix \ grid that each element represents an image, called a tile, usually 8 pixels by 8 pixels. I'm not sure how much you know about tile maps, but i'll explain as if you have a good understanding. :D

Anyway, your main character has an x and y coordinate right? You need to find what tile your object resides on. You divide the x coordinate by 8 to find the collumn (down) tile and y by 8 to the find the tile row (across) ( ex, xcor = 15, ycor = 7 ... x \ 8 = 1rst column [ tile starts at 0], y \ 8 = 0th row)...... You would then find the pixel offsets using "and 07" (this is modulus 8 ).

Finally, you would then see what value lies in the square your going to and decide if you can move forward or not.

srry for the bad explanation, just woke up lol

A more instructive question would help a bit because an RPG game is quite complex...

You would need a tile map, a structure of objects, alligned and unalligned collision detection, 4 way smooth scrolling... Eekk, it goes on..

[Liazon]

order the tiles so that tiles in your tileset so that the ones you can't walk through are together. that way you can simply check if the tile index is greater than X; if it is, don't allow movement.

that's the simplest way. if you add more stuff, say locked doors, you need to get creative about how you choose your data structures. like any kind of programming, the choice of data structure can make it easier or make it a lot harder to program.

[TylerMcL]

so i just thought of a pretty crappy problem. My player sprites are 8*12. I have the complete set of player sprites (for the map movements) complete. For each of the four directions to move, I've made three different ones so it emulates smooth walking with the "smooth scrolling" (that I'm having a crap load of fun with ). Is having a 8*12 sprites for everything even worth the time to do?

Regardless, is there any amazing sprite sites that might be able to help me in my designing? So far I have 12 different enemies with different attack sprites for them. (for more of an "animation" effect, but without using alot of space.)

So does anyone want to assist me in designing some type of amazing battle sprite for the main character? I kinda want him to look like Zack/Cloud, but it doesn't really matter. As long as he has the giant Buster Sword. I just need some type of idea to work off of. I'm going to go all out on the battle animations. It's going to be nuts! Scrolling battle effects! Like the main character is actually going to *jump forward to attack, not just *appear next to the enemy!

Much appreciated!

EDIT:

Epiphany moment!! Wow! First of all, thanks to Weregoose for listening to my b****ing and for being amazingly resourceful and for helping me locate some map sprites that helped inspire me and provided some very useful ideas.

So I thought of the tactic that I wanted to use for the map. To save space on the tilemap, I'm going to hand code a smaller, more manageable tilemap. For example, each 64 by 96 map will be compressed to a 12 by 5.33333 map. I have no idea if anything like this has been done before, but this will also work for my hit detection. All of my sprites are going to be 8 by 12 and will clip off the "extra" bits and bytes.

Then what my routine is going to do is going to take the 8 bit number and use it as a "identifier" to be able to distinguish what 8 by 12 sprite needs to be displayed. It will then (obviously) take the sprite data and copy it to the LCD's memory location, respective of the position on the "downsized" tile-map and then copy it all to the screen!

This will also be perfect for the hit detection, because it will be able to tell if the sprite is a tree (that we do not feel like climbing) or if it is simply some plush grass (that we all feel like running and dashing through )

Yes, it is a lot of work, but I feel that I'm up to the challenge! This is why I find Assembly to be so fun! There's never a dull moment where I don't have an amazingly difficult challenge ahead of me!

Furthermore, I'm also planning out some type of compression method to be able to compress the horizontal 8 bits. I'm not quite sure of an efficient method of compression, so any help or references are always appreciated.

And as always: Sorry about the long posts! Sometimes I just get too excited and get carried away

[tr1p1ea]

What you are talking about is indeed a tilemap, though 8x12 sized tiles is a little out of the ordinary.

[TylerMcL]

well, out of the ordinary is my middle name! (well, it's actually Clarkson -- but whatever)

But I do suppose that you're right about the whole thing being a tilemap. This is just my first ASM game, and I wasn't sure if anyone had thought of the idea of "compressing" the tilemap. I always just thought that tilemap was just referring to a very large picture that scrolled.

[cjgone]

You probably want to worry about sprites later and get the engine going while you still have the spirit.

The excitement of z80 asm doesn't last forever.

[Liazon]

you could always use a 8x8 tile tilemap and just use a different part of the 8x12 sprite as your reference point for hit detection.

[TylerMcL]

so... I've been working on some map sprites and I discovered something new: I suck at pixel art I suppose that I could be worse, but hey -- whatever. So I guess I could give you guys a taste of what I've made.... But I just decided that there wouldn't be much fun in that. :P

But wait! Maybe some of you guys could help me! Yeah! That's right! I need help! (Wow, I'm gonna go insane one of these days ) So here's what I've got so far: (minus the enemy battle sprites)



But there's one condition: You cannot use these sprites!! I'm obviously not going to file a lawsuit if someone does, but let's try not to ruin the fun in my game now (yes, I'll admit, I took a few ideas from other sources, which should be obvious, but still!)

So I need a lot of help designing a castle! Or a cave. Or rocks. or anything! Give me some ideas people! What would you guys like to see? Anything that anyone would like to contribute?? (of course they'll be given proper credit!) Comments?

The two sprites in the top right corner are very early prototypes of what might become the main characters' sprite for battle sequences :/ I need to draw the buster sword with him still though...

[cjgone]

You shouldn't be doing godly sprites atm (yea, your sprites are pretty cool ), because the engine and game can take 5-12 months to write or even year(s).

If you aren't going to be dedicated to program this long, you are going to be wasting your time with the drawings.

Heed the warning and know what your stepping into. This is assembly: even the simplest thing can take an hour to write.

Have fun I guess, lol.