Wizard's Lair - [raxiss]

[rax]

Just gave a try and the game is great!
Once you find how to draw monsters into a trap, it all begins

Really great.

Two side questions:
- wouldn't all the details you provide in your inital post require a small "presentation" TAP file, like we had back then on side 1, then the game on side 2? I understand you've struggled finishing the game - so just asking
- is the whole game really packed in memory, or is there room for improvement in terme of memory occupation?

EDIT: reached floor ten

Thanks @Symoon

Unfortunately, I was not able to understand the questions well (I apologize for my English language).

if the first question is: "can a description be added to the first file" - the answer is "yes".

if the second question is: "have I really used all the available memory space" - the answer is also "yes". It is possible to correct a bug, but there is no possibility to add new things to the game. The free space left is several hundred bytes.
even i used the character definition area in graphics mode ($9800-$9ffff)

I was doing a lot of corrcetions before the game officially launched, and I'm not really sure how much space is left. But there was a point where I had exhausted the entire limit from $400 to $A000

[Dbug]

if the second question is: "have I really used all the available memory space" - the answer is also "yes". It is possible to correct a bug, but there is no possibility to add new things to the game. The free space left is several hundred bytes.
even i used the character definition area in graphics mode ($9800-$9ffff)

I was doing a lot of corrcetions before the game officially launched, and I'm not really sure how much space is left. But there was a point where I had exhausted the entire limit from $400 to $A000

I guess you still have the few bytes between the screen and the ROM, as well as the entire page 2.

Do you have a map file of the game?

[Chema]

I guess you still have the few bytes between the screen and the ROM, as well as the entire page 2.

Do you have a map file of the game?

I came here to say exactly the same. 256+ bytes can make a difference!

[rax]

I quickly look through the map files and after the last "cleaning" it turns out that there is free space (perhaps about 1k). From what i saw in the file, the last variable is 009ABB + 256 byte stack, maybe the occupied space is up to $9C00.

Apparently there is room for a few more things in the game

[rax]

If anyone has ideas for improvements, I'd love to hear them

[Chema]

I'm at my phone now, so I may be wrong, but I think the movement was done on a character basis. If you have room I'd add midsteps. It's only a visual thing, as it should not change any logic, simply draw the character movement in two steps, but might look terrific.

[Symoon]

- wouldn't all the details you provide in your inital post require a small "presentation" TAP file, like we had back then on side 1, then the game on side 2? I understand you've struggled finishing the game - so just asking

if the first question is: "can a description be added to the first file" - the answer is "yes".

Yes, I meant have an "introduction" program on the oric, explaining all you explained in your first post in this discussion
So you'd have two independant tape files:
1- introduction (instructions)
2- the game

Many games did that in the 80s, on the first side of a tape were the instructions, and on the second side, the game.

EDIT: or maybe, if you have 1kB free, include instructions in the game itself

[rax]

I'm at my phone now, so I may be wrong, but I think the movement was done on a character basis. If you have room I'd add midsteps. It's only a visual thing, as it should not change any logic, simply draw the character movement in two steps, but might look terrific.

This is a true. I tried to do it like this at first, but I can't remember why I gave up on that idea.
I think it really looks better. Here it is:

[rax]

- wouldn't all the details you provide in your inital post require a small "presentation" TAP file, like we had back then on side 1, then the game on side 2? I understand you've struggled finishing the game - so just asking

if the first question is: "can a description be added to the first file" - the answer is "yes".

Yes, I meant have an "introduction" program on the oric, explaining all you explained in your first post in this discussion
So you'd have two independant tape files:
1- introduction (instructions)
2- the game

Many games did that in the 80s, on the first side of a tape were the instructions, and on the second side, the game.

EDIT: or maybe, if you have 1kB free, include instructions in the game itself

Yes, it is possible. Actually the splash image of the game is a separate tap file. A description and story of the game can be entered in it file. I'm just not sure what exactly I should put in it.

The current version of the game consists of 3 files.
1. Basic loader that loads both files sequentially.
2. Title screen
3. The game

[Symoon]

I found a small display bug when using the colour switch:

Screen97.png (3.09 KiB) Viewed 8152 times

This was when switching from colour to monochrom, some colour remained.

[ibisum]

Beautiful game, would love to see how far animation goes in future updates .. makes a big difference to the eye-candy feel ..

[rax]

I found a small display bug when using the colour switch:
Screen97.png
This was when switching from colour to monochrom, some colour remained.

Thanks Symoon, i saw what the problem was, it will be fixed.

[Symoon]

Thanks Symoon, i saw what the problem was, it will be fixed.

You're welcome, great news!
I played a bit more and hadn't noticed at first how the game is actually incredibly well designed:
- loads of animations
- using objects spends half a trun it seems
- sounds are just excellent (especially the breaking jar)
- menus and floating sentences
- random ground appearance (some are harder than others!)

Edit: finished the 33th floor

[rax]

Edit: finished the 33th floor

Congratulations!
I didn't believe anyone would make it to the end of the game

[Dbug]

Without "cheating", or using saved states in the emulator ?