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Trundle's Trials - a map of a 2016 game I made in Jonathan Cauldwell's awesome AGD


Sendy The Endless

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This is pretty much ready to be released, I just need to get a basic title screen and loader because at the moment the AY sound doesn't work. Apart from that, the game is fully completed. It's pretty much just a 1985-style platformer, but it's mine, and the AGD tool was so easy to use that I was able to do quite a few cool things that surprised me!

BigMap Cropped.png

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That looks good.

I did purchase (many moons ago) PGD and SEUD although I never got time to really use them, other than a quick "Its not JSW" and "its not MM" , with a few screens/caverns of each. SEUD I had ideas for but it may be best to use something more cross platform perhaps.

Interesting to see it when its released. 🙂 If you want any loader help etc let me know.

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Thanks Spider! I bought PGD as well but found it a bit limited. AGD on the other hand, has been expanded and expanded, has it's own procedural coding system that even *I* can use to make creative stuff, you can make your own block and enemy interactions and stuff... You're limited to about 30-50 screens, it uses run-length compression so you can make bigger games if you're less obsessive about adding little details and background details. It's up there with JSWED as the best 8-bit platformer making tools!

His site: https://jonathan-cauldwell.itch.io/

Edited by Sendy The Endless
To add his site: https://jonathan-cauldwell.itch.io/
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Sendy, 

6 hours ago, Sendy The Endless said:

This is pretty much ready to be released, I just need to get a basic title screen and loader because at the moment the AY sound doesn't work. 

A very nice map! It should definitely be released!

What exactly is the problem? Did you fail to create the title screen and the loader because you didn't know how to do it or because you didn't feel like doing it?

Do you know why the AY sound doesn't work? Is it related to the loader?

I haven't ever worked with AGD, so my questions may reveal lack of experience with this tool. I'm just trying to understand the situation related to "Trundle's Trials" and what exactly stops it from being released 🙂 .

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It's been a while, but as far as I know the .tap file AGD spits out when you're done goes back to basic once you game over. The AY sound not working may be due to the fact that AGD games are 48k-based, but I was quite pleased with the few sound effects I made. I could easily replace these with beeper effects, which would make the whole thing a neater 48k package.

AFAIK A simple basic program with some graphics and text and a wait loop that then runs the game again with a POKE is what is needed. I plan to have a bit of blurb about the "story" and am writing that now. The graphics will just be pictures and cute descriptions of the items you need to collect. I can send the files out to anyone on here who is interested in playtesting, or just looking at it.

EDIT: Here's a mockup of the info I'd like to include on the title screen. The bottom "story" blurb could be relegated to the loading screen, a text file, or whatever, but I enjoyed thinking up silly satirical names for the items you have to collect : )

Trundle Title Text.png

Edited by Sendy The Endless
Add mock-up title screen text and blurb
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Assuming there's spare memory you could build two or three screens of information containing those graphics and text (save as screen$ if needed) , compress them and then simply call them or USR them before the game code, with a wait for a keypress between.

^ Not the neatest way but quickest assuming there is sufficient free space.

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According to AGD I've pretty much used up every last byte, but if I can get it to spit out a 128k file, that will be no issue at all. Might even be able to get some Soundtracker music playing (I am an avid chiptune composer), and the 48k version could possibly have a simpler title screen.

The graphics for the items might be able to be read directly from the game, I'm not sure if AGD compresses them (though it may well do).

I believe AGD works in 128k mode and uses one half of the memory for your game, and the other half for the editor. Seamless editing/testing design cycle! It's all so generously clever! It would have been a best-seller back in the late 80s. Now I'm wondering when the 128 came out...

Edited by Sendy The Endless
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I can't recall where the AGD 'output' code starts at, but there may be space below that for the intro screen. You can overwrite them anyway with the game code, if there's two, maybe:

Loader

Load one screen

Load game code

Load other screen (if space below AGD)

Pause for a bit

Run game

 

Likely to be able to compress AGD too but that could be messy.

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