My CPCRetroDev2015 entry - RUN"CPC"

[ervin]

Yep, I sure hope so!
I've got 7 days left to finish this thing!

[Gryzor]

Go, go, GO!

[ervin]

Yes yes yes!!!
I've added some level layouts to the first level, and I'm really excited to say that it works really well!

It's very fast and very difficult, but the frustration is balanced out by the angry desire to do better!
So I think some people will like the game a lot, and some people will hate it. And that's perfectly ok.


I personally think it's going to be a pretty good game, and I'm very glad (and relieved) about that.

I'm actually hoping that at least one CPC user out there will like it enough that they will want to take turns with a friend, to see who can get the best score.
I'm certainly aiming for a very competitive high-score chaser style of game.

And for the first time, I'm feeling confident with the time I have left as well.

[Singaja]

Keeping my fingers crossed for your final sprint and looking forward to play it on real CPC :-)

[ervin]

Keeping my fingers crossed for your final sprint and looking forward to play it on real CPC :-)

Thanks.


It works nicely on my real CPC.

[ervin]

ONE OBSTACLE LEFT TO DO!!!
But I need sleep...

I've got just over 900 bytes left to squeeze the exomized data for the last obstacle into...
I can't believe I'm almost there.

I've got 9 obstacles so far, and I've always wanted 10, so I've just about achieved that.
I'm not sure they all look particularly good, and I'm worried that I'm not the best person to judge the gameplay and difficulty level.
Some obstacle types are a bit easier to navigate than others.
(I've playtested this game so much, that I can no longer tell if it is too hard/easy).

Oh well, it is what it is.
I just hope other people enjoy it... soon now...

[ervin]

... aaaaaaand the final obstacle is in!!!

YEEEEEEHAAAAAAA!!!


Just managed to fit it into the remaining RAM!

Now I've got a little bit of time for playtesting/tweaking the level layouts.
Then I've gotta put together the documentation and other bits and pieces, to meet the comp requirements.

I can't wait to show this game to you all.

[AMSDOS]

Congratulations! 

[ervin]

FINISHED!!!


I have a couple of days left to gather all the other competition requirements together.
But at last, the game is done.

[TFM]

AWESOME!!!!! 

[ervin]

[Gryzor]

Ooooh yeah. Too bad I won't have time today...


Can you up it to the Downloads section?

[ervin]

Ooooh yeah. Too bad I won't have time today...
Can you up it to the Downloads section?

I'd love to, but I'm not allowed to upload it anywhere until the competition is over.
I'm bursting with excitement for you all to see the game!

[reidrac]

I'd love to, but I'm not allowed to upload it anywhere until the competition is over.
I'm bursting with excitement for you all to see the game!

The embargo is until October 31st, isn't it?

After that you'll be free to distribute the game

[Gryzor]

Psssst!


Just send it to my email. Nobody needs to know!

[ervin]

The embargo is until October 31st, isn't it?
After that you'll be free to distribute the game

Yes, I think that is correct.

[ervin]

Psssst!

Just send it to my email. Nobody needs to know!

I would so very much love to do just that.
Sorry man, I've gotta wait just a *bit* longer.

[ervin]

It is done.

RUNCPC (along with all the required support material) has been uploaded to the competition website.
Tomorrow night, I will go to sleep at a normal hour!


I can't believe I actually went through with all of this and succeeded!
I am *so* excited!

It's the weirdest feeling actually... for 4 months I've been working very hard on this project, and now it's gone.
It's out there, no longer mine...

Very strange feeling.

[TFM]

Time to think about a level editor then ...    Good luck! But for technical achievement you shall win anyway! 

[cpc4eva]

all the best Erv man cant wait to see the retro dev results and cant wait till we are allowed to play it 

[ervin]

Time to think about a level editor then ...    Good luck! But for technical achievement you shall win anyway! 

Thanks man.


I don't think a level editor will be happening.
I have less than 100 bytes left, the way the program is now.

In any case, putting new obstacles in is quite complex.
I've written a number of tools (using Blitz3D!) during RUNCPC's development, including a program that automatically resizes an obstacle's fully zoomed image into the other sizes required, and another program that converts each of those images into tile reference lists.

Those tools are not very user friendly.


On top of that, the obstacle definitions (i.e. tile reference lists) are exomized, and then stored in specific locations in my main .BIN file.
The exomized obstacles also contain level layout data.

So I'm afraid a level editor is probably unlikely.


I think I'll pause my CPC dev for a little while now, though I would like to send a Bresenham's routine (as well as a PLOT routine) to ronaldo, for possible inclusion in cpctelera...

[ervin]

all the best Erv man cant wait to see the retro dev results and cant wait till we are allowed to play it 

Thanks man.


Still feeling really weird this morning.
I don't know if it's the anticipation, the relief, or the fact that the thing I've been laser-focused on for 4 months is now over, and I won't know what to do with myself!

[TFM]

Sorry for derailing here, but I guess the experts about CPCTelera do read here.... So what does CPCTelera actually target? Is it the CPC hardware directly? The firmware? Does need some parts of the old OS?
My apologies for the question, but I'm not into PC stuff or C. 

[Singaja]

I know CPCTelera offers some optimized routines to replace the firmware ones for tiles and such. Disabling the firmware is optional I reckon.

[ronaldo]

@TFM: Referring to the low-level library, CPCtelera directly speaks to hardware. The only "firmware" part it provides is an implementation of the putchar function to let you use C's printf function without any problem.

Everything is written in ASM. You can navigate and check source code directly at github.