Coming soon: SOPHIA II

People are still making stuff for the Sinclair related machines. Tell us about new games and other software that runs on the Spectrum, ZX80/ZX81, Pentagon and Next.
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Alessandro
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Coming soon: SOPHIA II

Post by Alessandro »

Hello everybody!

Last year, among other things (real life etc.), I was working to a new title.

Then I saw some very interesting things going on in the ZX-Dev competition, and I wondered, "Why not?"

Actually, in the past I thought about an enhanced remake of one of the very first games I played on the Spectrum (on the 16K, no less): Matthew Smith's Styx.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyIE_fK_Upo

Then I decided to leave what I was already doing aside for a while and do something completely different. And what's better than adding a new chapter to the beloved wizard girl's adventures?

So, without further ado, here is Sophia II, which is both the sequel to the successful Sophia and a remake of Styx.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaP50u2vXQI

The game has been examined thoroughly, and now only the final step is to be taken - test on real hardware. Once that is done, it will be available for download from my website, and later from the Spectrum Computing archive, as usual. Game and documentation will be available in six languages: Italian, English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese. TAP, TZX and TRD file formats to cater for everbody's (well, almost!) needs.

To celebrate the event, today I released Sophia version 1.1, so if you missed it back then, or just want to play it again, go get it!
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Ersh
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Re: Coming soon: SOPHIA II

Post by Ersh »

Oh, this looks so good, can't wait! :D
Ralf
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Re: Coming soon: SOPHIA II

Post by Ralf »

Pretty stuff Allessandro! You have a talent of making AGD games that don't look AGD at all, and believe me, it's a compliment ;)

The only thing, I'm not so sure about is music. Yes, I know it's a classical piece but after 5 mnutes of playing I would be probably totally fed up with it ;)
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Juan F. Ramirez
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Re: Coming soon: SOPHIA II

Post by Juan F. Ramirez »

Looks impressive!
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Alessandro
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Re: Coming soon: SOPHIA II

Post by Alessandro »

Ralf wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 10:50 am Pretty stuff Allessandro! You have a talent of making AGD games that don't look AGD at all, and believe me, it's a compliment ;)
Thank you Ralf! In fact I try to make them that way :lol:
Ralf wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 10:50 am The only thing, I'm not so sure about is music. Yes, I know it's a classical piece but after 5 mnutes of playing I would be probably totally fed up with it ;)
Please wait until you hear the whole track, what you hear in the video is just an extract - the total length being 2'43". Honestly, I think my rendition of Rossini's William Tell ouverture final is better than most sort-of-pseudo-techno-drill-into-my-ears stuff you hear around these days ;)
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druellan
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Re: Coming soon: SOPHIA II

Post by druellan »

Alessandro wrote: Sat Feb 02, 2019 9:28 am Actually, in the past I thought about an enhanced remake of one of the very first games I played on the Spectrum (on the 16K, no less): Matthew Smith's Styx.
Oh, that's an interesting one!
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R-Tape
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Re: Coming soon: SOPHIA II

Post by R-Tape »

Looks terrific! I don't think I would have guessed Styxx if you hadn't said so.
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Alessandro
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Re: Coming soon: SOPHIA II

Post by Alessandro »

R-Tape wrote: Sun Feb 03, 2019 8:47 am Looks terrific! I don't think I would have guessed Styxx if you hadn't said so.
Thanks Dave! Yes, it's a noticeably enhanced remake :lol: Due to this, I had to follow the structure of the original game, i.e.:
  • first level - maze with a giant spider at the end
  • second level - underwater (there was no final enemy at the end of it in Styx so I devised one)
  • third level - platforms and ladders with the Grim Reaper as the final boss.
I hope you all will enjoy this new chapter of the princess-magician's adventures ;)

For now, I am in the stage of playtesting, and thanks to Ersh, the game will also be released in Swedish initially - that's a whopping 7 different languages! Yay! :D
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