Spectrum Computing

oblo wrote: ↑Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:28 pm This is awesome! Just tried the PostedPeril Demo and with something like this, a lot of dreamed-games can come true
BTW, did you considered to use a mouse driver like this or this?

Thanks [mention]oblo[/mention] for your kind comment! In regards to a mouse driver, I may implement one. I'm trying to avoid touching the engine code now, so that I can focus on the game itself, but if I can get it working quickly enough, then there will be Kempston mouse support.

This has gone a long way. from the initial screens.

Hoping to see this finished in the near future.

I agree.
Looking forward to writing a game with this - I'll probably write a Reality-On-The-Norm game (an old Adventure Game Studio group project).
But only if the movement controls are customizable to ZXKM.

So we can start work, what are the maximum main character sprite dimensions?
Here's Mika Huy, reporter for the Realizer, reduced to 40px high:

Kweepa wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2019 12:08 am I agree.
Looking forward to writing a game with this - I'll probably write a Reality-On-The-Norm game (an old Adventure Game Studio group project).
But only if the movement controls are customizable to ZXKM.

So we can start work, what are the maximum main character sprite dimensions?
Here's Mika Huy, reporter for the Realizer, reduced to 40px high:

The maximum dimensions for any frame is 32x16 characters (so 256x128 characters). Of course, this is if memory will permit, as the amount of memory a frame will take can be calculated using the formula m = 2wh + 2, where w is the width and h is the height.

Your graphics might not work too well, though, as the game display is an emulated character mode. This means that all of the backgrounds and frames are built up of tiles from a universal character-set (of 255 characters, with one reserved for blank). This measure is necessary in order to reduce the memory used by graphics. Those three sprites above would make up 30 characters in the set, or about 12%. You may want to reconsider redesigning the graphics, perhaps making them bigger so that they can be designed around the character block limits.

Ah yes, I see. I'd be willing to use up half my character set to realize the main character!
(Any progress on the engine?)

Kweepa wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2019 9:22 pm Ah yes, I see. I'd be willing to use up half my character set to realize the main character!
(Any progress on the engine?)

Version 1.0 of the engine (for Postie's Peril) is finished. However, after that game is done, I want to make some changes to the code - there are some ugly hacks in there (both the engine and the game's logic scripts) due to me forgetting to include certain things in the original design.

PROSM wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2019 9:49 pm Version 1.0 of the engine (for Postie's Peril) is finished.

Is it available somewhere?

I would like to add it to our archive!

Einar Saukas wrote: ↑Sat Aug 28, 2021 11:35 pm

PROSM wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2019 9:49 pm Version 1.0 of the engine (for Postie's Peril) is finished.

Is it available somewhere?

I would like to add it to our archive!

Wow, this is quite a necropost!

I must admit that I stopped working on ZAD after December 2019, due to a lack of motivation. It was going to be a lot of work, since the engine was going to be restructured, and I needed to write an editor program and compiler. In its current state, you can only write your games by hand, with a set of PASMO macros acting as the scripting language. As such, I'm not sure how useful it would be to anyone, but I can always upload it (plus the source code for the Postie's Peril demo) for historical interest. I'll need a bit of time to make sure it's all properly documented, though.

I might yet return to ZAD at some point in the future, with the experience I've gained, but for now I have other projects which are coming along quite well.