SQRXZ for TI-84+CE ti-84+ce

[JamesV]

EDIT:
Download Sqrxz CE v1.0.0
Download Sqrxz World Editor v1.0.0 (for Windows)


I've had this on my to-do list for a while now, and seeing as I haven't made much progress with my other projects for a few months, I figured now is a good time. I contacted Jimmy Mardell who gave me his blessing, so I'm using the source code from his TI-86 version from 1998 (which in turn was an adaption of the Amiga/PC game) and adding/changing as required to suit the CE.

When finished, the game will play any of the TI-83(+)/85/86 worlds that people have created over the past 18 years. I'm using 16x16 tiles & sprites (taken from the PC version) to make a play screen of 240x128, plus status bars & information at the top/bottom of the screen.

The game will run any existing .8xp Sqrxz worlds, but I'll also be including a converter program to convert any .8xp, .83p or .86s worlds to .8xv app vars. That way, you can play any TI-83, TI-83+ or TI-86 worlds on your TI-84+CE and not clog up your programs list with the old .8xp files. I'm also considering writing a new level editor (for Windows).

Here's a quick screenshot. Not a whole lot happens yet, just shows the level and can scroll through. Many of the tile sprites are still missing (hence lots of junk on screen), but I'm working through those now.

[xlibman]

Wow, I'm happy to see this being ported to the CE. It was very popular on older calculator models and reached some notoriety outside the calculator world. Keep up the good work

[JamesV]

It was super popular back in the day! Hopefully it will be enjoyed on the CE

I've added the rest of the tile sprites and the title image. There is still a little junk showing in levels, which is just the player & enemy spawn points.

[xlibman]

Looks very good. Will you add some enhancements such as  maybe sky gradient to spice it up further by the way? A gradient would definitively look cool

[p2]

that's a pretty strong contrast between the blocks and the background...
if they were darker, too, you could actually get a pertty creepy dark atmosphere inside this game (expecting skeletons and zombies) ^^

onestly it looks really nice, looking forward to your next gif ^.^

[JamesV]

Looks very good. Will you add some enhancements such as  maybe sky gradient to spice it up further by the way? A gradient would definitively look cool

Some kind of gradient or parallax scrolling background would be great, and are on my list of things to investigate down the track. I haven't immediately thought of a way to do it without losing a lot of performance, but I haven't really thought much into it yet either

that's a pretty strong contrast between the blocks and the background...
if they were darker, too, you could actually get a pertty creepy dark atmosphere inside this game (expecting skeletons and zombies) ^^

onestly it looks really nice, looking forward to your next gif ^.^

The tile sprites are the original graphics from the PC game, and the enemies are Blobs, Hedgehogs, Piranhas, Bats and a running Green Man

I haven't done a whole lot over the last week (been too busy Xmas shopping and playing Minecraft), but here's a quick visual update. Just general movement testing, still no animations or enemies implemented.

[xlibman]

Very nice update. Also I love that title screen The game also looks very smooth.

[p2]

^yess it lookes very good, I loke that weid dark atmosphere of it ^.^
I'm not sure, but maybe you want to add some kind of vertical scrolling when the character jumps out of the screen on top...

[JamesV]

A little more progress (although I keep getting distracted on this Minecraft CTM map I've been playing for the last month or so), but Sqrxz transparency is now done as well as tile animations/changes, collecting items, etc. Also, the "time" and "air" bars are now there and working

[Lionel Debroux]

That looks quite good, keep going

[xlibman]

The tile animations make this look even greater

Do you have any mockups for an HUD other than the life bars so far? Maybe you should add a border around the map like in early Ys games:

[p2]

such a frame is a great idea
But make sure it's just as dark as the rest of the game


Buuut I'm actually worried about aone part:
if he addds a border around it, the screen will get even smaller.
Then he would deefinitely have to implement y-scrolling.

[tr1p1ea]

I think DJ suggested a border since the gameplay area is already smaller than the total screen size ... a way to make the unused space more appealing.

[p2]

uuuh right im sorry didnt see that
in that case I would recommend adding the border, but also moving down everything 1 block (even the status bars) so the actual scren will be +1 lines in height. (so ur still visible if you jump out of the screen)

[JamesV]

Do you have any mockups for an HUD other than the life bars so far? Maybe you should add a border around the map like in early Ys games

I haven't done any mockups, but it's planned to be fairly similar to the original PC game. In terms of the size of the play screen vs. having a border, etc. I've got a few ideas about maintaining compatibility with existing Sqrxz worlds but also allowing for a larger play screen for newer worlds...