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[TI-84+ Series Hybrid BASIC] Sorcery of Uvutu (Released!)

Started by 123outerme, October 15, 2015, 10:35:37 PM

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123outerme

Project update: For those of you who are testers, I sent out the latest build that fixed a lot of bugs. You got the PM explaining it.

For those who are just browsing, I'm about 90% done with the project. I have worlds 1-7 completely finished (have to do some testing to know if they're all working but I have no reason to suspect they aren't), all sprites, enemies, etc. are all completed, and all game systems are fully functioning and balanced. All I have left to do is create World 8, add the necessary assets, add a satisfying ending screen, add an intriguing "New File information dump" screen, and do a test playthrough. After I release the game, I will release various data such as move explanations, world maps (these include tons of spoilers, so I'd look at these at your own risk), etc.

Given the time I have available to me due to semester exams approaching, lots of homework to do (for some reason), and various other life stuff, I aim to release it next week, with a possible release time this weekend. I'm very excited for release, feedback, and traffic my game will be getting at that time, since it won't be locked into private beta anymore. This is the largest project I've ever taken up. It's taken me the longest to develop, the most art to create (actually it was the first time I actually made art for a game), the most depth I've ever had in a title, etc. I'm very proud of it, and it seems that sort of quality, to me, that would feel right at home on the NES. Of course, the memory limitation and 8x8 pixel graphics help that feel too.  :P
And don't worry, post-launch sentimental posts are coming. You have been warned. I will say "thanks" or some varation of that word at least 340945690 times.
  • Calculators owned: TI-84+CSE, TI-nspire Clickpad, TI-84+SE

p4nix

Quote from: 123outerme on January 10, 2017, 09:14:22 PM
I will say "thanks" or some varation of that word at least 340945690 times.

I will count on that. Besides that, good luck with the missing 10%, keep rocking! ;)
  • Calculators owned: fx9860GII (SH4)

123outerme

Quote from: p4nix on January 10, 2017, 09:17:59 PM
Quote from: 123outerme on January 10, 2017, 09:14:22 PM
I will say "thanks" or some varation of that word at least 340945690 times.

I will count on that. Besides that, good luck with the missing 10%, keep rocking! ;)
Thanks! I definitely will. As the 90% implies, most of the extremely hard work is far, far behind me already.
  • Calculators owned: TI-84+CSE, TI-nspire Clickpad, TI-84+SE

Dream of Omnimaga

I'm sure a bunch of people (assuming we still have CSE owners around) would like to try this game. Glad it is nearing completion :). I will try the latest version as soon as I find time (where I am not half-asleep, that is). Hopefully you can manage to finish the game before school becomes too demanding.

Also after the game is done, I hope to eventually see a CE version of Doors CSE, as the game audience would shoot up instantly (although I think the scrolling transition before battles might look different?).


:3=
  • Calculators owned: TI-82 Advanced Edition Python TI-84+ TI-84+CSE TI-84+CE TI-84+CEP TI-86 TI-89T cfx-9940GT fx-7400G+ fx 1.0+ fx-9750G+ fx-9860G fx-CG10 HP 49g+ HP 39g+ HP 39gs (bricked) HP 39gII HP Prime G1 HP Prime G2 Sharp EL-9600C
  • Consoles, mobile devices and vintage computers owned: Huawei P30 Lite, Moto G 5G, Nintendo 64 (broken), Playstation, Wii U

123outerme

#154
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on January 11, 2017, 07:32:52 AM
I'm sure a bunch of people (assuming we still have CSE owners around) would like to try this game. Glad it is nearing completion :). I will try the latest version as soon as I find time (where I am not half-asleep, that is). Hopefully you can manage to finish the game before school becomes too demanding.

Also after the game is done, I hope to eventually see a CE version of Doors CSE, as the game audience would shoot up instantly (although I think the scrolling transition before battles might look different?).


:3=
For the CE version, I'd probably release it without the scrolling transition.
Unfortunately, I think the game's size has gotten too large again. I'm presented with 4 options: Optimize it myself, ask/get someone else to help, go the easy route and delete the DCSE icon, or give up (obviously the 4th one isn't going to happen; I'm so close). Not quite sure which one to do yet. For testing purposes, I'll probably just delete the DCSE icon, but I'll try to figure out another way. I've already tried using a launcher, but the way the game handles even the main menu screen means that it just exits upon selecting an option.

UPDATE:
Problem solved. Thanks to DJ Omnimaga, kotu, and c4ooo, I've fixed the problem and even reduced the number of files needed! Unfortunately, though, talking to a regular townsperson (aka has no function other than dialogue) has a 2-3 second delay from the bubble popping up (immediately after pressing 2nd) to the text appearing. It's either that, or the game won't run. I had to do what I had to do.
Edit to the update: Nevermind. I just put the strings in a new AppVar, in the beginning lines, and it's only about a half-second delay. But I removed one of the data AppVars, essentially.
  • Calculators owned: TI-84+CSE, TI-nspire Clickpad, TI-84+SE

Dream of Omnimaga

#155
Yeah the thing is: Never put your text/map/enemy data inside the main program. It has to remain archived at any time and when you need it, you copy the data you need to RAM. Also battle files must be archived when you're not in a battle, menu must be archived when not in it, the title screen and intro must be archived when not used and the walking engine must be archvied when inside the menu or battle. As for speed issues such data searching might cause, splitting it into multiple sub-programs or If/Then/Return/End blocks usually helps. Glad you got it solved. I downloaded the game now and I will try later (from scratch, so I can see the changes and stuff)


EDIT: Bug reports D:

1: Weird, when I leveled up the first time, after allocating 1 pt to speed, the next text window said "..NUMSTNG" O.O or something. I also noticed it also says that when I talk to the upgrade guy after I already upgraded.
2: Also another issue is that the main character now flickers non-stop, which didn't happen before.
3: Also I noticed a bug when saving+continuing: If you warp to a different world just before saving, it won't teleport so you'll appear on the wrong map.
4: I get ERR:INVALID DIMENSION when picking the treasure chest just after the second boss (in the Dragon's Den)
5: When you reload your game from last save, the items you picked up after you saved are not reset back to their previous state. For example, that treasure chest that gave me a DIM error is now gone and this is what I see in the item menu:



6: It seems I can no longer find any new skills and the 2nd upgrade guy also says NUMSTNG. And it seems I can no longer open any treasure chests either now. ALl of them give me a DIM error
  • Calculators owned: TI-82 Advanced Edition Python TI-84+ TI-84+CSE TI-84+CE TI-84+CEP TI-86 TI-89T cfx-9940GT fx-7400G+ fx 1.0+ fx-9750G+ fx-9860G fx-CG10 HP 49g+ HP 39g+ HP 39gs (bricked) HP 39gII HP Prime G1 HP Prime G2 Sharp EL-9600C
  • Consoles, mobile devices and vintage computers owned: Huawei P30 Lite, Moto G 5G, Nintendo 64 (broken), Playstation, Wii U

123outerme

#156
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on January 12, 2017, 03:23:09 AM
EDIT: Bug reports D:

1: Weird, when I leveled up the first time, after allocating 1 pt to speed, the next text window said "..NUMSTNG" O.O or something. I also noticed it also says that when I talk to the upgrade guy after I already upgraded.
2: Also another issue is that the main character now flickers non-stop, which didn't happen before.
3: Also I noticed a bug when saving+continuing: If you warp to a different world just before saving, it won't teleport so you'll appear on the wrong map.
4: I get ERR:INVALID DIMENSION when picking the treasure chest just after the second boss (in the Dragon's Den)
5: When you reload your game from last save, the items you picked up after you saved are not reset back to their previous state. For example, that treasure chest that gave me a DIM error is now gone and this is what I see in the item menu:



6: It seems I can no longer find any new skills and the 2nd upgrade guy also says NUMSTNG. And it seems I can no longer open any treasure chests either now. ALl of them give me a DIM error
Thanks for the advice! As for the bugs:
1. I just checked and it looks like I fixed that on my build. I think I already updated the zip file, so I would say download it again. Sorry for the confusion, I had just sent so many builds,  and I didn't want to send another one just after 0.92.
2. Is this on the emulator? I've noticed the emulator flickers a lot, but on calc on my build, it's fine for me. If you keep seeing this, let me know where and when.
3. I'll keep testing this and send out a fix soon, thanks.
4. This was another error I believe I already fixed. If you still have this after redownloading, let me knot
5. That's because it saves the item and removes the chest from the world, and it's not meant to crash. Once 4 is fixed, this will be too.
6. I believe I already fixed this issue too, but I'll keep testing. Edit: Nope. On mobile atm, will fix later
Sorry about the confusion again. Right after I sent out the build, I wanted to do a play through, then saw and fixed all these errors. You must have downloaded before I was finished. That was mismanagement on my part.
  • Calculators owned: TI-84+CSE, TI-nspire Clickpad, TI-84+SE

Dream of Omnimaga

About 5, aren't chest states supposed to be reset when you reload your saved game?
  • Calculators owned: TI-82 Advanced Edition Python TI-84+ TI-84+CSE TI-84+CE TI-84+CEP TI-86 TI-89T cfx-9940GT fx-7400G+ fx 1.0+ fx-9750G+ fx-9860G fx-CG10 HP 49g+ HP 39g+ HP 39gs (bricked) HP 39gII HP Prime G1 HP Prime G2 Sharp EL-9600C
  • Consoles, mobile devices and vintage computers owned: Huawei P30 Lite, Moto G 5G, Nintendo 64 (broken), Playstation, Wii U

123outerme

#158
Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on January 12, 2017, 05:24:55 PM
About 5, aren't chest states supposed to be reset when you reload your saved game?
It doesn't reset since I knew there was no way to reset the item gained from the chest (since the only place I can store the new item is directly on the save file), so I figured the only way to stop people On-breaking and farming for items in chests, was to remove the chest from the world after the item was collected. In the system where it isn't supposed to crash, this should be seamless and not cause issues, since even if you On-break the game (unless it's timed perfectly), nothing will happen except your previous save file magically has the item, and chest is removed.

Anyways, fixed both issues now. I'll send another 0.92 build out now.
  • Calculators owned: TI-84+CSE, TI-nspire Clickpad, TI-84+SE

123outerme

#159
I haven't updated with a screenshot in a while so I figured I'd do it after changing the status bar to something a little more useful:



That's right, it's got health there now (Thanks to a year-old request of DJ Omnimaga's)! And when your health gets to >=30%, the normal yellow color will turn red to signify you need healing. On top of that, I demonstrated some of the older stuff again such as talking to NPCs, the menu, and saving.

Update:
Another screenshot! This time, I've implemented the "intro exposition dump". Let me know if you like the color of the background and text.

(Hidden not really hidden message somewhere in there [hint: the name])
  • Calculators owned: TI-84+CSE, TI-nspire Clickpad, TI-84+SE

Dream of Omnimaga

Oooh I like the changes and additions. Having the HP displayed will be very handy :)

As for chests was the decision to not store collected items inside save files due to lack of RAM?
  • Calculators owned: TI-82 Advanced Edition Python TI-84+ TI-84+CSE TI-84+CE TI-84+CEP TI-86 TI-89T cfx-9940GT fx-7400G+ fx 1.0+ fx-9750G+ fx-9860G fx-CG10 HP 49g+ HP 39g+ HP 39gs (bricked) HP 39gII HP Prime G1 HP Prime G2 Sharp EL-9600C
  • Consoles, mobile devices and vintage computers owned: Huawei P30 Lite, Moto G 5G, Nintendo 64 (broken), Playstation, Wii U

123outerme

Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on January 14, 2017, 12:10:38 AM
Oooh I like the changes and additions. Having the HP displayed will be very handy :)

As for chests was the decision to not store collected items inside save files due to lack of RAM?
I thought so too. Having the HP immediately visible instead of only in the Stats screen will probably make people more vigilant of their health, reducing unfair deaths, I would assume.

As for the chests, I store the collected items only and straight to the save file, nowhere else. This is because storing it straight to the save file saves a lot of RAM; creating and using a custom list just for that one purpose was decidedly not worth it. I think this because it would add extra time to the saving screen and be more restrictive on the limit of how big the game files in RAM can be. If someone is playing the game I designed (aka no crashes, errors, or glitches), then this design choice wouldn't be noticed.
  • Calculators owned: TI-84+CSE, TI-nspire Clickpad, TI-84+SE

123outerme

It's been a long ride, but I've finally gotten to Release Candidate stage! Together, with me and the people who generously donated their time to helping me test my game, I've gotten Sorcery of Uvutu to the final stage of the game development cycle. If I really needed/wanted to, I would be perfectly okay releasing the game as is. However, I prefer to wait for my testers to report their feedback and assure the quality of this product I've made. I'm so glad to have made it here!
(And no, this is not the touchy-feely post yet, that'll come when I release :P )
  • Calculators owned: TI-84+CSE, TI-nspire Clickpad, TI-84+SE

Dream of Omnimaga

  • Calculators owned: TI-82 Advanced Edition Python TI-84+ TI-84+CSE TI-84+CE TI-84+CEP TI-86 TI-89T cfx-9940GT fx-7400G+ fx 1.0+ fx-9750G+ fx-9860G fx-CG10 HP 49g+ HP 39g+ HP 39gs (bricked) HP 39gII HP Prime G1 HP Prime G2 Sharp EL-9600C
  • Consoles, mobile devices and vintage computers owned: Huawei P30 Lite, Moto G 5G, Nintendo 64 (broken), Playstation, Wii U

123outerme

I am extremely glad to be announcing; Sorcery of Uvutu is finally released! I am completely done with everything; gameplay, mechanics, graphics, and the experience! Thank you to my testers for making my life easier. It wouldn't have made it this far without them. Even if you only tested for a short time, your contributions still mattered. Thank you to everyone who has posted in my topics, your support, kind words, and suggestions mean the world to me. As such, I am proud to present my newest, most ambitious, and most refined title, Sorcery of Uvutu!

You can find the download in the original post.
  • Calculators owned: TI-84+CSE, TI-nspire Clickpad, TI-84+SE

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