Another tool to help make my new Spectrum game

My game development is progressing well, with the “TODO” list quickly getting smaller. I have one important function to write that I know will take some time. For now I have put that to one side and concentrated on getting the rest of the game finished. One feature of the game is the various text messages that need to be shown between levels etc. As I am using a cut down list of characters it was easier to create a tool to convert them. It was about an hour’s work to create the conversion tool shown below. It has a few more features than are really needed but it seemed like a good time to add them. No need to get out the calculator to work out the screen and attribute addresses. In the next few days I will pass the game to my tester. I can then start on the last big function and look to fix and bugs the appear during testing. The final chunk of work will just be the polishing and the replacement of the placeholder graphics.

Updating the tool for my games levels

I found some time to update the program that I will use to design my game levels. I fixed a few small bugs and added some new features. The status bar now shows the currently selected shape name and the total number of shapes used. I have also added a print option that will print a giant map of all the levels defined in a text file. I have expanded the raw data comment so that the grid can be resized and redrawn if I need to edit a previous design. Once all the levels have been added to a text file, it is loaded and the levels spread out in a user defined grid pattern. This is then saved as a bitmap. As far as I can tell, this application now does everything I need it to do. I’ll start designing some easy levels to start with and then some more difficult ones. Here is an image of the latest application.

Tooling for my new Spectrum game

My Spectrum game is coming along nicely but I have got to a point where I need to start adding levels. I needed a tool to help me create the standing data so I spent a few hours with Visual Studio writing an application in c#. Nothing over the top, just a couple of grid views and minimal code. It actually works rather well allowing me to build up a level and then creating the data statements ready to past straight into the TommyGun IDE. Here is a picture of the latest version of the tool. Having used it a bit I realised I need to add a couple of other features. I am also working on a separate class for the tool that will take all the level data and create one huge bitmap image of all the levels. I can now create some test levels and concentrate on writing the next chunk of Z80.

My new office

One of the causes of delay in writing my game is due to moving offices. I used to spend my lunch breaks working on the code but the last few weeks have been spend packing the company into boxes. But that is now over and I’m working in a nice new office overlooking Stansted Airport. Great if you want to watch aircraft land and take off all day but crap if you want to go for a walk and not breath in kerosene. Here are a couple of pictures of where I work and the view from the window.

 

The airport

 

My desk

 

Update on my new Spectrum game

Development of my new Spectrum game is going well. I am developing the code in small manageable sections and so far I’ve not had any problems. The next thing to do is work on the collision detection followed by some code to reposition dropped shapes. I am nearly in a position where I will need to create an editor to design around 100 screens. I had hoped to get the game out for Christmas but various things have got in the way so it should be ready in the first quarter of 2014. For now, here is a screen shot of the game. Can you tell what type of game it’ll be? The area to the left and bottom of the screen will contain the score and other in-game info. I’m looking for some help in this area. If you are interested in designing some Spectrum graphics then let me know.

Work started on my next Spectrum game

After a brief blood test followed by the unbelievable pain of removing the associated plaster, it’s time to enjoy my day off. What better way to while away the hours than listening to Absolute 80s on DAB whilst programming my next ZX Spectrum game. For this task I’m using the TommyGun IDE, Pasmo assembler and SpecEmu emulator. It’s almost like I had turned the clock back 30 years apart from the lack of blood, greying hair, bills, mortgage….. Oh bugger…..

 

 

Pascal version of Cavern Fighter on the Raspberry PI

After several hours making changes to my original Delphi code, I have now recompiled my Cavern Fighter PC game to run on the Raspberry PI. Using Free Pascal and the Lazarus IDE I finally got it running. At the moment the frame rate is a little slow and it has no sound. I’ll either get the Linux files for Bass or look to use the SDL library to play the background tunes and spot effects. For those who don’t know, I wrote this game back in 2004 for a Retro Game competition. It is based on a ZX Spectrum game of the same name.

 

Here is a picture of it running in the debugger via a VNC link.

 

Here is a picture of the original Spectrum version.