20th August 2023
It has been very quiet in this blog, but my C64 activity hasn't been quiet. It has been very busy in fact. I did a couple of SEUCK enhancements which were Cipher Patrol 2: The Pure Sword by Eleanor Burns, Yauzeras by Gibranx and a very special edition of VIOS by Mase. Other main game projects I made were For Speed We Need 3, a silly vertical scrolling racing Le-Mans style game I made with my C64 friends at Blazon and also with Ax!s, who kindly drew the in game graphics. Also I wrote the much loved and highly addictive Snake vs Bomb 2 and finally a fun Atlantis style game called Lunar City, where Ax!s kindly did the graphics for both of those two games.
Finally, I visited Zzap! Live in Kenilworth last weekend. It was the first time I went to a computer event since the deadly Coronavirus pandemic stopped everything. I met great people down there, and not only was I playing games, I also shared fond memories about C64-related stuff and had a few laughs some of the people down there. However this blog is not about the Zzap! Live event. It is about my latest project. What is the project called? For a start off, it is going to be made with the group that helped me with For Speed We Need 3. That's right, it is going to be another Blazon game release. The game is called:
Alpacalypse
So then, what is the game all about? If you take a look at my photo edited rough design you will see. The game is a horizontal scrolling jump, run, collect and avoid game, based in a post-apocalyptic world on Planet Earth. You play an Alpaca, which is on a quest for survival. The problem is that it has to travel a very long distance along a dangerous path. Underneath your path is a deadly lava inferno, spitting out lava at random. Where as above the sky, it is also raining lava fireballs. Your Alpaca must dodge the fireballs, collect the fruit and avoid the traps (marked X). If the Alpaca gets hit by fireballs, its energy will be drained - but if it triggers a trap a giant 10 ton weight will fall onto the Alpaca instantly. Traps and full loss of energy results to losing a life.
What about scoring points and bonuses?
The player will be able to score points. It can be done in various ways. First of all, for every few seconds, 10 points will be added to the player's score. Also fruit will give Alpaca points in 100s, depending on what the fruit item scoffed is. It will also increase the energy for a while. There are also bonuses. After the player reaches its full distance, a level is completed it will score a bonus points of 1,000 plus an extra 100 points based on energy left.
The levels - how will they differ?
The game will be using a wrap-around map, throughout the game. The map will consist of 256 blocks in width and 5 blocks in height, reserving the last 4 rows of blocks specially for the status panel. The levels will be varied with use of how rapidly fireballs will appear, and also how often traps will appear. The very first level intends to be easy, but the game will intensify as you progress further into the game.
How is the project being developed?
Alpacalypse is being programmed and compiled using Kick Assembler V5.25 and I am using CBMPRGStudio V4.1.0 as the main programming IDE for the production. The compression is currently being done using TS Crunch V1.3 for the time being, where testing will be done using VICE and of course my trusty Ultimate 64, which I aim to make the music in EMS V7.03 - like I did for For Speed We Need 3).
How and when will the game be released?
The game (like with many of my C64 games) aims be released as a free to download digital release from my TND website and itch.io pages (where there will also be an online version of my game) and possibly a few other places. The game will be formatted as D64 (digital disk) and also as TAP (digital tape) format, featuring a fast loader tape turbo. The game will not be a multi-load, as I find these to be a real headache. Everything will be put as a single file (except for the hi-score loader/saver active on the disk version).
Where it comes to the release date. That is not yet known. This is because my projects will depend on my wellbeing and motivation to get things completed. I am also between other hobby projects and real life commitments. I can give you an estimated duration of perhaps 2-3 months - but it is hoped that the game could be ready and released before then. I am done with making deadline projects, because of the stress of bug fixing very close to the release date. So there is no deadline.
Keep up to date with my C64 releases by visiting:
The New Dimension (on itch.io)
or
The New Dimension (main web site)
Update 13th October 2023
This project is still under development, and is still at an early stage, but progress intends to be pretty slow. The release date is most likely to be somewhere in the Winter months of 2024. T.N.D is most likely to develop some other small, but fun C64 projects in between this project. Any new productions finished will be announced in blog updates.
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