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  • Joined: 07 Mar 2021
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Grail of the gods
Post Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2023 8:28 pm
Last edited by Guy on Tue Jul 25, 2023 12:22 pm; edited 1 time in total
Hi here!

I took advantage of a few days off to have fun carrying out this little unpretentious porting project of "The Grail of Gods" on Master System.

The game is playable but there are still some text display bugs here and there and a lot of optimization to do (the original game is coded in basic and for the moment in the port everything is rendered in tiles).

So I'm sharing the game with you "as is", corrections will come as I go along depending on the time I can devote to it.

See you in the tenth level of the depths. ;-)



Admin: see https://www.smspower.org/Homebrew/GrailOfTheGods-SMS
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Post Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2023 9:18 am
Pretty nice roguelike; please, doo keep us updated. 👍
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Post Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2023 4:31 pm
Very interesting, thank you for your effort. I hope you will continue improving it in your free time. Now, we have another roguelike game for our beloved console.
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Post Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2023 11:54 pm
Great game. I got addicted to it (didn't know about the original - but anything is better on the SMS anyway) and I'm looking forward to its further development.
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Post Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2023 12:01 am
Looks very promising! I did notice a bug as I was playing just now however. It seems you can always move diagonally as long as the y axis is clear. Wall tiles are replaced by floor tiles in the process.
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Post Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2023 12:47 pm
Thank you for your feedback and encouragement. Well seen Conradt, thanks to you : one less bug !

Here is a video of the work in progress since my last post.



To move forward, you sometimes have to know how to step back. For the moment I implemented scrolling and ingame music, but had to remove the interface and the fog of war.

I will work to put everything back in place before releasing the new version of the rom.
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Post Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 9:14 am
Hello ! :)

I've made some progress on the Grail of the Gods port (actually brought the game back to its original functionality in a scrolling context) here's a preview (WiP) :



The initial idea as presented on the first video of this thread with the tiled interface is not lost, it could be a nice port to SG-1000 when I'm done with this SMS version .

Have a nice day !
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Post Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 11:33 am
It keeps getting better and better! I'm keeping a close eye on this one. Thank you so much for the updates! Only thing I miss is the title screen song, was it scrapped?
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Post Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2023 3:48 pm
Yes Mateus, at the moment I'm working on a 32kb rom, and I'm starting to run out of space. So I temporarily removed the music from the title screen.

I don't know yet if I will increase the size of the rom and do bankswitching or manage to optimize my code and my assets to keep the minimalist side of this project. But the music will be back :).
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Post Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2023 6:17 pm
Hi,

And here is a new version, this time with a release of the rom.

I let you discover what has changed since the last published rom. I hope there aren't too many bugs left with the implementation of these new features. Bring me the problems. Once the display engine is consolidated I will focus on the game itself.



EDIT 25/07 : Rom Updated (0.38), fixes importants bugs, and performance issues, small graphic upgrade.
038.png (197.31 KB)
Update 0.38
038.png

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Post Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2023 7:57 pm
Last edited by Guy on Thu Jul 27, 2023 6:59 pm; edited 1 time in total
Hello here,

A new update. (Yes, there are a lot of them right now but I'm on vacation. ^^ )

For those who are interested and want to follow the development, think about watching the topic, even if I don't post a message because I regularly modify my last post, replacing the ROM.

For the version presented today. It adds an option menu (see captures). This may be of interest to those allergic to the fog of war, which can now be deactivated.

I'm still running into a performance issue that can make the game quite slow... I'll try to work on it on the next updates. This is the first time I've tried a scrolling game and this one replaces tiles quite intensively. There must be room for improvement.

Good day and see you soon.
040_Menu.png (199.45 KB)
Option Menu
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040_Titre.png (278.31 KB)
New Title Screen
040_Titre.png

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Post Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 12:51 am
Adding an option menu is a great idea. Maybe there should also be an option to turn off the in-game music for those who prefer it silent? (Not me, but there are tons of people who can't stand sound on their roguelikes.)
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Post Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 9:56 am
Hello Mateus,

Yes the sound side must also lead to reflection. Ability to choose ingame music from the options menu? randomness among X level music or deactivate it completely.

In the meantime, I keep your idea. This mute everything except SFX. It's very easy to implement, moreover it's done, it will be in the next version!
041_Music.png (214.06 KB)
Disable Music Option
041_Music.png

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Post Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2023 7:03 pm
Finally, the slowness problem is solved. It cost me a few hairs but it was worth it. I had to rewrite a lot of the fog handling, only updating the right tiles when needed. I also optimized the main loop as much as possible. This finally makes fluidity and playability much better.

For the rest, as mateus rightly suggested, an option has been added to mute the music. And to replace the permanent display of the "rank", at each level, the player will now be shown his new social status :) "à la" Dragon Crystal (ranger, soldier, etc...)

I am now quite satisfied with the display engine which has become rather solid. I will be able to devote myself to improving the game itself and strengthening the "rogue" aspect.

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Update
Post Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2023 2:32 pm
Hello,

An update, What's new ?

- Much larger bestiary (65 Monsters).
- Animation of the player character when moving (WIP).
- Warning: Mischievous goblins have stolen some potions from the dungeon to replace them with poison.
- Improved graphical generation of walls.

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Post Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2023 3:46 pm
Last edited by Guy on Sun Mar 03, 2024 1:20 pm; edited 1 time in total
And here is a new update (v 0.46) :-)

What's new :

- Two possibles environments (brick walls and cave) with a dedicated backplane for level introduction and future menus.
- Miscellaneous: Fixed a bug on the ingame text line, new coloring of the text line, the poisoned potion can now kill you and trigger a game over if your HP drops to 0.
- From depth 4 : locked doors can appear, a key is in the level to open it.
- Added a loading indicator (because of the doors the level generation calculation can sometimes take a little longer - WIP: Optimize).
- Modified and added some sound effects.
- Added music when a level is completed and player animation.
- The game over screen has been redesigned to display some statistics and an evaluation of the dungeon master (WIP: it remains to program the % of exploration when the fog of war is activated and to calibrate the notation, it will also be necessary to review end of game screen).
- Fade/In Fade/out for screen transitions (Thanks to Ichigo and sverx).

Good day to all !
gotg_046_cap1.png (280.38 KB)
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gotg_046_cap2.png (197.92 KB)
gotg_046_cap2.png
gotg_046_cap3.png (223.8 KB)
gotg_046_cap3.png

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Post Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2023 6:22 pm
Good job! The game has reached professional levels! The only other thing I'd like now is a black bar on the right side of the screen where all the character information lies. I know this would make the gameplay area smaller, but it would make the numbers easier to see and read.
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Post Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2023 9:11 am
Hello Mateus,

Sorry for the slow response, I'm starting a new job and I have less time to devote to development.

You're right, some random color combinations in the game sometimes make it difficult to read. Unfortunately, implementing the modification you propose would be more complex than it seems.

Indeed, a technical limitation of the master system is that it cannot properly manage a complex interface and multi-directional scrolling.
So I had to use sprites to create the interface, and the goal is to use them as little as possible.

Especially since I'm already sacrificing a strip of sprite to hide the exotic way I do horizontal scrolling. I'm thinking of rewriting my scrolling functions once again to improve performance, and no longer use this trick, and will definitely come up with an idea to make the game statistics more readable.
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Post Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2023 3:52 pm
Guy wrote
Hello Mateus,

Sorry for the slow response, I'm starting a new job and I have less time to devote to development.

You're right, some random color combinations in the game sometimes make it difficult to read. Unfortunately, implementing the modification you propose would be more complex than it seems.

Indeed, a technical limitation of the master system is that it cannot properly manage a complex interface and multi-directional scrolling.
So I had to use sprites to create the interface, and the goal is to use them as little as possible.

Especially since I'm already sacrificing a strip of sprite to hide the exotic way I do horizontal scrolling. I'm thinking of rewriting my scrolling functions once again to improve performance, and no longer use this trick, and will definitely come up with an idea to make the game statistics more readable.


Yeah, I realize this could be a huge undertaking. I keep thinking alternative ways the statistics could be displayed, like in a pause menu, but none sound better than what we already have. But no sweat, the game is pretty great as it is and I only have words of gratitude for all your hard work into bringing this fun little gem to the SMS. Thank you so very much!
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Post Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2024 12:39 pm
Hi !
Things are starting to take shape.

A big update. The level display and generation code has been optimized, and the bugs reported above have been fixed. Enemies are now animated. Various other small graphic improvements that I will let you discover. The interface no longer hinders visibility at the end of the map, it is now opaque (the transparent one is still available in the options but I don't know if it will be kept in the final game). The current rom is limited to the first set of monsters because I still have to redevelop things and the assets will undoubtedly evolve. 3 possible environments to bring a little more graphic variety in addition to the change of palette even if there is still room for improvement. The in-game music was changed, I got tired of it after testing, I borrowed the one from the dungeons of Ultima IV. If the game continues to evolve, I will contact someone who could compose suitable music so a sound test will be added to the menu (if people who read this post are interested, don't hesitate)

The game should be finishable, but without a very rewarding ending (I will work on it for the next version), it also remains to work on the stats screen, in particular the % of exploration during the game over and also manage the balancing.

In short, things will evolve at their own pace. See you soon.
GoTG_0_47-1.png (13.89 KB)
capture 1
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GoTG_0_47-2.png (12.26 KB)
capture 2
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GoTG_0_47-3.png (13.33 KB)
capture 3
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GoTG_0_47.zip (33.33 KB)
ROM 0.47

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Post Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2024 3:45 pm
Is it possible for you to port this game to gameboy? Just wondering since the gameboy has 0 roguelikes and this game will make a welcome addition.
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Post Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2024 4:12 pm
Cavencruiser wrote
Is it possible for you to port this game to gameboy? Just wondering since the gameboy has 0 roguelikes and this game will make a welcome addition.

- Commercially speaking, there's a game named "Shiren the wanderer", or something like that;
- In terms of GB homebrew, there's "Deep Dungeon": https://lazydevs.itch.io/deep-dungeon
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Post Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2024 4:26 pm
Hi Cavencruiser,

My code, although in C, was not initially designed to be ported to Game Boy even if I suppose that this should be possible especially since a development kit exist compatible with both platforms.

However, I am a satisfied user of devkitSMS by sverx and transposing my code would require time, which I already prefer to devote to developing a complete game which fully exploits the strengths of the Master System.

But this game has already been ported to various platforms (including a nice port to Intellivision) its original sources (in darkbasic!) are available. Also someone may wish to embark one day on this beautiful little project which would adapt well to the game boy.
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Post Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2024 2:48 pm
I wanted to update the Homebrew section using this version but I didn't find Grail of the Gods there (?!?)
Can you upload a few 256×192 PNGs and a description?
I will create the page there and post the versions from this topic.
edit: it looks like there are no 'old versions' here? Did you remove them on purpose? If you prefer, I can make it so that only the last version shows up in the Homebrew section.
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Post Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2024 5:34 pm
Thanks sverx ! :-) Yep. This one did not yet have a dedicated page.

I voluntarily removed the old versions gradually, thinking that this topic would be enough to keep track of the development progress. I think it is actually better that only the latest version appears on the homebrew page.

Here are 4 screenshots in the correct format and for the description we could put:

You must find the Holy Grail of the gods by crossing 11 randomly generated levels and confronting a bestiary that ranges from the humble slime to the terrible dragon. The equipment scattered throughout the labyrinth will help you accomplish your quest, but watch out for the traps left by the dungeon master !
Gotg_0_47_1.png (8.79 KB)
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Gotg_0_47_2.png (7.35 KB)
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Gotg_0_47_3.png (4.81 KB)
Gotg_0_47_3.png
Gotg_0_47_4.png (5.85 KB)
Gotg_0_47_4.png

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Post Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2024 8:17 pm
Added. Let me know if you spot any issues!
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Post Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2024 11:09 am
Guy wrote
Hi !
If the game continues to evolve, I will contact someone who could compose suitable music so a sound test will be added to the menu (if people who read this post are interested, don't hesitate)


Hi Guy! I've been really enjoying the progress you've made on this game and would be interested in possibly getting involved in the music side of things if you are looking for someone? ^_^
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Post Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2024 4:14 pm
hello Louis ! Great ! Yes,indeed, it would be good to replace the current music , although very nice, with original music and I know that your talent in this area could bring a lot to the game!
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