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Author Topic:   Newbie with a question..

Battle Mage posted 25-08-2001 15:06 GMT
I'm totaly confused about these text games. Nothing like the image ones but I heard that these games take up less space.
Anyway, I have a certian question to ask. I am busy creating a battle game: Quest of the Foresaken Dragon. I would like to add the battle systems for random battles and allies to fight. The problem is I dont know what to put down! I want to put it that where you have levels and HP and MP stats go up.
If anyone could give me the little battle stuff for version 3 beta 2, I'd be happy to give you credit in the game.
Battle Mage

Computer Whizz posted 25-08-2001 21:12 GMT
Well, you're right saying text games are different from graphics games. Instead of rendering a picture, the code is much simpler and only displays text. It is up to the imagination of the player to make the picture!
Since you don't have to render the images and mess around with all of that you have less code which means less space.
Now with your battle system it's best to make your own! But as for the MP and HP. You'd be best making them into "status variables". You can find everything out about the ASL 284 (the language which makes everything work!) somewhere in this site. I'll let Alex or MaDbRiT tell you where.
Many of us are, at the moment, building humugous battle systems which will impress the guy's in major corperations :)
Computer Whizz
Battle Mage posted 26-08-2001 12:34 GMT
LOL...
But anyway, C W I looked around the message boards and saw your fighter game. Real cool so far when I boot it up and everything, but it comes up with error 9 in the battle area. I'm running this game on 3b2 and I get the same problem everytime! What is the problem?
NOTE

Battle system is cool in that game and I'm tring to figue out how you did that in the text version.
Computer Whizz posted 26-08-2001 01:12 GMT
::NOTE::[i]Sorry if the following reply, in places, seem like it is quoted from the ghostbusters theme song, but I am listening to it right now and it may work it's way into the text ;)
I suggest you go to the quest 3.0 beta page where you can download a patch for quest (well really it's just the main executable!) but this fixes some problems with the wait function, ect... Also I made a slight mistake with the "do <#string#>" command so I might fix that, so each character can have their own special move.
But with this upgrade you WILL be able to cheat on many games because you can continue to play after you have been killed! (Personally I think Alex should have greyed almost everything out and just stuck with that through all the Quest versions.)
Now then, what do you want me to explain? How the menu came up? How I moved the fighters in and out of the room? It's all in the file and the document's.
I'll add some stuff to the fighter game and upload it!
Oh, Alex, is there some way I could easily code the re-fight choice? If you take a quick look at the file it is in a procedure, something like <chosen_fighter_proc>.
Computer Whizz
Battle Mage posted 26-08-2001 14:20 GMT
Nothing really. I got to see your shooting practice game and its real cool but never got to copy and try it from there. Love the battle system in that one so far at of all of yours. Before I have to go, do you know any code string C W.
NOTE
Changed the name of the game to Warriors of the White Lion I'll post a demo soon!
Computer Whizz posted 26-08-2001 15:46 GMT
Code string?
Do you mean "how to code a string?"
I don't understand...... sorry!
Computer Whizz
Battle Mage posted 26-08-2001 16:33 GMT
You know those
msg<blah blah blah>
stuff like that.
Battle Mage posted 26-08-2001 16:36 GMT
But ones for Hp, Mp and random battles and exp.
Computer Whizz posted 26-08-2001 17:32 GMT
What you mean has to be "coded" by you!
EG. If you want MP to be shown, you have to have a status variable. This would have to have certain limit's, so when you coded a procedure for casting magic then you'd check the player had enough MP, if not display a message. If they do then you do some stuff, which changes variables, checks them, and all this stuff. It's VERY big, even for a simple one!
I've been writing bits and bobs down on paper for the last 5 months (there-abouts) but most of it is gash since the new ASL 285 has been released.
Computer Whizz
Battle Mage posted 28-08-2001 21:17 GMT
Okay C W I think I got it! Those 5 months I fell asleep in Tecnoligy class may haved helped (i dont know why though?)! Okay, heres what I think I can do.
Battle Mage posted 28-08-2001 21:17 GMT
Okay C W I think I got it! Those 5 months I fell asleep in Tecnoligy class may haved helped (i dont know why though?)! Okay, heres what I think I can do.
Battle Mage posted 28-08-2001 21:21 GMT
Sorry for cutting it short on the last message. To jitterey today cuz I'm not supposed to be online.
If downloaded every game so far that have been created in Quest. I'll post it up probably in 6 months. The battle system contains so far the Hp mode, but I can get it to stay in one place. still working on it and i think my problems are answered!
Computer Whizz posted 29-08-2001 01:40 GMT
http://www.members.aol.com/agbampton/q284a4.pdf
Right, the above link should give you the access to a PDF conversion of the helpfile that comes with Quest!
Now this is ASL-284 code. This should explain a couple of questions you have.
I have no idea what you mean by MP staying "still" (or moving as you say.), but I suggest you read some documentation before you do ANYTHING so that you understand the language better...... I know it's a bummer, but it really is a balance between messing around with QDK and reading stuff, also looking at others code wouldn't hurt!
Computer Whizz
Battle Mage posted 31-08-2001 23:27 GMT
C W
Thanks for the donwload. One problem. My computer doesn't know that type of program. What do I open it up in????
Computer Whizz posted 01-09-2001 01:32 GMT
The usual program is called "adobe acrobat reader". Now this is usually free, I got it for free off a CD somewhere!
I also think Microsoft Word can open it...... but since I don't have MS Word then I can't support that!
It's free to install and it works quite well. It's a nice addition to have on your PC and from what I can tell it doesn't use up that much space!! Download Adobe Acrobat Reader.....
Computer Whizz
MaDbRiT posted 01-09-2001 10:18 GMT
You can get the latest version of Acrobat Reader FREE from:
www.adobe.com
It's a biggish download, but this program is becoming more and more a 'must have' because so many pieces of computer equipment come with their on CD manuals in 'pdf' (it means 'Portable Document Format') format these days.
Biggest asset of pdf is that it looks the same no matter what machine you view it on and it makes for very consistent and high quality printable versions.
Note - pdf's can sometimes look a bit 'woolly' on screen, this does NOT affect how they print out, even miniscule text prints beautifully ;-)
Al
( Who made the pdf version of the Quest docs so that he could have a nice printed reference copy! )
Battle Mage posted 03-09-2001 19:56 GMT
Thanks C W and MaDBrIt.
One thing C W,
Tried opening it with MS 2000 and causes a error and then my computer froze after 30 minutes, and I was just figureing out the Hp varibles.
Computer Whizz posted 03-09-2001 20:28 GMT
oohhhh.... LOL.
Bad luck !!
I didn't know if you could or not (as I said) but I don't think the freeze later on was to do with the error message. Mor likely that you had the PC on too long, or you accidentaly overloaded the memory. It could be related, since some programs just won't quit and stay in the background. I've had numerous quest's open, as well as IE5's and MSINM's. They're quite annoying, especially on this old P120!
Get back to it and keep trying.
Computer Whizz
Luridii posted 03-09-2001 22:09 GMT
ooooo an P120, that must be...fun (if a lil slow??) for you to use!
Does it run Win '95 or '98?
Alex posted 03-09-2001 23:41 GMT
I developed Quest using a P100 up until September last year. So count yourselves lucky.
Computer Whizz posted 04-09-2001 23:41 GMT
Well.... Do you really think I'll give away my secrets for the tenth time?
..... You'd be right though! I'm runnin' Win 95 OSR-2.5.
I can remember you talking about your P100 when your HDD burnt out..... I can remember my Atari STe, and it seems ten times faster then this heap of junk!
Computer Whizz
Alex posted 05-09-2001 20:29 GMT
I've got three Acorn Electrons in the loft.
MaDbRiT posted 05-09-2001 22:28 GMT
Alex admitted:

quote:

I've got three Acorn Electrons in the loft.
Ahem... loft contents wise how about this little collection? ( I have an inability to throw out anything that still works much to t'other half's disgust )
Sinclair ZX81, Sinclair Spectrum 48k, Acorn Electron, BBC B, Commodore 64, Sony MSX, Einstein, Oric, Dragon 32, Atari 800 (I think it is an 800!), Atari 520SE, Amiga 600, Amiga 500, Amiga 1200HD (2), Amiga 4000T, Zenit SuperSport 286 PC (2), IBM PC-AT, Compaq 386 PC, Compaq 486-66DX PC, Acer P100 PC, Compaq Contura CX420 (486-50 portable), several semi-cannibalised no-name brand early Pentium/P2 based PC clones and boxes of odd parts - sound cards, modems, gfx cards etc. etc.
Ridiculous really - actually in use I have a Athlon 1.2Ghz powered home-built PC, another Athlon 800Mhz home-built, a Toshiba P3 powered portable and a company provided IMac.
What I ought to do is find good homes for the working machines, but as most people are aware, computing hardware has the most frightening rate of built in obsolesence of any product I can think of.
Kleptomania rules O.K.!
Al

Computer Whizz posted 05-09-2001 23:59 GMT
I used to have an Acorn Electron..... I still got all the tapes here in my room!!
I had it until the 'a' key stopped working, then gave it to my father so he could try and fix it but it's gone, like the Atari I miss SSSOOOOO much (the same as Al's but has upgraded [4Mb]RAM, a HDD [with some games, former internet access, Caligrapher and loads of other things] which is smaller then 900megs... a second floppy drive, that's about it. Oh and about 300 floppies with demo's 'n' stuff!). I have an Acorn Archemedies (the one's in common secondary school's up until a year or two ago..) without a moniter or mouse, so I can't use it........ YET!!! Got several discs for THAT.
I used to play on a Sinclair ZX spectrum..... until my sister spilt Ribena all over it and mangled the keyboard. Unfortunately that was the only thing my father was unable to find (the keyboard layout thing) and so that went in his attic. I have, right now, on my bed, a Sinclair QL (the one that takes those cartridge-type-tape things, just bigger then a square inch.) and I LOVED programming in it's "super-BASIC" as well as playing darts and some other game..... I don't have much software for it so it aint used much!
I also used to have this old thing which was basically a "build-it-yourself" calculator. - About the size of a sheet of 'A4' and about 3 inches thick, it was in a pink/light red cover thing, and you could add different chips and boards to it. I used it once, couldn't do ANYTHING, didn't know what it was/what it did and threw it away!!
I haven't had anything else, or anything that I can recall... But it's a great deal more then alot of people at my age.
Computer Whizz
Luridii posted 06-09-2001 20:54 GMT
Ive got a spectrum somewhere but most of the tapes dont work!
Also i got an old 486 made by an indistingushable company probly long dead!
Alex posted 06-09-2001 21:20 GMT

quote:

What I ought to do is find good homes for the working machines, but as most people are aware, computing hardware has the most frightening rate of built in obsolesence of any product I can think of.
You should be able to find a buyer at ebay.co.uk - that's where I aquired two of the Electrons from (we've had the other since 1985 but it's broken and I wanted a replacement, so I bid for one that was very cheap, but without cables etc... then I saw one that was only slightly less cheap and had all the cables I needed. Sod's law dictates I won both auctions).
ich posted 21-09-2001 11:08 GMT
hello all.
i'm a nerd as well... i have got:
spectrum 48k (rubber keys)
spectrum 48k+
2 commodore 64's (but only one datacorder)
amiga 500 (with memory upgrade)
amaiga a1200 (no extra hardware though)
i have all the leads, manuals and buckets of software fro each model(games and apps)
needless to say, i don't use any of them anymore... allthough i am tempted by th amiga sometimes (if it was a 4000 tower-unit i would prob'ly still use it!).
i won't bore you with a list of all the machines i haven't held onto...
ich

ich posted 21-09-2001 11:08 GMT
hello all.
i'm a nerd as well... i have got:
spectrum 48k (rubber keys)
spectrum 48k+
2 commodore 64's (but only one datacorder)
amiga 500 (with memory upgrade)
amaiga a1200 (no extra hardware though)
i have all the leads, manuals and buckets of software fro each model(games and apps)
needless to say, i don't use any of them anymore... allthough i am tempted by th amiga sometimes (if it was a 4000 tower-unit i would prob'ly still use it!).
i won't bore you with a list of all the machines i haven't held onto...
ich

Author	Topic: Newbie with a question..
Battle Mage	posted 25-08-2001 15:06 GMT I'm totaly confused about these text games. Nothing like the image ones but I heard that these games take up less space. Anyway, I have a certian question to ask. I am busy creating a battle game: Quest of the Foresaken Dragon. I would like to add the battle systems for random battles and allies to fight. The problem is I dont know what to put down! I want to put it that where you have levels and HP and MP stats go up. If anyone could give me the little battle stuff for version 3 beta 2, I'd be happy to give you credit in the game. Battle Mage
Computer Whizz	posted 25-08-2001 21:12 GMT Well, you're right saying text games are different from graphics games. Instead of rendering a picture, the code is much simpler and only displays text. It is up to the imagination of the player to make the picture! Since you don't have to render the images and mess around with all of that you have less code which means less space. Now with your battle system it's best to make your own! But as for the MP and HP. You'd be best making them into "status variables". You can find everything out about the ASL 284 (the language which makes everything work!) somewhere in this site. I'll let Alex or MaDbRiT tell you where. Many of us are, at the moment, building humugous battle systems which will impress the guy's in major corperations :) Computer Whizz
Battle Mage	posted 26-08-2001 12:34 GMT LOL... But anyway, C W I looked around the message boards and saw your fighter game. Real cool so far when I boot it up and everything, but it comes up with error 9 in the battle area. I'm running this game on 3b2 and I get the same problem everytime! What is the problem? NOTE Battle system is cool in that game and I'm tring to figue out how you did that in the text version.
Computer Whizz	posted 26-08-2001 01:12 GMT ::NOTE::[i]Sorry if the following reply, in places, seem like it is quoted from the ghostbusters theme song, but I am listening to it right now and it may work it's way into the text ;) I suggest you go to the quest 3.0 beta page where you can download a patch for quest (well really it's just the main executable!) but this fixes some problems with the wait function, ect... Also I made a slight mistake with the "do <#string#>" command so I might fix that, so each character can have their own special move. But with this upgrade you WILL be able to cheat on many games because you can continue to play after you have been killed! (Personally I think Alex should have greyed almost everything out and just stuck with that through all the Quest versions.) Now then, what do you want me to explain? How the menu came up? How I moved the fighters in and out of the room? It's all in the file and the document's. I'll add some stuff to the fighter game and upload it! Oh, Alex, is there some way I could easily code the re-fight choice? If you take a quick look at the file it is in a procedure, something like <chosen_fighter_proc>. Computer Whizz
Battle Mage	posted 26-08-2001 14:20 GMT Nothing really. I got to see your shooting practice game and its real cool but never got to copy and try it from there. Love the battle system in that one so far at of all of yours. Before I have to go, do you know any code string C W. NOTE Changed the name of the game to Warriors of the White Lion I'll post a demo soon!
Computer Whizz	posted 26-08-2001 15:46 GMT Code string? Do you mean "how to code a string?" I don't understand...... sorry! Computer Whizz
Battle Mage	posted 26-08-2001 16:33 GMT You know those msg<blah blah blah> stuff like that.
Battle Mage	posted 26-08-2001 16:36 GMT But ones for Hp, Mp and random battles and exp.
Computer Whizz	posted 26-08-2001 17:32 GMT What you mean has to be "coded" by you! EG. If you want MP to be shown, you have to have a status variable. This would have to have certain limit's, so when you coded a procedure for casting magic then you'd check the player had enough MP, if not display a message. If they do then you do some stuff, which changes variables, checks them, and all this stuff. It's VERY big, even for a simple one! I've been writing bits and bobs down on paper for the last 5 months (there-abouts) but most of it is gash since the new ASL 285 has been released. Computer Whizz
Battle Mage	posted 28-08-2001 21:17 GMT Okay C W I think I got it! Those 5 months I fell asleep in Tecnoligy class may haved helped (i dont know why though?)! Okay, heres what I think I can do.
Battle Mage	posted 28-08-2001 21:17 GMT Okay C W I think I got it! Those 5 months I fell asleep in Tecnoligy class may haved helped (i dont know why though?)! Okay, heres what I think I can do.
Battle Mage	posted 28-08-2001 21:21 GMT Sorry for cutting it short on the last message. To jitterey today cuz I'm not supposed to be online. If downloaded every game so far that have been created in Quest. I'll post it up probably in 6 months. The battle system contains so far the Hp mode, but I can get it to stay in one place. still working on it and i think my problems are answered!
Computer Whizz	posted 29-08-2001 01:40 GMT http://www.members.aol.com/agbampton/q284a4.pdf Right, the above link should give you the access to a PDF conversion of the helpfile that comes with Quest! Now this is ASL-284 code. This should explain a couple of questions you have. I have no idea what you mean by MP staying "still" (or moving as you say.), but I suggest you read some documentation before you do ANYTHING so that you understand the language better...... I know it's a bummer, but it really is a balance between messing around with QDK and reading stuff, also looking at others code wouldn't hurt! Computer Whizz
Battle Mage	posted 31-08-2001 23:27 GMT C W Thanks for the donwload. One problem. My computer doesn't know that type of program. What do I open it up in????
Computer Whizz	posted 01-09-2001 01:32 GMT The usual program is called "adobe acrobat reader". Now this is usually free, I got it for free off a CD somewhere! I also think Microsoft Word can open it...... but since I don't have MS Word then I can't support that! It's free to install and it works quite well. It's a nice addition to have on your PC and from what I can tell it doesn't use up that much space!! Download Adobe Acrobat Reader..... Computer Whizz
MaDbRiT	posted 01-09-2001 10:18 GMT You can get the latest version of Acrobat Reader FREE from: www.adobe.com It's a biggish download, but this program is becoming more and more a 'must have' because so many pieces of computer equipment come with their on CD manuals in 'pdf' (it means 'Portable Document Format') format these days. Biggest asset of pdf is that it looks the same no matter what machine you view it on and it makes for very consistent and high quality printable versions. Note - pdf's can sometimes look a bit 'woolly' on screen, this does NOT affect how they print out, even miniscule text prints beautifully ;-) Al ( Who made the pdf version of the Quest docs so that he could have a nice printed reference copy! )
Battle Mage	posted 03-09-2001 19:56 GMT Thanks C W and MaDBrIt. One thing C W, Tried opening it with MS 2000 and causes a error and then my computer froze after 30 minutes, and I was just figureing out the Hp varibles.
Computer Whizz	posted 03-09-2001 20:28 GMT oohhhh.... LOL. Bad luck !! I didn't know if you could or not (as I said) but I don't think the freeze later on was to do with the error message. Mor likely that you had the PC on too long, or you accidentaly overloaded the memory. It could be related, since some programs just won't quit and stay in the background. I've had numerous quest's open, as well as IE5's and MSINM's. They're quite annoying, especially on this old P120! Get back to it and keep trying. Computer Whizz
Luridii	posted 03-09-2001 22:09 GMT ooooo an P120, that must be...fun (if a lil slow??) for you to use! Does it run Win '95 or '98?
Alex	posted 03-09-2001 23:41 GMT I developed Quest using a P100 up until September last year. So count yourselves lucky.
Computer Whizz	posted 04-09-2001 23:41 GMT Well.... Do you really think I'll give away my secrets for the tenth time? ..... You'd be right though! I'm runnin' Win 95 OSR-2.5. I can remember you talking about your P100 when your HDD burnt out..... I can remember my Atari STe, and it seems ten times faster then this heap of junk! Computer Whizz
Alex	posted 05-09-2001 20:29 GMT I've got three Acorn Electrons in the loft.
MaDbRiT	posted 05-09-2001 22:28 GMT Alex admitted: quote: I've got three Acorn Electrons in the loft. Ahem... loft contents wise how about this little collection? ( I have an inability to throw out anything that still works much to t'other half's disgust ) Sinclair ZX81, Sinclair Spectrum 48k, Acorn Electron, BBC B, Commodore 64, Sony MSX, Einstein, Oric, Dragon 32, Atari 800 (I think it is an 800!), Atari 520SE, Amiga 600, Amiga 500, Amiga 1200HD (2), Amiga 4000T, Zenit SuperSport 286 PC (2), IBM PC-AT, Compaq 386 PC, Compaq 486-66DX PC, Acer P100 PC, Compaq Contura CX420 (486-50 portable), several semi-cannibalised no-name brand early Pentium/P2 based PC clones and boxes of odd parts - sound cards, modems, gfx cards etc. etc. Ridiculous really - actually in use I have a Athlon 1.2Ghz powered home-built PC, another Athlon 800Mhz home-built, a Toshiba P3 powered portable and a company provided IMac. What I ought to do is find good homes for the working machines, but as most people are aware, computing hardware has the most frightening rate of built in obsolesence of any product I can think of. Kleptomania rules O.K.! Al
Computer Whizz	posted 05-09-2001 23:59 GMT I used to have an Acorn Electron..... I still got all the tapes here in my room!! I had it until the 'a' key stopped working, then gave it to my father so he could try and fix it but it's gone, like the Atari I miss SSSOOOOO much (the same as Al's but has upgraded [4Mb]RAM, a HDD [with some games, former internet access, Caligrapher and loads of other things] which is smaller then 900megs... a second floppy drive, that's about it. Oh and about 300 floppies with demo's 'n' stuff!). I have an Acorn Archemedies (the one's in common secondary school's up until a year or two ago..) without a moniter or mouse, so I can't use it........ YET!!! Got several discs for THAT. I used to play on a Sinclair ZX spectrum..... until my sister spilt Ribena all over it and mangled the keyboard. Unfortunately that was the only thing my father was unable to find (the keyboard layout thing) and so that went in his attic. I have, right now, on my bed, a Sinclair QL (the one that takes those cartridge-type-tape things, just bigger then a square inch.) and I LOVED programming in it's "super-BASIC" as well as playing darts and some other game..... I don't have much software for it so it aint used much! I also used to have this old thing which was basically a "build-it-yourself" calculator. - About the size of a sheet of 'A4' and about 3 inches thick, it was in a pink/light red cover thing, and you could add different chips and boards to it. I used it once, couldn't do ANYTHING, didn't know what it was/what it did and threw it away!! I haven't had anything else, or anything that I can recall... But it's a great deal more then alot of people at my age. Computer Whizz
Luridii	posted 06-09-2001 20:54 GMT Ive got a spectrum somewhere but most of the tapes dont work! Also i got an old 486 made by an indistingushable company probly long dead!
Alex	posted 06-09-2001 21:20 GMT quote: What I ought to do is find good homes for the working machines, but as most people are aware, computing hardware has the most frightening rate of built in obsolesence of any product I can think of. You should be able to find a buyer at ebay.co.uk - that's where I aquired two of the Electrons from (we've had the other since 1985 but it's broken and I wanted a replacement, so I bid for one that was very cheap, but without cables etc... then I saw one that was only slightly less cheap and had all the cables I needed. Sod's law dictates I won both auctions).
ich	posted 21-09-2001 11:08 GMT hello all. i'm a nerd as well... i have got: spectrum 48k (rubber keys) spectrum 48k+ 2 commodore 64's (but only one datacorder) amiga 500 (with memory upgrade) amaiga a1200 (no extra hardware though) i have all the leads, manuals and buckets of software fro each model(games and apps) needless to say, i don't use any of them anymore... allthough i am tempted by th amiga sometimes (if it was a 4000 tower-unit i would prob'ly still use it!). i won't bore you with a list of all the machines i haven't held onto... ich
ich	posted 21-09-2001 11:08 GMT hello all. i'm a nerd as well... i have got: spectrum 48k (rubber keys) spectrum 48k+ 2 commodore 64's (but only one datacorder) amiga 500 (with memory upgrade) amaiga a1200 (no extra hardware though) i have all the leads, manuals and buckets of software fro each model(games and apps) needless to say, i don't use any of them anymore... allthough i am tempted by th amiga sometimes (if it was a 4000 tower-unit i would prob'ly still use it!). i won't bore you with a list of all the machines i haven't held onto... ich