Oregon Trail

[magus57]

I'm making the Oregon Trail for the TI-83+/84+ (while I'm not working on my TI-BULLY project) in TI-BASIC. Here is what I have so far:

Completed:
Startup screen

Program 1 -
Occupation prompt (Banker, Doctor, Lawyer, Craftsman, Farmer, or Pioneer)
Store (all items for purchase, bullets max is now 500, and inventory screen instead of checkout)
Month of departure prompt (March, April, May, or June)
Pace setting prompt (Slow, Normal, or Fast)
Food setting prompt (Basic, Normal, or Filling)

Currently working on:

Program 1:
Name/party member input (something I forgot to do eariler)

Program 2:
Sprites (wagon and ox animations)
Main in-game screen (miles to next location, food, weather, health, and day)
In-game menu (inventory, settings (food and pace), buy (at forts), rest, and hunt)

Current specs:
-List5 is main file for game progress
-G is only temp variable (for now)
-Uses xlib
-Made up of 6 programs
-(Probably) won't need more than 10k of RAM space EVER (due to use of xlib)


If I program this game well enough, then my future goal will be to convert it to assembly, add better graphics, and even add grayscale.

Post any comments/suggestions/questions please.

[AlienCC]

This is a classic game in many sects, it should be fairly popular once finished.

--AlienCC

[magus57]

Thanks for the support.

BTW, I will be doing this game almost entirely in my free time at school, and do my other project (TI-BULLY) almost entirely at home.

[baorder54]

dude if u need help, holler cuz i was a big fan of oregon trail and i played it all my life. Unitl i got halo pc. But ya, i wanna see this game turn out good so if u need help just ask.

[magus57]

I've got two questions:

1. What could you do in the first town in the game? You first named your family, then chose career, then bought stuff, then chose which month to leave, and then still had a chance to roam around town and do stuff. But what could you do in that town other than trade and talk?

2. Would you be interested in helping me with the graphics (if you could)? I'd only need two screens (the screens you see with the wagon when the other half of the screen is numbers and dates): one general picture (of a wagon, maybe some landscape in the background or some trees), and one of the wagon and a general fort. The only catch is that it would have to be done without using the "shade(" function (because it's too slow), and would only be functions like "line(" or "circle(" or other fast drawing functions.

[baorder54]

Well I actually was folling around with numbers for ur wagon during math today. Im not sure if ur using xlib or something but ir uf using pure basic then i think this is cool.

[3

plug that to calc and see what it looks like. I think its the best u can get. It looks like crap on computer. If u want oxen in front of wagon then...

(pie sign here)
[3

I dont know. is background scrolling?

[magus57]

I'm using xlib, but probably only for the running of archived programs. And thanks for the idea, but, I was looking towads graphics on the graph screen. As for the background, it doesn't have to scroll, but it could.

[Harrierfalcon]

I agree. You're best bet is to use text for graphics.

btw, xlib can make stuff scroll (look for CAVE in the downloads section) but you have to generate it WHILE the screen is scrolling, else you just get a white screen scrolling in.

I suggest making it without scrolling first, though. Make everything else work first.

The info screen is easy. Just make it a bunch of Text( commands with all the stats. Then you could Clrdraw and make a menu where you could but stuff or look at your stats again.

[magus57]

I know the text stuff, that's the easiest.

As for the actual game, I'm using the horizontal screen thing (top half graph, bottom half home screen), then I'll display the picture on the graph, and the miles to next destination, food, and date on the bottom, and nothing will happen unless you press enter to continue or 2nd for the menu.

The biggest thing I need help with is the hunting part. I know how to do the river-game at the end (I'll just alter my racing game from my other game I'm making), but the hunting is pretty hard. The hunting is pretty much like the Assembly game "Alien Breed". You have 8-direction aiming, there are rocks and trees where animals can hide behind, the animals appear randomly, and they can't hurt you. For the trees/rocks, I'd be fine with one tree and one or two rocks. BTW, this is not scrolling (only one screen), and is supposed to end after ~30-60 seconds, successful or not.

[Harrierfalcon]

That's a challenge. I haven't seen anything like this but I think someone at UTI has attempted before. Poke around to find out.

Do you only one 1 shot out at a time or do you want more?

[magus57]

You buy bullets, and you can use as many as you want in the time amount you have. I'll try contacting the person who made "Alien Breed" and see if he can help me.

[baorder54]

ok i have a 36w by 16tall sprite but i dont know how xlib works (never used it) so im not sure what ur limited to if np then it looks something like this.



No biggy if it doesnt work or fit. I whipped it up qwuickly.

The two put together make an animation. Looks pretty nice i must admit

EDIT: oh crap! didnt realize u werent using xlib for sprites. May i ask why? I mean, ur gonna use it anyway, why not use it to fullest pottential?

[magus57]

Yeah, I was originally going to use xlib to allow the user to have the programs archived and still be usable, but now that you've made these sprites (which are very good), I guess I can use them too. I'll do one of those "while" commands to make the animation work. But this is after I'm done with most of the game.

[baorder54]

thanks, btw are u learning asm now? Cuz asm oregon trail would be nice, with greyscale. Think about how in the game there are cloudy days, stormy days... Think of all the possibilitys.. (excited)



EDIT: Ive been thinking about hunting game, and thought maybe instead of the alien breed thing, (which i beleive is a birds eye view) make a scene like desert scene and have the bird fly across the top and stuff, but u have 9 cuadrants, and numb pad refers to it. So if the bird is in the top row column 2 then u press 8. No the best controls but its a thought. Wish u could just add duckhunt to ur game.

[Harrierfalcon]

[magus57]

That would be helpful, I would appreciate it.

As for assembly, first I have to learn C++ so I can better understand Assembly (and because Java and other languages will also be easier).

[baorder54]

for me it was reading asm tutorials then reading it again till it sunk in.

[Harrierfalcon]

OK, i'll make it. Are we going for more graphical or more speed?

btw, I might not be able to do it for a while. I'm making a Deminuer clone that's perfect (the engine is, I working on menus, custom sizes, custom mine looks, etc)

[magus57]

Probably speed, only because graphics will probably take up more space.

On another note, I'm working on the randomization now, which will probably take the longest (due to the many possibilities), and I also figured out that this game will be divided into (at least) 6 programs:
1. Main menu
2. Game start (occupation, store, leave date, etc.)
3. Main game screen
4. Locations (forts, landmarks, etc.)
5. Random events
6. Games (hunting and river-rafting)

So now that I'm doing the random events, could anybody suggest what to make the percentages?
1. Indians appear
a. Negotiation results (friendly or attacking)
b. Trade results (good or rip-off)
2. Find berries
3. Disease
a. How long disease stays
b. How many people it affects
c. Chance of death
4. Part breaking
a. Chance of fixing

And please tell me what else I should add.

[baorder54]

I remember one about muddy water or something or wagon in puddle, not sure though. Percentages even?