RW still on track

[aforsy]

it seems that the 82 has more RAM b/c they don't have any Flash to make up or little RAM. since the 83+ has Flash, TI could get away with putting less RAM in without pissing off gamers/people-who-actually-use-their-TIs-for-a-lot-of-educational-stuff, which makes up about 80% of the people who buys TIs, i would estimate.

[sgm]

[DigiTan]

Yep, I'd imagine there's less TIOS overhead in the 82 models. That leaves around 28.7kB for user stuff.

The Linked Edition looks to go around 26kB, plus 169 bytes per saved game. The Standard Edition should be around 24kB, plus 169 per game. And the Lite Edition should be somewhere between 19kB and 21kB. Apacking should lower these stats by more than 1KB each, but there's still a some pressure to cut down on size.

[Ductapemaster]

ohhhh, like the intro...plz post the code! It'll give UTI some publicity, and it just plain looks cool...

[Rezek]

Dude... he did.

[DigiTan]

Okay, I have an 82 version of the splash code. It takes 163 bytes with the fade effect and 126 bytes without. Personally, I'd like to see more group logos like this as long as it doesn't get out of hand. Also, if anybody can port my program to 83+ or any other system the thread is here.

[DigiTan]

Well, against my own advice, I'm adding one last gameplay feature.

After doing some of the rule balancing, I realized there was a serious lack of a "trap" item (yes, I've been watching Yugioh--shame on me), and this was making 2-player mode dangerously unbalanced. So I'm adding 1 last item called "Magnet" that can hopfully solve this. It's a simple change that should only add 1 day to the development process. This is the newest item since "negate" and "clone" were added last spring. Since some of the these items are really geared more toward linkplay, they will be phased out of the Standard Edition to conserve space.

As usual, more information on this will be posted on the online game guide.

[kalan_vod]

Hi, i love this game but would love to see it on a 83+ model....anyway it could be ported?

[Rezek]

Isn't a port already in planning?

Welcome to the boards Kalan_Vod!

[kalan_vod]

[DigiTan]

Yep, things are way off-schedule, but hopefully we can get to every model from 82 to 86. All with cross-capabible multiplayer battle.

[edit]

[katmaster]

YAY!!!! sounds great!!!

[DJ Omnimaga]

how much is done so far in the game and what isnt done yet?

[DigiTan]

Mainly bug fixes. This week, I've been averaging three "chores" a day, so this list should be empty by Monday or Tuesday. More than likely, I'll spot additional bugs and have to add those to the list. Once every major and minor bug is ironed out, I'll remove the stack indicator from the HUD (this was the "65511" in my last screenshot), start with a new game and play through twice to get screenshots for the game manual. If I don't enounter any more bugs, I'll upload the game here and at ticalc.

To do list:[list=i]
[*] Debug timed attacks in multiplayer mode
[*] Add the "Magnet" item and "Magnet" status
[*] Make "Force Sigma" cancel inbound attacks
[*] Make a minor change to the 32x32 overword map
[*] Fix an item pickup/item equipping bug that says your item list is full when it isn't
[*] Fix bug where your saved file says you're in MADISON when you're really in DESOTO
[*] Fix bug that causes saved data to enter other files
[*] Fix the bug where saved games can't be at lower addresses (might not be practical)
[*] Re-balance all enemy difficulty levels
[*] Test expert mode
[/list]

[DigiTan]

I'm having trouble getting around bug #8 on that list. It's making it impossible to play any saved files that are uploaded to the calc before RW is. When the game tries to locate this game, it gets a wrong address and can't locate the true file. I ran the debugger to find out how much this address is off but I can't find the pattern. On top of that, this bad address comes directly from the VAT, so I can't even trust that.

The demo could detect this problem, so the bug isn't mission-critical. If it's possible, I'd like to find out what's going on.

[CoBB]

As I said, CrASH programs run with an inconsistent memory map where VAT entries are not adjusted. Everything is restored only after the program returns to the shell. Consequently, you must locate the files in some other way. The workaround in Acelgoyobis was to use a 32-bit (fixed) signature combined with a 16-bit checksum, 8 bytes of extra information altogether; I didn't use the size bytes appended by the OS but added my own after the signature to make the files completely self-sustaining, that's where the 2 remaining bytes come from. Finding a file consists of locating a signature and validating the checksum to prevent false detections (of course it will find duplicates, although they could be filtered as a second step). CrASH's poor memory handling is revealed by the appearance of ghost tables when there's a lot of free memory around.

[DigiTan]

Okay. Yes, those duplicates were what was tripping me up. Coinscidentally, I'm also using a 32-bit signature and I kept finding occourances of it in RAM that I couldnt' account for. I guess my next move is it add the checksum. It's just as well because I was looking for a way to make cheating a little more difficult.

[DigiTan]

UPDATE:

Okay, here's the progress since September...

- Partly fixed the VAT bugs. Now there is a message to warn if the file is corrupt or unfindable before the saved game tries to load
- Fixed all (known) stack bugs
- Got rain to animate constantly instead of stopping during attack animations
- Got "rebuild" item to also provide a small repairs for emergencies
- 3 of 5 levels have been balanced
- 5 of 8 melee/gun weapons balanced
- All energy attacks and items balanced

REMAINING:

- Balance the remaining levels, attacks, and enemies [estimate: 1 week]
- Fix a non-critical glitch in the battle cursor system [estimate: 1 day]
- Fix a multiplayer bug that causes you to lose at the wrong time [estimate: 2 days]
- Check for any remaining bugs [estimate: 3 weeks]

[DigiTan]

UPDATE:
A little slow this week. I tried using Excel spreadsheets to balance enemies & bosses, but this was too troublesome--will probably do the rest by hand. Here's the progress in the last eight days:

- Fixed prices for all weapons and armor
- Changed "Water" attacks to "Ice" for more excitement (it's fun to watch too)
- Removed the old "Multiply" item, then renamed the old "Divide" to "Multiply"
- Added "Arson" item
- Fixed LinkBattle bug that makes you loose early
- Wrote 4 new webpages: Upcoming Versions, Tech Support, LinkBattle, and Trainer Files (these are coming soon)
- Made the existing webpages look better with Firefox (coming soon)

REMAINING
- Make sure the new stuff is really working
- Balance the final 2 levels
- Fix a LinkBattle bug that won't let you hack all of your opponent's item list
- Collect some screenshots
- Check for exploits. Test, test, test....
- Release the game

[DigiTan]

Okay, I was doubting this day would ever come, but it looks like both editions are 100% done. I've spent all week trying to crash the game and it looks ready. The stack also auto-corrects (in most cases) when you exit in case there's anything I missed. I'm gonna run through it one last time just to be absolutely sure, but I'll say for sure the game will be released before November 16.