Legends of Magic

Hi David,
The editor is usable, but simplistic. I will probably add a very basic instruction screen & a little more user feedback on screen or hints. Then users could be free to create and share alternate maps. This won’t take long and I might do it later on today.

I have designed some general recurring forms of puzzle. However, there is a specific game winning instruction ‘lvl’ in my small game logic language that can be invoked from the rules – so an alternate game map and rules/solutions could be specified.

Legends of Magic is a self contained system and for the moment at least I will not attempt to build inter-operability with 3rd party content or formats. This can be highly problematic as with all translation,middleware and transcoding, in my experience.

However, going forward the engine could be re-used/adjusted to provide an alternate game entirely, thus RISC OS could have a new game eco-system. One reason why there is a lack of games on RISC OS, I believe, is because there is aren’t many common game development platforms on RISC OS which makes developing new games relatively easy based solely on ‘content’ e.g. as Backbone is used on the Amiga currently. To do that, in principle I need to serialise a few of the lookup tables into the map itself so that the data file entirely defines the sprite to object key associations.

Tony

Perfect :)

Not perfect but a beginning…

Looks good Raik.

Currently I am going through a lot of feedback. Thanks to everyone for their comments.

Based on the feedback I have received and observing players directly I plan to make a few key changes and to ship a beta 3 which will likely be basically the same as RC1 shortly after.

Some key changes are listed below:

1) I am going to try to provide a ‘wand’ when you arrive that implements a freeze spell at close range on your enemies. It will only freeze them for a short time and can only be used a fixed number times before it fades away.

2) There may be other wands distributed on the island

3) I am making corrections to the some graphis which are little too close to prototype quality e.g.
– I am modifying the main character, increasing the head size and removing some of the black lines – so it has better form and definition.
– I am adding proper ripples to the water.

4) Other adjustments including – slowing down the image cycling, fixed to ensure the trees always properly mask the main character, object alignments, more forgiving drop actions and allowing examination of the tiles e.g. water, where there are no objects

I would like to include a tutorial level just to demonstrate the game mechanisms. Given this is effectively just another game map and rule file, this is relatively trivial to implement.

I am just about to send out the release candidate. Given the amount of bugs fixed, I felt it met this criteria.

Now the axe can be used as a weapon, although it is powerful it will be damaged in battle.
Further, a wand is available to freeze all enemy types for a couple of seconds, but must make contact with the undead Monk or other monster. It may be used 6 times and is provided to allow the hero to escape.

I’ve improved the main character graphic and added a background. I’ve not had feedback on all of this yet, so I will alter it if the look is deemed, not good enough.

If I have time, I will make an RC2 which has a game tutorial in it as well as making a couple of other minor corrections.

Cheers,

Tony Bartram
Amcog Games

I am writing an update (which will be free for existing users) to Legends of Magic at the moment which I am hoping to release at the South West Show.

This update consists of an additional new quest in which the player must collect all of the treasure :

“The boatman who is carrying you on your quest will not give you passage unless you retrieve all the treasure from a haunted island. You have been given a sack to carry the treasure within and may not leave the island until your quest is complete.”
http://www.amcog-games.co.uk/news.htm

Please reply to this thread if you would like to beta test this quest or contact me via:

http://www.amcog-games.co.uk/about.htm

Thanks,

Tony Bartram

Cool :)

Well the new quest for Legend of Magic is going out for beta tonight. Purchasers will now get effectively 2 games for the price of one as well as the e-book and the 18 minutes of original music. Existing users will be able to download the new version from the PlingStore by using their PlingStore codes.

There are around 120 items of treasure to collect in the game. I’ve played the new quest to completion several times and my daughter has also been testing it. Personally I think I prefer the new quest to the old one. There’s something satisfying about collecting gold and diamonds…

The quest can be selected via the ‘Treasure Quest button’ on the introduction screen. The treasure quest may then be started. Both quests use separate save/load files. As before all development tools are included.

and my daughter has also been testing it.

…and what does she think about her dad writing the game she’s playing? There’s something just kind of cool about writing games, as opposed to “boring” stuff like word processors. I dunno, I guess a lot of software is a tool to perform a function, but a well designed game can become a place where we can lose ourselves in an imaginary world. Escape mundane reality and for a brief (fictional) time become somebody important. The one person that can handle the quest that will save an empire, that sort of thing…

Hi Rick,

I think my daughter takes it for granted that I write these things as she has played them all her life e.g.the one within Starway-To-Hell (listed as Vortex demo) & the Amiga games I wrote (they are a bit small though..) + a PC one . Some the BBC Basic games I wrote as a child are pretty dreadful. One day I could share some of the better ones… (which is a bit of a relative statement….)

As you say, games provide an interactive narrative & thus combine story telling, music, programming + GFX – which forms a key appeal to me as those are my main 4 hobbies.

Hopefully if all goes well I’ll have the new title for Wakefield. I’ve been recording some songs for a competition and plan to use some of that music for the game & mute the vocals… I plan to resume work on the ‘ball travelling along a 3D highway’ game next week.