tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post7654992661742386785..comments2024-03-28T09:10:48.790-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: Game 287: Silvern Castle (1988)CRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-83514484825197157802018-04-11T21:03:23.685-04:002018-04-11T21:03:23.685-04:00Same. I spent a couple hours working on it and it&...Same. I spent a couple hours working on it and it's just not happening. Axon Punch down below said he could send a working image so hopefully that happens!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04089026861737737510noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-89292816724960467592018-04-11T21:02:25.621-04:002018-04-11T21:02:25.621-04:00Apparently my profile didn't want to show, but...Apparently my profile didn't want to show, but again would love to play.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04089026861737737510noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-65784015780747263242018-04-11T21:00:46.944-04:002018-04-11T21:00:46.944-04:00I would love to be able to play this. Ghaleonx39@g...I would love to be able to play this. Ghaleonx39@gmail.com<br /><br />it would be much appreciated.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04089026861737737510noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-47473421409195143532018-04-11T16:29:10.856-04:002018-04-11T16:29:10.856-04:00Compiled Basics have been a thing since the 1980s,...Compiled Basics have been a thing since the 1980s, though in most cases back in that era they converted to a kind of byte code rather than machine language.<br /><br />C/C++ tends to be super fast because the language is fundamentally close to what computer processers do well. Basic is intended to be more like people think. But the efficiency factor only has to be about 2-3. There are several 'game basics' that use Basic syntax and can be used to produce perfectly credible modern games.Gerry Quinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04078394659680797175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-35808084981839738982018-04-11T16:20:21.922-04:002018-04-11T16:20:21.922-04:00Pretty much anything can be written in Basic.
Thi...Pretty much anything can be written in Basic.<br /><br />This seems like one where the Addict should apply his 6-hour rule though, unless someone has information that the game will repay moew attention<br />Gerry Quinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04078394659680797175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-43333728004345823772018-04-11T12:09:45.705-04:002018-04-11T12:09:45.705-04:00It's a bit of a pain. You need to create a ha...It's a bit of a pain. You need to create a hard drive image, import the SHK file using something like cider press, then open shrinkit and decompress to a drive.<br /><br />If you have an email address you're comfortable posting. I can get you a hd image.Axon Punchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03654322486717732061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-30415804230089243912018-04-11T11:09:07.342-04:002018-04-11T11:09:07.342-04:00Thanks for pointing this out. I thought some of th...Thanks for pointing this out. I thought some of the graphics looked <i>Wizardry</i>-like but didn't know they were directly copied.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-44309222570723273872018-04-11T11:07:16.381-04:002018-04-11T11:07:16.381-04:00I agree that it looks random--I talk a lot about t...I agree that it looks random--I talk a lot about the design in my next post--I just didn't know if different players got different dungeons. Atantuo's experience seems to suggest not.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-37443452318623465592018-04-10T22:38:47.053-04:002018-04-10T22:38:47.053-04:00There will be a certain someone from Ultima making...There will be a certain someone from Ultima making appearance later if Addict manages to slog through and finishes this scenario.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-55407710029250754852018-04-10T21:02:40.222-04:002018-04-10T21:02:40.222-04:00I mean it looks like most of the dungeon was creat...I mean it looks like most of the dungeon was created through a random process, and then a few things were added here and there. <br />The second scenario is better in this regard, but for some reason I didn't finish it. Probably got burnt out.<br />Maybe I will return to it when I feel the blobber craving again.<br /><br />As for game speed, the game was rather slow using AppleWin, but not so slow that I found it bothersome.<br /><br />PetrusOctavianusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-3877741975457194052018-04-10T19:24:28.684-04:002018-04-10T19:24:28.684-04:00Oh boy... It's really giving me a headache jus...Oh boy... It's really giving me a headache just to find a way to play this game...Kenny McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01553499727945099493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-26134859707702602132018-04-10T18:02:31.791-04:002018-04-10T18:02:31.791-04:00"Characters can change class to any other cla..."Characters can change class to any other class for which they qualify, starting over again at 0 experience points, but retaining accumulated hit points, attributes, and spells. They can even "convert" to their existing classes, in case you just want to re-experience faster leveling from the early game."<br /><br />This is really interesting. Very similar, conceptually, to the Reincarnate system from the Disgaea series.Gnomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13920812227941556716noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-36136687754125496842018-04-10T15:51:14.776-04:002018-04-10T15:51:14.776-04:00I fired the game up after downloading the latest A...I fired the game up after downloading the latest AppleWin and the official hard drive image and got the same layout for level one.<br /><br />It should also be noted, I suppose, that the game's running at decent speed when I crank the emulation speed to the highest or second-to-highest notch. Combat does take a noticeable time to load, but I haven't seen anything longer than maybe five seconds. It's possible that larger groups of enemies take longer to load, of course. I wholeheartedly agree that at "authentic machine speed" the game is insufferably slow.<br />I was surprised at the speed of the automap, by the way. Until I closed it, and it took almost as long to save the image as it does to load combat. Oh well.<br />Anyway, the point is, it looks like it *should* run at a definitely playable speed when set to 'fastest' or close to it.Atantuohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15853865245930951775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-10704446203822378792018-04-10T14:57:28.013-04:002018-04-10T14:57:28.013-04:00*platinerm*platinermAtantuohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15853865245930951775noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-4163280345411465182018-04-10T14:42:24.975-04:002018-04-10T14:42:24.975-04:00Odd. I played this a while back, and I don't r...Odd. I played this a while back, and I don't remember having nearly this many problems with speed. Sure, it flashed a bit when rendering the dungeon view after a move, but I don't recall ever having waited any where near 30 seconds for the combat screen to load. Maybe a second or two, at worst. I'm wondering if there's some setting or settings not properly configured.<br /><br />I believe the author needed to use some program to get enough compression for everything he included. I wonder if that wasn't handled correctly when it was set up. I played this years ago, so I don't remember any specifics. If I get a chance, I'll try to start it up again.<br /><br />The dungeon is, as you've noticed, rather empty. The best part of it is down at the bottom. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-45366432072641950402018-04-10T14:35:57.507-04:002018-04-10T14:35:57.507-04:00That pun was platinum!
That pun was platinum!<br />arthurdawgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-27043794284262105692018-04-10T14:31:04.425-04:002018-04-10T14:31:04.425-04:00Well I expect that the first thing is speed. Jimmy...Well I expect that the first thing is speed. Jimmy Maher covers this in making wizardry. https://www.filfre.net/2012/03/making-wizardry/<br /><br />As Pieter mentions Apple II BASIC (and most BASIC) is interpreted. I always show my kids this cartoon when I talk about this stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C5AHaS1mOA<br /><br />That said, USCD Pascal is actually only "halfway" compiled. It converts your programming into "byte code". At an extremely high (and therefore quasi-incorrect) level. Think of the difference between a computer having to interpret the phrase: "PRINT 'HELLO'" this would require the computer to go over your command "PRINT" and validate that it is, in fact a command it knows. The it needs to go over your parameters and validate that there isn't an error (such as leaving off a trailing quote). Then it takes this data and passes it off to a routine in ROM which knows how to actually put characters on a screen. A byte-coded program would replace the command with a short (perhaps even one byte) command which it knows to mean print and it, during compilation would have already got the data you want to print ready in a format which your ROM routine can print. <br /><br />Anyway the beauty of a standardized byte coded system is that you can take your compiled program and put it on any machine that has software on it to understand this 'half-compiled' language. This piece of software is often called a "run time environment" if these terms sound familiar, they should as this is very similar to what Java does. It's why a Java program can be downloaded on a PC or a MAC and run without further modification.<br /><br />That portability made moving Wizardry to other machines insanely easy and is very likely why they stuck with the same old UI for four games.<br /><br />Hope that helps.Axon Punchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03654322486717732061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-69212039924451631922018-04-10T12:58:11.013-04:002018-04-10T12:58:11.013-04:00Performance.
BASIC is an interpreted language. Th...Performance.<br /><br />BASIC is an interpreted language. This means that the program is written in something resembling English, and while the game is running, the computer is parsing this and converting it to machine code. The main advantage of this approach is that you can easily stop the program, modify it, and continue from there. The program will also stop on an error, and you can fix it and continue. The downside is that it's really friggin' slow.<br /><br />C++ is a compiled language. This means again that the program is written in something resembling English, and then compiled to an executable in machine code. This executable is then, well, executed by the player. This is lightning fast, but hard to debug, and it can crash your computer on certain kinds of errors.<br /><br />Current systems have evolved so much that it's no longer necessarily true that compiled languages are hard to debug or that interpreted languages were slow; but back in the 80s / 90s? Yeah, they definitely were. HTH.Radianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03866535042372152723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-54357461093760428372018-04-10T12:15:09.512-04:002018-04-10T12:15:09.512-04:00I would call it unplayable at 100%. Even in the er...I would call it unplayable at 100%. Even in the era, I wouldn't have tolerated it.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-35816058497674663052018-04-10T12:14:07.731-04:002018-04-10T12:14:07.731-04:00I wish I knew more about programming languages to ...I wish I knew more about programming languages to understand issues like this. What is it about BASIC that makes it particularly unsuited (in Greenberg/Woodhead's perspective) to coding a first-person wireframe game?CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-9203362745487270142018-04-10T12:10:27.258-04:002018-04-10T12:10:27.258-04:00Petrus, when you say that it's "randomly ...Petrus, when you say that it's "randomly generated" do you mean that the developer created the levels through a random process, or do you mean that the levels are randomly generated for each user? CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-63667724093936962472018-04-10T10:44:12.480-04:002018-04-10T10:44:12.480-04:00It's too bad; usually one of the positives of ...It's too bad; usually one of the positives of independent games is that they have little filler, because that extra content would necessitate more time/resources than a small development team could provide. I guess if he's had 26 years to tweak it, though...<br /><br />Here's hoping the inevitable sequel, Goldern Castle, is a better fit for the blog.Mentohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12666135395522594894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-74819127516287005132018-04-10T09:05:40.118-04:002018-04-10T09:05:40.118-04:00Was just going to post that myself. That warrior l...Was just going to post that myself. That warrior looked too familiar to me.Raifieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08478524519453417677noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-79489712051983713132018-04-10T04:21:35.104-04:002018-04-10T04:21:35.104-04:00They are, although they're lifted from the DOS...They are, although they're lifted from the DOS version, not the original Apple II version. You can see the "warrior" graphic in the DOS title screen:<br /><br />http://www.tk421.net/wizardry/graphics/wiz1title.gif<br /><br />And the image from the "orc chief/humanoids" screen can be seen here:<br /><br />https://lparchive.org/Wizardry-Proving-Grounds-of-the-Mad-Overlord/Update%2001/30-capture_016_27122011_233100.pngstepped pyramidsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-68293905354278903772018-04-10T03:06:23.691-04:002018-04-10T03:06:23.691-04:00Definitely doesn't seem worth more than one mo...Definitely doesn't seem worth more than one more entry.VKnoreply@blogger.com