Making an Atari game – Day 22

It’s funny, everytime I plan on working on one thing, when I get into coding I end up working on something unrelated. I didn’t end up going near the Endboss code today. I always thought the game would be a little better if the dungeon had at least some locked doors and keys. This may sometimes force the player to backtrack through places he/she may have ran through or explore more of the floor they may have missed. I was thinking I wouldn’t have room for keys and locks but kind of thought of a better alternative tonight. I decided to make a locked cellar door, which would randomly appear on some floors where the ladder to the next floor should be. I then made a pulley switch that is placed somewhere else on the same floor. This Switch will swing either left or right, depending where it is when the player hits it. If the switch is pointing towards the right, then the locked cellar door will disappear, revealing the ladder. If the switch is pointing to the left then the door will be locked.

It’s kind of a basic but neat little system. I’ve never really coded a switch before in a game that when activated, it then effects something in a completely different room. Was kind of fun and simple, not much code required and in the long run I think it was a better solution to having keys.

I also placed the Princess on the 32nd floor (thinking that might be a good spot to end this game). Then I started to work on sound effects a bit. I added my first real in game sound, which is the sound effect that plays when a monster takes damage. Im not great with sound effects yet and don’t have a full understanding of it so this might take a bit of time and research if I want this game to sound half decent. Since this game will be a long one. I want to make sure that none of the sound effects will become annoying over time.

[Edit: Two hours later] – Okay, the sound effects don’t appear to be as difficult as I originally thought, thankfully. I took a quick look at some example source code and played with “The bB Music and Sound Data Creation Toy” on Random Terrain and just through some quick trial and error really, I managed to come up with roughly the kind of sounds I was picturing in my head for this. I wanted a Mario coin like sound. I think I came kind of close to that. I adjusted the enemy damage sound to be more satisfying when you hit them. Created a nice higher pitched sound for when you get an item like meat to gain health. Also got a new sound effect for when you pick up the two Swords. And lastly, I made a small little woosh sound for when you swing and miss with your sword. I’m pretty happy with that. Only other sounds I need to make is a sound effect when the player reaches a ladder and another one for when the player takes damage.

There doesn’t seem to be too much more to do on the coding side of this game.. All that I can see that is left is:

  • Create an EndBoss (possible multiple, if I can squeeze them in there?)
  • Create a nice (hopefully) bitmapped title screen (Game Over & Win screen if there is room)
  • Sit down and think of what monsters to keep, disregard, and replace. Also think about how I want to place them throughout all of the floors to keep a nice steady increasing challenge.
  • Oh also, that dragon I made.. I would like to do something with him. Maybe make him a bit smaller, or turn him into something else completely. Another flying creature, so he can fly through obstacles in the room and make a b-line straight for the player. I also want to give him 3 or more hitpoints to kill. Overall just make him work better and appear more throughout the dungeon.

And I think that is it on the coding front?? Of course I will have to go through and polish things where I can and add PAL support, or create a separate PAL file. But yeah. I feel like I’m on track to hitting my 30 Day goal. I’m soon going to have finished my first Atari 2600 video game! 😮 I’m beyond excited about this 😀