*ALL PHYSICAL COPIES ARE SOLD OUT*: REALMS OF QUEST V (Digital version is available)

[Ghislain]

The shading came out very nice on that one.
How many pics do you have left?

Thank you. It's all about finding the right image that provides the best color brightness and contrast. I've done 120 monster images, so there are about 18 left to do and then I'll begin to work immediately on the combat engine.

Pic of the day:

[R'zo]

Thank you. It's all about finding the right image that provides the best color brightness and contrast. I've done 120 monster images, so there are about 18 left to do and then I'll begin to work immediately on the combat engine.

Yay! Combat engine! So excited to see how battles are going to play out

[Ghislain]

Yay! Combat engine! So excited to see how battles are going to play out

I better get on the actual programming side of things -- the longer I work on these graphics, the farther removed I am from the familiarity with my own program code. Albeit, I do provide code comments for almost everything, I will have to re-learn my game engine at least for some time. And I do plan on revising some of these images as I look at them again.

But that's OK -- at this point in the making of Realms III and IV, the games were almost finished. But I have over 200KB of the current game done right now. I am only running behind my previous games because this is just a more ambitious project that I'm working on.

Pics of the day (these two are tied, and I really liked both of them, so you guys get to see them both):

[Ghislain]

Getting close to the last few monsters. 128 done so far.

Pic of the day:

[Ghislain]

I've been thinking of a way to minimize disk swapping as much as possible. Since the Bestiary disk (side 3) will have all of the monsters in the game, I think I can also fit the map travel and dungeon modules there as well. So when you have an encounter, the game will store the contents of the game map (whether it's the land or dungeon floor that you're currently in) to a "TEMP MAP" file and then the combat module will be loaded along with the monster graphics where the map contents are currently residing in memory.

Once combat is resolved, the game will return to traveling and since the travel modules will also be on side 3 along with the "TEMP MAP" that was just written to disk, no disk swapping will be required after combat is resolved. Only until you travel to another part of the game world that is not available on the currently inserted disk side will disk swapping actually be required.

Or to look at it another way, the game treats the disk drive as a form of virtual memory. The entirety of Realms III could fit into a 32K expanded VIC-20 without any further disk access. In fact, I probably could convert the game to a cassette version if I ever decide to get around to it one day. Realms IV occupied the entirety of one disk side (170K) and loaded the components on an on-needed basis.

Pic of the day:

[R'zo]

I admire your need to make sure that this game plays a smoothly and simply as possible on traditional hardware. You could simply rely on the idea that most have sdiec or emulation but your work and attention to detail will ensure the best gameplay no matter how it is ran.

A game of this magnitude for the vic is impressive enough (I thought roqiii was as good as it gets.) But to make sure it runs so nicely on traditional hw, very nice work my friend.

[Ghislain]

I admire your need to make sure that this game plays a smoothly and simply as possible on traditional hardware. You could simply rely on the idea that most have sdiec or emulation but your work and attention to detail will ensure the best gameplay no matter how it is ran.

A game of this magnitude for the vic is impressive enough (I thought roqiii was as good as it gets.) But to make sure it runs so nicely on traditional hw, very nice work my friend.

Since I intend the game to be published in physical medium that you can hold in your hands, having the game distributed on floppy disk seems to be the most practical option. Putting it on cartridge does sound intriguing, but then you have to get into the issues regarding producing packaging to fit around said medium, etc. If I put this game out on kickstarter so that a cartridge version with all of the packaging it would entail, how much interest would it get realistically. One could cost out this concept and then put out a video and campaign (and this is not something that I'm personally used to doing -- perhaps get some techmedia savvy people involved) and say that a certain minimum funding threshold has to be reached in order for this game to come out in cartridge format. And it would be fun to get some internet fame.

Unknown Realm for the C64 being able to raise $150,000 was evidence of the retro community's desire to see an old school RPG get made for an old school platform. They also offed PC versions (I presume they either have a custom emulator wrapped around the game -- or they re-wrote and re-compiled the code to run on a modern PC). I love the VIC-20, but that machine does not have nearly the same amount of users or notoriety that the C64 has (which is the most famous retro computer of all time).

I feel that to do the above would require some type of project manager who could organize such an undertaking. I'm just a guy who is competent at programming (with certain creative desire for RPGs and board games) who does things one piece at a time and who gets help from others.

Psytronik has given me word that they will publish it with them if I want to, and they have the means to produce packaging (clear plastic jewel cases), printing the inserts, disk labels and documentation as they have done for me in the past. It's fun to hold my actual games in my hands.

Obviously, a multi-disk RPG game for the 32KB expanded VIC-20 would have never been conceived for the VIC-20 back in the 1980s. A VIC-20 with 16KB expansion and a Datassette would have been the platform that a publisher would have considered to be a more viable one to support.
Pic of the day:

The Time Lords from Realms IV are back, but they are not the main villains. They are just another in a long line of wandering monsters.

[R'zo]

I was merely admiring your drive to make sure this runs as smoothly as possible with traditional floppy.

I would like to write a large scale rpg designed for a cart with switchable rom more because it can be done and I feel the format should be represented. I am not as concerned with sales or popularity, just that it can be done. I would be happy just to have 1 copy printed for myself. If others would be interested that would be a plus.
I have had the idea since the ultimem was released. I have just had a bit to learn. Writing legend of the lost catacombs (originally final quest) and writing the music and players for Roqv are 2 projects that have helped me immeasly on this journey. Every program I write is a lesson on how to write the next.

[Ghislain]

I was merely admiring your drive to make sure this runs as smoothly as possible with traditional floppy.

I would like to write a large scale rpg designed for a cart with switchable rom more because it can be done and I feel the format should be represented. I am not as concerned with sales or popularity, just that it can be done. I would be happy just to have 1 copy printed for myself. If others would be interested that would be a plus.
I have had the idea since the ultimem was released. I have just had a bit to learn. Writing legend of the lost catacombs (originally final quest) and writing the music and players for Roqv are 2 projects that have helped me immeasly on this journey. Every program I write is a lesson on how to write the next.

Thank you. I kind of digressed on my musings.

I just finished the first draft of monster images -- I'll go over each one and figure out what would be needed to improve the images (either some refinements or do-over). Here is the final pic of the day (for some time):

This monster is practically unbeatable. Here are his stats:

Hit Points: 100-800
Armor Class:-2
#Attacks: 30
Damage/Attack: 1-100
ATTACK#1: Melee Attack
ATTACK#2: Heal Self (to full hit points)
ATTACK#3: Void
ATTACK#4: Void

This type of creature is classified as an "Immortal" which means that he cannot be killed, controlled, slept by magical means. And the Void attack is where the player must perform a saving throw VS Strength or otherwise be permanently cast "into the void" -- which is basically a massive whirlwind that obliterates you to nothingness. This is a permadeath where your character (and possessions) are obliterated forever.

And Azathoth is the second most powerful monster -- Lord Bane is 4.5 times as powerful.

[Ghislain]

I changed the main menu screen so that you can use the cursor keys to select the game options. So all of the function keys have been disabled save for F5 -- that is being kept so you can easily toggle music on/off during gameplay.

After several weeks removed from doing any actual coding, it took some getting used to in order to be able to modify the source code.

[Ghislain]

Playing around with the colors of the main menu.

[R'zo]

I like those color scheme. The title sticks out more.

[rubygolem]

Yes, I like the green and yellow in the title. Looks good.

[Ghislain]

Thanks all. I procrastinated some more and came up with this:

[rubygolem]

Ooh the blue looks good too. I don't know. It's kind of a toss up between the blue one, and the green and yellow to me. But both are better than the red IMO. The blue has kind of an underwater look which is cool but I like the green and yellow too. I'm undecided. What does everyone else here think?