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Work in Progress / CyberC - 2D Text Game - interested in helpers/modders

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aaron mann
17
Years of Service
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Joined: 24th May 2007
Location: WI, USA
Posted: 24th May 2007 22:58
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Hello everyone,

I am working on a rebuild of an old game I made in DB called "Cyber Cowboy". I just use bitmaps as backgrounds and sprite overlays with text printed to what I lay out as individual screens. I am a music composer so I will also be spicing it up with original music and sound effects.

I'm perfectly capable of tackling the project by myself but I thought I would ask for some assistance if anyone is interested in making any contributions, as time is always against me. I really believe in my idea for this game and don't want it to become another unfinished work.

I made the original CyberC back in 1999 and I still only use DB v.1.13 classic. It's perfectly acceptable for a game of this simple magnitude. I've been around here for ages although this is my first post with this new name. I used to participate in a group called "Lucid Designs" back in 2000 / 2001 with Josh Klint (Halo9), the maker of Cartogrophy Shop. I remember making the first splash audio for that and helping with the graphic. Haha. We were working on a FPS called "Metal" back then. I don't know how that project ever turned out but I know Josh is still around here somewhere. If you're reading this Josh say hello, I've missed you and the old crew.

Anyways, I will likely need a couple more weeks to get the core structure of this game in place but here is an idea for some of the additions that are planned:

Characters:
I am working out a system to add characters to the game in a plain text file, new characters are added to the end of the file and the game reads in the whole lot on startup. Characters are named and have an "address book" entry. You can contact them in the game through an IM or email emulator.

Places:
This is a game primarily about computer hacking so phony systems to hack will need to be outlined, again in plain text files probably because it makes it really easy to add more later and expand the game as a whole. I also want to incorporate a sort of internet that behaves in much the same way as our real one does. I want to have online banking for the player and the ability to shop online and upgrade the hardware of your in-game computer.

Events:
Random events or things that could happen.

Voice:
I was thinking about recording some of the NPC dialect in voice for playback. If I did I would need a lot of different voices, I could probably cover 3 by myself. Imitations / impressions would be welcome =)

I really have a lot of ideas and a great story line to start from that really expands the old one. I still have the cheesy old 2000 version 1.0 of CyberC if anyone wants to try it out, this rebuild should overshadow it by far. I really could list details forever so I'll just stop now. As soon as I have the basic functions laid out I'll be willing to share the source with an interested modder/contributor.

If anyone is interested in participating contact me. I miss collaborating on works with others. I don't imagine this game would have a lot of names for the credits screen so if an author would like to code their own "profile" page with their pic/ava and info. to plug in to the game credits screen, that would be cool.

Eventually I will put up a page for this game on my site at aaronmann.com. I am using the same graphics in the game as on my site so everything coorelates nicely.

Contact Info:
- Here (this forum)
- am[at]aaronmann[dot]com ( or I have a catch-all )
- My forum: http://z10.invisionfree.com/aaronmann/index.php
- Yahoo IM ( aaron.mann )

Seasoned coders only please, you don't have to be a pro, I'm not, but I'd rather not have to teach or fix code. If you're pro then you probably won't want to waste your time on a text game, your time is better spent making progress in 3D and I don't blame you, I love 3D games I just can't make them =)

Thanks all, for your time in reading this,

- Aaron

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aaron mann
17
Years of Service
User Offline
Joined: 24th May 2007
Location: WI, USA
Posted: 3rd Jun 2007 02:03
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Just wanted to post an update.

Been poking around the forums a bit looking at other's works. I feel like an ant crawling amongst giants, there are so many great creations here. Mine will never compare to a 3D game but I have this idea for a game I feel I need to get out.

I'm still struggling with the core engine. It's pretty good so far. The functions accept values passed to them and almost everything runs off a set of settings that start as defaults and get overwritten later by a user config. Just big arrays and data files. I made an interface as a bitmap and mapped all the sprite coordinates in the defaults file. This way others can make custom skins for the interface and switch between them or simply overwrite the old with the new.

The text-based content is pretty special. The system idea I am building around is to make it easier to add more content to the game later on. I used to write all the text strings that got printed to the screen within the code using multiple lines of TEXT commands. THis system simply reads in text files to an array section and prints them from there condensing many lines of code into simple FOR / NEXT and WHILE / ENDWHILE control loops.

I'm wrestling with a dynamic menu system right now that will change, expand or contract the options listed on the menu based upon what should be available to you. The idea is nice and should flow smoothly with future updates. I was also thinking about allowing a stats section to be docked in the menu. I am also working out a paging system and a word-wrap for when a text file or menu selection list is longer than the screen height.

I also plan to make text files for NPC's or non-playing characters that you could connect to and chat with. I was hoping to work out a system that would scan your text string input for keywords and use those words to dictate a response from the NPC.

I also have a basis for an interesting storyline for this.Lots of good ideas, just need the time to get it all put together. I suppose I should post a screenshot so you have something to look at =)

This is the initial interface I've made. It will run in the default 640x480. Support for larger resolutions and skins will be added in time. This has the 640x480 default background first, then a small collection of sprites that are used on top of it. I also collect the default 'screens' and use those to paste over text to 'clear' a screen.



I'll try to bring by a screenshot of it doing something in a couple weeks, little busy with other things right now. =)

Here, take a look at the crazy defaults file and see how I'm trying to associate literally every number in the game with a setting that could be configured by the user.




Take a look at the interesting media loading functions that can be created when you set all the image location numbers to a setting in the defaults file:



Here's a really easy way to read a file in to an array. This function allows array routing numbers to be passed to it so that multiple files could be stored at the same time and the number can exceed the 32 open files limit in DB classic (1.13)



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