Adventure Construction Set

Chris H.'s Ultima / ACS-style game development system!

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McDeath
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by McDeath »

Library will be open wednesday. I will upload the music sound zip. Now back to pulling gfx from the games and making tilesheets. Then I’ll amend a custom manual with any insights, errors etc I found. Finishing up will be the spreadsheets, the item, creature, terrain descriptions.

The only other things I can do is emulator specific: ie, using the AppleII rivers of light module with its 6 colors and transferring fantasy, spy/mystery, and sci-fi to the 6 colors rather than 4 color defaults. Neat apple 2 has that.

For Amiga I could create tilesets based on the other emulators for it. So you could graphically play a close representation of Apple, c63, dos but using the extra sound and interface of Amiga. Btw, I need to find a better emulator for Amiga.

There is the issue with graphic consistency to each platform. They vary, are missing tiles, or have worthless duplicates (in the case of appleII and c64). I can amend this but it’ll take time. I believe drawing on the emulator is the most daunting since I’m trying to be accurate for st least one version.

And the very last few things would be looking at the available modules and recording the items, gfx, Monsters, etc etc for those. I did also want to attempt putting Fracas in as an ACS adventure. I’m not sure I could do Hercules or Ali-baba Justice. They’re pretty unique even if similar. This is where I hoped Kroah had deconstructed Ali-baba. There’s a walkthrough, maps, etc. I could figure out something.

And after all that. I should be done with ACS for a little bit. I hope I can get this done in a year. That motivation sometimes drags.
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McDeath
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by McDeath »

With great sandwiches comes great nachos.

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McDeath
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by McDeath »

Still working on pulling the gfx out to make tilesets. Disappointed in the appleII as they don’t quite look like the in-game product. That’s all I’m left with is the appleII and I’m only at LOA. I still have it, ROL, sci-fi, and spy-mystery.
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McDeath
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by McDeath »

Well, a bug on my Apple master disk side 2 for letting ACS FINISH YOUR ADVENTURE. It just hangs. This is sad news but not game breaking since ACS makes pretty lame adventures anyways. I just find it annoying as I like to see programs work fully as intended. I don’t have a physical appleII nor ACS to test so I can’t confirm it’s broke there as well. Maybe I’ll inquire around but for now I’ll just finish up what I intended.

Hah, probably finish this all and find ACK is superior (though lacking). Of all the indie games you don’t see another ACS/ACK for modern computers and OS. I really don’t care for the RPG maker and it’s combat and structure.
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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

McDeath wrote: Tue Feb 05, 2019 4:06 pm Still working on pulling the gfx out to make tilesets. Disappointed in the appleII as they don’t quite look like the in-game product. That’s all I’m left with is the appleII and I’m only at LOA. I still have it, ROL, sci-fi, and spy-mystery.
I've got an Apple II here ready to play what you make, pal!
the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!

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Garth's Equipment Shop
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Re: COMPLETE ACS COLLECTION

Post by Garth's Equipment Shop »

Billy Mays wrote: Sat Oct 27, 2018 10:23 am
McDeath wrote: Wed Oct 24, 2018 6:51 pmMaybe no one is interested but I can try to keep this alive.
Don't ever doubt yourself, sometimes you do something that at the time you don't realize how important it actually is.
Great point Mr. Mays.

If it weren't for the obsessive behaviour of lone wolf die hard fans like Mr.McDeath crying out in the wilderness...

like survivors in the wasteland of rad memes and radioactive dreams who believed themselves the last of their kind...

Like forgotten heroes who in one last ditch effort, one hail Mary play, gathered what they could salvage into a kind of time capsule and launched it into cyber space...

Indeed my friends... If it weren't for these fallen or greying old comrades, how much darker and duller would this virtual multiverse be!

So remember that next time you are gazing at the rgb or purple-green-blue-orange-white hued glow of an ancient cathode ray tube beneath a sun-baked steel sky wondering why you carry on...

Wondering if you made the right choice pulling a heavy medieval style wooden cart around like a human mule while the gas guzzling road warriors slaughter each other for a few drops of petrol...

(drum beat begins...)
...voice like Journey sings:

"Nobody told you -
that you'd face the truth alone...
"but you've got the power
to begin...

"Let yourself wander -
let your spirit find the way...

"reach for the power from
within...

"yeah...
(inspirational music builds)

"you got no reason -
to let people keep you down...

"stand up and fight
for what you are...

"cause your biggest challenge
is the one that lies
within yourself...

"Know what you're fightin for...

(electric guitar and drums synchronize - jamming begins)

(chorus...
"Hold - on - to - the - vision
in your eyes...

"Keep the fire burnin bright, you've got to make them realize...

"Only with this power can you rise...

"Hold on to that vision in your eyes...
end chorus...)

"Never surrender -
to the doubts
that cloud you're mind...

"Never retreat from
who you are...

"No...

"Love is the magic
that you carry on
and on and on and on...

"Know what you're fightin for...

(chorus)

"yeah!

(chorus)

"yeah... (fade out chorus...)

Hold On To the Vision
by Kevin Chalfant
high quality



(as an afterthought the training music from Rocky IV would have been hilarious after that last comment but the this tune has way more 80s badassitude. download mp3 of it from youtube using videoder app and add this to your mp3 player for extra human-mule-power during those long hauls. 👊)
Which of you is interested in my fine wares?

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Billy Mays
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Re: COMPLETE ACS COLLECTION

Post by Billy Mays »

Garth's Equipment Shop wrote: Sun Mar 17, 2019 6:34 pmGreat point Mr. Mays.
That really means a lot to me right now, thank you.

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McDeath
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by McDeath »

And i solved my appleII problem with the "let ACS finish adventure." The online disks were messed up for creation "make an adventure disk." Someone submitted to me fixed versions of those. But, it turns out the fixed version could NOT let ACS finish. On a bloody whim i used the originals and BAM!!!

IT WORKED!

Note: i depressed SCROLL LOCK to speed up the emulator; otherwise it would take 30-40 minutes to finish. Leaving your finger on scrolllock in applewin finishes the task in a minute or two. Neat stuff. When you mess with Lands of Adventuria or Rivers of Light you will notice weird stuff as names for the regions beyond whats in the game.

So, still lots to do and probably no enthusiasts of ACS left on the planet. Ha. I kid.

So still plugging while doing other things. The tileset idea is probably overkill and now its mostly cut/paste to create. Drawing from appleii to ms-paint took some time.

What will really take time is redrawing appleii using the 6 color ROL set then recreating the items/creatures etc for spy, sci, and fantasy themes.

Im considering drawing all versions on the amiga sets as well. At least that would be easy in a way.

The comparisons between platforms is funny. I really scratch my head trying to visualize wth some of these are. Btw, soy-mystery has a Walker Texas Ranger-like pic thats pretty cool. Its supposedly kidnapped agent but I'm sure Chuck just can't be kidnapped.

The 7x8 (14x16) is still annoying but comes together fine on the emulator. If it was ever used in another program like ACK, then i would use c64 tiles to help fill out the appleII.
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McDeath
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by McDeath »

OK, I have finally finished the basic graphical package I wanted to do on the onset (seems sound and music was easier).


ACS COMPLETE TILESETS
I sure hope its complete. It is all the basic stuff in the types of modules for each of the 4 platforms (C64, AppleII, Amiga, DOS) (the modules being Land of Adventuria, Rivers of Light, Fantasy Set, Spy/Mystery Set, Science-Fiction Set, and Galactic Agent (Amiga Only)). I didn't include the modules out there yet or the latest entry from 2018 by a talented fellow. I will get to those later after all the basics are done.

The Basic Files for the Modules on their respectable platforms
A lot of this is repat of v1.0 but there is some clean up here and I included a disk so you can let ACS finish adventures on the AppleII. Basically you should be able to do all the basics here provided you have the correct emulators and dosbox.

Next up...... The internal workings of Creatures-Characters, Terrain, and Things. (oooooooooohhhhh boy spreadsheet, word doc with pics, PDF?) Time will tell.
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Flack
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by Flack »

This has been a labor of love and (I'm sure) a ton of hard work. Congrats on finishing the tiles -- I hope people get use of them for years to come!
"I failed a savings throw and now I am back."

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McDeath
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by McDeath »

Just think of all the adventures sent in and the custom work done. I bet there was some. When you read what old newsletters there are, i guess some were just erased because they were pretty basic or incomplete.

There is a thread on lemon asking about the $1,000 award for sent adventures in a contest.

There is always hope that somewhere in a basement, attic, box, storage area that copies remain and the data can still be extracted.
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McDeath
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by McDeath »

Just found out END+PAUSE/BREAK puts WUNUAE emulator into turbo mode (good for adventure making). Hitting those keys again stop the turbo. Added the new notes to amiga notepad in zip. I'll upload later.
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McDeath
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by McDeath »

Another slight hiccup. I noticed the amiga fantasy set was altered by me in a test. I had mountains accessible via rope when the original was open to travel by all. I just fixed that by remaking the fantasy set disk from the utilities in ACS. That turbo is FAST!
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McDeath
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by McDeath »

Small tile error on AppleII ROL; i forget the 2 pixel wide bar on the right-hand side. That messes up a few tilesets (its not critical but the plains/empty space will annoy me. I also had garbage files in the zips. I need to trim the non-essentials.

The spreadsheets and word docs will take a little time considering graphics added.

I was reading one of the newsletter and it talked of using a blank adventure disk to store characters. Brilliant idea so i'll get to making one for each platform. I have some characters for the c64 I could place. I am unsure of maximim character limit.
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McDeath
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by McDeath »

This intro has ACS in it as a consultation (or i think it does)


Yes, ask ACS!
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McDeath
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by McDeath »

I've been lazy out hiking, mountainbiking, and working on the property do not much have i done. I'm done with fantasy items/terrain and went directly to Land of Advrnturia items/terrain. I should just rebame it all Pops, Set, Actors tbh. Why? Well, "Actors" have a lot of info including inventory.

I did a little bit of spreadsheet work and I like inserting data dron the wordpad onto it. I'll color coordinate the entries and maybe put in littke borders for the information boxes (and use a helluva lot of copy/paste).

Speaking if copy/paste, I create a template of sorts on the wordpad and copy/paste it delending on the entries. Treasure is different from magic items from armor, melee, missile, etc etc etc). That is a bit tedious but i think a quick sheet you print out is better than navigating every menu each time guessing. Obviously that doesnt matter if you erase it all and make every set, prop, actor from scratch. Some I absutely suggest you don't eraseor rather remake if you do erase it all.

So... summer... yeah! It cuts into me wanti g to be on the computer. I guess i'll just commit to at least 1 small bit a day and nibble it down. Its just basic data you can find in the construction part anyway. Hopefully making the tilesets and trying to record the sound is considered the brunt of it all. A decent hobby i guess.
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McDeath
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by McDeath »

Finished LOA props-items. Moving onto ROL props-items word pad. I'm considering changing font size to something smaller. I can't see somone printing 23+ pages for each module.
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McDeath
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by McDeath »

Lordy ROL has a lot of spaces, obstacles and customs. Some are pretty good to consider using in other sets. I'll definitely break up the wordpads to mudules instead of just 1 giant one for all themes.
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McDeath
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by McDeath »

Finishing up THINGS (props) on the amiga galactic agent. Then i check each platform for consistency on these to make sure they are close to the same. After that i tackle people/creatures (CAST). Terrain (STAGE/BACKDROPS) has been done. Then i tackle the spreadsheet.

Summer life takes me away from computer.
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McDeath
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Re: Adventure Construction Set

Post by McDeath »

Finiahed props on galactic agent and now checking cast. I'm really curious on the source material for some of these aliens and beasts.
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