Months ago, my plans for this month was to release an Illusiat-related game, perhaps a remake of the first two games like I always wanted to, but finally that never happened, despite Illusiat's 20th anniversary being on the horizon. Instead, I am reviving this old project, which is similar in style to some of the earlier games, but much more graphically advanced.
Back in late 2012, when the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition color screen z80 calculator got announced, I wanted to experiment with layered text sprites, often referred to as dual-layer ASCII sprites. Games like Serenity and Metroid Pi used this technique, although the latter did not use the shifted method. In the process, I wanted to attempt making an RPG like Illusiat 6/Nemesiat, but with larger maps while being (hopefully) smaller.
I eventually got the color calculator model before pushing this RPG engine further, so only the walking engine was done and in 2014 it was posted in Omnimaga downloads section. I have recently uploaded it to TI-Planet, Cemetech and Ticalc.org as well.
https://tiplanet.org/forum/archives_voir.php?id=2790407
https://www.cemetech.net/downloads/files/2178/x2410
https://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/476/47676.html
Almost 9 years later, it's being revived as Darkblasters! It will feature four dungeons, a town and a forest, some magic spells and items, but no shop and in-game currency. There will be no experience points, so your max HP/MP will go up every battle, along with your skill points. Magic will get stronger the more you use it. You'll also not be able to enter buildings in the town, but you will be able to talk to NPC's.
My goals:
-Keep the game and its RAM usage as small as possible
-Hopefully keep it in one file, unlike my entire RPG calculatography.
-Make sure that the speed remains fast enough for 15 MHz calcs. 83+ will be playable, but not the most optimal experience.
-Keep compatibility with the TI-82 Advanced and TI-84 Plus-T models. (This is why the game remains in pure TI-BASIC)
Screenshot showing some of the event sprites that you will be able to interact with. Collision might be tricky for some of those, though… (the game detects any sprite where the top-left-most pixel is turned ON as a solid object)
https://i.imgur.com/F0hSnZU.gif
Battles are currently disabled, since they just endlessly play one of the magic animation.
EDIT: New screenshots:




Now active at https://discord.gg/cuZcfcF (CodeWalrus server) and music links available at https://dreamofomnimaga.page