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Is there a good BASIC Fantasy Cosnole with supports maps that function like TIC-80's ones?

A topic by kevidryon2 created Apr 14, 2021 Views: 356 Replies: 8
Viewing posts 1 to 5

I need a fantasy console that's programmable in BASIC and that has maps that function like the ones of the TIC-80, i mean that the camera scrolls throuth the map smoothly on the TIC-80 and other popular fantasy console, while in others (like the LowRes NX) the programmer has to load gradually the map from another source, beacuse there's a map buffer that's small, like old games on the Sega Genesis. I was able to make this comparisons emulating Sonic 3 for the Sega Genesis in BizHawk, and looking at the backgrounds in the Video RAM Scanner. I can see that the level isn't loaded all at once, but it's loaded in 32x32 backgrounds gradually, if i had made a platformer with powerful debug tools for both the TIC-80 and the Sega Genesis or the LowRes NX, you would see that if you teleport to a long distance away from the current camera position, you would see that in the TIC-80 version the camera centers at the player position immediately, because it has previously loaded the entire map at once, while in the LowRes NX version, it would take some time to move the camera to the player's position, because it need to gradually load the map to find the player's coordinates and go to them. This waiting would be hard to see with fast fantasy consoles, because the camera scolling routines are very fast.

Also, if the map buffer can't hold the whole map at once, the programmer has to make complex routines to load the map gradually, which would waste time and get the programmer frustrated. While in fantasy console where the map is loaded all at once, even a beginner programmer has to only use a few commands and he can scroll the map smoothly without any bugs or trickeries to worry about.

Host

Oh, there may be no reponse in this forum. 

I tried to ask your question here:
https://itch.io/t/1322873/is-there-a-good-basic-fantasy-console-with-supports-ma...

In BASIC8 https://store.steampowered.com/app/767240/ map is loaded and placed as you code. It won't lead to the loading problem after moving camera. i.e.


a = load_resource("a.map")

b = load_resource("b.map")

...

camera cx, cy

map a, x0, y0

map b, x1, y1

Well... BASIC8 isn't free, and probably i will be using it for just this jam.

I think that for me BASIC8 is just a waste of money, because i'll use it for this jam and then abandon it.

When it comes to fantasy cosnoles, i usually make JS games with the TIC-80 or the SCRIPT-8. So spending $13 on a fantasy console that i'll be using for only one time... Just isn't worth it. I'd consider to lower the price a bit, maybe to $10, where it is more affordable. Then, if you'd lower the price for me, i could sponsor it, or even make a commercial.

To make the user base more big, and not do the same "mistakes" the PICO-8 and other paid fantasy consoles did, i think you should make a free demo version of the BASIC-8 to be more competitive to the other paid fantasy cossoles. in the demo version, the user should be able to:

  • Make a game
  • Use the sprite/tile editor
  • Use the map editor

Howeaver, with the following limits:

  • The user can't save disks.
  •  The user can only use the game dev. tools for a limited amount of time (For example, 4 hours)
  • The user can't use any advanced tools.

I think that this demo version would bring more users to the fanbase.

Host

Opinion.....
If there are two versions, it may be easier for you to enlarge the user base:
1. The free basic version is dowloaded on Itch.
2. The pro version is bought on Steam.

 

(1 edit)

Ok, good!... But when will Tony develop the free version?

If he doesn't, I buy the Steam version, decompile it and cut the features i mentioned, then I release it.

I'll include this free version into a collection i'll make

Host

Hello...
That is only my suggestion and we still need to look forward to his response.

Host

kevidryon2,
Tony is the author of the fantasy console BASIC8.

Tony,
Thanks for your reply!!!!!!

Submitted

In RCBasic there are canvases that can be larger than the window, the canvas can be moved and only a part of it will be displayed. I don't know if there is a size limit for the canvas.