Another Commodore PET news story has appeared in our inbox, as we have recently been informed by the creator 'Jason Cook', that the previously released game of 'Tower and Dragon', has hit version 2.0 and can be enjoyed right now! For those of who haven't heard of this game before however. It is a classic dungeon crawling adventure with primary and offhand weapon, armor, quest storyline, moving walls, teleportation, and unique tilesets and deadly monsters for each dungeon level.
Here is what Jason Cook said about this latest release for the Commodore PET. "With memory tapped out at 8K, version 2 started out modest enough with just optimizing program space to add room decorations. While testing, I realized it was nearly impossible to locate critical tiles for game progression. This caused another optimization programming cycle to include tile animation".
"Animations had such a dramatic impact that I then created an entirely new starting level. The game now starts with your character outdoors just after landing a boat on the shore near an ancient ruin. To complete the outdoor adventure, a key needs to be found to unlock and descend into the depths of the ancient ruin. Monsters in the ruin have been increased in level to compensate for the outdoor adventure. The final boss is significantly tougher".
New in V2.0:
- The game starts with an outdoor adventure!
- There are now animated tiles.
- All levels are fortified with room decorations.
- Game programmed around ROM 1 bugs with the Commodore PET disk drive (IEEE-488), allowing it to work with a disk drive! To get it operating, see project rom1diskmagic.
- 20% improvement in performance.
- As with 1.1, this all runs in only 8K of memory. To make something this complex has been an ongoing battle.
- Unfortunately, character save files from version 1.x are not compatible.
- Fixed screen corruption on save (only effected tape cassette version in some cases).
- As of Version 1.1, supports SNES Game Controller.
What a well made game! I always find it incredible what games are released for these more than ancient machines. I'm very much enjoying T&D.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to try this!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the positive feedback! A good thing to remember when playing is to press E(search for secret doors) about once every 3 tiles(12 moves). Searching for secret doors searches all space on the screen that is not veiled in dots - searching is an instant process but I felt it important for a dungeon crawler.
ReplyDeleteHi Jason
DeleteOne question: How does saving work? I tried to save the game (I'm using VICE for playing) on one of the save points but when I restart the game and load the save I reappear right at the starting point (not where I saved the game) with the map darkened again.
I also noticed that if I use VICE's savestates the controlls are messed up when I reload such a savestate.
Thank you for this lovely game!
You can read in instructions this : "Switch levels resets fog and mobs". It is also true for save games and loading them afterwards.
DeleteHope it helps :)
When you save, it saves your character's current level, experience, weapons, gold, and unlocked levels(the ruin), unlocked doors, and treasure found in the game. It makes more sense once you have descended into the depths of the ruin. The best time to save is when you start a new level, as you can then load your save point and the fog of war and everything for the new level is new, so it hurts you the least from a map perspective. Your character will be outside of course, at the boat, but you can then press 1, 2, etc.(once each level is unlocked) to then go back to the level you are exploring.
DeleteThe outdoor level is an introduction to the game, so it is full of things to expect on further levels such as secret doors, unlock points, teleportation, etc. If you have trouble completing the outdoor level, let me know and I'll give some quick tips - I don't think I would be giving too much away as the outdoor is an introduction.
Thank you very much for your replies Frederic and Jason. Ah yes, I understand, I forgot the golden rule (RTFM). ;) I'm on level 2 now, desperatly searching for the way further down. I seem to have explored everything (always pressing "e") and reached the ancient library... there has to be something here, hasn't it?
DeleteYes, the Library is significant. I would walk through every tile of that library as if combing the books.
DeleteI found the solution, sorry for bothering you. I'm on level 3 now. The game is really impressive. Very motivating and atmospheric. You created something very unique here. I can only assume what a massive hit this game would have been back in the 80ies. I can clearly state that this game is - together with PETSCII-Robots - the most impressive game I've played for the PET.
DeleteI downloaded the game and played it on Vice. Thanks to some advices from the creator, I was able to finish intro map.
ReplyDeleteI currently finished also level 1. I saved at the starting of level 2. If you're looking for a really good dungeon crawler, just try this game. You won't be disappointed.
Just finished it yesterday. The end boss is not that hard to beat. You'll have to find the right way :)
Delete