I started making this C64 game in 1984. It’s time to finish it!

I started making a role playing game in 1984 in assembly language on my first computer, a Commodore 64. I called it DDM at the time, short for "Digital Dungeon Master". Now the time has come to finish the project so today I will show you what I had at the time and outline the plan to finish this dream. I will also tell you how you can vote for features and additions.
Public Poll on Patreon:
/ 83982058
Poll is also on KZbin community tab for the channel but I can't seem to link to it. Thanks KZbin
USED OR MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO
Visual Studio Code
code.visualstudio.com/
VICE Commodore Emulator
vice-emu.sourceforge.io/
C64 Debugger
sourceforge.net/projects/c64-...
Kick Assembler
Add to VS Code in the Extensions tab inside VSC
theweb.dk/KickAssembler/Main.html
A great install tutorial I used from CityXen
• Commodore 64 Programmi...
PATRONS
C128
Joseph Naberhaus
VIC-20
Doug Johnson
ABOUT RAVENWOLF RETRO TECH
RavenWolf Retro Tech brings you new vintage tech videos regularly. We currently have about half a dozen videos in various states of completion, including Amiga 2000 and 4000 restorations, A Pet-4032 in desperate need of a full restoration, an SX-64, and much more!
At RavenWolf Retro Tech we restore and explore vintage technology from Back in the Day! Now that we are moved into the new shop, the frequency of videos is increasing. I’ll keep putting out videos as I can, but I promise to focus on higher quality videos that don’t waste your time over frequent, low effort projects.
MY FAVORITE TOOLS
Weller WE1010NA soldering station - I like the classic look
geni.us/Weller
Hakko FX888D Soldering Station - A slight performance boost but not so sexy
geni.us/Hakko
Auto Wire Strippers
geni.us/AutoStripper
Siglent SDS1104X-E Oscilloscope
geni.us/Siglent-SDS114-E
EEVblog Brymen BM235 Multimeter
geni.us/RWRT_EEVBlogMeter
Deoxit D5
geni.us/DeoxIT_D5
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#Commodore #c64 #retrogaming

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I want to make clear that I have no intention of posting videos writing code on this channel. Just periodic updates on the progress for feedback and fun.

[@WingedPSN]

I love seeing these sorts of videos. I'm currently finishing up a story I've been writing. Whether it's a story, a game, we all have passion projects. And it's never too late to complete them. I'll be looking forward to seeing your game completed! Edit: I wonder if Limited Run Games would help you with distribution, marketing, box artwork? This is right up their alley.

[@Zeon081]

maybe sacrifice the 80s party system for something more unique? like instead of party members make it body parts? 6 slots is just enough for 2 arms, 2 legs, torso and head. damage to those parts will affect effectiveness of equipment attached to it. foot wear - speed of movement to avoid enemies. body - hp multiplier. head - vision range. arms - shield and weapon effectiveness.

[@Lbf5677]

That's a brilliant idea

[@Astrochronic]

I wanted to give you a donation but it seems your patreon options do not include just a one time donation. Sorry.

[@MrGarthboy]

You could do that as a party also like abilities available with the different power rangers etc, there was a platform version last generation Amiga that had a ready made similar platform game rpg maker plus you could make your own cartoons.

[@42groundhogs]

It reminds me greatly of some of my best gaming memories, sitting side by side with my good friend Branden. We'd fire up Wizard's Crown on his Atari 800XL and decide on every move together.

[@jonpalmer2370]

it is brilliant that you can use a modern tool like visual studio to create c64 programs. I never imagined anyone would care 20 years ago.... 🙂

[@ladymecha8718]

Nothing like finishing a passion project from being a kid. 🎉

[@esra_erimez]

I just rewatched this with my dad. He remembers printing assembler code from his TRS-80 when he was a kid and writing comment on the printout too!

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

We did what we had to back in the day!

[@jasoneverett]

I got my first C64 when I was 14 myself. In the early 90's I had a very smart friend who I'd met thru a local BBS. We met in person and immediately clicked. He was much smarter then me and at one point started working on his own RPG. I was never able to help from a coding standpoint but I gave him a lot of content ideas and he named a character after me. He died of cancer at the age of 25 and never finished it. I hadn't thought about him for a while and this video brought up some emotion I never expected from a C64 video lol. I'll be watching your progress.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Jason, that is heart breaking. What do you remember about his game? maybe we can work a character named after him into things

[@jasoneverett]

@@RavenWolfRetroTech Very kind thoughts. It was very much along the lines of what you are doing. I remember some of the concepts we came up with were having a library and reading the books would increase INT but never telling the player that. Farming at your house would increase STR etc. We really wanted that excitement of discovery of finding out something that wasn't explicitly stated.

[@lepermessiah1433]

Telengard was my 1st CPRG too, on a C64! Loved it!

[@telengardforever7783]

Hacking Telengard taught me how to program!

[@apexofbeing]

This really shows it's never too late to finish what you started.

[@incumbentvinyl9291]

Depends on the situation. If for example the code is lost, then you can't continue what you started, you'll simply have to start over with the same idea.

[@vkobevk]

yes if he stay healthy for that, if he go illness or worst it will be too late

[@vkobevk]

@@incumbentvinyl9291 if he can use AI to assist him i think he can finish his game in less of 2 years

[@incumbentvinyl9291]

@@vkobevk The game is already in a semi working state. Even as a mere hobby alongside a full time job and a family, this can be a working game in months with ease. Chances are that it will be an endless road of small fixes and polishing the end result though.

[@khai77]

Omg, I have been searching for the name of the game Telengard for years! I played the heck out of it back in the 80s on DOS and had some hazy memories of it. I just happened to stumble on your video. Thanks!

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I'm glad it helped! I had to do a bit of searching for it a few years ago before I could remember the name.

[@khai77]

@@RavenWolfRetroTech you have no idea how much of a nostalgia and dopamine hit your video gave me! I was convinced once that it was Temple of Apshai (a totally different game) but seems I conflated the two in my mind and always had the niggling feeling that it wasn't the same game. Just looking on KZbin videos show that cosmetically they are quite different. Thanks a lot, you made this Gen X'ers day!

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I never actually played Temple of Apshai but I have a copy on the shelf above my desk calling for me to find time sometime

[@JH-pe3ro]

Telengard is based on "DND" (the title of several mainframe games), and later on, there were mutiple "DND" ports for DOS as well, some retaining that title. I'm actually not sure which one of them I played now. It might have been "Caverns of Zoarre" since that one has some graphics. Or maybe it was the 1988 release of Dungeons of the Necromancer's Domain from R O Software.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

That is interesting to know!

[@batlin]

As another 1980s C64 kid, this saga has really warmed my heart!

[@davedogge2280]

It looks like my type of RPG and it's an incredible story of someone actually setting about completing one of their childhood dreams.

[@TokyoXtreme]

Look at that wonderful museum in the background. I actually owned a legitimate copy of Telengard on cassette, and I still remember it fondly. I’ve revisited it several times throughout the years though, probably playing five or six years ago. My best memory of the game was casting a sleep spell on a high-level dragon, and it actually worked (I was level one of course, and used the warp cube to face some high-level baddies).

[@stahlmandesign]

This is amazing. I did the same thing around the same time, on Apple II. I also have hand-drawn pixel graphics and code printouts, so I can relate to how daunting and fun this project will be. I also loved Ultima and have some of those hex-map worlds of my own, like you showed. Everything you showed was bigger and more advanced than what I did. Looking back, I wish I'd had a C64 cause the graphics and sound were better than Apple II, but as a kid you used what you had access to. I transferred my 5 1/4" floppies in 2010 and 90% were still readable.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Its funny Justin, I ended up with a C64 because it was all I could afford (That is another story that is coming up soon in fact). Its awesome that most of your floppies were still good!

[@GPFallaize]

I’m an old school C64 owner and while I never ventured further than copying out the code from the back of the user manual, this is fascinating. Subscribed.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Welcome!

[@Janizzary]

This is honestly one of the coolest videos I've ever seen. I had a Commodore 128 when I was a kid and I never even dreamed of creating a video game. I always thought only a big studio could do that.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I really appreciate that Omar. It means a lot to me!

[@Janizzary]

Anytime, man. This is 80's computer nerd culture at its finest! I really hope you finish it!

[@tomjscott]

So cool. I discovered Telengard at my first Gen Con when I was just one month shy of my 15th birthday. They had a whole room of C64 machines with Telengard and it was a competition on how far you could get. I went home and bought it right away. I was also inspired by this game and over the years made a couple of prototypes that were similar. Unfortunately, I tried to power up my 2 C64 machines and both of them won't power up any more. When I get a chance to get a new C64 then I might be able to finish my own Telengard inspired game. I wish you well and hope you finish your game. I would love to play it.

[@olafpieters]

I love this. Hats off to you, sir. I did the same with my unfinished 1984 game Terra Plagiata in 2001, that was written in Basic combined with machine code routines and even contained border sprites and... speech! Had to dive back into all of it after a gap of 13 years. Was a pain in the ass to figure out all the coding, but a lot of fun to continue once I got the hang of it again. And extremely satisfying to finish it and send it to Gamebase 64.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

That sounds like a really fun project Olaf!

[@BillAnt]

The 8-Buy Guy here on KZbin wrote a similar role playing game called Planet X. :) Some interesting video on the "making of...". kzbin.info/www/bejne/hHPCh3WibNqnb7s And Attack of the PETSCII Robots kzbin.info/www/bejne/q6rJaKefiLRsrNE

[@benjaminvanderjagt]

Have you considered merging two or three x-dimension maps to give some virtual length and depth? For example, take a 48x24 map (1,152) with a 4x40 gauntlet hallway (160) that leads into a 32x32 boss room (1,024). Map space is 2,336, though you would have to add just a couple bytes to show where each map leads to another. The game can render these as if they were all part of one plane, giving the illusion of an enormous single screen map.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Benjamin, the map where I show the relative sizes has some shading showing how I would break it up into different rectangles then use seamless teleports to make it feel like a non rectangular map. I think a route like you mentioned may be necessary now though since a map screen would not work with what I had in mind back then.

[@nickryan3417]

Bringing back so many memories! The efficiencies we had to come up with just to store the data was something else entirely. One thing that I would always advise though, is don't mix up the definition with the state. For example, a door is a door is a door. That's separate to if the current state of the door is open, closed, locked or locked & trapped. Not forgetting that the state has four states which correspond nicely to two bits... :) This means that we could have different types of space, and just through allocating 4 bits to this we have 16 different types of space which is plenty. Throw in a map definition lookup reference and... arrghhhh... I now remember where my teenage years disappeared to.

[@ripoutyourprejudice]

This was a fascinating watch. Despite me being in my early 30s I really love the early CRPG era where ambition and hardware limitations actually made the player feel more involved since certain features just couldn't be realistically implemented at that time. I really like taking my own notes, figuring out the branches of dialog in Wasteland, figuring what works and what doesn't and tracing my own map. It gives me a genuine sense of accomplishment modern RPGs don't.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

It was an amazing time Bucky! I am curious just how much, or little, I will be able to cram into 64k

[@R.Daneel]

Use a bit for RLE, perhaps? Particularly in the dungeon. If there are repeated identical cells/empty cells and Bit X is set, then that byte isn't a cell definition, it says something like "Repeat the byte you just placed another N times". Long stretches of walls or empty areas would take far fewer bytes to encode. You can then make hugeish roomy dungeons or tight claustrophobic dungeons that both take the same 2K map allocation. You can limit the bits used. E.G. the 'length' is only 3 bits, so you can 1-byte RLE up to 7 bytes and still be a big win: and saving some bits for further wizardry.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Al, I see that would save on disk space but I am not seeing how it would work with RAM since the game is using the players x and y coordinates to lookup the walls. I have only used RLE for screen compression though so I suspect there is a technique I am not aware of.

[@cybermodo]

I really got hyped about that assembly listing at 4:08, because there are several asm instructions written per line, and using regular C64 BASIC editor! I did it the same way back in the 80's, utilizing Profi ASM 64 assembler, small version of it - packed in only 4K. I had Datasette and no disk drive, so compact assembler was the thing. And I liked having more instructions on the line and screen at once, seemed easier to handle them all.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

That was using the LADs assembler from Machine Language for Beginners. I thought I got it with my C128 but I realized in editing that there was that listing from the plotter. Oddly that code is never actually used (Yet)

[@SunSailor]

Nice. I'm currently finishing an old project of mine as well, which is a grid based dungeon crawler I started in the early 90ies in AmigaBASIC. Yet, I don't use anything else than the idea and developed it more into a gold box series game, but it is so relieving to get that game idea out of the system. I don't even develop it on the Amiga, instead on the Commander X16 in Basic V2, so somewhere inbetween the C64 and the Amiga. I choose that platform because of the simpler memory layout, the built in bank switching for RAM and ROM and for having square pixel graphics. Maybe you should consider a port on the C16 as well, if you really plan to do a boxed version. The X16 will be capable to run cartridges as well, which saves the hazzle to search for old disk stocks.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I am planning on looking onto the X16 once everything is done for the C64. It's out of my budget at the moment.

[@SunSailor]

@@RavenWolfRetroTech It‘s not even really available, but the emulator already does a good job. As it uses the very same CPU, a port should be quite easy.

[@Sabalon]

I have my old floppies (PC DOS) and so so many D&D character generators! Never had 6502 based systems until recently. But it is so cool seeing you be able to bring back 38 years of your past! Makes me want to fight harder to get some of my old programs working again, crap that they were!

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Do it Dan! That was one of the things I liked to do on the Apple IIs in high school! Character generators and making adventures using EAMON

[@cjh0751]

Nice one. I think it's important to finish things we started even if it was a long time ago. It gives meaning to our lives and the self satisfaction is incredible, even if nobody else gets it. Love your video.

[@Neumah]

This is incredible and very inspiring. Such a good example of why not to throw away old projects, and to do proper planning and save things. Very nice!

[@jmp01a24]

Start from scratch is the best way. Use the design notes, but optimize with the latest ideas and development techniques available. That was not available in 1985.

[@BaneMcDeath]

Nice! Very nice. It is pretty cool you had a good portion of your notes and program. Bucket lists can be pretty fun to finally complete. AWESOME! Cheers

[@Daz30]

Back in the 80s the C64 was my 2nd computer I owned. I recall getting the 'Compute' mag (if I remember correctly) where each month there would be a game you can type out the ML code into a compiler the mag also gave code for. It took ages but the reward would be a game. One of those games was called Crossroads and its sequel.

[@stoojinator]

You're so lucky to have all your source and notes. I was diligently kept copies of all the work I did when I was learning back in the early to mid 80s. When I was 21 I left my parents home to live with my grandparents for a while and for reasons unknown to anyone, all the stuff I had got turfed out. I was disappointed in the day, but now I'm gutted. I would have loved to have all the old code I wrote back then. So many games, apps and utilities for so many different platforms. Our own old code may not be worth anything to anyone else, but to us, it really is priceless. Make sure if you write code, you keep backups in places people can't throw away :)

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I feel you! I had a ton of stuff disappear from my Moms while I was in the Army. I am glad that stuff was there with me and that It got mixed up with a bunch of paperwork that kept it safe in a "Don't throw away" box

[@NNokia-jz6jb]

I feel your loss. My parent threw away 300 floppy's without asking me.

[@Keranu]

This is truly an honorable effort. Respect.

[@mingrui1862]

This is an amazing idea! I have just recently thought of revisiting an old obscure thought to make my own NES rpg game, but this...this is amazing! Alot of hard work and love is easily seen poured into this project. I salute you sir!😁🙏👏

[@merman1974]

A fascinating story, and amazing to see all that paper material. Best of luck with the project!

[@sheldonkerr]

Inspired. I too am going to finish my 64 project. In late 1985 I got half way through typing the C64 ballon sprite basic code listing from the C64 manual.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

😆😅😂

[@jmalonemyth]

I loved Telengard. I used to try and sneak down real deep and hide as much as possible just looking for the random chest spawns which would have insanely powerful items. Then I would try to get back up to the Inn. The hardest part was trying to figure out if the item was better than the one you already had in the very short amount of time you had to snarf it up.

[@jrherita]

This is really cool and I really hope you’re able to complete this!. The most ambitious I ever got back in that era was writing a ‘next gen’ version of the BBS games “Space Empire Elite” and “Barren Realms Elite”. I found a minor amount of code for it but lost my notes on the core of the game and how it was going to change. This was 1994, and.. “getting in trouble for running a pirate BBS” is why development stopped :) . Anyway good luck OP with your journey here - this looks like a fun task!

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Thank You. Sorry you lost your work!

[@MarvelousLXVII]

Man I miss the C64 BBS days!!!

[@AS-ly3jp]

I think it is fundamental for the game to have a good (even if it's simple) story. I am really looking forward for this game! Looks nice!

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I couldn't agree more. I have a good idea of the story arc for the game but need to see how much I can actually fit.

[@alexboehm7171]

looking forward to the series!!!

[@fourthhorseman4531]

I think back to all of my abandonded and half-finished coding projects on Commodore and Atari 8-bit computers from the 1980s and it makes me really happy to see that you're going to finish one of yours! Well done, sir. I look forward to following along and seeing the results.

[@erikrounds]

This looks amazing! It's impressive that you still have notes and source code from so long ago. As it just so happens, I'm also working on a Commodore 64 game so that I can cross it off my bucket list. I'm coding it in C using CC65. It's not nearly as memory efficient as what you are doing in assembler, but cuts back on development time quite a bit. Anyway, I'm looking forward to following your progress. Cheers!

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Thanks Erik. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[@babenberg]

11:39, "Invisable” wall… I like that. Great job, great project.

[@Uterr]

Oh it looks fun. I like how you talking about gameplay and somewhat about code, like how you store map in memory, but without unnecessary deep dive into assembler, it would be interesting to watch how game progresses.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I think that's about as far as I would ever go into the implementation details. I waffled for a few days on even keeping that part in but decided to leave it because it was the original idea I had that led to making the game (Essentially making each space take only 4 bits)

[@3vi1J]

That's a really cool idea! I remember starting a lot of projects as a teen too... but unlike you I didn't have the foresight to keep the notes. I loved the type of game you're making - I played the heck out of Questron on my C=64 back in the day. Good luck, and I hope you have a blast doing it!

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I found the notes a couple years ago in with all my Army paperwork (Which makes sense in retrospect since I was working on it while I was in the Army in Germany). It was all in a folder with mustering out paperwork that I had ignored for decades thinking it was just a bunch of paperwork.

[@RudysRetroIntel]

Wow!! Excellent! Can't wait until it is all finished! It's amazing that you still have all those printouts. Thanks for sharing

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Thanks Rudy! I can't wait either but I suspect after hundreds of hours on it I'll be really ready to finish it 😂

[@ericabrown506]

As a child of the 80s, a Software QA professional, and a D&D player/dm - this looks like an amazing adventure, both the game AND your mission! Seeing the code in your video took me back to when my dad and I attempted to code some games from the Commodore64 magazine. I'll be following for sure!

[@shaunhall960]

Very cool! Just found your channel and I will be following your channel. Love the C64!

[@michaelcarey]

Great video! I too kept a LOT of my original notebooks from my early C64 programming days. Sprite designs, programming tricks. I even built a small wheeled robot in the mid 80s that worked with my C64. I still have the original schematic drawings of the motor control circuit and I still have the original interface I built... using mostly Radio Shack components 🙂 While the robot was disassembled, I still have the Tamiya geared motors. My biggest regret was coming up with a simple "turtle" style programming language in BASIC, then running it through the PetSpeed compiler. I also used EPYX Vorpal Utility Kit to make a fast loading version... but I lost the original code 😞

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Thanks Michael. I had no idea I had the original disks until I dug out that one box I had kept for the 1541 repair video last year.

[@michaelcarey]

@@RavenWolfRetroTech I was so surprised to find that almost all of my original disks were readable. All were archived using a ZoomFloppy/1541/parallel cable using NibTools. I only had a few failures and there were of games that I could find online. :-) The 5.25" floppy seems quite reliable stored properly!

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Nice! I suspect that some of my "Bad disks" are actually using a DOS wedge I wrote back in the day to treat the 2nd head of a 1571 as Device 9 in C64 mode. It never occurred to me back then that I had to use the wedge to read the disks later because, if you flipped the disk over, it would be spinning backwards.

[@RabbitEngineering]

Good luck! I too wanted to write a game when younger (a flight sim) and never got around to it, and also regretted it - so I started again as a pandemic project! Still hacking away at it, having a blast.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Keep on keeping on Dave! It sounds like a fun project

[@markhindsbo7876]

This is great! Having done the same recently I can tell you it is very rewarding to complete that "bucket list" game. Good luck and enjoy the journey

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Thanks so much Mark!

[@brookestephen]

i feel like I just stepped into a time machine! You go dude! I miss my C64

[@ezoray]

This is very cool. All your scribblings reminded me of what I would get up to in my youth. I loved the Fighting Fantasy series of books like Warlock of Firetop Mountain and plotted out a map of my own story, shame I never wrote down any of the actual encounters though, the map is now a mystery to me. I didn't get into programming until the Amiga and did write a version of probably my favourite 8bit game on that, Lords of Midnight. I look forward to seeing how you progress with this project.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I am curious about trying Amiga programming again after I finish this project. I was very frustrated at the time due to the fact that it took a ton of code just to setup a window. No that I am older I think it should be a lot more manageable than it seemed back then.

[@ezoray]

@@RavenWolfRetroTech I found it very hard going to start with, lacking programming knowledge and experience didn't help. I think it was dogged determination that kept me going, I wish I had some of that nowadays! I got a collection of books together including the RKM's, DevPac 3, and by pure luck found a GVP A530 Turbo which sped up assembly times. An Action Replay was also useful for odd bugs and endless loops. The game although it worked was a real mess of code but I learned a lot from it.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I shot some video of my best friends talking about our adventures back in the day and he was saying that I need to find and Action Replay for the Amiga!

[@oburi85]

As someone whos born 85, damn, thats a long time! The C64 was great. It was my first computer and I still have it. I would love to see your project finished! Awesome to hear that you want to finish it.❤

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

As someone born in 1964 it still feels like a long looooong time! I am working away on the project, especially on getting back up to speed.

[@ClickToPreview]

I only ever had a C64, but it was my "life support system" for YEARS. Any time I got grounded and had the computer taken away, I felt like I would DIEEEEE. Though the computer and 1541 drive are long gone (probably tossed by my a-hole stepdad at the time), I still have a shoebox full of old 5 1/4 floppy disks of mostly pirated stuff (I had some of the best diskcopy software on the planet). I never learned to program much more than simple graphics, but I still enjoyed it throroughly. Ah the good ol days. I miss the 80's. Good luck on your game RavenWolf!!

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Fortunately my Mom thought that taking away my D&D books was the best punishment so the computer was safe... I told her a few years back that I had a 2nd set in my locker at school and she got a huge laugh!

[@RacerX-]

Right on. So cool that you saved all this stuff and now can resume. Looking forward to seeing the progress. Keep up the good work.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Thanks!

[@Daveyk021]

In addition to a wall, door, locked door, etc, Fire Wall, press it once and "ouch", press it again and it affects your health.

[@JM-tj5qm]

The handwritten notes, the fact that you learn assembly to make the game, It took so much effort to be a nerd back then, now we are spoiled 🤣

[@buckjones4901]

Boy that assembly coding brings back some old memories. I wrote a partially working game on the Tandy TRS-80 using that language, I think I was teen at the time, I was trying to make a game similar to Sabotage from the Apple II, it did work but would crash and never did really finish it. It is long gone now.

[@Disthron]

This seems super cool, have you ever considered how you would handle towns you can go too? For a while I've been really enjoying the idea of having visual novel style interactions in towns

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I have. If you saw how the towns sprawled around a keep (In the lower right corner of the map) my plan was for players to search the spaces around the keep to find shops and inns that are menu driven and the keeps and towers to find dungeons.

[@JosipRetroBits]

Great video :) It will be amazing to see the finished game after all these years :) Your documentation is great, and nice to see that little piece of history. Cheers!

[@networkg]

Wow, I have worked with many professional programmers who never learned how to properly comment code. You were (and are) super cool.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

OK, OK, you're making me blush. Thank you. I do it for future me because I know I'll need them...

[@ClassicContagious]

Can't wait to see the progress you make as I LOVE CRPGS. Good luck on this endeavor.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Thanks so much!

[@deborahberi3249]

Wow, totally expected a Repair Video lol. I think we all have games or apps that we never complered. Nice change and I look forwward to see where you go with this. My goal was to create a Sword of Fargoal like game. -Mark.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I just finished recording an interview with my best friends for an upcoming video and he talked about how much he liked Sword of Fargoal. Sadly, I have never played it (That I can remember)

[@subtledemisefox]

40+ years of development! That's insane! Is that a world record of some kind? Subscribed and hope to see progress and hopefully an eventual release!

[@MarvelousLXVII]

Telengard was the first game I bought for my 64. It was on cassette. I actually fixed it so I could play off of disk (save the character to disk.) It was also a game that I used a BASIC compiler to make extremely fast to play. That was a great game and I love how it didn't scale to your level. If you went to level 10 there was a chance you could find a great item but also that you would get smoked by a level 15 elf lol. That being said, I made a game called "Realm of Maegenhun" that was greatly inspired by Telengard except it had a pseudo 3d map (using the character graphics) and also had a bad guy to kill at the end (Maegenhun.) My game had like 10 levels that kept repeating so level 1 became level 11, etc. I had the level data stored in a DATA command lol. It was a tight game and I remember running out of RAM so I would take something out to get a few more bytes. Learning to program on a 3.5k VIC-20 helped in that regard. I will certainly check this out and I just subscribed. Excited to see the final game.

[@jaymesjmathias9390]

YESSSSSSSS! i haven't even got past the advertising but figure your gonna be talking about making an old school much missed genre game!!!!! I want 1

[@puzzud]

Great job. I've also gotten around to finishing a stupidly long time project of mine.

[@jimmybisk]

Thanks for a great video. That's seriously impressive! During the early to mid 80's I used to love having a crack at the type in games from magazines. I always aspired to making my own game but sadly lacked the dedication you clearly have to have a serious go at it. I guess it's never too late!

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Yeah, I am dedicated to finishing the game I started when I was 20 sometime after I turn 60 😎😂😎 Seriously though, thanks JimmyBisk!

[@jimmybisk]

@@RavenWolfRetroTech Always welcome. Looking forward to your updates

[@Lovuschka]

40 years of development time is insane.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I would agree. In this case it was a couple years of learning assembly and working on a hobby project followed by almost 40 years in a box in the attic.

[@wimwiddershins]

Great work mate! It must've been a blast going through your old notes, seeing how younger you approached things.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

It was interesting. The wife said I should stop cussing at my 20 year old self for his tendency to write convoluted code. I I really wanted to refactor things as I went but resisted the urge so I could start where I left off (albeit with a bunch of TODO comments int he code)

[@mikegarland4500]

I know I enjoyed it (in the past) when I would come across stuff I had drawn, or written down, and my head would spin at the concept of seeing something I had done 2 decades before. It's just not the same personal 'affect' when you come across it in digital form. Your handwriting is different, the paper and ink (or pencil) smells strange, almost otherworldly... *sigh* I've thrown away almost all of my old notes over time. Got tired of moving them from one place to the next, and about 15 years ago we went on a purging spree to get rid of all that "crap". Now, I could kick myself silly over it.

[@mikegarland4500]

@@RavenWolfRetroTech sounds like my wife when I would have Dromed open again, the editor for Thief levels, and my wife would see it and say, "Are you playing THAT game again?!?" And I would respond with something that reminded me of Grandpa Pig on Peppa Pig saying, "It's not a train. It's a mini-a-ture loco-motive!!"... I would say "It's not a game, it's a develop-ment plat-form!! Sheesh, c'mon, Woman!" :-D

[@timlind3129]

LOL, the extra punch on the side of the disk (Memorex) AND silver foil to make the disk 'double sided' and read-only, brings back such memories... at 7:20

[@JDoucette]

That's so awesome. Good luck finishing it. I love going back to seeing old code.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Thanks Jason!

[@terrylyn]

That's just incredible that you have preserved all this, my old projects were all lost in time. Also your game looks very good, I'll be definitely following how it progresses.

[@FranksRetroLab]

Really looking forward to seeing more. I remember back in the day wanting to develop my own RPG. I never did get it written. Too much “life” got in the way. Keep up the great work!!!

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Thanks Frank. I will post updates quarterly or so as the project progresses.

[@piggypiggypig1746]

These c64 assembly game creation videos are very few and far between, so natural you have my sub. Looking forward to this.

[@mikegarland4500]

Holy cow, you are way ahead of me!! I am 53 years old and just recently (Feb or March of 2023?) decided it was time to work on finally releasing a game for the Commodore 64, but I hadn't worked with anything but BASIC from about 1982 till around 1988, messed around very briefly with machine langue (had no idea what an Assembler actually was until a few months ago), but never even got started on a "real" game. I made some really simple BASIC text games, messed around with some character graphics, and even started messing around with deconstructing and rebuilding a nice little type-in Monopoly game... I retrofitted all the places and features with text related to astronomy and/or space related stuff, but just about the time I started getting into editing characters and sprites (and graphing pages and pages of them) I got distracted with a career and a family... Now, 35 years later, I'm finding I remember a lot more BASIC than I ever thought possible, but I have forgotten (misplaced?) so much. But, after a refresher course in BASIC back in February 4 months ago, and I decided I'm going to have to learn machine language or this is gonna go nowhere fast. So, 4 months of just reading every programmer's reference and advanced game making .pdf I can find for the 6512 processor (ie. the Commodore 64), watching dozens and dozens of KZbin videos on the subject (it is unreal how many channels are dedicated to this subject!!) I now realize... er, where was I? Oh, lost? no. Stumped? sometimes. Determined? definitely. I don't know why, but I settled on a Battleship type game, with some pretty loose goals. The idea is to have it be based on the Golden Age of Piracy, but as far as the gameplay goes, not much different from the classical Battleship format. It has gone through so many variations, because I was originally going to program it all in BASIC, but I soon decided that some things will be painful to watch slowly fill in on the screen if I don't figure out how to incorporate at least some screen-drawing features utilizing machine language for those tasks that take many seconds to accomplish. I've latched onto an IDE called CBM prg Studio that makes it very easy to write assembly code using labels. What a huge advantage over doing it via direct input through a monitor. And the character, screen, and sprite editors that are built in.. unbelievably convenient. I keep seeing Kick Assembly mentioned, it's even an option in CBM prg Studio, but I have no idea what it is or how to use it. Is there a handy tutorial or web/youtube-based series on how to use it effectively? Good luck on your game! It looks amazing. I remember playing Telengard back in the day. . You have way more notes than I, but I've only really started developing recently and I'm at maybe 5 pages of scribbly stuff that's not really all that helpful, honestly. But, it is extremely handy having some things written down as it definitely helps me to visualize some aspects like getting a routine that not only generates random numbers, but also checks to make sure they don't get placed on atop another, or off the edge of the screen... can't have any of that cheating going on! (My uncle used to stack his ships vertically, diagonally, and cross-wise each other... ahh, the memories.) And when I say that looks amazing, the stuff you have collected for your game, I mean it. That's damn impressive. Way to go, I'm going to keep monitoring this channel and use *you* for inspiration. Steady on!!

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Wow, thanks Mike! It sounds like you have a fun project going. I too have been surprised how much I remember the programming techniques but can't remember the basic syntax.

[@mikegarland4500]

​@@RavenWolfRetroTech I bet you pick it back up pretty quick. But your game looks miles ahead of anything I was even thinking of doing. It's hard to use the word 'beautiful' to describe the C64's graphics, but that game looks really nice. I hope I can come anywhere close to it. I want to do mine in stages, with the first version being a working version of the game that has basic character graphics and minimal enhancements, probably no sound.. But then I want to work on refining it, creating custom fonts, using some tricks to get a better interface design, etc. Then hopefully get to the point where I can incorporate a bit more of a little story, add in music and some effects.. but we'll see. Good luck on yours!

[@diegodias1998]

Coding a RPG in assembly? That sounds like a challenge AND awesome

[@andyd3852]

nostalgia intensifying. thank you for a trip down memory lane. reminds me of, back in the day, manually typing in BASIC code found in magazines.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Heh, I just happen to be working on a video that touches on that!

[@6502Workshop]

Hey there! Nox Archaist developer here. I really enjoyed watching your video. There are many similarities in your story to my own experience, including not knowing what an assembler was back in the 1980s! Best wishes to you on your project.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Thanks, I am open to any suggestions. I had NO IDEA this would explode like it has! 😮

[@costelinha1867]

Me with a sea of unfinished projects in my github, and then there's this guy finishing a game he started in the 1980's that's written in Assembly of all things.... Damm... that's impressive...

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Oh its far from finished. One of my goals with this video was to put myself on the spot and make sure I kept to it. The funny thing is that its my first Github repository (Although it is private). All my Unity stuff was using SourceTree and butBucket.

[@costelinha1867]

@@RavenWolfRetroTech Well, I guess unfinished projects is a blight as old as programming itself then. Look at the bright side, at least you had something resembling a plan for this, judging by all the documentation your past self wrote. I on the other hand..... yeah let's just say I can be pretty impulsive with my decisions...

[@celtspeaksgoth7251]

This is equivalent to someone in 1984 wanting to relive an experience from 1945. Coincidentally I've been mulling over something which occupied my summer of 1984. I admire your frankness. Very refreshing and poignant.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Thank you.

[@vcv6560]

Like everyone here I love seeing you go back to an old project I think all of us have a list of things we want to complete like this I know I do several 3-ring binders worth from the early 80s. You use the language of modern software development talking about Sprints, i.e. Agile. And yet I noticed over your shoulder a Tektronix 453a! I had one on my bench myself, I never took software beyond a hobby. I've stayed a EE and my career is now almost 40 years in. I wish you the best of luck, I need to look at my bookshelf... of that list of projects never completed.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Yes that 453a was an amazing gift from the local kids science center. They had a display on how solar panels work that used pinballs to represent photons and were pulling their hair out with issues when the ball went over their switches. I was talking to one of their volunteers at a local programmers meetup so I arranged to stop by with a gift for them.... Some old pinball roll over switches...They gave me the 453a that was in storage from one of their founders' estates.

[@fuzzywzhe]

As a coder, there's no way I would want to go back to the bad old days

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Its funny. I loved C64 assembler and I seem to have been able to pick back up without too much trouble. When I think of the bad old days I think of spending a couple hours just trying to open a window in C. In this case it is pretty amazing to be able to work in VS Code and rapidly iterate in the emulator then compile to a D64 to run on original hardware.

[@fuzzywzhe]

@@RavenWolfRetroTech I've done 68000 assembly, and ARM assembly (beautiful design!), C, Perl, C++, blah blah blah. The frustrating of working on an 8 bit machine, I would never want to go back to it. All the effort you had to put into it just to do the simplest things. I don't miss it at ALL. Think of just where we are today. On an $11 SD card, on a $35 Raspberry pi, and on < 10 watts, you have a full blown computer. Isn't it impressive that a single board toy computer can simulate a C=64, and Amiga, a classic MAC, a PS1, even PS2 (with some struggle), NES, SNES, blah blah blah. I remember when my C=64 power brick would heat my room up. No no no. No nostalgia for those old days.

[@martinrayner6466]

Good on you. I became a dedicated Delphi (and others) programmer for about 30 years after graduating. Started on a PET 2001(small kb) graduating to a CBM 4032 while my mates (I'm Australian) had C64s and TSR80s. I learnt machine code (later using an assembler for the 6502/6510 CPUs) to create similar stuff (dice rolling simulators, map generations etc)- Yes I too loved D&D at the time, and played Wizardry on an Apple 2e. For the fast moving stuff, I created a line generating routine for star wars style simulations. My suggestion for that last "bit" would be as a pointer to an optional mirror map of the same dimensions, allowing an additional 8 bits of description ie; fog in area, water on ground, mud, quicksand, trap event here, teloporter node and so on. Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I think what I had in mind is similar but rather than a mirror map that would take REAM for every space I plan to use a linked list. Each item will take more space but overall I think it will be less. I may end up testing both to see how that works out. I may also find I am being miserly with the memory I am allocating to the map but I am worried about having a good game on that map.

[@martinrayner6466]

@@RavenWolfRetroTech Using a dynamic LL, rather than the proposed static is a good idea re memory- Requiring a bit more coding- and an extra layer for editing, and bug hunting. Either way, look forward to seeing what your approach is.

[@EnjoySynthSounds]

The 8 Bit Guy may be able to help you. He created his own strategy /arcade game and is working on the Commander 16 computer.

[@Mearrin69]

Telengard was one of my favorite C64 games. Basic but fun, and amazing for the time. I still have a printout of the basic code portion somewhere. Have recreated it a couple of times in a couple of languages. Good luck on your project.

[@jrmarcus]

I loved Telengard. I had seen a site awhile back that you can play the game on your browser.

[@OmarCisnerosGarcia]

Amazing, I'm pretty sure if we met in the 80s we could have had a great friendship. Great project, congratulations.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Thank you!

[@aaronblain6377]

I'm currently playing Exile: Escape from the Pit on Windows 3.1, which takes a lot of inspiration from Ultima. Jeff Vogel is still making these sprawling oldschool rpg's almost all by himself, all these years later. I find it hugely inspiring. I think the main thing, other than blind persistence, is to be careful about the scope of the project. I'm more of a Wizard's Crown person, but I've gradually come around on classic first-person dungeon crawlers as I started to realize how important the sense of perspective and orientation is when exploring a dungeon. Telengard's approach of keeping the player centered and tracking line of sight is one I'm interested to see developed more.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

Aaron, I agree that constraints is what makes a project possible. I think in this case being limited to 64k is going to keep me on the straight and narrow. I might swap a little code from disk (Like loading the outside and dungeon code into the same space as the maps). No matter what I do this is going to have to be WAY simpler than what I am used to!

[@thetworoos]

This is cool. I hope you get game completed!

[@icaromiranda9981]

The greatest lesson I take from this video is... ALWAYS comment your code! 😊

[@cpace123]

Yea I still have 1 notebook with my programming from the 80's. Even when I was not at the computer I would write code in my note book.

[@Outrider74]

This looks very good! I work in gamemaking as well, but nothing this in-depth. I’ll be interested in seeibg the final product!

[@ramgladore]

That's gonna be a good fun game when it's done. Will there be a physical release?

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I plan to do a downloaded version at a minimum. In the video I mentioned that I would love to do a physical release with box and manual but a friend suggested a great idea... To package it as a baggie game much like early ultima and other games. That would be a manual and disk in a baggie... Hmmm registration card too?

[@bont1059]

Bro this is EPIC. +++ points for doing it in 6502 assembler that is SO hard but it's going to run blazing fast!!

[@Vondoodle]

Reminds me of a ZX game I was writing in 88 .. would love to finish it.

[@Asterra2]

The two computers we had in my youth (VIC-20, Apple IIe) were both perfectly incapable of providing enough power for a game written in Basic to be realistically playable. I was just plain used to this reality, and didn't own any materials that might help in unlocking those platforms more deeply. I still made what miserable games I could.

[@upmost777]

That is so cool. I started making an RPG dungeon game with my c64, using basic and sprites, when I was 10 or 11. The last thing I figured out was how to integrate joystick commands (I wonder if I still have the tape backups). Stopped programming in my teens because I felt it wasn't "cool." Completely regret that now. Have you watched any of the 8-Bit guy's channel? He would be a great resource for you. Good luck and thank you for your service.

[@RavenWolfRetroTech]

I have watched most of the 8-bit guys videos.

[@Lion_McLionhead]

That looks a lot like the lion kingdom's unfinished projects of 40 years ago. All my files from those days are gone.

[@SprocketWalker]

Good luck! May the code be with you.

[@danijel115]

Amazing story. Wish you all the luck to finish the project!

[@commocore]

Super excited to hear about yet another cRPG project for C64!!! I want to finish Meonlawel cRPG I started working on in 2011, so not even that far ago as your project 😅. I started writing it in BASIC and then moved it completely to assembly so it took some time to learn 6502/10 ;). Good luck!