Overview Core Dump - Work In Progress Episode 69 June 12, 1998 : New font (with pictures to prove it!) I changed the font. No, really! I wasn't satisfied with the old font (a bit small and stuff) so I made this really bold and extremely readable font. But then I had to adjust the line height, to put some more space between the characters, and that meant I had to make the text window larger. So I had to revise all the menu's... but as an added advantage I decided to display the character portraits into the new text window, which looks much nicer. I worked quite hard this week. All save and load routines for the data are in place now, and I've drawn these "computers" where you can save. I even made an "alien" version for Tyroon (Picture below). Tyroon is one of the Raalin planets, and the planet where the game starts. It's the dark planet, with the green sunset. It also reads "Save", but obviously, it's in Raalin language so we can't read it (ho ho ho). Even more interesting is the addition of a new menu. Before, you had to use F2 to F5 to do certain stuff. But I prefer games that you can play by joystick/joypad alone. So I added a new feature: crouch down, and while holding [down], press the jump button. You will now enter a menu, that can be used to access all functions corresponding with F2 to F5. That really is easy, and I can now play from my bed. (I've got this extra long cable for my joypad, see?) Brilliant. I didn't stop there. When you start the game, by hitting any fire button in the opening sequence, you are transported to this screen on the left. You can then choose between loading a game, or starting a new game. Cute, huh? To be honest, this was the easiest way to code it, given the game structure... But it has a nice feel to it, and you get into the game right away. I've also added a nice little touch. When you die, you can choose from the following options: Continue from last door Continue from last save room Load game Quit Normally, continue would cause your game data to be reset to that last point. So if you play a bit, go to a save room, and die shortly after, your "total time" will also be reset to what it was when you entered the save room. But now, when you choose continue from a door or a save room, the clock (game time) is left unchanged. In other words, if you just played half an hour from the save room and die, that half an hour will be added to your playing time. That way, game time will be an accurate measurement. I also added the chapter increment routines. You can finish the game, in say about twenty chapters, but you can also try and go for that 100% completed, which can take quite some extra chapters! Also, the content of any chapter isn't specified, so you can find item X in chapter 3, but your friend already got it from someone else in chapter 2! Hopefully this will generate some replay value, just as with the secret rooms. Go on... Read the previous entry