Hi all.
I will admit being completely new to this forum and I wasn't sure exactly where to put this as the game is basically finished.
I'm sure one of the kind moderators will correct me if its wrong.
I came across the game MazezaM - originally on the Speccy - a few months ago and enjoyed it so much that I took it upon myself to convert it for my favourite platforms. This is the result of my efforts for the Beeb:

Somehow YouTube manages to accentuate the flicker
I haven't even looked at 6502 asm for about 25 years, when the best I managed was the somewhat ubiquitous 'Snake' program, so the code isn't the neatest in the world, but it works
The .ssd can be downloaded from here:
http://www.glassfractal.com/games/MazezaM/
I hope you like it.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Its great to find such an active community for Acorn's wonderful machines.

Kian

Bloody Brilliant!

I love puzzle games like Sokoban - I think I'll be playing this one all day now.

This one has a really original mechanic - never seen it's like before - fiendishly difficult some times!

Most BBC games use different keys - * for Up and / for Down (and maybe Escape to restart)

Thanks for posting.

- PJ

What a nice surprise!

Nice chunky, colourful graphics (you've made great use of Mode 2 there!) and an original concept to boot (well, for me at least - as I'm not at all familiar with Sokowotsit!).

I managed to make it to Level 14 before getting completely stumped, but I'll have another crack a bit later ...

It's really good to see tools like SWIFT and BeebASM getting plenty of use, too.


Nope, I'd say you've picked just about the best possible place to announce a new project!

Once you've had a chance to evaluate all feedback* and are in possession of what you consider to be a final 'build' (which may of course be the exact same version you've just uploaded) then feel free to create a Wiki Page for Mazezam and add an entry on the Releases page.

Or ... if you're not au-fait with Wikis, you could just wait for Samwise to get back off his camping holiday and if you ask nicely, he might just create a page for you!

* = the only changes I can suggest are:

1) in line with Pitfall's recommendations i.e. remap up to * and down to ? and possibly make ESC restart the Level rather than R.

2) maybe tweak it to make it compatible with the BBC Master (don't ask me what you'd need to do in order to achieve this, but I'm sure others on here could advise!)

3) ditto for the Acorn Electron? (might need a bit of a speed-boost, mind!)

Oh, and of course you're invited to add our customisable Loading Screen too!


Well it only exists thanks to people like you, either writing or porting stuff for us to enjoy. Hopefully Mazezam won't be your only Beeb project!!

Incidentally, quite a few of the Retro Software programmers are meeting up at event in Manchester on July 16-17 called In Da 80s which will have a dedicated room set aside for coders to chat and share ideas etc. Would be great to see you there!

Thanks for the feedback Pitfall and Dave
I have taken your advice on board and have uploaded a new version to my site with 'up' and 'down' remapped and 'restart' is now on 'Esc'.
Now comes with a shiny new 'Retro Software' loader too.

Regarding other machines, the Electron version is under way, but it will need a good bit of work to get it up to speed. I now have the movement keys working and I've taken out almost all the delay loops but I will have to rewrite the scrolling code, as some of the larger levels look like they're crawling through treacle.

As for the Master, it seems that the problem is with the routine which checks which block is where, so I shall have to do a spot of reading to solve that little conundrum.

Thanks again,
Kian

Ah, that's better! Cheers!


Yay! Nice!

Thanks for looking at supporting the Elk and the Master 128k - hope it doesn't cause too many headaches, but it will definitely be worth it!

--Dave (still stuck on Level 14 - help!!!)

Looking nice Kian, top work!

There was a game similar that did very well on the iPhone a while back, but can't remember the name of it. Good to see our favourite retro platform not missing out

+1 for a Master 128 version

Got all excited then as the Master is currently guts open on the kitchen side I was about to go and have a play, but as I just sold off my entire collection apart from 1 Master 128 (and it's gubbins), I'm stuck for now. I prefer the real thing to emulators

Looks really cool though so top job!!

"Distinctly amateur" indeed "Duck Commander" (this is Level 16, Dave, so I've got past the one you're stuck on -- let me know if you want some help) is an absolutely brilliant puzzle -- I'm going to have to leave it there overnight and come back when I'm fresher.

It's a gorgeous game and I love the unique puzzle mechanic -- my only real complaint is that Level 8 was vastly too hard for its position. Of the ones I've solved, I'd say that, 13 and 14 were the ones that gave me most trouble.

EDIT: Completed the first 25 levels All good so far -- there are some very nice puzzles.

Just downloaded this and a play with it, an interesting little puzzler I thought, something a bit different and not too difficult to get into, i've reached level 4 already. Definitely a worthy addition to the Retro Software range.

Good to see new BBC releases still appearing, long may it continue.

What a cracking puzzle game, ditto about the key changes for more regular beeb keys. Looking forward to the Elk version

Thankyou one and all.
I'm glad its gone down so well


If you're still really stuck here, a quick peek at the demo video might be helpful.

The Electron version is now at least functional.(Keys remapped, bit shift doubled for a bit more speed, & lack of Mode 7 catered for)
It flickers like mad and there's still some slowdown on the wider levels. I shall try to give it a bit more oomph but may have to consider a 4 colour mode.

Meanwhile--- still trying to save enough bytes in the Beeb version to fit in my 'Wumpus Room' level.

Kian

I'm now on Level 35 (Inside Out) which is a real stonker -- has me thoroughly stumped. The level just before this, as well, Zen Garden, is one of the most beautiful and difficult in the game.

Let me know when you have a final version -- I'd be very happy, if you would permit me, to give you some free advertising by posting a partial or full walkthrough on YouTube.

(thanks too, MSR, for the offer of help - but it turns out the solution was [literally!] staring me in the face!)

Anyway, up to Level 21 now ... that's enough for tonight ... will revisit tomorrow, no-doubt!

After watching the vid and being impressed I've now downloaded, not sure if you've accidentally broken something whilst doing the key changes but it doesn't work now.

The symptoms are that you can walk through anything, walls, blocks etc. nothing pushes, then on level three it freaked a bit and left sprites and the erase block for the sprite which you can see being plotted in the wall, see this screenshot.

You can see it losing the Y pos for the erase by 8 rows (char height) per move

Sorry you're having probs Steve.
Are you by any chance running in Master mode ?
I know that this makes it go squiffy at the moment and is on my 'to do' list.

I have tested the current version on BeebEm and B-em with no trouble.

Kian

Ahh, that'll be it, I always have my emulator set to master mode, sorry for being a dingbat cannot checking that

I'm back, whadid I miss?



Kian, this is awesome!

If you'd like to add it to our collection of releases, I can happily help out with a wiki page and even a forum if you want one ...

Sam.

Oh yeah, forgot to say you can also have a shiny new forum to go with a shiny new wiki page and shiny new loader screen!

Whilst I'm here, another feature request: a Level Editor!
(bet you wish you'd never signed up to Retro Software now, eh?)

--Dave (now on Level #34 Zen Garden, though I'm about to throw in the towel ... but only for this evening, of course!)

Hang on everyone, since trying yesterday I've not been able to sit down again for a sesh, all this talk of I'm on level this and level that is making me jealous ! Sloooow down !!!!

I'm glad you're taking some time out to sleep, Dave.
It will give Steve a chance to catch up.

I still want to create some more room for my code - especially if Dave gets his way for a level designer - so can anyone tell me if there would be any impact on extra hardware configs &c if I bring the start address down below &1900 ?
I can get it to compile and run successfully down as far as &1100,( not that I expect to need an extra 8 pages ), but I don't want it to mess with anyone's setup.

Re: Elk version - I've mucked about a bit with scrolling routine to make it jump 4 pixels at a time instead of the 2 in the Beeb version, but it is getting a little tortuous trying to find my way around the bowl of spaghetti that is my source code. With this in mind I may rewrite that bit from scratch.

Re: Master version - Have downloaded a PDF of the B+ user guide so I can hopefuly track down what's making it go doolally. With a bit of luck Steve will be able to stick with Master mode and Martin will have something to put on his machine when he's puts its insides back.

Kian