MSXdev23 #02 - Tower of Damnation

Does this work? The file doesn't contain ROM headers?

Yes it's working both in emulators (fMSX and WebMSX) and real machines (tested on Panasonic WSX and SM-X HB from Victor Trucco). About the ROM headers I think that the ROM structure seems different because this game was created using MPAGD engine.

aoineko,

The default controller for this game is WASD for movements, O for jump, P for shoot and H for pause. You can redefine the keys using the menu selection.

It has a strange default keyboard control scheme, so unless you already know the default keys you can't even redefine them. Referring to the manual, you use W and S to navigate the menu and O to select the highlighted option. The game itself is very playable and fun to play. Graphics are simple but they have personality and charm. I didn't see much of the game but I enjoyed the music as well. Well done, Marcelo!

WASD should be ZQSD on French MSX.
At least the keyboard arrows are compatible with all MSX.
That said, you could support both configurations simultaneously.

Just saying, this may be true for modern PC games, but is pretty unexpected when it comes to MSX games (unless we are talking about some ZX Spectrum conversions, which obviously is not the case). Of course you can redefine the keys every time you want to play, but without external instructions (like the manual) it may be challenging. I wonder if @aoineko's suggestion is feasible, but it may lead to conflicts if you can redefine one set of keys and not the other.

About the default keys, this is why we leave a link to the original msxdev section where you'll find such info

But, real men don't rtfm ofcourse

The manual is impressive! MPAGD seems to be a powerful tool!

Please keep in mind that using the cursor keys for menu navigation and movement in games is a very old defacto standard for MSX games and is thus very strongly engraved as "muscle memory" in pretty much all the current MSX users (and sorry, but "some machines have bad cursors" doesn't seem a quite convincing rationale for ignoring this fact). If I had tried the game without reading this forum or the manual I would just have assumed that the game didn't work and moved on.

What about allowing cursors and at the same time any other redefinable key configuration (WASD or whatever) by default? Then everybody would be happy.

Just a quick message, if I delete the DEFINECONTROLS from agd file the keyboard layout will be:

Movement: Cursor keys
Fire 1: Space
Fire 2: "M"
Fire 3: "N"

I will keep this layout. The only problem is that I forgot to save the last version of my project. I need to redo some code that I made for the menu.

Unfortunately I will take a loger time to solve it.

Cool
I've also updated the online playable version.

Nice game but, Stop making the choice of joystick or keyboard manually via the keyboard. It is so easy to select the joystick A/B or the keyboard by simply pressing the joystick A/B trigger or Space to start the game. It improves the gameplay a lot.

It's also easy to allow using the keyboard and the joystick simultaneously during the game, thus not needing any choice at all. All the Konami games except the older ones, for example, work like that.

Guys,

I tried everything to use keyboard/joystick simultaneously. I searched in MPAGD forum, some tutorials but nothing. So I conclude that there is no support for this in MPAGD or I'm a dumb that don't know how to do it.

About the new key mapping, on MSX suite for MPAGD, DEFINECONTROLS command needs to be removed from agd file to enable the new default keymapping (Cursor + Space + M + N + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4).

There is no options to remapping this controller inside agd file in order to enable a custom keymapping. The only option is inserting an instance in game menu allowing users to redefine keys as they wish.

I'm really happy that you guys are giving me some feedbacks and kind words! I received an email from MSXDev about incompatibility with MSX2+ and Turbo-R for the game. If you guys can test it, I will really appreciated since I don't have a GT or ST. I tested the game in emulators (Webmsx and fMSX) and in real hardware (Panasonic WSX and SM-X HB from Victor Trucco). For all scenarios, it worked.

I have 3-4 new games planned to develop in MPAGD.

In assembler, instead of testing simultaneously, you can do something like that:

	GTTRIG	equ	000D8h	;Get trigger button status
	GTSTCK	equ	000D5h	;Get joystick status

;	.
;	.
;	.

; Condition to start a game

WaitStrigger:
	xor	a
	call	GTTRIG
	dec	a
	jr	nz,Trigger	; jump if Space is pressed
	ld	a,1
	call	GTTRIG
	dec	a
	ld	a,1
	jr	nz,Trigger	; jump if trigger is 1-A pressed
	ld	a,2
	call	GTTRIG
	dec	a
	ld	a,2
	jr	z, WaitTrigger	; jump if trigger 1-B is not pressed
Trigger:
	ld	(0C000h),a	; store the value 0, 1 or 2 for keyboard, joystick A or B
;	.
;	.
;	.

; Condition in game

	ld	a,(0C000h)
	call	GTSTCK		; Test cursor keys or joystick A/B

;	.
;	.
;	.

	ld	a,(0C000h)
	call	GTTRIG		; Test Space key or joystick trigger 1-A/1-B

;	.
;	.
;	.

I made little mistakes.

	ld	a,2
	call	GTTRIG

must be:

	ld	a,3
	call	GTTRIG

and "WaitStrigger:" must be "WaitTrigger:".

GTTRIG and GTSTCK routines are described here:

https://www.msx.org/wiki/Main-ROM_BIOS#Game_controllers.2C_M...

The controller number is stored at C000h in my example but you can choose of course the address that suits you. I don't know MPAGD.

Will this game be published by someone? I like it, I would like to publish it with Côté Gamers.