Deep Dungeon Adventure Shockware | MSX Resource Center

Deep Dungeon Adventure, an improved version of the MSXdev'08 winning game Deep Dungeon by Trilobyte (ARTRAG, Huey, JohnHassink) has been added to Matra's Shockware library. Changes to this cartridge version include improved graphics, a step counter, and a depth indicator, among other things. For an impression of the gameplay, watch the video of DDA JohnHassink uploaded to YouTube.

The game can be ordered from Matra or one of its affiliates. If all goes well, it can also be purchased for €14,50 at the Bitwise stand during the upcoming MSX fair in Nijmegen.

Relevant link: Deep Dungeon Adventure at Matra

Comments (40)

By hap

Paragon (2039)

17-01-2010, 16:14

will it be 14.50 euros at bitwise? and will bitwise sell it @ nijmegen?

Enlighted (6709)

17-01-2010, 16:23

the matra page has the test youtube link

hap you posted the link to the page too early

By hap

Paragon (2039)

17-01-2010, 16:26

noo, they're just celebrating the game release

Prophet (2681)

17-01-2010, 19:57

will it be 14.50 euros at bitwise? and will bitwise sell it @ nijmegen?

Indeed price will be 14,50.
There is a shipment on its way to Bitwise. So expect it to be there at Nijmegen (if all goes well).

BTW this will probably be the very first MSX game to come in a pink package

By hap

Paragon (2039)

17-01-2010, 20:20

ok, added bitwise nijmegen info to the newspost

Enlighted (6709)

18-01-2010, 00:54

And the Easter egg? There is a great bonus for those who complete the game at difficult level
IIRC just enter the seed you get in the end demo at the seed input screen and you will unlock the easter egg (or not? not sure anymore actually)

Enlighted (6709)

21-01-2010, 15:22

Ok
time to tell....
I couldn't resist

The DDA chart has some important differences wrt the DD game released for msxdev08
the most interesting is hidden...

A whole additional game as Easter egg, in the same chart.
Note that the msxdev game is a 32K rom

DDA is a 48K rom ;-)

Enlighted (6709)

24-01-2010, 14:27

How many of you have bought a DDA chart at Nijmegen2010 ?
Please post a feedback!

By RobertVroemisse

Paragon (1305)

26-01-2010, 12:10

Bought one!

And by the way, What's Michael (Microcabin) has a pink cover as well

By OeiOeiVogeltje

Paragon (1402)

26-01-2010, 22:08

i bought one too

Hero (620)

05-04-2012, 18:14

This is a really good game and all, but unfortunately unplayable because of a bug. I bought the cartridge about year ago and have tried to play it and it always hangs on level 30 (hard) when trying to enter the stairs. Very frustrating that the software isn't tested when pressing them into cartridges!

incognito ergo sum (116)

05-04-2012, 18:34

That is sad to hear.
You can count on it that we tested the game until our fingers crumbled and our eyeballs fell out.
Ofcourse there was some pressure to deliver the 'original' in time before the MSXdev deadline.
What kind of MSX are you playing it on, and (roughly) how many times did you encounter this?
Most importantly, thanks for letting us know - I'll forward this to the other guys, and hopefully we can provide you with a ROM (image) which doesn't have this problem, to make up for it.

Enlighted (6709)

05-04-2012, 19:04

Akiguchi, where do you play our chart?
We tested the rom for long time before giving it to matra.
The bug you report could come from some contention of ram between the game and something else.
Have you tried the chart unplugging any other devices or disks ?
Could you try booting with SHIFT key pressed (no disks) ?

Hero (620)

05-04-2012, 19:18

Thanks for your response! First I played it with Philips VG-8235 and now with Turbo R A1-GT and the same hanging bug was present in both cases. With Philips I didn't have any other cartridges or extensions plugged but now I have all the goodies in slot expander (but still the result remains the same). I could try to boot it with shift pressed, but it takes some time to test because it isn't always so easy to get into stair 30 at hard level.

But anyway this game has some magic as I keep coming back to it time to time just for this this charmy, easy kind of fun and nostalgia.

Enlighted (6709)

05-04-2012, 20:26

greetings for reaching level 30 in hard mode
iirc the final level with the amulet is 35 in hard mode, 30 in normal mode and 20 in easy mode
let me know if it is a disk related problem or not

Hero (620)

05-04-2012, 20:44

Just tried it again, but died on level 23.
I'll try it still once today and if I don't make it, then after the Easter holidays.

Btw. I've played the game through in easy and normal mode without problems, but it's the hard mode only which isn't working.

Enlighted (6709)

05-04-2012, 21:09

The fact is that the more levels you have in a game, the more ram is used for storing the level seeds and the the status of items (chests does not respawn once opened).
It is possible that the above information for the last 5 levels in hard mode are overlapping some ram area used by some other thing. I will look into the code deeply to see where they fall in RAM.

Hero (620)

05-04-2012, 21:59

Ok, now I finally got to level 30 again (with shift pressed at startup) and also got stucked again.
(damn it was going so well!)

Here's a picture for the exact spot (downstairs) where it always hangs the game - only the music keeps playing.

Enlighted (6709)

05-04-2012, 22:19

hummm, I think it is a bug not depending by your configuration. Something overlaps in the data...
I'll look at the source asap, actually the sole attempt I can suggest is setting a different seed at the starting menu and try again.

Hero (620)

05-04-2012, 22:25

Earlier I tried few different seed numbers at the start, but it didn't have any effect on the problem. It takes a bit too much work to try all of them if some might work, heh.

But anyways, I hope you could find and resolve the problem. Maybe I could then in the future see this hard mode through the end. Because I'd really like to - very much!

Prophet (2681)

06-04-2012, 08:53

@Akiguchi: Respect for getting that far in the first place. The hard setting is hard.

Did you ever try to boot with [ESC]? You'd really should try that once You'll like it.

Enlighted (6709)

07-04-2012, 00:24

I reduced the defense of enemies and tested the rom under debugger.
The bug is in the way the code manages the seeds for the random number generator while building level 31.
I'm not sure about where exactly the bug is, but I see a seed of 0xFF that shouldn't be there each time I enter level 31 in hard mode. Investigating....

Hero (620)

12-04-2012, 07:29

ARTRAG: Have you sorted out the bug yet?

Huey: No, I haven't tried the booting with Esc, maybe I should try to see what would come out of it...
Btw. I don't consider the hard mode to be impossible if you just develop right tactics and (of course) have a great dose of luck in form of getting the right power ups.

Enlighted (6709)

12-04-2012, 22:24

No sorry, not yet.
Anyway the end of the game does not differ from normal and easy mode: only you have 5 additional levels (to descend and return), less chests (3 instead of 5) and small differences in armors classes for enemies
these are the data ruling the difficulties

EASY:   db 0x20,0x15,1,2,3,1,2,3,4,2,2,3,4,2, 5,64,128,180
DEFAULT:
NORMAL: db 0x30,0x20,1,2,3,1, 1,2,3,1, 1,2,3,1, 4,64,150,170
HARD:   db 0x35,0x20,1,2,3,1,1,2,3,1,1,2,3,1, 3,96,145,165

where the numbers mean in the order:

;
; _lastlevel = 0x30 ; last dungeon level (bcd)
; _dragonlevel = 0x20 ; dungeon level (bcd) where dragons are
;
; _heal0 = 0x01 ; healing effect of a potion (bcd)
; _heal1 = 0x02 ; healing effect of a potion (bcd)
; _heal2 = 0x03 ; healing effect of a potion (bcd)
; _heal3 = 0x01 ; healing effect of a potion (bcd)
; ;
; _weap0 = 0x01 ; attack bonus
; _weap1 = 0x02 ; attack bonus
; _weap2 = 0x03 ; attack bonus
; _weap3 = 0x01 ; attack bonus
; ;
; _shld0 = 0x01 ; shield bonus
; _shld1 = 0x02 ; shield bonus
; _shld2 = 0x03 ; shield bonus
; _shld3 = 0x01 ; shield bonus
;
; _chests = 0x04 ; number of chests per level
;
; _batgobac = 64; higher value = harder to kill
; _dragonac = 150
; _ghostac = 170

[edit]
BTW try to boot while ESC is pressed, you will give a new meaning to the text in the last page of the end demo, after the greetings.

PS
the Easter Egg is only in the DDA not in the DD game

Prophet (2681)

16-05-2012, 14:31

The bug has been found.

incognito ergo sum (116)

27-06-2012, 13:54

Has this been fixed yet Huey?

Enlighted (6709)

27-06-2012, 22:26

It should be ok. In a couple of days we will release a fixed rom.

Hero (620)

27-06-2012, 23:13

Would you also send a fixed real rom for all the customers that bought the game?

Prophet (2681)

27-06-2012, 23:23

Not sure what is possible but we will investigate.
We'll be sure to add you in the credits for finding this bug.

Now start that cartridge with [ESC] pressed asap

Enlighted (6709)

01-07-2012, 13:22

Akiguki FiXato would you like to test the fixed rom and the one with scc music?
Where can I send the roms?

Scribe (1726)

01-07-2012, 13:58

Sure, send them to [myusername]@gmail.com

Enlighted (6709)

01-07-2012, 20:31

roms sent to fixato
Akiguchi, are you interested too?

Scribe (1726)

02-07-2012, 03:48

Nice ESC game btw
Will record that later too.

Hero (620)

02-07-2012, 07:06

Thanks! I got the files, will play them somewhere during this week when I have some spare time!

Enlighted (6709)

02-07-2012, 14:36

data for SCC music are still a wip...

By OeiOeiVogeltje

Paragon (1402)

17-01-2013, 16:56

Just stumbled upon this thread
does this mean i should open my deep dungeon cart and put in a new eprom with a fixed rom?

Enlighted (6709)

17-01-2013, 17:02

Well, only if you play in hard mode and succeed in passing level 30 ...

Hero (620)

17-01-2013, 18:25

I totally forgot testing the rom file. My apologies! Do you still want me to test it?

Prophet (2681)

17-01-2013, 19:46

The bug has been fixed and has been tested.
We will release the ROM + source this weekend for free!!!!

Enlighted (6709)

17-01-2015, 21:14

The fixed game and its sources area here
http://www.msx.org/downloads/deep-dungeon-adventure-source-code