Ascii - CMD Prompt Games 2 of 5 - RoadWarrior ASCII

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Vernostonos
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Ascii - CMD Prompt Games 2 of 5 - RoadWarrior ASCII

Post by Vernostonos »

Hello!!!!

Here is the first public showcase of my main project. Which is a revamp of the first coding project I ever made with Pure Basic. Gameplay wise and visually it will be my most impressive CMD console based game to date. It has no official name but since its inception I have called it Road Warrior ASCII. So for now that's what it will be!

The best way I can summarize it, is the game is Post-Apocalyptic themed Oregon Trail where you must travel and survive within the future hellish Wasteland. It features both turn based ground and vehicular combat as well as exploration elements inspired by Wasteland, Fallout 1 & 2, and Road War Europa. The world itself is a total sandbox as no settlement, city ruin, or unique event will ever be exactly the same for every player.

Planned features include a detailed multilayered scavenging and exploration system. Every aspect of the Wasteland is simulated which means you will need to forage for food and gather resources wherever you find them. Scavenging for resources is critical to maintain your vehicle and health, but it will expose you to hostile forces such as mutants, animal wildlife, and other scavengers.

The enemy roster is quite huge and took months of my time to fully develop. The game features over 300 enemy sprites with over 220 unique types.

Throughout the game you also will have opportunities for companions to join you. There are 200 unique companions with their own art, stats, backstory and gear. You are only allowed one companion but should they perish another may spawn if the criteria is met. Some may only be found at unique locations while others are totally random or only appear at settlements that meet their spawn criteria.

The graphics have been painstakingly prepared to work within the cmd console. Which forces some hard limits such a 1-bit depth and 16 colors, but you can cycle to any 16 colors you want. All of the art assets had to make use of a high amount of dithering to achieve a simulated greater range of color. The biggest chore of all though is cutting up all the larger art assets into 16x32 characters then piecing them back together with code. I had to ditch raster fonts and true Ascii in order to do this. The only way this was possible was by using Unicode and True Type Fonts which are far more flexible. I could have used a 2D Api which is what a sane person would have done but just call me a Mad-lad alright? Plus I really wanted to maintain the look and feel of a Ms-dos inspired EGA game with ZERO compromises.

I have worked on some of the sprite at myself, making changes and touching things up here and there. Even making rough sketches of enemy types but in order to achieve my vision I did enlist the help of 3 separate sprite artist. Each of them skilled at a specific area of my game. After prototyping a large portion of the game using Ascii characters I felt like this game deserved more. So I ditched the Raster fonts and developed a way to simulate sprites within the CMD console.

If anyone wants to Alpha test some of the games internal systems please join my discord: Post Apoc - Road War
Please kind in mind these modules will be ROUGH as each are developed separately from the main game code, which each only sharing the Globals file between them. The main thing I am after right now is ensuring the console displays itself correctly across various systems, as well as loading the custom GameFont file in order to display the graphics. The Terminal Window for the game is set at 72x30 but can be scaled up to any size to fit your display by adjusting your font size. For my display of 1600x200 size 36 is ideal which also eliminates the anti-aliasing to the edges of the text, without having to disable Font Edge Smoothing in your Windows settings.

Please note if you scale up the console window too it too much and clip the edges of your screen or the startmenu the console will have a seizure. If you mess up just close the console window and make sure the Screen Buffer Size and Window Size match under the Layout settings on the command console.

Official Post Apoc - Road War - Discord
Post Apoc - Road War
https://discord.gg/EKjgYhtn
(Valid for 7 Days only)

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-Title Screen Concept-

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-Intro Art Sample-
One of 15 slides for the intro animation.

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-Companion Screen-
One companion of a possible 200.

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-Scaled up Companion Art Sample-

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-Enemy Sprites Rough Drafting-
A rough draft of the newest enemy sprites being developed.

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-Finished Enemy Sprites Sample-
Here are a few finished sprites that were Mad Max inspired along with a scary Mutant creature!

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-Building Ruins Exploration-
This section is still making use of the older ASCII set. There is a complete detailed tile set in the works to replace this. The overall framework for this section is about 50% complete.

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-Driving Section Art-
This is still pretty rough, not finished.

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-Legacy Overworld Screen-
This is a very early prototype of what the Overworld screen looked like. The newer version has a completely different UI and will feature simulated Sprite graphics.

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-Drawing CHAR Test Screen-
This is a test screen showing how the Font Characters are used to simulate sprite graphics.

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-Layering System-
How the layer system works on the Overworld screen.

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-Battle Engine-
The rough draft of the Ground Battle system.

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-Enemy from my notes-
This is a incomplete example of one of the games enemies. My internal notes for this creature are not correct but I wanted to post something here so people get an idea of how complex the combat system is.

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-Revised Battle UI-
One of 3 different systems I designed for the ground combat. I am not 100% decided on which combat system I am going with yet, each has their pro's & con's. I am carefully deciding how I want combat to play out as this is such a critical part of the game, that it must be fun to play and not a chore or too slow paced. There are complex elements behind the scenes I am simulating, such as what is being worn by the player or enemy and what its resistant to damage wise. The challenge has been coming up with a system that is complex like Fallout 1 & 2 but stream lining it to be a bit faster and more accessible to casual gamers.


NOTE:
I will gladly release more in game screen shots when I can. The issue is right now so many of the system resemble the Battle Engine prototype so there is not much visually to show off unless you like looking at blocky ASCII place holders?

I am still in the process of importing all the artwork into the game which is taking a considerable amount of time due to the need of converting all artwork into a usable set of 16x32 character fonts.
Last edited by Vernostonos on Fri Jun 10, 2022 8:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Vernostonos
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Re: Ascii - CMD Prompt Games 2 of 5 - RoadWarrior ASCII

Post by Vernostonos »

Here is my latest update!

My game simulates as close as possible a true MS-dos environment. Complete with a retro legacy PC boot sequence and functional Sound Setup utility. The legacy boot sequence actually scans your real hardware so no two system boots will be alike.

The game music was made in 4 different styles. Pc speaker (2 square but close enough), Sound Blaster (Scream Tracker), Roland MT32 (with real samples downloaded from a Roland device) and CD audio tracks. So the faux sound setup below isn't just for looks its actually functional which will change your game experience. Looking forward to receiving some feedback!

Work in progress Box art:
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Computer Boot up:
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Sound Setup program:
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Overworld Screen (WIP):
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BarryG
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Re: Ascii - CMD Prompt Games 2 of 5 - RoadWarrior ASCII

Post by BarryG »

Looks fantastic! Can't wait to try it.

https://discord.gg/MBUE7M6F -> Says "Invite invalid".
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Vernostonos
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Re: Ascii - CMD Prompt Games 2 of 5 - RoadWarrior ASCII

Post by Vernostonos »

Sent you an Invite over PM. :)
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pendle
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Re: Ascii - CMD Prompt Games 2 of 5 - RoadWarrior ASCII

Post by pendle »

This looks very cool.
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Mijikai
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Re: Ascii - CMD Prompt Games 2 of 5 - RoadWarrior ASCII

Post by Mijikai »

Great project looks amazing 8)
knut_the_dude
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Re: Ascii - CMD Prompt Games 2 of 5 - RoadWarrior ASCII

Post by knut_the_dude »

I'm not too much into games any more, but I have to say that this looks really impressive 👍
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