The Return of Viking Chess (Hnefatafl)

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coco.oric
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Re: The Return of Viking Chess (Hnefatafl)

Post by coco.oric »

Ok, can you build an 1.2 version with differents names for the files ; up to now, your files have the same name in the .tap and i've got some difficulties to transfrom the tap.
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barnsey123
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Re: The Return of Viking Chess (Hnefatafl)

Post by barnsey123 »

coco.oric wrote:Ok, can you build an 1.2 version with differents names for the files ; up to now, your files have the same name in the .tap and i've got some difficulties to transfrom the tap.
OK, have worked out what was happening (I wasn't using OSDKTAPNAME) so the two program files were both called OSDK (after tap2dsk had done it's stuff)

After naming the tape files properly I end up with two files: HNEFLOAD (HNEFLOAD.TAP) and HNEFATAFL (HNEFATAFL-MAIN.TAP).

HNEFLOAD sets Hires, loads the new font, displays the viking skull/helmet/runes and does some screen wipes. HNEFATAFL is the main program.

I then created a one line BASIC program that looks like this:

10 !HNEFLOAD : !HNEFATAFL

then

CSAVE "HNEFBAT",AUTO {this makes a HNEFBAT.TAP file in Oricutron}

I then assembled the final game in the HNEFATAFL-LOADER directory (would be cleaner to do it elsewhere)

First, I appended the three tap files together to create HNEFATAFL.TAP:

Code: Select all

copy /b %OSDK%HNEFATAFL-LOADER\HNEFBAT.TAP+%OSDK%HNEFATAFL-LOADER\BUILD\HNEFATAFL-LOAD.TAP+%OSDK%HNEFATAFL\BUILD\HNEFATAFL-MAIN.TAP %OSDK%HNEFATAFL-LOADER\HNEFATAFL.TAP
Then convert this TAP file to DSK format:

Code: Select all

%OSDK%bin\tap2dsk.exe -i"!HNEFBAT"  %OSDK%HNEFATAFL-LOADER\HNEFATAFL.TAP %OSDK%HNEFATAFL-LOADER\HNEFATAFL.DSK
Then convert the disk file to MFM:

Code: Select all

%OSDK%bin\old2mfm.exe %OSDK%HNEFATAFL-LOADER\HNEFATAFL.DSK
This gives the end product which works in Oricuton and on a REAL Atmos with a Cumulus attached :)

This meant that, at lunchtime today, 30 years after I started work I was able to load this game on my own original real Atmos with a new disk drive! A dream fulfilled... 8)
HNEFATAFL.DSK
v1.2 DSK format tested on oricutron 1.1 and cumulus
(131.5 KiB) Downloaded 971 times
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ibisum
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Re: The Return of Viking Chess (Hnefatafl)

Post by ibisum »

CONGRATULATIONS! That must feel really, really nice, eh? I have to admit that the Cumulus has me dreaming of having the time to go home and hack on Oric .. ;)
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iss
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Re: The Return of Viking Chess (Hnefatafl)

Post by iss »

Congrats! And the result is really good, so 30 years are not so much when dreams come true ;).
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Re: The Return of Viking Chess (Hnefatafl)

Post by Antiriad2097 »

30 years since you started, and almost 3 years for this version alone. Well done for sticking with it, that's taken dedication. All the more impressive when you've learnt C along the way.
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Re: The Return of Viking Chess (Hnefatafl)

Post by Chema »

Congratulations indeed!

I agree with Antiriad: you've shown dedication, which is really necessary (imho) to develop a finished product.

Now rest for a while and then start a new project!
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coco.oric
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Re: The Return of Viking Chess (Hnefatafl)

Post by coco.oric »

Congratulations.
I've updated oric.org with your 1.2 dsk file
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Re: The Return of Viking Chess (Hnefatafl)

Post by Dbug »

Just tell me when you have your 'final' version, I will then post a message on the facebook page and the 30years birthday page as well.
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Re: The Return of Viking Chess (Hnefatafl)

Post by barnsey123 »

Thanks everyone for your support and comments. It is really appreciated. I must say it felt a bit strange earlier on today seeing it load up for real.

I suppose there will never be a Final version as there will always be room to improve the AI and reduce the size of the code. But v1.2 will be the last release for a while and so can be considered the final version...probably...so feel free free DBug to do the Facebook thing. :)

Having said that I'm not 100% happy (will probably never be) and I'll probably be tinkering with it for years to come. Some C routines could be converted to ASM (I'm learning as time allows) and I also need to work on the Kings AI for hnefatafl II...then there's the space adventure...and the shoot-em-up...and the music and SFX...the list is endless...

Oh, thanks to Didier for publicising it on oric.org and alerting me to some issues (now resolved I think)
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Re: The Return of Viking Chess (Hnefatafl)

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Re: The Return of Viking Chess (Hnefatafl)

Post by ibisum »

Wow, I really like this game! I've been playing it on my Atmos for 10 minutes, and I'm really impressed at how smooth you've made the interface feel .. somehow you've captured a great feeling with the flow of this game .. well done! I'm going to have to learn how to better play!
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Re: The Return of Viking Chess (Hnefatafl)

Post by barnsey123 »

ibisum wrote:Wow, I really like this game! I've been playing it on my Atmos for 10 minutes, and I'm really impressed at how smooth you've made the interface feel .. somehow you've captured a great feeling with the flow of this game .. well done! I'm going to have to learn how to better play!
Thanks dude! The interface takes up quite a chunk of the entire code. I didn't want people struggling to work out what buttons to press or feeling lost. A poor interface can kill a game. I'm glad that I followed didiers suggestion and added the AZ and <> keys to supplement the arrow keys. The arrow keys feel great when using oricutron but quite awkward on the oric...you can also use the space bar instead of X. I found myself using the spc bar more and more...I might drop the x key in a later version (too close to Z). If you look in the PDF there are some links to various pages that give you hints and tips on strategy. Really glad you like it.
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Re: The Return of Viking Chess (Hnefatafl)

Post by barnsey123 »

Yikes...found an issue with 1.2 (can beat it in 5 turns...)

Obviously, I can't leave it like that so 1.3 will be out sooner than anticipated. I must confess it's a bit of a head scratcher at the moment...
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Re: The Return of Viking Chess (Hnefatafl)

Post by bgpitts »

I really like this game I've been playing it on my Atmos for 10 minutes,
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