Oblivion has been released!

http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/323/32318.html

For anyone who is wondering, the Oblivion game content has been finalized since early August. Since then, the game has been in beta testing. Six release candidates have been sent out and critiqued, and almost all the bugs are gone, but there are one or two minor issues remaining. Of course, this page [and probably many others ;-)] will be updated when the game is available to the public.

I'm working on the last 8 or so levels for the game. I'm aiming for the game to be out by the end of summer, so that it will be on everyone's calculator for the new school year ;-)

I'm testing a new news system for my calc site; email me or reply to this if you have any comments.

Progress continues on Oblivion. I'm working on levels with an 'escape from jail' theme right now, I think it's pretty cool.

Yesterday, I went through the Oblivion code, reorganized a few things to keep it structured and easy to understand (33[!] header files), and enabled a few random optimizations with the compiler to shrink/speed up the game a tiny bit more. The game isn't much slower than the 1st FAT Technology Demo, so I guess my code is working pretty well :)

A Corridor 99 (see link in sidebar) Super-Alpha (as in really early) has been released to select testers. Jeff Wilcox (the creator) chose to send the game to those who posted their email requesting it on his site; congrats to those who got a copy. If you'd like one, you can still try, but I think he may have left for the season already (see his site for more information).

Also, Jeff showed me how to optimize storing sprites a little more, so the size of GFX is about 2/3 of what it used to be. Thanks again, Jeff.

BTW: I reimported the news items from the old news system, but not the comments; so sorry if your comments disappeared.

I'm updating the screenshots right now.

I finished up the beginning of the game story, which should help to give the game more direction. Basically, the player is Kevin Powers, and his main goal is to fight and explore his way across the planet to find the main communications center, so he can contact Earth and tell them if the planet is safe for resources or colonizing. (See the prequel to that below).

In other news, I'd call Oblivion about 'v0.3'. There are 16 levels, including outdoor exploration, arena-type battles, a vehicle map, and indoor industrial complexes.

Current (beginning of) story: (NOTE: Subject to change)
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The year is 2144, and Earth has become polluted and has dangerously low levels of natural resources. The CES (Coalition for Earth's Survival) has deemed it necessary to find new sources for coal and oil, or even a location to colonize. With little time to spare, Earth sends Kevin Powers, with a team of researchers and miners, to explore the stars.

One day on the ship, the crew is relaxing and making bets on sporting events going on back on Earth. Suddenly, the ship hits a small asteroid. Ironically, the ship's resources are damaged, and it begins to run low on oil and fuel. Kevin Powers desperately tries to steer the ship to a nearby planet, but realizes that a fatal crash is inevitable. Just before hitting the planetary surface, Kevin ejects from the ship. His crew is not so lucky.

Kevin looks around him. He is badly injured, and sees no signs of civilization. He pulls himself together and looks around anyway...

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If you would like to comment on how the story begins, feel free. More importantly, if you have suggestions for cool things to add to the intermediate levels (mainly tiles and level structure, not engine concepts), but mainly an end to the story. If it's a story ending, please email it to m@malcolm-s.net, so that the story isn't ruined for anyone in case I use it.

Thanks for visiting the Oblivion site!

The first part of the story is written, and the ~10 levels that follow it; doors that you unlock with buttons, but you can also open and close; walking/ shooting enemies; extremely simple vehicle support, etc. I need to plan out the rest of the story on paper before I can make all the other levels (I'm thinking at least 30 total). But the game engine is pretty much done, I just need to finish the content. Maybe I'll add a standard way to do cutscenes.

Currently, I'm thinking of intermediate story parts (i.e. level ideas and cutscenes), and a final end to the Oblivion story.

Oblivion has 4 levels right now, and 2 weapons that can be switched between. You start with no weapons (besides yourself), and have to find the weapons. Oblivion levels vary in size, so there will be at least 25 in the full game, I think.

Also, I doubt there will be a demo, because it would spoil the storyline.