Cuboid Captor

[PROSM]

Hi there!

This thread is where I'm going to post my development of Cuboid Captor. It's a 3D maze game for the 16K ZX Spectrum. In it, you run around a maze while trying to avoid the Cuboid Captor. Your score increases every time you take a step and also each time you collect a gem.

The graphics are quite simplistic. They use a method I developed last night (but which others have probably done before) where the pixel map contains triangles spreading out from the center in an 'X' shape to form the wall edges. Because of this, only the attribute map has to change for each screen which should mean that the engine can have a high FPS rate.

Here is a mockup created in ZX Paintbrush of what the 3D graphics should look like:

Of course, this image does not feature the Cuboid Captor because I am still working out the attributes for it at different distances right now and the Game Info Area will be replaced with status information once I have figured out the layout of the text.

[hikoki]

A first person Maziacs!

I reckon it could be fun to mark the way by dropping coloured gems like Tom Thumb

[PROSM]

That sounds like a good idea! It would be easier then to find your way out. I think it would be best to make the player collect the gems first and then mark with them. The gems would be counted up at the end of the maze so those who wanted the highest score could go back and take the gems they placed.

[hikoki]

Hi John. I'm glad you can derive some gameplay from this loose idea about leaving a trail of gems on the maze. Will the maze be procedurally created to have a new one on every play? Maybe you can use something more out of the Tom Thumb story:
Some blocks could have stairs. I can see Tom Thumb climbing up to the top of trees to see if he could discover a way out of the thick woods.
Gems could be candles. When he'd come down upon the ground he can't see the lights. The cuboid can blow out your candles, eat your gems or whatever. You may want to be accompanied by your brothers also lost in the maze, have them follow you, let them help you mislead the cuboid,etc

[PROSM]

Hi Hikoki. The maze will be procedurally generated each time through hunt and kill generation. While stairs, candles and brothers are good ideas, the engine wouldn't really be able to handle them. The engine is only really set up to handle the attribute file and anything like them would be too slow to render since the pixel map would need to be altered. They would also require a pixel map backbuffer which there isn't enough space for on a 16K Spectrum. The Cuboid Captor could eat your gems though, but there would have to be a limit to how many it could eat, otherwise the game would be unfair.

On a side note, I am nearly done with coding the title screen. I should be onto the game soon. It takes up around 400 bytes so there is at least 8KB for the actual game data and code.

[hikoki]

Dec 30, 2015 8:36:50 GMT PROSM said:

The Cuboid Captor could eat your gems though, but there would have to be a limit to how many it could eat, otherwise the game would be unfair.

Pity you cannot scan the horizon from the top of blocks, it'd be cool to see a change of the pseudo-pespective. There may not need to put stairs: what about getting rope items for each ten gems taken? They'd wear down after a few uses and let the player climb to any block.
If the Cuboid was able to eat I guess for the sake of fun you'd have to see him eating the gems you've left for him with some sort of minimap. The cuboid can smell your stink anywhere thus being difficult to avoid him unless you make use of gems to lure him away. The more he eats the faster and smarter he becomes. Candles suggest a horror game in the dark and fearful changes of the lighting

[PROSM]

Dec 30, 2015 12:31:26 GMT hikoki said:

Pity you cannot scan the horizon from the top of blocks, it'd be cool to see a change of the pseudo-perspective.

The horizon view would have to be a separate part of the code and in monochrome to avoid the inevitable colour clash. It would take up a considerable amount of memory which there isn't much of in the 16K Spectrum.

Dec 30, 2015 12:31:26 GMT hikoki said:

There may not need to put stairs: what about getting rope items for each ten gems taken? They'd wear down after a few uses and let the player climb to any block.

Again, ropes would make the game too easy. If players could climb to any block, they would probably climb to the exit with the rope. Instead, maybe you could press a key to trade some gems in exchange for a quarter of the map. It would make the game easier for those who were stuck but would also incur a score penalty as then they could not collect as high a score at the end of the maze.

Dec 30, 2015 12:31:26 GMT hikoki said:

If the Cuboid was able to eat I guess for the sake of fun you'd have to see him eating the gems you've left for him with some sort of minimap. The cuboid can smell your stink anywhere thus being difficult to avoid him unless you make use of gems to lure him away. The more he eats the faster and smarter he becomes.

Having the Cuboid Captor visible on the map would mean that those without a map would have to guess where it is. There is unfortunately no space for a minimap either. It might be better to have a short beep (similar to the one in Skool Daze when you take a step) every time it takes a step with the pitch of the beep decreasing as it comes closer. This would also increase tension as you can hear it coming closer and closer to you. You should be able to see it eat the gems you have left, but only in first person. It would stand in the block next to the gem and wait around five steps. Perhaps a brief noise sound effect should be added as well while it eats the gems.

Dec 30, 2015 12:31:26 GMT hikoki said:

Candles suggest a horror game in the dark and fearful changes of the lighting

They wouldn't look good in attribute form since the engine is designed to only update the attribute file.

[hikoki]

Well ropes could be only used a few times before wearing down, they could be difficult to obtain only by taking lots of gems, I guess the player would get addicted to get gems only to see brief glimpses of what's happening on the maze. The player might face situations like:
I need to see the map to plan my strategy.
Did it work my strategy to mislead the cuboid with those gems I left on that corner? What is he doing now?
I'm lost and need urgently to take a bird's eye at my trail.
mmm dunno if i should spend gems to get a rope because i might not beat my hiscore on this play.
Oh the cuboid stopped beeping so he must be eating right now! I need to see which gems are disappearing from my trail or i'll get lost.
Besides, the maze could be more complex if you can see the map sometimes, the more complex the more the player would be encouraged to use gems as trail, or rope (brief view of the map) or food for the cuboid or keep calm and try to keep the score high.
I like the beeping! Both as a gameplay mechanic and for the tension.

[PROSM]

On second thought, the rope would be a better idea than the map since you can't use it infinitely. That would add a good challenge to the game. The rope view would have to be a small overhead local view (perhaps 15x11 view) so as not to spoil the challenge too much. Ropes could cost seven gems and be used three times. They shouldn't be able to let the player jump over walls though.

[hikoki]

Or maybe let the player view the entire map for 10 seconds. A timer would add tension. Though your small limited view sounds fun. The player could expand the view spending more gems as if they were candles, the more you spend the more intense is the light. Don't spend too much or you won't have enough to keep fooling the Cuboid or leave trails.
You may get some ideas by watching the "mummy maze" game on youtube.
The site logicmazes.com is interesting too. They talk about mazes with rules, for example i've seen a maze with coloured gems which you have to go through in the order red-green-yellow, red-green-yellow, and so on. Maybe the Cuboid Captor (cool name) could eat gems in this order. The red ones must be tastier

[PROSM]

Maybe the player can place two gems to get a red one as then the bigger attraction to the red gems for the Cuboid Captor would also cost more and therefore players would have to manage the gems to best suit the situation. The pattern idea (albeit in a simpler form of blue red blue red) mentioned earlier could also alter the chances of the Cuboid Captor eating the gems it sees. For example, if the Cuboid Captor sees a red gem but the next in the pattern is blue, the chances of it eating the red gem would be lower and vice-versa. As for the larger map view, I think it would be best to only allow the local view. The timer for the rope could be 30 seconds long but you could return before that and use the remaining time somewhere else on the map. There would be an indication of the time in the info area.

[hikoki]

Well this is the puzzle solution I saw at Robert Abbott's site:
s5.postimg.org/mfgtndfqv/soludot.gif
In the words of the author, "Go through the dots in the order indicated by these numbers. Notice that you go through some dots more than once--but in different directions."
If it was not only a chance but that the cuboid followed exactly the pattern as in the solution you'd have quite a logic game with arcade elements. I guess it could be fun to steer the cuboid captor and to be quite certain about how the cuboid is going to move according to how the player placed his gems. There would be expectation to see what the cuboid is doing actually since the player may be attracting it, or maybe it's following the pattern as you planned or it may be eating lots of gems that the player has not collected yet. Only the player can know when climbing to blocks if he's lucky to see the cuboid around that block I guess the limited view depends on the block you've jumped to.

[PROSM]

The pattern idea would be an interesting mechanic to have. It might be better if a pattern was generated randomly each time so then the player would have to study the Cuboid's pattern. Then, no two mazes would be alike and the player would have to relearn the pattern on every maze.

[hikoki]

Hi John. I reckon you'll have some fun trying to shake all these thingies. Not an easy task for sure!
A couple more ideas. I'm afraid I'm stealing fom Mr Abbott again.
Maybe walls are either red or blue to play with the pattern.
What about a turned based game? For each move that the player makes, the Cuboid Captor makes two moves. For no other reason than adding a bit more of puzzle, giving the player more time to assess and plan when using ropes to see the map, making the Cuboid Captore more agressive,etc though I dunno if this could be bad for the beeping

[PROSM]

Dec 31, 2015 12:07:50 GMT hikoki said:

Maybe walls are either red or blue to play with the pattern.

I think it may get too hard at that point. The red or blue colour of the walls is only supposed to indicate the orientation of the player.

Dec 31, 2015 12:07:50 GMT hikoki said:

What about a turned based game? For each move that the player makes, the Cuboid Captor makes two moves. For no other reason than adding a bit more of puzzle, giving the player more time to assess and plan when using ropes to see the map, making the Cuboid Captore more agressive,etc though I dunno if this could be bad for the beeping

The game is supposed to be real time to give a challenge. The game starts out slowly (Cuboid takes around 3 steps a second) and the Cuboid and Player movements speed up after every maze. It would also mess with the beeping a little bit.

PS: I changed my name to PROSM to match my World Of Spectrum name