VAMPYRE CROSS v1.01b for the Commodore 64 By: Paul Panks Vampyre Cross is the unofficial sequel to the popular Compute!'s Gazette game, Vampyre Hunter. Whereas the aforementioned game focused primarily on slaying the vampyre, this game allows you to do that...and so much more. The game is set in a slightly different universe than the previous game. You start out on a "path approaching village" and must wander around locating items and other objects useful in your quest. But from that point onward, the game turns...well... upside down. I took everything I knew from previous adventure game writing and threw it into this game. Every popular cliche is here: you've got hobbits, wolves, dragons, vampyres, trolls, villagers, the grim reaper and many more beings of wonderous delight. I must warn prospective game players, however, that this is NOT a game for the faint of heart. You've got fighting, wanton violence, adult oriented themes and obscure references to "smoking a green leafy substance." In short, this game is rated R. :) But if you can look past those themes, you've got a reasonably good text adventure, although not fully debugged yet, which can supply hours of entertainment. I still have yet to debug the following verbs (but they probably work, too): wear, remove, light, climb, eat, drink, open, close, lock, unlock, put, save, board boat. This game features 68 "rooms", 75 nouns, 25 verbs and several hidden objects and locations. You may interact with creatures in the game by typing "talk@ ", where is any valid object (monster) in the game. Commands in the game include: go, get, drop, wield, unwield, wear, remove, examine, read, use, light, climb, eat, drink, open, close, lock, unlock, put, kill, talk@, say, rest, sleep, inventory, look, score, save, board boat, buy, sell, list If you need help at any time, type 'help'. DEVELOPMENT NOTES There are two disk sides: side 1 contains the main program and associated data files; side 2 contains object descriptions. The main program is "vampyre cross/64" and occupies 101 blocks on disk. It uses the following data files: "vampyre.dat" (16 blocks) "vampyre2.dat" (42 blocks)* "chrout.obj" (41 blocks)* * - really optional, but I kept them on disk just in case someone knows how to read from these data files in 64 mode without incuring a "?string too long error" message. Legacy code in "vampyre cross/64" contains subroutines to read from these data files, if needed. This game was a royal pain in the behind to squeeze into the limited memory capacity of the Commodore 64. I wrote the room descriptions (and everything else) on the Commodore 128, then made the disk drive do all the heavy lifting when I sourly discovered that the 64 was frequently running out of memory. You will be prompted to swap the disk to SIDE TWO everytime you examine an object in the game. While not completely lame, I found myself searching for a way to store all 75 object descriptions in one file and read it via a numbered index. If you know how to do that, please let me know. My prior efforts only resulted in "?string too long error in 575" when I attempted to read from "chrout.obj". THINGS I JUST ADDED TODAY I literally just added these into the game: 1) In Peter The Rabbit's home, he hops around filling up tankards with a certain 'juice'. He then invites you, most cheerfully, to drink from it. What the drink does is cause hallucinagenic effects; that is, once the player drinks from the 'juice', he or she then has the ability to 'see' into other worlds and even perform feats of strength (such as crushing monsters in combat). 2) The Sacred Catapiller, found on Flora Island, is cheerfully found smoking 'a green leafy substance.' The catapiller says how 'GGGOOOODDDDD' the 'stuff' is, and (vaguely) invites the player to join in. Smoking the 'stuff' regains magic points. 3) Although the wolves and catapiller can all join your party and fight alongside you in combat, they cannot wield, use or otherwise manipulate objects in the game. Once I add this ability, of course, that will change, and you will have the choice of 'giving' an object to a party member at will. FINAL THOUGHTS Finally, if you love (or don't love) the Smurfs, you will either love (or hate) playing this game. I happen to love the Smurfs myself, but I couldn't resist poking fun at them during the course of programming this game. There is a Smurf Village east of the "well-lit path", and there you will find Papa Smurf, Handy, Jokey, Brainy, Smurfette, Gargamel and Asriel. If you manage to win the game, you are allowed to go 'visit' Smurfette back in Smurf Village (use your imagination). :) If you find any bugs in the game, please post them below, or simply email me a list of them to: dunric@yahoo.com Enjoy Vampyre Cross! :) Sincerely, Paul Panks April 1, 2007