This is amazing! Will have a blast with this. Just wanted to say, I hope you guys consider adding mouse support to it, because this games screams and begs for mouse support, now that we have thousands of C64U gamers who all potentially can hook up any USB mouse ...
That's an interesting suggestion. I never considered it, as I never had a mouse for my C64 and didn't know anyone who used one. The game's control scheme is optimized for a joystick, so I don't see a practical way to add mouse support later with reasonable effort. Therefore, it would only be an option if we were to make another title of this type.
I must say - I love the controls implementation. I've always rather avoided joystick controlled adventure games because of the slow and cumbersome controls. But here, the controls are genius. As described in one of the comments below - the joystick movement is reduced to the minimum. But since the scheme is new, it needs a little bit of the time to get accustomed to - but once you get it, it plays great.
One minor improvement idea that I feel would be super handy, is to have a support for 2nd fire button to return to the previous menu quicker - especially useful for inventory menu, so there is no need to move cursor to "quit" tile to go back
For example, the Cheetah Annihilator (from C64GS), which uses PotX for the second button - which is iirc the same as the second mouse button, so if you'd be implementing mouse support, you'd have right-mouse button "menu back" functionality already in place 😄
I'll keep that in mind. Another idea I have is to remove the exit slot in the inventory and instead use the scene boundaries to exit the inventory. This would create an additional inventory slot, and you could exit the inventory from half of the available slots. Of course all of this would only be implemented in future games.
A question - when I start the new game all I get is the GUI with flashing joystick and a beating heart - the play area is black and the game doesn't react to any joystick movement in neither port 1 nor 2, is this normal and I just don't know how to start or is something glitching up? 🤔
I've found the problem - seems the game is not compatible with DolphinDOS kernal (to speed up the disk drive).
When used with DolphonDOS, after selecting "new game", instead of "a week ago..." There are couple of color flashes (white, red, cyan) and then the frozen GUI with black game area appears, and the music is not playing, just the few notes then silence.
I'm not familiar with DolphinDOS and just looked at the description. We use almost all of the C64's memory for code and data. Perhaps the expansion also requires some RAM, and that might be causing a collision. But even without a fast loader, Evil Spirit's loading times should be very reasonable. However, I'll keep it in mind and perhaps include it as a possible technical issue in our manuals in the future. Thanks for sharing the problem and the solution!
DolphinDOS was like one of the very first on-board kernals to speed up loading times. Alongside JiffyDOS. We are talking 40 years ago here when they came out. You may be able to get them online to insert into VICE and test that way too.
Great release! I love how you always tackle different genres with your games, but they all have that same sense of personality and polish. Thank you for continuing to support our humble Commodore!
Thank you for the feedback :-) The controls are different from comparable games. The idea behind the concept is to avoid unnecessary joystick movements. It will certainly take some time getting used to at first, but I'm sure it's worth trying, as it's quite efficient and (hopefully) allows you to focus more on the game itself instead of navigating menus.
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Is it possible to get stuck in Chapter 3?
There is a passage with triple the surprise and I don't seem to have anything to cope with that.
This is amazing! Will have a blast with this. Just wanted to say, I hope you guys consider adding mouse support to it, because this games screams and begs for mouse support, now that we have thousands of C64U gamers who all potentially can hook up any USB mouse ...
That's an interesting suggestion. I never considered it, as I never had a mouse for my C64 and didn't know anyone who used one. The game's control scheme is optimized for a joystick, so I don't see a practical way to add mouse support later with reasonable effort. Therefore, it would only be an option if we were to make another title of this type.
I must say - I love the controls implementation. I've always rather avoided joystick controlled adventure games because of the slow and cumbersome controls. But here, the controls are genius. As described in one of the comments below - the joystick movement is reduced to the minimum. But since the scheme is new, it needs a little bit of the time to get accustomed to - but once you get it, it plays great.
One minor improvement idea that I feel would be super handy, is to have a support for 2nd fire button to return to the previous menu quicker - especially useful for inventory menu, so there is no need to move cursor to "quit" tile to go back
Which controller were you thinking of exactly?
For example, the Cheetah Annihilator (from C64GS), which uses PotX for the second button - which is iirc the same as the second mouse button, so if you'd be implementing mouse support, you'd have right-mouse button "menu back" functionality already in place 😄
I'll keep that in mind. Another idea I have is to remove the exit slot in the inventory and instead use the scene boundaries to exit the inventory. This would create an additional inventory slot, and you could exit the inventory from half of the available slots. Of course all of this would only be implemented in future games.
Thanks :-) I'm very glad that it worked out for you the way we had intended.
Downloaded it and for now, I played "chapter 0". Will go to chapter later tonight and I hope I will go as far as I can.
Let me know how far you get :-)
very good
Thanks :-)
I can hardly wait to play this game...heheh
Hello Windigo!
A question - when I start the new game all I get is the GUI with flashing joystick and a beating heart - the play area is black and the game doesn't react to any joystick movement in neither port 1 nor 2, is this normal and I just don't know how to start or is something glitching up? 🤔
I've found the problem - seems the game is not compatible with DolphinDOS kernal (to speed up the disk drive).
When used with DolphonDOS, after selecting "new game", instead of "a week ago..." There are couple of color flashes (white, red, cyan) and then the frozen GUI with black game area appears, and the music is not playing, just the few notes then silence.
Hope it helps.
I'm not familiar with DolphinDOS and just looked at the description. We use almost all of the C64's memory for code and data. Perhaps the expansion also requires some RAM, and that might be causing a collision. But even without a fast loader, Evil Spirit's loading times should be very reasonable. However, I'll keep it in mind and perhaps include it as a possible technical issue in our manuals in the future. Thanks for sharing the problem and the solution!
DolphinDOS was like one of the very first on-board kernals to speed up loading times. Alongside JiffyDOS. We are talking 40 years ago here when they came out. You may be able to get them online to insert into VICE and test that way too.
Thanks, I will try that.
Just FYI, the game works properly on both JiffyDOS and SpeedDOS (slightly slower fast loaders)
Do Poly Play use twitter? Had no response from them ( messages ) etc
I can't tell you that, as I don't use it. I communicate with them via email, but sometimes it can take a while to get a reply.
good job guys! Bellissim
Thanks :-)
I am so excited to play this!
I hope you like it :-)
Now is is my kind of game ;)
I'm glad to hear that and thanks for the article :-)
Awesome game!
Awesome video! Thanks :-)
Great release! I love how you always tackle different genres with your games, but they all have that same sense of personality and polish. Thank you for continuing to support our humble Commodore!
I agree. So many good games! I have a folder on my new C64U filled with just all of their great games.
That's great to hear. Thank you so much for your feedback :-)
Honestly, thank you for keeping on! Love your strategy games so much!
As long as there are still people out there who appreciate it, all the hard work is worthwhile. Thank you so much for your kind words :-)
It looks great, but the controls are confusing me in a 'Denton Designs' kind of way 🤣
Thank you for the feedback :-) The controls are different from comparable games. The idea behind the concept is to avoid unnecessary joystick movements. It will certainly take some time getting used to at first, but I'm sure it's worth trying, as it's quite efficient and (hopefully) allows you to focus more on the game itself instead of navigating menus.