Encounter HD (Oric)

Devlog

• Less than two weeks to go!
  December 08, 2024 by DefenceForce

  1

  We are now less than two weeks before the game launches, so the current focus is to optimize the performance, fix eventual typos and missed translations, but also to make the launcher easier to use an... Continue reading

  
• October 2024 video
  October 22, 2024 by DefenceForce

  1

  #video

  Too much talk, not enough action. Without any comment, here is what the game looks like as of today, capture on a real 1984 Oric Atmos using the LOCI device and an OSSC video converter. Here is what t... Continue reading

  
• The remaining 80%
  October 20, 2024 by DefenceForce

  1

  #testing

  My team of tester friends have been reporting issues for the last few weeks, and I’ve been busy fixing them. They did not find any game-breaking bug, but they found quite a few issues in these depar... Continue reading

  
• Playtesting has started
  September 28, 2024 by DefenceForce

  1

  #testing

  Play testing has started! The process is simple: I build a new version of the game, I play it through while recording, then the recording is reviewed for glitches, typos, missing information, etc. all... Continue reading

  
• Milestone!
  September 23, 2024 by DefenceForce

  3

  #milestone

  Today was a significant milestone: For the first time the game has been completely playable (without any cheat command or having to bypass anything) from start to finish, including the splash sequence... Continue reading
• Hardware performance testing
  September 15, 2024 by DefenceForce#performance

  My game is designed to run on vintage (1984) systems with some hard constraints in term of memory size and performance. The development is done on a modern PC using an emulator, which is reliable enou... Continue reading
• September project status update
  September 05, 2024 by DefenceForce#update

  A number of people have asked me when the game will be released. Today is September 5th, and my plan is to try to get the game read for Christmas (this year!), which basically leaves me a little bit l... Continue reading

  
• Better item management
  July 19, 2024 by DefenceForce

  1

  #game design

  I updated the way the list of items are handled, instead of one item per line (which can easily overflow the screen)… …now items are comma separated to better use screen space. Also pressing SHIFT... Continue reading

  
• Graphic update
  June 27, 2024 by DefenceForce#graphics, #pixeling, #location

  Just a quick update with some graphics improvements, in this case mostly filling the “white” backgrounds with something more interesting like hills or forest And while I was at it, I also gave som... Continue reading

  
• Iteration times
  June 23, 2024 by DefenceForce#project design, #build system, #asset management

  Nothing impacts more a project than wasted time , and nothing impacts more the quality of the work than the iteration time between when something is changed and when you finally see it in the final ga... Continue reading

  
• The virtues of Simplicity
  June 16, 2024 by DefenceForce#game design, #adventure games

  Text adventure games The earlier text adventure games were very primitive and had a very limited vocabulary, generally limited to moving in various directions (NORTH, SOUTH, WEST, EAST), item manageme... Continue reading

  
• Why building another Adventure Engine?
  June 09, 2024 by DefenceForce

  1

  #scripting, #game design, #programming, #engine

  When I started playing adventure games back in the 80ies, there were basically two types of game implementations: Games written as actual programs Games using some portable virtual machine or database... Continue reading

  
• Pixel art tutorial
  June 01, 2024 by DefenceForce#graphics, #pixeling

  A couple people asked me what was the process I used to make the images for the game, if it was hand made, AI generated, based on photos, etc… so I guess it’s time to give a few more details about... Continue reading

  
• New location: The Study Room
  May 29, 2024 by DefenceForce#location, #graphics

  When looking at the floor plant of the mansion, it became obvious that a room was missing at the south-east corner of the building, so I added a room accessed through the library, with a comfortable s... Continue reading

  
• Baiting the dog
  May 26, 2024 by DefenceForce

  Since I’m doing everything on the game (excepted the music), I need to switch hat between “programmer”, “designer” and “artist”. Today I’ve put my artist/designer hat and added some gr... Continue reading