Sophia II (Remake de Styx / Styx remake)

[alessandro]

¡Hola a todos!

El año pasado, entre otras cosas (la vida real, etc.), estaba trabajando para realizar un nuevo título.

Luego vi algunas cosas muy interesantes sucediendo en la competición ZX-Dev, y me pregunté: "¿Por qué no?"

En realidad, en el pasado pensé en un remake mejorado de uno de los primeros juegos que jugué en el Spectrum (en el 16K, nada menos): Styx de Matthew Smith.



Entonces decidí dejar de lado lo que ya estaba haciendo por un tiempo y hacer algo completamente diferente. ¿Y qué es mejor que agregar un nuevo capítulo a las aventuras de la querida chica maga?

Así que, sin más preámbulos, aquí está Sophia II, que es tanto la secuela de la exitosa Sophia como un remake de Styx:




El juego ha sido examinado a fondo, y ahora solo se debe dar el paso final: probar en hardware real.

Una vez hecho esto, estará disponible para descargar desde mi sitio web y, más adelante, desde el archivo de Spectrum Computing, como de costumbre. El juego y la documentación estarán disponibles en seis idiomas: italiano, inglés, francés, alemán, español y portugués. Formatos de archivo TAP, TZX y TRD para satisfacer las necesidades de todos (bueno, ¡casi!).

Para celebrar el evento, hoy lancé la versión 1.1 de Sophia, así que si Uds. lo perdieron, o simplemente quieren volver a jugarlo, ¡está acá!

***

Hello everybody!

Last year, among other things (real life etc.), I was working to a new title.

Then I saw some very interesting things going on in the ZX-Dev competition, and I wondered, "Why not?"

Actually, in the past I thought about an enhanced remake of one of the very first games I played on the Spectrum (on the 16K, no less): Matthew Smith's Styx.

Then I decided to leave what I was already doing aside for a while and do something completely different. And what's better than adding a new chapter to the beloved wizard girl's adventures?

So, without further ado, here is Sophia II, which is both the sequel to the successful Sophia and a remake of Styx.

The game has been examined thoroughly, and now only the final step is to be taken - test on real hardware.

Once that is done, it will be available for download from my website, and later from the Spectrum Computing archive, as usual. Game and documentation will be available in six languages: Italian, English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese. TAP, TZX and TRD file formats to cater for everbody's (well, almost!) needs.

To celebrate the event, today I released Sophia version 1.1, so if you missed it back then, or just want to play it again, go get it!

[jordi]

Bestial, me encanta!

I really like it!

[Admin]

Nice entry, Alessandro! A crossover between Styx and Sophia
I have not played Styx almost at all but this is a good opportunity, although it seems that it can be completed in 2 minutes, so it is going to be very interesting to see its evolved version you are preparing

Welcome here!

[greenwebsevilla]

Hi Alessandro!

I am playing your game and I like it very much!

I have detected a bug, please see this video:

youtu.be/kDR7fpg7Puk

The player disappears when she is killed right in the moment you cross to another screen.

Greetings!

[alessandro]

Hi greenwebsevilla,

thanks for liking the game I took notice of the problem and will investigate into it soon.

Did you notice the problem in that screen only? Or elsewhere?

The game is completable anyway, so it should not be a serious issue.

Anyway, this is the Sophia II thread, so if you or other folks have feedback about Sophia, please drop me a line at my email address you can find in the game manual. Thanks

[greenwebsevilla]

Feb 8, 2019 21:55:34 GMT alessandro said:

Hi greenwebsevilla,

thanks for liking the game I took notice of the problem and will investigate into it soon.

Did you notice the problem in that screen only? Or elsewhere?

The game is completable anyway, so it should not be a serious issue.

Anyway, this is the Sophia II thread, so if you or other folks have feedback about Sophia, please drop me a line at my email address you can find in the game manual. Thanks

Oh sorry, I did not realized I was playing to another game 😅
Anyway congrats for your game, I didn't know it. Looking forward to seeing the new one 👍

[alessandro]

¡Hola amigos!

Después de la anticipación, hace una semana, aquí está el segundo capítulo de la historia de la princesa-maga.

Han pasado dos años desde que Sophia derrotó al malvado hechicero Yojar. El Emperador la nominó Princesa y su tierra se convirtió en el Principado autónomo de Xixerella. Bajo su sabio gobierno, la pequeña región se ha convertido en un refugio de paz, prosperidad y tolerancia. Pero algo oscuro ya ha puesto sus ojos en él ... Una vez más, Sophia, la campeona de su gente, debe enfrentarse a peligros abrumadores y utilizar todos los conocimientos y habilidades que posee, para derrotar la nueva amenaza.

El juego es esencialmente una nueva versión mejorada del primer título de Matthew Smith, Styx, que funcionaba en el 16K Spectrum. Y como Styx, se divide en tres partes. Cada uno de estas es más grande que los niveles de Sophia, por lo tanto, los dos juegos son aproximadamente del mismo tamaño. Sin embargo, mientras que en Sophia la acción del jugador no varió a través de los niveles, en Sophia II la acción será diferente:

• La primera parte, como en Styx, es una mazmorra poblada por monstruos, cuya salida está protegida por la Reina Araña.
  
  
• El segundo nivel, de nuevo como en Styx, es un laberinto subacuático, con un jefe inventado por mí al final, el Hipocampo Gigante (Styx no tenía un enemigo final en esta etapa).
  
• Finalmente, en el tercer nivel, el jugador debe alcanzar la cima de una torre, donde la Parca, como en Styx, espera.

Otra diferencia con Sophia es que, en la mejor tradición de los juegos históricos de Spectrum, la banda sonora está compuesta enteramente con interpretaciones de piezas de música clásica, mientras que en el juego anterior se basaba en canciones populares, con la excepción del Dies Irae de W.A. Mozart para el nivel final.

¡Gracias al esfuerzo de Ersh y Bedazzle, el juego y la documentación estarán disponibles en ocho idiomas desde el principio!

Y ahora algunos detalles técnicos:

Esta es la primera vez que empleé AGD 4.7X (versión 4Ke), aunque solo por aproximadamente el 5% del trabajo total en el juego. También incluí un par de rutinas de Allan Turvey para evitar algunos parpadeos ocasionales de los sprites de colores y para agregar más detalles gráficos al tercer nivel, incluidas las cintas transportadoras.

El diseño gráfico para la mazmorra se inspiró en el excelente trabajo de Binman para Ghost Castle, mientras que los huesos se basaron en un gráfico que se encuentra en Gauntlet.

Por segunda vez, la primera fue en Seto Taisho Vs Yokai, no hay una, sino dos finales, aunque la segunda no está oculta (es decir, tienes que realizar una determinada acción para acceder a ella), pero se puede elegir desde el menú de opciones por medio del nivel de dificultad, otra característica que implementé por segunda vez, después de haberla introducida en Apulija-13 V2.0.

Mejoré el script nativo de AGD para las plataformas móviles, porque tenía la tendencia ocasional a dejar que el jugador sprite "deslice" a través de ellas en ciertas, aunque raras, ocasiones.

Las rutinas de carga de TR-DOS se han reescrito por completo al emplear la llamada del sistema de la ROM "sombra" a $3D13, lo que permite un código más pequeño y más rápido. También tuve que encontrar una manera de hacer que las versiones de disco fueran compatibles con los clones brasileños de la interfaz Beta Disk 128. Después de leer el manual de usuario del CBI-24 y algunos experimentos, logré hacerlo.

Pero sobre todo, ¡espero que disfruten del nuevo capítulo de las aventuras de Sophia!

***

Hi fellas!

After the anticipation, a week ago, here it is - the second chapter of the princess-magician's story.

Two years have passed since Sophia defeated the evil wizard Yojar. The Emperor named her Princess, and her land became the autonomous Principality of Xixerella. Under her wise rule, the small region has become a haven of peace, prosperity and tolerance. But something obscure has already set its eyes upon it... Once again, Sophia, as the champion of her people, must face overwhelming perils and use every knowledge and skill she possesses, in order to defeat the new menace!

The game is essentially an enhanced remake of Matthew Smith's first title, Styx, which ran on the 16K Spectrum. And like Styx, it is divided into three parts. Each one of these is larger than the levels of Sophia, thus the two games are roughly the same size. However, while in Sophia the player's action did not vary across the levels, in Sophia II the action will be different:

• The first part, like in Styx, is a dungeon populated by monsters, which exit is guarded by the Spider Queen.
  
• The second, again like in Styx, is an underwater maze, with a boss invented by me at the end, the Giant Seahorse (Styx had no final enemy at this stage).
• Finally, in the third level, the player must reach the top of a tower, where the Grim Reaper, like in Styx, awaits.
  

Another difference with Sophia is that, in the best tradition of historical Spectrum games, the soundtrack is entirely composed with renditions of pieces of classical music, while in the previous game it was based upon folk tunes, with the exception of W.A. Mozart's Dies Irae for the final level.

Thanks to the efforts of Ersh and Bedazzle, game and documentation will be available in eight languages right from the start!

And now some technical details:

This is the first time I employed AGD 4.7X (version 4Ke), albeit for just about 5% of the total work on the game proper. I also included a couple of scripts by Allan Turvey in order to avoid some occasional flicker to white of the colored sprites, and to add more graphical detail to the third level, including conveyor belts.

Graphic design for the dungeon was inspired by Binman's excellent work for Ghost Castle, while the bones were based on a graphic found in Gauntlet.

For the second time - first one was in Seto Taisho Vs Yokai - there are not one, but two endings, although the second one is not hidden (i.e. you have to perform a certain action in order to access it), but can be chosen right from the Options menu through the difficulty level - another feature I implemented for the second time, after having introduced it in Apulija-13 V2.0.

I improved AGD's native script for moving platforms, because it had the occasional tendency to let the player sprite "slip" through them in certain, albeit rare, occasions.

The TR-DOS loading routines have been totally rewritten by employing the shadow ROM's system call to $3D13, thus allowing for smaller and faster code. I also had to find a way to make the disk versions compatible with the Brazilian clones of the Beta Disk 128 interface. After perusing the CBI-24's user manual, and some experimentation, I managed to do it.

But above all - I hope you will enjoy the new chapter of Sophia's adventures!

Descarga / Download

[alessandro]

Hola a todos,

Sophia II se ha actualizado a la versión 1.01.

Novedades:

• Todos los objetos en el juego brillan (código adicional de Allan Turvey).
  
  
• Se corrigió un error de la colocación aleatoria de los amuletos en el nivel 2; en algunos casos, un amuleto podría encontrarse parcialmente detrás de una roca.
  
• Algunas pantallas en el nivel 2 han sido ligeramente retocadas.

***

Hi everyone,

Sophia II was updated to version 1.01.



What's new:

• All objects in the game glow (additional code by Allan Turvey).
• A bug of the random placement of the amulets in level 2 has been corrected; in some cases, an amulet could be found partially behind a rock.
• Some screens in level 2 have been slightly retouched.

[alessandro]

Hola a todos,

esta tarde a las 18.00 voy a ser intervistado para Arnau Jess sobre su canal YouTube.

Hablaré de detalles, antecedentes y curiosidades sobre mi juegos y en particular sobre Sophia II.

¡Les espero! 

(Sorry but the interview will be in Spanish only - if someone from the English-speaking channels wishes to do the same, please contact me at my email address!)

[andrelunaleao]

Can´t wait for it, being in spanish is no problem at all, and his channel is always entertaining... Boa sorte!

[arnaujess]

Thanks Alessandro!
I enjoy it and i think the public too.

One thing, I remember everyone: Second pending volume!

Namaste.

[Beyker]

Me ha encantado el juego Alessandro!!! tiene ese aire a los juegos clasicos de los 80 que tanto me gustan. Felicidades!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I loved the game, Alessandro! It has that touch from the classic games from the 80s that I so much like. Congrats!

[alessandro]

Gracias Beyker!

Todavía no he probado tu juego, pero voy a hacerlo pronto.

Espero que la charla con Arnau te gustó y que estarás a la segunda parte, el próximo sábado!


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Thanks, Beyker!

I still haven´t played your game but I will do so soon.

I hope the chat with Arnau was enjoyable the other day and you will be in the second part on next saturday!

[zork]

Hi Alessandro

Actually I'm the big fan of spectrum games , in the past I had played Sir Fred in the in 1987 , I think you know it !!!

anyway , I had completed this game in 1994 , to be honest , it's very amazing adventure/platform game in that time !!!

there are more one end to finish the game , I mean there are more than one way to save the princess .

the graphics are so beautiful , the animation is also , not mentioning the several things to do , like throwing bombs , throwing arrows , fighting by the

sword and many things to do , just take a look to this game !!!

So , I hope from you to make a game such as Sir Fred , I'll be grateful when this happen .

[alessandro]

Hello Zork!

Actually I tried to play Sir Fred back in the day, but never exactly understood what you were supposed to do X-D I usually stopped after the third/fourth screen or so.

Anyway, thank you for your suggestion, but I must tell you that I already have some ideas for the future.

In case you understand Spanish, you could listen to the second part of my interview with Arnau Jess on his YouTube channel, where I also discuss about my ideas for future titles.

All the best!

[zork]

Gracias Alessandro !

Well , I'm so glad that you already have some ideas for the future , in fact , Sir Fred contains many many things to do ! but first of all you must have the determination and passion to move on forward !
secondly , the items might be changed it's place randomly each time when you start again the game from the beginning , such as the sword as an example , you find the sword in a different places at the map of the game each time when you start the game from the beginning and that applies on the rest of items like : flask , torch , match , bow and arrows , rope , roast chicken ( used to up your strength ) and +++
imagine many items in the game , each item has useful purpose to do ! some items used to do more than one purpose , or used for more than one purpose .

If you reached the third or forth screen of the game then you didn't see anything of the game !!! you have no idea how you missed all the fun !!!
It's really an amazing game by all means !!!

Dear Alessandro

Once again , I hope you reconsider this game ( Sir Fred ) by following it's YouTube to make a similar game in the near future !

All the best .

[jordi]

nice! it's a funny one

[zork]

Hello Alessandro !

Like I said before about an old game Sir Fred :

This game was made by Spanish programmers such as Carlos Granados , Fernando Rada and Camilo Cela , Those brilliant programmers took the platform/adventure games to highest levels through this game ! and when ? in 1986 !!!!!!!!!!!!

I consider this game is a superior game with comparison with other games (in that time) !!! and even nowadays , it's still considered as a tough opposition game with other games in my opinion .

As to me , then I'm very proud of those programmers who made us enjoying with this amazing game !!!

why ?

Firstly , there are many items or objects might be changed it's place randomly each time when you start again the game from the beginning , such as the sword as an example , you find the sword in a different places at the map of the game each time when you start the game from the beginning and that applies on the rest of items like : flask , torch , match , bow and arrows , pipe , rope , roast chicken ( used to up your strength ) and many objects out of my hand's reach till the present time which I don't know what are useful for !!!!!!!!

imagine many objects in the game , each object has useful purpose to do ! some items or objects are used to do more than one purpose , or used for more than one purpose .

Secondly , despite the usual directions controls of up , down , left , right , select and use , lots of extra moves have been crammed in by combinations of the keys such as climbing , running , swimming !!!!!!!

Thirdly , there is at least one secret pathway or may be more in the game that I had discovered by coincidence even anyone who saw the YouTube can't know that secret passage , the person himself that shown in YouTube didn't know about that unless trying hard to find out !!! I wouldn't reveal that secret passage to anyone because I don't wanna ruin the enjoyment of the exploring unless I was asked by whom want to know than I'll be happy to tell .

Fourthly , the fantastic Graphics that dazzles the eyes !!!

Fifthly , there are many surprises and unexpected things are waiting to be discover in this game !!!!

just one imperfection thing I found in the game that when I kill the guards or anything in a specific screen then all those things rises or show up again when I return or visit the same screen

So , according to what I say above then I'm grateful to those programmers : Carlos Granados , Fernando Rada and Camilo Cela , who gave us this magnificent piece of art .

Finally , I wish from you to make more amazing game like Sir Fred .


All the best .

[largore]

You forgot to mention Paco Méndez and Juan delcan, they also participated in fred, sir fred and full authors of the Abadía del crimen

[zork]

As far as I know then I didn't heard about either Paco Méndez or Juan delcan who participated in Sir fred !

Alright , if you say so , it's good to know that those guys participated in Sir fred !

As a matter of fact then I basically like any comprehensive game from all sides in which Sir fred is just one of few games that belongs to the family of the comprehensive games !!!

Thanks to inform me about Paco Méndez and Juan delcan , all the gratitude to them plus the others that I mentioned before .

[alessandro]

Sorry folks, I understand your interest for Sir Fred, but this is the Sophia II thread. Could we get back to the topic please?

Desculpe amigos, entiendo vuestro interés por Sir Fred, pero esto es el hilo de Sophia II. Podemos volver al tema principal por favor?

[alessandro]

Hola a todos! Nueva versión 1.02 descargable desde mi sitio como siempre.

Un retoque para los sprites de Sophia en el nivel 2, ahora tenemos una Sophia nadadora ;-)

* * *

Hi everybody! A new 1.02 version downloadable from my website as ever.

A retouch of the sprites for Sophia in level 2, now we have a swimmer Sophia ;-)