Miscellaneous - Epic: Diary of the development of one program.

EPIC             
                               
music by MIDISOFT              
(C) V. Mednonogov.               
________________________________
                               
   Overy often, having learned that the output
another cool development for the Spectrum
postponed indefinitely, involuntarily
you wonder - why? As authors,
those who set the release date themselves could not
write a program: learned assembler, and
rivet kilobyte by kilobyte...         
  I think you have a rare opportunity
figure out for yourself what's what.  I want
present a development diary of one
program, guess which one for yourself :)     
             _____             
                               
 12 Jul 96                     
                               
 ...seriously, for about six months
went Doom-demo from Kharkov.            
  I'm also doomed to this idea right now.
You can’t feed the people only Fools,
Pinocchios and Enleoshkas.  I'm waiting for this En-
Light tosee the results of the competition
pehtob.  If I realize that I can’t do better,
I'll take up some WarCraft.       
                               
 17 Jul 96                     
                               
  This is how I imagine Doom at
Spectrum:                               
  1. Screen - from 256x64 to 16x64 (width
adjustable in 16 pixel increments to
provide the greatest comfort to the player,
and adjustments to the frequency of the processor's machine
us)                                      
  2. Viewing sector - 60 degrees.        
  3. Texture size 64x64, quantity -
about 20 main and the same number of additional
thread (additional ones are stored in
page, their output will be somewhat slow
lazier, so you'll have to use them
less often).                                   
  4. Maximum magnification - 2:1. Two
pages of 16k will have to be allocated to subtitles
fast zoom from 2:1 to 1:32. 
  5. The floor and ceiling are the same height, not
textured. The walls are most likely
placed at an angle of 90 degrees to each other
to a friend. In short, it's more Wolf than Doom.
  6. Enemies are specified by 32x64 sprites (8
top halves 32x32 for each position
nie and 16 bottom - to show movement
legs). With masks. I'm thinking of tearing them out of Doo-
ma.  Can someone tell me how? No, yes
I'll draw it myself.7. Items - 32x32 sprites with masks.
Bullets, shells and explosions too.           
  Here's the plan.                        
  The output of one point on average will be under-
mother 25 (!) bars. Therefore the screen
Let's say 128x64 - 200000 cycles. Plus nak-
Okay costs for switching pages,
sampling of texture lines, shipment from used
phere to the main screen, etc. (percentage)
50 - that’s how it always turns out). According to my calculations
It comes out to about 1/12 of a second. In short,
with the output - no problems.             
  Problems with overlaying hero sprites and
items.  And most importantly - with a quick determination
tion, which line corresponds to which texture
corresponds to each vertical line of the screen
on and to what scale. I read this
book topic "Secrets of Game Programming"
company St. Petersburg and the hair stood on end - four -
re multiplication/division by line. Another try
problems with the organization of the labyrinth structure,
so that at every step you don’t have to
numbers - which wall is closer or further.    
  However, we will do it. Even if he receives-
very, very slow, screen width
You can always reduce it to 16 pixels
lei. And then it will be very, very fast :))
                               
 21 Jul 96                     
                               
  I haven't come up with a plot yet, butoffhand
(if considered as UFO-3) approximately
like this:                                     
  People after battles with aliens 2017
received a lot of new technologies over the years,
went into space and built many colonies,
for example, in the solar system or elsewhere
further).  One day all this is incomprehensible
reasons are covered :(                    
  The player's task will be to fly along these
colonies (and you can make 10..1000 of them :)
and free them from evil spirits, along the path of salvation
sacking your ships and capturing enemy ships
relics.  During the game you will need to lead
all sorts of research, look for some
access codes, new weapons - this is de-
not the first time to bark :) Well, get to the bottom of it again
to the root cause.                         
  But just the liberation of bases, captures
UFOs will be made in the form of Doom. Xiu-
can be anything - for example,
the remnants of the aliens disappeared underground and
you'll have to run through the sewers and
metro lines :)))))                      
  The main thing is that everything is beautiful and bo-
more or less FAST (by Western standards
8 frames per second, but I'll be satisfied and
6-7). Then you won't be bored.       
                               
 27 Jul 96                     
                               
  Spent three weeks figuring out how to Do-
om do. Tripped on spritesheroes.
Getting too close to them
time to depict them (first of all -
on scaling) becomes comparable
over time the screen redraws.          
  And store pre-scaled
sprites - no 128k is enough. So
this idea is on the back burner - for now
I won’t gain enough experience or suddenly
who will help.                             
 Let's move on to the fallback option - UFO-3
a'la WarCraft :) I.e.  many heroes (in
this time - walking robots) slowly
They fight themselves, and you only give them tasks.
Maybe I’ll attach a doom-like part there like
sublevel - wandering through the labyrinth in
looking for something (in the complete absence
enemies).                                 
                               
 30 Jul 96                     
                               
  Then Max Iwamoto called.             
  I do not recommend taking for thoughtfulness -
Xia.  Their 128x64 screen was rebuilt in
6 interruptions (6/50 seconds) - this is the best
in our case. And at worst - 10-12. And this is be-
all sorts of characters!  So, come on,
this Duum :) Until everything is thoroughly
turbocharged :))                          
                               
 09 Aug 96                     
                               
  Preliminary advertising.        
                               
  After numerous calculations I started
to work on the game. So this will be half-
ny WarCraft. I would do it, but...
in St. Petersburg some are already working on it
G-Soft, changed the plot - suddenly G-Soft
will reach the victorious end, why do we need to
two WarCrafts? :))                   
  Playing field 64x64 cells, display window
zheniya - 20x20 z/m, one cell - 2x2 z/m,
buildings - 4x4 frames, graphics - two-color
Naya. And so on...                   
  Release dates (even approximate) for me
unknown yet.  I'll try not to drag it out -
vat.                                    
                               
 18 Aug 96                     
                               
Ilya Fomin>Slava, come on, write, WARCRAFT
- this is RULEZZZ! And then I have one friend
I've been tormented by this idea for a couple of years now, but for now...
At the moment I didn’t write anything except the demo.
                               
  There are two big difficulties in the game: super-
fast (but not necessarily optimal)
route tracer and game strategy
computer. Fortunately, it is in these two
questions, I consider myself morespecial
leaf - I know how to deceive people so that
everyone thought - what a smart program :)  
                               
 16 Sep 96                     
                               
  Work in progress. I remind you that this
will actually be WC-1. Along the way,
the "UFO-3" fix has been dropped, so this will be
just "Black Raven" (well, not at all
terhytb aliens to WarCraft :)       
  I finally understood how the heroes
so quickly they find quite acceptable ones
travel routes, which amounted to
the main problem in the game. I can do it
the same (or better ;)                     
  I haven’t decided yet how to completely “mouse”
translate the game for keyboard/joystick:
the interface will be very different from the original
ginala.   Stock up just in case
Kempston mice :)))                     
                               
 28 Sep 96                     
                               
  UFO-2 was a mistake - too much za-
rat man-hours. We need something simpler,
less bells and whistles. Now if only we had a bunch
there was huge competition among firms, then
it would be necessary to spin the entire game
lick.                              
  However, for the game "Black Raven"
more than pre-orders have been made
than $200:Introductory and final demos - $120
- X-TRADE performer.                   
  Two tunes - 2x10$ - performer Dan-
gerous.                                  
 24 color pictures - 24x20t.r. - is-  
 filler Denis Barkov.                 
  Of course, for the last two points
it would be better to attract Muscovites (Scorpi-
on Club and KSA), but to Moscow 8OOkm :((   
                               
 08 Nov 96                     
                               
 This is roughly what it will look like.
Playing field in a window 24x24 size, monochrome.
At Ilya’s request there will be background music (ho-
it was not easy to combine it with the conclusion
graphics via stack :)                    
                               
 17 Nov 96                     
                               
  The sprites are popped again through the stack,
and interruptions can occur at any time
moment - even when the stack is standing on
sprite image!                    
                               
 Artyom Kharitonov>  And at this time the sprite
"sausage" in a terrible way :)))            
                               
  The fact of the matter is that the spriteremains
alive and unharmed.                      
  In a nutshell, how this is done (with
provided that the interrupt handler has
your stack area):                     
Option "A" (proposed, for example, Steel-
kepom): store a copy of all
sprites, watch when the interrupt arrives,
where was the stack, and if it was on the sprite,
the damaged part (2 bytes) was restored
is taken from a copy. Disadvantage: necessary
duplicate sprites.                     
Option "B" (mine): build all procedures
ry to display sprites so that they select
whether the words from the image are only in definition
divided register pair (for example, POP
DE).  Then, if the interruption occurs at
the moment the sprite is output, it is guaranteed that
the damaged two bytes are in DE.
Next is a matter of technology. And no duplicates
images.                             
  Of course, for games like Dizzy this is not an ac-
overall - there are so few dynamic
sprites that they display at least ten times
sulking for the interruption. Ho for Dunes, Duums,
WarCraft - it won't hurt :)))            
                               
 22 Nov 96                     
                               
  Apparently, tomorrow the little men in the game will already be
running,so far, however, without definite
goals :)                                  
  Difficulties in Ch.Voron came unexpectedly
sides. Gave Dangerous background music
from WarCraft, so that he could write them on Spec-
sal, and he reports that such a set
sounds cannot be repeated. Here you go
professional musicians :(               
                               
 03 Dec 96                     
                               
  At least in the version with General So-
und (if there is one) all melodies and
digitizations will be downloaded before the game from
third disc, which will be entirely
tobutb and distribute X-Trade.         
                               
 19 Dec 96                     
                               
Sergey Novikov>How are things going with the crow?
                               
  Yes, go for it :))                       
  Can you give an approximate time frame?
progress - February (read - April :). Pain-
The funny thing is that the most difficult
places are written first in C on a PC, and in
volume are transferred to assembler (by hand, co-
sure).  It turns out faster and more reliable. B
next time I think entirely first on
to concoct the IBM, and only then transfer it
youon ZX :))                             
  A lot of things are ready, but for a playable demo
can't move yet - they can only walk, but not
fight.   I wonder how much
it will work out quickly, because... theoretically they can
96 characters can be processed simultaneously
(however, in reality there will be fewer of them on average -
higher - from 15-20 at the first levels, up to 50-60
on the final ones).                         
  The scrolling turned out to be fast - much
faster than in UFO1/2, because flat graphics
Kaya and while scrolling all movements
are suspended (which was not the case before).
Animated water (can be turned off,
but does not affect the withdrawal time).           
  Route tracer - also like
fast, although far from optimal. Od-
but honestly looking for which side is better
avoid obstacles. On average - not more
more than 5000-15000 cycles. Since it is called
rarely, the speed of the game will not be affected. 
  The map is called up by pressing a key, and
is not constantly on the screen. Maybe
this is not very good, but all objects are from-
personally distinguishable - depicted by sprites
3x3 pixels.  It is clear that because of this
its update speed is not high. Ho for
This will not be noticeable to the user, because
one map update will occur
every 4-5 game cycles.         
  All buttons on the control panel are
lyrated with hotkeys for the poor
mice:) Buttons used because of this -
half a keyboard (just kidding).                  
  The enemies are simply called Kungs, not Orcas.
mi.                                      
                               
 21 Dec 96                     
                               
 Sergey Novikov>  ...kehramu :) Better
couldn't think of anything?                 
                               
  It's too late, my friend... You should have done it yourself
to guess, to come up with it myself, and for me to-
soap... And now they are called that
in the advertising article :))))                 
  And if you knew what the others are called -
Xia... F-[]                               
 ps: kangi is also not bad, I don’t know
thought :))                              
  pps: I struggled with the arrow for a long time. Because
Screen update is not synchronized with
interruptions, then the arrow is big
problem.  At first I wanted it like the previous ones
games - the cursor is redrawn only
along with the screen. But maybe too different
be the time of conversion to CV, so on
game levels of varying difficulty
the arrow would move at different speeds
(even the custom parameter introduced - speed-
The speed of cursor movement is terrible). Here
I only recently realized how the cursor on the pre-
tugging to hang, andso that he doesn’t care -
screen is currently updating or
no.                                     
  But these hemorrhoids are from the lack of we-
necks among the population :)))                     
                               
 17 Jan 97                     
                               
 By the way, the CV demo for ZXF #6 is ready -
you can take it - following traditions, I am
put a bunch of glitches in it (just kidding).         
  2All: There are no enemies, you can’t fight,
It is impossible to eat/produce/extract, launched
there are about 20 people there, which in itself is
cool (sometimes they walk very stupidly, but before
goals are always achieved). There is a map, but you can’t see it
The fields are opened. Surprisingly, that's all
it's not too slow - equal to speed
FAST in WarCraft 1 (for turbo computers generally)
still cool).  In short, for a non-playable demo
will do.  Full version guaranteed
braking by no more than 5-10%. From-
it is also known that the next game will be
"Black Raven - 2" - an attempt to shove
WarCraft 2 at 128 (or maybe 256?) kilo-
byte.                                    
                               
 30 Jan 97                     
                               
  About "Black Raven":                   
 The work has entered the decisive stage -
I'm not for itmountains.                        
  In short, the number of heroes on the screen is very
greatly affects performance: lower
reduction by 1-1.5% per hero/explosion/sleep-
row/etc. I.e.  in the case shown, that's all
slows down 1.5-2 times (I hope in re-
In a real game this would be an uncommon situation
:) The selection is made through CAPS.  With him
hold, you can define a selection frame
(as in ArtStudio). Highlighted heroes around
framed. Maximum group - 6
man. Using SYM you can add/subtract
army of the hero from the group.                    
  Logic calculation time increases slightly with
growth in the number of heroes in the game - no more than 1%
by ten. Of particular concern was the
the procedure for avoiding an obstacle (which is
Depending on the size of the obstacle, it may
reach 15,000 clock cycles), but experiments show
whether that even for such a large group,
it is called on average 1 time per 4 frames
(looks great if they are all somewhere-
send it - just a caravan :))        
                               
 26 Feb 97                     
                               
 Dmitry Fedotov>  Here they told me,
that the Scorpio company has a toy
Black Raven on 2 discs.              
                               
  No, they just didnew for myself
catalog of Spectrum games (color!!!) and
placed an advertisement under the CV in advance. Ho there in
There is a note at the end - the release date is March -
April.                                  
                               
 Dmitry Fedotov>  for 6 USD. - i.e. she
ready already??? Explain the situation.       
                               
  As for the price, I think that according to St. Petersburg it is
it will be exactly 30 tr.                      
  The last week has been busy with production
no animations, apparently next week
too.  According to the plan, on the first disk there should be
be an introductory part consisting of 18
animations of 16 frames of size 14x18 characters
komect. Plus two final animations of 48 each
frames of the same size.  Like this
ZXmultimedia :)) A little more of them are ready
more than half.  I think everyone should nohpa-
curl :)) [to me - very much]             
                               
 02 Mag 97                     
                               
  The static part on fleece is converted
on the Spectrum in each frame slightly different
nomu (maybe remember Welcome Press #1,
it’s clearly visible there) - there’s a lot
edit with your hands.  That's why I'm in pain
In most flicks the background moves
(though much more smoothly).          
  And suchI made the size of the frames based on
eta - 8 frames per page. And 14x18, so that
calmly transfer it with LDIRs without
"rags" (well, I'm not a demo maker :))        
                               
 05 Mag 97                     
                               
  All animations, including the final two,
done (all that remains is to glue it together). Most
The scene with the crawling spiders looks even more disgusting
kami - chills on the skin...                  
                               
 01 Apr 97                     
                               
  For CV support for GS will be provided by Stin-
ger (A.Areeb).                           
                               
 11 Apr 97                     
                               
  Especially at the present time, when it is required
the appeal of users to makers becomes
ever higher.  This applies greatly to real-time
strategies.  I don’t know what the co-
battle inside "Dune2" and "WC" for Spectrum,
but Black Raven is written in truly, not
I'm afraid of this word, at the object level :))
Influences exerted by one object
on the other, usually do not cause immediate
actions, but generate an event sign.
When the turn comes to the target object, it
recognizes what is receivedimpact and only
ko then processes it.               
  This is very convenient from a debugging point of view
separate subroutines, this puts everyone
heroes in the same conditions, this is not
overloads the program with multiple options
actions. But this is quite unpleasant in
sense of debugging interaction between block-
kami (finding the source of the error is difficult).   
                               
 11 Apr 97                     
                               
  Black Raven - demo v0.02              
  Demo in .Z80 format.                   
  Music - from JAM from the Moscow region.
For fun, select the Wizard and click
on the 'scorpions' button.                   
  And then send everyone somewhere. He
forgot how cockroaches scatter in the kitchen -
what if you turn on the lights at night? :)))   
                               
 19 Apr 97                     
                               
Dangerous>>The world's biggest glitch:
Mednonogov wants to make music for Cher-
Nogo Raven as an application on the 3rd dis-
ke!!!                                    
                               
Sergey Novikov> An original trick. For the game
ruon 3 discs people will pay more than
if only she had two.                 
                               
  The game will be distributed on 2 dis-
kah.  Melodies/sounds are entirely up to you
Dangerous (X-Trade), and how he will make them
to distribute is his business (I am pleased
We are free to leave them in a file-echo or on
BBS).  Hardly anyone remembers, but the release of GS
was planned even before UFO-2, then it was also underway
We're talking about support (!). By the way, with X-Trade
there was an agreement on the production of
Rochennoy demos to the ChV, which they never
done. I don't want to get burned a third time.
  Sound support will be loading
once before the game and be called out of the game
(if X-Trade does not forget about the promise
provide debugged subroutines for sub-
GS holders :))                            
                               
 21 Apr 97                     
                               
  Almost 500 kilobytes on the first disk -
video.                              
                               
 Alex Letaev>  Packed
or not?                                 
                               
  476 - packed, 794 - in henakobah-
nom.  True, if on the second disk there is
noenough space, then the final two
I'll drag the animations there.                
                               
 21 Apr 97                     
                               
  "Around obstacles" - in UFO-1 it
it was out of the question - the hero got stuck
at each pillar. And the aliens just pos-
eagerly moved in semi-random directions
ravleniyah - of course, they are somewhere yes
hit :) [Brownian motion effect-
I]                                       
  The route calculation in UFO-2 is dedicated to
large article in ZXF #6 (with an example on
BASIC :) The wave method is used there
traces.                             
  I can tell you the calculation of the route in ChV
only on the fingers. The hero goes in the direction-
research goals.  When he hits an obstacle, he
examines him right and left along the contour
(perimeter? I don’t know the exact term), on-
walks a point on the contour, the least distant
from the goal, and decides how quickly to reach it
get there faster - bypassing the obstacle to the right
or left. Avoids the obstacle and continues
presses movement directly towards the target. And so he
avoids all obstacles until he reaches
to the goal.                                 
  Ideally it would be good to
remember the route so that it can be
optimize (smooth), but on Spec
too little memory.That's why I remember
only the direction of bypassing the current pre-
obstacles and the length of the detour, for which it is sufficient
but one byte. In practice, a large
the fur is other moving objects.
However, it more or less works (see demo).  
                               
 08 May 97                     
                               
  IMHO, lately everything is cool
The same for ZX was written using IBM/Amiga.
Sometimes almost without using Speck :))
Just using emulators. Nap-
For example, the STEP group has been doing this for a long time (using
using UKV 1.2)                         
  What can I say, even if it’s hereditary?
LAV musician when writing his melodies
is content with the modest sound of the emulation -
Torah Shalaev, having forgotten about the delights of the present
yashchego AY.                                
                               
 Alexander Lebedev Glory, when you start
write on IBM? :)                       
                               
  The first step has already been taken - I bought a book
"Secrets of programming games for WINDOWS
95" :))                                  
                               
 16 May 97                     
                               
    Black Raven -the last barrier.     
  Work on the CV has slowed down somewhat.
The reason is the need to define for
each hero enemies in the field
his reach. Especially when acting
computer whose soldiers have
a sufficiently large viewing sector (and how
should we still do artificial intelligence? :)
An attempt to solve head-on (by comparing "all
against everyone") - did not bring success.      
  Hopefully the problem can be solved. Inte-
pecyet the experience of the Dune 2 developers in this
regions (or are they stuck with this?)         
                               
 18 May 97                     
                               
  As applied to the Black Crow rules
inspection of a large sector is enough
fair play, because playing-person
Still able to see all open fields. I
I would be happy to allow the same
computer, but:                          
 a) processing such a volume of information
clearly beyond the power of little Specky;      
 b) even having received it, I’m unlikely to be able to
come up with decent rules to use
her (reminiscent of a similar problem in "Fool-
ke", where in the "sharp" mode the computer, knowing
all cards in the opponent's hands and in the colo-
Yes, simply not able to actually usecall this most valuable information :))      
  On the other hand, for the game to be absolutely
fiercely honest, the computer should do everything
to become like a person - to have your own card
invisible fields, send scouts,
to expand your field of view. This
It wouldn't be a bad thing to make the program heavier.        
                               
 Yuri Matveev>  If the problem is the choice
the nearest target for attack - example
nyay standard scanning method
spiral until you hit your opponent.
After this - attack.                     
                               
  This method is also not very good. Even
if you introduce a restriction on the radius of the spiral
(N), number of squares viewed
inside it will be = (2*N+1)^2, which for
uhob computer having enough pain-
Shoe N - very noticeable in time (game
then - real-time). Yes, and for our soldiers in
average N=2..4.                          
 Hopefully, the problem is solvable.      
                               
 Yuri Matveev>  Of course :) Look at the cook-
rafts, dunes and other commands and conveys
ry :)                                   
                               
  Well, having 133MHz, I would solve it head-on and
onBASIC :))                           
                               
 21 May 97                     
                               
  If I decided correctly, for normal
games, the radius of visibility of all soldiers is pro-
there should be at least a little tinkle
more Sight of the catapult so that they infect
they could react to her approach
- the rule is simple, but it must be implemented
- otherwise several brake rollers
The player's remote control will smash everything to smithereens.
It's all a stumbling block here :((                    
                               
 Sergey Novikov>  Okay, we're waiting at the barracks,
until there are 4 units - and go into battle. A
better than 9 - then the computer will be very strong
play - not everyone can fight off 9 units at a time
can!                                  
                               
  I haven't gotten around to it yet, but in WC1 there was
a special place(s) has been allocated for
fees.  It looked better than in WC2,
where the detachment started from the barracks, but was vulnerable
in our place it turned out that enemies can
was to intercept while they were alone
walked from the barracks to the meeting place.             
                               
 Sergey Novikov>  You can enter additional
private mode - forcomputers with turbo
ONLY - there the computer will think more, and
more effects can be added
(animations during the game).                
                               
  So, there's only 4K left, not much
you'll have a blast :(( Not that effects and animation
mation - I’m thinking, shouldn’t I throw away the mu-
language (still 5k). Downsizing
effects for GS, otr- may also be included
rules of game situations, some functions
tions, such as the construction of fences and roads
zhek. Continuous troubles :(                  
                               
 21 May 97                     
                               
  Unlike UFO-1/2, in CV - direction
tion is a purely nominal parameter. Unit
can instantly turn 180
degrees, which is not very realistic. C
on the other hand, it’s logical, otherwise there’s no way
a correctly taken position in defense can
cost a lot of loss of health (while there
turn around). And deploy your troops
new for the player when placing in position
tion - it will simply be inconvenient, and even follow
then you will have to constantly check whether he is correct
looks. Hence their overview - all-round.
                               
 21 May 97                     
Dmitry Grigoriev>Well, let them stand and
scanned.  With a beam - at least the entire field. Cycles
in 10 they will scan the entire circumference. If
whoever gets caught, let them chase them.    
                               
  Why 10? Maybe more? :)        
  The idea is clear - a partial inspection of each
house cycle.  I also decided to do this
unless I can think of something better. Only
I’d rather divide all the warriors into groups
and at each step work with only one
group. This will actually make the reaction worse :((  
                               
 26 May 97                     
                               
  To have the full picture, I want
consider the method proposed by Nickolay
Mezencef.                                
  (I remind you that we were talking about scanning
every hero of real-time strategy places -
information around you regarding the choice of target)
 "Why not scan a quad-
Comv just can’t look at the coordinates of the
objects of the opposing party. I don't think so
even with the maximum number of objects
on both sides it would take more intermittent
vaniya.  If the reaction time is 1
sec.  (in the sense that objects produce actions)
Tvia 1 time per second), then such a review on
the enemies will eat negligible
resources."That is  the question arises - which is better: action-
carefully and honestly look through the squares
around the hero or compare his coordination
you with the coordinates of all enemy heroes.
In principle, the first method is already detailed
discussed (unlike the second). Niko-
Lai suggests using method two with
with the following optimization:                  
  "This matter can be further optimized:
when an object moves, it
himself informs hostile objects about his
when entering their visibility zone. In this
if there were no movements,
then scanning is not necessary."             
  A very (imho) good solution - actually
strictly all work will be carried out only with
moving heroes. A little unusual
i.e.  those who are not on the defensive will be ckahupo-
destroy the terrain, and moving opponents
will signal to them about their approach
marriage. And as you know, most of the time
my sides are accumulating their strength and not
moving. Of the big disadvantages of the method,
perhaps only one: all these calculations
will definitely have to be applied to the peasant-
to us/peons who are constantly on the move.
And there may not be so few of them (usually
15-25% of the total number).            
  Rescanning may be required
in some other cases (the hero "dunked"
enemy and must look around for no-
the howl of the victim;  enemies attackingcan additionally scan places -
ness, so as not to miss the soldiers playing
to your rear, although in WC2 they didn’t do that.
but). But these are really small things :)      
                               
  To logically complete the topic, I want to
describe in a nutshell the method by which re-
wanted to stop.                        
  The entire playing field is divided into
squares (when applied to CVs the most suitable
хoдящими  оказались квадраты 8х8 клеток).
For each of these squares is -
This is the list of enemy heroes included in
him.  Если  в  квадрате нет противников,
the list will be empty for him.              
  Scan for every human warrior
consists of viewing 9 squares
(8 around and one in which he stands
it). If there were opponents in the square,
a complete comparison is made
dinat for the enemy's reach.
  The same procedure is carried out with water
inami of the enemy.                             
  The idea is based on the fact that most
time all the opposing characters
the parties are at a considerable distance
нии  друг  от  друга,  и,  следовательно,
lists associated with the inspected quad-
The rats will be mostly empty.   
  As an alternative, it is possible to use
squares 4x4, but then for all heroes,
whose Sight>4, you will have to examine not 9, but
25squares :(                          
  A slight difficulty is compiling
lists, but these are just small
technical problems :))                
                               
 12 Jun 97                     
                               
  Here I can firmly promise - Black Raven
will be no dumber than WarCraft :))             
                               
 13 Jun 97                     
                               
  Descriptor of one unit on the Spectrum
fits perfectly into 20 bytes (even 19), in
difference from, for example, UFO-2, where the requirement
moose 32 bytes. The allocated 2K is enough for
102 heroes.                               
  But it seems like an attempt to repeat WC2
really difficult, because for
cards 128x128 (vs. 64x64 in WC1) required
32K is required (with 2 bytes per cell).   
  In this case, the map + hero data + data
projectiles/spells + building data +
most variables + 6K shadow screen
must be in memory accessible from
all pages, i.e.  from #4000 to #C000, and
there's only 32K :((                        
  Therefore, if WC2 is on the Spectrum,
then with a smaller card (80x80 or 128x64) and
only on 25bk machines (and obviously without any
stuffy heroes, otherwise the cell descriptor is
la will grow from 2x to 3xbyte)             
                               
 21 Jun 97                     
                               
 Okay, the memory problem seems to have been resolved
(for now :). The sprites of only three were cut
the rarest heroes (in the sense, for them
the right-hand image is obtained
mirror image of the left sprites.
According to the tables, this takes ~3000 clock cycles) -
demon, wall-eater, bone-crusher. This gave up-
2.5k in total - should be enough for sa-
my sophisticated intellect :))           
  Apparently, the game will have 3 difficulty levels.
ty:                                      
 1. normal (as in WC1), a couple of
There are no last levels.              
 2.  difficult (enemies are smarter + more
strict rules)                         
 3.  especially complex (same as 2, but with
prohibition of shipments during the game)      
  As a basic assessment of the game’s actions,
paradise will be the time to complete the levels and
games in general - imho, fair enough.        
  Although I’m still close to the intellect
I didn’t get it, but I managed to clean it
almost all the glitches and complete all the shortcomings
:) Incl. a system of notifications has been introducedspeakers (in the lower right corner), reported
talking about the attack, the end of ctpou-
production/production, destruction of buildings
etc.                                    
                               
 24 Jun 97                     
                               
  Graphics on Spec takes eight times
less space than on a PC; in two to four times
for fewer phases depicting movement/ata-
ku, fewer landscape sprites - in short,
everything fits into ~80k.                      
                               
 Misha Turnovsky> To obtain normal
no strategy, imho, you need 1000-1500 repo-
ev.                                      
                               
  It's too much. In WC1 the number is usually
units from the human side does not exceed
30-35, from the computer side - 50-60 fi-
nal levels). In WC2 this number is 1.5-2
times more (including due to the fact that the game
computer is built from defense). Spect-
the room will handle it quite well (according to measurements at 3.SmHz
- fits between FAST and FASTER from
WC1, and at 7 MHz - in general... :))           
                               
 26 Jun 97                     
                               
 Denis Parinov>How many levels will there be?   
                               
  So far it's supposed to be 12 for each
side (12+12). But for some reason I suspect
that there will be more of them. Landscapes so far
tyre - winter forest, ordinary forest, virgin lands and
dungeons (for special levels, if you use
thread WC1). Perhaps there will be two more - mountains
(instead of rivers) and black forest (black earth,
rivers of fire). For ChV-2 (if there is one)
it is planned to make more landscapes:
clan, port with ships.                   
                               
 01 Jul 97                     
                               
  Today I completed the last spell -
enemy tornadoes, more similar in appearance
for fascist crosses - for some reason nothing
I couldn't think of a better idea :)                     
                               
 01 Jul 97                     
                               
  The most serious of the upcoming problems for
Speca - lack of pure 5.25" on sale
disks!!! This is worse than damn hackers
it will be :))                                
                               
 01 Jul 97                     
                               
  In HF, the computer will act when
according toto the following plan:               
  - all units will be divided into "permanent"
nal" and "additional" composition;          
  - constants - those that are placed
on the map before the start of the game there are guards and
peasants.  The peasants are pre-divided into
gold/timber mining and, possibly, on re-
mohthukob.   New peasants appear
only in case of their death. Security on duty
after death is not restored (normal
difficulty level), or restored
(increased complexity);                  
  - additional ones appear as the game progresses -
ry (as resources accumulate or
after a certain time, or ...) and about
attack groups are being formed.  Upon reaching
a certain number of additional units all
they go on a campaign of conquest
(the target is most often "town-hall", but not
mandatory).                            
  Each enemy unit has in its descriptor
a special field that indicates what
he is engaged (for example, for a wizard -
indicates the type of spell he is using
specializes). Another field indicates
what he's really up to. Until it's 0
(job running), computer not tpo-
this unit sucks. As soon as the task is completed
heho/interrupted by external influences,
the computer will try to "find a job" for
unit, based on its professional
addictions. The exception is oxpah-
nicknames (theylook for work themselves by scanning
around) and additional units while they
were not collected in the quantity required
to start the hike.                       
  Something like this. But, of course, you can
riants...                                
                               
 10 Aug 97                     
                               
John Stunner> And what about the CV?            
                               
  Lives his own mysterious life. But in general
Well, it’s summer now, in St. Petersburg it’s 25’C :)
That is the previous month was a bit sluggish :(   
                               
 15 Aug 97                     
                               
    Black Raven - Demo v0.04          
 Actually, here it is, in .z80 format. Like
planned, this is the last demo version,
then it's just a game...                  
  One hypothetical level, not too much
steamed (without magic and sorcery, without ca-
tapult; the enemies are not too smart, although not
fools).  It seems to be going to the end. B
If you win, it displays "Well Done", otherwise -
"R.I.P."                                 
  It’s symbolic that exactly a year ago we were
work has begun on the CV...Especially for Enlight'97! ;)            
  ps: attention, when playing without a mouse, use your hands
cramps after 30 minutes! F-)       
                               
 30 Aug 97                     
                               
Alex Koval> I did it! Yes! I passed
ee! I finally finished this demo!!! There at the end
attributes says WELL DONE.           
                               
   That's right!!!                         
                               
Alex Koval> Cool! If this happens after-
the last level, then logic can be no less
nope.                                    
                               
  Actually, this was the first level ;)    
  But my brother didn’t pass :( And he also says
- I will be your beta tester. Here you go
Warcraft fans on PC :))            
                               
 04 Sep 97                     
                               
  About the ChV: in recent days it was carried out
major revision of the tracer cog-
Well done to the reported glitches:                 
 a)  warriors of the opposing sideroute-
pobke are considered passable, therefore,
whether to block a bridge or other narrow
place with its soldiers, it will not be considered
become impassable for the enemy (as in de-
me);                                     
 b) moving vehicles are now considered passable
walking warriors, which makes it possible to pass
walk in large groups through narrow passages
dy without the squad scattering. With the help of
complete tricks were achieved
100% squad throughput;                
 c)  twisting is excluded (when the warrior
walks around an empty place for a long time);       
 d)  things are much better now with
exit from narrow dead-end passages.     
  In addition, at the request of workers:    
 a)  to attack your warrior, you need
press a special key. This way
So, the possibility of accidentally killing is excluded
his warrior in the heat of battle. Fixed
goal sation - having chosen a goal, you cannot accidentally
select another before releasing SPACE. Zah-
The target's target is indicated by a blinking cursor;  
 b)  it is prohibited to build buildings on stone
paths and tponuhkax, so that it is impossible
build an impenetrable barrier of buildings(how is this possible in the demo). The same applies-
to fences (at levels where possible
build them);                             
 c) other little things.                       
  Apparently it will be completed by the end of the week
the strategic part (finally ;) and
work on the levels will begin.            
                               
 11 Sep 97                     
                               
 Denis Dmitriev>  I don’t understand why the group
done max. 6 warriors?                  
                               
  I don’t know myself... Although, if you choose a group
pu and point to the icon "G", below on
the shield will display an image of all members from-
series - however, without characteristics.        
                               
 13 Sep 97                     
                               
 Paul Falcon> And what will it consist of?
transition from level to level?             
                               
  Once you have completed the mission (usually
"kill them all"), move on to a new one
level.                                  
ps: I'm hereI remembered that the artist (D. Bar-
kov) produced only 10 inter-level pictures
and dumped it on PC :( I had to hurry
in a row to do 22 more (hence, finally,
it became clear to me that the total levels were
children 16+16 :)                             
  Following the lead of users, we had to
Make all graphics in color.              
  Interestingly, the more productive
decided not to scan, then color-
vat, and convert directly into
color (using ZXC 1.1), and then additional
manually (on average, rework costs
takes 1.5-2.5 hours). All the work was successful
complete in five (!) days.              
  Imho, it turns out that on Spec you shouldn’t
but there are issues with high-quality graphics
whoa - in fact any picture can be
very high quality (and fast) kohbeptupo-
put in 4-5 colors.                       
                               
 13 Oct 97                     
                               
  It turned out that the CV was included in the new
Logros/Nemo catalog (and in the company catalog
He's been a Scorpio since April :), and that people
actively sending money.  Even though I didn't give
firm promises, but just in case
I hasten to reassure buyers about the investment
married money - everything will be o.k., and from-
relatively soon ;)                      
  All will be completed by the end of this week
32 levels. Whatwill remain:                
  - for each level you need to set a mass
parameters;                              
  - killed peasants are not yet replaced
new;                                  
  - although all spells are ready, magicians and
computer sorcerers do not know how to
change;                                  
  - still no work with the disk;         
  - no protection (I can’t decide which one
way to stop, I like it more and more
The method used in Turn and ZXFor-
mat);                                    
  - Larkov must give me the Pentagon,
who will never come from Inlight;      
  - like, that’s it!                          
  Finally, I'll test it a little -
Of course, don’t check for glitches
I'm going to - I'm sick of it for a year :) By the way,
passability of some levels under comhe-
niya, but an advanced gamer for sure
will handle it.                               
  For the second part (missions on the side of the kun-
gov), I’ll probably put in a password that
I’ll let you know in a month/one and a half after the start
sales.                                 
                               
 15 Nov 97                     
                               
  Raster and I challenged each other to
social competition on the subject: "Who is the first
Will it come out - ZXF #7 or ChV?" Loser from-
gives the winner one (1) can of reward :) 
  ps: with CV finishing problems - global
lack of memory :((( Day after day goes by
battle for every byte. Not in the sense of ontumu-
tions, but in the sense of cutting down sprites and
throwing away pieces of code.                
  But there is already an option for TR-DOS (in
FDI format) with several levels, Fi-
nal-Cuts and the possibility of shipments. Otr-
The slices turned out to be very large (about 20
KB), therefore will be maintained on a separate
TR-DOS disk. It is possible to work with two
disk drives (thanks to the UKV emulator),
Moreover, you can choose which drive to use
up to what to use. Second disk always
5.25" (to scratch it :), and the first
- 3.5/5.25 according to the buyer’s taste. Like otr-
ruzochny (also any).  I think this is normal
little, because the surveys conducted did not reveal
whether people using only 3.S disk
ladies.                                    
  As was said, according to those. reasons under-
GS holder was not included in the game, in se-
shooting range therefore a couple of new points appeared -
tov - "color/non-color game" and "choice
disk for shipments"                      
  Immediately after loading, the endless
live demo mode for those traders who,
according to the Logros method, holds on the trading
point work computer. I can see it myself
fight for hours like they're fighting in demo :))      
  The format of the second disc (where the levels are) is
thought thistimes in such a way that he
absolutely independent of the 1st. Therefore,
it is likely to appear in the future
disks with additional missions. In addition to the new levels
it provides in advance the possibility of
change the graphic design of landscapes,
buttons, musical accompaniment and inter-
equal graphics.  Maybe for release
new missions will be undertaken by our so-called
real hackers, however, to such a possibility
should be skeptical :))        
  There is still no protection (nowhere to place-
tit), but it will :)                       
                               
 23 Nov 97                     
                               
Ruslan Shcherbatyuk> No one heard - already
a'la War-Craft done?                   
                               
  The release (in St. Petersburg) is scheduled for December 6th.
The backup option is a week later. Now
Author's beta testing is underway.  Bye
stuck on the ninth level (for people) - no
I can free the peasants.                
  It's nice to actually have 100% absence
glitches - so far there have been no freezes. Yes-
there's a terrible glitch with the soldiers walking around
the forest and houses are rendered harmless (it seems :)     
                               
Ruslan Shcherbatyuk> And UFO-3 is notare going
what to do?                                  
                               
  No one has heard of this...             
                               
 26 Nov 97                     
                               
  Protection not yet inserted, but 26 levels
out of 32 tested.                    
  I honestly passed twelve of them, mostly
Talents, it seems, should also be passed.
The hardest level (so far) is "People"
#13".  I wanted to throw it away, but from the 50th to
I passed the torture by accident :-) Brother is a witness.
                               
 05 Dec 97                     
                               
     Black Raven HE comes out tomorrow!     
  Well, firstly, because ZX For-
mate 7. It would be a sin not to read the latest issue.    
  Secondly, the possibility of this cannot be ruled out.
began.                                  
  Thirdly, it just didn’t work out :( He-
steadily reads/writes shipments, protection
buggy.                                  
  This always happens when something from a piece
the carpet is molded into one heap...               
 This means that the output is assigned finally
on December 13th (well, it’s a date, though. Xo-
at least it's not Friday :)                  
  In this regard - about distribution throughout
otherscities:                          
  Distribution will begin a week later,
to have time to test the game in St. Petersburg. How
Logros, Zonov always do this,
Nemo.                                    
You can contact me by phone:          
(812)143-33-03.                          
                               
 12 Dec 97                     
                               
                               
         Black Raven - v1.00.           
  As expected, tomorrow the first 30
sets will go on sale. This is
Yes, beta version. Levels for Kungs - under
password.                                 
  I hope to receive a message within a week.
information about possible glitches, so that if necessary,
desire to finalize the program. Therefore
the final version (1.01) will be released in
week. At a minimum, due to the fact that
failed to complete the description and preparation
insert stickers/inserts/envelopes.         
  P.S.  Maybe I should have postponed leaving
for another week, but - since I promised... :-)  
                               
 13 Dec 97 (04:54)             
                               
Alex Petrovsky>When will DOOM and
Black Raven - who knows, people? I don’t know when Duum will be, but Black
Raven v1.0 has already existed for 10
minutes in the amount of 34 copies!!!      
                               
 17 Dec 97                     
                               
  During the entire period of operation found so far
one assembly glitch - invisible fields after
shipments turn from black to white
(can be treated by entering setup - fixed). Would-
la false alarm from a member of Omega Groups
about the inoperability of the sawmill.       
  In general, real-time strategy for the spec-
pymuctob is, of course, new. The most pro-
the guilty ones only reached the fifth level
(and then, I suspect, by adding money to myself - but
at the fifth level money doesn't help ;)    
  The game did not work on the new megabyte
KAY'e (what can I do, well, I have no luck
KAI and that's it). The glitch will be fixed.     
  At the request of workers, the password from the second
parts of the game will be removed.                  
  At the request of Sergei Zonov there will be an option
with two 3.5" drives - as soon as
scientific research has been carried out on the method
I'll give them scratches :)                      
  Accordingly, the release version is 1.01
will be released this Saturday (December 20th).   
                               
 22 Dec 97 Out. Performance guaranteed.
Perhaps there is only one glitch left - if
instead of shipping the game, give the game "left"
information - may hang. Moral: no
we need to do this. Will it ever get better?
love...                                    
  It is surprising that, although inside the program
is a "little Windo-
Uz'95", works without failures like clockwork :)   
  And at 1.00 literate people (for example, Sasha
from Omega group) reached level 9
(!), where they are currently sitting. And to be honest
(!), without adding money (since if there is up-
add only 100 coins - level passed
works without difficulty)                         
  At the request of workers, protection was introduced
from Shadow Monitor.  Does she protect or
no, I can’t say (I don’t have Scorpio),
but neither the Pentagon nor Scorpio weighs
occur during her work :)                    
  The first 24 sets went to Rostov-on-Don.
on-Don.                                 
                               
 26 Dec 97                     
                               
  First good news:               
  Dmitry from G-Soft completed all 16 levels
for people (!) in v1.01.                    
  In his opinion, the greatest difficulty
was the completion of levels 15 and 16
due to the presence of demons and distant
minesHe liked the final cartoon :)
  It is not surprising that it is G-Soft,
because  they once released WarC-
raft-demo in ZX-Formate, and therefore better
everyone was “moved” into the ChV.                     
                               
 01 Jan 98                     
                               
Vladimir Spashko> The Black Crows have arrived
ok and started their journey among the people :-)
There is no point in writing about impressions - this is
see you!!! The first successes of one of the fa-
hatob - 9 levels for people in two days
with breaks for sleep and food.               
                               
  Cool!                               
  Sorry that you got the versions where
cannot be shipped to drive "B:" :((( If
who in Rostov-on-Don is greatly pleased
melts, then you will rewrite the first disc for them
Lady's or McDonald's (or I'll trade
yay).                                    
  By the way, about the versions:                    
 1.00 - test beta version. Just in case
case I made it impassable (otherwise
again hackers would break all their glitches
they blamed it on me :))). It's amazing that
only six of them were exchanged (although in the
The instruction clearly states the need for
exchange). Tworeached all the way to level 12 - and about-
broke :((                             
 1.01 - release version, fully pro-
walkable (if you know how to play ;)            
  Everything that was reported by the user has been corrected.
vateli.                                  
 1.01A  - a) fixed glitch with ban
shipments to "B:" (just for a long time no one
noticed); b) Talabrook was named by chance
Warlock (fixed).                    
 1.01V  - a) sometimes it was possible to build
fences where this is not allowed (fixed);
b) G-Soft found a glitch that makes it easier to develop
spell bot (fixed).            
  All 1.01x are marked as 1.01 (ver.
these are in the description). First and second discs
from any version 1.01x compatible between
yourself. However, shipments are not compatible (in
due to the fact that the shipment includes physical
ical addresses of some subroutines).
No other versions are expected.            
  Playing for the Kungs: no information received yet
formation o those who passed it further than the second
level.  However, this is old information.
The levels for the Kungs are different, in my opinion
look, more variety - more
places to think.                 
                               
 02 Jan 98                     
                               
  While everyone was celebrating the New Year, G-Softs
Four of us played as Kungs :) We're done for now
up to level 9. They say it's difficult. Especially
Level 7 ("islands") seemed difficult,
although the passage option they chose,
IMHO, not the best. In my opinion, difficult
are also:                          
                               
  9th (“unification of troops”);              
  12th (the most difficult of the underground);      
  16th (possibly impassable).            
  However, an advanced gamer can handle it!   
                               
  It's useful to see what's in the way of any game
quite complex problems arise that lead
sometimes even to a change of plot!               
  And things like making videos
face, converting graphics or creating
audio effects, self-respecting game maker
passes without hesitation, let him
I haven’t done this before :)                
                               
      Warm greetings, Slava
 2:50З0/З62.4@fidonet
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