Plan for NyanNyanKoneko

GID #14: Tirion: Land of the Ghosts is a 2D adventure game made using CGA-ish graphics like the original King's Quest.

Download the game: Win32 Binary (672Kb)
Download the game - Source Code (54Kb)

My idea for Tirion was to do an anti-cutting edge game for the Game in a Day 24 hour programming contest. I've been wanting to do something with a story for a while, and decided a CGA adventure game would be perfect. I played the old Sierra games like Space Quest and Black Cauldron to get the feel for these games.

I started by writing the game's bible (a page of notes about how the game will work and plot details), and then started programming the game.

Of course, CGA being the antithesis of good graphics, I really wanted to make sure my art was made well enough as to let the player know that I chose to do the graphics in CGA as a director's choice, not to hide or use programmer art. As such, I actually spent much of my time working on the graphics and animations. I think I made a few mistakes in my color choices due to this being my first CGA game, but overall, I'd say the art looks pretty good. In all, there are 9 areas, and each one took about 40 minutes to draw. Suffice it to say, my brain went numb after a while. I also tried to make sure the animations were nice and fluid.

All the music and sound effects were created using a trinagle wav and mod files. Even though modern wav and mp3 sound effects / music wouldn't fit the game, I still felt that the sound was important. Fortunately, writing music using a single triangle wav was one of the easiest things to do well for the game.

Unlike the older adventure games, I decided against the type interface due to time restrictions, and quite frankly, because the single button interface is easier for the player than even the more modern point and click adventure games.

Some stuff missing from the game, due to time restraints, is an inventory screen, a dialog asking if you really want to quit when you press esc, and the ability to jump off the edge of Tirion ("Goodbye cruel adventure game!"). If I had much more time, I would have made Culcy (the little purple guy), much more vibrant and move around the screen, and I would have added a look button.

Overall, I'd say I'm pleased. Most players will enjoy exploring Tirion, and it's a very nice, short game. Though, this game isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea, everything turned out just as I imagined it before I started making it (plus or minus a few things), and I did a good job with the art. Tirion is definately a step forward as far as my ability to direct and produce games is concerned.