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DS Misc > Playtesters Wanted for Angband NDS Port

#104443 - onigiri - Fri Sep 29, 2006 6:07 am

Hi All,

I'm in the process of porting Angband 2.8.3 to the DS. I picked 2.8.3 because it was the version I played the most when I was in school! The port is in a state where I think the game is playable (I've played a few hours and died plenty of times).

As such, I'm looking for some play testers before I release it. It is pretty much a straight port and only uses the top screen. I wanted to retain the same tactile feel as the original, so touch screen entry, virtual keyboard on the touch screen are all out. All the commands have been remapped to button presses. Some commands have become multipurpose to accomodate the lower number of buttons. For example the inventory command is used to eat, use an oil flash, wear equipment etc.

I mostly made this port so that I can play Angband on my DS lite. I have a G6 lite, so Angband plays entirely out of GBFS and SRAM. I didn't want to play angband with something sticking out of the slot. It shouldn't be difficult to add fatlib so that the port supports carts without SRAM (if there is demand). The other good reason I went this direction is that the port generally works in an emulator, which is much easier for me. The port seems to work well in no$gba and dualis. The sram support doesn't work in these emulators, but it's possible to use the snapshot features.


Requirements
o A DS capable of playing homebrew.
o A flash cart with 64KBs of SRAM. I'm not sure how large the save files get. If they start getting too large, I should be able to zlib compress them to fit.


Features
o High score list saves to SRAM
o Save file saves to SRAM
o subpixel rendering font by Sylfurd
o All commands remapped to DS button combinations. Buttons generally have similar functions. ie x button for inventory, x+RSH for drop item, x+LSH for take off item, LSH+RSH+x for destroy item.
o Implemented console style text and numeric entry.
o Implemented console style selection for menus.


Possible Enhancements
If I have time, I might add some additional features to the port.

o I was thinking about using the bottom screen as an informational screen. It can be toggled to show a zoomed map around the player (normal large sized font with colour) and a screen that describes the available key combinations.
o Remappable buttons in game.
o Port the newest version of Angband.

If you're interested in play testing, send me a message. Only prior players for now please. I basically need people who have different types of cartridges and who will play different types of characters to test their playstyles. I'll have a build ready in a few days for those interested.

Screenshots:
In dungeon:
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

Character screen:
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

Help screen:
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

Inventory:
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

Destroy an object:
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

Take of equipment:
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

High score (Some bogus dates. This was before I fixed the time function to read from the RTC):
[Images not permitted - Click here to view it]

Jeremy.

#104489 - OOPMan - Fri Sep 29, 2006 6:00 pm

Nicely done :-)
_________________
"My boot, your face..." - Attributed to OOPMan, Emperor of Eroticon VI

You can find my NDS homebrew projects here...

#104657 - molochai - Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:01 am

i m interested to test the game
i have ds lite
supercard 2
1 card cf 512mb
1 card cf 1gb
1 card cf 2gb
_________________
FRENCH TOUCH

#104658 - sasuke_kun12 - Sun Oct 01, 2006 8:19 am

sign me up, only if you test out my rise of the triads port ;-)

NDS Phat
Max Media Launcher
GBAMP
512 CF
_________________
Current Projects: Rise Of The TriaDS
Percentage Complete: 15% - woot! commenting out the loader GUI
http://sasukekunds.blogspot.com
RELEASE DATE! 15th October it would really help if someone wants to help! if so PM me!

#104665 - xtoc - Sun Oct 01, 2006 9:22 am

Nice, did you also have thinking about changing the gfx interface :

http://www.simugraph.com/simutrans/iso_angband/

#104668 - freemaan - Sun Oct 01, 2006 10:21 am

Count me in :)

NDS & NDSLite
GBAMP
Supercard SD
MagicKey 2
Ezflash IV Lite Deluxe
Flash2Advance Pro 256
+a WMB compatible wifi card

#104738 - onigiri - Mon Oct 02, 2006 6:15 am

xtoc wrote:
Nice, did you also have thinking about changing the gfx interface :


I haven't seen the isometric graphical view before. It does look quite nice. For me though, I'm most comfortable with using text characters. However, since all of the characters are tiles, it is possible to put a graphical tileset together.

Perhaps if there is some enthusiastic person out there willing to put together a 3x8 tileset...? ;-)

#104841 - bullet890 - Tue Oct 03, 2006 3:47 am

I am also willing to offer my assistance:

DS Lite (Flashed)
DS Phat (Flashed)
Max Media Launcher (nopass device)

M3 Slim SD with 2GB card
Max Media Dock with 4GB MicroDrive
Ninjapass with 64MByte on-board memory

Just drop me a PM!

#104854 - Firon - Tue Oct 03, 2006 9:53 am

onigiri wrote:

o A flash cart with 64KBs of SRAM. I'm not sure how large the save files get. If they start getting too large, I should be able to zlib compress them to fit.

Just keep it under about 256KB and it shouldn't be an issue.

#104864 - josath - Tue Oct 03, 2006 3:45 pm

Firon wrote:
onigiri wrote:

o A flash cart with 64KBs of SRAM. I'm not sure how large the save files get. If they start getting too large, I should be able to zlib compress them to fit.

Just keep it under about 256KB and it shouldn't be an issue.


SRAM is 64KBytes, not 256. Or are you saying 256KB should be easy to compress into 64?

#104867 - tepples - Tue Oct 03, 2006 6:16 pm

I believe it's the latter. A lot of PC games use bloated encodings for their save states, such as text or (ouch) XML, because their developers chose a point on the efficiency/maintainability axis closer to maintainability. These encodings should be very compressible.
_________________
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-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

#104921 - Firon - Wed Oct 04, 2006 8:18 am

josath wrote:

SRAM is 64KBytes, not 256. Or are you saying 256KB should be easy to compress into 64?


The M3 has 8mbit of SRAM, but the NDS saves are all 256KiB. The Supercard should have at least 256KiB as well.

#104923 - sasq - Wed Oct 04, 2006 8:59 am

Unless you put cart-specific bank-switching code into your executable, 64KByte is the limit you need to stick to.

#104924 - onigiri - Wed Oct 04, 2006 9:02 am

Due to the reasons sasq mentioned, I am attempting to stay within the 64KB limit for simplicity. It should be possible especially if I compress the save file.

edit: I got the wrong person's name!

Last edited by onigiri on Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:21 am; edited 1 time in total

#104928 - sedm0784 - Wed Oct 04, 2006 10:54 am

I would love to offer myself as a playtester with several years of intermittent Angband experience under my belt.

However, I currently only own a GBAMP (and a Pass We 3 device), which doesn't fit your SRAM requirement.

You mentioned that, if there were demand, it might be possible to add support for non-SRAM-equipped DSs. If you could find time to do this, I would be amazingly grateful, and would also happily offer my services as a playtester.

#106005 - breizhatavpilamiks - Sat Oct 14, 2006 1:31 am

If you still need testers, I'm a seasoned roguelike (NetHack, ADOM, Crawl, Angband) veteran.

DS Phat (flashed)
Supercard CF and SD

#107793 - diggla - Thu Nov 02, 2006 12:54 am

I'd like to playtest your port :) Currently i'm playing Crawl for NDS from Sasq :) I got a Supercard lite and an 1GB MicroSD card.

#107808 - onigiri - Thu Nov 02, 2006 6:13 am

Diggla: I have sent you a private message.

For those who are wondering what the status is of the port, I'll quickly explain. Angband NDS is currently in the third round of closed play testing. I had intended to have a 4th round of closed testing before a public release.
However, I've been increasingly busy so I might do a public release within the next week or two.

Basically, the port seems to be very playable with no major gameplay issues (my highest level character was a level 19 human paladin). On a cart with SRAM, saving, loading, high scores all seem to work. The bottom screen will remain unused for the initial public release. I am working on ideas for uses of the bottom screen for later releases. For now, I am concentrating on completing GBA MP support (only saving and loading currently works) and removing the final few gameplay glitches.

#116977 - theli - Wed Jan 31, 2007 2:26 pm

so what's happened to this?

#117403 - bobslack - Sun Feb 04, 2007 5:28 pm

i'd love to playtest this, althought it looks like i may be a little late...

email me if i'm wrong! :)
_________________
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Founder and WebMaster of The MoonBooks Project
Free classic literature and films on the Nintendo DS
http://moonbooks.net

#117519 - onigiri - Mon Feb 05, 2007 9:58 am

Hi All,

Sorry about the lack of updates. Unfortunately, the project is on hold a little bit. I'm moving countries and still in the middle of the move.

I was going to release a public beta just before Christmas but found some compatibility problems with the Supercard.

When I get settled, the first thing I'll work on is getting DLDI support. At the moment, the G6 Lite and GBA MP are supported and working well (Supercard with firmware < 1.70 and QPC is ok too).

If you have one of these cards, I'd be happy to send you a test copy.

Regards,

Jeremy.

#117563 - some_guy - Mon Feb 05, 2007 8:10 pm

Any idea if this works on R4?

#118472 - Cheezeball99 - Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:43 pm

Oh, man, could I possibly test this? I have an EZFlash4/EZPass3. I have been playing Angband for a couple years now, and I'm psyched about the thought of playing it on my DS, and I would happily play it and document any problems and glitches.

#124475 - Kamu - Fri Apr 06, 2007 5:47 am

Any news on this? Or has the author long since gone?

#124939 - Mycroft - Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:18 am

I dunno, Kamu. It's been a couple of months, but I'm still hoping that onigiri is getting settled in from his move across countries, finishing up the DLDI support, and preparing the public beta.

#125837 - Crypt - Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:08 pm

Hi,

I'm a rogue like developper
http://cryptmaster.free.fr/

i've played several roguelikes (including Angband) and i would really like to beta test your project, if you please.

#132879 - rustybuster - Sat Jun 30, 2007 10:44 pm

i have an r4, and if you could send this to me i would gladly test it!

#137736 - bullet890 - Wed Aug 15, 2007 6:31 am

I am a beta tester, and still have the beta, but I will not release it unless the author allows me to, sorry!

And it should work on the R4, nothing pointing to why it wouldn't.

#137806 - Opus - Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:03 pm

Hey bullet.

Could you please try to contact the author to see what the status on this is?

Thanks. :o)

#140222 - bullet890 - Fri Sep 14, 2007 12:22 pm

Its has been a month since I emailed the author, no response..... =(

#140224 - laos - Fri Sep 14, 2007 12:25 pm

Was this really required to be necro bumped? Its been over 6 months since he last made any announcement...
_________________
laos,
In charge of Storyline: Tales of Dagur 2

#140251 - Opus - Fri Sep 14, 2007 8:45 pm

If something happened to the author in real life, don't you think he would want to have his worked shared with others so they could at least enjoy the time he vested in this project?

I guess what I'm trying to say is if there is any chance that someone here could break protocol and release the latest version that they received as beta testers.

I don't think there would be any dishonor in doing so, but I've never been a tester before so I'm not quite sure what the implied rules are about releasing something without permission.

All I can say is that I've been really looking forward to this for quite some time now.

I just hope nothing serious has happened to Onigiri.


P.S. Bullet, I sent you a private message about a month or so ago. Could you write me back a response? Thanks.

#143280 - Because - Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:43 am

I gotta say...I'm DYING for this.
Bless Jeff Lait for his POWDER port but
man Angband would be the absolute best.
If anybody picked up the torch, I'd gladly
donate a modest amount via paypal for the
effort.

#143335 - Opus - Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:49 pm

I'll Paypal as well.

I even emailed the author of Nethack several times in an attempt to send him a $30.00 gift certificate towards Best Buy but I have yet to hear back from him.

For fans of this genre, it's a real torture that these two projects have yet to be perfectly ported.

Oh well, at least I'm not bitter. :o)

#143340 - Because - Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:18 pm

Hrmm...30$ at BestBuy would certainly be enough for a
microSD card. Suppose an R4 or similar homebrew device
were to be donated... An active coder or somebody with
experience porting Angband who happens to own an NDS
could find themselves coding homebrew for free!

If anybody has serious interest, feel free to email me or
even better, post!

#146964 - bullet890 - Wed Dec 12, 2007 5:29 am

Alright, sorry to bump this topic, but I have not had contact with the original author for over a year (and his website isn't operational anymore either, just a directory view)

When I started beta testing, I received Pre-Release Version 2. A Version 3 was released, but it is no longer stored on the server it was located on (tried archive.org, didnt have it, and I had it saved on my currently "dead" computer). So I only have PR Version 2.

Onigiri, if you are reading this, I am sorry, but it has been over a year since you have contacted anyone, so I am jut releasing what you gave me.

Enjoy (Do not credit me, all I did was test it, credit Onigiri, wherever he/she might be right now)

http://www.mediafire.com/?53jxf09ftbg

Last edited by bullet890 on Thu Dec 13, 2007 5:35 am; edited 1 time in total

#147005 - Opus - Thu Dec 13, 2007 2:00 am

Good for you Bullet!

Thanks for sharing this with others like myself and doing so with honor and respect to the original author, whomever he/she/it may be.

But if I were you though, I would personally roll up my sleeves and fix that dead computer and try to revive that third version test release. :o)

Anyway, I'm very grateful to you since nobody else was willing to stick themselves out there like you're doing now.

If you're ever in East Lansing Michigan, stop by and I'll get you drunk. :o)

#147100 - bullet890 - Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:36 pm

Opus wrote:
Good for you Bullet!

Thanks for sharing this with others like myself and doing so with honor and respect to the original author, whomever he/she/it may be.

But if I were you though, I would personally roll up my sleeves and fix that dead computer and try to revive that third version test release. :o)

Anyway, I'm very grateful to you since nobody else was willing to stick themselves out there like you're doing now.

If you're ever in East Lansing Michigan, stop by and I'll get you drunk. :o)


Haha I will keep that in mind!

#153660 - onigiri - Thu Apr 03, 2008 3:53 pm

Hi All,

First of all, I'd like to say I'm terribly sorry for those who had been following this port. As you might have realised, I have been in a position where I couldn't continue development of the port.

As means of consolation and a way of saying sorry, please find a link to the last build of the NS port of Angband (preview release 4). All of the requirements as per the original post are still applicable (old Slot 2 cart with SRAM). Please read the readme on how the keys are assigned. It does play and I was able to get reasonably far with a human paladin.

In addition, here is a link to the Eclipse workspace with all of the code for the DS port of Angband. Must has changed in the landscape of DS development and the code will not compile with the current version of the dev kit. Unfortunately, I do not even remember the version of dev kit pro it compiles against. Perhaps, devkitARM release 19a might be a good start since the newest version available at the time.

The DS port started life as a hacked together version of the code and it shows. It's likely much of the code may be un-usable for someone intending to make a more 'generic' port. Perhaps the port would need to be re-written from scratch but I hope the code at least serves as some assistance to which direction to go.

If someone would like to start up the project again, I'd be happy to try and help the person to get up to speed as much as I can.