Joe Starman On Planet X (playable demo)

EDIT: Playable demo is released, get it here

I've joined a game jam called Old Software Jam, so I'm going to be using qbasic to make a dos game. It's going to be pretty cool, with some chunky dos graphics.

Not 100% decided, but I'm probably going to make a turn based rpg/shooter called Joe Starman Vs The Aliens. In the story, renowned space explorer Joe Starman crash lands on an unexplored alien planet and has to battle / befriend a bunch of aliens.

Right now I just have this tile renderer I found online.



I'll keep this thread posted as I do and add more stuff. I'm looking for a writer, if anyone wants to help write a pulp sci-fi inspired story.

I'm changing the title to Joe Starman On Planet X. I'll probably replace X with something else, if I can think of a cool planet name.

Changed the ugly default DOS palette to the cool Dawnbreaker 16 palette, and made the environment look a little bit more alien.



Here's a closeup of our protagonist:



Next I'm going to work on some of the graphics infrastructure, so it's easier to add more images and maps to the game. After that a level loader, probably.

Also, source code is on github, if you really feel the desire to read chunky and outdated BASIC code.

What is the defining characteristic of the planet? Cause depending on what it is, I could suggest the name of some obscure Greek Titan god, there is a surprising amount that gets overlooked and who have pretty striking names and it's a shame to not tap into that.

I'm thinking of setting it on a tidally locked planet, with two factions at the brink of war. Then I can make some neat graphics for dusk-side and dawn-side.

Oh no, my graphics



Oh no, my graphics again

Old school graphical glitches are the absolute best, and they're really hard to imitate decently.

Added some graphics code, and I can export pngs into a format the game can render.



Also started adding some alien friends. Dusk people (lizards?), dawn people (cats?), and robots. Joe became more groovy.

Apparently another name for Oceanus was Ogen but this would still be too obvious, so I also suggest Tethys the name of his wife. I like lizards, so space lizards are pretty cool.

Are there any titans related to jungles or forests?

What about Planet Hyperion? It has to do with the sun, and sounds futuristic enough. It might be a little overused, though.

Honestly I think just Planet X sounds the coolest (and most retro sci-fi).

Yeah I agree Planet X has a cool ring to it on its own???

I was actually going to suggest planet Vulcan first. But Star Trek ruined that idea completely.

Here's a test map for the game



I'm using Tiled level editor, and I'm working on an exporter to a format the game can handle, that should be done soon.

Wow! What a nice map!

Reminds me a lot of Colonization/Civilization I

Added a script interpreter to the game. Right now it just prints messages if you walk on certain tiles.



Next I'm adding a level transition command to load into other levels.

Also, let's just say I don't miss BASIC and its weird dumb syntax...

Show Content

Spoiler

Code:

' Run a script defined in the map
DEF FNParseScript (n)
  ' Wouldn't be basic without these dollar signs...
  script$ = scripttext(n)
  line$ = ""
  ' Split the script and run line by line
  WHILE LEN(script$) > 0
    linebreak = INSTR(script$, CHR$(10))
    IF linebreak > 0 THEN
      line$ = MID$(script$, 1, linebreak - 1)
      script$ = MID$(script$, linebreak + 1)
    ELSE
      line$ = script$
      script$ = ""
    END IF
    dummy = FNParseLine(line$)
  WEND
END DEF

I've released a playable demo. There's not a lot to do, but you can explore a desert with cat people in it.

I was having troubles with my basic compiler, and the dos version is a bit esoteric, so I made Windows and Linux builds using QB64, a modern compiler for qbasic.



Game is here.

I'll try and check it out. Is Winrar still good to use to open up zip files?

For what computer? Modern Windows and Linux usually have zip support built in.

Winrar should work, but I recommend 7zip, it's cooler and does more formats.

Thank you for the advice. I just downloaded it now from the time of my typing and posting. I already have run into something mildly alarming.
Unhandled Error #9
Line: 230 (in main module)
Subscript out of range
Continue?

What am I doing wrong? I would like to know.

How are you running the game? Which edition of the game are you running?

Do you have TILES.DAT and DESERT.MAP in the same folder as the game?

I am running the game on Windows 7. I open up 7zip and go into downloads into STARMAN. There is a STARMAN exe sandwiched in between DESERT.MAP and TILES.DAT, so this answers another of your questions (yes they are in the same folder). The edition of the game that I was running was: STARMAN_Windows.zip

Did you extract the files from the zip before running them?

Apart from that, I'm not sure what might be wrong. It works on Windows 10, let me try testing it on my Windows 7 vm.