itch.io

Hi there! Thanks. It´s cool you´ve enjoyed the game for what I tried to do.
Actually...

The reason why the graphics are simple is because, due to the GAC’s memory limitations, after writing all the internal conditions that ensure the game’s mechanics, I’m usually left with only 2 or 3K to draw graphics for all the locations.

Another thing players don’t realize is that GAC consumes memory much faster with text than with graphics.

Which means that even if I gave up the simple graphics, it actually wouldn’t make a difference in the size of the descriptions, and I couldn’t use that memory to expand the text.
Just writing a single paragraph would use up those 3K. So it’s always better to spend those 3K on drawings — no matter how simple they are, they always help the player get oriented — rather than spending 3K on text that would disappear in just one or two sentences.

What players don’t know in my GAC adventures is that 70% of the 21K of memory I have for each game is always used on programming logic conditions that ensure the structure has no gaps.
I have to anticipate things, actions, or words that the player might try to type, even if they never end up using them.

There’s a lot of complex logic behind the apparent simplicity that the player sees on screen. And that’s where almost all of the game’s memory goes. Then about 25% goes into the short descriptions which, even though they’re telegraphic, still use up a lot of memory with each sentence. Sometimes I even have to decide whether or not to add a comma in a description, because even that small detail will cost memory in bytes that I might need later for a detail in an image.

The remaining 5% of memory — after descriptions and programming — if I’m lucky, goes toward graphics. In this case, and in my most recent adventures, they’re purely functional.

In my adventures Shangri La and Eclipsia, the graphics looked better because the narrative structure of those games was simpler to program. There were fewer things in the story structure I had to account for, and fewer things I knew players might try to type that would cause an error. In these newer games, because the worlds are more open, the number of invisible conditions I had to create has quadrupled.

In my most recent adventures, where I try to create a more open map with freedom of movement beyond just the puzzles — like A Terrific Weekend Adventure or Echoes of Atlantis — most of the memory was taken up by internal logic conditions to ensure the player could explore as freely as possible without getting stuck in or by a puzzle.

Above all, what interests me in my games is telling stories.

In fact, the initial texts are much more complex than the telegraphic descriptions used in the adventures, because I usually end up writing a book based on those ideas.

So that’s why my most recent games have basic graphics, but they also don’t need to be purely text-based games.
Text uses a lot of memory in GAC, whether it’s description text or internal condition text.

So for me, the real challenge is creating a narrative within 21K.
Besides, I love GAC because it’s an excellent notepad for planning book structures that can become games — or vice versa: ZX games that can become books.

In short, thanks for enjoying it. More to follow. :)