System: PC-compatible ?? or higher
Memory: ??K RAM required
Graphics: EGA required
Controls: Keyboard, Joystick optional
Sound: AdLib?
Current status: The engine is currently being coded in C and x86 assembly. Stay tuned.
We'll need music eventually, so if you want to help out, let us know.
I started working on
Endless Cavern in 2007. The initial idea was to create a game similar to
Crystal Caves, but with more caves. With the help of the Pixelation crew, it evolved quickly. However, I lacked ideas for story and gameplay, so it died a few months later.
After I started working on Codex, I wanted a simpler side-project for variation. It had to be something I could sit down and pixel for, while having to do less planning. I had just discovered the benefits of design documents, and I'd made one for most of my existing projects, so it was just a matter of picking the most suitable.
Now that I've been working on this for a while, I thought it was time to make a devlog for it.
GraphicsOne of the EGA graphics modes used the 16-color CGA palette and had a resolution of 320 x 200 pixels. I chose these restrictions for nostalgic reasons, since some of my favorite games as a kid were EGA games, but also because I wanted to see what I could do using the same restrictions.
StoryThe caves were once inhabited by a neolithic people. Their shamans found a way to trap ghostlike creatures inside crystals and use them as weapons. Shrines were built to contain the weapons and ensure that they would not fall into the wrong hands. Shrine keys were crafted and guarded by the shamans.
In order to free their trapped kin, the remaining creatures started slaughtering the humans. Initially, the humans fought back to preserve their only weapons against the creatures. When the humans realized fighting was futile, it was too late. The shamans had died and the shrine keys had been scattered. The humans could no longer surrender the remaining weapons to pacify the creatures.
Thousands of years later, you get trapped within the same network of caves. Soon you'll find that the creatures are still there, and they remember. Now you must find every last one of the crystals before the creatures find you.
ItemsThere are four types of weapon crystals. Three of them use other crystals for ammunition. The third type of crystal is both weapon and ammunition in one.
The knife and the heart will keep you alive, and the little screaming figures are the four shrine keys. Lastly, tiny gems for points and journal pages you'll find scattered throughout the level.
To doLots and lots. I think the only thing that remains unchanged from my old mockups is the background, so I'll redraw that eventually. I need to polish the tiles a bit more and add more tile variations. I also want to add some additional background layers.