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Updated ReadMe with a little info on repurposing the Minima Engine.
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Feneric committed Oct 4, 2018
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Expand Up @@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ it is a fully playable (and winnable) game with its own backstory, plot, setting
characters.

You can play it online on the `Minima at Lexaloffle page`_ or play it directly through
any PICO-8 environment by using the `splore` utility.
any PICO-8 environment by using the `splore` utility. You can also grab binaries for
Linux, macOS, and MS-Windows through the release link or via the `Minima Itch.io page`_.

.. image:: MinimaWorld.png
:alt: Minima world view
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -80,7 +81,7 @@ homage to all the old 8-bit Ultima games, but especially numbers II through V.
Status
------

This project is at version 1.1. It should be completely playable from beginning to end.
This project is at version 1.1. It is completely playable from beginning to end.

Many features of the Ultima series as played on the C128 work. You can move around
and explore the world map and enter towns and dungeons. Town views and dungeon views
Expand All @@ -90,17 +91,19 @@ works in both world and dungeon views. Dialog with townies works.
Purchasing in towns works. Spells work. Capturing pirate ships works, and with one
it's possible to explore the waters of the world map. Leveling up works. Sound effects
are in place. The in-game help screen works. Saving and loading games works, although
it has some unavoidable limitations. Background music works. Increasing attributes
works. Fountains work. It's winnable.
it has some unavoidable limitations (most notably only the ship that your character
is on will be saved). Background music works. Increasing attributes works. Fountains
work. It's winnable.

Compared to the earlier version 1.0, version 1.1 features improved creature movement,
guild shops with working keys and torches, more townies with more clues, openable
treasure chests, more challenging dungeons, a tower puzzle, enterable shrines, and
many minor bugfixes.

Due largely to the existence of chests and additional dungeon levels, this version
requires less grinding; due largely to the existence of more characters, this version
has a bit more story. It is much closer to what I had set out originally to build.
requires less grinding than version 1.0; due largely to the existence of more
characters, this version has a bit more story. It is much closer to what I had set
out originally to build.

Supported Platforms
-------------------
Expand All @@ -125,7 +128,7 @@ Challenges

The constraints of building something within the PICO-8 environment make a project like
this fairly tough. This game pretty much maxes out PICO-8 capacity; there's not a
lot of space left and I'll likely have to trim out some already-started features to
lot of space left and I'd likely have to trim out some already-present features to
shoehorn in anything else. All the PICO-8 graphic space (both for sprites and maps) are
fully used. All but a couple of the sound effects slots are used. The final version here
is a careful balance between maxing out the token count and the compressed size. The raw
Expand All @@ -148,6 +151,16 @@ is available within the PICO-8 environment. It's in the `alt_music.p8` file. To
just copy over the existing `__sfx__` and `__music__` sections in `minima.p8` with the
corresponding versions found in `alt_music.p8`.

Design Notes
------------

Minima is mostly data-driven. It uses a JSON data structure to define the people,
creatures, and objects, and another JSON data structure to define all the maps and
dungeons. Command sequencing uses coroutines in order to avoid overly-complicated
state machines. The "Minima Engine" could be reused for another game without having
to modify too much code; if the target game is in a similar world to Miskatonia, not
much more than the victory conditions would need to be changed on the code side.

Other Notes
-----------

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -180,6 +193,7 @@ a dungeon map and turn it into something the game can use.


.. _Minima at Lexaloffle page: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=31831
.. _Minima Itch.io page: https://feneric.itch.io/minima
.. _Ultima games: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_(series)
.. _Ultima I: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_I:_The_First_Age_of_Darkness
.. _Ultima II: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_II:_The_Revenge_of_the_Enchantress
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