-=- Overkoban -=-
2013 (c) Futility games
Aim of the game
===============
Welcome Mr. Billy,
For your first day in the GPA Corporation as a temporary worker, you have to
put boxes in their right places in the numerous warehouses of our company.
Unfortunately, you are not very strong, so you can only push boxes. Use your
brain to compensate the weakness of your muscles and become the employee of the
day of the GPA corporation !
Overkoban is another carbon copy of a well-known mind game, Sokoban. But this
release uses one remarquable feature of the Amstrad CPC, overscan !
This game has been done for the CPC Wiki 16kb challenge, but was not destinated
at the beginning to be an Amstrad program ! See game's history section for more
informations.
Configuration needed
====================
A 64kb Amstrad CPC with disc drive.
Keys & options
==============
In the menu :
<up> and <down> cursor keys or joystick : select option
<left> and <right> cursor keys or joystick : select level (1 to 50)
<space> or <fire> : validate option
Start game :
well...
Display Hall of fame :
Lists the levels you have solved and how many moves you have done. Some
guys play the game again and again to find the perfect path !
Redefine keys :
Note that some keys can't be choosen :
<Esc>, <Space>, <X>, <Z>, Joystick, cursor keys
Load/save Hall of fame :
You need a disk drive to use this feature. Maybe it's ok with a datacorder
if you only have a naked CPC 464 but I have not tested it...
In the main game :
<cursor keys> or joystick or redefined keys : move Billy
<space> or <X> or <Fire> or redefined key : cancel last move
<Esc> or <Z> or <Fire2> : display ingame menu
In the ingame menu (if you have not changed keys) :
<cursor keys> or joystick or redefined keys : select option
<space> or <X> or <fire> : validate option
Restart level :
Well...
come back to level :
(snoring...)
Save snapshot :
Make a copy in memory of the current positions of the player and boxes.
Restore snapshot :
restore saved position ! Restore is only available if you have previously
saved a snapshot.
Menu :
Stop level and go back to main menu.
Update log
==========
1.0 June 2013
1.01 July 2013
- fixed one box was not at the right place in level 50.
- all colours are set to the same value before displaying main menu or game screen.
1.02 July 2013
- A missing block in damned level 50... Thanks again to Kukulcan for the report.
1.03 August 2013
- Colors were all blue in the redefine keys menu. Thanks to Eldrik for the report !
Game's history
==============
When I started to code a Sokoban clone a few months ago, it was designed to
run on a Philips VG 5000, a cute little french computer. This machine born
in 1984 was designed to introduce computing in the french families, so its
technical features are a little bit weak : unusual video chipset that can only
display chars (Thomson EF9345), low RAM (16kb), but a 4Mhz Z80 in its entrails !
As there is no development tool on the VG 5000, I have coded the Sokoban engine
with WINAPE. The game used the levels and graphics of another 'Sokoban like'
program, Billy Box (created on Thomson MO5 by Baptiste Bideaux).
After having done a functionnal prototype on the Amstrad, I met Supersly and
talked about our current projects.
We decided to recycle this code to create a new release of the game that would
use a little bit better the Amstrad CPC hardware (MODE 0 graphics, big video area,
music). Then, I looked at the Sokoban levels and discovered that they could be
displayed without problem by the engine. Overkoban was born :-) (and Billy Box
for the Philips VG 5000 was delayed to 201x :-( )
Now, we are in June 2013, and this damn program is finished... Even if the code
is not good, I think it does the job. I hope you will enjoy it !
T&J signing off
Credits
=======
Graphics : Supersly / Les sucres en morceaux
Music : Tom et Jerry / GPA
Code : Tom et Jerry / GPA
Additional graphics (Einstein sprite): Eldrik / GPA
Thanks to Supersly & Kukulcan for beta testing and ideas.
Thanks to Baptiste Bideaux for Billy Box.
Game concept and levels design by Hiroyuki Imabayashi / Thinking Rabbit Inc.
Tools used
==========
Starkos
Starkos interrupt player
Winape editor
OCP Art Studio
Game Packed with BitBuster 1.2
Musical support
===============
Genesis complete discography
Datarock
Kimi ni Todoke Original Soundtrack (so relaxing :-) )
Daft Punk "Random Access Memory" album in the very last days of the debugging