As you probably DON’T know, I’m currently building a graphic-text-adventure engine for C64 – that’s called StoryTllrC64. The project (I mean, source code and staff) is under MIT license, and is currently on GitHub. I’ve already built and distributed two little games using it (Cloak of Darkness and Accuse) based on known, open-license games.

So, even if it’s still under development, it’s time to share some basic info about how to use it, in case someone may be interested in using it, once it’s completed (enough) to be used for a real game.

We are starting from a really minimal sample project.

Let’s start creating a folder for this sample.

We need to add some subfolders:

• bin, where the C64 game will be found after compiling
• png / img folders (for images, png and native)
• tmp, needed for temporary files during builds

And a couple of files:

• our main script file (let’s call it sample)
• a batch file, to speed up buildings

As you can see, the main script file has an odd extension (hjt) – that’s a TreepadLite file (and TreepadLite is a not-currently-supported-anymore program to create tree-like files). I’ll show you things using THIS program – but everything will be supported also using yaml files (text files with a specific indentation, to give you more or less the same tree-like features you can get with TreepadLite (anyway, this program, that was the free version of a commercial one, is still available around, so if you want you can still give it a try)

Anyway, what do we need a script file for? Well, to define the elements of our game and their interaction.

StoryTllrC64 uses at the moment only FOUR kinds of elements:

• verbs (they handle the game logic – you need verbs to make actions in your game)
• objects (based on characteristics they can be quite different, even actors are considered objects)
• rooms (places). A room is also the $inventory but also $nowhere or $everywhere
• variables (something that can be used to keep status, if it’s not related to objects)

To create a minimal game you must create at least ONE room – the one called $start – that usually is the “home page” of your game. The point from which you make the player go to your first real location, to enter the action.

But let’s start. After creating an empty sample.hjt if you double-click it you’ll see something like that.

Write “main” and add two sections – config (where your game info must be put) and room (the folder for your locations).

You don’t really have to create a configuration too – because defaults will be used otherwise – but it’s the place where you can define your adventure name, put your author name and specify other things (some important, some not). We won’t talk about that now.

We’ll simply add a name, and the $start place

Then we’ll add three other things:

• image, a reference to a 320×96 png that will be added to the game and shown in that location. We’ll used a shared one for this sample, but you can try with your own.
• onfirst, an event handler that will be called the FIRST time you enter that place during the game (there’s also an onenter handler, that’s called every time, but the first if you added also the onfirst)
• the FIRST “code” of your game – a sequence of messages that will be shown in the game

Once you’ve saved, you can run it and show the game inside your favorite emulator.

How can you run it? Using the batch file that will do a sequence of operations:

del *.h
del advcartridge
del make.bat
....\script_compiler\bin\script_compiler.exe sample.hjt
call make
bin\sampleadventure.d64

That’s to say:

• cleaning any previous generated file (*.h or advcartridge depending on the kind of build) including the batch file with the C64 disk creation using c1541 program, which will be created by the script_compiler, after it finished to compile your script, generating a binary file (or .h headers)
• running the script_compiler
• running the new generated make file to create the C64 disk
• running the C64 disk with your game

That’s what you will get:

In case you’re curious, in your folder now you’ll see some generated files:

You’ll see more in tmp and img folders (but you don’t need to care for them). In your bin folder there’s the only file relevant for you, that’s the one with your C64 game (the one launched by the batch file)

A note: the direct creation of a d64 file (based on the already-built engine provided on GitHub with also the script_compiler) is ONE of the choices you have – because (if your game has not too many images) you can also create a version of your game able to run on a tape (single file). But to do that you’ll need to rebuild the engine with CC65 (a C compiler for 8bit) including new header files generated by the compiler. This is surely more tricky – even if it’s the best way to redist your game (if it’s small enough).