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Updated ReadMe with a little info on repurposing the Minima Engine.
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README.rst

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@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ it is a fully playable (and winnable) game with its own backstory, plot, setting
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characters.
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You can play it online on the `Minima at Lexaloffle page`_ or play it directly through
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any PICO-8 environment by using the `splore` utility.
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any PICO-8 environment by using the `splore` utility. You can also grab binaries for
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Linux, macOS, and MS-Windows through the release link or via the `Minima Itch.io page`_.
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.. image:: MinimaWorld.png
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:alt: Minima world view
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Status
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------
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This project is at version 1.1. It should be completely playable from beginning to end.
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This project is at version 1.1. It is completely playable from beginning to end.
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Many features of the Ultima series as played on the C128 work. You can move around
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and explore the world map and enter towns and dungeons. Town views and dungeon views
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Purchasing in towns works. Spells work. Capturing pirate ships works, and with one
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it's possible to explore the waters of the world map. Leveling up works. Sound effects
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are in place. The in-game help screen works. Saving and loading games works, although
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it has some unavoidable limitations. Background music works. Increasing attributes
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works. Fountains work. It's winnable.
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it has some unavoidable limitations (most notably only the ship that your character
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is on will be saved). Background music works. Increasing attributes works. Fountains
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work. It's winnable.
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Compared to the earlier version 1.0, version 1.1 features improved creature movement,
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guild shops with working keys and torches, more townies with more clues, openable
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treasure chests, more challenging dungeons, a tower puzzle, enterable shrines, and
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many minor bugfixes.
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Due largely to the existence of chests and additional dungeon levels, this version
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requires less grinding; due largely to the existence of more characters, this version
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has a bit more story. It is much closer to what I had set out originally to build.
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requires less grinding than version 1.0; due largely to the existence of more
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characters, this version has a bit more story. It is much closer to what I had set
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out originally to build.
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Supported Platforms
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-------------------
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The constraints of building something within the PICO-8 environment make a project like
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this fairly tough. This game pretty much maxes out PICO-8 capacity; there's not a
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lot of space left and I'll likely have to trim out some already-started features to
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lot of space left and I'd likely have to trim out some already-present features to
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shoehorn in anything else. All the PICO-8 graphic space (both for sprites and maps) are
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fully used. All but a couple of the sound effects slots are used. The final version here
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is a careful balance between maxing out the token count and the compressed size. The raw
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just copy over the existing `__sfx__` and `__music__` sections in `minima.p8` with the
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corresponding versions found in `alt_music.p8`.
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Design Notes
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------------
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Minima is mostly data-driven. It uses a JSON data structure to define the people,
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creatures, and objects, and another JSON data structure to define all the maps and
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dungeons. Command sequencing uses coroutines in order to avoid overly-complicated
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state machines. The "Minima Engine" could be reused for another game without having
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to modify too much code; if the target game is in a similar world to Miskatonia, not
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much more than the victory conditions would need to be changed on the code side.
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Other Notes
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-----------
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.. _Minima at Lexaloffle page: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=31831
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.. _Minima Itch.io page: https://feneric.itch.io/minima
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.. _Ultima games: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_(series)
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.. _Ultima I: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_I:_The_First_Age_of_Darkness
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.. _Ultima II: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_II:_The_Revenge_of_the_Enchantress

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