Crystal hack: Pok?mon: Stygian Version (vDEMO_0.015 RELEASED!)

Linnie said:

Interesting concept, I think it has promise and I like the gimmick of free capture.

One thing I feel the need to comment on in this tiny demo is, the "ye olde English" is far too exaggerated. I have nothing against it in theory but it seems you aren't trying to stick to the proper usage of the words. I'm not an expert myself on it, of course, but one thing I do know is you're trying to use thee/ye/thou interchangeably. "Ye" is the plural of "thee/thou" so you shouldn't be using it at all in this case, and the other two are sometimes used correctly and sometimes not.

I apologize if I seem to be a grammar Nazi here, but I feel if you're going to attempt to write like such, you should be aware of how the words you're using were meant to be used.

I like the item system as well, regarding different items having different overworld appearances and knowing what you're taking before you do so.

Lastly, the knight's sprite is good (if I could give a bit of constructive criticism I'd change the shading, maybe remove it on the body plates entirely and instead add some kind of defined decoration, right now it looks like the knight has a belly button on their armor), but I'm not a fan of the goblin sprite, specifically the lack of outline on his shirt. If you added the outline I think it would improve the quality of the sprite.


I don't mean to nitpick, of course, I just thought I'd go a bit in detail since the demo is as short as it is. Best of luck with your hack!

Click to expand...

Mateo said:

As someone with a degree in English, I have to stop you here and point out that "ye" is not only the plural of thee/thou. In fact, "Ye" as you are thinking of it is not even a word at all, but just the modern way of spelling more than one old english word, which could have been a pronoun for "you", or could have been "the" as well, depending on which word you're misspelling (the plural was originally written as "ge" when it was actually in use).

The usage of the word "ye" goes back to the medieval printing press. As the printing press was originally created for German text, it did not contain the letter Thorn (þ) which was used in Old English, so printers substituted in the letter Y instead. It looked similar enough that people at the time knew what it meant, the same way people today know that b4 is meant to be pronounced "before" even if it isn't correct. As such, "ye" was meant to be pronounced "the" and was used the same way, it was just meant to be written with a letter we no longer commonly use in modern English.

EDIT: To be real, if it was in correct Old English, nobody here would even be able to read it anymore, because it would go much deeper than swapping a few pronouns. Even if it was more modern, say the English that the Canterbury Tales were written in, most people here couldn't read it. So nobody should expect accuracy in Old English here, and I think going for the same type of wording that the Dragon Warrior games did would be sufficient to achieve the effect.

Click to expand...

miksy91 said:

Some pretty cool features you have here. Have you considered making it so that when you approach an event and press A, the game would react like you chose to "Talk" to it? Or would that work at all? I take it you have made it so that no script is run when you approach them, or their script pointer points to "end script data".

Anyways, I personally don't see why the text couldn't be in normal english. That would make reading a lot simpler and it's a bit annoying that it's not that way actually - at least for me since I don't even speak native english.

Click to expand...

.firstMonActions ;label
	showemote EMOTE_SAD, LAST_TALKED, 15 ;the arrow
	callasm StartMenuSecondary ;my menu script
	if_equal 1, .ATKmon ;attack
	if_equal 2, .TCHmon ;touch
	if_equal 3, .TLKmap ;talk (reuses the one for the "map" (actually note one))
	if_equal 4, .LOKmon ;look
	if_equal 5, .INGmon ;ingest
	if_equal 6, .TKEmon ;take
	if_equal 7, .USEmon ;use
	end ;take a guess

StartMenuSecondary:: ; Ignore the addresses, they're wrong-- i copied/pasted/reused the whole start menu script, so the address comments are no longer true
	ld a, 0
	ld [ScriptVar], a
	call ResetTextRelatedRAM

	ld de, SFX_MENU
	call PlaySFX

	callba Function6454

	ld hl, StatusFlags2
	bit 2, [hl] ; bug catching contest
	ld hl, .MenuDataHeader
	jr z, .GotMenuData
.GotMenuData

	call LoadMenuDataHeader
	call .SetUpMenuItems
	ld a, [wd0d2]
	ld [wMenuCursorBuffer], a

	call MenuFunc_1e7f
	call Function2e31
	call Function2e20
	callba Function64bf
	call UpdateTimePals
	jr .Select

.Reopen
	call UpdateSprites
	call UpdateTimePals
	call .SetUpMenuItems
	ld a, [wd0d2]
	ld [wMenuCursorBuffer], a

.Select
	call .GetInput
	jr c, .Exit

	ld a, [wMenuCursorBuffer]
	ld [wd0d2], a
	call PlayClickSFX
	call Function1bee
	call .OpenMenu

; Menu items have different return functions.
; For example, saving exits the menu.
	ld hl, .MenuReturns
	ld e, a
	ld d, 0
rept 2
	add hl, de
endr
	ld a, [hli]
	ld h, [hl]
	ld l, a
	jp [hl]

.MenuReturns
	dw .Reopen
	dw .Exit
	dw .ExitMenuCallFuncLoadMoveSprites
	dw .ExitMenuRunScriptLoadMoveSprites
	dw .ExitMenuRunScript
	dw .ReturnEnd
	dw .ReturnRedraw

.Exit
	ld a, [hOAMUpdate]
	push af
	ld a, 1
	ld [hOAMUpdate], a
	call LoadFontsExtra
	pop af
	ld [hOAMUpdate], a
.ReturnEnd
	call ExitMenu
.ReturnEnd2
	call LoadMoveSprites
	call UpdateTimePals
	ret

.GetInput
; Return carry on exit, and no-carry on selection.
	xor a
	ld [hBGMapMode], a

	call SetUpMenu
	ld a, $ff
	ld [MenuSelection], a
.loop
	call Function1f1a
	ld a, [wcf73]
	cp B_BUTTON
	jr z, .b
	cp A_BUTTON
	jr z, .a
	jr .loop
.a
	call PlayClickSFX
	and a
	ret
.b
	scf
	ret
; 12691

.ExitMenuRunScript ; 12691
	call ExitMenu
	ld a, HMENURETURN_SCRIPT
	ld [hMenuReturn], a
	ret
; 12699

.ExitMenuRunScriptLoadMoveSprites ; 12699
	call ExitMenu
	ld a, HMENURETURN_SCRIPT
	ld [hMenuReturn], a
	jr .ReturnEnd2
; 126a2

.ExitMenuCallFuncLoadMoveSprites ; 126a2
	call ExitMenu
	ld hl, wQueuedScriptAddr
	ld a, [hli]
	ld h, [hl]
	ld l, a
	ld a, [wQueuedScriptBank]
	rst FarCall
	jr .ReturnEnd2
; 126b1

.ReturnRedraw ; 126b1
	call .Clear
	jp .Reopen
; 126b7

.Clear ; 126b7
	call ClearBGPalettes
	call Call_ExitMenu
	call Function2bae

	call MenuFunc_1e7f
	call UpdateSprites
	call Functiond90
	call Function2b5c
	ret
; 126d3


.MenuDataHeader
	db $40 ; tile backup
	db 0, 10 ; start coords
	db 17, 19 ; end coords
	dw .MenuData
	db 1 ; default selection
.MenuData
	db %10101000 ; x padding, wrap around, start can close
	dn 0, 0 ; rows, columns
	dw MenuItemsList
	dw .MenuString
	dw .Items

.Items
	dw StartMenu_PokedexSecondary,  .PokedexStringSecondary,  .PokedexDescSecondary
	dw StartMenu_PokemonSecondary,  .PartyStringSecondary,    .PartyDescSecondary
	dw StartMenu_PackSecondary,     .PackStringSecondary,     .PackDescSecondary
	dw StartMenu_StatusSecondary,   .StatusStringSecondary,   .StatusDescSecondary
	dw StartMenu_SaveSecondary,     .SaveStringSecondary,     .SaveDescSecondary
	dw StartMenu_OptionSecondary,   .OptionStringSecondary,   .OptionDescSecondary
	dw StartMenu_ExitSecondary,     .ExitStringSecondary,     .ExitDescSecondary
	dw StartMenu_PokegearSecondary, .PokegearStringSecondary, .PokegearDescSecondary
	dw StartMenu_QuitSecondary,     .QuitStringSecondary,     .QuitDescSecondary

.PokedexStringSecondary 	db "Look@"
.PartyStringSecondary   	db "Use@"
.PackStringSecondary    	db "Take@"
.StatusStringSecondary  	db "Talk@"
.SaveStringSecondary    	db "Attack@"
.OptionStringSecondary  	db "Touch@"
.ExitStringSecondary    	db "Cancel@"
.PokegearStringSecondary	db "Ingest@"
.QuitStringSecondary    	db "ERROR@"

.PokedexDescSecondary  db   ""
              next "@"

.PartyDescSecondary    db   ""
              next "@"

.PackDescSecondary     db   ""
              next "@"

.PokegearDescSecondary db   ""
              next "@"

.StatusDescSecondary   db   ""
              next "@"

.SaveDescSecondary     db   ""
              next "@"

.OptionDescSecondary   db   ""
              next "@"

.ExitDescSecondary     db   ""
              next "@"

.QuitDescSecondary     db   ""
              next "@"


.OpenMenu ; 127e5
	ld a, [MenuSelection]
	call .GetMenuAccountTextPointer
	ld a, [hli]
	ld h, [hl]
	ld l, a
	jp [hl]
; 127ef

.MenuString ; 127ef
	push de
	ld a, [MenuSelection]
	call .GetMenuAccountTextPointer
rept 2
	inc hl
endr
	ld a, [hli]
	ld d, [hl]
	ld e, a
	pop hl
	call PlaceString
	ret
; 12800

.MenuDesc ; 12800
	push de
	ld a, [MenuSelection]
	cp $ff
	jr z, .none
	call .GetMenuAccountTextPointer
rept 4
	inc hl
endr
	ld a, [hli]
	ld d, [hl]
	ld e, a
	pop hl
	call PlaceString
	ret
.none
	pop de
	ret
; 12819


.GetMenuAccountTextPointer ; 12819
	ld e, a
	ld d, 0
	ld hl, wcf97
	ld a, [hli]
	ld h, [hl]
	ld l, a
rept 6
	add hl, de
endr
	ret
; 12829


.SetUpMenuItems ; 12829
	xor a
	ld [wcf76], a
	call .FillMenuList
	ld a, 0 ; pokedex
	call .AppendMenuList
	ld a, 1 ; pokemon
	call .AppendMenuList
	ld a, 2 ; pack
	call .AppendMenuList
	ld a, 7 ; pokegear
	call .AppendMenuList
	ld a, 3 ; status
	call .AppendMenuList
	ld a, 4 ; save
	call .AppendMenuList
	ld a, 5 ; option
	call .AppendMenuList
	ld a, 6 ; exit
 	call .AppendMenuList
	ld a, c
	ld [MenuItemsList], a
	ret
; 1288d


.FillMenuList ; 1288d
	xor a
	ld hl, MenuItemsList
	ld [hli], a
	ld a, -1
	ld bc, MenuItemsListEnd - (MenuItemsList + 1)
	call ByteFill
	ld de, MenuItemsList + 1
	ld c, 0
	ret
; 128a0

.AppendMenuList ; 128a0
	ld [de], a
	inc de
	inc c
	ret
; 128a4

StartMenu_ExitSecondary: ; 128ed
; Exit the menu.

	ld a, 0
	ld [ScriptVar], a
	ld a, 1
	ret
; 128f0


StartMenu_QuitSecondary: ; 128f0
	ld a, -1 ; error
	ld [ScriptVar], a
	ld a, 1
	ret
; 1290b


StartMenu_SaveSecondary: ; 1290b
	
	ld a, 1
	ld [ScriptVar], a
	ld a, 1
	ret
; 1291c


StartMenu_OptionSecondary: ; 1291c
; Game options.

	ld a, 2
	ld [ScriptVar], a
	ld a, 1
	ret; 12928


StartMenu_StatusSecondary: ; 12928
; Player status.

	ld a, 3
	ld [ScriptVar], a
	ld a, 1
	ret
; 12937


StartMenu_PokedexSecondary: ; 12937

	ld a, 4
	ld [ScriptVar], a
	ld a, 1
	ret; 1294c


StartMenu_PokegearSecondary: ; 1294c

	ld a, 5
	ld [ScriptVar], a
	ld a, 1
	ret
; 1295b


StartMenu_PackSecondary: ; 1295b

	ld a, 6
	ld [ScriptVar], a
	ld a, 1
	ret
; 12976


StartMenu_PokemonSecondary: ; 12976

	ld a, 7
	ld [ScriptVar], a
	ld a, 1
	ret

wolfboyft said:

Paragraph 1: I don't see what you mean. The philosophy behind actions in this hack is that you can do as you like-- within bounds of reason. To make it more interactive, you CAN tear up notes, you CAN poke Moe/Lanugo/Isaac, you CAN take the notes with you-- only problem is that you can't put them back down again. I take it you're referring to the ankh, green goblin, monk and the two banners in the shrine? They do point to an end, yes. For the ones that do work, look at these two code snippets:

Code:

.firstMonActions ;label
	showemote EMOTE_SAD, LAST_TALKED, 15 ;the arrow
	callasm StartMenuSecondary ;my menu script
	if_equal 1, .ATKmon ;attack
	if_equal 2, .TCHmon ;touch
	if_equal 3, .TLKmap ;talk (reuses the one for the "map" (actually note one))
	if_equal 4, .LOKmon ;look
	if_equal 5, .INGmon ;ingest
	if_equal 6, .TKEmon ;take
	if_equal 7, .USEmon ;use
	end ;take a guess

Click to expand...

miksy91 said:

What I thought you had done there was that the script pointer of all those items pointed to "end" structure and if you pressed Start while facing an event that is in front of you, it would execute an asm routine that would check, what kind of event is in front of you and open a menu with options based on that.
You seem to have made the "StartMenuSecondary" play the same sound that is played when you press Start. That's why I assumed it also worked like that in the game.

Click to expand...

; it starts here

miksy91 said:

Well - I think there is actually quite a lot to be changed when I re-think about it. I believe what the code until "it starts here" does right now is the following:

1) Loads the value (2-byte val) of current damage in [hMultiplicand] - [hMultiplicand + 2] so that the value in [hMultiplicand] equals 00. This is for storing the damage value elsewhere where we have room for the result of multiplying with a value that could overflow for a 2-byte value.

2) Next in ".loop", we draw a random number between $D9 (0xd9 / 0xff = 85%) and $FF (100%) and store that into [hMultiplier]. And by calling "Multiply", the value in ([hMultiplicand] - [hMultiplicand + 2]) is multiplied by [hMultiplier].

3) In the next step under 'Divide', we divide that value ([hMultiplicand] - [hMultiplicand + 2]) by $FF and store the result in "hQuotient + 1" - "hQuotient + 2" I believe. Now here we have the original current damage multiplied by a random value between 0,85 - 1,00.

4) In the end of the routine, you should load that value between "hQuotient + 1" - "hQuotient + 2" into register pair bc, or possibly back to "CurDamage - CurDamage + 1".

So basically, I would start off my changing the parts under "; No point in reducing 1 or 0 damage." into "; No point in reducing 1 or 0 damage, or if the defending pokemon is not using STICK." So only in the case when the defending pokemon is using STICK, call a subroutine that re-calculates the damage based on the value in "CurDamage" - "CurDamage + 1" so that that value is changed into 0,85 (or 0,83) times of its original value.

(0,83) x 256 is 212,48 so you might as well use 212 changed into hex in the place of $d9 in the routine

Also what comes to ".loop" part, change that so that you don't draw a random number at all. Just load [hMultiplier] with "212 in hex". Then after dividing, you will have that "0,83 * value of current damage" loaded into [hQuotient + 1] - [hQuotient + 2]. Next you either load that value into bc or load it back into CurDamage.

The reason I don't know which one you should do is because the beginning of the routine clearly doesn't do anything with bc

Code:

	ld hl, CurDamage
	ld a, [hli]
	and a
	jr nz, .go
	ld a, [hl]
	cp 2
	ret c

while at the end of the code in implementation of PikalaxALT, you load that value there.

P.S

Code:

	ld a, [hl]
	cp STICK
	ld [hl], a

The third instruction here doesn't serve for any purpose.

Click to expand...

miksy91 said:

Try replacing the beginning of the routine (= the following stuff), and everything following it

Code:

; No point in reducing 1 or 0 damage.
	ld hl, CurDamage
	ld a, [hli]
	and a
	jr nz, .go
	ld a, [hl]
	cp 2
	ret c

with

Code:

	ld hl, BattleMonItem
	ld a, [hBattleTurn]
	and a
	jr z, .got_item_addr
	ld hl, EnemyMonItem
.got_item_addr
	ld a, [hl]
	cp STICK
	ld hl, CurDamage
	ret nz ' don't do anything if not holding STICK. [I]See info at the end of routine what the ending state should be like.[/I]

	xor a
	ld [hMultiplicand + 0], a
	ld a, [hli]
	ld [hMultiplicand + 1], a
	ld a, [hl]
	ld [hMultiplicand + 2], a

; Multiply by 85%
	ld a, $d4 ' (= 212)
	ld [hMultiplier], a
	call Multiply

; ...divide by 100%...
	ld a, $ff ; 100%
	ld [hDivisor], a
	ld b, $4
	call Divide

; ...to get 0.83 damage
	ld a, [hQuotient + 1]
	ld hl, CurDamage
	ld [hli], a
	ld a, [hQuotient + 2]
        ld [hl], a
        ret ' ??? (either try just returning, or loading b with [CurDamage] and c with [CurDamage + 1])

The reason I'd say that you have to do this is because the routine you have there is for multiplying current damage by a value between (($d9 - $ff) / $ff) which makes it 85% - 100% of the original value. So you of course need changes to that part then. Also, in case you're wondering what that "xor a" there stands for, it is actually instruction "xor a, a" and stores the result in a. When you xor a value with itself, the value turns into 0 (or here $00 because we have 8-bit registers). https://www.cs.umd.edu/class/sum2003/cmsc311/Notes/BitOp/xor.html

Basically, that instruction there simply performs "ld a, 00" but takes one byte less. You'll see that often in GB/C code.
In case there is something else that confuses you about the code, feel free to ask. That just popped in my mind that it might not make any sense what that is for and makes the routine feel confusing.

Click to expand...

wolfboyft said:

I'm kinda confused on where that's meant to go. D'you mean I should keep the "No point in reducing 1 or 0 damage" bit and replace the rest-- everything afterwards-- with the second code box you wrote? Sorry if it seems I'm verging on what some may call "asking for spoon-fed information," but I'm still fairly new to this sort of thing.

Click to expand...

	ld hl, BattleMonItem
	ld a, [hBattleTurn]
	and a
	jr z, .got_item_addr
	ld hl, EnemyMonItem
.got_item_addr
	ld a, [hl]
	cp STICK
	ld hl, CurDamage
	jr nz .return // hl points to CurDamage when .return is executed

	xor a
	ld [hMultiplicand + 0], a
	ld a, [hli]
	ld [hMultiplicand + 1], a
	ld a, [hl]
	ld [hMultiplicand + 2], a // set [hMultiplicand + 0] - [hMultiplicand + 2] as the originally calculated damage

; Multiply by 85%
	ld a, $d4 ' (= 212)
	ld [hMultiplier], a
	call Multiply // multiply the originally calculated damage by 0xD4

; ...divide by 100%...
	ld a, $ff ; 100%
	ld [hDivisor], a
	ld b, $4
	call Divide // divide the multiplied value by 0xFF

; ...to get 0.83 damage
	ld a, [hQuotient + 1]
	ld hl, CurDamage
	ld [hli], a
	ld a, [hQuotient + 2]
        ld [hl], a // store [(Original damage) * 0,83] into [CurDamage] - [CurDamage + 1]
        dec hl // hl points to CurDamage when .return is executed

.return
	ld b, [hl]
	inc hl
	ld c, [hl] // set bc as the done damage
	ret

ReduceNumberByAPercent: ; thanks PikalaxALT!
	; number in bc, percentage in a
	push af
	ld a, b
	ld [hMultiplicand + 1], a
	ld a, c
	ld [hMultiplicand + 2], a
	xor a
	ld [hMultiplicand], a
	pop bc
	ld a, 100
	sub b
	ld [hMultiplier], a
	call Multiply
	ld a, 100
	ld [hDivisor], a
	ld b, 4
	call Divide
	ld a, [hQuotient + 1]
	ld b, a
	ld a, [hQuotient + 2]
	ld c, a
	ret

wolfboyft said:

Also, that "xor a" thing should prove useful. Thanks.

Click to expand...