Arcade Homebrew: Sokoban LE for Taito L System

[cmonkey]

Strange that the save state didn't work for you?  It works fine for me on OS X, even though, like you've already said, save states aren't officially supported for Plotting.  I usually use one of the numeric keys (from 1 to 9) after pressing shift-F7, maybe you could try that?

[Saturn]

I hit Shift-F7 and selected 1 which made an in-game menu pop up. So I backed out of that, pressed Shift-F7 again and selected 6. Said it worked again with the warning following but nothing when I press F7 again. I'm using the newest version of MAME so maybe it's the Linux part?
What key(s) do you press on OS X to initiate a prompt for loading? I would guess it's the same regardless but grasping at straws.


Edit
No idea how old this info is but this is what I was going by: Saving games

[Saturn]

I tried some info from reply #1 on this page and changed the key combination from F7 to LShift-L and was able to load my save :113:

[Saturn]

I'm still hammering away at this. Posting the updated password list here for easier access

2. CAPBOD or CAAAOC
3. DAAGFC or DACFGC
4. EAEDHC or EAMEID (-> make a row of 4 across below you with 1 above 2nd in row)
5. FAGCBC or FAFGMD (Warp 1, starting from southeast corner-5 spaces north, 1 space west. Takes you to level 32)
6. GAABLC
7. HANGGD
8. IAOEGD
9. JABFDC
10. KADCDC
11. LAKFGD
12. MAJGHD
13. NABDND
14. OAGBJD
15. PADBPD
16. ABAGLC
17. BBFHCC
18. CBJFND
19. DBNBOD
20. EBDHDC
21. FBJHKD
22. GBKEJD
23. HBOBLD
24. IBFFPD
25. JBEGID
26. KBDBDC
27. LBMEAD
28. MBLCGD
29. NBKDHD
30. OBAFID
31. PBAGKD
32. ACMACC
33. BCIGND or BCACJC or BCPCID or BCDHBC or BCHFDC or BCFHDC or BCJDDC or BCNAMD
34. CCHCBC
35. DCLAMD
36. ECIHJD
37. FCKHED
38. GCLGFD
39. HCGHKD
40. ICIBPD
41. JCDEOD
42. KCBDMD (warp 2-push block to the left 2 spaces to the left then go up and weave around)
43. LCMEBD
44. MCJDGD
45. NCBFJD
46. OCNFOA
47. PCDGGD
48. ADPBPD
49. BDODJD
50. CDJBDC
51. DDCBFC
52. EDIDOD
53. FDOBLD
54. GDPDHD
55. HDKFFD
56. IDEGJD
57. JDPFMA
58. KDKALD
59. LDGEED
60. MDKAFD
61. NDGGAD
62. ODABOD
63. PDADJD
64. AEEFBC
65. BEEAFC
66. CEGEMD
67. DEKEJD
68. EELFED
69. FEJDJD
70. GEDEND
71. HEJFFD
72. IEEGKD
73. JEPDDD
74. KEMHNA
75. LEHCED
76. MECHFD
77. NELGOA
78. OEPFKA
79. PELACD
80. AFLAMD
81. BFLEJD
82. CFGBCC
83. DFFDMD
84. EFPAED
85. FFOCGD
86. GFCFOD
87. HFFBOD
88. IFMFCD
89. JFJCFD
90. KFHHBD
91. LFACOD
92. MFFDFD
93. NFMEOA
94. OFJAAD
95. PFHBAD
96. AGBALC
97. BGPFHD
98. CGCHND
99. DGNAKD

[Saturn]

Took almost two months but finally played and posted passwords for every level!
I've spent more time playing Sokoban LE than any other game in over a decade. Absolutely brilliant

[cmonkey]

I've been checking in on this thread nearly every day for the past month and have watched the list of level passwords slowly grow as you conquered each level.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think you'd manage to get through all 99 levels though!  Seriously very well done to you Saturn for your persistence and determination in 100%'ing the game!  Thank you so much for playing my port of Sokoban to the very end, you've made me a very happy camper! :-)

I only hope you enjoy my next puzzle based game on L System, which will be released mid next year (hopefully!) as much as you've obviously enjoyed Sokoban LE.

Congratulations! :-)

[Saturn]

Thanks a million cmonkey! Had a great time with this wonderful game and am looking forward to the next one.
This took longer than I'd originally hoped as real life got in the way, sometimes for weeks on end but glad I was able to see it through.
This is one of my favorite games of all time.

[zapiy]

Actually can I say thanks to you both. Saturn is and has been such and great member here and RVG. Really putting that extra mile in where it counts and that shows with you as a coder cmonkey. I guess guys like Saturn help drive you to making more as you see it's worth your time. So thanks to you Cmonkey for making this port and you Saturn for your efforts in this thread and the site in general.

[Saturn]

You're welcome zapiy :113:
Big thanks (again lol) to cmonkey for all his work. I'm playing through Sokoban LE again without looking at any helpful tips, so I might have an update in 2086 or so

[cmonkey]

Actually can I say thanks to you both. Saturn is and has been such and great member here and RVG. Really putting that extra mile in where it counts and that shows with you as a coder cmonkey. I guess guys like Saturn help drive you to making more as you see it's worth your time. So thanks to you Cmonkey for making this port and you Saturn for your efforts in this thread and the site in general.

Thanks for the kind words zapiy    I code mainly because I enjoy coding but I'd also be lying if I didn't say that it gives me an immense sense of joy knowing that Saturn has enjoyed playing this port of Sokoban.  However I reiterate my earlier comments in this thread, I merely ported the game from ZX Spectrum to arcade hardware, the real kudos needs to go Compiler Software for creating the game in the first place.  Without them there would have been no Sokoban LE.  Porting a game is considerably easier than writing it from scratch, even when you're porting to a mostly undocumented system.

Hey Saturn, I feel after your hard work in 100%'ing the game that you deserve your very own personalised "Saturn" edition of Sokoban LE!  If you're any good at 16-colour pixel art then I'm more than happy to build you a personalised version of the game, with a tile set designed exclusively by you.  What do you say?

[Saturn]

Wow, that would be fantastic!
But I don't know anything about 16 colour pixel art. What do I need to know/do?


(but if you hadn't ported it, I never would have been able to experience it!)

[cmonkey]

Wow, that would be fantastic!
But I don't know anything about 16 colour pixel art. What do I need to know/do?


(but if you hadn't ported it, I never would have been able to experience it!)

Even though I do all my dev work in OS X I actually use a Windows application called Graphics Gale (http://www.humanbalance.net/gale/us/) for designing all my tiles & sprites.  This is probably because I've yet to find an OS X art package that can output 4-bit (16 colour) BMP files.  I'm not familiar with Linux pixel art packages but maybe GIMP can output 4-bit BMPs?  The crucial thing is that whichever package you use it MUST be able to output 4-bit BMPs because the conversion tool that I wrote to convert the BMPs to the format that L System uses only accepts a 4-bit BMP as input.

If you're serious about doing this then I'm happy to help you every step along the way but you will need some level of creativity in your bones!  A Sokoban L.E. tile set consists of just 5 (or optionally 6) main components :-

1) a 16x16 pixel single block (this is actually 4 8x8 pixel tiles put together to make a 16x16 pixel block)
2) a 32x16 pixel long horizontal block (made up from two 16x16 pixel blocks)
3) a 16x32 pixel tall vertical block (made up from two 16x16 pixel blocks)
4) a 16x16 pixel box (or whatever you wish to push around the level i.e. box/dog crap/rom chip/etc)
5) a 16x16 pixel box destination (this is where the box/etc will end up)
6) a 16x16 pixel background block (this is optional, if you don't design this then the background blocks will be black by default.  If you look at the CHIPS graphic set in the current game then these are the green background blocks with the multi-coloured wires running all over them)

If you also want to go as far as designing a new main character to replace the robot then you'll need to design four 16x16 pixel sprites (facing up/left/down/right).  I'd probably advise against doing this initially as if you change the robot design massively you'll also need to design the sprites which are used to make the robot appear as though he's rising up from the floor at the start of each level.

You've got 16 colours to play with for each 8x8 pixel tile, although 1 of those colours is always either black or transparent (depending on whether it's a background or foreground tile or sprite), so it's really 15 colours to play with.

The attached BMP shows the tiles used for the default graphic set in the game.  If you look at those it should give you an idea of how to get started.  I'm always here to help should you get stuck.

On a side note I received an email from the guys at Compiler Software this evening.  They've updated their website to include details of my port of their excellent game!    Thank you so much guys!!

http://compiler.speccy.org/en/updates.html

[Saturn]

Props for the updated section on Compiler's site! Clicked over and read up along with watching the video. (also liked and subscribed) That's great :113: If I'm able to study up on it and can create what's needed I'll post it and can hopefully get that special Saturn Edition

[zapiy]

Great offer fella..

Would be cool to see what your gaming mind would generate Saturn lol..

Will watch closely if this happens.