New ZX Spectrum homebrew: Ad Lunam

[Corporal Jonlan]

Hi everybody,

this is my first project made with ZX-Basic: Ad Lunam, a strategy/management game for the 48K ZX Spectrum where you are put in charge of the space program of the United States or of the Soviet Union. Starting from 1956, you must send a crew on the Moon and safely back to Earth within 20 years.

Before you even attempt such a task you must research new spacecraft and equipment, plan and carry out missions, recruit and train pilots, and try to stay ahead of your opponents.

The game has not yet reached its final stage, and is currently at version 0.2. Users should be able to play it to the end, although some features have not yet been implemented, fine tuning is needed and bugs might still be present. So beware!

For now, game and documentation are only available in English. Italian will follow, then Spanish, and possibly other languages as well. There's a very large amount of text in it, so translation won't be an easy task.

Download link will stay unchanged on every release. Here it is: http://www.alessandrogrussu.it/zx/AdLunam.zip

Feedback is welcome. Enjoy!

[TrekMD]

Nice title screen! 

[Corporal Jonlan]

Thanks! It is based upon Robert Grossman's illustration for the cover of the 6 December 1968 issue of Time magazine.

[TrekMD]

Excellent!

[Corporal Jonlan]

Version 0.3 is here!

What's new:

• Choose one out of three difficulty levels at the start. Parameters affected are: funds, prestige, fund multiplier factor, mission control handicap
  
• Chance of random events at the end of each turn. Some will need certain prerequisites to happen, e.g. available pilots
  
• Italian version now available
  
• Various bugfixes and code optimizations

The game is now close to its definitive form. Again, memory left is still very scarce; I guess graphics and sound will be postponed to a prospective 128K version. What is needed now is a lot of fine tuning. This can only be done through playing sessions. Let's see what happens next.

[zapiy]

Absolutely awesome work as always fella.

[Corporal Jonlan]

Hi folks,

the game is still being developed after a pause due to "real" life issues, and I plan to release version 1.0 in the next few weeks. I have been hunting and squashing tons of bugs, further optimizing the code, and fine-tuning several features. Unfortunately, to fit the whole game into the 48K Spectrum, I had to leave any graphics aside, but introduced some beeper blips and short tunes for an even more retro atmosphere.

And here are some screenshots of the Spanish version! Juego y manual en castellano para todos 

[zapiy]

Great work mate.

Thanks for updating us.

[Corporal Jonlan]

Version 1.0 is out! Download it from here.

[zapiy]

Cheers fella. Check out the Dev chat area, we are setting up The RVG Squad

[Corporal Jonlan]

Hi everybody, I have been notified of some little inconsistencies in the English version, such as some text being left in Italian, or some lines not completely deleted. These issues have been solved, but anyone interested should download the game again.

Sorry for the inconvenience 

[Corporal Jonlan]

Hi everyone!

Today, a new 1.01 version of the game has been released.

What's new:

- To exit the technician choice screen it is no more necessary to insert a number of technicians, then press "0" to cancel. Just insert "0" and you will be brought back to the previous menu.
- Some slight modifications in the text for both manual and game.
- The Spanish translation has been revised by EquinoxeZX.

Download it as usual from:

https://www.alessandrogrussu.it/Adlunam.html

[TrekMD]

Thanks for sharing!

[Corporal Jonlan]

And now it is the time for version 1.1. Many of the changes were made for consistency with Ad Lunam Plus; in addition to that, several potential bugs discovered when the code was taken as the basis for Ad Lunam Plus were fixed.

Note: savegames for this version are not compatible with those from version 1.01.

• At game start, you now have to choose your country first, then the difficulty level.
• ­Some specifications have been changed, see user manual for details.
• The initial funds amount for easy, medium and hard difficulty changes from 150, 120 and 90 to 170, 135 and 100 respectively.
• Initial prestige for easy, medium and hard difficulty changes from 90, 80 and 70 to 105, 90 and 75 respectively.
• Calculation of funds assigned every year according to prestige is slightly more favorable.
• Possible extra funds/budget cuts at the end of a turn are fixed at +20/-20.
• The criteria for the calculation of the final score have been modified.
• Various corrections and optimizations in the game code and messages.
• New “Tips” section in the user manual.