It's taking quite a while for the new file to be approved for posting / downloading, so you can download it here:
https://www.omnimaga.org/ti-z80-calculator-projects/elimination-an-rpg-inspired-by-earthbound-pokemon/?action=dlattach;attach=25794

While the game is absolutely playable "as is," with lots of positive feedback, there are a few things I'm still planning on doing with this project during my free time:

* A video walkthrough
* Adding weapons effects, something I was going to do originally but ran out of time to do
* Dialogue editing. Some parts of the game's dialogue is unclear / inconsistent, other parts are dumb or sappy and can either be rewritten or removed
* Some more polish
* Some more graphical fixes

I had given some thought to either making a bigger research library in Level 7 or making some kind of Easter-Egg with a secret boss or something. However, I have no ideas for these yet. Another concern is, even though I'm sure no one uses a regular Ti-83+ anymore, I want the game to be small enough to run on a regular Ti-83+.

Some previews of the effects.

I love the new effects! By the way, for the sake of consistency have you considered a solution about the higher-res text that sometimes appear outside of the game boundaries? If all the battle backgrounds are somewhat dark or medium then I think it would be ok if the text appeared on top of it but with the small TI-84+ font instead.

That's a good thought, but I'm not bothered if I get only 95% consistency. I really like where and how I implemented the statistics feature in terms of the CE. It's also necessary given that I'm using double-buffering and not full-resolution -- the small 84+ font would normally need full-screen resolution to work properly on the CE.

Is there anyone using OS 5.5 or above? How about a Python or Revision M? I have an older Ti-84+ ce.
I felt that if the game works on an older OS, it should be able to work on newer systems. However, when someone tested a beta for Elimination 1.2, they said it crashed immediately. Can I get a second opinion? Does the game start, or does it crash immediately?

Try Elimination 1.2

Runs fine on my Python Edition rev P with OS 5.6.0. Maybe check they have enough RAM. I really like the art style and animations in the game!

Thanks for the compliment!

I only use "SafeRAM" areas for the CE and therefore didn't think I needed a RAM check. Are there any saferam areas that get used by the calculator in any later revisions or OS versions?

Are you doing anything regarding port unlocks, such as using SHA RAM for speed reasons?

Nope, nothing that fancy. Just the standard safe ram areas.

The RPG has received a major upgrade in the form of version 1.2! You can download it here while Cemetech approves the file.

Major changes
--------------------
* Cool visual effects for when you or an enemy launch an attack
* Jamie now has a scanning computer to tell you what an enemy is weak or invincible against. This was added to address a misconception that some enemies are only vulnerable to the weak "emergency" laser and ion gun weapons. The manual tells you how to use the computer.
* Levels 8 and 10 have been made easier with adjustments to the save game / load game locations
* Fixed a rather noticeable bug where a player jumped from level 1 to level 49 after attacking only one enemy
* You now recover all health as a reward for finding minerals

Other changes
-----------------------------
* Adjustments to enemy placement
* Graphical fixes
* Gave a few enemies additional vulnerabilities
* Dialogue changes:
--- Fixed some plotholes
--- Additional clarification for solving puzzles
--- Removed / adjusted some cliched or "sappy" lines of dialogue
* Fixed a bug where Megan could cause a non-existent enemy to attack when facing groups of enemies
* The game will now tell you if you haven't loaded the correct version of the appvars

Download Elimination 1.2

I may or may not make these changes to the Ti-83+ version. At the moment, I have less free time.

Here's an update. I decided to give Jamie's computer an overhaul to make it easier to determine an enemy's strengths and weaknesses. Red means the enemy is immune to the weapon. Beige means your weapon will work against the enemy, doing a normal amount of damage. Blue means the enemy is weak and vulnerable to the weapon, so your weapon will do double damage.



In this update, the computer must be purchased at a shop. This is to prevent beginners from either misusing or abusing the computer in earlier levels.

Download V1.3

Ooh very nice idea! I really need to replay this again, this time on CE since I was playing on monochrome. I wanna see everything and how it looks like with the colors because I love games that use the same resolution as the 84+ but adds colors.

Not only is it more colorful, it's more polished and slightly easier than the monochrome version.

Some new features I'm planning on adding to a feature release for the CE color version. Maybe two or three months from now, but no promises:

1) A "fast play" mode that you'll unlock after completing the game. All tile collision will be removed, so you can finish a level faster by walking through trees and other objects. You'll also be able to choose a level to jump to -- do you want to play the 3rd level, the 9th level, or start from the very beginning? This way:
---If there's a particular cutscene you like, you don't have to play the entire game to see it again
---You'll be able to experiment and practice each level to find the right shortcuts. This is important because the game will not have any code to prevent you from leaving the map completely, and I believe certain levels (like level 8 or 9) will cause the game to softlock or crash (WITHOUT losing your saved games) if you skip to the end before setting off the right triggers / events.

2) DJ Omnimaga had a good idea that I wanted to implement for a while but had no ideas for. There will be a secret underwater level with a secret boss, and as a reward, you'll receive a new projectile weapon for Ryan, a new ray gun setting for Colling and a more powerful, upgrade water weapon for Jamie.

It took me a while to come up with some fun and unique ideas for the secret level, so it won't be done as soon as I was hoping. By the way, if you already have saved games, you won't have to start over to be able to enjoy these updates. Version 1.4 will work with your old save game appvar.

Here's a preview of two new weapons.

J-Bombs: A poor man's hydrogen bomb
Medkit: Brings everyone back to full health (ignore the item description at the top)

Good to see this project make a reappearance!

Those new weapons look great--I especially like the flickering effect that the J-Bomb creates when it goes off. Do you have any more new ones planned?

Looking forward to more updates!

Thanks!

No other weapons are planned, but as a reward for completing the secret level, these weapons will be upgraded to do more damage:

Hope's rockets (which will change color from red to yellow)
Jamie's water (which will shoot purple "water" instead of blue water)
Collin's full-power setting (which will shoot a green beam instead of a blue beam)

For the final dungeon you could have a walkthrough tip that appears after beating the game explaining vaguely where you can find the secret dungeon and once the player beats the secret boss then he has the option to enable a much harder version of the final boss by flipping a switch in the secret dungeon that disables some force field preventing the final boss from using his maximum strength.

I love the colors, by the way

EDIT: It would be nice if the bear-like monster in area A could be damaged by at least a second weapon besides Megan's Ion Gun. Also being able to visit previously completed dungeons would be nice as well for leveling up, because if you get locked out of a dungeon before you can level up enough for the next one, then you have to restart the entire game from scratch.


EDIT: Another suggestion: Every battle should give money with no exception, because right now acquiring money is entirely based on luck, meaning that you can end up doing dozens of trips back to the village, only to find out that you still only have zero money or only 250. It's near impossible by Inca area to stock up on items because almost no monster gives out money.

Those are great ideas! I like the walkthrough tip idea for sure. Not sure yet if I'll be implementing the switch idea...



That will work! The game's manual and the game's cutscenes tell the player that you get money by fighting robots (not animals, not spirits, but robots). That's not dependent on luck... every time you fight a robot, you get 250 silicon. But it's still not a bad idea to have other enemies give 10 silicon. ( (Also I admit I need to clarify this in the 'quick start' section of the manual)

Until I can release the next version of the game, my suggestion would be to farm money. You can fight a robot, then fight another enemy, then go fight the robot again. Enemies will reappear without you having to leave the map entirely.



You mean the "Evil Fox?" You can use Collin's ray gun... either the "Basic Beam" setting or the "Sweep" setting. Or you can use a smoke bomb, after which you can attack the fox with fire or grenades.

If there's one thing that's overstated in the manual, it's that all enemies can be defeated without lasers or without Meg's ion gun. Sometimes you have to experiment. However, there are some enemies that are extremely resilient (for example, there's one enemy from the later levels that is vulnerable only to bombs) and so that made me decide to add the computer weapon to help with the most frustrating of enemies.



What I can do is add an "arena" to the Hub world (Valkos) where you can train and level up. I decided after lots of consideration to lock completed dungeons, and now it would require too much recoding... the arena would be easier to implement.


Thanks!