Final Dragon My First Game Boy Advance Game

Final Dragon… Is a role playing game Was developed only for the Game Boy Advance platform Uses 2-D graphics Uses.s3m music and sounds Was written in C++ Was tested on actual Game Boy Advance Hardware

Graphics Graphics are tied strongly to hardware The Game boy Advance uses only 2-D graphics system Most graphics modes use a tile-based system supported by hardware

Metamap Decoding Final Dragon uses a metamap tiling algorithm Metamaps are maps that represent larger tiles than hardware supports To the left we see 16 by 16 pixel metatiles

Metamap Decoding The gameboy advance uses 8 by 8 pixel tiles Final Dragon uses the metamap decoder to create an array of 8 by 8 pixel tiles for use in hardware

Metamap Decoding The 8 by 8 pixel map is sent to hardware along with a tileset and palette Each eight-bit integer value in the map represents an 8 by 8 pixel tile in the tileset Each tile in the tileset contains 64 eight-bit integer values each representing a palette entry

Benefits of Metamap Decoding Metamaps take up one fourth the space of regular maps plus a small amount for the metamap lookup table Metamaps are used extensively in game logic and collision detection Game modifications are made simpler by bringing the graphic data and game logic data into one file

Sound Sound is implemented using.s3m files.s3m files are Scream Tracker files Tracker files can be thought of as midis that use wavs for instruments Each.s3m file can include up to 16 channels or wavs.s3m files are very small compared to sound files of similar quality

Benefits/Disadvantages Easy to implement using Krawall open source solution Most.s3m are free to download and use Includes both music and wavs for sound effects Hard to find good.s3ms Making you own.s3ms is a long and tedious task Hard to understand and use.s3ms for a beginner programmer for the Game Boy Advance

Game Structure Very basic HP/MP system Uses two types of magic, attack and heal Attack magic is significantly stronger than regular attacks Heal magic heals about half of your hitpoints The MP cost for heal and attack stays constant as the MP increases

Plot The Gnome King asks you to save their kingdom from the Blue Dragon You venture forth to retrieve the crystals from dungeons to gain access to the Blue Dragons cave You defeat the Blue Dragon You win

Tools Used Visual HAM 2.8 Krawall API ModPlug Mappy PaintShop Pro XG-Flash

Program Screenshots

Challenges Overcome Learning the Game Boy Advance hardware Finding a toolkit Learning how to incorporate tilebased graphics and sprites Learning how to include music and sound on the Game Boy Advance platform Time constraints

Future Upgrades More dungeons Deeper plot Better Graphics A whole new character development system More monsters and a different battle interface More spells and items

What have I learned? Platform specific programs are challenging and more difficult to program How to properly implement metamaps How to use and create.s3m Scream Tracker files Roleplaying games take a lot of time and effort to create My next game will be a puzzle game

Questions