Dope King Version .950 Released!

[Stonewall382]

Version .950
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New features:
- 4 new drugs
- 5 new weapons
- 3 new cities
- Cleaner look
- Very expanded stats system and stats screen
- Cleaned up a lot of embarassing bugs
- Slightly bigger cop fights
- More polished look (though I've still farther to go)

The download can be found at my Dope King directory (thanks to Janus) at:  http://sw.mbrepository.com/Dope%20King/.

Once I get it looking the way I want it to, add maybe a little more content, and am convinced that there aren't any more bugs, I'll release it as V1.00.

Enjoy.



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Alright, so here's the deal:

I'm studying computer science, and ever since I could first code, I've wanted to remake a game I played when I was a wee one.  Back when I was probably eight or so (twelve years ago the 21st), I played the shareware version of a game called Druglord, by Moby Games.  You got to buy low and sell high, fight off the cops, and become a king of the streets...or crash and burn.  I knew the game was simple (it was made in 1991), so I figured I could reverse engineer it from memory.  I've done the best I could to grab the basic concept, but my version has some new features (slightly expanded cop fight system, etc.), and is certainly far more vulgar than the original.  (By the way, if you get offended easily, a) **** off and b) you probably won't like my game.)
I'm working under the title of Wickerman Games, my unofficial company comprised of only myself.  I wanted my first game to be free and open source.  The game is free, and when I release the final version, I'll release the source code as well.

Also, I tried to adhere to the principles Maddox (maddox.xmission.com) seems to embrace (simple, fun games, that give you **** if you screw up).  I hope I did well.

As for the download:  Thanks to Janus for graciously giving me space on which to put this game.  If it wasn't for him, you'd be using rapidshare (BLEGH!).  So thank you Janus .  The download can be found here.  Oh, and it's only about 170 Kbs, so it shouldn't really be a problem for anyone.


What I need from you, my beta testers:  suggestions, and bug reports.  I don't quite know what to tell you on how to get bug reports, so please just do your best for now.


If you get a really bad error, don't be afraid to grab the slider scroll (stops the game), and take a look.  And then close out the program.


Lastly, I hope you enjoy.


Edit:  If it wasn't clear, I'm going to keep working on fixing bugs and adding more content (more drugs, more weapons, more statistics), and I really need to work on polishing the game.  I do plan to release a final version sometime in the near (two to four weeks, hopefully) future.

 

[Yoshiboy]

I got stuck in and endless loop when I tried to buy some speed. Straight off.

 

[bugman]

You played that when you were 8?

 

[Stonewall382]

@  Yoshiboy--When it asked you which drug to sell, did you enter a number or a letter?  The game only accepts numbers there.  Almost everywhere else, it accepts at least letters (usually numbers too, except in cases like "yes or no"), but with "crystal," "crack," and "cocaine," I figured it would be too hard to get a good letter for each.

@  Bugman--Heh, yeah.  But the atmosphere of the game made it seem like a little fun game, and at the end, there was this whole disclaimer about how you shouldn't use drugs and stuff.


By the way, most of the time, if you get an error, it's because Windows is having trouble allocating memory (I think).  I don't know much about that kind of stuff, but with a lot of the errors, if you just close the window and start it up again (a few times), it'll work.
There's one really ugly error where the game tries to display its little interface (the thing you see come up every turn) for the first time, and it goes nuts and starts spitting out all kinds of crazy symbols and the computer starts beeping.  ...  Don't panic, just shut it down and start up again.
If I figure out what's causing the problems, I'll do my best to fix it.

 

[Yoshiboy]

it asked me which drug I want to buy and i typed in "speed" and pressed enter.

 

[Stonewall382]

Ah, yeah.  Never type in the whole word for an option--the program isn't ever looking for that, it's either looking for a number or an individual letter.  You should have typed in '2' in that case.

Out of curiosity:  I know you're a modder, but do you know much about C++?

Edit:  typo.

 

[Nahkis]

Hey, could you post a few screenshots?

 

[Yoshiboy]

Oh alright then.

Well, I know the basics of C++ but I'm no master.

 

[Stonewall382]

Oh alright then.

Well, I know the basics of C++ but I'm no master.

Almost all those input - option sequences use char variables, not strings, so they only accept one letter.  It's weird that the program doesn't convert the letters to their ASCII equivalents, and then spit out 5 (s-p-e-e-d) error messages before letting you re-enter.  But then, strings are slightly more than arrays of characters.

@ Nahkis--It's a text-based game that looks like it's supposed to be run in DOS.  There are no graphics, but I think it looks somewhat polished.  Besides, the download size is only ~170 Kb. It would actually be faster for you to download the game than view a screenshot.

 

[Volkier]

Is there a cancel button? :

Maybe also allow the player to choose the number of play days?

And wheren't there significantly more 'rumors' in the other version? ::\

 

[Stonewall382]

Is there a cancel button? :

Maybe also allow the player to choose the number of play days?

And wheren't there significantly more 'rumors' in the other version? ::\

Most of the time, if you want to "cancel" something, you should enter 0.  Buying, selling:  enter zero.  Jetting:  enter the index of your current town.  I figured it would be simpler than having to always hit 'y' when you want to buy something, and doesn't really save you much time the few times you would use it to go back (i.e. hit 'n').  The problem with a text-based game like this is that you can't have a button that can be there but not be used.  Everything needs its own answer:  a yes or no.

Letting the player choose the time limit wouldn't be hard at all--thanks for the suggestion.

What do you mean by rumors?  Random events like the cops chasing you or getting mugged, or rumors about the prices of drugs rising and falling?  Or something else?

Any other suggestions?

 

[Volkier]

Aye you know like "you hear a rumor that the police are going to raid a massive cocaine warehouse tomorrow in city X" so you can decide if you want to fly there and see if it's true etc.

 

[LetterAfterZ]

Heh, well first time I tried to play it it performed an illegal operation after I entered my name, but I don't seem to be able to replicate it for now.

the first thing that happened to me was getting jumped by the cops. Yet I haven't actually committed any crime as of yet. If you're not holding any drugs and aren't specifically connected to any crime surely you could avoid a fight?

 

[Stonewall382]

@  Volkier--That was probably either in Dope Wars or DrugLord 2, both pieces of **** that can't hold a candle to DrugLord.
I appreciate the suggestion, but that doesn't sound like much fun.  I think it's better if you have to play the odds, rather than waiting for rumors so you can get a nearly sure thing.

@ LetterAfterZ:  Was the illegal operation where it spewed out a bunch of random characters?  Try running it again.  I haven't gotten that in a lot of times playing lately, so maybe it's gone (but honestly I doubt it).
I'll add a condition to the cops function that makes sure you've actually done something wrong before being attacked.  Thank you for the suggestion.


I'm currently working on finishing up the game.  I've added new drugs and weapons, and I'm working to spruce it up a bit.  Also, I've vastly expanded the statistics.  The stats screen should now be huge, and it tracks almost everything you can think of.  When I feel I've added all the content I want, I'll release it as version .95, and after I feel all the bugs are gone, I'll release version 1.0.
Thanks guys, for taking the time to play the game.  I'm really enjoying making it.

 

[Chewy2007]

This is a neat little game you have here. I do have a suggestion, though

Can you make it so that you can just press & button & something would happen, like for instance, just press B to buy drugs instead of having to press enter?

Also, what does prestige do?

 

[Stonewall382]

@  Chewy--thank you!

I'd love to make it like that, but I don't know how.  I'm using Microsoft Visual Studio, and I can't for the life of me figure out how to make that work.  But yeah, I've been trying to do that lately.  I also want to color different parts of sentences/stats whathaveyou, and I'd like to make it so that all the text before the most current day's stats display gets deleted each time, but I can't figure that out either.

On the bright side though, I'm pretty damned proud of the kickass stats screen, and looking at old screenshots, the game looks a little more polished and fleshed out now.


Oh yeah--prestige is used to call homies in cop fights and to tell muggers to **** off.  Also, by accumulating enough of it, you win the game.

 

[tarquineos]

Hey, sounds interesting! I'll try to play it later.
Anyway, do you know Abandonia Reloaded? It is a web site dedicated to remakes of old games; I bet that there are people in the forum there that could help you out with this project.

 

[Stonewall382]

Thanks for the site--I checked it out, but it doesn't seem to have been updated in a long time.  Is it still being updated?

 

[tarquineos]

Thanks for the site--I checked it out, but it doesn't seem to have been updated in a long time.  Is it still being updated?

Yep, every now and them (maybe once in week) a new game is added to the site; I check it regularly, since I just love old fashioned games! 
Although I can't tell you anything about the AR's forum; never went there...