Reality: The Ultimate Software Construction Kit

[hipoonios]

Just took a quick look at this software. Because I'm interested to do more Amiga games soon. And I got impressed by the games created with it. It seems you can do more complex and FASTER games than with backbone. Some games runs smooth even on a standard Amiga 500!

The drawback is that i can't figure out how to use it. I guess the 6 disks from Tosec is not complete? There is no install script on any of the disks either. I guess i could just copy all files from all disks to a folder and make assigns?

I wish there was someone here who has experience creating games with Reality. So we could have a tutorial, like the Backbone tutorial.

[amigapd]

I never knew about this - I ve just looked at the editor from the CU CD cover disk - but where would I be able to obtain the skeleton disk for the adventure game?

I would be interested in doing a dizzy type game but with a Danger Mouse theme or updating some of the old BBC micro adventures like Spy Cat.

[rockersuke]

Originally Posted by amigapd

but where would I be able to obtain the skeleton disk for the adventure game?

EAB file server, section Commodore_Amiga -> App -> Disk
The 6 disks are there!

--

[amigapd]

Originally Posted by rockersuke

EAB file server, section Commodore_Amiga -> App -> Disk
The 6 disks are there!

--

Thanks - I did look there but must have missed them - have now got them and had a bit of a play around.

Initial thoughts are it looks quite good for making an adventure game where speed is not a big requirement.

If there are others interested in using this to make a dizzy genre game then I could be interested in helping with producing a manual / guide. Wouldn't be able to start until Jan at the earliest though.

[Adrian Browne]

Gosh, i had this back in the day. The company was based in Belfast if i remember correctly.
It took months and nothing had arrived, so I rang these guys up and they sent the disks out to me. Bit of a ramshackle operation; With the dwindling Amiga market, these guys were getting sloppy and then I imagine they folded sometime after?

I never got a full manual just a handful of incomplete photo copied sheets instead.
Without a proper manual I gave up and flung the disks into a box. I think I threw them away or formatted the disks at some point.

[amigapd]

I've loaded up the skeleton disks for the adventure disk and shoot em up disk but when I try the platform disk it causes the reality package to resit - the furthest I ve got is the message

If data and graphics files etc for the game you wish to edit are not on this disk then eject it and insert correct disk

Has anyone managed to access the platform disk?

I am accessing this on my PC running Winuae

[nobody]

Checked it a little bit and what i have so far:
Background creator is actually MAP EDITOR.
Graphics convertor you can load IFF images and convert them to .gra format to use in the program.
Paint package starts a Deluxe paint clone program to paint graphics.
Disk utilities you can start a file manager to manipulate your disks (copy, erase etc)
Edit skeleton disk lets you edit an already made game with this program, change graphics, maps etc. Use shoot em up disk and try Load level, Load stats then Edit stats, attack waves. Looks really complicated. Everything is text, no icons
Text editing starts a text editor
Animation studio you can make animations by grabbing your sprites, define speed of animation, hotspot etc.

Looks like you need the platform skeleton disk to make a platform in example, you cannot make from the master disk direct, you just edit the existing game in the skeleton disk. With Adventure skeleton disk you can make a Dizzy style game.

[amigapd]

I've started drafting a manual - based on the Adventure disk - as this is probably the option I am most interested in.

Have made notes on the following sections so far:

Messages
Bob Setup

Overall, it looks a very good tool with lots of flexibility - the Game set up section looks quite challenging and I may need some help with understanding the flags options when I get to that section.

Once, I've made notes on the different sections, I think I would then attempt a short tutorial on creating a 4 screen demo, covering the main game design options.

[nobody]

Games made with Reality are quite fast even on A500. Everything is made in AMOS Pro but this is really skilled programming, backbone cannot even come close to Reality potential but is much more complicated to work too. Need some manual to cover the various sections of the program.

[amigapd]

Originally Posted by nobody

Reality ... is much more complicated to work too. Need some manual to cover the various sections of the program.

I totally agree - I am happy to start work on drafting a manual and then develop this into a simple tutorial - are there any EAB members who would be interested in contributing? I think with a good set of instructions this tool could allow a greater pool of amiga enthusiasts to contribute to new games.

[nobody]

Sure I would like to help but I am not expert on the program

[amigapd]

Neither am I, but hopefully if we start producing some examples and instructions and others become interested and contribute , we might be able to collectively produce a guide to produce some goodish games. It looks more complete than Backbone, which I know got stopped halfway through development.

[nobody]

Some bits of instructions for the shop and energy - score panel are in the Shoot em up skeleton disk.

[nobody]

Instructions for Rainbow editor




COPPER COLOURZ
- Information text!

****************************************************************************

Welcome to COPPER COLOURZ!

Copper colourz is a colour editor, which the most obvious use for it, is
creating colours for the copper. Like in all those demos and games. CC
enables you to create such lists with minimum hastle!

Copper colourz was programed in AMOS, and it is FREEWARE!

You opperate CC by certain key presses, all of which are veiwable by
pressing the key `H` while in the editor of CC. Press it again and the Help
screen will disapear. Here is a list of CC's functions and key presses...

You can alter the colour to be placed by using the key pad, here is what
each key does..

7 8 9 - Affect Red

4 5 6 - Affect Green

1 2 3 - Affect Blue

^ ^ ^
| | |
| | Sets to 0
| |
| Decreses the colour by 1
|
Increases the colour by 1

O.K. let use a example to explain the above... Lets say your present
colour in $f00 (RED) and you want to get to $00F (Blue), heres how you would
do it... First press 9, to set the Red part of the colour to 0 thus giving
you black, then hold down 1 untill you reach $00F. Easy!!

There are several functions to enable you to create stunning effects..
they are the following...

` ` - (Space) Fade, allows you to fade between 2 colours.
`M` - Mask, allows you to mask off the present colour.
`T` - Tine, allows you to tine the present colour.
`B` - Bar, creates a nice fade to black. In the shape of a bar.
`F` - Fill, fills a portion of the screen.
`-` - Darken, darkens the present colour.
`+` - Lighten, lightens the present colour.
`*` - Random, Creates a random colour.
`C` - Copy, Copys a part of the list into memory.
`P` - Paste, Pastes the Copyied colours to the list.
`G` - Get, gets a colour from the list.
`Z` - Zoom, Enlarges a part of the list.
`/` - Cycles through the preset colours.

There are also other commands and they are...

`L` - Loads a Copper Colours File (.CCF)
`S` - Saves the copper list in various formats.
`R` - Loads in a Rainbow Warrior SCREEN FILE.
`(` - Move list up.
`)` - Move list down.
`[` - Saves whole list into memory.
`]` - Restors list from memory.
`{` - Save present colour to memory.
`}` - Gets the colour from memory.
`X` - Quits CC (???).
`!` - Sets the Screen colours.
`H` - Displays help screen.

The left mouse button places the present colour down on to the list, and the
right mouse button places a black line on the list. The present colour id
displayed in colour form behind the title bar, and in numbers ($XXX) in the
status screen. The status screen also displays infomation about other stuff,
including colour on list at mouse pos, which is very help full!


Quick greets to FANATIX, SYNTEX, CYBERNETICS, BEHOLDER, BLADE RUNNERS,
AMOS P.D., 17 BIT SOFTWARE, Etc....

(C) Bitmap 1992. A Yazoo Production.

Laterz!

[nobody]

Some more instructions i found

INFORMATION ON DISK MASTER II
-------------------------------

The DISKMASTER II disk Utility software has been included in the REALITY
package to make life much easier for you! It is a file and disk handling
system where you can copy, Delete, Rename, Move etc both files and Disks!

It is a very easy piece of software to get to grips with and can be
completely controlled from your AMIGA mouse!

Hold down the right mouse button to access the menus at the TOP of the
display. These feature a lot of advanced functions which you may find useful
at some stage.

A good piece of software to get your hands on if at all possible is
Directory Opus which is a similar but more powerful and easier to use system
although it is a commercial package. We recommend this although in the
meantime Diskmaster II should suit your every need!

The best way to learn is to experiment with all of the different features!


INFORMATION ON TEXTED!
------------------------

Another useful program that we have included is TEXTED. This is really
only useful for editing TEXT files and you should have a similar program to
this in your Workbench. It is very similar to using a wordprosesor. The
different options can be accessed by holding down the right mouse button
and moving to the top of the screen. TEXT files ".DOC" (Short for DOCUMENT)
are used in some REALITY software programs like this DISK MAGAZINE. In fact
this TEXT file you are reading right now was created using it!

Again the best way to learn is to experiment!


When you QUIT from any of either the PAINT PACKAGE, TEXT EDITOR,
DISK MASTER II or the RAINBOW EDITOR you will be presented with a workbench
screen. In order to get back to the REALITY main menu screen you will have
to type its name like so type:

REALITY

This is an unavoidable small problem that you will have to bare with. You
can also reset the machine and reboot the disk if you wish!


End.

[amigapd]

It might not look much, but I have been playing around with the Adventure creator disk - I am attempting to make a small Danger Mouse arcade adventure. In the short term, it is probably going to be a series of tutorials. So far have managed to

• Import IFF format tile set
• Convert IFF graphic files to GRA format used for tile set and sprites
• Used Map level to create screens - amend block properties (solid and ladders)
• Have worked how to include enemies and determine their start position and movement.
• Worked out how to use the text box message system

My initial impression is that this can be used to create quite large games. The lack of a manual is quite frustrating, but once you work out how to use the different aspects it seems quite user friendly so far.

[AF2013]

looking good and keep going amigapd

[amigapd]

Thanks -

Have now worked out how to change bottom score / energy area - will update with a more DM themed image later - at moment just using holding graphics etc as I work through the functions.

This will probably become the room of the first tutorial - involving how to load files / use map editor / set player values.

[amiman99]

Great news @amigapd!
Do you know if the engine supports parallel scrolling background?
I will be waiting for the tutorial and thanks for your time and your service.

[nobody]

Reading the manual makes things more complicated. Seems color 1 (second), cannot be used as it is reserved for grabbing tiles & sprites (color 0 is the first).

Grabber is used to grab your images to sprites or tiles. Working out on their restrictions.. Scrunch and scrunch all is used to auto crop images you grab manually. Remember color 1 not to be used for graphics, it will hang the program.

You can view your sprite/tile bank after you grab with View images button.
Swap between will swap grabbed images to sprites / tiles.
Get image will get grabbed image from sprite/tile bank you made with grabber to edit in this window. Number of bank is to the upper right (Current image=...)
Put image will put the image you see in this editor to the bank number you see upper right (Current image=...).
Move right, Move left will move the bank number (Current image=...).