ANMA's Frantic: all sources available for download

Expert (101)

17-04-2019, 18:56

Hello all,
The sources of our game Frantic (code, graphics, designs, levels/jobs, music) are now available for download:

https://www.msx.org/downloads/anmas-frantic-sources

Maybe you are interested to just have a look.
Maybe you are interested to use some concepts or maybe you are able to improve the game itself!

Please note that Frantic was made in 1992 with very limited tools (all on the MSX itself).

The download consists of a collection of .DSK files (MSX virtual disks) and also new txt-files to clarify some details. Except for these txt-files, everything is just as it was in 1992.

With this sources, anybody with enough skills can change anything in the game:
- better graphics?
- better gameplay?
- better levels/jobs?

For levels/jobs there is a designer/editor called 'FReditor' available. The levels/jobs of the original game are quite difficult, maybe too difficult...

This download is also archived by the 'Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision', in addition to the game itself.

Have a nice day!

By hamlet

Scribe (4110)

17-04-2019, 19:49

Good news stompetowerI always loved Frantic. Maybe we will see more jobs soon!

By Pencioner

Scribe (1633)

17-04-2019, 19:51

Great gift for game makers (and just for curious people)
Thanks!

By dhau

Paragon (1570)

17-04-2019, 21:01

Thank you for an interesting release, I'll check it out for sure.

By Thom

Paladin (714)

18-04-2019, 16:07

Thanks stompetower for putting this online including some documentation. Was it difficult to remember how you did things back then?

Just read you made the sound effects using the sound command in BASIC. Nice to know!

By stompetower

Expert (101)

23-04-2019, 16:29

Quote:

Good news stompetower always loved Frantic. Maybe we will see more jobs soon!

Yes, who knows, would be fun... If the MSX community makes 5 Frantic jobs/stages, we'll get the Frantic 'Community Edition'

Quote:

Was it difficult to remember how you did things back then?

I thought it was... but the more I looked at the old stuff, the more memory got refreshed Still hard to read the Z80 assembly though.

By meits

Scribe (6580)

23-04-2019, 17:32

I'd like to have a less hard version of Frantic cuz darn you sadist stompetower. Thanks to your sadism I never got to finish the game. Not even now in an emulator with rewind functions and other cheats... Your puzzles were good... Too good...
Question. Have you ever finished the game without cheats yourself? And if so, would you still be able to do it again?

By alexito

Paladin (761)

23-04-2019, 19:06

@stompetower: Thanks for share your knowledge.

By stompetower

Expert (101)

24-04-2019, 20:05

Quote:

darn you sadist stompetower

...it was Knightram! No that's a joke, we were both a bit evil I guess, but that's all solved now

Quote:

Have you ever finished the game without cheats yourself? And if so, would you still be able to do it again?

Yes, we did that before the release. And actually I did it again last year with some help (the maps and few rewinds in the emulator). I have sent the play-through video's to FiXato because he already has some video's on his channel. He told me he would be happy to publish it, but I haven't heard from him since, so I hope all is well with him...

By wolf_

Ambassador_ (10150)

24-04-2019, 20:38

Haven't looked it up, but would you say that the map editor is comfortable to use? See, if I'd know what the map format is like, and I'd have e.g. png-files of the tiles of all the level sets, I'd probably be able to make a map editor (Windows) within a day or two. And if this map data could somehow be exported to a file, ready to be assembled, then more people may want to try to map a level.

By stompetower

Expert (101)

24-04-2019, 21:01

Quote:

… the map editor is comfortable to use? See, if I'd know what the map format is like, and I'd have e.g. png-files of the tiles of all the level sets, I'd probably be able to make a map editor (Windows) within a day or two

Yes, all this info is available. Look in the sub-folder "Frantic - jobs and FReditor". There is a manual of FReditor, but also txt-files like "_How_to_build_JOB_files.txt", "_JOB_file_layout.txt" and more... Besides, there is a MS Visual Studio 2017 project (Winforms) in a sub-folder called 'FranticMapMaker (VS2017)" that was used to extract the Frantic maps from the .JOB files; this project has the PNG file with all graphics included. FReditor itself does not support editing moving enemies (these are described in another file that must be joined to the .JOB file), but a 'new' modern editor can include this editing because the format is explained. So, regarding FReditor: there is absolutely room for improvement
So wolf_, have a look if you like!