Eternal Battle | ZX Spectrum Next

•  The main goal of the game is to reach the maximum level (LVL).

•  To increase the level you need to earn experience (EXP), which you get for defeating enemies of the maximum level.

• Enemies can be attacked by clicking on them with the mouse, or you can purchase heroes - up to 12 heroes on the battlefield. There are 4 different kinds in total: barbarian, archer, knight and wizard. The cost of a hero increases after each purchase.

• After purchase, the hero automatically appears on the battlefield at a random point, but you can always select it and specify a different location.

• After defeating an enemy, gold will drop out of him, which you need to collect. There can be no more than 10 coins on the battlefield at a time, after which additional coins stop appearing.

• As the current level increases, enemies become stronger and faster, but they also yield more gold. Sometimes it is advisable to temporarily lower the level (LVL) to accumulate resources. Don't forget that experience points (EXP) are awarded only for defeating enemies of the maximum level.

• You have the opportunity to increase damage (DMG), which applies to both cursor hits and attacks of your heroes. After each enhancement, the cost of the next enhancement increases.

• In the main menu of the Leaderboard section, you will be able to view the online leaderboard. Don't forget to enter your name to display the results.

• The game can be paused at any time by returning to the main menu from battle mode. When you do so, the current game state will be automatically saved to the SD card, allowing you to continue the game from the same point at any convenient time.

• The game is controlled using the keyboard, mouse or MegaDrive gamepad: arrows on the keyboard, QAOP to move, Space key to shoot, M or Enter to select a hero, E to return to the main menu.

The game was developed specifically for the White Next contest, the development time was a little over 1 month. 

It runs in 320x224 resolution and can be run in 50Hz and 60Hz modes. The music is played directly from the SD card using copper + covox. The code is written in my own dialect of "structasm" assembler, which is in the early stages of development, but I hope to bring it to public release. The "utility" folder also contains several utilities with C# source code: 

- CutWaveFiles: removes header and ending from wav files

- MadeSFXPack: assembles prepared wav files into a package

- PNGtoNext: prepares png images for use in the Next palette.

SpriteCutter5.0 is an editor for creating animations. It is currently under development, but I hope to be able to release a public version in the future. In the leaderboard folder is a file with a PHP script that makes the leaderboard function.

In addition, third-party programs were also used for development: sjasmplus assembler and cspect emulator.

Graphics is partly taken from free assets https://momongaa.itch.io/, partly generated by neural network Dall-E 2. Music is generated by neural network Riffusion.