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Ultima 5 for TI calculators

About the remake

David Randall [drandall99 at charter dot net] has been working on a remake of Ultima 5 for TI calculators for about a year. The remake has been tried, so far, on TI-89 and TI-92+ calculators, which have the following specifications:

• CPU Motorola 68000 @ 12MHz
• 256Kb RAM
• 768Kb FLASH
• 4 shade grayscale
• 11x11-pixel tiles
• screen resolution:
  • TI-89: 160x100 pixels (can display a 9x9 grid)
  • TI-92+: 240x128 pixels (can display the full 11x11 map)

The rename is 83%. The game engine executable is currently 56KB. The calculator's operating system limits the physical size of a file to a maximum of 64KB.

Features

• 512 tiles, 11x11 pixels and 4 colors. The original tiles were 16x16 pixels and 16 colors.
• 2 world maps (each with a size of 256x256 tiles)
• 32 multi level towns (each level size 32x32 tiles)
• 8 multi level dungeons
• about 150 NPC (non-playable characters) each NPC has a unique daily schedule and conversation script.

Status

• Commands that are now working:
  • move north, south, east, west
  • enter and exit buildings and dungeons
  • climb up & down ladders
  • jimmy (unlock) doors
  • open doors
  • board and exit frigates, skiffs, and horses
  • push small objects
  • talk with nearby NPCs (to do merchants)
  • ignite torch
  • new (party) order
  • Z-Stats
  • Look
    • 'Look' at musical instruments is now working. Enter the correct tune on the appropriate instrument and special things happen.
    • 'Look' at grandfather clock to get time is working.
    • 'Look' at wishing wells to make a wish. Some wells have been rumored to grant wishes.
  • get
  • search (doesn't work only for chest traps)
  • View a gem
  • mixing spells is working
  • readying weapons, shields, armor, helmuts, rings, and amulets is working
  • climbing over fences, rock piles, and mountains is working
  • 'Yell' words of power loudly to perform special actions.
• Tile overlays of beds, chairs, and ladders working
• History window is now working
• Menus are now working
• Approx 416 out of 528 tiles redrawn.
• NPC talking algorithm is working.
• 95% of animated tiles are displaying correctly.
• Map rendering complete. 9x9 tile grid for the 89 and 11x11 grid (same as original) for the 92 and V200. All maps can be rendered including: Britannia, Underworld, townes, castles, keeps, dwellings, shrines, combat, dungeons, and rooms within dungeons.
• The non-playable characters (NPCs) are moving per their designated schedule. (Yes, the NPCs get up in the morning, go to breakfast, go to work, and even go to sleep. (Using a memory and speed optimized version of the A* pathfinding algorithm.)
• The "Clear Line of Sight" algorithm is working. The field of view is blocked by obstructions.
• Day and night algorithm is working. The field of view is gradually reduced as the sun goes down.
• The light source algorithm is working. At night, light sources (torch or lamps) will light up darkened areas.
• Title screen is working.
• Actual NPC sprites are used.
• The 'Look' command works.
• Reading signs works too.
• Can now display all party members and enemies in dungeon rooms.
• Reflection in mirrors is now working.
• Camera Position while in combat or dungeon rooms is working (applicable only for TI-89 version only due to the 9x9 tile grid limitation).
• Combat is approximately 30% complete.
• During combat, "automatic" camera panning is working on the TI-89, this is in addition to the "on demand" camera panning. The automatic camera positioning depends on the position of current player or the aiming crosshair.
• Entering combat maps from all directions working. All party members and enemies display with correct initial positions.
• Drawbridges and portcullis (towne gates) are working. The drawbridges and the portcullis block entrances from midnight to 6am.
• Moongate travel is working.
• Shoppe owners talk.
• Trolls guard bridges.
• Random enemy generation.
• Peer into crystal balls.
• Hole up & camp.
• Summoning and killing the Shadowlords is working.
• All shrine quests are complete.
• Finding Lord British's items is complete.
• Using all special stones is working.
• Falling into the Underworld is working.
• Resurrection after party is defeated.

External info and media

• David Randall's Ticalc webpage
• Relevant forum topics:
  • [dead] Here at Omnimaga
  • [dead] Here at Dino's Ultima Page
  • Here at Tifreakware
• Animated gif demos:
  • TI-89 version (out of date)
  • TI-89 version (updated)
  • TI-89 version (updated)
  • TI-92+ version
  • Look, Get and Search commands
  • Viewing a gem
  • [Check out the Tifreakware link above for more]