[Game]MicroCity colour edition [WIP]

This is a port of my Arduboy game MicroCity to the Pokitto. It is a city building game similar to the classic SimCity.

microcity-colour

You can find the latest release on Github here:

Code repository is here:

13 Likes

Currently you cannot save your game. I want to be able to save / load from SD card but it isnā€™t clear to me how this should be done? I have seen multiple threads on the forums spanning the last few years and Iā€™m not sure what is the ā€˜bestā€™ method to use?

Ideally I want the game to create a save game if the file doesnā€™t already exist on the SD card

2 Likes

Thank you!!!

Edit: @wuuff , your saving system on SD in Planet Escape is one of the best. Do you mind giving a hand?

3 Likes

I will also now award James with the illustrious and coveted ā€œGame Publisherā€ badge! Congratulations!

gamepublisher
@jhhoward

7 Likes

Looks really nice! Will try it out in the weekend.

2 Likes

Wow that didnā€™t take long.

How much data do you need to save? If its a relatively small amount, then your best bet is probably to use cookies and remove the dependency on the SD card altogether. A small tutorial can be found here > [Tutorial] Pipes Part 3

6 Likes

Cool! I need to try this.

2 Likes

The save data is about 1KB (as it is was originally designed for the Arduboy which has 1KB EEPROM). I see the Pokitto has 4KB EEPROM so it would easily fit but it would take up quite a significant chunk of the space.

Iā€™ll take a look at the cookie system as maybe it will be more straightforward than writing to the SD card

Eeprom space is beginning to get filled up if you have any significant number of games. Eeprom of my Pokitto is full. This is due to the ease of use and therefore popularity of the cookie system.

I would prefer if you went for the SD card saving instead, since we could then extend the bounds of the data as well. And have multiple cities etc.

4 Likes

Sure, I can try to help! This looks great. @jhhoward, if you use the SD card, it should be possible to be able to save and load multiple cities to SD! I can share some code snippets from the save system in Planet Escape if you would like. Iā€™m using SDFileSystem.

4 Likes

Yes please share some code snippets it would be really helpful to understand how it works!

3 Likes

Works wonderfully! Very much like Sim City in Amiga back in the day. Few questions:

  • How I get people to move in? I cannot collect any taxes at all :slight_smile:
  • Why the Fire Dept do not go and stop the fire even if the road goes right beside them?
1 Like

Make sure they are connected to electricity amd that theres job opportunities and commerce? :wink:

2 Likes

Amazing, my favorite game from Arduboy!

SD or EEPROM? Why not both? There can be a compile-time option for which to use.

I got people to move in. I think they are expecting painted houses, but were willing to settle in monochrome dwellings once tax was lowered to 1%

BTW, this game, in 256 color TAS mode ā€¦

EDIT: scratch that. Lets focus on the basics first!

2 Likes

Glad to hear that you are enjoying MicroCity on Pokitto :slight_smile:

I have finished making colour versions of all the tiles so next release I make there wonā€™t be any monochrome tiles. I used the Dawnbringer 16 palette with a slight modification - I replaced the cream / white with actual white. I kept the toolbar in monochrome as I think it fits better with the rest of the UI.

Lowering tax is an easy way to increase population growth. To boost residential zones, build parks nearby and avoid placing them near polluting industrial zones or the power station.

There is probably plenty of RAM to run in Mode 13 256 colour mode but I think 16 colours is actually plenty for this game. If anyone wants to have a go at making a 256 colour version then the tile map can be found here.

5 Likes

I could not find a way to adjust the Fire brigade / Police budget?

@jhhoward ā€¦ how about 220x176 in 16 colour mode?

Thats a ā€œnativeā€ mode of the Pokitto display

1 Like

It can run at full resolution but is currently a little sluggish so would need some optimisation. In a way I actually prefer the ā€˜chunkyā€™ look that it currently has.

5 Likes

It actually looked chunky on Amiga too, iirc.