Boulder Dash Forum

[Arno]

[Dustin]

Thx for the quick answer, Arno! Now I tried a few things and it works again!
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Boulder Dash X Rock, Paper, Scissors:
ROCKFORD collects DIAMOND, digs DIRT
DIAMOND outvalues DIRT & BOULDER
DIRT carries BOULDER, blocks FIREFLY
BOULDER kills FIREFLY & ROCKFORD
FIREFLY kills ROCKFORD, guards DIAMOND

[Agetian]

Hi guys,
A new forum user but a long-time lurker and Boulder Dash fan here.

For some time I've been working on a project that aims to essentially be an offline-playable Boulder Dash engine implementation that is compatible with Krissz Engine. Currently this engine is in the early stages of development (and is probably late alpha or early beta quality), it's based on the heavily bug-fixed and improved BoulderCaves open source Python BD engine, which currently runs at a constant 30fps on standard Python 3 and is able to run at 50-60 fps on most maps when running on Pypy3 (a high-speed Python implementation).

My aim is to eventually bring it close to being frame-exact and as compatible with Krissz's engine as possible. When it comes to being frame-exact, it's definitely not quite there yet - however, I'm slowly working through implementing things such as PLCK predictable slime permeability with the same patterns that are used in Krissz's engine - this was actually completed just recently and seems to work correctly in comparison tests with impermeable slimes, both when it comes to timing and when it comes to patterns.

Probably the more interesting features of this engine are the CSO-correct support for the Light Boulder that I don't think is supported in any existing offline engine, as well as support for the various options that are used in Krissz's engine and which appear to also be exclusive to it, such as Reverse Time, No Time Limit, or independent Open Horizontal/Vertical Borders. The ultimate aim is to make this engine be able to play many (hopefully most?) caves developed for the Krissz engine offline, for the purpose of preserving the legacy of the said engine if the online implementation goes down (I hope it'll live on forever, but I also know that as unfortunate as it is, things like that are impossible). I also aim to provide a way to convert a map from Krissz's engine to a format that my engine can use (currently a modified version of the BDCFF spec).

As of right now, the engine is able to play maps such as Boulder Brothers and Blifil in a way where they can be completed in what I believe is the originally intended way, and they mostly look, sound, and play similar (even if possibly not 100% frame-exact) to the way they're played on Krissz's engine. Granted, Blifil doesn't quite look as cute as it does in Krissz's online remake since I haven't found a way to implement the infinite scroll yet, but it's definitely playable and otherwise looks and behaves the same as the original map, with the full open borders and wraparound.

The project is complemented with a simple converter which takes a PNG image exported from Krissz's construction kit and outputs an extended BDCFF file (with support for the new objects and options) which can be played in my engine. A fully automatic conversion is impossible since not all the objects are visualized on the output PNG (e.g. magic walls, expanding walls are indistinguishable from the brick wall), and not all the properties are set correctly when the map is semi-cloned. So, some manual work is required for the conversion, but at least the map doesn't need to be manually redrawn from scratch tile by tile.

The big questions, however, are:
(1) Would such a thing be of any interest to anyone at all in the BD community? I realize that as of right now, pretty much anyone plays online (I do most of the time as well, lol) on Krissz's website, which is the definitive experience as of today. Arno told me that a project like I suggest probably has little value due to the overabundance of BD clones and ports already available, and I can sort of see what he means, though I still hope that there is a potential niche in it being useful (possibly in the future) as a way to preserve the Krissz-compatible engine should the original one go offline. Unfortunately, Krissz's implementation is not open source, and it's not certain if it ever will be released publicly in any form, even when and if the website ceases to exist. Therefore, would having an alternative engine with comparable/compatible features be potentially desirable in the future?
(2) Would it be alright to release a Krissz engine-compatible BD engine in the first place? I mean, won't I be stepping on Krissz's toes by doing so, and won't I interfere with the spirit of the "online only" community that has already been developed over the last few years due to the popularity of Krissz's online remake? I don't want to interfere in any way, so if this is undesirable for any reasons at the moment, I may keep the project to myself for the time being and only release it when/if Krissz's original website goes down.
(3) Provided that the answer to the first two questions are positive, would anyone be willing to collaborate in any way? As soon as the project is a little more mature, I'm planning to put it on Github for anyone willing to join in on coding or playtesting it to contribute. At the moment, however, the most valuable contribution may come in the form of sharing cave PNG files exported from Krissz engine construction kit, if anyone collected any of them, so that the conversion tool can be tweaked and improved and tested on a wide variety of caves of various sizes.

If there's any interest in the project whatsoever, I can share some screenshots and videos of the current build to show a little bit more what I have in mind and what I'm working on. I will start a new thread in this case, to track the progress of the project and inform about the current developments.
If there's no interest in it whatsoever, at least I'm going to learn a lot about the BD intrinsics and in-depth mechanics while working on it, improve my coding skills, and hopefully get a Krissz engine-compatible variant of my favorite game to enjoy offline.

Thanks to everyone for the potential interest or at least for reading

- Agetian

[Arno]

The intension of this BD remake being compatible with Krissz' engine is something that slipped my attention so far, and definitely is of added value, indeed, just in case that Krissz' site will ever close at any point in time. (Of course I hope not too, but as we all know nothing has the eternal life.)

Concerning your request for cave PNG files, I have a collection of few thousands of such file, downloaded from Krissz' site over the past few years. I may be able to help you by sending these files, just let me know.
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---- Boulder Dash Fansite ----

[Agetian]

[Chris Neilson]

There are impossible cave at http://boulderdash.krissz.hu/#new:oPeL5C5dUF2Y
Dustin start hack with keyboard controller. and player make impossibles cave https://ibb.co/Sttx2MV
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Boulder Dash Construction Kit
Crazy Light Construction Kit
GDash <> XDC-engine

[DarkStoorM]