I'm currently creating a simple space-style resource management game in easy68k.
One part of my game consists of a simple loop which signifies the point from which the players fleet leaves home base to when they reach their mission destination. The loop is controlled by the distance to travel and the ships fuel. So if the fuel runs out then I will add in a function that will let the player know they didn't make it to their destination and they have lost their ships.
In between all of this happening I have a random number generated from 1-100, depending on the number generated, a certain event may happen e.g the player will find some salvage, crewmen, abandoned ships, pirates etc. When one of these events occurs I want to output a message to the console screen to let the player know.
My problem is that when the loop is run, if any events occur, they are all output to the screen in less than a second and the player ends up missing out on most of the events.
I'm wondering, is there a way to delay the output so that the writing appears at a pace that the player can easily follow?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
If it helps here is my loop, I'm not fully finished implementing all mechanics but the loop itself works fine.
*-------------------------------------------------------
*---------------Update Mission Progress-----------------
* Move to mission location, random events will occur
*-------------------------------------------------------
update:
bsr endl print a CR and LF
bsr decorate decorate with dots using a loop
move.w $4000, D7 move distance value into D7
move.w $4020, D6 move fuel value into D6
lea update_msg,A1 Display update message
move.b #14,D0
trap #15
update_loop:
move.b #8,d0 Get time 1/100th seconds since midnight
trap #15
and.l #$5FFFFF,D1 prevent overflow in divu
divu #100,D1 time count / 100
swap D1 swap upper and lower words of D1 to put remainder in low word
addq.w #1,D1 d1.w contains number from 1 to 100
move D1,D2 d2 = d1
bsr check_events check to see if any of the events will occur
sub.b #fuel_cost, D6 reduce ships fuel by one
CMP #0, D6 if the ships fuel reaches 0 then go to out of fuel routine
BEQ out_of_fuel
sub.b #1, D7 reduce mission distance by 1
CMP #0, D7 when it reaches 0 go to the continue subroutine
BNE update_loop otherwise go back to the top of the loop
BRA continue_loop
continue_loop:
*Used to leave the update loop
lea continue_msg,A1
move.b #14,D0
trap #15
move.b #5,D0 wait for input so the player can read the event messages
trap #15
CMP $94, D1
BNE continue_loop
move.w D6, $4020 store the new value for ship fuel
bsr decorate
rts
check_events:
*Check to make sure the random value is within the specific range for each event
CMP #95, D2
BGE check_found_salvage
CMP #75, D2
BGE check_hit_mine
CMP #55, D2
BGE check_pirate_attack
CMP #35, D2
BGE check_found_ship
CMP #15, D2
BGE check_found_crew
rts
*Further checks to make sure the random value is within the specific ranges
check_found_salvage:
CMP #97, D2
BLE collect_salvage
rts
check_hit_mine:
CMP #77, D2
BLE hit_mine
rts
check_pirate_attack:
CMP #57, D2
BLE initiate_attack
rts
check_found_ship:
CMP #37, D2
BLE check_collect_ship
RTS
check_found_crew:
CMP #17, D2
BLE collect_crew
rts
*Run each event, outputting a message to the screen if an event occurs
collect_salvage:
lea found_salvage_msg,A1
move.b #14,D0
trap #15
rts
hit_mine:
lea hit_mine_msg,A1
move.b #14,D0
trap #15
rts
initiate_attack:
lea initiate_attack_msg,A1
move.b #14,D0
trap #15
rts
check_collect_ship:
lea found_ship_msg ,A1
move.b #14,D0
trap #15
rts
collect_crew:
lea found_crew_msg,A1
move.b #14,D0
trap #15
rts
*Not fully implemented out of fuel mechanic yet
out_of_fuel:
rts
According to the Easy68k forums there is a trap to just wait a specified amount of time:
move.l #100,D1 ; delay in 1/100th of seconds
moveq #23,D0
trap #15
You could just use this trap to wait for a bit after printing an event?