tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59219486300920411982024-03-19T11:50:17.056-07:00Beasty Bytes - King's Valley SpyGraham Parkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14247474935088701286noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921948630092041198.post-58958338959917299102017-02-02T11:22:00.001-08:002017-02-22T01:09:06.756-08:00King's Valley Spy v2.0 - A Level Editor<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<title>King's Valley Level Editor: King's Valley Spy</title>
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In 1988 Konami published a brilliant puzzle/action game called King's Valley II on the MSX1 and MSX2 machines. It was pretty unique in that it came with a nifty little level editor
that allowed players to create and share custom levels. A level was saved in a binary format with the .ELG extension (short for El Giza). The game can still be played today on original MSX machines
and several solid <a href="http://beastybytes.blogspot.nl/p/stages-and-links.html#emu">MSX emulators</a>.<br>
<br><center><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq7o-gkth96-Ms55pSebZdOkdDEyaSJfPg4iKqPEO44Bmkakyu8w3NdYNrGTAtxUmHPnqudMbW01PHjX3tMjNm4LUY_do_C9WlRJN9SdFBi_tI1xiQ9z4Vm9JFV9fZYMOUPalBb0olD885/s1600/kingsvalley.png" align="middle"></center><br>
For the upcoming 30th anniversary of the game (and because I really couldn't help myself) I decided to perform some
digital archeology of my own, and set out to decode the ELG file. My efforts have resulted in an MSX compatible King's Valley II level editor running on Windows. It adds some much needed functionality such as the ability to delete enemies, traps, rooms, as well as remove soul stones, change room layout, delete rooms and so on. It also makes editing a little more fun, adding zoom, automatic aligning, and the use of undo buffers.
<br><br>
<center>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSYYDm3K3UIkFGE-kl0ey4QF5McIEJ-WSNvDKdw_9vzoPHqsClntGtU74izcAAsB6rAvZO0Fs1BQx9D_fxXlAVo5RQneoCezFdaTYdaCDksEdzuMg0_F5CUc2B5S7RoVRGCpaESSuMx52O/s1600/kvspy2.0.png" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" width=576px src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSYYDm3K3UIkFGE-kl0ey4QF5McIEJ-WSNvDKdw_9vzoPHqsClntGtU74izcAAsB6rAvZO0Fs1BQx9D_fxXlAVo5RQneoCezFdaTYdaCDksEdzuMg0_F5CUc2B5S7RoVRGCpaESSuMx52O/s1600/kvspy2.0.png" /></a>
</center>
<h2>Feature list</h2>
King's Valley Spy is a Windows based, MSX compatible King's Valley II level editor. It offers the following features over Konami's in-game editor:<br>
<UL>
<LI> Remove misplaced stones/tools/enemies/soul stones
<LI> Add and delete rooms
<LI> Change the room layout
<LI> Use multiple undo buffers
<LI> Fill or clear rooms and stages with one click
<LI> Zoom out for a bird's eye view
<LI> Right-mouse drag the level
<LI> Export level maps
<LI> Auto-adjust trap heights when bricks are added
<LI> Auto-fix overwritten or misplaced ladders
<LI> See the number of items left (soul stones/tools etc)
<LI> Add a room grid for outlining room borders
<LI> Add a brick grid for outlining rows and columns
<LI> View levels in classic 8bit styles (Vampire, Goons, Galious)*
<LI> Drag&Drop ELG files for fast load
<LI> Start from sample levels
</UL>
<p class="smallf">
(*) Won't be imported by the King's Valley II rom.
</p>
<br><br>
<div style="margin-left:20px"> <!-- features -->
<h3> • Zoom in and out, see an overview of your entire level </h3>
Zoom in and out of a stage using F3/F4 for room-size fast zooming, or use the mouse scroll wheel for brick-size smooth zooming.<br><br>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR1eFtJnQa4UK3TAvFDdGzC1JD9q-tu54shNzaCKXPihl9-OoEKrlYNs3qY37s64goJo-absDuc2I-sd0arzhUBLs2hYFUkuMwhYhrTniofpufhWUvy35jdeWsnlpdcBG9Bje-IljWd2LO/s1600/zoom.png" height=168px>
<br><br>
<h3> • View your level in different classic styles </h3>
Just for fun, and because you won't be able to help yourself either, check out what your level would look like in the graphics-styles of other classic 8 bit gems. <br><br>
<center>
<div class="nobordersDiv"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip1WrmVO_98ENIy6St8ajSaKSWNQ9uxy-qiYV_okFZl8Gg5CEf7x3uwMJdNaU5265ga6xTogtY6ZlvG03n4fODZSoMMHNjklJGN61qPZHKRLm4s5Hwm87K82hH5z6gcXqp6-GZwWwwGKDj/s1600/goons_s.png"
width=256px><p class="smallf">Goons<p></div>
<div class="nobordersDiv"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOeLE7J7qIN5k75w8Zrar3gykd1Z88VHhIJVw_Gp53oHPQlCElU_ZlsVZMRCXcWkkv3Sx7k0y0PlZZdtmxbSbGriadvS_EMBUtNbQKWTnL2sQalt1U1_63tpv7kH5jQcFdRNHaYROkuZVe/s1600/galious_s.png"
width=256px><p class="smallf">Galious<p></div>
<div class="nobordersDiv"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg446pzlTkvw2gKATDV0WwZ7Z8QizjHz9ZKAyE1P3t28B5IREnDl8XurQ4ZVJeSYotLllTPwxBk-ZXgi_6xMWVwyIcPyotEYq4SuBka02YkthQAciFf0TfSWpYBQJbNOu4hu7o5M1jWQk6d/s1600/vampire_s.png"
width=256px><p class="smallf">Vampire<p></div>
</center>
<div class="clearleft"></div>
<h3> • Export your level to an image file</h3>
Export your entire level directly to an image. No more tiring screen-grab-cut-and-paste sessions to make a level map. <br><br>
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg45h5blEPGXpBX7dKA-qY7Hqn7e-RKwBa-pRcpCFCV69VHzvTpTzByP-NMFJ1TY2o4YGnqTM0SBF0048Nz6iUlf4nThvn-dkcP9KbcHERxIiy1AJ9mmFwpEJJmQ8Kv_Pj0a-ppBiQfpVdA/s1600/exporttoimage.png"
width=276px>
</div> <!-- features -->
<br>
<h2> Plans for upcoming releases</h2>
Nothing is set in stone, especially not how much time I'll be able to set aside to work on this project, but here are my current ideas for a release schedule:
<br><br>
• R2.5:
<UL>
<!-- <LI> (*) Choose stone colors and designs
<LI> (*) Set backgrounds -->
<LI> Preview play the character with brick and ladder interactions
<!-- <LI> Installer -->
</UL>
<!--• R2.6: Preview play with tool interactions<br>
• R3.0: Preview play with enemy AI<br>
<br>
(*) If this turns out to be possible within the ELG format ;) <br> -->
<br>
<h2> Downloads </h2>
You may need to install the latest Microsoft re-distributable, if so, follow the link to the official MS installer below and choose your OS etc.
<br><br>
• <a onclick="ga('send', 'event', 'Downloads', 'Click', 'Spy2.0downloaded', '0');" href="http://www.grahamparke.com/kvspy/kingsvalleyspy_v2.0_x86.zip">King's Valley Spy 2.0 </a>
<br><br>
<!-- including w10-->
• <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48145"> Microsoft Re-distributable</a>
<br><br>
• <a href="https://youtu.be/ruaMLXaAs3A"> Spy v2.0 tutorial video</a><br>
• <a href="https://youtu.be/3-1tz_k0kr8"> Level GP2727 play-thru </a>
<br>
<br>
<h3> Disclaimer </h3>
I spent many hair-pulling hours painstakingly recreating the graphics from scratch. I wanted them to look the way the original graphics looked to me, way back when, on a CRT TV. Although I'm very aware I far from succeeded, I hope it's clear that the graphics used in the Spy are mine. They are a homage to what I feel was a brilliant piece of coding and graphics design. <br><br>
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Graham Parkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14247474935088701286noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5921948630092041198.post-80138184889587329992017-01-04T08:34:00.003-08:002017-02-02T11:28:46.472-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<title>King's Valley Level Editor: King's Valley Spy</title>
<meta name="description" content="Windows editor for kings valley custom levels on the msx machine"/>
<meta name="keywords" content="custom,levels,msx,editor,kingsvalley, kings valley,msx2,msx1"/>
<meta name="author" content="Beasty Bytes"/>
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p.smallf2 {font-size: 0.7em;}
.pitch {width:800px;
font-family: "Garamond", Times, serif;
right: 0;left: 0;
margin-right: auto;margin-left: auto;margin-top: 30px; margin-bottom: 40px; background-color:#ffffff;
border-radius:10px; box-shadow: 6px 6px 7px #888888;padding-left:30px;padding-bottom:15px;padding-top:15px; padding-right:30px; }
h1 { color:#2CA4B0; font-family: Georgia, arial, serif; font-size: 25px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 40px; margin: 0 0 16px; }
h2 { color:#2CA4B0; font-family: Georgia, arial, serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 220; line-height: 40px; margin: 0 0 16px; }
h3 { color:#35BFCC; font-family: Georgia, arial, serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 200; line-height: 40px; margin: 0 0 8px; }
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Graham Parkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14247474935088701286noreply@blogger.com0