Dreamworld Pogie/Next: Demo v.1.0

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Pogie is waiting for you to move him about in his Dreamworld!

Today, W.A.S.P.STUDIO released the v.1.0 demo for one of KS1 stretch goals: Dreamworld Pogie/Next. A very early edition of this Pogie demo (which dates before 9 bit colour was even a reality) was already included with System/Next distribution but as everyone knows this wouldn’t work under #CSpect. This has now been fixed and Pogie works correctly (albeit without digital sound yet) with CSpect.

Instructions for “Installation/Execution”

  1. Download the demo from here and unzip it either to your SD card or (in case of #CSpect) to your hard drive
  2. If you have one of the System/Next SD card images for #CSpect and ZEsaruX you can inject the Pogie folder you decompressed in Step 1 above, using your preferred method, to the SD image and then start your emulator the usual way and once you reach the NextZXOS Start Menu, use the browser to locate the folder and launch Pogie.snx. The same startup procedure applies for a standard Next, N-Go, ZX-DOS and UnAMIGA/Reloaded running Next cores.
  3. If you don’t have an image or do not want to go to the trouble of injecting that folder into said image and you use #CSpect you can start up #Cspect with the following command: cspect.exe -zxnext -tv (optional if you don’t like the scanline effect) -vsync and once #CSpect starts press F2 and locate Pogie.snx in your computer.

Pogie giving you trouble?

If Pogie appears to have crashed (Hardware): Pogie requires its audio files to be defragmented. You can either copy Pogie onto a freshly formatted card, or alternatively use the .defrag command with all files that end in .cpa (Pogie.cpa, Pogie1.cpa, Pogie2.cpa). If you’re using a MISTer Next core, make sure Pogie runs from a secondary SD card as the first one cannot sadly stream due to the MISTer hardware.

If Pogie runs too slow (Emulator): In case of ZEsaruX, you will probably need to recompile and optimize ZEsaruX‘s settings. Refer to the documentation. In case of #CSpect, try removing the -sound directive from #CSpect‘s launch command.

Control

You can control Pogie with either your keyboard or a Kempston type joystick set in port 1

Keys
Q (up)
A (down)
O (left)
P (down)
SPACE (jump)

A bit of a preview of what to expect!

New this version

  • 320 x 256 L2 startup screen with special consideration for cropped displays
  • 50Hz mode
  • 9-bit colour
  • Cleaned up digital audio engine
  • Cleaned up sprites
  • Rosie sprite (not visible in this version yet but it’s there!)
  • Life loss animation
  • Fixed bugs

Updates from W.A.S.P

The final version of Dreamworld Pogie/Next will be free to download from specnext.com for all KS1 backers (Dev board and any KS1 model) and available for purchase directly from W.A.S.P. for all others in digital and physical versions. A preorder page shall be opened up once Demo v.1.1 is released.

Credits

Original Game: The Oliver Twins
Programming: Lyndon J Sharp
Graphics: Phoebus R Dokos
Music: Lampros Potamianos