Castles of Dr. Creep Wii

Castles of Dr. Creep
General
Author	segra
Type	Platform
Version	V1.1
License	GPL-3.0
Last Updated	2014/12/15
Links
Download
Website
Source

Castles of Dr. Creep is a 1984 Commodore 64 game written by Ed Hobbs and published by Broderbund Software.

This project is an open source rewrite, allowing you to play the game using an image (D64) of the original disk. Additionally, a Castle Builder has been added allowing the player to modify existing castles, or build new ones from scratch.

Currently it can compile and play on both Windows, Nintendo Wii, FreeBSD, MacOS X, and Linux (Ubuntu specifically has been tested).

Installation

Extract the zip file to the apps folder to your SD card.

In order to run the game, you will need to supply your own Commodore 64 Disk Image (D64) of The Castles of Dr. Creep, which should be placed in the game's data folder. This file may have any name, but the D64 extension must remain.

A Channel WAD is also provided.

User guide

History

Ed Hobbs, the programmer of the game, sheds light on the difficulties he faced while reverse-engineering the 6502 object code to C++. In the early days of the C-64 assembler, it was limited and could not handle programs larger than 16kb, so Hobbs had to write and assemble the source code on an Apple II and then transfer the binary to the C-64 through the joystick ports of the respective computers, marking his first experience with a "computer network". Despite the game not being able to run on the Apple II, it still played a crucial role in the creation of "Dr. Creep".

One of the major challenges was to fit the entire source code onto a single 144 kb floppy disk that was compatible with the Apple 6502 assembler. To do so, Hobbs had to remove all comments from the code, leaving no room for them. He maintained a notebook with hundreds of pages of flowcharts and data-layout diagrams to keep track of the code and understand what was happening in the code.

Furthermore, there was no C-64 debugger available, adding an extra layer of complexity to the programming process. Hobbs also lacked a level editor, and had to draw out the levels on custom graph paper and then hand-code the level data.

Overview

The Castles of Doctor Creep is a puzzle platform game in which your task is to escape from 13 different castles that are filled with traps, monsters, and mazes.

Each castle is a series of connected rooms that you travel through; many rooms have multiple entrances and exits. In some of the more intricate castles, you must visit certain rooms multiple times, entering and exiting using different doors.

You can learn more about the game (along with many game tips) on C64-Wiki.

Save game support

D64s will be created in the data\save folder, and all save games will be stored in these files.

These files are compatible with the original Commodore64 game, and in return the original save games are supported.

Controls

Hold the WiiMote sideway.

Intro:

Plus - Option Menu

1 - High Scores

In game:

D-Pad - Movement

2 - Fire Button

A - Self Kill

Screenshots

Media

The Castles of Dr. Creep r270 (Cid2Mizard)

Known issues

Sound is not perfect.

Changelog

V1.1 2012/11/12

• Fix three bugs (Sprite collisions, picking up of key issue, X coordinate issue if overflowed from a byte).
• Fix the channel banner.

V1.0 2012/11/12

• Fix the last known graphic bug.
• Heard from the original game author - Ed Hobbs.

SVN-351 2010/11/07

• Fix sprite collision bug, Fix another object collision issue.
• Fix the game speed, making it run at the original PAL speed.
• Adds the ability to edit text in Builder

SVN-345 2010/11/05

• All objects can now be placed and linked.
• The map screen can be edited with the door positions being adjustable.

SVN-338 2010/11/04

• A Castle Builder is now included, with the hotkey information available in the readme. While this feature exists in the Wii version, at present it is unusable due to a lack of controls.

SVN-270 2010/07/15

• Wii WAD/Dol Version now available (sound is buggy).
• Options Menu is now implemented.

SVN-219 2010/05/12

• Sound and performance have also been improved, along with some minor bug fixes.

SVN-168 2010/05/05

• Highscores.
• Game Play Timer.
• Save Game/Load Game (uses D64s, supports original savegames).
• Sound Effects/Introduction Music.

SVN-125 (02/11/2010)

• This is the first public release, the game is completable with minor issues occasionally causing lockups.

Credits

Thanks:

• Ed Hobbs, for the original game
• Christian Bauer, for his extremely detailed VIC-II documentation.
• Dag Lem, for reSid the MOS6581 SID emulation library.
• Peter Schepers and the authors of the documents contained in his collection, for the detailed disk format information.
• Thomas Bätzler, for his website Castles of Dr.Creep Revisited.

External links

• Official website - http://creep.sourceforge.net/
• SourceForge - httpshttps://sourceforge.net/projects/creep/
• GitHub - https://github.com/segrax/DrCreep
• WiiBrew - https://wiibrew.org/wiki/Castles_of_Dr._Creep