Alpacalypse

The New Dimension in Co-op with Blazon are proud to present Alpacalypse. A fun run and jump, collect and avoid game, first  released on Zzap! 64 Micro Action #19's cover mount. This game production consists of the following:

- Presentable loading bitmap
- Front end presentation
- Hi score table
- A selection of difficulty level settings
- Upbeat music with custom in game sound effects blended together
- 8 Levels of crazy leaping action
- Collectible fruit and power ups
- 8 different evil aliens (if you class them as aliens)
- A few other surprises, which you will encounter as you play the game.

- Compatible with both PAL, NTSC machines, and also compatible Ultimate 64 and theC64 mini console / theC64 full size computer (or theVIC20 in C64 mode).

This game should also work with SD2IEC hardware since there are no custom software fastloaders built into this production and that Alpacalypse is also a single file game with a hi built in score saver if using the D64 version.

THE STORY

You are an Alpaca. You lived on a farm not far from the Mayan Temple. A sacred wonder in which druids had worshipped many events – that's what you probably think. Unfortunately, some silly nutcase had left your pen open, and you escaped. It was peaceful outside the Mayan Temple, not a human in sight. You run into the temple. Just as you reach the central point of it you hear a click and then the ground shakes. Suddenly, you feel as if the temple is growing. Not quite, because you are being sent to the underground towards a blazing inferno. Now your Alpaca is running for its life in a bid for freedom. Behold the Alpacalypse.

PLAYING THE GAME

This game is for one player only. Alpacalypse is a horizontal scrolling run and jump game, which features eight levels. Your task is to guide your Alpaca safely across each level of the underground lair inside the Mayan Temple. The temple underground is under a spell, which wraps around the scenery. It is up to you to help your Alpaca to travel all the way to freedom.

COMPLETING A LEVEL

In order to complete a level, your Alpaca must travel a complete distance that has been set in the top left of the score panel. (XX/YY) Where XX is the distance you have currently travelled and YY is the target distance before completing a level.

BONUS POINTS

On completing a level, you will score bonus points, according to the amount of energy that is left. Units of 100 points per bonus will be added to the score.

OBSTACLES

During game play. Your Alpaca will not be alone. In fact, you will be facing a series of various in game obstacles that should be avoided or can be useful. They are as follows:

THE FIREBALLS AND ENEMIES

Your Alpaca will not be alone. The temple underground also consists of eight different evil spirits, rumoured to be controlled by aliens. These baddies will try and drain as much energy from you every time they hit you. The aliens range from spiritual figures to alien space craft. The type of behaviour varies on the type of aliens that appear inside the scenery.



These range from alien ships, to spiders, fish, and Mayan artefacts. Also from all four directions, groups of fireballs could appear. Colliding into aliens and fireballs will drain your energy but they will be killed instantly. As soon as your Alpaca’s energy is out – you will lose a life.

THE TRAPS

Your Alpaca will also be facing specific traps. These are marked with the letter ‘X’ on the ground. If the Alpaca is within range of the ‘X’ trap, while grounded. Your Alpaca will be trapped, then a surprise will await it, which loses you yet another life in the game. If your Alpaca has a shield active, it should be safe from those traps being triggered.

THE LASER BEAMS

On some levels, your Alpaca will need to watch out for the laser beams, that are beaming down towards the inferno. If your Alpaca touches the laser beam, its energy will be drained quite quickly. If energy is drained, a life is lost. You will not lose energy if your alpaca has a temporary shield enabled.

COLLECTIBLES

There are various items which will fall from the top of the scenery. You should collect these to score more points before they end up getting burned by the flames. The collectibles are as follows:


APPLE – 100 Points

 
BANANA – 200 Points

 
MELON – 300 Points

 
ORANGE – 500 Points

 
GREEN BOTTLE – Full energy

 
SHIELD – Temporary shield protection from enemies and lasers

There is also one collectible which is deadly and will kill the Alpaca completely:


SKULL – Kills your Alpaca instantly.

EXTRA LIVES

Extra lives are awarded on completing each level. The question is “will extra lives help?”.

HIDDEN CHEAT MODE

Alpacalypse consists of a hidden cheat mode, where you must enter a secret code when entering your name for the hi score table. Should you succeed in entering it as your name, you will be awarded infinite lives. The bad news however is that you will not achieve hi scores and will need to load the game all over again.

CONTROLS 

Joystick in port 2 only. 

LEFT / RIGHT – Run left or right.
FIRE – JUMP (also can be used to resume game in pause mode)

 
CONTROL – Pause game
SPACE BAR – Resume game
BACK ARROW – Abort and return to the title screen. This will only take effect when the game is paused.

SOFTWARE USED

The following software has been used to develop this game production.

CHARPAD V2.7.6 - For designing the game level map data 

Sprite Pad V2 – For making the game sprites.

EMS V7.03 – For composing the music

CBMPRGStudio V4.1.0/4.2.1 with Kick Assembler – For developing and compiling the code for this game project.

Exomizer 2.0.11 – For level compression / de-compression of map graphics VICE V2.4 and Ultimate 64 hardware – For play testing the whole project

Exomizer V3.1.2 for final crunching ACME Cross Assembler with

Tape Tool Build V1.0.0.5 – For making the tape loader.

CREDITS

Programming, sound effects and music by
RICHARD BAYLISS

Graphics, sprites and loading bitmap by
HUGUES (AX!S) POISSEROUX

Game title screen logo and Blazon Intro logo by FREEZE/BLAZON

Directory art and design by
LOGIKER/VINTAGE COMPUTING CARINTHIA

Tape Loader source by
MARTIN PIPER

Testing by RICHARD BAYLISS, HUGUES POISSEROUX and BARACUDA

(C)2024 The New Dimension and Blazon Games Division https://richard-tnd.itch.io/alpacalypse and https://tnd64.unikat.sk

You are welcome to copy this production and host it on your web site, videos, etc. This is providing that everything is free. However, you are not allowed to reproduce this software in digital or physical media for sales or marketing purposes without permission from the developers of this production.