Replace the reused gameover music for game_over==3 with an original
192-step (24-chord) finale piece: a descending D-minor lament
(Dm-C-Bb-A7) that intensifies with high arpeggios (the 'scream'),
then plunges into the abyss as the bass descends to the lowest C and
fades to silence. Three channels: CH1 melody, CH2 bass, CH4 noise toll
(mid toll on chord changes, crash at the climax, deep toll in the abyss),
at a somber 14 frames/note.
- sound.c: finale_ch1_seq[192], finale_ch2_seq[192], play_finale_step(),
finale_music_timer/step, sequencer branch for game_over==3.
- sound.h: play_finale_step prototype.
Verified via PyBoy: all three APU channels active throughout the finale.
The finale text is now 'YOUR TORCH HAS / RUN OUT, / YOU ARE TRAPPED. /
JUST ANOTHER SCREAM / FROM THE DARK. / GAME OVER' — matching the
tragic dark theme of the game. BGP inverted for black background with
white text.
Maze size grows +2/level from 7x7 to 21x21 (cap MAX_MAP_SIZE=21, reached
at level 8). Additional difficulty axes scale with level:
- +1 ghost per level (up to MAX_ENEMIES=8); enemy state moved to arrays,
enemy_logic.c rewritten as a multi-entity loop (own AI, render at OAM
2+i*2, staggered cooldowns).
- Ghost cooldown shrinks: 60 -> ~11 frames between steps.
- Stamina recharge slows: 60 -> 144 frames per point.
- Fog tightens to 3x3 (fog_radius=1) from level 7.
Fog rendering uses a dynamic 16-row centered flush (with wrap) instead of
the fixed rows 2-17 / full 32x32, so the fog stays correct on big mazes
without the multi-frame stall of the full flush.
Game ends after level 8: reaching the hatch at level 8 sets game_over=3
(finale) instead of 2. Finale screen reloads the IBM font and writes
'YOU ESCAPED / THE DARKNESS / LEVEL 8 CLEARED / PRESS START' into the BG
map; START returns to the title (new game starts at level 1).
Verified via PyBoy: sizes 7..21, fog 2->1 at L7, enemies 1..8 (distinct,
on floor, can catch the player), cooldown/recharge scaling, L1 hatch ->
game_over=2, L8 hatch -> game_over=3, finale renders + START->title->L1.
The maze side length is now a runtime global 'map_size' (MAP_SIZE=7 at
level 1, +2 per level, capped at MAX_MAP_SIZE=17), while the maze array
is allocated with the MAX_MAP_SIZE bound. All modules (maze DFS, fog
rendering, player/enemy bounds, hatch and enemy-spawn placement) now use
map_size at runtime.
- globals: maze[MAX_MAP_SIZE][MAX_MAP_SIZE], map_size global, MAX_MAP_SIZE=17.
- maze.c: DFS on map_size; stack/valid arrays made static (WRAM) and sized
for the max maze to avoid hardware-stack overflow; hatch min distance
scales with map_size/2.
- engine.c: sets map_size from level before generate_maze; enemy spawn min
distance scales with map_size/2.
- render.c: flush the full 32x32 background map (the old rows 2-17
optimization broke for large mazes where the 5x5 fog window wraps outside
that range); dynamic bounds; signed/unsigned casts.
- player_logic/enemy_logic: dynamic map_size bounds.
Verified via PyBoy: sizes 7,9,11,13,15,17,17 across levels 1-7, each with
a hatch; rendering and movement intact at 17x17 and at 7x7.
On game over (defeat) + START, restart the maze at the same level the
player had reached instead of resetting to 1. Only starting a new game
from the title screen zeroes the counter. Victory still increments as
before.
Run (B + direction):
- player_logic.c: while holding B + direction with stamina >= 10, each tile
takes 8 frames instead of 16 (move_progress += 2, LERP >>4 unchanged) and
costs 10 stamina per tile. DAS_REPEAT_RUN=2 chains tiles fluidly.
- Falls back silently to normal walk when stamina < 10.
Level progression:
- New global 'level' (starts at 1). title->game resets to 1; reaching the
hatch (victory/Going Deeper) + START increments before engine_init (new
maze); defeat + START resets to 1.
- Top-left HUD 'L<n>' via 3 sprites (OAM 23-25) from new level.png asset
(glyphs L, 0-9), generated by scripts/generate_level.py and converted
with png2asset -keep_duplicate_tiles for predictable tile ordering.
- VRAM base aligned to an EVEN index (8x16 hardware ignores tile LSB) and
placed after the stamina load claim to avoid the shared BG tile block.
- update_level_display() called every frame; hides during game over/title.
Docs: README, doc/gameplay.md and the technical report updated.
Matteo Benedetto