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.
- Add doc/AScreamFromTheDark_report.md: deep technical report covering
architecture, features, historical workarounds and known debt.
- Rewrite README.md to reflect the current 'A Scream from the Dark'
identity (ghost enemy, stamina/jump, fog of war, going-deeper victory)
instead of the stale 'gioco carino' copy with old file paths.
- Update doc/generation.md: goal is now a random south-edge hatch,
not the max-Manhattan-distance portal.
- Remove orphaned src/victory.{c,h} and its include in render.c;
the victory sequence was replaced by the full-screen next_level image.
- Regenerate tracked png2asset outputs to match current build.
Matteo Benedetto