8-Bit Show And Tell | JRPG-Style Menu in C64 BASIC with LOADSTAR's Toolbox 181 @8_Bit | Uploaded September 2020 | Updated October 2024, 12 hours ago.
Eric Sherman asks how to go about building a JRPG-style menu for the Commodore 64. We explore one option: LOADSTAR disk magazine's "Toolbox 181" machine language utility.

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Buy LOADSTAR: ramblehouse.com/loadstarcompleat.htm
Download my JRPG menu demo: 8bitshowandtell.com/downloads/toolboxjrpg.d64
Cheat Sheet: 8bitshowandtell.com/downloads/Toolbox181CheatSheet.pdf

Ending credits song is the (thankfully) unreleased "Ultima 3" by Bedford Level Experiment. Check out other (better?) music: bedfordlevelexperiment.bandcamp.com

Index:
0:00 Intro: my very brief RPG history
1:40 Brief history of LOADSTAR
6:41 Toolbox 181 Resource Center
8:32 The basics of a Toolbox 181 program
14:40 Demoing the JRPG menu demo
19:00 Walkthrough the BASIC code:
22:35 Somewhat DATA-driven
24:50 Indentation?
27:50 Main loop, push/pop menu level
30:15 Draw menu, process input
33:43 Saving choice history, debug tip
35:30 Menu choice handlers, message box
38:00 Looking at the Toolbox machine language
41:33 Applying the default item hack
44:00 Reminder to check links in description;
45:16 Thanks to my patrons