Adding music to your S.E.U.C.K. games is easier than you think
By David Dewar
Published in Commodore Disk User
volume 4 number 5, March 1991
THE SEUCK VAULT
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SEUCK WITH MUSIC
Adding music to your S.E.U.C.K. games is easier than you think
By David Dewar
Published in Commodore Disk User
volume 4 number 5, March 1991
Ever since the C64 was released upon us some years ago, people have dreamed of having power at their fingertips. Power to create various arcade games of their own, without the need to spend ages learning machine code. Numerous so-called GAME CREATORS have been released over the years to try and fulfil this creative need for non-programmers. Unfortunately, all these greatly restricted us to have simple, small and repetitive playing areas.
Thankfully, to the relief of most of us, the masterful duo that brought us WIZBALL and PARALLAX let loose their talents on a games writing utility known to us all as "THE SHOOT'EM UP CONSTRUCTION KIT" (S.E.U.C.K. for short). This program enabled thousands of C64 enthusiasts to create exciting arcade style games all of their own, with the minimum of effort. Impressive fast scrolling screens, complete with masses of whizzing enemies were now possible with the aid of S.E.U.C.K. Gameplay could easily be varied according to the users own needs and desires. Virtually every type of game could be made. Ranging from a sophisticated shoot 'em up through to a souped-up version of COMMANDO. The choice was only limited by the users own imagination.
S.E.U.C.K. AND MUSIC
S.E.U.C.K. might well be a great program to use and help show off your game designing skills, but one aspect that it sadly lacks is the option to include music with your finished production. Do not fear, all this can now be changed with the aid of a BACK-UP CARTRIDGE (with a built in RESET BUTTON), some MUSIC, a SMALL DRIVER routine and by reading on!
GETTING STARTED
From the CDU menu select the program "SEUCK WITH MUSIC". This is a demo giving you more useful information. After viewing this program load the program called 'SEUCK PLAYER'. On running this file you will be presented with a menu showing the available MUSIC which can be used. Press keys 1-6 to select a piece to load and listen to. Once you have decided which piece of music you wish to use, turn the computer OFF, then on again. Now load in your own or someone else's finished S.E.U.C.K. game. Reset the computer then load in the previously chosen piece of music, follow this by loading in the file name 'SEUCK-INIT'. Now you can enter SYS28681. A few important instructions will be displayed, all of which should be carefully carried out. Once copying is complete, reset and load in your new improved game and watch those raster bars bounce!
TAKE NOTE
On some rare occasions you might find that once you've pressed fire to start the game, you find that you're on another level. It does this because when you saved out the finished game from within the S.E.U.C.K. utility, you did not return the level parameter to the beginning. Pressing RESTORE will restart the game to level one. It is still best to go back to the S.E.U.C.K. utility, alter and resave. The chosen piece of music should not be loaded in from 'SEUCK PLAYER'. All music is played from $7506, so any other music you wish to use must occupy the same part of memory.
FINAL NOTE
I hope you enjoy S.E.U.C.K. games even more now that they have music with them. In the near future I hope to bring you a cruncher that will save out your S.E.U.C.K. games into the smallest file possible. Also, I hope to bring you an intro writer that will help smarten your S.E.U.C.K. creations by providing a nice little intro. Very special thanks must go to the MANIACS OF NOISE for supplying the brilliant music used in this program. Thank you Charles!
EXTRA HELP
To download the disk containing the original files, click here.
This disk also contains the SEUCK EXTENSION files.
There are 6 demo tunes included in the program, but if you want to create your own, here's some useful information.
1. Save the tune from the music editor to $7500
2. The initialise address should be $7500
3. The IRQ play address should be $7506
If this sounds too complicated, e-mail me for help.