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Yeti


The Codex

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Alrighty, in celebration of all the snow, here's a screenshot from my remake-in-progress, Yeti. It's a remake of the Milton Bradley game on the TI called "Bigfoot". Bryan Roppolo at RTM turned me onto it and after one play I knew I wanted to remake it. I've been working on it for about a week and a half so far and have made decent progress.

 

Apparently the original name of the game was Yeti, which seems much more appropriate given the setting, the graphics, and the box artwork. So I've returned it to its roots. In this version you play Bill McBoulder of Grand Junction, Colorado, a veteran 99er who has painstakingly gathered an unparalleled collection of rare TI cartridges. One snowy day, sitting by the fire, he falls into a slumber and then suddenly awakes to a crashing noise. Running to his collection, he discovers it has been raided by the legendary Yeti. Now he must climb the many snow-capped peaks of Colorado, retrieving the precious cartridges and manuals from the Yeti.

 

The game is written in Java and many of the play mechanics and graphics are done. I still need to add things like score-keeping, as well as the dreaded vulture. Sound effects will be added, and possibly music if I can compose something that doesn't make you want to reach for the mute button. I can post a demo of the game later if there's interest. In the meantime, thanks for reading, and if you've played the original Bigfoot, please let me hear your own memories of this classic game!

post-25494-126575231982_thumb.png

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Ha ha, that's great! And yes, those are indeed TI carts and manuals. They take the place of supplies and gold in the original game. And like the original, you have to collect at least one supply (manual) before each gold (cart). A simple mechanic that adds a nice bit of extra puzzley-ness.

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Okay, ask and ye shall receive. There's still a fair amount missing from this demo (for instance, the board doesn't reset when you lose a life, and you have infinite lives, and you can't cage the Yeti). But you can throw ropes between levels and collect items and get killed by boulders and plummet to your death if you fall more than one ledge height.

 

YetiDemo.zip

 

Unzip the attached file and double-click the appropriate RunYeti script for your OS. You'll need to have a recent version of Java installed, ideally 1.6, though 1.5 should work as well.

 

The control keys are:

 

LEFT ARROW - move left

RIGHT ARROW - move right

UP ARROW - climb rope

DOWN ARROW - descend rope

Z - throw rope hook (can hook a ledge up to two levels above you)

ESC - exit demo

 

You can only collect a cartridge when they are active. To activate cartridges, you must collect at least one manual. It's a one-to-one ratio, so if you pick up 4 manuals, you can pick up 4 cartridges before needing to pick up another manual. You'll be able to tell when the cartridges are active.

 

So far the gameplay is modeled closely on the original. Probably the biggest difference so far is that you can throw ropes right next to each other, whereas in the original they had to have a space between them usually (making it even harder).

 

Feedback welcome!

Edited by The Codex
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You can get your Java version number by open a commandline window and entering this command:

 

java -version

 

It'll give you the build number of the one you're running. Probably you've got 1.4, which a lot of people still have unless they've manually updated. Java versions from 1.5 and up are technically known as a Java 2, as the language had some significant overhauls at that point which are no longer backwardly compatible.

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Got the basic vulture sprite done, just need to add the rope-snatching business and caging the Yeti, and then the essential gameplay is in place. After that it's all the less fun bits, like menus and handling lives and scoring.

 

I wanted to ask those of you that tried it, how is the snow effect? Does it add to the ambiance, or just distract you? I might make it an optional setting, even though I'm pretty happy with it.

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This looks as cool as hell!

 

Would you like some speech done for it?

 

I can make some genuine TI Speech Synth sound samples for you as WAVs or MP3s. It will then be a case of playing the sound files at the appropriate points in the game. Then you'll have genuine retro speech... None of this CD quality rubbish!

 

You could have speech for each of the cartridges. Each cartridge would 'say' it's name, and possibly a phrase associated with that game.

 

So,

 

"Parsec - Great shot, pilot!"

"Alpiner - Look out!"

"Super Demon Attack - You are mine, earthling!"

"TI Invaders - Downright aggressive"

 

You get the idea...

 

Also, when you lose a life, you could have a number of phrases, picked at random...

 

"AAAAaaaaaagggggghhhhhh!"

"Gravity really like, brings me down, man"

"Another fine mess you got me into"

"I suppose you think that's funny?"

"The object of the game is NOT to die, thank you"

 

Yadda yadda...

 

Let me know if you want any speech done.

 

Regards

 

Mark

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You could have speech for each of the cartridges. Each cartridge would 'say' it's name, and possibly a phrase associated with that game.

 

So,

 

"Parsec - Great shot, pilot!"

"Alpiner - Look out!"

"Super Demon Attack - You are mine, earthling!"

"TI Invaders - Downright aggressive"

 

You get the idea...

 

 

 

"Zerozap - Does anyone know when the fun is supposed to start?"

 

 

Sorry, couldn't resist. ;)

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Thanks for the offer and for the enthusiasm, Mark! I could definitely use some vocal samples like that for my upcoming TI remakes. For Yeti, Bryan has agreed to do the voices for the game (since he is the one who turned me onto the original and he is probably the biggest booster of this game I've ever met). Hopefully he's still up for that, as this remake is also a kind of "love letter to the TI community", acknowledging the efforts of some 99er notables. But if you are willing to extend your kind offer to future remakes, I'd be glad to have you on board for those!

 

Cheers!

 

Howard

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Thanks for the offer and for the enthusiasm, Mark! I could definitely use some vocal samples like that for my upcoming TI remakes. For Yeti, Bryan has agreed to do the voices for the game (since he is the one who turned me onto the original and he is probably the biggest booster of this game I've ever met). Hopefully he's still up for that, as this remake is also a kind of "love letter to the TI community", acknowledging the efforts of some 99er notables. But if you are willing to extend your kind offer to future remakes, I'd be glad to have you on board for those!

 

Cheers!

 

Howard

Hi Howard

 

Yep! That's totally cool with me, just give us a shout when you start your next project!

 

Mark

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