CODE CZECH - paging Mister Fandal

[Baby Blue Azure]

Does anyone know where I can find FANDAL who was here many years ago exposing the JOUST PG easter egg? He obviously is smarter than me cuz I wouldn't have cracked the easter egg without him. I wonder if he has a complete disassembly or if he can tell me how the lava flow proc works. I know where the lava flow proc is and can stop it but I want to make all 3 flows occur immediately upon the start of the game. Also want to know how the game determines which enemies and when they are displayed. It seems that he has a web site but I don't know the language. If you know him or if you are shy or not on here you can contact at atari78in84@yahoo.com. Thx, BBA

[Jinks]

You will see him on judgement day.

[+slx]

http://a8.fandal.cz ?

[Baby Blue Azure]

I found Fandal and he is alive and well. His latest comm came across from yesterday. Apparently he watches on us as well. He can't hide, we found him too.

 

CZECH THIS OUT:

 

Fandal's Atari blog

Something strange happened to us ... (25/10/2018)

In the late 1990s, the Atari world changed once and for all. Behind the nine rivers, behind the nine mountains, in the far-away Moravian basin, my grandmother came out in front of her cottage and said, "Shit, why do I have to live so far ?!" Well, even with enthusiasts from the Atari club in Prostějov, they built a device called multijoy.

So, he changed the world mainly in the Czech Republic and Germany, because elsewhere this genius invention has not yet completely tasted. They probably do not have any decent atari párties, boulders. In the USA, it's just a show of accumulated games in original unpacked boxes, and in Poland, it just boils down brutally (and then blisters).

Which reminds me of a famous commentary on a Polish server, where someone commented on a photo from the American Atari party, where people had full tables of their origins and proudly looked at it with the words: "There it sounds like a competition in style 'Look, I have more games and therefore I have a bigger penis!' " Then someone responded: "But at the Polish party it's 'I drink more and that's why I'm a better programmer!'"

Well, we really have a bit of a turn. How exactly multijoy originated, I do not know. From the narrative of veterans of Prostayov's Atari scene, I remembered that Raster, JirkaS, ZdeněkB and maybe Bob! K. It was hard to tell who had the lead, but since the affair had succeeded in reaching the end, Bob could not have been able to do that. Rather, I would prefer Raster, who ZdeněkB was doing.

What I know, the light of the world first saw a four-port interface, soon followed by an eight-port brother. The Germans then went further and made their sixteen-year-old mastodonts. I've once seen one such brutal home-made pile of flashing diodes at Pepax. It did not work, and it looked pretty bad. Luckily, Krupkai has devised a relatively recent multijoy mushroom, so when there's a chance to find enough people for one of three games for up to sixteen players, we've got a couple of eight-eyed ones.

multijoy hub

Which brings me to multijoy software. Without proper program support, there is no HW and one who does not have it (and can be the best) is just a piece of dead meat. The first multijoy game was written without exception by Raster. In 1998 he launched the first Worm, three years later Multris and a year later Shot'em All. That's already added to the Germans with a couple of patches for four people from the early 1980s (Atari Tennis, Basketball, Asteroids) and even some of the original productions (Bremspunkt plus some of the most unplayable things in Turbobasic by Florian Dingler). Well, and a lot of Fandal appeared out there.

This renowned crackling has begun to patch up and hack the existing games, plus he has plunged into making brand new ones. This year, I released a total of six original games (Astro4 Road, Mashed Turtles, Rubal in the Hill, Space Arena M4, Muxeso and Ate'em All) and over thirty (!!) patches or hacks.

Of these all my creations is probably the most popular game Mashed Turtles of 2011. The game for her was Gamesa Bugger! for Atari Falcon we played on some historical VZAK still in Velenov near Boskovice. Originally, therefore, they did not have to crawl over the turtle road, but they should jump - like the Falcon - frogs. And in odd columns from the top down and in the opposite direction.

Mashed Turtles

This idea, however, was abandoned after the first betates, because the protesters claimed it was terribly unclear and that their head was moving (as if they had not normally been dumbfounded). We also did not like frogs in the Falcon version could not back off. So finally PG drew the turtles and they have their goal always up and they can go backwards. Yeah and the name of the game Mashed Turtles, it was also invented by PG. Originally, it probably meant more like a joke, but I liked it, and so it remained.

And another pearl from the development of my commercially most successful game for more plejerů. Pepax, also a member of the Atari club sessions and hence one of the Mashed Turtles batetesters, demanded that a deadly tram run from time to time in the middle lane. I refused this with the argument that one rail vehicle already runs in those places, and it is a metro in the tunnel.

Now, of course, we are slowly getting to see why I have a gramofony attack here today. When PCH / Unreal started organizing the Schmölmisch commodor party years ago in Frystak, somehow they were invited or perhaps invited themselves, also atarists. From the original C-64 event, it became a hurricane, hahaha, and therefore commodorers had the first hand of finding out what is multijoy and playing games in more people on one machine is simply God.

True, the C-64 is a couple of games for four people at a time, but there are very few and there are several interfaces to connect four joysticks. So, PCH and Ray devised a madly expensive and madly complex interface called Inception for up to eight drivers. Among other things, because at that time it was somehow believed that the multijoy to Commodore could not join. Which I guess this year at the Atarija was overturned with the roots Bob! K. And enough resistance was enough for him.

Unfortunately, commodore players do not get much to Inception. I've been talking about the interface myself since 2013, and on the principle of accidental explosions, the working duo PCH & Ray has just released one complete Schlimeisch Mania game. And if Sillicone was not, or as it was written, it could have been worse. Only thanks to his harsh methods gave P + R this year a slightly improved Schlimeisch Mania II and a somewhat unstable party version of The Walking Death.

PCH and Ray are also cases for themselves. At Schlimeisch events (sometimes they do not have time) they are constantly making new and new Inception games, and the old ones somehow forget to finish. I myself know at least three of their raving multiplayer projects! In addition, PCH has - perhaps just before the launch - another thing to see for yourself as visitors to Atariády 2k18.

When he saw this unfortunate mischief, Wotnau, known as the Forever entertainer and otherwise a rock commodore, decided to inject my game Mashed Turtles for Inception. He probably likes it or what. Unfortunately, he puts his head to a 1: 1 try, but the weak Commodore-C-64-pedal-ball-counter can not even dream. Atari has a higher resolution in the vertical and thirty-nine colors in the main screen, so we probably will not even have fun. However, Wotnau looked like he really meant it, and I even saw him working.

And then this happened: bum and bac, a kind of Angelsoft nach Deutschland completely without warning on C-64 my Mashed Turtles transcribed !! I'm staring at it. It does not look as good as the original, and maybe, too, the boys from Germany have been able to know in advance that they are doing something like that, but still a hat down! The only thing about this is that their version is not for Inception, but for somewhat strangely involved multijoy. So, another split of the already inconsistent family of C-64 multiplayer games. Those commodorities are really a shame!

Mashed Turtles on the C-64

So, to close it. I do not think it would ever happen again for some of my games to be remake on a different computer platform, or I would never even think it could happen at all. But it happened, and you can now all begin to envy silently or even loudly. That's good, huh?

Year of the Year (05/10/2018)

As you may have noticed, my last record of this mimic blog has been over nearly two years. When it almost does not want to believe it. That time just goes absolutely cruel.

But I did not swallow the twenty-two months. At the very center of the rock Czech 8-bit atarists, united in the notorious Confederacy of the enemies of historical computing, I continue to cling to my dark sting. I listened and recorded each word, every unfinished thought, each being just a hint of some attempt at an independent opinion, and today finally came the moment when I revealed to the whole world what I found.

No, dear, do not be mistaken! Proradní czech atarouňové are outwardly confronted by a group of serious people who are totally ignorant of their own thing, who sacrifice all their time, money, and often health, but in reality it is just a piece of scrupulous jokes that royal fun on your behalf.

Judge yourself. In the form of a poll, I attach the selection of the most brutal, the most sarcastic and the most mysterious statements of your now unimaginably admired heroes whose posters may not be adorned for a long time in the walls of our rooms. The list is listed in alphabetical order so that some individuals do not feel pushed or vice versa.

The smartest statement of the Czech 8-bit Atarist for the years 2017 to 2018 Bob! K: "This month, I will not make any other Atari project anymore." 11 Bohdan: "I'll answer your email today." 12 MaPa: "Today I played my own games for only four hours." 6 PG: "I have time." 2 R0ger: "Pumps are practically finished." 6

If you are missing some other repulsive characters of the Czech 8-bit Atari scene, then you know that I also have a lot of dirt on Fandal, Poison, Zdenka B, Krupkai, Rudla Kudla, Yamaha BaHa duo and others. However, the PHP script I use for polls and which I am not the author, and therefore I do not understand it, just over five items can not manage. So we will shine on you next time, dead!

FANDAL OUT / FANDAL

 

 

 

Hopefully we will be chatting again soon. But he says nothing about JOUST 7800. Translation, he knows nothing further about JOUST 7800 and there is no source list available.

 

CZECH OUT / BBA

[Lynxpro]

I'm confused. So this isn't about making a MultiJoy like device for the 7800? Someone on Facebook mentioned there's such a type of device in development right now for the 2600 but I haven't seen any mention of such in the 2600 forums here.

[Baby Blue Azure]

Thanks for the response Lpro. No. To my knowledge, Fandal isn't working anything supporting the 7800 at this time, but he watches our blog. I did find his e-mail address, but he may not answer. It's FANDAL@FANDAL.CZ. If he asks you for a passcode, it's BAREFOOT. If you don't answer properly, the internet goes down on the east coast. I don't know no more.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I'm confused. So this isn't about making a MultiJoy like device for the 7800? Someone on Facebook mentioned there's such a type of device in development right now for the 2600 but I haven't seen any mention of such in the 2600 forums here.

 

This isn't supposedly being worked on for the 2600. It exists already. It was in use showing off the current WIP of Wizard or Wor on the 2600. It will be required for 2 player gaming since the Avox goes into port 2 on the Atari for the speech. I was advised on the 2600, you can even daisy chain multiple multiplexers for the controllers and have as many as 8 simultaneous players at once.

 

But yeah for sure a 2 player version already exists and I was using it when playing Wizard of Wor at PRGE 2018.

[Lynxpro]

 

This isn't supposedly being worked on for the 2600. It exists already. It was in use showing off the current WIP of Wizard or Wor on the 2600. It will be required for 2 player gaming since the Avox goes into port 2 on the Atari for the speech. I was advised on the 2600, you can even daisy chain multiple multiplexers for the controllers and have as many as 8 simultaneous players at once.

 

But yeah for sure a 2 player version already exists and I was using it when playing Wizard of Wor at PRGE 2018.

 

 

That's awesome. Where's the project documented at? If it works on the 2600, then I'd assume it would work on the 7800 for 7800 games...if they're programmed to support it. Just imagine a 4-player Dark Chambers, with or without modding it further to resemble Gauntlet.

[+slx]

Are the 7800 joystick ports capable of output? Without some output capability a Multijoy device can't switch between different input ports.

[Baby Blue Azure]

The Fandal news is found at http://a8.fandal.cz/, czech it out! Not sure if the 7800 ports are capable of outputs, we'd have to czech the schematics. Educated guess is YES, but we need to check the schematics.