BLOCK ON LEGS: FIRST STEPS Entry for the abbuc software contest 2019 By Jason Kendall (c) Kendallsoft 2019 Title screen and other artwork by RedThunder For Atari 8-bit Computers, requires 48K RAM. Supports PAL and NTSC systems Loading: Boot disk, automatically disables BASIC. Levels are loaded from disk so leave it in! You are "Block On Legs"; where you came from is unknown, maybe a chip of the old block... Your mission is unclear, but at this time instinct to collect gems is primary... My theory is that there are two types of Atari gamer: the first type like me who enjoy exploring games and work things out and then only read the manual if they are stuck or want to see if there's anything they've missed or want to maximise their score, but, if you are the other school of player who wants to know everything up-front then read on... "Block on Legs: First Steps" is a horizontally scrolling platformer. your semi-agile character can change height! There are Various game features to explore. Falling too far or into a hole loses a life! [Start] or Fire to begin your game. [Space] to pause, move stick to resume. Move joystick L/R to walk, buton to jump either up or across. Hint you can jump up through the platforms! You have 10 lives to complete the 10 levels included on the abbuc disk. The game will support additional levels disks; I will try and create some more soon. The ones here have been put together quickly and demonstrate most of the game features, though they are not tuned for difficulty and you may find that you have to restart or cheat (See below) if you get really stuck! You earn an extra life after each screen (if you have less than 10 lives). You will need to use a few lives to learn each level. Press [Select] to level up if you are stuck on a level; this way you can explore the screens and maximise your score. Features: >platforms to fall off >holes to fall into >ladders to climb, jump up at the top >gems to collect >growth pills - you grow taller and can reach higher up but will bump into more platforms. When grown you can't make some of the tighter jumps at the top of the screen and You might not be able to pick up some of the lower items. >shrink pills - you return to normal size. >folding platorms and >fake folding platforms - jump up and hit them from underneath. The un-folded platforms are also >sinking platforms which may either help you to land on a lower platform or lose a life if the wait was too long. >sliding platforms "sliders" - there are switches to activate or reactivate them and another to deactivate them, drop or jump onto them and jump or drop off when you get to the other side of the screen or to a tricky platform. Sliders do not currently scroll the screen, I may improve how they operate. There are several game features that make the game a bit different: checkout the unusual horizontal movement and scrolling combination and the ability to jump and scroll the screen at the edges. Also When your player hits the platforms he bounces off (well he does if I get the game working properly)! I will be able to speed up the wait between levels and make some other improvements when I get some more time. Anyway "JUST GET THE GEMS" and have some fun. Programmed on an Atari 130XE using MAC/65, Envision and lots of paper! If anyone wants to do playfield / character set or player missile graphics or sound or create some levels please get in touch with me "therealbounbybob" on atariage. Have fun playing and greetings to all at abuuc and to all atari fans Lookout for the sequel "Block on Legs: A call to Arms"! Jason Supplemental: Here is some top secret debug and testing stuff that you might like to explore or use if a level is being stubborn to complete, or you just want to flat-out cheat! Press the keys in game (they will be reset on a new go and some on a new life or new level) 0 turns off fly mode and sky effect 1 speed normal * 2 speed slightly slower * 3 speed slightly more slower * 4 sky dli effect. When you then press Option it will start (or reposition) the slider! 5 "Fly Mode" you can fly around the screen without getting killed - good for kids or if you are stuck! Option - reset "block on legs" to a random postion on screen! Technical: Disk uses DOS 2.5 Executable is BOL.XEX renamed to AUTORUN.SYS Loads to RAM at $2000 Level files are BOL.nnn where nnn is the level number from 001 to 010, "levels" 000 098 and 099 are for the pictures.