DZ-Jay

Carlsson, it just occurred to me that if you are not familiar with the game or its cut-scenes and story, then this blog probably won't make too much sense to you. Sorry about that.

You can also download a PDF of the instruction booklet: Instruction Booklet It's not your typical Intellivision game booklet. It's in a large format and Joe and I worked really hard to make it read like its part of a children's story -- treating all game mechanics as part of the world.

Oh, you must be the only one! Thanks for that, then. If you haven't played the game, perhaps you should give it a try. It was well regarded when it came out. The ROM is free for download, and comes bundled with an emulator for Windows or Mac, so it's ready to run. http://carolvsghost.com/getrom -dZ.

You know how in the Christmas Carol game the Bad Toy goes rogue and supersedes even the Snowman's reprogramming and attacks him? (Of course you know, because you is me -- the only reader of this blog. DOH!) Well, I just found out why that happened. It turns out that the new model 3000 of the T.O.M.Bot, contrary to the earlier Toy-Of-Mischief 2000, is equipped with a new artificial intelligence chip to give him a little personality. The Snowman didn't figure this, so when he re-wired the toy robot, he messed with the A.I., and -- well, who knows what will ensue! (Actually, we know -- and by we I guess I mean me -- he will go rogue and attack the Snowman. I wish you paid attention. And by you I mean ... oh forget it!) The other thing I learned is that the special A.I. chip is called the Robotronic Think-o-Matic Mark I, which I think is a deliciously silly, yet exceedingly cool, name. T.O.M.Bot 3K ... Think-o-Matic Mark I ... I should really trademark these names. Heh! Heh! Once my book is published and it sells a bajillion copies, I can merchandise the characters as real toys. I mean, who doesn't want a programmable toy robot that can think for itself and does mischief for you? Did I mention it shoots laser bolts too? Anyway, I just thought I'd share that part, which I found very cool. Hasta la vista! See ya'! -dZ.

Is it bigger than a breadbox?

A double-vertical resolution sprite will be drawn using 16 pixels, taken from two contiguous cards, one on top of the other. The base size of these pixels will be one scan-line, or half the height of a background card. The 16 pixels will fit in the height of one background card. This is why it gives you higher resolution: 16 pixels in the space of 8. A single-vertical resolution sprite will be drawn using 8 pixels from a single card. Its base size will also be one scan-line, so it will look squashed, half the size of a background card. In either case, you can then apply the Zoom factors to increase the height of the pixels by doubling them each time. Correct. However, this is not the same as the double-vertical resolution. Each of the 8 horizontal pixels will be doubled in size. They always count as a single object. You have 8 sprite objects available, each of which can be set to be either single or double vertical resolution. -dZ.

OK, I'm sorry for the confusion and I am guilty of perpetuating that. The actual technical reality is that a sprite can be of either "single-vertical resolution" or "double-vertical resolution." The "zoom" factors are then applied to this base resolution. Therefore, there are three controls for sprites size: Vertical resolution - Y register bit #7. Clear = single; Set = double. Y Zoom factor - Y register bits #8 and #9. X Zoom factor - X register bit #10. Clear = normal (8 pixels); Set = double (16 pixels) The combined bits give you the following sizes: YRES YSIZ4 YSIZ2 MOB Resolution Displayed height 0 0 0 8 x 8 4 pixels 0 0 1 8 x 8 8 pixels 0 1 0 8 x 8 16 pixels 0 1 1 8 x 8 32 pixels 1 0 0 8 x 16 8 pixels 1 0 1 8 x 16 16 pixels 1 1 0 8 x 16 32 pixels 1 1 1 8 x 16 64 pixels A "single-vertical resolution" sprite is 8x8 pixels with no zoom factor. It takes a single 8x8 pixel card from either GRAM or GROM. It will appear as a "squashed" object, because the vertical size of pixels is 1/2 of their horizontal size. A "double-vertical resolution" sprite is 8x16 pixels with no zoom factor. It takes two contiguous 8x8 pixel cards from either GRAM or GROM, but they most start at an even-number address (i.e., their card number must be an even number). It will appear as a "square" object, because the vertical size of pixels is 1/2 their horizontal size. Therefore, it will look like it fits in an 8x8 background block, but you will have twice as many pixels vertically, giving you increased detail. This is the reason that we say that a sprite can be either 8x8 or 8x16, referring to their base resolution. You can then double (x2) their horizontal size; and you can double (x2), quadruple (x4), and octuple (x8) their vertical size. Obviously double-vertical resolution sprites give you more detail, but at the cost of consuming two cards from memory. Personally, I always strive to go for double-vertical resolution for main objects whenever possible, since it makes them more expressive and detailed. However, since there are only 64 cards available in Graphics RAM for use at any one time, this is a trade off between providing higher detail on the sprite or on the background. I tend to animate sprites "in place," by cycling their GRAM card; thus conserving precious GRAM by assigning at most 2 cards per object. I hope this clears it up. Let me know if you still have questions. -dZ.

Send me a PM. I'll see if I can help. -dZ.

Well, I'm quite happy to inform that I have finished Chapter 8 and I am now about to start Chapter 9. I'm on a roll, and very excited, for I think I'll be able to get really far this week, if not finish the story altogether. Wow! That would be a treat, indeed. I'm not counting on it, though, I think what I count as two more chapters in my outline will turn into four or more when I get to them. I have just added a new chapter right now. You see, Chapter 8 was titled "Snowflake Gardens" and, as originally planned, would have Carol discover the eponymous cavern full of magical snowflakes. However, she didn't quite make it to the Snowflake Gardens yet. She's still in the tunnel leading to it when the narrator broke away to describe the Evil Snowman's doings. It turns out that Chapter 8 was all about describing the cunning plan of the Snowman, which includes two things: reprogramming a toy robot to hunt down Carol, and setting up an ice cube trap to capture her. We also get introduced to the Toy-Of-Mischief 3000, or T.O.M.Bot 3K -- the affectionately named "Bad Toy" in the game, which the Evil Snowman has reprogrammed to aid in his foul deeds. This is how the Bad Toy was originally described in the game's manual: That little blurb turned into three whole paragraphs in the book, which retains the feel and most of the words intact. Thus, it felt right to rename the chapter. Playing with words together, my wife and I came up with "A Devilish Device," which I thought was clever but a bit obscure. I then thought of "Mischievous Machinations." Both of them alliterative, which I like, and both of them suggestive of the mechanical fiend set loose by the Snowman. I'm keeping "A Devilish Device" for now because my wife prefers it, but the more I think about it, the more I personally like "Mischievous Machinations" better. The alliteration is more pronounced, and the words are even more suggestive of a master plan which includes a robotic machine. In any case, both are better than my original idea, the utterly simple and commonplace "A Clever Plan." If anybody is reading this blog (apart from myself, of course), I would really appreciate their opinion on both titles. Anyway, so "A Devilish Device" it is, for the moment, which moved "Snowflake Gardens" to Chapter 9. My outline shows now 11 chapters plus an epilogue, which I imagine will turn into 15 or so by the time I finish. I'm not worried, though. My wife gives me this look of consternation and says, "It's going to be a novel!!" which makes it sound like a bad thing. I typically respond with, "Haha! No, still a short story, just not too short." However, what I'm really thinking is "yeah, I wish." Like I said, I'm not worried, and like I've also said before, the story will be as long as it needs to be, and that's that. Of course, once it's completed we'll likely go through some editing process and figure out if anything needs to be moved, removed, or altered; but I don't think about any of that right now. Right now, I'm just trying to get the story out of my brain and onto the paper. Er, word-processor document, that is. So that's the progress. I'm very happy with it so far, and now I can continue to follow Carol in that long tunnel she's in, and be around her when she discovers the magical "Snowflake Gardens." See ya'! -dZ.

Hahaha! Looks awesome, and it works a treat! Here's some feedback on that ROM: The last song needs a bit of work. At least with the instruments chosen, it sounds a bit weird. Particularly the bass line. Also, in one of the bridges, it seems that it goes off key. I think the glitches are related to the way you are drawing the screen. It seems that you are re-drawing the entire thing. Also, it seems to happen mostly when the music is playing, so it appears to be a timing issue. Remember that in IntyBASIC, GRAM copies and MOB updates are buffered, so your game loop is always updating the next frame. You then need to use the WAIT directive to synchronize with the vertical retrace and "post" the frame changes. Oh and before I forget ... I'm afraid you do need to add "Snakes" to the flip phone, or else it's not realistic enough. Also, for added realism, make sure you get your ringtones and beeps correct. Here's a reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQa3kDmJ-tA

So, having declared my ultimatum in Part XIII, I went directly to the story manuscript and something amazing happen: I started writing, continuing right were I left off, and the words and the sentences just poured out from my hands like water from a faucet. It was incredible! I ended up not only finishing Chapter 8 but writing three more chapters after that! Haha! No. I actually played around in the AA forum (fora?) for quite a bit longer, then answered some PMs, looked up a couple of trivial things online, and eventually ... I found my way back to the manuscript. I did manage to start writing again and continue right were I left off, but I only got about a page more. Hey, it's something, so I feel accomplished. I did learn something, though. I figured out what was bothering me, which kept me from coming back to the story. It has something to do with the narrator's perspective. You see, so far, the entire story is being told by an omniscient narrator from Carol's point of view. That is, the narrator knows everything that's happening, but is mostly following Carol around, so that's all the reader gets. Sure, once in a while, the reader gets a bit of insight directly from the narrator that Carol is not privy to, such as when the narrator reassures the reader that the scary loud howl which Carol thinks comes from the Ghost, is actually the wind; but most of the time we just see what Carol is doing and learn the actions of others typically from Carol's reactions to them, or by her own words describing what happened. So then it occurred to me, what about the big master plan of the Snowman? Or the cute and silly interactions between the Snowman and the Ghost? Do we have to just view them from Carol's perspective, which means that she has to be conveniently present through all of it? Do I have to play the stupid and lazy "exposition" bad movies and books do where, not having figured out a better way to convey information to the reader, they end up having one character talking to themselves in long monologues essentially spoon-feeding the plot to the reader? (I sure hate those!) I guess I could continue that way, following Carol around, and see where it goes ... or ... I could also have the omniscient narrator be, you know, omniscient and go follow the other characters and tell us what they're doing. It's that last one that intrigues me. But will it work? It seems like a big deal to try it. Not having written anything before, and being kind of a complete amateur just bumbling my way through this writing thing, can I really pull that off? I don't know. More importantly, my subconscious didn't know either, so in true-to-form procrastinating fashion, I guess it decided to avoid the whole thing -- and here we are. A week later, and having brought this apparently deep-seated concern to the forefront, I still don't have an answer. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was worth a shot. Perhaps me thinking so much about it actually means that I know it's the best possible solution, but I'm just too chicken shit to try it and discover I suck at it. My subconscious self has a tendency to try to spare my self-esteem that way, and I can't fault it for that. So I'm going for it, jumping in with both feet! I'm going to try to peel off the narrator from Carol Greenleaf's back, cut the umbilical cord, and let him loose in the Ice Cube Caverns with the Ghost Of Christmas Presents and the Evil Snowman. Let's see what happens. I came up with (what I think is) a perfect way to introduce the change of viewpoint: At that point, I'll just describe the Evil Snowman's plan which includes hacking the Bad Toy robot to ambush Carol, and building an ice cube trap to capture her. I really hope it works. No pressure, yo'! OK so that's it for this installment. Time to get back to work. Until next time. See ya'! -dZ.

According to this: https://www.pcworld.com/article/231027/computers/kidscomputers.html#slide6 It was well received by the press and was successful enough to trigger the entire "children's educational computer" market. So, yeah, you're review is a bit biased by almost 40 years of experience in advanced technology.

Why would anybody choose this over an Atari VCS in 1980? Well, there's the "portable" part. Perhaps you forget that back in those days, electronic devices were like "The Future," especially for kids, and there weren't many things to entertain you on a long road trip other than playing "I Spy" or "Punch Buggy" with your siblings. The games may have been crap, but I'm pretty sure that I would have loved having one of these in 1980. I would have felt like I had a real computer -- mostly because I didn't have one and anything with a keyboard and a screen looked like high-technology to me. I remember having a Pac-Man video game wrist-watch. Now, that's a really stupid game, and yet I played the heck out of it and loooooooved it. It's kind of weird to review these things outside the proper context of their times. *shrug* -dZ.

I don't think that was a real chip, it was just part of the ruse. In my experience, it's the marketing and sales departments that come up with such things. So, yeah, I think they knew it was not real. I wonder what compels you to point this out? It seems so orthogonal to the conversation. Who cares if these were new techniques. This was a last minute "hail mary" from Mattel trying to stay relevant when in fact they had nothing to show that could compete with the rest -- especially after they had promised and hyped up the Intellivision III so much. Who invented what and when does not seem to have any impact on that point. And if I claimed it above, it was accidental and due to misremembering. I edited the comment later to add the actual quotes from the BSR site. Absolutely. Yet, I don't think that games running at 60 Hz was just something they claimed as a feature in those demos. It was just a technique that allowed them to cycle animations more smooth than before, so they could claim it was a better graphics chip. I can imagine the claims going like this: "Look! you see how fast and smooth the objects move and animate? That's the Super-STIC at work! We couldn't do that with the old Master Component" Recall that it says there was no game-play, just fancy graphics screens and animated demos. -dZ.

I'm stuck. No, I don't have writer's block (whatever that is), I know precisely what I want to write and all the next story elements that need to be included. I just haven't written anything for the past week. Not a single word. If I'm honest with myself, I can tell that I've been avoiding it. The first few days, I would sit down at my computer, go to the manuscript and read the last few paragraphs to get back into it, and then ... go goof off and do something else. After a few days of that, I stopped going to the manuscript altogether and just went directly to the goofing off part. Outside the computer, while taking a shower, or walking to the gym after work, or just sitting around after having lunch, I would fantasize of the next part I would write. I would tell myself, "what's next? Oh, I need to do this, and that, and the other thing ..." and couldn't wait to go back to the computer to continue. Then, I would just ... not do it. I don't know why, I couldn't get motivated to write. I tell myself that I can't stop now, that I'm past the hardest parts of the story -- namely, the characterization of the Ghost and Carol's introduction to him -- and that the rest is the cool and fun stuff I've been wanting to get to since the beginning. Yet, I can't be moved to type a single word. Now I have given myself an ultimatum (sure, like that works! ) that I will complete Chapter 8 this week-end and start Chapter 9. I even took the next week off from work, party because I need a break, but mostly because I wanted to dedicate several days to putting some meat onto this story's bones. Today, I told myself, I must continue writing. Kickstart the process again, ignite my motivation, etc., etc., blah, blah, blah. So, here I am, writing another blog entry. I do wonder if this is really just more severe procrastination on my part, or is it something more? Am I afraid to continue? If so, why? What's keeping my subconscious mind, the "writing me" if you will, from wanting to go back to the story? Do I not know how to proceed? Is there some sort of plot hole or narrative obstacle that bothers me? Am I just pre-emptively concerned about what my 12 year-old nephew will think when he comes over next week and reads the story for me? (Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that he is coming and he volunteered to give it a try and provide feedback. No pressure. ) I don't know. Honestly, I don't know. It could just be that I'm just procrastinating. God knows I do that well. However, I'm sort of afraid that there may be something wrong and I just don't know how to identify it or work around it. Yet ... I can't think of a thing stopping me or a reason to be afraid. Even if my nephew hates the story, chances are that he will hate what's there already, not whatever I write this week. This is very stupid. (Two minutes later ...) OK, I've made up my mind that this is all so very stupid and that I won't accept it. I like the story. I love the way it has turned out, and I truly believe it has some great potential. I don't want to stop and I really want to get it done. So I will force myself to continue working. I'm sure that once I start it going, it'll all be fine. I just need to get back to writing one more sentence. I won't let it go beyond today. I'm not giving up. Carol must complete her mission!!! Fine, that's it. No more platitudes or words of encouragement. Let's get back to work. See ya'! dZ.

I believe Keith had talked about this, and it's in the BSR page, that those are the comments they were telling the press and the buyers. In actuality, the graphics techniques learned during the production of the Intellivision III prototype were applied to a regular Intellivision Master Component cartridge, like overlaying MOBs on the background for fancy and more colourful title graphics. The other part was the avoidance of using the EXEC directly and relying on one running at 60 Hz, which allowed them to make animations and other effects look better than before. It was just a trick and lots of bullshit. Here are the relevant bits: http://intellivisiongames.com/bluesky/hardware/intelli3_tech.html It is funny the extent to which Mattel went to keep the charade and save face. The BSR page doesn't mention that they had a specific "product number" for the fake super graphics cartridges. -dZ.

Many people don't know it, but that's got a CP-1610 inside it.

LOL! No. We just feed the individual results in the our distributed Intellivision Neural-Net Super-Computer and wait for it to either give us a winner, or take over the world.

I must disagree with you. I think Flick works as a sort of plot device: he is a canvas on which all the other characters are brought to life, mainly the queen ant, the grasshoppers, and the circus bugs. He just connects them. I don't find him uninteresting, but I do find him to be lesser than the others, which I would expect. It's not a "Flick is the hero and must save the colony" movie; it's an ensemble cast, and he's not really part of that ensemble. Also, I would say the same about the ants: They may just blend into the background because they are there just to serve as the convenient mcguffin: their intended to be just background filler to the actual plot occurring around them. Somewhat like the tens of thousands of copy+pasted orcs and random soldiers in the LotR movies just fill up the space while the movie focuses on the handful of good guys and one or two main orcs. In any case, I found A Bugs Life a very good movie and a compelling and interesting retelling of the Seven Samurai story; and it's one of my favourites by Pixar, a list which includes Toy Story 1 and 2, Cars, and The Incredibles, at the very top. Up, on the other hand, I found very sweet and interesting right until they land in the new country/area/planet/whatever. Then it turned into just another goofy Disney action cartoon with that stupid dog trying to be a "cute side-kick." The movie had me by the throat all the way to that point, and then it just lost me completely. Horses for courses ... -dZ.

Just a quick note to say that we're almost there!!! The judges have finished deliberating and we have the final scores for all of the entries. Now we just need to put our favorites in a hat and pick the winner. . . . JUST KIDDING! Well, kidding about picking the winner out of a hat. We do have the final scores. The winner and the final scores for all entries will be announced soon. Intvsteve is hard at work compiling the results and preparing the announcements. He will also begin contacting the contestants about their prizes soon. Thank you for all your patience. It's been a lot of fun playing all these games. It was a lot of work, but we enjoyed them all. We found a lot of great gems! -dZ.

I never heard of it. It wasn't posted in the AA programming forum nor in the INTVProg mailing list. Do Intellivision home-brew programmers hang out anywhere else?