Scott Stilphen

Viewing the map doesn’t stop time, but if you view it from a forest screen, the “wound timer” will be paused.

Ed English's Individeo partner, Ed Temple, programmed (and completed) Looping and CPK. See 2600 Connection ish #36 for more details.

Looping and Cabbage Patch *do* exist - the programmer confirmed it Others that are very likely out there: Ballblazer (partial) Adventures of Max Impossible Game Planet of the Apes SQ Airworld (partial) Wings

Not only does that AGH screenshot not look like a 2600 screen, it actually looks like an Intelivision on (note the scoring font). The screenshots from the ads on DP look more realistic. With all these different ads, you know the game had to have been at least started...if not finished. As someone else said, Mike's version looks better anyway Does anyone know what the progress is with that? It's been some time since it was mentioned in Next Gen... [ 12-21-2001: Message edited by: Scott Stilphen ]

Well, the character screen graphics seemed to be designed somewhat in proportion (the Hobbitt is noticeably smaller than the others, the archer is tall and thin, etc.). The green character is taller than the Hobbitt, and shorter than Strider or Gandalf, so I'm guessing it's Gimli. Only Mark Lesser knows for sure

Thanks, I just updated my page with all this info, along with a solution for the easy version (has anyone ever beaten the game at the expert setting?) That's strange how the Legolas graphic isn't coded next to the others (no wonder I couldn't find it - there's nothing else around it!) Btw, have you had a chance to figure out that Telepathy graphic? [ 12-21-2001: Message edited by: Scott Stilphen ]

[Nukey Shay] I think you're right about the red character. Like Tempest, I think the new movie is influencing me It's definitely a Hobbitt, and it's unlikely it's Bilbo, so Sam it is! Here's what I have now for the names: red - Sam blue - Strider / Aragorn white - Gandalf green - Gimli (?) Looks too "big" to be an elf lt. blue - Legolas. (Glorfindel doesn't seem to be a major character, as much as Legolas, and Legolas is known for his use of the bow.) [Thomas] That simple math is trippin me up (esp. late at night) It took me about 3.5 days, so, using the right numbers this time, there's still a difference of approx. 7,600, correct? Rivendell - I don't remember what section of town I entered, but if 20/3 is the "center", then you have to enter at the left-most section (it's between 20/3 and 23/3). How "high" (Y) are the towns? Using the town graphics (3 rows of houses = 1 screen), Hobbiton is only 2.5 screens high, whereas Bree is nearly 8! If 20/3 isn't the lower-left corner of town, then it might be very tricky to enter at the right spot. I still don't know where they got 2,000 screens from, since the unit numbers calculate 2,709! They should have said more than 2,500 I wonder why you can't keep both Legolas and Gimli? It would have been neat to have all 5 in your party. Btw, where is the graphics for Legolas coded? It's not with the other characters.... [ 12-21-2001: Message edited by: Scott Stilphen ]

[Thomas] Ah, ok. (doh). I still don't understand the scoring, though. I made a fixed version (no Nazgul). The highest score I got was 220,500 (got green, blue, white 3x, lt. blue, and white again - in that order). Entered Rivendell with all (but green) in 3 days (no wounds). Shouldn't my score have been 238,700? screen units I tried counting the number of screens vertically, and got over 100. You mentioned Rivendell is 67 "units" away (I'm assuming by units you mean screens). Since you can go above Rivendell w/o entering it, that would mean there's over 67 units, from top-to-bottom. The programmer claimed there were 2,000 screens, so I'm curious as to how a unit is defined. There are 42 screens across, so by using those #'s, there's close to 3,000 screens (and if I use my vertical number - 100+ - there's over 4,000!). But in reality, there's only 5 distinct screens [ 12-20-2001: Message edited by: Scott Stilphen ]

Ok Thomas, I got questions If you start a game, and go 1 screen left and STOP, you will be dead within 11 units (whole game will last 12 units - less than 1 day), and you'll have a score of 0. Shouldn't my score be 10,100 (10,400, minus 300 for 3 wounds)? If you go 2 screens over and stop - 100 points. 3 - 300 4 - 500 5 - 700 6 - 900 There's a pattern after the 3rd screen, but I don't understand how this scoring is possible. Character colors- can you clarify which characters you are referring to? I have: Red - start game with Blue (or purple) - found at Bree White - found with Blue's arrow Green - found in forest across from Bree Light Blue - found near Elrond river Also, do you know what the difficulty switch affects in the game, besides the scoring? And what the ring affects? [Zero] If you start the game and hold the fire button down, the Nazgul still find you. As for the traps, there aren't any (read my earlier post). If you spend approximately 4 time units (or more) in a forest, you will be wounded. [ 12-20-2001: Message edited by: Scott Stilphen ]

Did the last 5 or so posts get wiped completely? Hope not To pick up where we left off.. I saw the movie yesterday.....and I still don't know who all the characters in the game are! But it did motivate me to put up a temporary web page listing all the info that was discovered in the last thread. Thomas is still working on finding out how the scoring system works (great work so far, btw). The only real mysteries are who each character is supposed to represent, how the ring works (if at all), and what effect the difficulty switches might have. Also, I found another character in the game! At the start, go right 2 screens, and up. When you reach the 3rd forest, you will find him. Whoever he is, he allows you to go at full speed on the forest and town screens. This character and the 'archer' (who allows you to go full speed in open areas) are interchangeable - you can only have one or the other, not both. The red and white characters seem to be holding a staff next to them, so one of these must be Galdalf. In the movie, Bilbo gives Frodo a protective suit ("mithri"?). As long as you have the red character, the Nazgul can't wound you. The blue character - could this be Mr. Butterbur ("the owner of the Prancing Pony, in Bree. He assists Frodo and the group when they cause a commotion in his establishment. He also gives them a letter sent by Gandalf" - from this site)? Does the letter say where to meet Galdalf? I was wrong about the "traps". If you spend too much time in the forest (about the time it takes to cross 5 screens), you will be wounded.

This was on the Atari version, though I'd guess the Starpath version isn't any different (there isn't any room to add more...)

Larry Gelberg passed on some info about what he recalls about the game (from playing it years ago): "Basically it was an all-out race from the the Shire to Rivendell with the Ring Wraiths chasing you. You couldn't defend yourself, and your only choice besides running like hell, was to wear the ring or not. With the ring on, the Wraiths went faster but less accurately, but with the ring off, they could see you, but weren't as incensed. If you made it to Rivendell, you won and went onto the next level, which was essentially the same but faster. How good is my memory here?" So it appears the game is complete. Just not as complete as we would like [ 12-19-2001: Message edited by: Scott Stilphen ]

Kudos Dave! Excellent job there.

quote: Originally posted by John K. Harvey: Yo, I had originally heard that the red-label is a result of a 2600 version of Ballblazer that was never implemented (I think Tod Frye was working on it, but I could be wrong). The red label is similar to Super Football and Secret Quest's labels for the 2600. It seems possible that a 2600 end-label was produced, and then dumped on 7800 carts in order to save money because a 2600 version was impractical to program, or that a batch of 2600 labels was run accidentally, and that they were put on the Ballblazer carts anyway. Is anything known about a 2600 version being worked on at all? -John K. Harvey Tod Frye was working on a version, and according to him (on the Stella videos), the display he made was excellent. Far as I know, it was never finished. Perhaps he still has a copy of his work?

Rex Bradford claims the "world record" for the maximum # of sprites on one line - 13 - in Kabobber (the reserves at the bottom of the screen). Do any games show more?

quote: Originally posted by John Soper: I think the last book of the LOTR trilogy was published something like 10 or 15 years after the first one. Think about that wait. Does that mean we can't expect the sequel to resurface for at least 15 years?

I admit, I hacked it to get that far. Although I think the highest I got "straight up" was around 12 rows. The first scene gives me more trouble than the "ledge" one, so I erased all the enemies . The second screen is easy. Just work it so that you have the guy drop the "diamond" thing down the center of the screen.

The maximum is 180! (18 rows of 10 each). Once you get this, all subsequent intermission screens are the same (never resets).

It rolls to wave "0" (the formation resets, but not the difficulty), and then starts at 1 again. Here's some pics of the 2 different formations, and of the wave # rolling over: http://home.ptd.net/~scottith/galaxian.jpg

I think you can also play during the attract mode.

Just hacked it. Made your ship invisible I'll let ya know...

What happens after reaching wave 99? I know at level 16 the formations changes - there are 3 flag ships, but I don't usually get much further after that point

That's what the programmer said Just found something interesting in the code, while trying to hack the game (to make it easier). The name "ATARI" is coded as rather large graphics (larger than your character), but I've never seen them appear on the screen! And I have no idea how to make them appear. The locations are: 0d9e-0db9 0f88-0fdb Sounds like another job for the code sleuths (Btw, did you know there's a 'continue' feature? Just press RESET when your game ends to restart at the last level.)

The plot is......there is none! It's just a demo, to show the types of games that can be used with the MindLink.

Yep, these were taken from Google's new archive files.