A subjective view on some Intellivision games

[Gernot]

I'm aware that most of you will know the games better as this cowboy from the swiss alps does.

I had the idea to post a couple of experiences i made with the games i recently play often on my Intellivision.
So mostly unreleased, unfinished or otherwise "crippled" games, it seems the¥ have a special treat on me.
It might be just because i have to explore them and can't simply depend on a instruction/manual.

That is - you guessed it right - "Space Shuttle" - (i.e) it has a very special might & magic to me.

But there are a couple of others i started to fiddle around with and which i started to like much.
Unlike to start with "Space Shuttle" i will start here with

Number Jumble

there isn't much one couldn't know about how to play this game.
But it's surprisingly addictive.
It's damned good imho, that's why i like to list it here.
It sucks a bit in the controls for the vessels, they are very clumsy but i see that as a special hardness.

The "worlds", the background art is simply great (for its time).
Already this can make you curious about the game.

The real fun starts at level 48.
First i thought "what for do i need 48 levels of hardness?"
Until i played it.

Honestly im very bad in arithmetics, at least compared to my dad why would have spilled out the results faster as you can type it in a calculator.
If others had a table calculator on their desk, dad had a slide ruler solve longer calculations.

But he grew up in a different "galaxy" (time), in his galaxy they used to beat you with a stick when you answered wrong and it was pure self protection to be as good as possible, even better. Daddy left out a class because of his capablity in arithmetics.

We no longer beat children with sticks and have to find better ways to teach them

Number Jumble is one way.

But it's not only educational, else it would bore me and it's by far no childrens game only, it can be quite hard, the skill of the game itself and the equations you have to solve.

Recently no screenshots, because i guess you all know the game,
but perhaps i post some nonetheles because the background art is really sweet.

The equations in level 48 are such hard that a "idiot" like me can't solve them without a calculator, mostly at least if i see a result rightaway of course i won't need it ( [300 / 0] + 1, a division by zero seems to be a favorite, well i guess a lot of ppl will solve them wrong).

Certainly you are adviced to have paper and pencil ready - not only for the children, for yourself as well.
Lazy cheater as i am i use like i said a calculator, i'm a member of the first button pusher generation.

It's a bit sad that they removed the scratchpad from the release on intellivision lives, it would prevent me (at least for the emulation) from using the calculator but with pretty much the same effect that i won't have to solve them.

Using the calc isn't such a bad thing, it's still sportive to get faster or to recognize a easy equation of which you think afterwards why you used the calculator and didn't saw the ease of it.

I posted in another thread that a young fellow (around 20) tried it out and i started to get proud of my old inty.
He acted clumsy in both, moving the vessels and solving the simple equations, but somehow it fascinated this boy who otherwise stated how one could play such old crap - now he knows why, it's a sport.

I didn't think i'm really good in it and at level 48 i didn't managed it to complete one level, they always bite my ass.
but that is caused a bit in the very beginning i didn't understood quite proper what is ment with "house" and that it's a little crosshair looking circle i have to lookout for.
After playing a level 1 game i knew what i had too look for, and could again step up to level 48, it's far more fun

A tip if you like to play it and never played it or have little experience with it.

The directional shooting with the action buttons is somewhat you have to get used to.
The upper buttons will only shoot in the horizontal direction your vessel is heading to while left and right lower are used for downwards and upwards.
This is confusing at start and the "steppenmensch" has natively problems with such.
But you can help yourself with setting your vessel simply on the bottom of the screen, you won't have to guide "south" and only three of four directions, which means also you won't have to use the bad to reach lower left button (for a right handed, otherwise vice versa the "north" will guide you) that helps the "steppenmensch" a lot.

Using this system i got fairly good in quite a short time managing myself through a level 48 level, still i haven't completed one.

---

My schoolbuddy Paul was one who could use both controllers either lefthanded or righthanded the same, natively he's a lefthanded like my father was and usually they have this small advantage, in the case for my father it was very distinctive, in his "universe" it wasn't allowed to write lefthanded and thus he was trained very well using both hands in the same way.

---

Nonetheless the meanies are as mean as they can be.
They often will lurk around on the screen and suddenly...
a blitz-attack.

You will shout, you will argue that it's mean, i grant you! (but don't smash your console against a wall, that won't help, i'm experienced in that)
but exactly this makes it so addictive, you won't believe it's true, it can't be, those damned meanies.

They can follow you in a short distance but keep the gap so you might think you are safe, but as soon as you flip your vessel to shoot them down your'e past.

---

Overall i'm surprised how a arithmetic trainer can fascinate me, if that is one from the Intellivision or even worse "Arithmetic Primer" from the infamous "Champion2711" or "Addition" from Studio II. It can be already sport to get good in "Addition", The simple and mean thing is the scoring, theoretically you can score 11 points, but it's not to reach because you would have to press the proper button right when the numbers get drawn, more as 10 pts you practically can't reach or you have telepathic skills and know the addition before it's asked, nonetheless for the 20 questions i never scored 200, my top score for "Addition" is 194, sometimes you need a little longer to recon the numbers or you will miss if you try to get faster and reach no top score.

---

Ok, it's about "Number Jumble" i liked to post here.

"Number Jumble" leaves you more time to answer and for each time unit (which is about 3 seconds i guess) your score for this equation will be lowered by 20%.

(and again a fith of it which means you would theoretically never score 0 if there would be fractures of one, but we have only integers, 0.000000......1 isn't zero and is integer 1 thus i guess 1 is the lowest possible score but for this you will have to wait quite long).

Of course the real fun starts with a competition, but it's really good to play as a single player sport, you like to get better and it's not to clear to me why.
As much as i like shump games many leak exactly of this goal, this final addictive thing which makes you play it again and again.

Number Jumble has it, as simple as it might look at first bite as hard and challenging it is at second.

The levels advances quite for the four worlds you can play, each finished level will double your scoring, 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x, but in the same manner the skill will grow from a started game at level one to a final skill level of 12, which is honestly quite hard for an "Arithmetic Primer" who has to start at level 1.
Of course for a grown up an addition or subtraction like "17 + 54" should be no problem, but if you think of a beginners child who has to start with
"1 + 3" it's quite hard. Fairly level 1 starts very easy, but already then 0 is used quite often, "0 plus/minus 0" funny but it has it's reason.


To finish a world, respectively to double the score multiplier you have to reach the "House" or better lets say "Transporter" symbol.
It will beam you back to the selection screen of the beginning and double the score multiplier.
Any once completed world won't double it again, you will have to play all 4 worlds to reach 8x.
However you are free to choose from any world, while always only three of the possible 4 are to select from.

The typing of the answers on the keypad is also something you have to get used to.
Equations which are diplayed as a line, i.e. 12 + 7 you can type in naturally like you are used to from left to right, 1, 9.
If the same equation is displayed as column,
12
+ 9
----

you will have to type it in from right to left 9,1, don't ask me why or what was the idea behind.
fortunately you can flip the inserted numbers with any action button before you press enter.
It's however a source for errors if you lose conciousness.
"beep"
"argh damned i forgot to flip the numbers"

Like i said it's fun to play, i love the style of it and it turned out to be an addictive game.

Explore it yourself if i infected you and post screenshots of it here. Edited March 15, 2018 by Gernot

[+intellivotion]

I've always liked Number Jumble as well since I first played it with Bliss and Nostalgia.

I especially love all the game environments.

 

I was soooo happy when Rev released it on cart.

[mr_me]

The scrolling backgrounds are really nice. I don't like how the firing controls are done; using left and right side buttons like this are always a bad idea. I think you need an ecs computer adapter and keyboard to access the scratchpad feature.

Edited March 15, 2018 by mr_me

[Gernot]

mr_me,

for sure on rev's cartridge release, but it's stated in "Rocks" (it was published with Intellivision Rocks pardon me if i wrote "Lives") that this feature has been disabled for the release. Now since i learned that you can't always trust 100% in the manuals of "Lives" and "Rocks" for sure i tested it if it really didn't works - one can never know.

But it's disabled, it opens the scratchpad properly when you start it in the emulator with ECS attached but you can't enter anything.

To refere to "Rocks", they stated it has been disabled for more compatibility on a Intellivision without ECS, i don't know but i know it's one of the ECS games where the ECS unlocks additional features but it's 100% playable on any Intellivision.

 

Since we all have a electronic calculator at hand (one? in any ball pencil is one) it won't be needed anyway.

 

But you are right using left and right lower for shump games is a bad idea and i moaned ten times and more they should have used the keypad instead for directional shooting.

I can moan and argue as much i like it has been made this way and i have to accept it.

 

I wrote already that it helps a lot to keep the vessels at the bottom of the screen, you won't need to use the hard to reach lower left and to use only two of three buttons helps the "steppenmensch" (the native function of a human mind) a lot, also no meanie can attack you from the bottom, it makes it really a lot easier to play it, especially at skill level 48.

 

Vice versa of course if you used to hold the controller in your right hand, then move to the top of the screen and use only the lower left.

If you are a rare exemplary of a Neandertaler you can hold both controllers and shoot independant on each.

Unfortunately the cro magnon overweights in my case, and his capabilities are to have two independant different working halfes of brain.

Evolution seems to have preferred the latter.

 

(caugh) "steppenmensch" has problems with three dimensions, he thinks planar.

three is to much - two we can handle well.

we are truely "steppenmenschen" (Flintstones in other terms) still after all this milleniums.

 

short intermission:

 

 

When the devs of pioneer decided to make the galaxy as large, especially as thick as the real one i was the first who criticized it and said "steppenmensch" cannot orient in three dimensions, even "Daniel" another veteran amongst the devs who is really a good friend of mine wasn't convinced of that until he played in the new galaxy "gernot you was right, i completely lost orientation in the map after a couple of hyperjumps" - "u c ;)". A couple of hyperjumps in zick-zack in our galaxy and you won't know where mother earth is located (the coordinates will tell you 0,0,0 is fortunately "home").

 

 

 

in honor to rené descartez

Edited March 15, 2018 by Gernot

[mr_me]

I had a look at the number jumble rom file on the Intellivision Rocks CD and found it to be the same file that's archived on the internet. It does have the scratchpad feature, however the Rocks CD launches the emulator without ECS activated so you can't access it. Using the windows emulator, If you pause the emulator with F1 and then activate ECS in the options menu, you can then access the scratchpad. Use the Caps Lock key to toggle between hand controllers and ECS keyboard.

 

The Rocks CD does have lots more information about this cartridge than the IntellivisionLives website. It mentions how the programmer resisted input from the Educational Products department. It also mentions that "prototypes of the game had the scratch pad feature disabled so that they could be tested without an ECS". Maybe they meant that it defaults to hand controllers first, because all the rom files I've seen have the scratchpad. I actually found a rom file variation on the Intellivision Lives Playstation2 CD. But I don't see any difference.

 

e5d1a8d2 - crc32 - Intellivision Rocks, internet

0e4920c1 - crc32 - Intellivision Lives PS2

[Gernot]

Quest

 

I didn't like to stay with one game the topic is

"a subjective view on some Intellivision games",

but of course you can still post comments to Number Jumble.

 

The idea was, to collect experiences you made with these games, mostly unreleased or unfinished games which leak of a good documentation.

It should help me and, i hope so, newer members which games could be interesting to play or need a special treat.

It's as the title says very subjective, i like to explore games, thus unfinished or unreleased is exactly what my naive curiosity likes.

How i have to play "Autoracing" or "Astrosmash" i know since i'm 16.

 

In some cases we can maybe elaborate a documentation or a better one, because i recognized certain things differ from what is written in the documentations.

Maybe a game is underrated just because it's labeled "unfinished".

 

One certainly underrated or poor cousin is Quest.

 

Personally i don't know much about this game, but maybe already more as many, there isn't much to find about it and i feel the label "unfinished" has put it in a outsider rank.

I started to play it (or fumble around with it) because i inherited a Intellivoice from Humblejack (thanks alot again).

 

It seems in most parts it's unfinished for the voice implementation, until i've heard only "die human" in the running game and this won't happen often.

But that didn't lowers my fun with it.

I played it a couple of times and had to find out that i can't simply take the overlay from "Treasure of Tarmin" as i did already, i have to create a new one.

For most things it's the same but some keys have a different function.

 

Let's start it.

On the title screen (after you started the game) when this tan faced guy welcomes you, you can select between 5 characters (i guess, them could be six), each has a different name which will be spelled by the tan faced dude.

(the only one i understand is "Finnigan" the rest sounds like "rragh grrr argh" like a voice broken crow, maybe one natively english speaking can help me with this).

 

As usual character #1 is the best armed one and the one you should start with, his name is "rragh grrr argh"

Well maybe his name is really "rragh grrr argh", who knows (Ragnar? ok).

 

What surprised me as first when i played it, the battles aren't round based, that's great! the one who shoots first or fastest wins the battle, fine, that's action.

Of course you shouldn't waste your arrows, you will need them, it's the best weapon especially when you grabbed a crossbow on your way, then it's an unbeatable repetive useable weapon, you can shoot almost through doors (the door closes but enemy is hit).

 

I didn't get far really, but i feel it beats all other D&D games, less because of the voice, it beats them because it implements the experiences made with its predecessors.

- Selectable different characters from "Tower of Doom" (to Tower of Mystery i will also have to lose some words).

- Avoiding of the round based battles from "ToT" but keeping of the 3D environment.

- you can move to any level, not only downwards in the castle (let's say transport or "beam" because it isn't simply downstairs or upstairs i guess).

- the rooms or levels arer fortunately based on the same schematic, i wasn't sure and thought argh this could be heavy, but i found out the layout is the same, at least, it's enough hard that you have to manage to the floor you like and won't know where you end up when using a transporter.

 

You have unlike in ToT no map of the castle, it's not needed or not wanted to have (else the unpredictable transporter won't make sense), when pressing the button for the map it opens your pack, until i didn't found out how to use the pack or item storage properly (you still have the pack like in "ToT" on the left side of the screen).

It shows some armor on it's bottom, armor we can identify based on "ToT".

I'm not sure but maybe this pack or item storage is really unfinished or not proper implemented.

But i also had not to use it for real.

What it shows is your armor, amount of arrows, amount of bread, and maybe reusable magical items, until now i used my magical items up if i found some, and the ones i found was for cure or to enhance the effect of the bread to cure myself (it's all just some experiences i made, try and error).

 

For some i have no idea about and could use the support of a experienced "ToT" player.

Some items are new but most are like in "ToT" (i guess).

 

All along your way you can pick up a gauntlet (i.e.) but when i pick it up or use it it won't appear in the item list, it seems to vanish, the symbol for it stays black and i assume this means empty.

 

However "rragh grrr argh" seems to be so strong he won't need such, fortunately.

 

What the heck is a Book good for, yes it's a magical item but hmm... the effect equals to zero, yes i assume use it on the proper enemy, hmmm.... (again)

I assumed a wizard will be the enemy i have to use it on, but my crossbow works better.

Also the wizard looks to me innocent, but one can never know i blasted him as soon as i saw him (that's "rragh grrr argh"'s method to handle unknown creatures, shoot first - ask later).

Ok let's name him "Groo" so "rragh grrr argh" has a fitting name, the most stupid superhero of the universe.

 

Besides until i had no different colored armor/weapons, it seems they are all the same unlike in "ToT".

 

That's already all i know about this game, but i feel it's worth to be played, something tells me that it is a good game.

Something between "ToT" and "Tower".

[Gernot]

Number Fumble

OK

 

To be honest i use (like for all the games) exclusively jzIntv

But really i couldn't get it working, well it opens the scratchpad but i can't enter something (of course i need to switch to ECS keyboardmapping that's obvious).

Or maybe i did it wrong?

Let's see.

 

 

it is played entirely with the handcontrollers. The scrach pad is disabled, the keyboard isn't used

 

But hey i don't like to argue, and i stated that you can't always trust 100% in the documentation, so it can be wrong.

 

I will give it a second try, but can't use the old power pc executables on the macbook (i'm using when i'm in web), but i can run the original emu in windows at home (sheep shaver erm shape shifter for the OSX would help yes).

But i didn't think that jzIntv will be less good or hinder me from something i can do with the original emulators, i would rather assume the vice versa.

jzIntv is really very accurate - i don't have to tell you.

 

off topic (some thoughts about MESS and Studio II):

 

 

It is even more accurate as MESS (MAME unfortunately now), games which run on my console and in jzIntv refuse to run in MESS, it's to broadbanded to be as good as a specialised.

That is i guess mostly caused by a uncommon use of mapping of a homebrew and to split it and run the shit as binary is a torture man.

Since they united MESS and MAME it became even more shit in my humble opinion.

Worst is MAME isn't documented they leave you alone and things which have worked for MESS won't do the same in MAME now, it's a tohouwabohou.

But as for all the years before i like to play and well if i need an older release to run a certain game i will use the older maybe "less accurate", i like to play this game, that's my goal.

If the beep is accurately the beep the original hardware produces is "Hans was Heiri" (John like Henry).

If i like to develop it has to be accurate, but it won't help the developer if it doesn't acts like the real hardware because it's too accurate neither.

 

Reminder for decle: i remeber you had problems to get the homebrews for your "studiovision" project working, i feel they leak exactly of named problem, the homebrews are developed using Emma02, Emma isn't accurate and handles lot of things very flexible i feel.

The fore and background is mixed up when i use MESS to run the homebrews (the screen is simply black but collision detection works, the game runs), which clearly shows that there is something not like it should be.

Emma is extremely slow in emulating when you strech the image compared to MESS (running Emma02 in 8bit depth will help, just as tip).

Just to show what it means if you develop on a emulator which isn't accurate enough for developing, i assume if you would run a homebrew on a studio II console it will show the same black screen as MESS does.

Maybe someone could lay his hands on the studio II homebrews? Emma02 isn't really good to emulate the Studio II, to slow, clumsy somehow.

I guess decle could fix it and definately get them running in StudioVision i'm pretty sure he can.

Because even StudioVision is better as Emma02 and it's running on a Intellivision, wow!

Got problems with what randomizing? hmmm... what if Emma offers something which the real hardware doesn't offers? i assume that will be the reason.

Besides it's a console i like to get, i must have a Studio II (plus you can guess what, something i can feed it with).

 

 

 

Baker is for baking bread, cobbler to fit your shoes, vice versa it won't come out well.

And yes i'm still happy a specialist made my aorta dissection and it was the right specialist.

Edited March 16, 2018 by Gernot

[Gernot]

MORE FUMBLING

 

This is my result when i use the image from "Rocks" using jzIntv (another i can't try on the macbook, except via Wine i will see).

 

 

ECS enabled of course, switched to ECS keyboard and yes it opens the scratchpad but you can only enter to the equation.

Left side should be the scratchpad but how to get there? the cursor stays at the side of the equation.

 

Am i doing something wrong?

 

(tard, i can't get the "Rocks/Lives" game player working proper using wine, i remember yes, but it's very uncommon)

 

erm, that was really random

i entered just something but what is to read?

 

But really, or maybe tomorrow, i can't run the gameplayer on my macbook.

Edited March 16, 2018 by Gernot

[mr_me]

Jzintv gives the same result as the Rocks emulator so you can just use jzintv. If the instructions say "scrach pad is disabled, the keyboard isn't used", it is correct because ecs is disabled using the Rocks CD; there is no access to the scratchpad.

 

Regarding the mame intellivision emulator be aware that it doesn't support cfg files. Either the memory map for the rom is defined in its database or you convert the binary/cfg to an intellicart/cc3 .rom format which mame does recognise. Still Mame is not compatible with all the roms but I think number jumble works.

Edited March 16, 2018 by mr_me

[Gernot]

Number Jumble for sure works in MAME (MESS, later more why) and usually i use unly cc3 rom format (it's what i suggested in a mame forum to avoid the troubles they had to get the intellivision games running, but i also suggested to use jzintv if you really like to play them, it's far more suitable).

Very few refuse to run as a .rom in MAME (resp. the 2015 MESS release i use, the recent MAME is pardon me, junk, i can't use a picker to load a .rom and have to rely on the bin format, until i got not a single Intellivision game running in MAME, not even a standard 8k file, whatever i do they won't appear, such let's even a tinkerer like me lose patience).

 

To return to the problems they had some seems to run some not? very few stated some, some others claimed they work, a tohouwabohou and it seems the instructions how to didn't helped them who had troubles running them.

 

use jzIntv, it's bomb safe. (is all i can recommend to those young fellows)

 

the only ones i know refuse to run in my 2015 MESS release are decles StudioVision, now they have a uncommon memory mapping and also a bit a uncommon use of RAM, they work on a real Intellivision and after some bugfixes by decle they run now fine.

Interesting fact, "Lil Bro II" works in MESS, they are somewhat similar to the "StudioVision" project but i guess if i remember this right they use a 8k RAM not a 16K RAM, i suspect but didn't know this could be the reason. Intellivision games which use onboard RAM at all use only the 8K RAM.

 

To implement a binary in the .XML datasheet is a torture to me, until i had no success doing so.

Am i right i would have to split the .bin by it's memory mapping?

 

Not very useful for a players need.

Whatfor if jzIntv works by pressing of a button and i don't have to worry about nothing?

 

MAME was fine to for me as player to run the Coin-Op's.

MESS had it's use when a certain game didn't runs as expected (very rare, only "Stack 'Em" i run using MESS).

Or to run an exote like the "Champion 2711".

 

But the joining of the mother project in it's derivate made MAME (resp. MESS) useless, pardon me it's junk!

Maybe wanted so only a few ppl can handle it properly, tard nonetheless, unsuitable at least for someone who just like to play.

Referring to the MAME forum i subscribed to (it's about a GUI which should help to handle this monster, but well it's a monster GUI), most are players who just like to play an old console or a coin-op.

They won't be and aren't pleased by it, i guess some thought "cool i only need one emulator and one GUI for all" but it's anything else as cool as it seems.

 

I will use my 2015 release until this is made proper again, i can start from the GUI any supported machine without to need a degree in programming.

Click on the file in the software picker and it runs, no need to put them in a special place which isn't proper documented where that place is and what else is needed.

If something is missing the GUI reports what it is, that's comfortable and not "doesn't works" and no information why it doesn't works.

No naming conventions, doesn't matter what checksum and it doesn't have to be listed as long as the machine is present.

 

For my longings in Intellivision there is no substitute for jzIntv.

 

how did i stated: baker to bake bread, cobbler to fit your shoes.

I.e. to run my unfortunately broken CD32 MESS is also not the best choice, whatever others think or say i get best results using UAE.

Sound, movie, game it runs equal to my hardware.

Not pimped up, but also not less good as.

 

I drifted away, the topic was Intellivision

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Let's return to "number fumble", that's more of interest as problems with MAME.

 

I assume you noticed my screenshot, i tried but i can't enter a single character to the scratchpad, like i said the cursor stays on the side of the equation.

(that the ECS is emulated and keyboard is activated you see by the fact that i entered letters and not numbers).

 

But neither it's a problem, the game is well to play without ECS and if i play at home i use my console and not the emulation on the PC, it's much more fun.

Since i have no real ECS i don't mind much about the scratchpad, it would maybe something else if i had one, but this is future music (back to the future in this case).

(either i order it from this german e-bay offer or from Humblejack, i guess Humblejack i trust him ten times more as any to me unknown e-bay seller).

 

Let's assume i'm to stupid or to clumsy to get it working

Edited March 16, 2018 by Gernot

[mr_me]

As far as I know, your screenshot is the scratchpad. You can use the keyboard cursor keys to move to different parts of the equation and type on multiple lines when necessary. Without the ECS computer and keyboard you are limited to only typing the answer. It works fine in jzintv or mame.

 

And regarding Mame, be aware that it is compatible with intellicart .rom files but not cuttle cart 3 .rom files. Best to take the binary and convert it using bin2rom if there is a doubt. If using Windows I recommend using mameui64 found here; it has a nice UI. http://www.mameui.info Comparing Mame and jzintv, jzintv is best for compatibility and accuracy but if you have an old, slow computer you might find jzintv has the occasional stutter where mame doesn't.

Edited March 16, 2018 by mr_me

[mthompson]

ECS enabled of course, switched to ECS keyboard and yes it opens the scratchpad but you can only enter to the equation.

Left side should be the scratchpad but how to get there? the cursor stays at the side of the equation.

 

Am i doing something wrong?

Are you following the game directions? The programmer's notes that are online can be a bit hard to decipher.

 

Once you tap the keyboard to bring up the scratchpad, use the keyboard to enter numbers in that area. The controller keypad is only used to enter your answer.

[Gernot]

Some off topic thoughts and laments

 

Btw, an av mod is what is of interest and bit a larger tube as the one i own.

 

I saved a multisync tube from dead, can it be used for the inty? i think so it should accept PAL via composite jack.

Mainly, you can imagine, i saved it for my Amigas, the A4000 especially, but of course it will suit also my old trustworthy A500, better even as anything else (for a flickerfree interlaced modus).

 

One bright day, i just don't know when that will be, i will have my small collection of old hardware running again.

What worries my a little that i trashed once my Sega MKII plus games, i have no idea what went to my mind when i trashed it.

The SNES i still hold, interesting, while i have only a few games left and well as i know my ex-wife her (resp. my stepsons) SNES won't exist anymore but she kept most of the games while i kept only the doubles (plus the GB adaptor which i can't use because i have no GB game).

If i think that i had mario paint and the mouse it brings tears to my eyes, i noticed it's a speciality of which some didn't even know it existed (i watched a yt clip about it).

Well a buddy of mine had even the gamechanger which was ment only for retailers, he saved it when MIGROS (a supermarket chain) stopped to sell SNES.

Back then i thought "whatfor?", now i really would like this electromechanical toy, it's a rare speciality

 

Damned likewise my demo cartridge i had for the inty, why to hell have my Intellivision cartridges been swallowed by a black hole?

Certainly no special use for it, except to think "hey i have this speciality".

Now i can only think "shit i HAD this speciality".

Due to the fact that i bought a retailers model very lately i got this in my hands, it was lurking around in his stock, so he was happy i gave him some SFr. at all for the whole bunch of "junk".

Must have been '85, i had no idea INTV lived on and i guess he neither.

Of which i also think quite often "sad", sad me swiss fellow had no idea.

Sad that i have already been refused by our general importer one or two years before, i would have bought all the leftover "crap" from him but he refused telling me that they don't sell to privates.

 

I assume it has been burned shortly after in the next best waste incineration plant, resulting in a few kilojoule of energy, horrible to imagine.

Why this system?

That's not recycling!

I saved this Multisync, but it was already unlawful because i worked at this time for a recycler, forbidden to save a electronic thingy you can use for a decade or more.

I put a computer aside for me, much better as the one i use, as soon as this dumb idiot recognized it that a put it aside he trashed it in a way that the PCB was broken.

But i live from welfare and wasn't even payed at this job (a modern slave for a modern slavedriver) and i can't afford such a computer, but i can fix it and keep it alive.

 

This isn't the right way to recycle, it's just about to milk society.

 

No not my little finger i will move for you and your sort of ppl again!

I know my capabilities!

But i don't like to be pat on my shoulder "you're amazing" but get nothing else for it as a kick in the ass.

I resurrect a vintage bicycle from a box of rusty junk, can they do this? no they make only hollow words.

Promises "I will personally grant you that your teeth will be fixed" i said "Let's see i was never handled well, i will believe it if i have my teeth".

I was right he didn't kept his promise.

Why should i work for such ppl, worms in other terms.

 

"the switzerland of banks and insurances (as Mr. Blocher claimed in the mid 90's)" can i dammit eat this? can i ride this? NO!

But true it is, decades ago the Harleys was parked in front of the Hell's club - now they are parked in front of an insurance company.

 

I'm really mad about all this that's true.

I have the capabilities - they have the job the reputation and the money of which they haven't earned one thing rightously.

 

If you ask me, i really would like to gift him the same grin as i have!

One precise fist.

But then again i'm the bad guy, yeah i'm the meanest man around, i drink gasoline

I'm bad company, with me as friend you all end up in jail.

 

I'm bad lightning!

[Gernot]

Mr_me. nice mentioning about MAME64

(read above why i have only an old winchester board running XP86)

no win32 version, but i can investigate myself further, thanks nonetheless.

 

It's fairly old but stutter? i guess in some way it stutters less as the win7 x64 machine i had, well exactly for the time of warranty, 2 years and then it fell apart.

I lost a complete game project due to that, horrible!

because it didn't simply stopped to work, it killed the HD as well.

For at least two years i didn't wanted to think of "pioneer" because it drove tears in my eyes guessing i lost months of work.

 

The winchester is aged 15 and runs and runs and runs - stutter what is that a new sandwich spread?

Yes it stutters - running "Pioneer Space Sim", but not an emulator like jzIntv.

And mostly it stutters in Pioneer (Phoenix for my release) because of my intense use of dynamic geometry and that i kept exactly because of this the scripted model resource.

I like to let the ships come alive, likewise my toycars had opening hoods with a motor inside i like to be able to open the hood of a space ship.

Or to position a nice female pilot in it.

To have a rotating navigation robot and other "useless" things, like turning on lights in the cockpit if you engage the landing gear, i even would like moving gauges.

I did all this but well they didn't liked my heavy use of dynamic geometry.

 

While to be honest, as much dynamic geometry i have and as much as i turned my scripts repo to a sort of modelling kit it won't use a tenth of the power a open gl postprocessing needs only for some nice light effect.

To read and interprete the scripts it needs power that's true, but really that's white bread for the cpu, chamomile tea.

A fog which intentionally should help to gain speed (cuts the horizon) but as postprocessing it wastes processor time useless.

 

Finally, it's sad i lost contact to this australian dev who got aware of me and liked to make a professional game with me, because he immediatly understood what worried me.

Even because of the broken machine and because of a misunderstanding, bad service of my provider, they deleted my e-mail account.

"oh sorry" was all they said.

If i would be a company i would make a lawsuit of this, can you imagine what loss this means for someone who develops or co-develops?

I lost one Life with the e-mail account!

I lost my presence and reputation in web.

 

For this reputation i have to start again and can only hope another one will be attented by my work.

 

But because all this is such stressing and dissatisfying i'm here on atariage to have fun and don't have to think of the bad things which happened in the past.

 

To play on my Intellivision and to forget.

To maybe kick myself in the ass and get into IntyBASIC.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Once you tap the keyboard to bring up the scratchpad, use the keyboard to enter numbers in that area. The controller keypad is only used to enter your answer.

 

Yes, it just doesn't works as i expect or i expect the wrong?

 

To repeat the screenshot shows where my problem is, i can only enter to the equation, why i don't know.

 

However i will give it a third try, even if it's already a bit a waste of time it's not important.

 

And my idea was not to ask for help to get the scratchpad running for Number Jumble, my idea was to talk about a couple of games of which i think they are worth to be played, specialities, unfinished or maybe underrated games.

 

I rather would like to hear: "Hey i tried this game and my experiences are..." (which was in fact mr_me's first post)

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Right now i think (last night) maybe it would have been wiser to start a thread for each instead to talk about different games in one thread.

I thought "me i can handle to read about" but what is with the rest?

They will probably be confused by different topics.

 

 

Who would i have to ask if im like to change the title of the thread?

 

 

it would make sense to post only about Number Jumble here.

[Gernot]

a few words to "TOWER OF MYSTERY" (predecessor to tower of doom)

 

first,

· HIDDEN MESSAGE: By typing 1-1-2-6-5-6, a “ticker-tape” style message from programmer Daniel Bass may appear (but since he didn’t do the final programming for the game, this may have been removed). {Daniel Bass}

no obviousely it won't appear in tower of doom, but works for tower of mystery.

 

"mystery" i don't know what differences it will further have but one for sure,

you can't select from preset characters

but you can setup your own character, from easy to hard, you can give him any set of equipment.

 

I didn't found any instructions for this game so it's like solving a riddle if you like to

i'm not sure in which parts it is unfinished, i will find out, i have this uncertain feeling it's quite complete but just not documented.

of course you can start the game by pressing of the disc, but i don't think that this is the intention

 

not only equipment for your adventurer can be set even what sort of castle is customizable (even instead of preset ones)

of course this won't make it easier to just play the game.

 

a further possibility, and here it starts to get interesting, is to enter an "ID" and a "Password"

i assume, but i can really only assume, that "ID" is (of course identity) to recall a character (errata: it's prob. your name for the adventurer)

while if i guess of "Password" it could be to recall a running game?

but how?

until i didn't stumbled over a "Password", neither that an "ID" was shown i.e. when you lost all lives.

what could be that you have to fulfill a condition to get one which would make sense to me.

but what exactly both is i don't know.

 

it is both not really needed to know and maybe i will stumble over it when i keep playing it.

 

referring to atariprotos (else there isn't much info to find about this game except that we know it's "unfinished" and "unreleased" and that they was about to release a stumped version for the M Network)

the ID could be your name, i will see if that is the case.

that would be a cool extra, a game which stores your name?

storing in the sense that it will be probably recalled with the Password.

 

one single clip is to find on YT of a few seconds playing which won't make us wiser.

 

the whole thing is a riddle in itself and i guess that's a good starting point for AD&D, it's a quest, you have no idea, except that the general gameplay will be like "Tower of Doom".

i guess for the items and monsters we can refere to "Tower of Doom"

 

i know what you like to say.

why should one be interested in "Mystery" if "Tower of Doom" exists and is documented and finished.

perhaps exactly of this, i'm curious.

how far it is unfinished is speculative.

we all can read that it is unfinished, but many such games surprised me how far they was finished and how wrong the documentation can be for the meaning of "unfinished" (Space Shuttle, Air Strike, Quest).

 

something tells me that they didn't liked to counter the released versions, but still i wonder about the difference of "Space Shuttle" in gameplay to it's description.

it's stated you can play only two missions and it ends abruptly, while in fact you can play ??? missions (at least 5 or 6 i played already).

it's stated that 1000pts will be the max. per mission while i can load as much satellites i like to and gain 500pts for each successful recovery.

a quite big difference and makes the game much more playable as the instruction let's us assume.

 

for Air Strike it's stated "no enemy airplanes" while you can call an enemy and it's not an easy one, well no airplane that's true it's a helicopter.

 

these differences of actual gameplay and instruction or description let's me assume a lot.

 

to return to "Mystery"

it's stated that the graphics was overhauled for "Doom", i wonder in which part? until it looked exactly as what i know from "Doom" (it isn't much i know about it).

it would be interesting to have a look at the graphic sets, this i will do as next thing.

 

gameplay differs? where except for the more sophisticated way to select your character?

 

until a game doesn't ends abruptly or hangs it's to me not "unfinished".

it's maybe a prototype.

but quite more as only a playable demo.

 

i expect that it will be in parts unfinished, likewise "Shuttle" where you can't make any senseful use of the trajectory (orbit), which is in fact a quite big leak, it would make the game much more fun to play to match the trajectories. this would need extra fuel and lower the chances of a recovery until you run out of fuel, besides you can leave the trajectory to far and this will have the same effect as running out of fuel, you left stable orbit (you will be warned by mission control).

 

but i really can't tell what these parts will be for "mystery" that's why one has finally to play it.

and it looks like it has to be me.

 

of course i appreciate any useful information which exceeds what we know already from blue sky rangers (which equals to zero).

 

i wouldn't be surprised if there would be no use for the "password" function, really not.

 

one thing i experienced already is that if you loose your three men the experience, treasure and stamina you gained stays for the next attempt, so your adventurer will grow stronger with every attempt you make (unless you alter it or reset the game).

[Gernot]

with this settings i started the game (equal to, i just forgot to make a screenshot)

 

 

with this character i ended it, while i killed my adventurer just to show this, i was growing while i was playing (i guess in this part it's the same for "Doom").

 

 

if i would have started a new game, this would be my character and equipment for the new game

 

maybe in this part it's somewhat unlogical, because as more often you lose as easier the game will be for you (as stronger you are).

ID & Password is still a riddle to me.

 

Even if the ID & Password doesn't works or isn't what i assume it should be, it would be possible to write that down (or make a snapshot) to play next time with exactly the settings you ended the game.

 

Besides the ID can't be your name (i was a idiot assuming this), because you obviousely can't enter letters.

It's a serial looking like this "nnnn-nnnn-nnnn" for ID and a single number string for Password "nnnn".

as far as i could judge it it had no influence entering something here, but i don't know exactly (i used 0000-0000-0000 and 0000 to start, but as you can see nothing is to see after i lost my adventurer)

Still i guess there would be the option that something would appear here after you gained a certain item or probably matched a game, this i don't know.

After a successful play it would make sense, because it could be this would lift you to a harder level.

Because it was anything else as hard to play the game, almost a walkthrough.

 

Certainly "Tower of Doom" is a fine to play game because the rules are identically.

But i guess "Tower of Mystery" has some "mysterious" extras to offer, not in what you will find in the game, but how you start it and how your adventurer grows while playing it.

 

Something "unfinished" or broken in function i didn't discovered yet, except maybe the ID and Password function.

It's a little to easy yes, but i don't know how that will be in a further play, there is still the possibility ID and Password work to make it harder to play.

 

as you can see on the screenshot even the tower level is editable, which means you can restart exactly on this level or start at tower level 1 again.

the amount of tower levels isn't to see and neither i can tell how deep the first tower is.

 

In general one can assume this options screen has been replaced for "Doom" with the presets for tower depth and character.

 

Let's see if i was right in assuming that i can re-enter my character in a new play today.

 

 

It's in fact "THE TOWER OF MYSTERY"

 

 

erm, yes, one word to the "easter egg", if you like to try this you will have probably to enter the code twice, it usually worked for me only after entering it twice.

Edited March 19, 2018 by Gernot

[mr_me]

Air strike with helicopters is a hack. That Space Shuttle rom might also be a hack; I thought the original programmer said that although voice was recorded, he never got around to adding it to the game. You might say Tower of Doom might be an "official" hack as it may not have been done as the original programmer intended. Still interested to see what the differences are with Tower of Mystery.

 

One incomplete game that's interesting to me is "League of Light". I find the music relaxing; unlike the annoying soundtracks in many of the games on later systems. The early rounds are easy as the tunnel stage doesn't have obstacles found in later rounds. And the music stage in early rounds can be played as a visual memory game for people who aren't musical like me. Once the visual cues are removed the music stage becomes impossible to me. This game was completed as the c64 game Master of Lamps by the same programmers.

Edited March 19, 2018 by mr_me

[Gernot]

"League of Light" YES!

i like much.

because of exactly the same, i like that rocking tune.

 

and i do remember a C64 game, but i can't remember it had music, but i guess the "nightdriving" would have been adapted by many.

as far as i can remember (my cousin had a C64, shortly after i bought my Inty) it was as BASIC game on tape, likewise "Lunar Lander" (data only) or together with.

somehow i do remember a similar game from my miggy, but i can't remember it's name, a good game idea will have been copied many many times.

 

What differs "League of Light" is certainly the Music and the "Senso" type of intermediate game (as far as someone likes a rockin' tune played on three channels, that must be someone of our age or a true freak. i like all sorts of such music "directly banged to the hardware" and whenever or for what purpose ever i make a mp3 of them it didn't sounds as fresh to me, even if them are already samples. "the quality quartet" or in case for the inty "the quality trio" music played back by instructions)

 

---

 

How can i judge (find out) Air Strike will be a hack? It's exactly what is on "Intellivision Lives", but that mustn't mean it's no hack i just wonder.

If it's a hack it must be an "official hack", because it's published by Intellivision incorporated in this way.

and exactly their own description doesn't matches what is on their own collection.

but however, it's more playable due to that and that's what is of real interest to me.

 

---

 

For "Space Shuttle?" we can assume a lot, since you find it only on intellivision.us (eg, who put that question mark there? was it ment? is it a hack? i've read they made a brainstorming for the name) while "League of Light" differs not in just a single bit from what has been already published on "rocks".

they are "boasting" that "King of the Mountain" is bugfixed but neither there is any difference to what is on "Lives" (so which bug has been fixed? the one on the kitchen floor? "splat" fixed it! i assume it's only to evade a poss. copyright infringement).

in this case it's true what has been said (wasn't it you?) of "unknown source", because for "League" and "King" it could be, most probably it is a simple ripp off.

Perhaps because they was "unfinished" or "unpublished" they got away with this.

"GoodNames" marks them already as duplicates, but to be 100 and 1 % sure i compared them using my hexeditor, "no differences" (while you can be sure same checksum same content, but well it's better to trust your eyes then in a software).

 

Damned in some sort this is shit, if it doesn't belongs to "Intellivision Inc." or "Activision" it will belong to the developer for sure.

and it's in fact not very nice to spread it unasked. (same for joe's 4-Tris i feel, it would have been easy to link his publishing instead to upload it, that would be fair, no problem for me to share but respect the author that's most important to me. law unfortunately often only serves lawyers and not the right)

 

 

 

guessing of that i have been pushed out of my wheelchair by a cop stating "good that someone like you can't have children", i started to counteract, but chances was low, at least he has been warned and is now very very nice to me, so something has happened, even if it wasn't fully satisfying, someone like him doesn't deserves to be a cop. a sheriff he will never be.

fortunately i was bound to the wheelchair temporary, if not i wouldn't have stopped until i got my right, we have strong societies for handicapped to guard such. but dammit this "good that someone like you can't have children" is clearly... i don't know what it is - discusting it is. oh but otherwise if a handicapped has rank and reputation then it will be something else - yech, spit, vomit.

 

 

 

Otherwise i'm grateful for most of the rest of unpublished games, at least it advertises Intellivision, and one can hope that this or that person will finally order the official released stuff, might be because he feels that's only fair or to get the vast amount of additional and entertaining material.

It is in fact no problem to download the whole TOSEC set anywhere in the web, a "1000" times and they don't do advertising.

I make myself already thoughts about my hacks or about the boxes or a rewritten manual, because it is a violation of copyrights and just tolerated, we should be grateful for this.

Neither one can be sure it won't be a problem.

 

 

I.e. that was the reason my Elite ships had to be removed from Pioneer, i understood, i had a spoken out agreement of Frontier.devs that it won't be a problem but what a lawyer would make out of it isn't said with this, if one would have started a case they would have to act, spoken out agreement or not. as long as it's open-source i guess there won't be a real problem, but it's not forbidden to take the whole bundle and sell it and there would start the problems. besides switzerland isn't EU, no third person can start a lawsuit, it has to be the injured himself no chance for "abmahner" (lawyers which seek the net for poss. copyright infringments), we neither accepted the U.S. copyright act, it simply doesn't exists for us. i said once we have a different guessing about private property, we don't need to have a gun in the closet, but no one has the right to look into my closet what i got in it, it's my closet (in other words i can have a gun in my closet it's not of "your" interest). and my computer, in fact i'm allowed to download almost everything (limitations are only to peadophile contents or obvious glorification of violence and suppression or constitutional subversive material, while in a obvious sense these are all violations of the constitution and a logical consequence), i'm just not allowed to spread it. constitutional right above financial interest, but it starts to crumble, some just can't get rich enough and tend to screw on our constitution permanently all under the coverage of "people longings". unfortunately the ppl are to blind to see the real intention behind and can see only the flag they ware on their collar. i guess i don't have to tell you "constitutional federation" vs. "the ppl can't lead themself they are to stupid" (bonaparte) i guess he was right, we seem to be to stupid and kneel in front of our reeves or their hats. where the heck is wiliam tell and his crossbow? doomed in the tower of doom? lost in the maze of the minotaur? or maybe just bribed with gold? i will see maybe i find his unbreakable crossbow somewhere and a quiver with magical arrows (feather and ink)

 

[Gernot]

Another post i forgot because of "League"

 

just a short clip.

[mr_me]

Air Strike on the Intellivision Lives CD doesn't have flying helicopters. King of the Mountain on the CD doesn't allow access to any mountains other than one and six. Other mountains are likely on the rom just inaccessible; it also lacks sound effects. You have to pay to get the hacked KotM. The "?" in Space Shuttle could be original. Mattel knew they had to change the name after Activision's Space Shuttle was released. Another confusing one is Choplifter. The rom archived on the internet has copyright Mattel Electronics but the game was made in 1989; long after Mattel quit Intellivision. I don't mind hacking roms as long as they say so.

Edited March 19, 2018 by mr_me

[mthompson]

Air strike with helicopters is a hack.

Are you saying that the common Air Strike ROM on the internet is a hack and not the Mattel original? I noticed that Gernot's custom Air Strike overlay labels the zero key "Call Enemy." The game's instructions say any key but zero flips the plane upside down but doesn't say what, if anything, the zero key does. Sure enough, if you press zero, you hear the Intellivision referee whistle and then an enemy helicopter shows up and tries to shoot you down.

 

David's hacked version of Air Strike posted here has a different helicopter enemy (no keypress required). Sure would be fun to have this finished some day, but maybe it's a lot of work.

 

[mr_me]

Yes, I was thinking of intvdave's hack. The Air Strike on the Intellivision Lives CD does have a helicopter as Gernot says.

[Gernot]

mthompson

that's a cool hack (progress), i like thanks for linking it, i guess i wouldn't have found that (because i didn't knew it existed)

 

so i have another one to post in the "atariage hacks" thread (i guess it makes sense to drop them there).

only one member was asking, the only post in "hacks for Intellivision", if the "auto-hack" (a hack tool for a2600 games to exchange graphics, as i found out) would work for the inty.

of course not, but he inspired me to post my hacks under this topic and you inspired to link more hacks (as far as i know them "air strike" will be the first).

and to post him the ECS Basic examples (if he likes to toy around with pulling graphics from a cartridge).

 

(i now have my revised sport games hacks ready)

 

---------

 

mr_me

sometimes i miss, and i can't check everything on the macbook as quick like at home, i do make notes (sometimes) but also forget to carry them with me sometimes.

besides i never actively played "King of the Mountain" and it was just based on the fact that i found no differences between them (resp. thought so).

 

---------

 

overall i'm often wrong, that's how i learn, likewise the robot from "Robot finds Kitten" - try and error.

 

--------

 

i made more experiences with "tower of mystery" and would have to revise some of my statements i made, but unfortunately i forgot the text i've made at home (i knew i was missing something).

 

one thing i can say for sure, i was wrong in assuming the displayed character points would influence your next game, if at all you would need ID and Password to enable this (whysoever if at all).

some items vary in use to "tower of doom" (i.e. coins can have magic power), you miss food at all and have to gain power only from magic and you can't see the progress you made in the running game (instead of the question mark there is a chest in the pack, "using" it has no effect).

in very rare cases the game crashed when i used a magical item (only happened twice at the very start of the game).

as more i find out as more questions i have

but later i will post more about it, as far as i can remember my experiences i made and the issues or differences to "Tower of Doom" i stumbled over.

it mostly lacks of sound and it's a quite silent game to play.

the advance in hardness and (i assume) full depth of 32 levels is challenging, it starts easy but you soon feel very very weak ("your skin feels tight").

the hardest thing about is that every game will be random (procedural generated, i like that!) a new one, random levels, random effect of items (color).

in other terms what "tastes like spinach juice" in one game can kill you in the next game.

 

what i could imagine that "ID" and "Password" should help to generate a game from the same number (same numbers from same numbers), but i still have no idea how that works for the game if at all.

most sense it would make after you get killed though you could play the same game again and profit of your experience, but it didn't looks like.

still i have no idea if the "ID" and "Password" will be handed to you when you succeeded, what would make least sense, because you matched it then.

probably (very vague) you get a Password (short number of only 4 characters length) to enter any "ID" (long number of 3 times 4 characters) to generate a game (similar like it was for populous).

this is a obvious cool option a procedural generated game offers, to draw same numbers from same numbers.

 

however i like this game exactly because it's procedural generated and it points towards the right direction, it's something many games still doesn't have today, despite the fact that it won't need much code to achieve this. just draw a number out of 3 x 4 (that's quite a lot, we used only nine for pioneer and generated with that the whole galaxy) and here we go.

but you have to build the game around this, it will be the heart and soul of it.

 

"roll a dice" the main element of any real role playing game, it's never really repetive, but computer role games offer the extra possibility instead to roll a dice to fight using your skills as player and this makes them (could make) outstanding. instead to hack & slash like the coin op "dungeons & dragons: tower of doom" (not very advanced it is ) was, it's not funny to hack yourself through a fantasy game, neither it's fun to just press the right button at the right time (final fantasy) and to watch one cut scene after the other.

 

i guess even if it's in this state is unfinished "Tower of Mystery" is such a role playing game and imho the first which would have suited to the title "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" (advanced!).

however, if one takes this serious the inty could beat the most modern console ego shooter tard with the simple "same numbers from same numbers".

 

ok, now i wrote down already most what i know about it

[Gernot]

one absolutely not procedural generated game and broken as not much "unfinished" are

 

SPACE SHUTTLE ?

 

i just liked to post my final (or almost final) post and instructions for this unfinished and broken game (hack or what ever).

i gave it several tries to find out especially how to switch proper between "arm" and "control pitch of shuttle/satellite (i would say shuttle, you obviousely can't maneuver the satellite, but it looks like because if you think right an object in space is relatively to you "moving" this kind, you don't see your small maneuver but you see the object moving relative to you and thus it's side inverted. you thrust to starboard - the object moves to portside of you ), the answer is simple, controlling the pitch of your shuttle works only with the right controller.

 

to be honest it's a quite boring game because of this facts;

- no real use of trajectory (matching trajectories, orbit), space debris, or most anything in the map view.

- score overflow above 9500 (9900, 9999, 99, 19x5?) points which leads in the end to a crash of the game (somewhat above of assumed 20'000) killing any fun left with this sim.

 

the score overflow has some dramatic effects on the game, since above a certain count not only glyphs or common graphical characters will be displayed but also active animated objects such as cards of the rotating globe or the robot arm.

 

i've made a couple of clips, but i guess this one tells as much as all the others.

it's captured running the Inty via the "tv anywhere" card on my pc, which didn't offers a brillant quality (as you can see) but it's suitable for playing and especially capturing a game played on the real hardware. of course an av modded inty would offer a much better quality.

 

 

the clip is quite long with 20 minutes but it shows everything upto the typical crash when the score overflows to much.

this clip using the video capture device shows off well the aspect the inty produces on a PAL TV, the full screen is 4:3 but the image itself has a different aspect, not quite 4:3 neither 16:10 (close to 15:10, the clip is doubled in size (640x480) but not streched).

obviousely on a NTSC TV with the same aspect of 4:3 and a few lines less it will be closer to 4:3 (if not exactly).

 

from on 17:25 minutes in the clip you can see an animated card in the score which probabaly belongs to the globe (you can see it moves similar as the globe), even the cockpit starts to show strange effects and with lowered landing gear the respective score character turns to something which looks like a cactus.

already before this shows up you can see a line in the character which grows&shrinks together with your robot arm.

from then on you will know it will be difficult to run the game furter on, most likely it will crash or simply reset.

 

nontheless, i've revised the instructions for the game and the overlay (for those who like it to try despite of the fact that it is really broken).

 

list of issues:

- Use only the right controller. On the left controller you can't switch between control of the "arm" and "maneuver shuttle" to bring the sattelite in position (key 0).
- When controlling the shuttle in cockpit view to "maneuver shuttle" right is unfortunately always "right & up" (shuttle steers right, satellite moves left in relation to it).
- The game didn't ends after the 2nd mission.
- You can capture as much satellites as you like until you run out of fuel.
- The score begins to overflow above 9'000 pts (when you would reach 10'000 pts) and starts to display graphical characters.
- From on a certain score the game crashes or crashes if you land or resets after landing and showing your score. if you capture more as 10 satellites in each mission the game will crash at end or within the second mission.
- Turn your ship 180 around on the trajectory and fire thrusters to break ("Speedup Shuttle" is the wrong term it should be "Rotate Shuttle"), decay from orbit and land (instead of using up your fuel).
- Trajectory control works but has no influence on wether you can capture a satellite or not. Most of what you see and hear in the map view isn't functional.
- Each succesful capture adds 1'000 pts to your score, deploying adds most of the time 0 sometimes 500.

 

Space Shuttle Instructions.pdf

 

 

 

[1] Shows cockpit view.

[2] Shows the map and shuttle trajectory.

[3] Deploys satellite. It will switch screens to show thw launch.

[4] Rotates the shuttle on the trajectory by 180°.

[5] Speed up map (speed up mission time counter).

[0] Toggle controls for arm or to maneuver shuttle in cockpit view.

[ENTER] Capture the satellite when arm is in position.

Upper Side Keys Thrust to accelerate/decelerate or to maneuver.

Lower Side Keys Change trajectory, left bends down, right bends up.

Direction Disc Maneuvers the shuttle and controls robot arm

 

that's it so far.

Edited March 23, 2018 by Gernot

[Gernot]

Tower of Mystery

 

 

summary (recent, "unfinished")

 

No instructions and not much neither on the official site or elsewhere i guess, not even a good clip of the gameplay (except for what i will upload of it).

except that we know it's a leftover of Daniel Bass and was completed later as "Tower of Doom".

i'm working on instructions.

In general you can take the instructions of "Doom", with some exceptional behave for "Mystery".

 

That's mostly:

- everything is random at start of a new game, i assume the depth of the is always 32 levels

- each item color has a different value/sense in a new game, i guess there are 5 possible colors per item; green, dark green, crimson, orange, grey.

- except for the crimson gas clouds (these colors are in every game the same - phew) none had a noteable effect (so far), the crimson ones will lower your stamina bar (if it grew before on based on experience, for a newbe they have no effect).

- no food

- different magical items, "the scroll" looks like a map of a tower level, there's a crooked stick which works exactly as the "holy hangranade", don't stand to close.

- coins/treasures can have magical power depending on the color (only positive)

- no status screen in a running game, you don't know your progress except for your stamina. thus i can't tell if a spare treasure will be counted as bonus like for "tower of doom", while you will use the treasures, because they can cure you. the question mark is a chest but you can't make use of the chest (i guess).

- for a lot of magical items there will be no ticker message and you have to discover what the effect is. vice versa a lot of ticker messages aren't very helpful. you drink a potion and "arghhh", "tastes like spinach juice" or "your skin feels tight" (am i on a LSD trip?) doesn't tells much. "tough guy" is obvious, your stamina will exceed the stamina bar to max. for the given time span. as well as "where's he gone?" you're invisible, "who stopped the world?" you're fas as lightning. "your'e stiff" you are paralyzed. one without ticker message; the monsters are paralyzed, another example monsters get killed in a wide range (i guess it's the effect of a scroll/map) except for one which appears right after use (refere to my clip).

 

Things i have to figure out:

- the possibility to generate the same game layout again, "ID" (3x4 digits) and "Password" (4 digits) function in a setup screen (enter it with top action keys at start), but i still have no idea if and how it works, i assume it's to generate a game based on a chiffre, but didn't found out how it works. this would be a very advanced feature, ahead of its time like the whole procedural generated game is and a logical conclusion of it, "same numbers from same numbers". that's why i like to finish one game because probably the "Password" is handed out to you after a success, it would make sense. damned if i think about it could be very advanced, what if the "Password" is personalized, based on how you scored? that would mean if you success or i we won't have the same "Password" and thus the resulting "ID" for the layout would vary to.

3x4 digits are a vast amount of possibilities, even if it looks like three divisions, one for?, the other for*, the third for@.

I've read about the unreleased "M-Network" version of it that it "would have offered the possibility to enter a name" i guess as far as i can judge now this is a misunderstanding, if it was planned to be as functional as the Intellivision game then "Password" isn't your name in a literal sense but it's of course your identity (not to confuse with "ID" which would be the "ID" of the to generate game). but well, it could be vice-versa, "ID" is your identity based on the scoring, "Password" is the to generate game, 4 digits are still a lot of different games to play. and there is the possibility i don't like to think of that it isn't functional at all , it's unfinished, but i guess this feature is so basic for this game that you would need it to develop it, it's to be honest from my pov the tool you need to develop a game like "Tower of Doom" which is still procedural generated but based on static values sometimes or for certain difficulties. but why don't hand this power to the player? generate your own personal game, to hard? we players aren't all dumb button pushers

 

If i would have the chance to meet Daniel Bass (pardon me, i wrote David) i would have a ton of questions, basically how he get to that idea to procedural generate a game, i guess it wasn't a totally new idea, we have had already a lot of procedural generated stuff in Intellivision games. it is just different in that all is generated and that it would have opened the possibility to construct new challenges.

 

things of which i'm not sure if they will be the same for "Tower of Doom" (some of the first mentioned to, i don't know "ToD", but i took the instructions as info to play "ToM").

- resurrecting monsters (some i've never seen before, from double headed dragons over giant scorpions (where is that to see? exactly!) to wizards)

- multiple monsters, you slay one and another is born, slay it and the next will be resurrected from it, up to six times for one it happened to me. perhaps (it happened not often) them are fake monsters and it's an effect of a potion? (i am on a LSD trip!) on the other hand the "fake monsters" can harm you like any.

 

i have to play it more often, i already started to scribble down what are the possible effects an item can have, but it's still a mystery for many, e.g. "your skin feels tight", what does that mean? - he's crazy in the coconut

 

An experienced "Tower of Doom" player would be a great help for me.

 

overall, it starts to fascinate me more as "Quest" quest is good as well and the main difference of the non roundbased battles makes it interesting to play.

but i guess "mystery" is still better, "3D" and voice or not.

of course voice support for "mystery" would make it even better, imagine those misleading ticker messages as voice.

but it's not needed to make it better, the procedural generating makes it already outraking.

in many parts you can compare them, except for the generated maze, a lot of monsters in "Quest" are siblings of the "Mystery" monsters.

 

Also this fascinates me technically since i was envolved in the developement of a procedural generated game and i see clearly now that my ideas wasn't bad, they just don't understood me. it's nice to generate a galaxy but you could do so much more with it and "ToM" (a funny coincidence Tom Morton started "pioneer") shows exactly what i ment with; "can't we generate missions from snippets?" (likewise sentences from words or the mazes in ToM) only "Fluffy Freak" who worked for Frontier.dev understood me but he neither could convince them of my idea.

 

and that 16 sided dices won't make any difference to such a game.

David Braben stated once "the difference is what a designer will create out of it".

let's praise "Frontier" it's a milestone as well as "Tower of Mystery", but "ToM" and all the rest of intelligent role playing games are predecessors to "Frontier".

i don't like to play computer text role playing games (for a book it will be different, i have an "Asterix"* role playing comic), but i know many used the procedural generating already a long time before we had graphics.

 

off topic, but i don't know where to post this clip else

i'm not really good, but i made the clip and liked to post it somewhere.

 

*off topic as well

i aslo hold a pirated swiss "Asterix" comic called "Hanfzauber" (weedmagic).

see i don't collect cardboard, but i collect rarities.

Edited March 24, 2018 by Gernot