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TIME PILOT - final release


solo/ng

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  • 3 months later...

Fantastic release!!! As a humble contribution, for those who want a cassette version, I attached an small conversion I did recently. It uses a loader with a game to play during the loading process. Hope you like it!

 

Can you make a xex with only the loader Fronton, as standalone game?

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  • 3 months later...
  • 1 year later...

If it is a boot disk, then disable BASIC and Enable as much RAM as you have. If it requires separate ANTIC access, then choose CompyShop RAM.

If it is a single executable file, try to use any of the various game loaders. SpartaDOS 1.1 has a nice game loader. Copy and say Boot XSPLOAD.DOS.

There are many loaders out there. Search for one that works.

 

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As I have 'decorated' my living room with functional computers and consoles, I often enjoy playing 'the same' or 'similar' game on various different platforms.

 

The usual treasures I have found are things like 'Pharaoh's Curse' (VIC-20, Atari 800 XL, Commodore 64C, Amiga 1200), 'Death Race' (Commodore 16, Atari 800 XL, Commodore 64C), "Cops 'n Robbers" (VIC-20, Atari 800 XL, Commodore 64C, Commodore 16), and even things like "Spike's Peak", "Moon Patrol" and "Gorf" (these have versions also for the Atari 2600jr. - surprisingly, the VIC-20-version is the most difficult!)

 

So one fine morning, I happened to wake up my C16 with 'Space Pilot', and as it was a better experience than I remembered (have to respect them being able to cram this kind of thing to a C16 and being able to make it fun), I started wonder what other versions of the original 'Time Pilot' idea exist for my beloved systems.

 

I can't express the joy and wonder I felt when I found out about this excellent Atari 8-bit port!

 

It was like a dream come true - now I have another wonderful addition to the 'multi-platform game library'!

 

It works so easily and perfectly, and the conversion is really magnificently done, I can't praise this enough!

 

I haven't tried this new version yet, though, but I can't wait - yesterday, I almost reached the third (or was it fourth?) era, died together with the 'endboss aircraft' with my last ship, so maybe with this version I can finally reach the stars! (Figuratively speaking)

 

Thank you so much for expending so much effort just to port something wonderful to a beautiful computer system - it's so great to have more possibilities for fun with these old systems!

 

This is one of those amazing things in life, where even I, who am usually pretty harsh and direct with my criticisms and won't hold back or falsely praise about something (I can't stand the naked emperor), can't really find any criticism without resorting to some kind of unfair nitpicking.

 

This is a brilliant port, and also incredibly fun thing to play.. just sublime!

 

My dear Atari 800 XL getting all these goodies feels like it's a childhood Christmas all over again.. the old C16 'Berks' games were ported so beautifully that lately I have played the Atari versions more than the original C16 ones, and now this! Ahh!

 

This Time Pilot port deserves all the praise it's getting, and more.

Edited by Monk
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Now that I have tested the new version, here are my thoughts:

 

 I finally got to the UFO level, yay! The difficulty curve seems much better now (or I have gotten better..).

 

 However, the ramping up of difficulty seems to happen very suddenly, instead of gradually. Or maybe that's just a 'player's perception'. I got killed about 3 times in a row as soon as I reached the 'Jet' level (I forget the years),  it suddenly became a struggle to even dodge anything and the UFO level was just impossible. I got glimpse of it, and that was the end.

 

I don't get the year change from 2001 to 2077 - I mean, it's not like this is our Earth world / dimension / Universe, and the game has to somehow conform to what we are experiencing in real life! It's a parallel dimension at least, being a computer / video game, and it can make up its own rules - it's not like we have time-traveling spaceships in the sky fighting jets anyway, so why can't we have UFO-based defence grid in 2001?

 

Someone said that when they live to exist in actual 2077, the game has to be changed again. Why?

 

Then they got a response about 'UFO appearing in the sky'.

 

There's so much wrong with all this.

 

First of all, the UFO phenomenon is not new, and UFOs have been 'appearing in the sky' all throughout this planet's weird history. The Kenneth Arnold sightings in the forties were just the 'popularized recent modern history' versions, but all kinds of phenomenon have been recorded in the skies as far as people have existed on this planet (and even before, as otherplanetary visitors are not dependent on people being on this planet for their visits - and they are perfectly capable of recording events as well).

 

So why would yet another UFO appearing in the sky change ANYTHING?

 

Secondly, this is a clear misunderstanding of what the game's aircraft are all about. They're not visitors attacking Earth, but they're Earth's "Current Defense System/Grid/Network/Establishment/etc."

 

First Earth people defend themselves against this Time-traveling space pilot using primitive, propeller-based aicraft, and when the time traveler leaps forward in time, the aircraft encountered always represent a bit higher tech advancement level, so the 'UFO' stuff is just logical continuance of this from 'modern time' into 'future time'.

 

Therefore, the 'UFO ships' are not just 'appearing in the sky' - they're the 'current year defence network' - therefore, it's not enough for 'UFO ship to appear in the sky' in 2077 - the whole Earth defence network would have to become UFO-based by 2077, for this game not to 'have to be changed again' (not that it has to be, anyway).

 

It's just sad that even game developers won't allow an imaginary game world where NOTHING is like in the 'real world' anyway, to have a bit of fantasy and imagination about the year 2001.

 

"There was no UFOship-based defence network, so we can't allow a game to depict that there was!!11"

 

Who was the brilliant mind that decided this?

 

Just let the game exist in a parallel universe, where in 2001, there WAS a UFOship defence network, please! It's fine for the arcade and DS version, so why not the Atari? Come on, stop worshipping this 'revulsion realism', and leave the revisionism for historians.

 

Other than that, it's a brilliant game, and I love playing it, and I want to thank everyone involved - THANK YOU - it's another classic to boost my Atari collection and make me appreciate this lovely computer evermore.

Edited by Monk
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  • 4 months later...
On 9/25/2018 at 4:27 AM, Mr.Amiga500 said:

 

This is great! Thanks very much. :thumbsup:

 

I always wanted Time Pilot on the Atari. (...now if somebody could just do Phoenix, Battle Thru Time, and a better Spy Hunter... ;) )

....and 5200 versions of all three at that too, more games for Big Sexy!!!

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I'm curious about the most current version of this one. I assume that it would be the one attached to this thread.

 

I have another version, I believe it came from the HomeSoft collection, that appears to be the same game, but it has a title screen that the one attached to this thread doesn't have.

 

Any ideas?

 

tpilot.png.738e2dfb39ffbeced0fb420e04e91207.png

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