Bill Lange Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Unreleased, never completed, Atari 8-bit game, "Last of the Incas", by Atari/Chris Crawford from Feb - Mar 1984. Source Code .PDF: Last Of The Incas.pdf last-of-the-incas.zip 24 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Holy shit - where did this come from?!? Thanks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Thanks Bill... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 sweet! they just keep turning up! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 (edited) Last Of The Incas.png Unreleased, never completed, Atari 8-bit game, "Last of the Incas", by Atari/Chris Crawford from Feb - Mar 1984. Source Code .PDF: Last Of The Incas.pdf last-of-the-incas.zip Neat! Any information on how complete it is? Also, are there any instructions -- considering what can be done with it? Thanks -- to you and Chris! Edited January 18, 2019 by MrFish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Lange Posted January 18, 2019 Author Share Posted January 18, 2019 (edited) Any information on how complete it is? I'm pretty sure that the combat code is incomplete! Edited January 18, 2019 by Bill Lange 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Lange Posted January 18, 2019 Author Share Posted January 18, 2019 (edited) Reset - Resets the game Select - Changes the active "Commander"/City Joystick - Moves the active "Commander" icon I suspect that if it worked, it would work similar to Eastern Front 1941. Unfortunately, I can't get it to do much more than change active commanders and move the icon to neighboring cities. The code as some interesting "messenger" stuff. Messages can travel twice as fast as armies. (Again, if it worked) Other than that, it seems to be a pretty, colorful map of Peru twisted toward the left. Edited January 18, 2019 by Bill Lange 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 (edited) <START> seems to be an "undo" command. Holding the button while moving the joystick in one of the directions seems to be some sort of directional command. Yes, the map is turned left. One of the most interesting archaeological areas in the world. Nicely done (so far), and nice to see one of his game maps on a single screen, for a change of pace. Edited January 18, 2019 by MrFish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Lange Posted January 18, 2019 Author Share Posted January 18, 2019 Yes, the map is turned left. One of the most interesting archaeological areas in the world. My wife is from Peru (born in Lima / raised in Piura). I've been fortunate enough to have traveled to Peru about a dozen times, including Cuzco and Machu Picchu three or four times. I've even met up with Peruvian AtariAgers while there! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Crawford Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 It has been 35 years since I wrote that code, so I can't recall many details. The basic idea was something called "Galilean relativity": the idea that what you know at one location depends upon slow-moving information. That was the key issue in the Spanish response to the various Inca revolts: on the mountain trails, news travelled at the speed of a runner. The little sparkly things that traverse the roads are meant to demonstrate that. By the way, I was rather proud of the algorithm used to control that animation. You're right that the combat algorithms were never completed. Such algorithms are pretty straightforward to build, so I put them off until the end, because they are easily adjusted to balance the game. Skimming through the code was fun; assembler code is so different. If somebody does plunge into this, I'll try to answer questions about it. 28 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Lange Posted January 18, 2019 Author Share Posted January 18, 2019 Thanks for the quick response and update Chris! I'll likely see if I can get it to compile under the Atari Marco-Assembler in the next few days. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 My wife is from Peru (born in Lima / raised in Piura). I've been fortunate enough to have traveled to Peru about a dozen times, including Cuzco and Machu Picchu three or four times. I've even met up with Peruvian AtariAgers while there! There are some beautiful Peruvian women. I've been studying the sites and histories -- somewhat casually -- off and on for a number of years (watching videos and visiting websites). That's cool you've been able to spend time there; some really fascinating places and histories. Interesting you met some Atariagers there too. I know we have some Chilean Atariagers here too (NRV, for instance). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 It has been 35 years since I wrote that code, so I can't recall many details. The basic idea was something called "Galilean relativity": the idea that what you know at one location depends upon slow-moving information. That was the key issue in the Spanish response to the various Inca revolts: on the mountain trails, news travelled at the speed of a runner. The little sparkly things that traverse the roads are meant to demonstrate that. By the way, I was rather proud of the algorithm used to control that animation. You're right that the combat algorithms were never completed. Such algorithms are pretty straightforward to build, so I put them off until the end, because they are easily adjusted to balance the game. Skimming through the code was fun; assembler code is so different. If somebody does plunge into this, I'll try to answer questions about it. Good to hear from you again Chris. This is neat piece of Atari history. Good to see it preserved, and thanks for sharing. So, was this not completed due to your exit from Atari during the game industry downfall/crash? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinroh Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Rad thanks for the posting! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Crawford Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Good to hear from you again Chris. This is neat piece of Atari history. Good to see it preserved, and thanks for sharing. So, was this not completed due to your exit from Atari during the game industry downfall/crash? You know, I can't recall when I did this. It was right around the time of the collapse. I recall working on two projects during that time: Last of the Incas and a sequel to "Eastern Front (1941)" called "Western Front (1944)". I abandoned both when I decided to make the jump to Macintosh. There was a delay between being laid off (January 1984?) and beginning work on the Mac because I had to wait some time to get the Lisa development system that I needed to program for the Mac. Perhaps I worked on these projects during that interlude. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
256 colors Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 (edited) You know, I can't recall when I did this. It was right around the time of the collapse. I recall working on two projects during that time: Last of the Incas and a sequel to "Eastern Front (1941)" called "Western Front (1944)". I abandoned both when I decided to make the jump to Macintosh. There was a delay between being laid off (January 1984?) and beginning work on the Mac because I had to wait some time to get the Lisa development system that I needed to program for the Mac. Perhaps I worked on these projects during that interlude. Is there anything left of "Western Front (1944)" how much did it differ from "Eastern Front (1941)" apart from date and scenario change? Edited January 18, 2019 by 256 colors Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 You know, I can't recall when I did this. It was right around the time of the collapse. I recall working on two projects during that time: Last of the Incas and a sequel to "Eastern Front (1941)" called "Western Front (1944)". I abandoned both when I decided to make the jump to Macintosh. There was a delay between being laid off (January 1984?) and beginning work on the Mac because I had to wait some time to get the Lisa development system that I needed to program for the Mac. Perhaps I worked on these projects during that interlude. A lot of unfinished Atari 8-bit games that have turned up come from this time period (1983/1984). I guess Balance of Power was your first Mac game? What language did you use to program on the Macs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Crawford Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Is there anything left of "Western Front (1944)" how much did it differ from "Eastern Front (1941)" apart from date and scenario change? I'm sure that the code is somewhere in my archives, but I haven't found it. My guess is that somebody will have to go through a lot of floppies to find it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Crawford Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 A lot of unfinished Atari 8-bit games that have turned up come from this time period (1983/1984). I guess Balance of Power was your first Mac game? What language did you use to program on the Macs? Yes, Balance of Power was my first Mac game. I programmed it in Pascal, the only language available on Mac other than 68000 assembly code. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 I'm sure that the code is somewhere in my archives, but I haven't found it. My guess is that somebody will have to go through a lot of floppies to find it. Cool, more gems to be dug up. I'll love to see that one unearthed some day. Yes, Balance of Power was my first Mac game. I programmed it in Pascal, the only language available on Mac other than 68000 assembly code. I figured it was Pascal; not as necessary to program in machine code on a Mac, compared with an 8-bit Atari. I'm curious, did you have any favorite games on the Atari 8-bits (aside from your own)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Crawford Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Jack Palevich did a two-player game that was great fun. I also liked the Frogger clone because it had such great music. And of course M.U.L.E. was the greatest game of that era. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 It has been 35 years since I wrote that code, so I can't recall many details. The basic idea was something called "Galilean relativity": the idea that what you know at one location depends upon slow-moving information. That was the key issue in the Spanish response to the various Inca revolts: on the mountain trails, news travelled at the speed of a runner. The little sparkly things that traverse the roads are meant to demonstrate that. By the way, I was rather proud of the algorithm used to control that animation. You're right that the combat algorithms were never completed. Such algorithms are pretty straightforward to build, so I put them off until the end, because they are easily adjusted to balance the game. Skimming through the code was fun; assembler code is so different. If somebody does plunge into this, I'll try to answer questions about it. Wow.... yesterday I watched Carol Shawns icon award on YouTube and I watched old 80s Canadian computer tv show with you explaining stuff (it was the show about games) and in background you were demonstrating eastern front on an Atari 800. Then I found in the attic my 2600 and found as well German edition of De Re Atari... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irgendwer Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 (edited) ...and I watched old 80s Canadian computer tv show with you explaining stuff... When talking about interrupts, I always have this iconic acting in mind: https://youtu.be/VrNYenXNexI?t=64 Edited January 18, 2019 by Irgendwer 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 I've even met up with Peruvian AtariAgers while there! Mario Caillahuz, who goes by Allas on AtariAge, and did all this software, is from Peru. I remembered he was from South America, but I'd forgotten exactly where. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted January 19, 2019 Share Posted January 19, 2019 Jack Palevich did a two-player game that was great fun. I also liked the Frogger clone because it had such great music. And of course M.U.L.E. was the greatest game of that era. Jack Palevich did Dandy, the forerunner of Gauntlet and other such games. Frogger on the 8-bit Ataris was really well done. Although there were a few versions, the one by Parker Brothers stands out in my mind. M.U.L.E., THE top rated game at Atarimania. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.