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ADAM dev. ver. 1 of Mathemagician's Quest found


NIAD

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  • 1 month later...

This game was programmed by Paul Crowley at On-Time Software.  According to Paul, he started working on this after he finished Up 'n Down in September 1984.  Video game development had slowed to a crawl so he had already gotten another job and only worked on this in his free time.  Coleco pulled the plug before the end of the year, so the game may not have gotten past this point.

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  • 4 months later...

Looks like there was a lot more to this dev. version as has been posted about in the Coleco ADAM Facebook Group. I have attached a disk image, but it will only work on a real ADAM as it's setup on a custom version of CP/M that wrecks havoc with emulators.

 

From Jim Walters:

 

Use Controller...

Fire Button + * = (+)
Fire Button + 7 = (X)
Fire Button + 0 = (-)
Fire Button + 6 =(erase)

 

Then enter the amount with controller buttons and push the pound key. Pound Key also resets.

 

From Joe Blenkle:

 

I have been playing that Math Quest game a bit and it is actually kind of fun - if not frustrating. I have figured out a few

more things in addition to what James Walters posted:

 

Use Controller:
Fire Button + * = (+)
Fire Button + 7 = (X)
Fire Button + 0 = (-)
Fire Button + 6 =(erase)

 

Then enter the amount with controller buttons and push the pound key.

 

Pound Key  also resets.

 

Using the asterisk (*) by itself turns your frog left and right.

 

Your answer to the math problem is how many spaces your frog will jump. Check the numbered scale on the screen to see where

you will land.

 

Jumping too far or not far enough may land you in the water, splat you against the gate, or other obstacles.

 

You will see a white key along your path. You must land on it to pick it up so you may need to go back and forth numerous

times until you get the right number of jumps.

 

Once you have the key, you must land on the last notch on the on-screen scale to open the gate and go through it - jump too

far and splat!

Math Quest additional pic #1.jpg

Math Quest additional pic #2.jpg

Math Quest additional pic #3.jpg

Math Quest (3-1-85).zip

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3 hours ago, else said:

Looks very nice!  What a treat -- it's so rare for a Colecovision / Adam prototype to turn up that this really special (now if only Super Smurf would)....

That would be an incredibke find because the only known version was contained on PROM chip(s) installed in the Prototype Super Game Module that was on display at Summer CES '83 and a reviewer was allowed to use for a magazine article. The actual wafer tapes that were swapped out of the drive only contained loader routines per people who had access to the SGM... take to wafer tape out and replace with another and the original game kept playing.

 

My guess is the version of Super Smurf was just a hacked/enhanced version of the cartridge game.

 

Anyway, it's very possible that this game is in someone's hands but will never see the light of day due to copyright issues much the same as the He-Man game.

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1 minute ago, NIAD said:

My guess is the version of Super Smurf was just a hacked/enhanced version of the cartridge game.

That would be my guess too.  If the Smurf game engine is designed properly, which I sure it is, it would be simply a matter of swapping out the tile table and updating the corresponding tile-attribute table, and the game would work correctly with the new tile set.  Voila, a new Smurf game!  I know it's not quite that easy, but that's the general idea and likely what Coleco did for the demo, imho.

 

I've always thought Smurf was the one of the few games that was completely unique and original to the Colecovison.  It's not quite a side-scroller, but definitely influenced what was to come on other platforms such as the NES.  A shame it never saw a sequel....

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2 minutes ago, else said:

That would be my guess too.  If the Smurf game engine is designed properly, which I sure it is, it would be simply a matter of swapping out the tile table and updating the corresponding tile-attribute table, and the game would work correctly with the new tile set.  Voila, a new Smurf game!  I know it's not quite that easy, but that's the general idea and likely what Coleco did for the demo, imho.

 

I've always thought Smurf was the one of the few games that was completely unique and original to the Colecovison.  It's not quite a side-scroller, but definitely influenced what was to come on other platforms such as the NES.  A shame it never saw a sequel....

 

It was the ''same'' game with enhanced graphics/features
Well, just like the other SuperGame :)

 

Smurf SuperGame was indeed completed, along with DK and DKjr 

A journalist played those 3 games on the SuperGame Module back in early 1983

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I spent some further time playing Mathemagician's Quest and discovered some further keypad inputs on top of what Jim Walters and Joe Blenkle have provided previously. I should have played a two player game to check those controls, but will when I have more time. It looks like this game is a lot more complete than originally thought and might be worth a look by Mystery Man to see if it's worth converting to cartridge format and a possible release. Lord knows how everyone hates educational titles, but as an educational game goes, this one ain't that bad! So here is the complete list to date with another new screen pic:

 

Use Controller #1:

 

Keypad 0 thru 9 = inputs numbers 0 thru 9 respectively

Keypad * = turn which way the frog is facing (needed to change direction frog moves)

Keypad # = enter answer

 

Fire Button and Joystick = move on-screen purple highlighter

Fire Button and 0 = minus sign -

Fire Button and 4 = open parenthesis (

Fire Button and 5 = close parenthesis )

Fire Button and 6 = erase all

Fire Button and 7 = multiply sign *

Fire Button and 8 = divide sign /

Fire Button and 9 = erase one space

Fire Button and * = addition sign +

 

Super Action Controller Blue or Purple Fire Button = clears a wrong input warning message and return to the main menu when a game ends.

 

 

Then enter the amount with controller keypad buttons and push the pound key (#) to submit answer

 

Your answer to the math problem is how many spaces your frog will jump. Check the numbered scale on the screen to see where

you will land.

 

Jumping too far or not far enough may land you in the water, splat you against the gate or other obstacles. Watch out for holes in the ground as it's inhabitant will not like you landing on it.

 

You will see a white key along your path and later in the game a gold key that is needed to open the final gate. You must land on it to pick it up to use to open gates so you may need to go back and forth numerous times until you get the right number of jumps.

 

Once you have the key, you must land on the last notch on the on-screen number scale to open the gate and go through it - jump too

far and splat!

 

 

Math Quest additional pic #4.jpg

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4 minutes ago, retroillucid said:

I'm up to pay the cost of a cartridge conversion 

If it happens, how about an ADAM disk/data pack version as well! That could be a belated 30th Anniversary release for the ADAM seeing as the other one never materialized.

 

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1 minute ago, NIAD said:

If it happens, how about an ADAM disk/data pack version as well! That could be a belated 30th Anniversary release for the ADAM seeing as the other one never materialized.

 

Not a bad idea actually!
By using the same ADAM software box size, we could fit both a DDP and a cartridge.
It would just be a matter of having a good supply of blank DDPs 

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28 minutes ago, retroillucid said:

Not a bad idea actually!
By using the same ADAM software box size, we could fit both a DDP and a cartridge.
It would just be a matter of having a good supply of blank DDPs 

Data Packs can be sourced from numerous people. Bob Slopsema/ADAMcon could probably supply enough original DDPs to be reused or William Hicks/MilliV can make brand new DDPs using his Tape Duplicator.

 

Mystery Man was just the first name to pop into my head seeing the incredible job that he did in the past with the ADAM Super Games conversions to cartridge format and adding title screens and the sound code into the original Joust prototype. I'm sure he is pretty busy with all the work he is doing for Team Pixelboy, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

29 minutes ago, retroillucid said:

Even if a cartridge release is not possible, I would be interested in doing a run of DDP/Disk for the ADAM (Complete in box) 

I really dig the idea of doing something special for the 30th anniversary of the ADAM 

Well, the 30th Ann. ship has sailed, but there is always the 37th Ann. (2020) seeing as I wouldn't want to see this drag out until the 40th Ann. (2023) !!!

 

Thanks for sharing the box artwork.

 

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