JSW As Manufacturer (probably) intended .. kind of...

[Metalmickey]

...except that might not work if you altered the Screen Flash routine, in the process of making recent changes to the AMI game file (such as doubling the clock speed)?

Well in fact it does work even with the clock running at double speed ;)  it might not work for some depending on where the extra routines have been added, i have found a large chunk of seemingly redundant code which i have been using to add various little enhancements including the 'out of time' routine .. i've no idea what it might have been used for originally but if you have a look at one of my files that i previously uploaded you might be able to see what i have overwritten

[Metalmickey]

oh by the way i am pleased to report that i have completed my completion routine which i have briefly tested and i have also added the anti-flash pause coding, many thanks for that (and to skoolkid) .. before i give further details about all the other changes and release it for playtesting i will re-write the read-me doc including all the enhancements and of course more detailed credits and references whilst eagerly awaiting your solution to the jagged finger effect

[Metalmickey]

another little thing i want to have a look into .. during the garish psychedelic flashy bit that follows the Moonlight Sonata at the title screen the end of scrolly message reads "...so that Maria will let you get to your bed..."

 

does anybody think that this was deliberate? perhaps a cheeky nod to the frustrated teenager playing away at some un-godly hour trying to get the job done before his / her well overdue bed time?

 

i read somewhere (probably in this forum) that someone perhaps thought it should say " ...so that Maria will let him get to his bed..."

 

personally I like the first idea, i'm not really that inclined to change it if i'm honest .. but then i'm probably just being lazy

 

thoughts?

[IRF]

I think we might have changed it to him/his bed in The Nightmare Edition, although I haven't checked. It's an easy thing to change though.

 

Edit: Thinking back, I think the main reason for the change was to free up one character, because we had replaced the word "midnight" with "high noon", which is one character longer.

 

But thinking about the subtext, it does perhaps make more sense as his/him. The last character of the scrolling message (the final +) doesn't get used anyway (try replacing it with something daft and you'll see what I mean).

Edited April 5, 2017 by IRF

[IRF]

Oh, I also meant to say: if you take up the idea of activating the 'Screen Flash' routine at the point when Willy has collected all the items, you could make an intervention at #9429 (just after the LD A, #01) with a CALL to another spare space in the code, then at that new location, insert:

 

LD (#85DF), A   [this is the existing command relocated from #9429 to make way for the CALL]

LD A, #08          [or #10, which in decimal is 16; I recommend a value that is a multiple of 8]

LD (#85CD), A   [set the Screen Flash Counter to that value]

RET

 

The Screen Flash Counter will then be decremented once for each pass through the Main Loop, as the screen PAPER cycles through the colours, until it reaches a value of zero and the flashing stops.  :)

Edited April 5, 2017 by IRF

[Metalmickey]

excellent, worth having i think, particularly as it just makes use of existing code

[Metalmickey]

question is, do we tell the player from the start how many objects there are to collect or do we keep 'em guessing? if so would this give the game away? .. either way it's a shame not to be able to use it at some point during the game .. perhaps i could re-locate it to when Willy is about to dive in for a closer look..

[IRF]

You wouldn't need to tell the player how many items there are in advance, but I think it wouldn't do any harm to have a little visual clue that Willy has finished his mission and it's time for beddibyes!

[Spider]

Its possible to tweak the code to make it count the items remaining down instead, although the actual 'counter' does not really bear that much relation to the 'remaining items' counter if that makes sense. :)

 

As an alternative you could simply tweak the scrolling message to say x items/objects instead.

[IRF]

I gather (correct me if I'm wrong?) that Mickey doesn't want the number to be known from the outset (as per the original, where you only knew that you had to collect "all the items"). The Item countdown kind of reveals that.

 

But to spare the player from regularly having to return to the Master Bedroom to check whether or not Maria is still hanging around, activating the Screen Flash at the point when they're all collected could be a nice touch?

Edited April 6, 2017 by IRF