Technician Ted

[MtM]

Just wondered what opinion people have of T Ted around here?

 

It seems superior technically to JSW, but inferior in terms of playability. Any thoughts

from the real programming gurus on here?

 

I have never looked, but I guess that T Ted doesn't have the kind of following the JSW / MM has.

 

I personally really like T Ted, but it's simply too difficult to get anywhere with it. I will make a concerted effort

one day to complete it, but it will need infinite time at the least I think.

 

I also wonder if there have been mods of T Ted, never heard of any, but I have a feeling that the

programmers of it encrypted the room data so it wasn't possible to edit, but I could be wrong.

 

 

[IRF]

We used several of the Tech Ted sprites in the jswmm.co.uk project 'Jet Set Mini'.

Edited July 6, 2020 by IRF

[MtM]

We used several of the Tech Ted sprites in the jswmm.co.uk project 'Jet Set Mini'.

Yes, I am sorry, I have seen the references and the music I think in one version too, I should of mentioned that. I do have

JSM too.

[Spider]

It is a good game but far too difficult.

 

The tasks must be completed in the correct order (and unlike the sequel, there's not really a clue to this as such)

 

The platforms can be a bit iffy sometimes for instance if you jump from the starting position in Factory Gates on the leftmost ledge, its quite easy to just fall off!

 

I'm told that the actual time limit is exceptionally tight, leaving no room for errors.

 

 

There are a lot of good things about it though! The conveyor animation and the fact Ted walks backwards sometimes on them for instance and the multiple guardian movement paths, not forgetting the "later additions" where certain rooms gain items such as platforms and ladders once certain tasks have been completed, thus allowing further progress.

 

The above gripes (time limit / task order / platforms) can be fixed quite easily. I submitted pokes for the latter two to Tipshop ages ago but they are under someone else's name given they were their work, I merely converted them into pokes.

 

There are some very innovative touches in this that's for sure.

 

There's quite a lot I could write about this if wanted. :)

[MtM]

It is a good game but far too difficult.

 

The tasks must be completed in the correct order (and unlike the sequel, there's not really a clue to this as such)

 

The platforms can be a bit iffy sometimes for instance if you jump from the starting position in Factory Gates on the leftmost ledge, its quite easy to just fall off!

 

I'm told that the actual time limit is exceptionally tight, leaving no room for errors.

 

 

There are a lot of good things about it though! The conveyor animation and the fact Ted walks backwards sometimes on them for instance and the multiple guardian movement paths, not forgetting the "later additions" where certain rooms gain items such as platforms and ladders once certain tasks have been completed, thus allowing further progress.

 

The above gripes (time limit / task order / platforms) can be fixed quite easily. I submitted pokes for the latter two to Tipshop ages ago but they are under someone else's name given they were their work, I merely converted them into pokes.

 

There are some very innovative touches in this that's for sure.

 

There's quite a lot I could write about this if wanted. :)

I am all ears and will gladly read what you can tell us all about the game.

 

It is way too difficult for even a very good gamer as you say.

 

I suppose one thing that is easy for us all to compare who has played MM/JSW & TT are the

game mechanics. I like and prefer the more organic/looser style of jumping in MM etc to the sharper

jumping feeling in TT, there is more chance for 'personal style' I think in playing MM, whereby TT seems

to demand accuracy. My own style, dictated by certain screen design, was found wanting

only yesterday playing Pac-Manic-Miner-Man on the Next, a port of MM to the Next using the

Pac Man hardware running through RAMS. When on The Cold Store a move I usually make would

not work anymore because the timing is slightly different, so it affected my style of play etc.

 

You are right, everyone who has an informed opinion of TT states the time

limit is absolutely nails, and combined with the very high degree of difficulty of the screens esp.

in the first release of TT where as you say there is no guide even only a few lines in the notes on the cassette

inlay to get you started with which tasks first etc. it is approaching impossible for most gamers.

Real pity because it has a wonderful feel to it, and looks stellar in places with the sheer smoothness

of movement. I suppose this argument is similar to what I have said about some MM & JSW mods,

they are just way too hard straight out of the box for me, and remain that way. The degree of difficulty

in both the original MM & JSW I think is near perfect, as each screen you tackle the skills are

built up as you play over a reasonable period of time, they allow you into the game. Even JSWII falls foul of being too difficult

in places, as much as I like it.

Edited July 7, 2020 by MtM

[Spider]

The time is stored as ascii and the 'end check' is also read as "17:00" so its quite easy to modify that and/or the start time to allow the timer to progress rather than have infinite time, but allow Ted a sane deal. :)  must submit that to Tipshop actually.

 

The loader is very (imo) complicated, not the animated Ted's which is a work of art in itself and I think unique back then (think the baud rate is fracionally below normal too, to allow for the time needed for this) but the way the code is loaded in and decrypted, still makes my head spin just thinking about that lol :lol:

 

 

Kokotoni Wilf is worth a mention as this is a simple platform game too, more 'Manic Miner in several screens' in several 'time zones' , but although its really showing its age now unlike MM and JSW which appear timeless, it still quite good fun to play. Bear in mind there's no jump key, its replaced with 'fly' instead.

[Spider]

The rooms are almost 'built' with a LOGO type of instruction.

 

If you make an invalid exit then you end up in "Down in the sewerage" , from which there's no escape! The room as far as I can tell only has air and fire cells defined, the yellow ink/red paper platforms are fire and the air cells are red paper. All exits from this lead back here.

 

T-Ted2 incidentally does not feature this room, it sadly without warning just goes to the title screen. Final word on TT2, there was 'back in the day' a large hack to add a teleporter, unfortunately (a bit like JSW2 actually!) there -is- already one present built in but it was not well known about...

 

Problem is on both (TT2 especially) it is not impossible or by being really silly to end up making an invalid exit. Cheats such as 'walk through walls' make this even easier!

 

The most memorable 'extra platforms once you progress' are a ladder added to Reception and platforms in Beaker Store, I think one appears after Task3 and one after Task5 , or vice-versa. A single poke enables them all as does another single poke to permit tasks in any order you like.

 

I really don't want to talk about the loader at the moment, its a bit complex! :lol: , if you wanted to know try here

 

 

OK back to the TT time concern. ;)

 

43191 DEFM "08:30" ( 48 , 56 , 58 , 51 , 48 )

43196 DEFM "17:00" ( 49 , 55 , 58 , 48 , 48 )

 

^ They are ascii as indicated, you can alter them.

 

The time check routine works like this:

 

 

I should point out, I did have help with this as you can guess its not my work as such aside from the 'newer' comments. Thanks Richie! :)

 

EDIT... There's no check as such for 24 hours so if you alter it, it will happily carry on regardless ie: 25:00 etc. Easy 'extended' time is probably to just change the game end time to 07:00 as its never going get reset down again (infinite time) or if practicality is needed then set the start time to say 6:30 (one poke) and the end time to 19:00 (one poke) , that then gives ted an extra two hours in the morning and an extra two hours in the late afternoon. :)

Edited July 7, 2020 by Spider

[Spider]

One thing perhaps worthy of mention the sequel "Tech Ted - The MegaMix" is 128K only, does feature improved music although in some instances I do prefer the beeper tune of the 48K version. Much expanded with more rooms/horrors to contend with.

 

Tasks are numbered! So there's little doubt in what order things need doing.

 

Difficulty I'd say is possibly just possibly a fraction less, but not by any real noticeable degree. To be completely fair you can at least navigate a few screens without struggling unlike the original where you more or less had to struggle with Cloakroom to get anywhere initially.

 

 

Its worth mentioning the Ted sequel here, "Costa Capers" with Ted on holiday. This is insanely difficult I think, imo I consider Ted easy in comparison! There are objects to collect / use and its not obvious what to do with what (think Ted's tasks) , there are some brilliant innovations though with sprite movement patterns changing and the like and the title screen tune is excellent for a 48K machine.

[MtM]

Yes, Kokotoni Wilf was another great game from the same era, but as has been said, not quite the magic of

MM & JSW - they just have ingredient X, a certain magic about both games, even now. Some of it is clearly

psychological nostalgia, remembering our hopefully happy childhoods, but I don't still play MM & JSW for

purely sentimental reasons, I enjoy the gameplay and find it rewarding, and for what my opinion is worth, there

are virtually no new decent PC games worth playing anymore for me, I have almost given up with them. I enjoyed

RTX Quake II, not much since.

 

I agree entirely with what you say about TT The Megamix, and this is the version I currently have in progress, slightly easier and bigger

and better generally, and in truth I have poked it for infinite time too as it detailed above. I have Costa Capers on the go occasionally too, but as you say, innovative - yes. Good gameplay?

Hmm. Sometimes. I think it might be slightly easier than TT though. But a bit of a hybrid. Still, the Marsden and Cooke team

I think it was they did provide some very high quality software, technically very good, mega loaders (TT The Mega Mix

is just stellar and the first time you ever saw TT was a thing of amazement as I remember.) I think Costa Capers was their

last game sadly.

[Spider]

Costa Capers very difficult 😞 Its almost impossible to figure out what to do (so I thought) never mind doing it 😄

 

One annoyance with TT2 (megamix, 128K only) compared to TT1 is if you go "out of screen"

In TT1 you end up in the Sewerage screen/room from which there's no escape and almost immediate death as the floor and platforms are "fire cells (INK 6 PAPER2) " and its full of fast moving vertical guardians, not that you can stand anywhere anyway! 😄  All four exits link back to the same room.

 

In TT2, the game jumps to the title screen if you jump out. This is actually possible by accident! Falling out of Beaker Store and jumping out of either Sky At Night , Conduit Tubing (iirc, its been a while since i played!) or Satellite control can do this.

 

One thing that did amaze me with TT2 was the fact there was a teleporter routine hack written, and it actually exists in the game by default anyway (but its quite well hidden, see TipShop) , I don't recall it being in any mags until I posted about it either a few months/year ago. I don't think this debug feature exists in TT1, I could not find any signs of it anyway but that's not saying a huge deal.

^ That reminds me of JSW2 with the Cartography Room in some ways actually, it may be there already 😉 Amstrad version (untampered one) at least, there's a detailed topic on this here on this site about that actually.