Shawn Jefferson

Unfortunately, it's not going to see any release that doesn't involve a cartridge format. The problem is that the game is too big. It was never designed to run in 64k, and trying to squeeze it down would mean changing the game from Moria into just a "rogue-like", and we already have those on the Atari. Currently there is: ~ 24k for the cave itself ~ 14k for the monster tables ~ 24k for the object tables ~ 20k for the spell tables and other assorted tables/information ~ 50 x 8k banks with code (quite a bit of duplicated code to cut down bank switching) oh, and the C runtime, some data and variables and all the banking functions and game save code is in RAM. To squeeze it all in, I'm cheating. I'm using VBXE for the 80 column mode, and I'm using it's ability to overlay 32k of its ram at $4000. All the data is in VBXE ram and I'm banking that in depending if I'm accessing the cave, monster data, object data or spell/assorted data. Then all code is running out of the cartridge at $A000-BFFF with quite a bit of banking going on. I do think it's possible to cut the game down slightly so that it runs with an Atarimax cartridge and extended memory ($4000-7FFF), without the VBXE. You can see that this will probably involve cutting some of the objects from the game (how many broken daggers do you need anyway? ), and probably making the cave smaller too.

It's definitely for 80 columns... and extra memory. It's more difficult than it first appears to go from aacii to graphics with this game. Quite a bit needs to be changed. At this point my to do list: - finish the port - convert to 40 columns and extended memory (losing some game elements due to lack of memory) - look at adding graphics

Write that high level stuff in C with cc65? Call that binary blob and your tables are in memory where you want them. Should be faster than basic and easier too. That said, I don't know if cc65 has those routines you are looking for, never had a reason to use them before. I'm assuming you don't need FP either but want INTs?

Atari Moria v55 beta2: - added joystick control (joystick is only read if at least two vblanks have passed, which seems to provide the right feel.) Joystick button can be used for most any key prompts. Joystick button and direction digs a tunnel. - fixed a few bugs, many are probably still there (report them if you see any!) - added a pause at startup to get better randomization. - added creating items to wizard mode (you'll need the source, or some of the information on Moria websites to do this properly.) - added a player structure display to wizard mode (Ctrl-C), to aid in debugging. - added the rest '*' command to rest until healed and mana restored The game is playable and should even be able to be completed in the state it's in. It seems to work well with CPU accelerators (in Altirra anyway!) Game Requirements: - VBXE - AtariMax 8mb flashcart (currently old style banking, bank 127 active at boot.) - 64k (uses RAM under the OS) AtariMoria_55beta2.bin

Atari Moria v55 beta2: - added joystick control (joystick is only read if at least two vblanks have passed, which seems to provide the right feel.) Joystick button can be used for most any key prompts. Joystick button and direction digs a tunnel. - fixed a few bugs, many are probably still there (report them if you see any!) - added a pause at startup to get better randomization. - added creating items to wizard mode (you'll need the source, or some of the information on Moria websites to do this properly.) - added a player structure display to wizard mode (Ctrl-C), to aid in debugging. - added the rest '*' command to rest until healed and mana restored The game is playable and should even be able to be completed in the state it's in. It seems to work well with CPU accelerators (in Altirra anyway!) PS. My hat's off to anyone who takes an original game or port and brings it past the finish line. Play testing and bug hunting at the 80%-90% done mark is absolutely not fun. Especially a game like Moria that can take hundreds of hours to finish, with so many items, monsters, and spells. Game Requirements: - VBXE - AtariMax 8mb flashcart (currently old style banking, bank 127 active at boot.) - 64k (uses RAM under the OS) AtariMoria_55beta2.bin

Life is just too busy to mess around with technology for the sake of messing with the tech. I use the technology that I need to do what I need or want to do. I don't chase the latest thing and I generally could care less for the new "corporate product" that everyone feels they need to stand in line for the day it's released. That said, I like technology that puts me in control and isnt overly consumer-ized. My day job is technology based and fairly fast moving so I guess I get my fill there (IT Security.)

Ultima 2, 3, and 4 have been ported to flashcart. That's pretty fast.

Must... resist temptation... to start another project before existing project is finished...

I've never used the graphics command in cc65. I've always defined my own dlist, and placed it and the screen via the linker configuration.

Nice work! I always found the controls in Q-bert frustrating... the joystick control just isn't intuitive, but I guess this is like the arcade? (I never really got much into Q-bert, and after throwing the joystick down after Q-bert jumps into thin air when I just want him to go "up", pretty much soured me on this game.)

I wonder what a "translation service" would charge, and if increased membership from English speaking countries might just pay for that (and more).

It's been almost two and half years since some of us sent some money to Candle. Has anyone heard anything from him about this? I do know he's been quite busy and had other projects on the go as well, but there's been pretty much radio silence on this particular project from him from what I've seen. I suppose it should be viewed as a "donation" by now?

I have these original disks that aren't in your google spreadsheet I'm willing to lend you for imaging: Chop Suey Colossus Chess 3.0 Data Manager XL Express! Family Tree First XLent Wordprocessor Heathcliff Original Adventure SpartaDOS Multi I/O SpartaDOS Tool Kit Starcross Suspect Syncalc (two versions) Synfile+ TeleTari (some writing on the label unfortunately) Timewise Ulysses (and the Golden Fleece) Warp Speed Software Wizard and the Princess Word Flyer XE Term Zombies

Someone should try to port the SCUMM engine to the 8-bit... at least SCUMM v0/v2, although v3 would be very nice.

A PDF torrent would be great. Easier to access and distribute for you. You could also look into the Internet Archive maybe that the ANTIC podcast uses quite a lot?

There must be something about the XL if so many people (me included) bought an Incognito to put into their 800 to make it act like an XL.

You only lose ram if you are loading DOS right? I think a lot of games probably just did sector i/o with their own disk formats.

I'm interested in a sio plug version!

Will you implement R: Internet support like APE has? That seems more useful and standard, as the type of extension you are speaking of would only be in your app (unless it gets implemented as a standard of sorts and other people pick it up too.) Not that I'm trying to discourage you at all!

I mounted mine upside down and epoxied it to the board..

Aren't all Plus/4 games not using sprites? I guess you still have to deal with the issue of 256 versus 128 character sets, and lack of colors on the Atari. Bard's Tale?

It looks like you have to explicitly enable illegal opcodes then, using: ca65 --cpu 6502X

I'm in for one!

Are you using the cc65 suite? http://www.cc65.org/doc/ca65-4.html

Different frame rates effect the horizontal "blank" time?