Rudy

I won't be working on this again until monday but I'll report then on my progress.

This happens to be my favorite colecovision game right now basically you fly a plane through an obstacle course and its really difficult to control the plane and shoot all the weird (bouncing balls? Plus sign thingies) that threaten to crash into your plane. Here is a hint. When you get to the last chamber, there's three balls bouncing from openings into the chamber, and one ball inside the chamber bouncing around. Take out the ball on the western side of the chamber, so you have a straight shot to the goal (marked "end"). Then keep shooting and hope you take out the ball inside the chamber before it crashes into you. My score on this game tonight is 52890 (difficulty level 1). Oh and you can dodge the killer drops of (green water? what is that?) by pulling up and flying straight up for a little bit. https://archive.org/stream/Looping_1983_Coleco_M6#page/n1/mode/2up High score (not mine): http://highscore.com/scores/Colecovision/Looping/11404 Game manual http://www.theadamresource.com/manuals/Cartridges/Looping.pdf

I saw there were counter videos but I haven't watched them yet.

I just thought it was an interesting video because I was not even aware of this pattern, or if I was, I was only aware of it on a very low level of clarity. I focused more on the games themselves than on the story behind them. Some interesting work has been done in this area with the "James Bond" movie series also. If anyone is interested I can provide a link otherwise I won't bother if nobody wants to read it.

Thanks again for all the help. I'll let you know what progress I make.

Thank you.

Here I got it. test2.bas

I tried to upload the .bas file but I couldn't get the button to work (when I clicked, nothing happened).

It's on another computer but I'll try to get it with a thumb drive. Just a minute. rem test maze game aug 4 2014 rem set smartbranching on COLUBK = $0E COLUPF = $00 playfield: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX end drawscreen end

I can set color but the playfield flickers and isn't vertically aligned properly and I can't figure out how to fix it even though i read the manual. Any help appreciated.

That's a good point but I'm not a sociologist or aware of who was playing these games at the time so without knowing more it seems they were tapping into male power fantasies of heroism and, as you put it, "getting the girl". I'll check the link, thanks.

Look up "spectrum auction" on wikipedia.

Last 2600 game I played was kaboom! but i couldnt play it right because i dont have paddle controllers (yet). I would probably get blown up.

Awhile ago I stumbled across this interesting youtube series on about how many video games use a "damsel in distress" plot device, and how few had strong female player characters. Here is part I: . Over the past few days I've also played the colecovision "Donkey Kong" certainly a strong and early entry in this theme. If you look at the flyer for the game the scenario is far more salacious than the graphics of the day were able to portray. Why was this a pattern? I think it's a case of "those who hide under beds, look under beds," or to put it less pithily, the nature of one's actions towards others are determined by one's own past actions and beliefs. I believe most of the programmers behind video games were trying to design a game that expressed their own experience and attitude towards life, but the dominance of those beliefs in this developing part of popular culture displaced other voices in our culture. This appears to be a form of cultural imperialism.

It's very creepy whatever happens and part of the creepiness is that we're not really capable understanding what is really going on. That's what real life is like, things happen, but we don't really understand all the details or the reasons. This also is seen in another important Kubrick film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Also look at this site, very informative and credible answers : http://www.moviemistakes.com/film1151/questions

I read about room 237 but have not watched it but it is true the window in the general manager's office was not supposed to be there, but this is the result of the "real" overlook hotel consisting of several different sets in different buildings, not some symbolic or "sinister" sense of "mise en scène" or whatever. What is the real symbolism of the hotel is the long hallways, the large "colorado lounge" space, the cavernous kitchen and utilitiy areas, all of which overwhelm the three people left in the hotel for months. It is the idea of isolation in a large space that is the symbolic meaning of the nearly deserted hotel. Yes room 237 is impossible, overtaking the two neighboring rooms based on the doors placed in the hallway, and many doors open into the colorado lounge. This is as I said a function of the set design of the overlook, nothing more. I didn't know about the red volkswagon, I'll have to look into that. What do you make of the fact that at the end of the movie Jack is in the 1920 party picture in the hotel? I think he became one of the ghosts and the hotel was trying to do the same thing to the rest of his family. That's why it tried to get him to kill them at the hotel, to make them into just another incident that happened there and left a "burnt toast" residue. Another important line is when Jack is told "You've always been the caretaker" suggesting this has happened before, and will happen again.

Looping is one of my favorite games for Colecovision because the concept of an aerial obstacle course is an interesting gameplay change for most games on the system, of course later systems would eventually do this better but this game shows they were thinking outside the box when they could in the early 1980s.

Ok that makes sense.

I thought the ADAM was a significant contributor to the crash.

I don't know why I'm obsessed with this movie. Maybe I empathize too much with the main character; he's driven insane by his rage, alcoholism and the fact that the hotel he has to take care of is haunted. It's almost like he was set up for moral failure given his disposition and weaknesses to the extent that his violent rampage is more something that grew out of those faults. I could be wrong, but the movie seems to say that this could happen to any of us, under the right condition; that there is a Jack Torrence inside all of us that we keep in check. He just gave in where we didn't. Maybe that is what is fascinating about the movie and why it survives multiple viewings. Wikipedia: "Speaking about the theme of the film, Kubrick stated that "there's something inherently wrong with the human personality. There's an evil side to it. One of the things that horror stories can do is to show us the archetypes of the unconscious; we can see the dark side without having to confront it directly"". I've read lots of stuff online and watched lots of videos analyzing the layout of the overlook hotel and other details of the movie. It is surprising to me that these analyses fail to communicate the simple truth behind Jack's mental breakdown.

Which Coleco/Adam pretty much did anyway given the 1983 crash which I suppose nobody could have foreseen.

Well I was about halfway through this and then I had to do something and now I can't get it to play from where I stopped so I guess I'll have to watch the whole thing again from the beginning tomorrow, but thanks for showing it to me it's very interesting to hear these programmers discuss their work.

This guy is a lot smarter than I am.

Thanks, I'll watch that as soon as I can find my headphones.