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Fixing E.T. The Extra Terrestrial


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Ah, I see. I didn't notice it in the 1st post. I checked the website and didn't see it there.

 

It's definitely better than it was. Elliot sometimes still has no stripes. It seems to happen on certain areas of the screen. The candy setup is much better. If you can fix it, that would be great, but if not, I don't think it's a big problem. I'd consider it a worthy tradeoff.

 

It'll take some getting used to, to take advantage of the new features. I have such a habit for how I avoid wells, that I still find myself being very cautious. Right now, I like how you pretty much have to deliberately fall into a well, since only the feet will trigger it. Yet, any part of ET can touch the candy to pick it up (except for the circumstance you mentioned).

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All I wanted to celebrate my birthday this year was to finish-up this project. I think I've got it -- with a few minutes to spare.

 

There's a new ROM attached to the first post and the write-up has been updated. All the graphical issues have been fixed, picking up candy and phone parts works exactly like the original, regardless of circumstances, and I've made the difficulty fix optional, under the control of the color/bw switch. Some other good stuff as well.

 

Let me know what you think.

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What's the difficulty fix that the color black and white switch changes?

Sounds like a dumb question but I'm really not clear what that means.

If I could change something I would change that eyeball looking icon I guess it is supposed to be a mouth with a reese's pieces and I would change it to look more like a mouth with a reese's pieces.

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What's the difficulty fix that the color black and white switch changes?

Sounds like a dumb question but I'm really not clear what that means.

 

The difficulty fix reduces the amount of energy it takes to walk, run, and hover to 0 -- it makes the game much easier. The color/bw switch is used to disable that for players who want a bit more challenge. It's all in the write-up, if you're interested.

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To be honest, I'm not sure how that would work with the rectangular screens (they'd be a bit distorted when rotated) You'd also need to add another bank (or two). It's not a change I'm going to make.

 

Don't let that stop you from trying -- there's room enough in the world for another E.T. hack.

 

It wouldn't literally be rotated screens. The screens would still be horizontally rectangular. It would just be the pits, buildings, and trees facing different directions while E.T. continues to move in the direction you wanted him to go while leaving a screen. You named the thread "Fixing E.T. The Extra Terrestrial" and since the navigation is the only thing that appears to be broken, I thought it was an appropriate suggestion. All the other things like E.T. overlapping the pits seem more like tweaking it than fixing it. I can respect that you don't want to do it though.

 

I don't know how to hack it and have no intention of doing so. I was just offering feedback. You said,"Everyone complains about E.T., but no one does anything about it." If you pass it on to me and then I pass it on to someone else, it would still be no one doing anything about it.

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I don't know how to hack it and have no intention of doing so. I was just offering feedback. You said,"Everyone complains about E.T., but no one does anything about it." If you pass it on to me and then I pass it on to someone else, it would still be no one doing anything about it.

 

That's a fair point. Please don't think that I don't appreciate your feedback. I did give serious consideration to your idea.

 

We disagree that navigation is a problem, which is okay. Design decisions are often points of contention. If it helps, here's my reasoning:

 

Right now, it's easy to reason about the location of the city and forest screens and easy to tell, from the screen alone, where any particular move off-screen will place you. Finding the forest, for example, is very easy: just move up from any screen until you find it. That is, I think the current navigation works very well. (I don't see it as broken.)

 

If we were to change that, screens with radially symmetric wells or any screen with bilaterally symmetric wells will appear identical in all or half of all possible orientations, which could be confusing.

 

Add to that that the wells will be distorted if rotated. This is easy to see with the "v" shaped wells one screen down from the forest screen. If we were to rotate them 90 degrees, they'd have a different shape, as the fine points would be blunted fairly dramatically. There is also a technical problem: as the playfield is mirrored, it would require that two orientations have their own kernel. I'm not sure a kernel could be produced that maintains both the sprites as they are and allows us to make an asymmetric playfield, necessary for screens like the city and "v"-shaped well screens.

 

I think the forest and city screens would look a bit odd upside-down and sideways as well.

 

Now, if we don't change how the screens look, but change the orientation (so you can, for example, hold up and run around the cube) we'll run in to the same problems mentioned earlier as the player won't have any cues to help them orient themselves. They may need to switch screens a few times to figure out how the cube is oriented before they can plan how to move to a particular screen.

 

Anyhow, that's why I don't see navigation as a problem and why I don't think that your idea (which is clearly the more correct way) would necessarily improve the game.

 

Again, please understand that I really do appreciate your feedback. I find a great deal of value in it, even if I don't ultimately end up implementing your ideas.

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I see your points. The reason I think it is broken is because if I were never told it was a cube, I would have never figured it out. I would be able to figure out which screens I would end up on but if I drew a map it wouldn't be a 3D cube. Even when you find out that it is suppose to be a cube and fold up the cut out into a cube you get an inaccurate map. If you held the cube and used it as a map, you would imagine E.T. being like an ant crawling on a die. It doesn't really work that way. If every side always has one top then they don't connect into a cube. In the game the cube doesn't exist.

 

When I play, I stay on the equator most of the time, only enter and exit from the bottom of the forest, and only enter and exit from the top of D.C. If I exit left, right, or up in the forest I get disoriented because I'm imagining a cube that doesn't exist. If I exit left, right, or down in D.C. I get disoriented because I'm imagining a cube that doesn't exist. If it functioned like a cube and there was always something indicating north then I would have no trouble at all.

 

It's a shame that H.S.W. didn't make it work as a cube. If he was going to have every screen have the same tops then he should have put everything on the equator and chose to use a hexagon instead.

 

The cube is definitely broken because it isn't even there.

 

But since you are not interested in that then how about this? There are inaccuracies in the manual and the guide book How to Win at E.T. the Video Game. How about using them as a guide of what is broken and make the hack match them? Make it manual and guide book accurate?

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Maybe I should have written something about my goals and intentions. I started with the premise that the game is already good, but had a few minor problems that, if fixed, I think would have prevented the game from earning (deservedly or otherwise) the distinction of being the "worst game ever made". I wanted to preserve as much of the game as possible -- my only real indulgence was changing E.T.'s color, which I'll bet a good number of people object to changing. (I understand completely. I still have reservations about that myself!)

 

The collision detection seemed to be the biggest issue (it is, by far, the most common complaint), and the only change I intended to make when I started the project. I didn't expect to spend more than an hour or two over a holiday weekend working on it. It got out of hand, like all projects, and I've put in an hour here and there just about every weekend since!

 

I'm actually really happy with the game as it is now, it came out much better than I expected thanks to the comments and suggestions from the members here. I'm happy to call the project "complete", short of an important change, or a bug that I've introduced and missed. That doesn't mean I'm not still open to suggestions, of course, just that I personally feel satisfied with the project as it is now.

 

When I play, I stay on the equator most of the time, only enter and exit from the bottom of the forest, and only enter and exit from the top of D.C. If I exit left, right, or up in the forest I get disoriented because I'm imagining a cube that doesn't exist.

[...]

The cube is definitely broken because it isn't even there.

 

I play the same way. I suspect most players do as well. I'm not sure that I agree that the cube is broken / nonexistent. For example, if I exit from the bottom of the screen with the "v"-shaped wells, I appear at the bottom of the city screen, as you'd expect if you were navigating a cube (not at the top, which would be the wrong edge.) The cube is just reoriented when you move to and from the "poles". I don't mean to argue, it's just how it appears to me. I'm not really sure how other players, yourself excepted, see it.

 

But since you are not interested in that then how about this? There are inaccuracies in the manual and the guide book How to Win at E.T. the Video Game. How about using them as a guide of what is broken and make the hack match them? Make it manual and guide book accurate?

 

What did you have in mind? While some of the bugs on the digipress site really can't be fixed (the vanishing flower trick, the trick to fall in to the ground in pits) I'm happy to try to address any bugs players think are important. Which bugs do you think need addressed?

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See what you've done, you've made me start thinking about navigation! Now I'm considering a major change. :)

 

What if we ditch the cube concept altogether and went with a toroid? The equator would stay the same, but moving left and right on the forest and city screens would make you wrap to the opposite side. Moving up from the forest would move you to the bottom of the city, and moving down from the city would move you to the top of the forest. Moving up from any equator screen would move you to the bottom of the forest, and moving down would move you to the top of the city.

 

It wouldn't be difficult to implement, and is an easy way to navigate. It does limit your movement strategies, however, as from the forest and city screens, only one of the equator screen would be reachable.

 

What do you think? Also, what does everyone else think?

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See what you've done, you've made me start thinking about navigation! Now I'm considering a major change. :)

 

What if we ditch the cube concept altogether and went with a toroid? The equator would stay the same, but moving left and right on the forest and city screens would make you wrap to the opposite side. Moving up from the forest would move you to the bottom of the city, and moving down from the city would move you to the top of the forest. Moving up from any equator screen would move you to the bottom of the forest, and moving down would move you to the top of the city.

 

It wouldn't be difficult to implement, and is an easy way to navigate. It does limit your movement strategies, however, as from the forest and city screens, only one of the equator screen would be reachable.

 

What do you think? Also, what does everyone else think?

 

Yuck.. Forget that navigation stuff man.. it's a VCS game. Look at Superman. Look at Raiders of the Lost Ark. Look at ADVENTURE. Moving and not knowing what screen is next except by pure memorization in a 2600 game. In my opinion it just is what it is. :)

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The cube being reoriented is part of the problem because it is reorienting E.T. It give the impression of E.T. warping to other screens instead of going from one screen to the other. It forces you to change directions just to go in a straight line. Go around the equator until you go all the way around. It feels natural. Then start another game and just keep going up. You can't go all the way around. Look at the picture you posted and how the edges of the screens are connected. They aren't connected like that in the game.

 

I don't know about the toroid idea. If you change too much it would go outside of fixing the game. To me fixing would be trying to do things that would be somewhat likely if H.S.W. had more time to work on it. If the cube can't be easily fixed then it is probably best to leave it as is. I really like his idea to make a cube world. It was brillant but poorly implemented. For now I would recommend just skipping it. I'll have to play it again because I think I have an idea about how to leave the cube with the tops the same but change E.T.'s placement on a screen where he appears to make the controls make a little more sense. I just have to check to see if I am remembering it right but it might prevent E.T from accidentally falling into pits when changing screens, prevent E.T. from falling into a pit when exiting right in the forest, and prevent E.T. from falling into a pit when existing left in D.C. Since your original intent was to fix the collision detection because of people's frustration with falling in pits then I think a fix that keeps the cube as is but lessons accidental falls would stay true to your original intent. But ignore it for now because like I said I have to double check. I may be wrong and it may be a stupid idea.

 

Concerning my suggestion with inaccuracies in the manual and the guide book, I can't remember them all but I remember the scoring being inaccurate and the strategies being wrong. For an example, in the guide book it has the Stopwatch strategy which is basically how everyone plays by getting E.T. home as soon as possible. But there is another strategy called Sunday Afternoon that focuses on getting candy, buying all the phone pieces, never having to enter a pit, and getting the right amount of candy to get the highest score without a penalty on the next round. I don't believe this strategy is possible.

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Re: Fixing E.T.

Fix E.T.

Make E.T. even more brown?

/end suggestion/

 

/begin rant/

I can't believe the glowing finger was not there - or the glowing chest when the ship is coming! Did they look at the movie posters?

Wow, we got a flower... moms the world over liked that.

Heh.

/end rant/

:)

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Make E.T. even more brown?
I wish! E.T. practically vanishes against the background when he gets darker. I actually darken the well background a shade just to keep him as brown as he is now.

 

Yuck..
Non-retracable paths...solving one problem by introducing another.
I don't know about the toroid idea. If you change too much it would go outside of fixing the game.

Well, that's out. Thanks everyone!

 

Look at the picture you posted and how the edges of the screens are connected. They aren't connected like that in the game.
Of course they are, I just checked again. Remember that the red lines indicate the top of the screen. RT's video should help as well.

 

I think I have an idea about how to leave the cube with the tops the same but change E.T.'s placement on a screen where he appears to make the controls make a little more sense. I just have to check to see if I am remembering it right but it might prevent E.T from accidentally falling into pits when changing screens, prevent E.T. from falling into a pit when exiting right in the forest, and prevent E.T. from falling into a pit when existing left in D.C.
Great idea! Exiting left in D.C. is fixed by virtue of the falling fix, but exiting right from the Forest can be fixed with a very tiny change:

 

0D54: 4A
0D6C: 01

That'll move E.T. up a bit and to the right so that he doesn't fall in to the top center well. As you're already moving right, this will also keep you from stepping directly in to the well in the heat of the game. (Horray! The right edge of the forest is no longer a danger!)

 

Any other little tweeks like this before I post an updated ROM?

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I wish! E.T. practically vanishes against the background when he gets darker. I actually darken the well background a shade just to keep him as brown as he is now.

 

Any other little tweeks like this before I post an updated ROM?

 

I understand darker ET would be hard to see.

Try color 28?

F8 can still show as green on some TVs and LCDs (personal experiences).

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The red lines are why they don't connect like the cube in RT's video.

 

Are you sure? I can't seem to find a difference between my crude map, RT's cube, and the game. (On RT's cube, you can use the candy pieces to help identify how the equator screens are oriented.)

 

 

Moving on... It seems it's an E.T. hacking afternoon.

 

I fixed the bug where the ship crushes Elliott if he's on-screen. All we need to do is hop over the bit that sets the ship position to Elliott as A1 isn't set properly until later:

 

07BD: JMP $BAD9 ; 3 ; 4C D9 BA

 

I think I now know what the ability for the ship to land with Elliott on-screen is set to one of the difficulty switches. With the bug fixed, it opens up a cool new end-game strategy. If you're like me, you wait out the counter over a send-back zone on a different screen, and run to the landing zone to arrive at the last possible second. Now, you can just call Elliott and give him the run-around on the forest screen (or keep calling him back) to prevent the scientist and the FBI agent from appearing.

 

Edit to add: I haven't updated the ROM yet. Any other bugs that should be fixed in the fix? I'm not sure about some of the ones on the digitalpress page.

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While it's true that the "Fx" colors can appear brown with a greenish hue on some TVs, it is the brown area of the palette. If it appears too green to you, then you need to either adjust your TV or wait a few minutes for your Atari to warm up. I've noticed the red push gets greater after the Atari has been on for a few minutes. "2x" is the orange area and would not be suitable for ET, so recompile, you were correct in thinking it looked too orange.

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While it's true that the "Fx" colors can appear brown with a greenish hue on some TVs, it is the brown area of the palette. If it appears too green to you, then you need to either adjust your TV or wait a few minutes for your Atari to warm up. I've noticed the red push gets greater after the Atari has been on for a few minutes. "2x" is the orange area and would not be suitable for ET, so recompile, you were correct in thinking it looked too orange.

You are correct.

Still, 20, 22 & 24 are dark brown, while F4, F6 & F8 are light tan.

post-29575-0-23373600-1359154924_thumb.png

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Are you sure? I can't seem to find a difference between my crude map, RT's cube, and the game. (On RT's cube, you can use the candy pieces to help identify how the equator screens are oriented.)

 

Yes. According to the cube, if I start in the forest and keep holding up, I'll go all the way around and be back where I started. Instead I have to do this: Go up out of the forest, go down through a pit screen, go down through D.C., and then go up through a pit screen back to the forest. That is up, down, down, up instead of just up. What should be simply going in one direction is more like entering a cheat code.

 

The right side of the forest and left side of D.C. aren't connected to any edges. They are warp zones to pits.

 

You can also see that it isn't a cube in R.T.'s video. Skip to 27 seconds where it says,"Top of the Cube". Look at the right edge of the forest. It is connected to the left side of the pit screen. But in the background you can see on the 3D cube that it is connected to the top of the pit screen. You see the same thing where it says,"Bottom of the Cube" at 40 seconds and "Side of the Cube" at 52 seconds.

 

All the sides are in the correct places but their edges move. It feels like they are turning as you change screens. Navigating feels like trying to walk straight in a spinning room.

 

I know it can't be fixed with a hack. It would take a rewrite of the game. I'm just venting and frustrated because I feel the same way about the cube idea as R.T. does about the power zones. It's a brilliant idea and I think if H.S.W. implemented it properly we would have seen it more. Imagine a PAC-MAN type maze game where there is one tunnel on each edge of the screen. But instead of warping to the other side of the screen, you move to another screen. You could have a maze on a cube and each screen would turn correctly. You could even have holes in the center of each screen that warps you to the opposite side of the cube. A game like that would be awesome and you could apply it to other games like Berzerk or Combat.

 

Anyway, I just played to look at what I was saying about "change E.T.'s placement on a screen where he appears to make the controls make a little more sense" On the equator when you exit a screen to another pit screen you enter at the correct spot. If you exit in the middle you enter in the middle. If you exit on the top or bottom you enter on the top or bottom. But on the poles, other than the sides where you just fall in a pit, you always enter in the middle. If you entered at the correct spots it would feel a little bit more like a cube. Also, when switching screens sometimes E.T. shows up slightly in the screen instead of directly on the edge. If he always enters where he exited and always enters touching the edge then it would feel a little more cube accurate, there would be less accidental pitfalls, and the warping into pits from the poles wouldn't happen. Navigation would feel more smooth and consistent.

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While it's true that the "Fx" colors can appear brown with a greenish hue on some TVs, it is the brown area of the palette. If it appears too green to you, then you need to either adjust your TV or wait a few minutes for your Atari to warm up.
You are correct.

Still, 20, 22 & 24 are dark brown, while F4, F6 & F8 are light tan.

Probably best then to stick with the current color.

 

 

Yes. According to the cube, if I start in the forest and keep holding up, I'll go all the way around and be back where I started.
I don't know what more I can say. Keep looking. I promise that it's a cube.
The right side of the forest and left side of D.C. aren't connected to any edges. They are warp zones to pits.
You're in luck! Both of those problems have been fixed.
But on the poles, other than the sides where you just fall in a pit, you always enter in the middle. If you entered at the correct spots it would feel a little bit more like a cube. [...] If he always enters where he exited and always enters touching the edge then it would feel a little more cube accurate
I've given that a lot of thought. I don't think I can do it. Bank 0 is packed tight, and while I've managed to free some space on Bank 1, it's both not helpful and not enough to implement a fix. On the plus side, you only really notice that when you're trying to circle a corner. I didn't notice at all until I made the crude map for you! I don't know if that's typical or just a huge blind-spot on my part.
Also, when switching screens sometimes E.T. shows up slightly in the screen instead of directly on the edge.
That's easy to change, but not a very good idea. You need that extra distance to prevent you from quickly flipping between screens, for example, when you move down from the city screen.

 

Good news: Scoring now works exactly as described in the manual!

 

Having taken a look at the code, I suspect that the 31 in the manual isn't a typo, but exactly what H.S.W. intended. Scoring is a mess, likely due to the deadline. Working around the code, I managed to save quite a few bytes. If i put a bit more in to it, I could probably squeeze out a few more, but there isn't really a need. We lose the "Ninja E.T." trick, but I have enough space to sneak it back in as an Easter Egg if that's something that people think should be preserved.

 

I haven't updated the write-up or the first post yet. The scoring works, but I'm not sure if I should add Ninja E.T., change 31 to 21, or if I've missed a bug.

 

This file has the scoring fixed as well as the other two fixes earlier (Elliott doesn't get crushed by the ship, safely move right from the forest):

ET_Patched.bin

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Bug report: In this build on the screen with the tiniest pits you fall into the well picking up the Reese's Pieces. I like everything else. And I saw the flower turn into Yar and fly off. :thumbsup:

 

Wow, that's a great catch. Apparently, this has been a problem since at least the build on the 18th. The fix is crazy simple, just nudge that specific candy down a tiny bit (from 32 to 34):

 

0BA5: 22

 

I checked the other candies and they're all a safe distance from the wells.

 

Thanks for the heads-up, I'll be sure to credit you when I update the write-up. In the mean-time, here's an updated ROM:

ET_Patched.bin

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