Wizard of Wor 2: The Arena

[CDS Games]

Picked up a maze error in the screen with the four crosses--the Worrior can't move left from his position below.

 

I've lost track of where all the data is, but that bit is probably a 3 and should be a 7.

[Nukey Shay]

Upper nybble of $xE9F in bank2. good catch

[mos6507]

Just found out about this, and naturally the speech has my attention.

 

In the video demo, there is a disconnect between what's going on in the game and what's said and when. My opinion is that key events should trigger speech. Those key events would be dying, moving to the next maze, getting an extra life, game over, etc... If there are technical issues making this hard to pull off, I would make a full-press effort to overcome them rather than falling back on randomization.

 

The allure of speech in the 1980s was its connection with AI (i.e. Wargames). Having the Wizard seem to be oblivious to the actual progress of the game kind of defeats the purpose of adding speech as far as constructing the illusion of an AI.

 

I understand that the artificial way the Votrax spoke in these games was part of its charm. However, the Speakjet is capable of doing better. I did enjoy making the speech strings in Juno First. One of the things I did was try to match Gene Wilder's Wonka saying "You Lose! Good day sir!" I didn't match the timbre of his voice, but I matched the pitch, rhythm, and pronunciation. It was enough that I think most people identified the pop culture reference when they heard it. I'm not saying the speech should be that sophisticated but there are some mispronunciations here that could be tightened up, but even if it stays monotone I think there's room for improvement in making the voice more intelligible or implying some 'attitude'. I would need to set up my system again, but if there's any interest in letting me work on speech strings, let me know.

Edited December 15, 2013 by mos6507

[raindog]

In the video demo, there is a disconnect between what's going on in the game and what's said and when. My opinion is that key events should trigger speech. Those key events would be dying, moving to the next maze, getting an extra life, game over, etc... If there are technical issues making this hard to pull off, I would make a full-press effort to overcome them rather than falling back on randomization.

 

Nukey's working on it:

 

Very easy. As mentioned, the phrase selection will be event-driven. That is...when a specific event happens (such as visiting the arena, shooting the wizard, etc), it's group number (0-7) is dropped into the pointer (whether or not a phrase is currently in progress). All this takes is a few bytes to store the value...and the program is already set up to deal with it automatically.

 

It's currently ignoring the event selection and going though all the phrases in a non-random way (hence, the constant repeating and such). Certain events will also take priority over others when finished, and not repeat back-to-back. Initial concern was that phrases do not overwrite/corrupt speech in progress

 

This is an impressive hack; this thread is worth reading from the beginning.

[mos6507]

I just re-read this time and not skimmed. WoW was one of my favorite 2600 games. I never realized the game had so many different mazes. I also once owned a WoW cocktail (the ultimate way to play that game, IMHO). I was never that great at playing it as I was more interested in PvP which resulted in short games. I appreciate the problem of not being able to multiplex the joystick port to use AtariVox. There's been a lot of talk about how to do this through the years but nobody's actually solved that problem so I doubt it ever will happen even if it is possible. Maybe Richard Hutchinson could weigh in on it if he's reading here.

[iesposta]

Just found out about this, and naturally the speech has my attention.

 

In the video demo, there is a disconnect between what's going on in the game and what's said and when. My opinion is that key events should trigger speech. Those key events would be dying, moving to the next maze, getting an extra life, game over, etc... If there are technical issues making this hard to pull off, I would make a full-press effort to overcome them rather than falling back on randomization.

 

The allure of speech in the 1980s was its connection with AI (i.e. Wargames). Having the Wizard seem to be oblivious to the actual progress of the game kind of defeats the purpose of adding speech as far as constructing the illusion of an AI.

 

I understand that the artificial way the Votrax spoke in these games was part of its charm. However, the Speakjet is capable of doing better. I did enjoy making the speech strings in Juno First. One of the things I did was try to match Gene Wilder's Wonka saying "You Lose! Good day sir!" I didn't match the timbre of his voice, but I matched the pitch, rhythm, and pronunciation. It was enough that I think most people identified the pop culture reference when they heard it. I'm not saying the speech should be that sophisticated but there are some mispronunciations here that could be tightened up, but even if it stays monotone I think there's room for improvement in making the voice more intelligible or implying some 'attitude'. I would need to set up my system again, but if there's any interest in letting me work on speech strings, let me know.

Thanks for your input!

I am entering the speech strings.

If you want to do some that would be great!

Just post your progress so we do not end up doing the same thing twice.

First I enter them monotone just to get it down. Then I listen to each word and try to match it to the sound files attached.

Some of the speech already there just has not been "shaped."

 

P.S. Do you have any blank AtariVox+ empty circuit boards I could buy? I have parts to make another one, but soon I'll just have to do a homemade circuit board.

wow.zip

The Wizard of Wor Vox Data.txt

[CDS Games]

I'll add a note to the original post outlining what's been going on in the rest of the thread--just to minimize confusion.

[mos6507]

I have plenty of blank AtariVox+ boards. I don't know why anyone would want them since Ax's family is still selling them on eBay, though. If you just need a one-off board to save a few bucks, I can send you one, but the assembled boards are not that expensive and they come with the case and the pamphlet. I don't know if they are still shipping cables which are used for the Vectrex. There were fewer of those than there were actual AV+ units.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vectrex-Atari-VOX-VOICE-MODULE-Speech-Synth-VECVOICE-atarivox-vecvox-/370959727105

 

If and when they either run out or are no longer capable of fulfilling orders, I'll see to it that the AV+ makes its way over to the AA store, but they seem to be still getting orders out, against all odds.

Edited December 24, 2013 by mos6507

[iesposta]

Sorry, can't send mos6507 a private message.

 

mos6507,

I really would like to buy one AtariVox+ board.

I have all the parts to make one more (and the PIC), purchased from before you made yours available.

 

Richard H is sending me the chip to make the "programmer" for the SpeakJet and the PIC.

 

He sent a "programmer" to Ax because those last ones on eBay failed testing and were reprogrammed.

I really think that is the last of them because Ax doesn't have the time/money/health to make more.

I want to see them in the AA store eventually, and I will help to make that happen!

PM me where I can send you my address/money.

[Nukey Shay]

Current tweaks:

Using the old game by holding up on either controller in the powerup sequence caused 7800 console support to be lost. This has been fixed (the color/B&W switch is used to turn the starfield on or off...since it lacked a function in the original).

A glitch which made enemies move outside the maze is also fixed. I believe that there is only one more issue to address - the original game picked it's "random" values by reading bytes in the first 6 pages of ROM. This can be fixed by bankswitching over to the voice data bank to hold all of that unaltered data. Even after all the speech data is added, there will still be loads of unused space there anyway.

 

"Arcade" version:

Sprites are -finally- centered in the corridors. I gave up trying to squeeze more cycles out of the subroutine and just padded the tables with a zero above and below each bitmap So the starfield priority is also fixed. There's still a LAX opcode being used in the sub I'm looking to eliminate, tho (it's the only illegal op in the hack).

WoW16k(unfinished).bin

[iesposta]

I am getting the color B&W switch as pause, not star field toggle.

Yeah! Centered sprites.

Excellent attention to detail!

[Nukey Shay]

^ Hold UP on either stick when the console detect message goes away to play the 4k bugfixed game.

[Nukey Shay]

Hey...I just figured out a way to add the starfield toggle in the main version too. I could just check for UP/DOWN when the game is paused

[iesposta]

Oh, now I understand. You added star field to original with toggle.

[CDS Games]

Sprites are -finally- centered in the corridors. I gave up trying to squeeze more cycles out of the subroutine and just padded the tables with a zero above and below each bitmap So the starfield priority is also fixed. There's still a LAX opcode being used in the sub I'm looking to eliminate, tho (it's the only illegal op in the hack).

 

Fantastic fix!

 

What's the likelihood a cart version can be released with original CBS shells? Maybe as a limited edition, if enough quantities aren't available?

[Nukey Shay]

Beats me. I'm not a collector...and this is *your* hack I'm meddling in.

[CDS Games]

Me neither. I think Albert released Turbo on a Coleco cart shell; I guess only he can answer how feasible CBS carts would be.

 

"My" hack was the Arena and the expansion pack, at this point those just look like an appetizer for the main course. You guys have taken it so far beyond what I could've possibly done with it.

[+save2600]

This is such an amazing project. Can't wait to see it finished and released in cart form. Somebody should really consider a nice professional release with label, etc.

[+FujiSkunk]

If Ixiom can be released in authentic Sega shells, I imagine enough CBS shells could be spared for this game. Coincidentally, the original Wizard of Wor is among the most common CBS carts out there.

[raindog]

As long as not too many Mountain Kings are sacrificed to this cause, I could get behind it

[+save2600]

You know how Elektronite have their new Intellivision shells? Be nice to see a new cartridge shell for these 2600 arcade translations. For instance: a special Bally/Midway shell for games like this. I'd say *now* is a good time to cease sacrificing real carts for homebrews.

Edited December 27, 2013 by save2600

[raindog]

Anyone got a Makerbot?

[iesposta]

Anybody have pictures of CBS cart insides and how they differ from the boards used now?

 

How about discounts for sending in Wizard of Wor?

The new hack still has the original game so you would get the orig and enhanced back.

 

I have three carts of two boxed and one variation.

I could send 2 carts in, get some money off, and buy one back.

One for one exchanges could be less money off.

[CDS Games]

Just a quick graphics tweak: modified the Wizard animation to improve his up & down sprite and to more closely mirror the arcade animation.

 

WoW16k(unfinished).bin

 

 

[CDS Games]

How about discounts for sending in Wizard of Wor?

The new hack still has the original game so you would get the orig and enhanced back.

 

I have three carts of two boxed and one variation.

I could send 2 carts in, get some money off, and buy one back.

One for one exchanges could be less money off.

 

Great idea! I probably will still want to keep my original and add this to it, but I'd guess folks would jump at your option.

 

Starting to play around with label designs as well. CBS's own carts are pretty dull generally, though I do like this lettering.

 

 

But how about taking a cue from the titles CBS released in Europe, which retained that great arcade-style Coleco design:

 

 

Seems like an appropriate way to go for this title, with the original cabinet's lettering and "Arcade' in a Bauhaus-style lettering that recalls the CBS 2600 release:

 

 

Maybe some label art from the cabinet as well.

Edited December 27, 2013 by CDS Games