Another Pitfall map: Training game with 2 maps

[samiam]

In another thread, I have posted a hack to Pitfall to change the map of the game, while keep (approximately) the same difficulty as the original Pitfall. Near the end of that thread, I posted a "training game" variant of Pitfall.

 

I fell this training game really deserves its own thread. In reply to one user who would like to see a Pitfall variant with multiple maps, I have made it possible to select from two different maps in this Pitfall map.

 

The main map is an easier 125-location "trainer" map for Pitfall players. Despite the smaller jungle, all 32 treasures are to be found. In addition, the time limit has been increased to 60 minutes and the player now has unlimited lives; however, one minute is lost every time Harry dies. Also: There are no underground walls (every underground passage will put Harry somewhere else on the map).

 

To play this map, download the attached file and invoke the xor.image tool in the same directory as both the pitfallT.xor file and a ROM image of the original Pitfall game:

 

xor.image pitfall.rom pitfallT.xor pitfallT.rom

 

(Note: pitfall.rom, the original Pitfall game ROM, may have the name pitfall.bin. If so: "xor.image pitfall.bin pitfallT.xor pitfallT.rom")

 

This will create a ROM image--pitfallT.rom--that can be played in Stella or any other 2600 emulator. It is probably also possible to download it to a Harmony Cartridge (or even burn an EPROM) to play it on a real 2600.

 

The resulting pitfallT.rom has the following cryptographic sums:

 

md5 0c885840ea4b08b7709639ef95812e65

sha-2-256 2a40b2896a044bfb18dba0cf9eb0a4db0365940e32ea4010ee6ae0a5eaed1222

 

Unlike the original Pitfall, "game Select" does something: It places Harry in a small training course suitable for practicing movement and jumping. There are no treasures in this practice course.

 

All of my changes to Pitfall in the attached zip file are public domain.

 

- Sam

 

small-jungle.zip

Edited June 12, 2013 by samiam

[samiam]

After playing yesterday's upload for a while, I decided to make the really small "training" map more interesting. The trainer map now has a finish line; the player needs to run left-to-right from the start to the finish line within a minute to finish the training map; no underground shortcuts may be used or the player has to start over. Harry is not allowed to run left from the starting line.

 

In addition, any errors which make Harry lose points in normal Pitfall (hitting a log or falling down a hole) are now fatal. Harry gets only one life in the training map and has to start over if he makes any error.

 

These changes do not affect the gameplay of the main jungle [1]. Along with the other easier jungle, this allows people to train for Pitfall with either a medium sized easy-to-play jungle, or a small very difficult to play jungle.

 

The zip files includes instructions on how to make the training game ROM file. Source code is included, but as a UNIX "diff" file compared to Thomas Jentzsch's disassembly of Pitfall.

 

- Sam

 

[1] Well, with one exception: If Harry dies with under a minute left on the clock in the bigger jungle, the game ends.

small-jungle.zip

[Mr SQL]

samiam,

this is awesome! Just had a chance to read your 4096 byte Jungle and Pitfall's Polynomial articles; very cool!

 

btw Tom Baker is my favourite Dr Who

[samiam]

I hope to have time to finish up that blog soon. In the meantime, I have updated my internal CMS system to make source code in my blog entries more readable; comments are now color coded and spacing is preserved. It is a bit harder to read on a smartphone screen (the comment color coding helps a bit here, but the C code still looks like guacamole), but formatting is preserved on a netbook or full-sized computer.

[samiam]

I’ve improved the rendering of code examples in my blog on small screen devices.

[samiam]

One final note: I have finished my 5-part blog series looking in to Pitfall’s random map generator in depth. It starts at http://samiam.org/blog/20130606.html and ends with http://samiam.org/blog/20130617.html

 

It goes in to great detail about the math David Crane used to generate Pitfall’s map, as well as wrapping up by looking at some possible alternate Pitfall maps.