Does Desert Falcon ever end?

[+Propane13]

I haven't played Desert Falcon in a while, but I remember:

1) as the levels progressed, they got longer

2) as the levels progressed, you got faster

 

I was curious if they're all a consistent length per level, and if perhaps there's an ending or a "you've topped out" length/speed.

[gambler172]

I guess it never ends.

[BydoEmpire]

I'm definitely not good enough to know whether it ever ends...  I'd kind of assume not, but that's 100% speculation.

Edited June 28, 2021 by BydoEmpire

[TrekMD]

As far as I know, it ends only when you lose your lives.

[+sramirez2008]

15 minutes ago, TrekMD said:

As far as I know, it send only when you lose your lives.

Unfortunately, this is how it’s always ended for me.

[+Propane13]

Looking at some of the source code:

 

In SMCP.S:

 

*** DO PROGRESSION EVERY COARSE SCROLL ***
          JSR     LANDPROG

          LDA     PHASE
          BMI     GRBONUS
          BNE     GRBRTS

*** CHECK FOR SPHINX ***
          LDX     PLAYER
          LDA     RACK,X
          CLC
          ADC     DIFCULTY              ;Range 0-3
          CMP     #8
          BCC     SPHXD1
          LDA     #7
SPHXD1:   ASL
          TAX
          LDA     HDIST
          CMP     SPHXDIST,X
          BCC     GRNDFOO
          LDA     DISTANCE
          CMP     SPHXDIST+1,X
          BCC     GRNDFOO
          LDA     PHASE
          BMI     GRNDFOO

* BRING OUT SPHINX *

The above is interesting.  RACK is defined in PATCH.S as follows:

;       RACK = round number (0 is the first round).

The CMP #8 / LDA #7 forces everything to be in the zero-seven range, making it appear that there are a max of 8 levels.  It's interesting that in theory if you play on novice mode and wrap to level 256, it should suddenly be short level 1 all over again.

 

Also, some info in ZERODEF.S that should shed more light on the above code-- you have 2 bytes that determine your coarse position:

DISTANCE:       .ds.b   1       ;NUMBER OF COARSE SCROLLS
HDIST:          .ds.b   1       ;HIGH BYTE OF DISTANCE

And, finally in SMCP.S, there's one other interesting table:

SPHXDIST: .dc.b      $00,$60,$00,$C0,$01,$20,$01,$80
          .dc.b      $01,$E0,$02,$40,$03,$A0,$04,$00

So we can conclude (converting those table numbers from hex to decimal):

• 96 coarse scrolls for level 1 / novice
• 192 coarse scrolls for level 2 / novice OR level 1 / standard
• 288 coarse scrolls for level 3 / novice OR level 2 / standard OR level 1 / advanced
• 384 coarse scrolls for level 4 / novice OR level 3 / standard OR level 2 / advanced OR level 1 / expert
• 480 coarse scrolls for level 5 / novice OR level 4 / standard OR level 3 / advanced OR level 2 / expert
• 576 coarse scrolls for level 6 / novice OR level 5 / standard OR level 4 / advanced OR level 3 / expert
• 928 coarse scrolls for level 7 / novice OR level 6 / standard OR level 5 / advanced OR level 4 / expert (that's quite a jump!!)
• 1024 coarse scrolls for level 8 / novice OR level 7 / standard OR level 6 / advanced OR level 5 / expert AND ON

I *think* there may be a random number seed in there, added to those blocks, but it's at least kind of interesting to note the GIANT change in the above table where the size suddenly almost doubles in the later levels.

[Trebor]

No ending - but it can be separated into different 'missions':

 

 

Levels generate 'randomly', but they do repeat in a sense, after 8 of them.

 

Don't forget about the "Hieroglyph Combinations" guide!