+Philsan Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 Version beta 2.3 https://www.santellocco.com/atari/spacetaxi.htm (please refresh page) 13 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faicuai Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 Looks REALLY interesting, like a repurposed Lunar Lander type (which I like a lot! What surprised me is that, upon binary inspection of the files, there are multiple direct references to "D1:" buried on the executables, which makes it hard to install it into what could be a perfectly-viable HD environment, even in SDX. If that could be addressed, then even BETTER !! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaG Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 20 hours ago, Philsan said: Version beta 2.3 It works Thank you! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreatari Posted June 7, 2023 Author Share Posted June 7, 2023 1 hour ago, MichaG said: It works Thank you! Thank you for the picture 🤗 What a satisfaction to see the game running on other Atarians machines! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreatari Posted June 7, 2023 Author Share Posted June 7, 2023 (edited) 20 hours ago, Faicuai said: Looks REALLY interesting, like a repurposed Lunar Lander type (which I like a lot! What surprised me is that, upon binary inspection of the files, there are multiple direct references to "D1:" buried on the executables, which makes it hard to install it into what could be a perfectly-viable HD environment, even in SDX. If that could be addressed, then even BETTER !! Yes, you're right... the game frequently accesses the disk. There is STL file that loads the main program (ST), the two speeches data in different banks(SPEECH1 and SPEECH2) and the Hiscores. Then, the main program loads each level and the title screen when a game is over. I've no great experience with Atari HD or SDX soi ask you: what it could be necessary to do in order to use the game also with different environments? Thank you in advance for your suggestions 😊 Andrea Edited June 7, 2023 by Andreatari 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 At the very least it would by a MyDOS high capacity disk (hard drive) candidate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faicuai Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 (edited) 9 hours ago, Andreatari said: I've no great experience with Atari HD or SDX soi ask you: what it could be necessary to do in order to use the game also with different environments? It is very simple: Loading the the title right from SDX command prompt, and from SIDE / Incognito-PBI hard drive. I actually managed to modify the hardcoded D1: references on STL file even before posting anything here (there are more on the bigger file). and managed to get a good chunk of stuff loaded for the HD, and does it SUPER fast... but when I try to modify "D1:HISCORES" on the STL binary, it crashes no matter how I try to get around it... Are you using "D1:" descriptor because your DOS-of-choice requires it or forces you to use it? Can your DOS handle an abstract descriptor that refers to whatever drive is currently logged? That would make it! 👍💪💪 Edited June 8, 2023 by Faicuai 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 He means use "D:" instead. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjlazer Posted June 20, 2023 Share Posted June 20, 2023 Anyone able to get this to fit on a SSDD disk or two SSSD? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted June 20, 2023 Share Posted June 20, 2023 If the author uses a packing program to pack some files (e.g. the ST file which seems to be the main program) then maybe it will fit on one 180k or two 90k disks (instead of one 360k disk). But maybe he also must use a 3-sector DOS (uDOS, etc.) then... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miker Posted June 20, 2023 Share Posted June 20, 2023 @CharlieChaplin Yeah, exactly like I wrote above. Now the game barely exceeds available amount of DD sectors so I think ANY compression should do the trick. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreatari Posted July 1, 2023 Author Share Posted July 1, 2023 (edited) One month after the first public beta release I am really pleased with the feedback received 😊 Some minor bugs but nothing that heavy and several suggestions to improve the quality of the game. Many people are asking for a distribution suitable for 5.25 disks and also working on hard disk... I promise to work on this but it will take time. At the moment I can only announce that the next 2.4 version will be ready by about mid-July and will contain minor corrections and some important additions, in example: - Removed references to D1: replacing them with a generic 😧 - Bonus life for every $200 up to a maximum of 7 lives 😎 - Decreased bouncing when landing at high speed - Fixed missing landing gears sound on Interference level Anyway, next Monday is my birthday and in this case I am not asking for presents but I would have a present for you... maybe someone will have already found out but there is a cheat mode to play Space Taxi starting from a specific level. It works both on emulators or real machines and you can get it simply pressing Control + TAB in the game selection menu. A different control will be enabled letting you select the starting level. Very useful to practice and enjoy with all 25 levels💪 Cheat.mov Edited July 1, 2023 by Andreatari 14 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreatari Posted July 17, 2023 Author Share Posted July 17, 2023 (edited) As of today, version 2.4 of Space Taxi for A8B is available on @Philsan's site!https://www.santellocco.com/atari/spacetaxi.htm (please refresh page) As previously announced, besides the correction of some bugs and improvement in some behaviors of the Taxi (i.e. less bounces during high speed landings), the main news is the bonus life given every 200$... In the C64 original version, you have to reach 300$ to get an extra life and you can't get more than one but, given the higher difficulty of this A8B version, I thought it's better to have a bit of help 😎 This 2.4 should be the last beta version release (apart special cases) In the future I'll continue to work just to have a compressed version to fit in a physical 5,25 diskette and to prepare a possible cartridge version. What else... remember that with the cheat mode described in the previous post, you can play all 25 levels so, enjoy Space Taxi on your Atari 😊 Edited July 17, 2023 by Andreatari 18 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreatari Posted July 19, 2023 Author Share Posted July 19, 2023 You can do it!😎 Also Night Shift completed Space Taxi - Night Shift - PAL.mov 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 that's alot of work for $367.43 and you haven't taken 10 percent out for the big guy or taxes fees and licenses yet... among other things. Cabbie needs a raise! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreatari Posted July 20, 2023 Author Share Posted July 20, 2023 8 hours ago, _The Doctor__ said: that's alot of work for $367.43 and you haven't taken 10 percent out for the big guy or taxes fees and licenses yet... among other things. Cabbie needs a raise! 😂 😂 😂 You're absolutely right! But consider that we are speaking about $367.43 of 1984 😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques Posted July 20, 2023 Share Posted July 20, 2023 Damn, this game is a prototype of UGH! Thanks for converting it to A8 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacques Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 Played a it yesterday evening and it's lot of fun, thanks again! The only downside is the quality of digitized-speech. Surely A8 can do better (even Kennedy Approach, SAM) But maybe this is the legacy of C64 version? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 I think the samples in our case are just by recording output from the C64 version. I've had a look at the C64 version but it seems the samples aren't stored in a straightforward fashion as I'd hoped. I offered to look into improving the method used for the A8 version and have a couple of ideas. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Philsan Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 Another idea would be to ask Kutcher to record his voice again and sample it 🙂 3 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patjomki Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 This game is so faithful to the original I like it exactly the way it is, even the title screen. 👍 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdefabri Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 2 hours ago, patjomki said: This game is so faithful to the original I like it exactly the way it is, even the title screen. 👍 Yes I agree 100% - keep it faithful to the original, that’s what makes it endearing. No need to improve the samples, they are perfect as you have them! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted July 23, 2023 Share Posted July 23, 2023 I don't see how improving the samples up to the C64 version's quality level would make the game less faithful; it would obviously be more faithful. Maybe people don't understand what @Rybags is suggesting. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreatari Posted July 24, 2023 Author Share Posted July 24, 2023 (edited) Thank you all for your comments/feedbacks!🥰 On 7/23/2023 at 11:29 AM, Jacques said: Played a it yesterday evening and it's lot of fun, thanks again! The only downside is the quality of digitized-speech. Surely A8 can do better (even Kennedy Approach, SAM) But maybe this is the legacy of C64 version? 21 hours ago, patjomki said: This game is so faithful to the original I like it exactly the way it is, even the title screen. 👍 18 hours ago, rdefabri said: Yes I agree 100% - keep it faithful to the original, that’s what makes it endearing. No need to improve the samples, they are perfect as you have them! Hi @Jacques @patjomki @rdefabriI'm really happy that this A8 version in the end is playable, fun and as close to the original as it can... this was part of my target 😎👍 Really Thanks! 22 hours ago, Rybags said: I think the samples in our case are just by recording output from the C64 version. I've had a look at the C64 version but it seems the samples aren't stored in a straightforward fashion as I'd hoped. I offered to look into improving the method used for the A8 version and have a couple of ideas. Hi @Rybags Correct, I recorded the samples directly from C64 version. I didn't take the samples from C64 code also because I did'nt find the voice data in a good format (and probably I wouldn't have been able to grab them... 😬) but mainly because, as I told before, I decided to recreate the A8 version from scratch, simply looking at the game and rewriting code, graphics, sounds. I really appreciate your offer... you're a sort of super hero for all Atari programmers, including me 🤩 I'll write you a message with some more info about the sample routines and with the related code I used. Consider that I was not so confident to be able to have speech synthesis in the game and I added the samples code almost at the end. There was not a lot of free space and I had to fit it inside the existing code, storing data in extra memory banks but keeping the compatibility with different models/configurations. I mean that maybe the quality of my assembly code is not so high 😕😬 Currently the game automatically recognizes the machine used, converts the color table according PAL or NTSC version and it runs on any Atari with at least 48k (128k are necessary for the samples): 800, 1200XL, expanded 600XL, 800XL, 65XE, 130XE and XEGS. 18 hours ago, MrFish said: I don't see how improving the samples up to the C64 version's quality level would make the game less faithful; it would obviously be more faithful. Maybe people don't understand what @Rybags is suggesting. Hi @MrFish I agree with you... currently the samples are good enough to play the game but their quality is lower compared to C64 version due to the double step I used: I've recorded an already digitized voice and I did it again. Obviously it would be better to have the same old-style voices but with an higher quality 💪 In a previous post I wrote that now I would like to concentrate my efforts to prepare 'real' disk and cartridge versions because it could help to play the game on real machines using a real disk drive or a cart (maybe with a nice package 😜) but if it's possible to have better samples I'm obviously available to try. Anyway, always and ever, my goal is to give support and free contribution to this amazing community that, after more than 40 years, continues to love Atari Edited July 24, 2023 by Andreatari 6 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattsoft Posted July 25, 2023 Share Posted July 25, 2023 (edited) 18 hours ago, Andreatari said: In a previous post I wrote that now I would like to concentrate my efforts to prepare 'real' disk and cartridge versions because it could help to play the game on real machines using a real disk drive or a cart (maybe with a nice package 😜) but if it's possible to have better samples I'm obviously available to try. Anyway, always and ever, my goal is to give support and free contribution to this amazing community that, after more than 40 years, continues to love Atari a real disk/cart with a box and everything?? YES! YES! YES! Edited July 25, 2023 by mattsoft 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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