New game! Whack 'Em Smack 'Em Byrons

[Mobsie]

Hi,

you can read the zero page address for the keyboard, in each vbl its updated. Just peek it.

Or if you need more add a little asm function.

[MADrigal]

I don't think CVBasic allows you to access I/O through the BIOS. I attempted that with some other system (MSX, I think) and had no luck. I'll probably have to wait for Nanochess to expand his compiler and offer direct access to the keypad... and I'm hesitant to bug the guy about it, since he's already done so much to optimize the compiler for the sake of my game.

I dunno. Maybe there's a backdoor; some way to make the game work properly on this system that I hadn't considered. I'll have to mull it over.

Or you may consider mapping the 9 directions to QWE-ASD-ZXC instead. Mole Attack worked well on keyboard on Vic-20.

[ArugulaZ]

Like I said earlier, I can't access the keyboard with CVBasic... I can't even use PEEK to read it because the compiler doesn't play nice with the BIOS. I'd do that if such an option was available to me- it is an option in the MSX version, since the CONT statement was modified to read its numeric keys- but alas, it's not possible here.

Take heart, though! I talked to Nanochess about it, and he re-wrote the compiler to accept diagonal input. I've included a binary below for testing purposes. It doesn't seem to work with FunnyMU, but if it does work with real hardware, I'll be satisfied.

Profound thanks to Oscar Toledo for all the work he's done to make the Creativision version of the game possible.

[nanochess]

it is not fully documented yet, but you can access the Creativision keypad reading directly $18, $19, $1a and $1b by using PEEK(). This is because the Creativision controllers are complicated enough that it is preferred to call the BIOS to process the controller instead of writing my own subroutines.

The values are available in the Creativision emulator in the docs folder, where there is a file Creativision Keypad Matrix.pdf.

The latest bleeding-edge CVBasic compiler supports CONT1.KEY with the numeric keys, the RETN key, and the left key, and it has been used to port GORILLA.BAS. This version is available for compilation in my git, and is the one used to compile the latest Wack'em game.

[ArugulaZ]

Oh really? Well, in that case, I'll have to make a test program to see if I can figure this out. I can convert these hex values to decimals without any difficulty, right? My mind doesn't think in base 16.

Thanks for the info, by the way!

[ArugulaZ]

Okay, okay, okay! I think I've got this. Give it the old college spin and see if it works out for you.

The game's designed to be played with the controller in your hand (vertical) or set in the console, with the player jabbing at letter keys (horizontal). Advancing to the next level requires you to press CONTROL or FIRE 1, and I think both buttons do the same thing on the Creativision. If I'm wrong about that, I'll add additional checks so the player can play this on console without having to take out the controller and press a side key all the time. (I might do it anyway; I'm anal retentive like that.)

The addition of a keypad transforms the Creativision version of WESEB from almost impossible to a guaranteed curb stomping by the player. You can hit up to three Byrons in one pop-up in the first stage, and will almost certainly reach the quotas in each and every stage if you play it that way. I programmed the thing and my scores approach DOUBLE the quotas in an emulator. It's definitely the preferred way to play this. Try not to rip up your membranes if you're playing this on real hardware (attn. Scouter).

[MADrigal]

Sounds very exciting I will test it asap
Fyi the left and right buttons are different (eg on Astro Pinball they control the 2 flippers). They are equivalent to (from memory) control and shift on the keypad.

[ArugulaZ]

Some timing changes and the option to press S to advance through the game's pauses are included in this one. I'm very happy with this now! Plays great in the FunnyMU emulator. Don't bother with the joysticks for a game like this unless you absolutely must.

There, Australians. I hope this is penance for all the times I've dissed the Emerson Arcadia 2001. Some guy in Australia was absolutely mad for this machine, and got quite upset indeed when I gave this machine a thumbs down on my web site a thousand and one years ago. Dude, it's an EMERSON ARCADIA. Emerson has a reputation as a producer of second-rate electronics, and I'm pretty sure that reputation started with the Arcadia. It's the game console of the 1970s... here today, in the 1980s! Emerson would have to pay me to make a version of Whack 'Em Smack 'Em Byrons for the Arcadia, and knowing them, they wouldn't pay me much.

Emerson Arcadia, sheesh. Stay in your lane of making cheap radios, because you ain't doin' nobody any favors with this Signetics-powered simpleton. It'd be like if White-Westinghouse released a game console roughly equivalent to the power of the ColecoVision around the time the Sega Genesis was released. "You loved our washing machines! Now barely tolerate our game system! Now you're playing with considerably less power!"

(The Australians are mad at me again, aren't they? Let me guess, I'll have to submit to a boot through the bars of the Australian embassy for this one.)

[MADrigal]

The game plays very well on FunnyMu Unofficial via keyboard.
PS: I got a bit lost re Australia and Emerson Arcadia. No Aussies on this thread and no mention of the Arcadia.

[ArugulaZ]

I dunno, I went off on a tangent there.