diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | NOTES.txt | 44 |
1 files changed, 24 insertions, 20 deletions
@@ -23,45 +23,49 @@ arcade game). Deliberate differences between the Apple II and Atari ports: -0. Turbo mode, in combat. See MANUAL.txt. +1. Turbo mode, in combat. See GAMEPLAY.txt. -1. The Atari version is noticeably faster than the Apple version on II+ or +2. The Atari version is noticeably faster than the Apple version on II+ or IIe. This is because it's written in C and assembly, not interpreted BASIC. A IIgs on the other hand... -2. "Press ESC for help" rather than ESC to start. Starting the game is +3. "Press ESC for help" rather than ESC to start. Starting the game is done with the space bar or return key. -3. I made it possible to disable the sound, since it's kinda repetitive +4. I made it possible to disable the sound, since it's kinda repetitive and annoying, plus the game "freezes" while sounds are playing (no threading on Atari!) which slows down gameplay. -4. Added a way to change the background color and text brightness. Only +5. Added a way to change the background color and text brightness. Only 4 brightness levels, but all 16 Atari hues are available. -5. Prompts that only accept one character no longer require pressing Enter. +6. Prompts that only accept one character no longer require pressing Enter. Gameplay is more streamlined this way. Apple and Linux are inconsistent: some prompts need Enter, some don't. In the Atari port, the only prompts that require Enter are: - naming your firm - entering an amount of cash or items (but not if you hit A for "all") -6. "We have 5 guns" is in an inverse video box. I think it looks nicer, and +7. "We have 5 guns" is in an inverse video box. I think it looks nicer, and it matches the "You can afford 5" inverse video box on the trading screen. -7. The + that indicates more ships offscreen is inverse video. I find +8. The + that indicates more ships offscreen is inverse video. I find that I don't notice it's there, if it's normal video. -8. "You're ship is overloaded" => "Your ship is overloaded". Sorry, - grammar nazi. +9. Current seaworthiness is always displayed during combat, rather than + being overwritten with status messages. This is really important for + Turbo combat mode, but a nice enhancement for regular combat too. -9. Updating the port status screen, and text printing in general, happens - faster and cleaner-looking, due to using C and asm rather than BASIC, - and also because the static parts of the screen aren't redrawn unless - they need to be. (Grammar nazi? That's a run-on sentence...) +10. "You're ship is overloaded" => "Your ship is overloaded". Sorry, + grammar nazi. -10. Apple uses floating point, no practical limit on cash/bank/debt. +11. Updating the port status screen, and text printing in general, happens + faster and cleaner-looking, due to using C and asm rather than BASIC, + and also because the static parts of the screen aren't redrawn unless + they need to be. (Grammar nazi? That's a run-on sentence...) + +12. Apple uses floating point, no practical limit on cash/bank/debt. Atari currently uses 32-bit unsigned longs for cash and debt, though the bank is now floating point. This leads to these gameplay changes: @@ -79,19 +83,19 @@ Deliberate differences between the Apple II and Atari ports: someone plays the game long enough to earn billions in cash, he'll know to leave most of it in the bank, not carry it around. -11. On Apple, price of General Cargo isn't always an integer (e.g. 6.5). +13. On Apple, price of General Cargo isn't always an integer (e.g. 6.5). -12. On Apple, dead enemy ships sink one scanline at a time, and there are +14. On Apple, dead enemy ships sink one scanline at a time, and there are at least 2 sinking speeds. On Atari, it's one character (8 scanlines) at a time, and the speed is always the same. -13. When entering numeric amounts, the Atari Shift-Delete key works as +15. When entering numeric amounts, the Atari Shift-Delete key works as expected. -14. When entering numeric amounts, pressing K or M inserts 3 or 6 zeroes. +16. When entering numeric amounts, pressing K or M inserts 3 or 6 zeroes. This means you can type e.g. 100,000 as 100K, and 10,000,000 as 10M. -15. When playing on an 800, the standard Atari keyclicks will be heard. +17. When playing on an 800, the standard Atari keyclicks will be heard. Disabling these on an 800 is non-trivial. On XL/XE machines, they are disabled to mimic the Apple version. |