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Notes for Atari 8-bit Taipan
----------------------------
The Atari executable file format allows for concatenating executables.
The result is still a valid executable. I use this to load the splash
screen and custom font directly into memory before the main program loads.
The Makefile documents how all this works, but it might seem pretty
hairy if you're new to the Atari, Makefiles, and/or Perl.
The Apple version of the game was expected to be run on a monochrome
monitor. Like many other ports from the Apple to the Atari, there will
be color artifacts when using a composite monitor. For best results,
use a monochrome monitor. If you can't, at least try using a color
monitor with S-Video (separate chroma/luma) inputs. If all else fails,
try turning the color knob all the way down (and the contrast as high
as you can stand it). In emulators, you can just disable artifacting.
On PAL systems, the ship explosions and sinking animations will be 20%
slower, and the prompt timeouts will be 20% longer (1 sec => 1.2 sec). I
don't think this is a real issue (it's not like Taipan is a fast-paced
arcade game).
Deliberate differences between the Apple II and Atari ports:
0. 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...
1. "Press ESC for help" rather than ESC to start. Starting the game is
done with the space bar or return key.
2. 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.
3. Added a way to change the background color and text brightness. Only
4 brightness levels, but all 16 Atari hues are available.
4. 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")
5. "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.
6. The + that indicates more ships offscreen is inverse video. I find
that I don't notice it's there, if it's normal video.
7. "You're ship is overloaded" => "Your ship is overloaded". Sorry,
grammar nazi.
8. 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. 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:
- If you try to make a sale, take out a loan, or withdraw from the bank
an amount that would put you over 4.3 billion cash, you get a
message "you cannot carry so much cash", and the transaction is
aborted.
- If your debt goes above 2 billion, you die and the game is over.
Making cash a floating point value is possible, but not worth the
effort as it's a *terrible* idea to carry billions (or even millions)
of cash around, due to the possibility of getting robbed. By the time
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).
12. 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
expected.
14. 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.
Disabling these on an 800 is non-trivial. On XL/XE machines, they are
disabled to mimic the Apple version.
Differences between the Apple II original and Linux port:
1. Linux has an 80-column screen layout, Apple is 40.
2. Apple version uses a custom font (actually, two, but I'm ignoring that).
3. Apple has sound, Linux does not.
4. Apple has graphical title screen, Linux has ASCII art.
5. Apple has graphical ships during battles, Linux has ASCII art.
6. On Apple, price of General Cargo isn't always an integer (e.g. 6.5).
As a consequence, the cash and bank amounts aren't always ints either.
7. On Apple, some Y/N prompts (like 'Do you have business with Elder Brother
Wu') you can press Enter for No. Linux port waits until you hit Y or N.
8. On Apple, ships show damage (get holes in them) as they get shot up.
9. On Linux, you can overpay McHenry (though you get no benefit from it).
On Apple, payment amount gets clamped to the repair price, so you can
e.g. be asked to pay 50,000 when you have 70,000 and safely enter A
(you'll end up 100% repaired and still have 20,000 cash).
10. On Apple, dead enemy ships sink one scanline at a time, and there are
at least 2 sinking speeds. On Linux, it's one character at a time.
The plan for the Atari port is to mimic the Apple version as closely as
possible... except #6 above. It doesn't really add anything to the game,
and it complicates the code more than I want to deal with. Also #10
will probably not happen (to me, the slow ship-sinking of the Apple
version is annoying anyway).
Right now, items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 9 are implemented Apple-style;
and 6, 10 are Linux-style.
Future Ideas:
- A 5200 version. Most of the existing code will work there, but there's
no keyboard, have to use the keypad on the joystick. Y/N prompts could
use 1/0 and/or the side buttons, naming the firm would go away (just
hardcode "Atari, Inc" or somesuch as the firm name), entering amounts
would use the keypad (# and * for A and Enter, maybe the side buttons
for K and M). Cargo types might be 1 for General Cargo, 2 for Arms,
etc (have to display that on screen), and have "1-Fight, 2-Run, 3-Throw
Cargo" in combat.
- Seen on a web version of Taipan played on a phone: A Turbo option for
combat. Basically you press T to skip all the delays. It's still
possible to change your orders in mid-fight, but you have to be
quick. My implementation of this will make Turbo a toggle, not sure
if the web version does that. There will be some kind of indicator
"Press T for Turbo", which changes to "Turbo mode: Press T for normal",
something like that.
I may do a "Taipan Plus" at some point. The regular Taipan game will be
faithful to the original, and the Plus version could have some or all of:
- More ports to dock at, some of which might have their own warehouses,
repair yards, etc.
- More trade goods, not all of which are available at all ports.
- Actual market trends, rather than a base price + random number. There
might be news events that cause prices to go up/down (e.g. Arms are
up at Saigon because there's a gang war in progress, Opium is up at
some port but the chances of getting busted are higher). This feature
actually exists in Art Canfil's TRS-80 Taipan "version 10".
- Ability to control a fleet of ships. Each one will either be a cargo
ship or a warship.
- A "Turbo Combat" feature like one of the phone versions I've seen. You
set your orders and hit Turbo, and it finishes the fight instantly,
but you can't change your mind about your orders (fight until you win
or die, or run until you escape or die).
- Special missions. Someone at some port needs you to transport documents
or whatever, to some other port... you will almost certainly be attacked
by whoever's trying to get the documents though.
- Rival trading companies. Their activities can influence prices, and
you can fight them and possibly salvage actual cargo.
- Variable passage of time. Distant ports take longer to get to. Also,
winds or ship damage can slow you down.
I dunno how many of the above will fit in the Atari's RAM. Probably have
to rewrite the whole game from scratch in assembly before adding features.
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