|  Domino Deluxe | |
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| | Author's Comments | This game was originally released for C64, and converted to Plus/4 twice. The original C64 game has several bugs. The EVS conversion is unplayable due to bugs, the conversion by TGMS works, but has particularly ugly colors. Domino Deluxe was originally meant to be an NTSC fix, but once I started, I just kept improving things. Here is a list of things fixed:
- Gameplay improvements
* The game's timer was too fast, by 1/50th of a second. Therefore, instead of 2 minutes, the player had only 1:58 seconds. This was fixed (and properly adjusted for NTSC as well).
* When placing a double domino after a Jolly, the game won't ask the player to choose orientation (since it doesn't matter). The same happens when placing a domino to the end positions (10 and 11).
- Graphics improvements
* The original logo was properly converted (thanks to Kichy), all text colors and in-game colors were fixed.
* The domino fade-in animation was fixed. The original C64 code was too fast, the authors didn't know how to sync the animation to frames, and the original conversion did not adjust the C64 colors properly. The fade in now uses all 8 shades of gray.
* When choosing domino orientation after a Jolly, the colors were not properly restored, therefore the fade-in animation was shown in hi-res. This was fixed.
* The message fade-in was fixed, it uses blue and gray shades. Additionally, all messages auto fade-out after about 5 seconds.
* All lower messages were redrawn (with a more consistent look). The original used sprites, which are 3 characters high, the new messages are only 2 characters high (to fit on NTSC).
- Other improvements
* The instructions were completely rewritten, the original was broken English.
* Pressing "H" from the intro goes to the high scores.
* The game now includes a practice mode (by pressing "P"), with unlimited Jollies and unlimited time.
* Massive overall code optimization; nearly everything was rewritten to be shorter and more efficient. All domino related data structures were overhauled, etc. Hundreds of unnecessary JMP statements were removed by streamlining all code.
* All IRQs were rewritten and all $FF07 writes were fixed to make the game NTSC compatible. Some speed optimization was necessary due to less CPU time per frame.
* The opening of the border was completely rewritten (this was necessary to make the game NTSC compatible).
* New music, which plays throughout the game. The HELP key function reported in the instructions did nothing; this was fixed as well.
* The game could only load from/save to device 8. This was fixed so that any device number from 8-11 which was used to load the game will work.
* The game properly checks the drive for errors after loading/saving (so the drive's light no longer flashes indefinitely after an error).
* The game used a ROM routine related to tape handling for random number generation. This caused the game to crash on any computer with JiffyDOS KERNAL. This was fixed by using a modern pseudo-random number generator.
- C16 compatibility
Once I saw that the game's code should fit into 16K, I figured I would release a separate dedicated 16K version. Then I noticed that thanks to all the optimizations, the entire game can be compressed to fit into 16K. So, the dedicated 16K version... is the game itself! This is a first on Plus/4 and - in the author's opinion - a very elegant solution.
How does it work?
The code necessary for the game is placed so that everything falls below $4000, and it includes checks to see which version is running. In case of 64K, extra features (like the intro, highscore logo) are used, otherwise they are skipped. The game is compressed in two separate parts. On startup, if 64K is present, both parts are uncompressed and the game runs normally. On 16K machines, only the lower part is uncompressed.
The original game was PAL only, 64K only, and required non-JiffyDOS equipped machines. This version of the game however should run on all members of the 264 family. |
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