RE: [stella] Stella 2.0 Alpha 2 available

Subject: RE: [stella] Stella 2.0 Alpha 2 available
From: "Fred Quimby" <c9r@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 17:37:29 -0400
>Actually it'll probably get moved out of the debugger: Steve is planning
>to make debugger support a compile-time option (it involves some overhead,
>so if you're not going to use the debugger it's better to leave it out).
>I think frying will be of interest to everyone, not just developers...

Makes sense.  I think that Steve would know a better place to put the code
anyway.  Also, if it is bound to a keypress event like I did, you might
consider making it fry until the key is released (also like I did) since
this is sort of like varying the time in which you modulate the power.

>Did you keep notes, when you were actively working on it? I tried a
>lot of games last night, and was only able to replicate maybe half
>of the documented effects for the games I tried.. I was looking at
>http://www.digitpress.com/faq/vcstrick.htm

I did take notes, actually, using the same list from Digital Press.  I got
through the D's in the list and ran out of time.  I found that the elaborate
behaviors were easier to duplicate than the short and/or vague ones.  I
suspect that some (especially the vague ones) are bogus.  Some behaviors
required more tries than others to duplicate, i.e. the white asteroids and
Buck Rogers "laser barriers" needed more effort to get working IIRC.  I've
copied the claimed behaviors from digitpress and noted how well they worked
below each:


Adventure: Get a different-colored selection screen, or one with other
items/dragons/bat on it (whatever objects appear in that room, those objects
won't be in the game when you play it. So if a dragon ends up in this room,
he won't be in the game. If all objects are in the room, you'll be all alone
in the kingdom.).  Start a game at any level and the black "barriers" may
have moved to where you can get around them using the entrances at the top
and bottom of the screen.  Also, the layout of the kingdom will be quite
different in some areas, and most of the time all castle doors are wide
open! {Tony Roy}

Status: confirmed to work

Asteroids: Hold down RESET and fry until you see 2 asteroids on the right
side of the screen.   Every game version will then have all white (slow
moving) asteroids that start in the same spot and drift to the right, and a
safe (predictable) hyperspace (youll always appear in the upper right
corner).  All saucers will appear from the same spot (the upper left corner)
and move straight across the top of the screen (the large one will
continually shoot up while the little one will fire left and down).  Also,
small saucers will appear around 7,300 points and continue to do so until
the score rolls.

Status: confirmed to work

Atlantis: causes all ships to be the same type, and to fly from
left-to-right only.  The Imagic logo will disappear and the game will start
automatically.

Status: confirmed to work

Barnstorming: Unlimited play - Fry until you see the plane drop from the top
of the screen and land on the bottom. You can play the game once by hitting
RESET, but several objects will look distorted and going into the barns
doesn't decrease the counter. The game will run until you turn it off.

Status: confirmed to work

Buck Rogers: Creates laser barriers (vertical lines) which destroy enemy
ships.

Status: confirmed to work

Burgertime:
May result in 100 free chefs! Fry until your chef appears to the left of the
top ledge.  The rest of the ledges will all be the same length.  You wont
be able to move your first guy, and youll get killed.  Only problem with
this trick is that you wont be able to make any hamburgers.

Status: Chef may appear at upper left, but never changes the number of
chefs.

Carnival: Will cause the dot to appear,.  If you get a blank screen, except
for one duck, the following may result: pipes stay the same color, invisible
pipes, and a high-speed game.

Status: A dot does appear on right end of the bullet indicator.  is this
"the dot?"
The rest do indeed occur.

Centipede: Get an empty screen to appear, with a scorpion (with sound
effects) going across the bottom.  If you push DOWN, your cursor will
appear from the top of the screen.  If you push (and hold) UP, the game will
eventually crash (picture #1), which changes the background color and causes
the scoring digits to be backwards (pictures #2, #3, and #4), as well as the
title screen lettering (picture #6).  Other anomalies that may appear are
screen edge borders (pictures  #2 and #5) and distorted title screens
(picture #6).  {Tony Roy and SS}

Status: all confirmed to work.

Congo Bongo: May reward up to 600,000 points!

Status: Score does not appear to increase, however it can decrease.

Cosmic Ark: Causes all meteors to fly from the left.  Also, all the beasties
will be scrambled. {David Allen}

Status: confirmed to work.

Crossbow:  Creates easy version (youll first see a screen full of dots if
done correctly).  In the desert, vultures and snakes dont appear, and ants
only exit from the left.  In the caverns, bats dont appear, but stalactites
always fall on you.  At the volcano, rocks only fall in two spots.  Only 1
monkey appears in the jungle.  Vultures cant kill you at the drawbridge.
The Evil Masters eye doesnt appear in the game.

Status: not all tested, but those that were are confirmed to work.

Crystal Castles: Gives you unlimited lives, up to 20,000.  Get a jumbled
maze to appear, with a gem eater in the lower left corner.  After a few
seconds the screen will clear up and Bentley Bear will appear in the upper
left.  Tap the joystick DOWN once to start.

Status: confirmed to work

Actuvision Decathlon: Fry until the running guy is split by the screen. Then
RUN! It's a never-ending race. The numbers even go up to 1900 but then they
go back to 1000. On any running event, such as the 100m or 1500m, unplug the
joystick and plug in the paddles. Now rapidly tap the buttons on the
paddles. You can get much more speed this way instead of shaking the
joystick back and forth.

Status: confirmed to work

Defender: Creates a wave 0 and also gives you approximately 250 reserve
ships!
Fry until the game starts (automatically) with only bombers on the screen.
You get killed, but don't lose lives.

Status: confirmed to work

Demon Attack: You can get demons of different shapes and colors.

Status: Cannot replicate this behavior.

Double dunk: Causes the title screen graphics and music to play twice as
fast!

Status: Cannot replicate this behavior.

Dragonfire: Get a black & white castle to appear.  All the treasures will be
in a row and look like the word "in". The dragon will spout few, if any,
fireballs. Touch one of the prizes without running it over and you just keep
collecting points, nonstop!

Status: confirmed to work

Dukes of Hazzard:  Get a screen with the car jumping.  Youll then get 1,390
points and start on level 1.

Status: Cannot replicate this behavior.


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