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1997-02-22
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397 lines
Classic Gold Runner
Version 1.0
Written by Eric Crichlow
(c) 1997 Digital Frontier Productions
Classic Gold Runner Page 1
Introduction
Classic Gold Runner is the completion of the first in a
planned three stage project culminating in the release of a
4-way, high-speed, full-screen scrolling game using the
built-in graphics capabilities of the MM/1's native VSC
(Video and Systems Controller) and it's included PIXAC
(Pixel Accelerator).
Classic Gold Runner is a fairly accurate replication of
the original "Gold Runner", written by Dave Dies and sold
through Tom Mix Software for the Color Computer. This MM/1
version incorporates the original graphics, sounds (with
the exception that it does not include the sounds from the
CoCo Speech and Sound Cartridge - they annoyed me) and game
boards, as well as staying true to the general aesthetics,
of the original CoCo game.
The most notable difference between this and the
original version of the game is that the AI (Artificial
Intelligence) of the guards does not work the same in both
versions. As best I can tell, the guards of the original
game worked on an algorithm that caused them to perform 1
way 75% of the time and another way the other 25% of the
time. The guards in Classic Gold runner always have 3
options available to them. They exercise these options in
the ratio of 70%, 20%, 10%.
The first, and to my knowledge still the only,
full-screen scrolling game for the MM/1, Gold Runner 2000,
was meant to be a tribute to the great memory of arguably
the best Color Computer game of all time, remaining true to
the spirit of and retaining the fun factor of the original
game, while updating the graphics to a more acceptable
level for modern computer hardware and increasing the
complexity, strategy and entertainment value of the
original game. As one of the all-time biggest fans of the
original Gold Runner and the creator of Gold Runner 2000, I
feel most qualified to say that Gold Runner 2000, to a
great degree, failed to live up to my lofty expectations
for it. The original game is still much more fun to play.
Part of my atonement for marring the revered memory of the
original game was to write a game that really does remain
true to the original Gold Runner, retaining all of it's
positive features. Hence, Classic Gold Runner. Its hard to
go wrong when you forsake artistic license and just
duplicate the original.
The one major enhancement that has been added to the
game is that it runs in a window. There was a very definite
reason for doing this. I bought an MM/1 in large part
because of the promise of an advanced windowing system
rivaling those of more mainstream systems, and which most
Classic Gold Runner Page 2
programs would be written to make maximum use of. It has
always been my contention that any program that is capable
of being written to run in a window should be written to do
so. Also, a number of people over the years have criticized
K-Windows for not being stable enough or flexible enough to
support capable windowing software. I would say that the
fact that Classic Gold Runner can run in any type of window
that K-Windows supports, and automatically adjust to being
moved to any other window, regardless of that new window's
type, is good evidence of K-Windows' stability and
flexibility. Granted, some aspects of this don't work as
smoothly as one might like, but nevertheless, it was still
possible to accomplish.
Every compromise, however, has it's price. Smooth
animation in most games is accomplished by page flipping,
displaying one screen while drawing another, swapping roles
between the two screens and repeating this process
continuously. This process is practically impossible to
accomplish writing a windows application. As a result, the
method which I use to accomplish animation causes the
animated characters, most noticeably the player sprite, to
"blink", as the area behind the characters is constantly
"refreshed" and the character sprites redrawn.
As I have stated, Classic Gold Runner is but the first
in a multi-stage project. This is the only stage of the
project that will be revealed before the project reaches
fruition. Keep your eyes open for news of the final
release. Until then, enjoy Classic Gold Runner, and feel
free to contact me with any comments, questions,
suggestions or problems.
...Eric...
System Requirements
The system requirements for Classic Gold Runner are as
follows:
* 3Meg MM/1 or MM/1a with I/O Board
(A 1Meg system might work but is untested)
* Hard drive (highly recommended)
* Stereo Speakers (highly recommended)
* Mouse (highly recommended)
* Joystick (highly recommended**)
Classic Gold Runner Page 3
** An undetermined number of MM/1s have improperly wired
joystick ports which may prevent their correct operation.
At least two hardware modifications to correct this problem
are known of. One is a modification to the MM/1 hardware to
fix the problem and the other is a modification to a CoCo
joystick to cause it to work with a faulty MM/1, which will
then restrict the use of that joystick to the MM/1. Contact
me for details if you need more information.
Installing and Running Classic Gold Runner
Installing Classic Gold Runner couldn't be simpler.
Create a directory that you wish to run the game from. Chd
to that directory and use the utility "lha" to extract the
included arcfile, "gr_classic.lzh". All necessary files
will be placed in their proper places. Should you desire to
run the game from floppy, all files are already in their
proper places.
To run the game, load the program "gr_classic" from the
supplied CMDS directory, chd to the "GAME" subdirectory of
the directory that you created to unarchive the game in, or
directory "/d0/classic/game", and execute the program.
Game Control
Game control works as follows:
Joystick/Arrow keys - move in specified direction
Button/<Spacebar> - dig hole
<Enter> - stop player
<Q> - quit game
<P> - pause game
<R> - reset level
<F> - increase game speed
<S> - decrease game speed
Classic Gold Runner Page 4
<D> - return to default speed
Classic Gold Runner gives you the option of controlling
the game using keyboard or joystick. If you select
joystick, you will be taken to the joystick calibration
screen. Follow the instructions to begin play using the
joystick. If the joystick option is selected by accident,
you can exit by pressing the "q" button.
There is a distinct difference between using the
keyboard vs. the joystick for game control. Using the
keyboard, pressing one of the arrow keys starts the player
moving in the specified direction. The player continues
moving in this direction until the <Enter> key is pressed
to stop him, he cannot continue in the specified direction,
the <Spacebar> is pressed and a hole is dug, or another
directional key is pressed for a direction in which the
player cannot move.
Playing the game
The object of the game is very simple. The player must
collect all of the gold bars on the current level in order
to advance to the next level. To do this generally requires
that the player recapture gold bars that guards have picked
up. To do this, the player must dig a hole that the guard
falls into, at which point the guard will release his gold
bar. Once all gold bars on a level have been retrieved, an
escape ladder will appear which connects with the top of
the screen. The player must climb to the top of this ladder
to escape to the next level.
The player's only offensive and defensive move is to
dig holes. Holes can only be dug in white colored bricks
Easter Eggs.
An "Easter Egg" is a hidden secret which game
programmers often leave in their games after releasing
them. Sometimes it is a tool used for testing such as the
ability to give the player extra lives and other times it
is an intentional "extra" given to add spice to the
experience of playing the game.
Gold Runner 2000 contained a number of undocumented
Classic Gold Runner Page 5
Easter Eggs. To the best of my knowledge, the original Gold
Runner contained none.
By nature, Easter Eggs are undocumented. Therefore,
classic Gold Runner contains no Easter Eggs, because it's
only special "feature" is documented. To increase the
shelf-life of the game, I have given you the ability to
start the game on any level. Passing the argument "-l=#",
where '#' is a number between 1 and 33, inclusive, will
start the game on the specified level.
Credits
Thanks go out to all of you for continuing to use your
MM/1s and taking the time to check out new software.
Other than that, my only thanks go out once again to
Mark Griffith. I thanked him, in not the most flattering of
ways, in the documentation to Gold Runner 2000 for
providing me with the inspiration to undertake and complete
the project. I sent him a copy of that page of the Gold
Runner 2000 manual. Apparently, after finally seeing the
game, he declared that he "wasn't impressed". Well, Mark,
thanks again for continuing to inspire me to develop
software that far surpasses anything you ever did or could
ever have done. Keep the comments coming, the rest of us
are benefitting from them.
Contact Information
There is only one definite way of contacting me. My
most stable internet address is MREGC@Delphi.com.
Closing
Thanks again for continuing to support the MM/1. Enjoy
the game and look for more exciting products in the
relatively near future.
In the spirit of fostering further MM/1 development, I
am making the source code to Classic Gold Runner available
to anyone who requests it.