Smash Out - A New Electron Game From John Boyes (Everygamegoing)

[Dave_E]

A gentleman called John Boyers contacted me via everygamegoing and sent me his finished-but-never-released Acorn Electron game Smash Out. I've added it to my site today but thought you guys would probably also like it.

It's a machine code game in the style of Arkanoid, however it has much bigger bricks (see the screenshots).

The attached zip file is a tape version (uef).

The game doesn't work from disc, maybe someone can hack it to disc.

The game doesn't work on the BBC B, B+ or Master 128. So to play it you'll need Elkulator.

[0xC0DE]

Great find and cool game! Here is a disk image...

smashout.ssd

(200 KiB) Downloaded 82 times

[jms2]

Its a very nicely programmed game, and considering its a Breakout/Arkanoid clone it's actually pretty original too! Thanks for posting it!

The best Breakout clone for the Elk I think..?

[Michael Brown]

Fantastic!

Does anyone know if a BBC version was done or if the Electron version can be converted?
I had a quick look
Code seems to be moved down from &5800 to &F00
and from &6900 to &400
There is a bit of code in the Game file at &6124 (&1824 after being downloaded) which causes the computer to lock.
It is...
LDA#&00
LDX#&08
JSR&FFEE
DEX
BNE&1828

NOPing this out displays the menu screen with the SMASHOUT being distorted and you can select the controls etc, but the game then locks up again when you try to play level1
This reminds me of the distortion we got with Gauntlet from Micro Power which was also an Electron only title that got fixed for the BBC some time back.
Therefore I assume that this command and possibly some others later on are Electron specific pokes which hopefully can be changed to something that allows the game to run on a BBC.

Any help please!
Mick.

[Michael Brown]

Hi,
Did anyone ever get chance to take a look at converting this to the BBC?
I had a look at the code but I don't really know what it is that needs changing, or if anything can be changed.

However, given the amount of Electron only games in the past such as Gauntlet and Kastle that have been amended, surely this one is worthy of someone's talents.

Mick.

[Arcadian]

Can't help with BBC conversion Mick (perhaps if DaveE still has John's contact details he could ask him if the source still exists, as that might be easier to modify for compatibility as opposed to hacking the assembled files?).

Anyway only just had a proper go at this, it's a really polished title and very very playable too - wouldn't have looked at all out of place as a commercial release. Visually it looks the part, with nice background patterns and the big title cards between levels, and even when there's lots of sprites moving around the screen the ball movement stays smooth and fluid.

Belated thanks to John for sharing (and DaveE for posting!)

[Cybershark]

Nice find!

I don't really know what it is that needs changing...

Define "need". Maybe the author intended this title to be a deliberate snub to the "superior BBC machine"! Who, then, are we to go against that?
Or (more sensibly) in a world where Elkulator exists, what is the justification for anyone else taking time to recode this title?

[mogwaay]

How very cool, I had just discovered Crack Up and was very impressed, so really keen to check this out, love a good Break out game.

[tnash]

Nice find!

I don't really know what it is that needs changing...

Define "need". Maybe the author intended this title to be a deliberate snub to the "superior BBC machine"! Who, then, are we to go against that?
Or (more sensibly) in a world where Elkulator exists, what is the justification for anyone else taking time to recode this title?

I'd quite like to play it on my Beeb?

[Cybershark]

I'd quite like to play it on my Beeb?

Fair enough. You should totally go for it then

[Michael Brown]

Hi,
I also wondered if the author wrote a BBC version. Was thinking that due to the decline of the BBC market at that time, would the author have been thinking that a company like Superior would take it for one of their SAM compilations but require a BBC version too?

If not, then I am sure the changing of a few VDU statements and a few pokes may be all thats needed.
Someone managed to sort Battlezone Six from Kansas sometime back which also had VDU issues when running on the BBC.

After NOPing out the code at &612C and another at &623F the screen now displays but is corrupt similar to Gauntlet.
The routine for displaying the LEVEL 1 can be NOPed out too at &201C as this too locks the computer.
The main game is now displayed but the VDU is off slightly and it too locks up.
I have found some code at &31B3 which locks the game up. However, bypassing it makes it go straight to GAME OVER.
I believe this game is convertible, it just needs someone who know more about the Electron and Beeb than me to sort.

Anyone interested?
Mick.