Coming Soon - Project X The Microman

[AndyF]

Microman
A fantastic voyage where life itself is a nightmare. Experience the frustration of needed a superhuman effort to do even the simplest of things.


Another spectrum conversion to our platform. The original is a Quill and Illustrator game although it has been modified with both Patch and Press (not available for the Acorn platform) so its not as straightforward as it should be as it plays with the database a bit to say the least.

Although between the two platforms there are certain hardcoded flags that do not perform the same function anyway so a lot of the conditionals I've had to figure out and rewrite from scratch, and its a fairly large game too. Its going to be a squeeze.

Current progress is around 80% , all code is about done, its mainly bug squashing now. Given my lack of free time I'd estimate two maybe four weeks for its release, but that might vary a bit.

[AndyF]

Around 90% now

Code appears OK, just bug testing. Its quite annoying due to differences between the ZX quill and the B quill in particular functions are missing in the 'B version so I've had to be creative, to say the least, not to mention the addition of patch / press playing about with the original quill database once I'd extracted it. Much headaches

I am unable to find the original authors too.

I just need to finish it off, whip up some kind of loading pic / text etc and package it up once I'm happy its bug free. Its completable that's for sure.

[tautology]

Erm... do have some notes about how the Beeb Quill database differs from the Spectrum/C64 one - I think it's mainly due to compression.

I've been meaning to write a converter for ages!

[AndyF]

Ah might be very useful

I've not looked at the C64 / Amstrad or other versions really. Having used (a little bit but not much) the Spectrum version back "in the day" so to speak, I thought it would be easy.

It was not that bad but some flags have different purposes, in particular one flag on the ZX is decreased per turn (but not below zero, so you can set it to x and then do a test for zero later on etc) but that one is used for the current room ID on the BBC version, which lacks said turns flag unfortunately, much fun.

The BBC version is actually a lot easier to work with compared to the ZX version, although to be fair that offers a bit more colour etc. Extracted databases are a bit strange too in that message ID's are incorrect, I usually add + sys messages to them, so if there are 30 system messages then what would be message 10 would be message 40 etc obviously have to change all the conditionals around.

I'm still looking for a 'real' BBC Quill disc too (not the patched one), they are very thin on the ground.

Another thing is using patch / press which afaik is a ZX only addon it seems to mess the event / status tables up when extracted so I have to read them all carefully and cross reference them to be sure. Usually by playing the game via a solution on a Spectrum Emulator to be sure its right.

[tautology]

All I can find is my BBC Quill dictionary dumper (attached). IIRC when I last looked at this (about a year ago) the dictionary was the major difference.

I've got some time stuck in a hotel next week so I may look at writing something (or not, depends on how bored I get).

[AndyF]

Ah I have something similar for a ZX snapshot although the output is not always what it should be especially if its had patch / press applied to it.

Anyway I think its release time > http://stardot.org.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=4652

There is a save / load game option thankfully although its tape (sorry) until I locate a 'real' disc quill version, they are mighty thin on the ground. I was hoping the Electron DVD would have it but its a patched tape version unfortunately.

[billcarr2005]

Did nobody on the forum win this eBay auction?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290611149591

[AndyF]

Did nobody on the forum win this eBay auction?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290611149591

Yeah I heard about that, although I never saw it at the time (even when searching completed listings) I had to find it initially by a Google search. I know Dave's been looking for one for a long time too.

I've also left word with a couple of places selling retro software to contact me if they happen to have one come into stock. Its strange really as I do remember seeing it back then too, it was not *that* rare.

[Arcadian]

Just looking through the Feedback on the seller's profile ...

The Quill auction was won by this user:
http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI ... id=wcfc666