Angry Robots! - new game for 68k Macs

[nightingale]

Thanks to everyone who has tested and provided feedback!

Since I had several requests to make this easier to access on real vintage Macs, check out the new old-browser friendly website:

http://legacy.criminalcaterpillar.com

The website includes a download of a .sit file with the demo.

I had forgotten how frustrating it is getting css to work consistently on old browsers... I am using iCab 2.99 on my Mac, and the site looks pretty good! I haven't tried Netscape or IE yet. Much to my surprise, animated gifs actually work.

The website looks pretty silly on modern computers but looks good on lower resolutions. May still tweak a bit.

 

[nightingale]

If you have 3 minutes and 39 seconds, Classic Mac Gaming has just released a video showing more of the gameplay!

Check it out:

Also, the Kickstarter has now launched, if you're interested in getting a physical copy!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/criminalcaterpillar/angry-robots-for-68k-macintosh-computers

 

[nightingale]

Happy to announce that the game is finished, and you can download the shareware version of the game for free today!!

Visit http://legacy.criminalcaterpillar.com to download the game from your 68K or PPC Mac. If you're using a modern computer, head over to https://criminalcaterpillar.com/angryrobots/download/

If you like the game, and you want to purchase the full version, you can unlock the game by purchasing a serial number or you can buy a full boxed copy of the game, complete with floppy disk and colour manual! You will need to use a modern computer to do that, however!

If you like the game, but can't pay for the full version, send me a DM and I'll send you a code.

Excited for people to try out the game and send me your feedback!

Huge thanks to @Crutch and @cheesestraws for helping me out so much when I was just getting started learning the intricacies of programming for 68K macs.

 

[Byte Knight]

Happy to announce that the game is finished, and you can download the shareware version of the game for free today!!

Awesome - looking forward to playing some more levels!

 

[cheesestraws]

Well done - finishing a project like this is no small thing. Congratulations!

 

[LaPorta]

Wait…boxed with floppy and manual? That’s too cool!

 

[Byte Knight]

Got through the first 12 levels, but I'm stuck on 13. I can get through all the conveyor belts but bo matter which teleporter I select I end up get killed by a vacuum cleaner. Any suggestions?

 

[nightingale]

Got through the first 12 levels, but I'm stuck on 13. I can get through all the conveyor belts but bo matter which teleporter I select I end up get killed by a vacuum cleaner. Any suggestions?

Remember that the direction you pass through a teleporter matters -- you will come out the opposite side you go in.

Level 13 is frustrating, I promise there aren't may levels like that!

 

[Byte Knight]

Remember that the direction you pass through a teleporter matters -- you will come out the opposite side you go in.

Level 13 is frustrating, I promise there aren't may levels like that!

Ok thanks - much easier to finish now!

 

[danny.gonzalez.0861@gmai]

ORDER PLACED!!!

I have been on a little bit of a hiatus, too many hobbies, not enough time in an day but this will get my Mac's a bit of use.

Cant wait to get my boxed copy!

I loved the DEMO and the kids enjoyed it as well.

Can't wait to see what yo have in store next

 

[Byte Knight]

Ok, I need some help with level 28 - every floor tile I try to move has a fire under it...

 

[nightingale]

Ok, I need some help with level 28 - every floor tile I try to move has a fire under it...

Pay attention to the name of the level - "X Never, ever marks the spot" - are there some blocks in some rooms that don't form an X?

You're doing well!

 

[nathall]

I really wanted this to work on the 512k, but it crashes on mine with an 03 bomb (“Illegal instruction error”) under System 5.0. My 512k is stock, not the 512Ke. I haven‘t tried any other System versions, but I’ve found that usually on the 512k if something bombs under one System version, it will bomb on all versions.

I can try others in the coming days just to be thorough, but I don’t expect different results.

The bomb happens after the application starts but before the game window is created.

EDIT: Also, color is disabled when running on my IIsi under System 6.0.8. The color menu option is grayed out. I’m guessing this isn’t supposed to be this way?

Game runs flawlessly on my Color Classic II under 7.6.1. So far, those are the only three machines I’ve tested on.

 

[danny.gonzalez.0861@gmai]

@nightingale OK, this has got to be the best thing to come home to, second only to my beautiful family.



I must say, this is an excellent release, extremely durable packaging, full color manual and extras that make the purchase an extremely good value.

Thank you!!

 

[nightingale]

I really wanted this to work on the 512k, but it crashes on mine with an 03 bomb (“Illegal instruction error”) under System 5.0. My 512k is stock, not the 512Ke. I haven‘t tried any other System versions, but I’ve found that usually on the 512k if something bombs under one System version, it will bomb on all versions.

I can try others in the coming days just to be thorough, but I don’t expect different results.

The bomb happens after the application starts but before the game window is created.

EDIT: Also, color is disabled when running on my IIsi under System 6.0.8. The color menu option is grayed out. I’m guessing this isn’t supposed to be this way?

Game runs flawlessly on my Color Classic II under 7.6.1. So far, those are the only three machines I’ve tested on.

System 6 is the minimum as I used several toolbox routines where were not in previous versions. The oldest machine I tested it on was a Plus, but I see no reason why won't work on a 512 as long as you are running System 6. But I am very curious to know if it does!

As for colour not being available on the IIsi, can you tell me which version of the game you are running? Go into the "About" dialog and see if it's version 1.0 or 1.0.1.

There are a couple of ways to test if a Mac has colour available, and not all work on all systems. I tested on as many systems as I could! There was an early bug that caused the game to crash if you tried launching it in System 7 on a B&W only Mac, so I introduced another check to see if colour was available. That fixed the crashing bug, but now I wonder if the IIsi fails that check and reports that colour is not available, even if it is. If you're running version 1.0.1, I can send you version 1.0 and it will probably run in colour. I may need to create a new method of checking the systems capabilities...

 

[nightingale]

@nightingale OK, this has got to be the best thing to come home to, second only to my beautiful family.

I must say, this is an excellent release, extremely durable packaging, full color manual and extras that make the purchase an extremely good value.

Thank you!!

So glad it arrived safely! After all the work I put into this game, I just felt like it needed a physical release. Fun fact - there is absolutely no copy protection on the game whatsoever. Once it's unlocked, you can copy it to your hearts content and it will continue to work. I wanted to make sure people who played the shareware version had an easy way to unlock the full version without losing their progress, so I came up with the idea of creating registration keys. I had intended to just make the game already unlocked when someone purchased it. Then I thought, I'm creating a game for a black and white Macintosh on a floppy disk in 2024... why not include everything in the box you would have expected to find in the early 90s, including a software registration code certificate? From there it kind of snowballed to include a software registration card and free sticker.

I have received a few of the registration cards back by mail. I wasn't sure if people would hang on to them to keep the complete package, or do something that none of us ever actually did back in the day - fill it out and mail it back! I'm hoping to have at least a few come back to me from the different parts of the globe.

Enjoy the game! Keep your eye out for Easter Eggs!

 

[nathall]

System 6 is the minimum as I used several toolbox routines where were not in previous versions. The oldest machine I tested it on was a Plus, but I see no reason why won't work on a 512 as long as you are running System 6. But I am very curious to know if it does!

As for colour not being available on the IIsi, can you tell me which version of the game you are running? Go into the "About" dialog and see if it's version 1.0 or 1.0.1.

There are a couple of ways to test if a Mac has colour available, and not all work on all systems. I tested on as many systems as I could! There was an early bug that caused the game to crash if you tried launching it in System 7 on a B&W only Mac, so I introduced another check to see if colour was available. That fixed the crashing bug, but now I wonder if the IIsi fails that check and reports that colour is not available, even if it is. If you're running version 1.0.1, I can send you version 1.0 and it will probably run in colour. I may need to create a new method of checking the systems capabilities...

I created a 6.0.3 System disk and tried again, it seemed like it got further but bombed with error 02, “Address error” again before creating the window. You mentioned earlier 400k is the minimum RAM for B&W, but my System heap with 6.0.3 is 153k with all fonts and DAs removed, leaving only 359k free. In fact, the only files on the disk are System and Finder.

I’m not sure how to reduce the System heap further so there is at least 400k free. I’d be happy to do what I can to help troubleshoot this, I’d love to get this working on the 512k.

Also, the version on my copy reports as 1.0.2. Ironically, the screen that pops up before the game starts asking for the registration code displays in full color on the IIsi, as does the “About” dialog, but as soon as you get to the actual game it’s only B&W. I don’t know if it’s relevant, but I don’t use the built-in video in the IIsi. I use a NuBus Radius PrecisionColor Pro 24XP card.

 

[nightingale]

I created a 6.0.3 System disk and tried again, it seemed like it got further but bombed with error 02, “Address error” again before creating the window. You mentioned earlier 400k is the minimum RAM for B&W, but my System heap with 6.0.3 is 153k with all fonts and DAs removed, leaving only 359k free. In fact, the only files on the disk are System and Finder.

I’m not sure how to reduce the System heap further so there is at least 400k free. I’d be happy to do what I can to help troubleshoot this, I’d love to get this working on the 512k.

Also, the version on my copy reports as 1.0.2. Ironically, the screen that pops up before the game starts asking for the registration code displays in full color on the IIsi, as does the “About” dialog, but as soon as you get to the actual game it’s only B&W. I don’t know if it’s relevant, but I don’t use the built-in video in the IIsi. I use a NuBus Radius PrecisionColor Pro 24XP card.

So further to your issue with colour not being available under system 6 on the Mac IIsi, I've investigated this further and unfortunately there is not an easy fix for this.

The problem isn't actually in displaying colour graphics, as you saw in the Shareware splash screen, but rather in how the game handles offscreen graphics drawing. In colour mode, the game uses Offscreen Graphics Worlds to draw the graphics to an offscreen buffer and then copy them to the screen so the game doesn't flicker when drawing graphics. These toolbox functions exist in System 7, but not System 6. My understanding is that they are also present in ROM on "newer" Macs (using the term "newer" loosely here) that have 512K ROMs. However, I don't have any such Macs to test on, and I'm not aware of a Mac II emulator that works with 512K ROMs (vMac II only works with 256k ROMs). Up until this moment, I believed that on some older Macs, colour will work on System 6, but now I'm doubting that. It's possible these routines are never available in ROM, I will attempt to do more testing to confirm.

As I was coding the colour drawing routines, I started down the path of custom coding the offscreen routines, rather than using GWorlds, which would have improved compatibility. But the tradeoff didn't seem worth it for what I saw as a small number of machines that supported colour but don't support GWorlds. In the next major update to the game, I may re-write the colour graphics routines, but for now it may be System 7 for colour gameplay!

 

[nathall]

Interesting information, and it makes sense.

As the IIsi has a 512k ROM, it would appear these routines aren’t actually a part of it after all.

If you need someone to be a tester down the road with one of these machines, I’ll happily volunteer.

Now I’m curious if it would work if I threw a ROMinator II in there…

 

[Arbee]

However, I don't have any such Macs to test on, and I'm not aware of a Mac II emulator that works with 512K ROMs (vMac II only works with 256k ROMs). Up until this moment, I believed that on some older Macs, colour will work on System 6, but now I'm doubting that. It's possible these routines are never available in ROM, I will attempt to do more testing to confirm.

MAME supports almost every desktop 680x0 Mac now except the Quadra AVs, with the original ROMs and emulating the actual chips. Is there some test I could run on the emulated IIsi for you?