Donkey Kong Forum
Other Classic Arcade Games => Classic Arcade Game Discussion => Topic started by: xelnia on June 04, 2014, 02:20:01 pm
-
"Tut tut"...get it? Lit, Ross? <Allen>
Anyhoo, here's my introductory tutorial post on Tutankham information and strategy. Let me make this very clear up front: I am not that good at this game...yet. There is a distinct lack of information on this game on teh intarwebz. I've reached out to others on MARP and the new TG forums, but those calls for help have gone largely unanswered. So here we are. I'm going to lay out what I know and as I get better and smarter I will update this thread. Hopefully other Tut players will weigh in and we can break this game. Everything I say, especially in this first post, should be prefaced with "To the best of my knowledge..." or "I think..." My plan is to make new posts as new information comes to light, instead of editing old posts.
(https://i.imgur.com/i3M1Fjs.jpg)
What is Tutankham? Robotron meets Pac-Man meets whythefuckcanionlyshootleftandrighteq;lrkgj ar;g eqrgqe
Sorry. Let's move on.
Goal and Control
In Tutankham, you control an explorer who raids the tombs of dead pharaohs, searching for treasure and fighting off enemies with your magical shitty laser and flash bombs. To progress through the game you must collect keys to open doors. The number and placement of keys and doors varies. The game is horizontally-scrolling and uses a combination of two joysticks (one 4-way for movement, one 2-way for firing) and one button (flash bomb). Once you're moving in a direction you will continue in that direction until you hit a wall or input a change in direction. Your laser only fires left and right, though killing enemies in vertical space is possible. The flash bomb kills all enemies on the screen. Enemies can also be "wiped" from the playing field by traveling horizontally to another section of the maze.
MAME originally mapped the 2-way firing joystick as buttons, meaning a player could fire in both directions simultaneously when playing in MAME. This is fixed in version 0.153. If you play in an older version of MAME, don't fire in both directions simultaneously pls.
There is a "radar" at the top of the screen that depicts which section of the maze you're in and where you and the enemies are currently located. It does not show the locations of keys, doors, or treasures. As you move around, any enemies that get stuck outside of the bracketed area in the radar will be wiped.
Stages
There are only 4 stage layouts in the game and these repeat in the same order, indefinitely. So, stages 5, 9, 13, etc. are all the same layout as Stage 1. There are significant differences in the later stages in terms of keys, timer, etc. and I'll explain those later. The basic layouts stay the same, however. How the game loops itself is a larger issue than just the physical layout, so I'll also discuss that later.
There is no known killscreen and the stage counter will show the full stage number beyond Stage 100 (though I haven't tested to see what happens at say, Stage 255 or 256). The score rolls over to 0 when reaching 1 million.
Here are the layouts of Stages 1 through 4. Keep in mind that later stages have more keys and doors.
(https://i.imgur.com/jUcynCR.png)
Scoring
Points are scored by collecting treasures and keys, opening doors, killing enemies, and racking up the bonuses after finishing a stage. Bonus points are awarded in 2 ways: 1) time leftover after finishing a stage and 2) some stages have a fixed bonus for finishing.
Treasure
Each stage contains numerous treasures. The point value of each treasure increases depending on how many you've already picked up. The first treasure is worth 500 points and the remaining progress through 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000, and 4000 points (provided there are 6 treasures in the current stage and you pick them all up). See the graphic below.
Enemies
There are three classes of enemies: slow, not-as-slow, and fuck-you. Depending on the stage these enemies appear, in my interpretation, as snakes, birds, bats, gorgons, griffins, or stars. The more difficult the enemy the more points you are awarded for burning its face off with your magical shitty laser. The possible values are 20, 40, or 60 points. See the graphic below.
Keys and Doors
The only way to progress through the game is to collect keys that open doors. Keys are always worth 500 points. Opening a door is worth 1000 points.
Timer and Stage Bonus
You are awarded 80 points for every second left on the timer when you finish a stage. The fixed stage bonuses are little more complicated. Finishing Stage 1 nets you exactly 0 bonus points other than the timer bonus. Finishing Stage 5 (the repeat of Stage 1) will award you with 1000 points. This is because Stage 5 is actually more difficult than Stage 1. The maximum stage bonus is 6000 points, for finishing Stage 16.
(https://i.imgur.com/TBCWLBZ.png)
| Stage | | Timer Length | | # of Keys | | # of Treasures | | Finishing Bonus |
| Stage 1 | | 60 | | 1 | | 3 | | 0 |
| Stage 2 | | 90 | | 2 | | 6 | | 1000 |
| Stage 3 | | 140 | | 2 | | 6 | | 2000 |
| Stage 4 | | 140 | | 2 | | 6 | | 5000 |
| Stage 5 | | 60 | | 2 | | 3 | | 1000 |
| Stage 6 | | 120 | | 3 | | 6 | | 2000 |
| Stage 7 | | 160 | | 3 | | 6 | | 3000 |
| Stage 8 | | 160 | | 3 | | 6 | | 5000 |
| Stage 9 | | 60 | | 2 | | 3 | | 2000 |
| Stage 10 | | 120 | | 3 | | 6 | | 3000 |
| Stage 11 | | 160 | | 3 | | 6 | | 4000 |
| Stage 12 | | 180 | | 4 | | 6 | | 5000 |
| Stage 13 | | 60 | | 2 | | 3 | | 3000 |
| Stage 14 | | 120 | | 3 | | 6 | | 4000 |
| Stage 15 | | 160 | | 3 | | 6 | | 5000 |
| Stage 16 | | 180 | | 4 | | 6 | | 6000 |
oh my god shut up with the charts how do i play the game
I don't know. Maybe you could contribute something useful instead of being so negative all the time? Don't be a Brian Allen.
What do I need to be aware of?
1. Radar
2. Difficulty Level
3. Swarms
4. Long Start vs. Short Start
5. Safe Spots
1. Radar
Virtually useless. Don't watch it unless you're checking it for wiped enemies.
2. Difficulty Level
One of the big mysteries I was unable to to solve in my research was how the different difficulty settings work within the game. There are 4 settings that can be set with the DIPs. The arcade manual lists these settings as "1 (easy), 2, 3, and 4 (hard)." MAME lists them as "Easy, Normal, Hard, and Hardest." While that's pretty straightforward, different versions of MAME set the default difficulty differently. It also appears that "Normal" and "Hard" might be reversed in MAME. You can read all about it in the following threads:
Tutankham - Backwards DIPs? (MARP) (http://forums.marpirc.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15333)
Tutankham Settings? (TG) (http://www.twingalaxies.com/showthread.php/139034-Tutankham-Settings)
Ok, so even if all that gets sorted out...what does "difficulty" mean? As far as I can tell it only relates to the speed of the enemies. The enemies are clearly faster at the beginning of the game if set to "Hardest" than if the game is set to "Easy." I mentioned to Ross Benziger that I thought maybe the difficulties only related to the Stages themselves. If, for example, you started the game on "Easy" than Stage 1 would be "Easy," Stage 2 would be "Normal," Stage 3 would be "Hard" and Stage 4+ would max out on "Hardest." Then, for example, if you started a game on "Normal" then every difficulty would be offset by 1...meaning Stage 2 would become "Hard" and Stage 3+ would max out on "Hardest." Ross correctly pointed out that there may be more than 4 internal difficulties and I've changed my thinking. So why mention it? It turns out that the "Easy"/1 and "Hardest"/4 difficulty settings are probably the correct extremes in internal difficulty...meaning that they're always the easiest and hardest difficulties a player will see. The catch is that it seems there are a total of 6 internal difficulty levels.
Before I lay out how I believe those 6 difficulties progress I should note that I'm still not sure how each difficulty affects the enemy speed. Each of the three enemy classes seem to be constrained to certain speeds: snakes are always the slowest and bats/stars are the fastest and even the fastest snake will never be as fast as the slowest bat. So maybe on "Easy" all the enemies are locked in to their slowest speeds and on "Hardest" they're locked in to their fastest speed. The difficulties in between might be a result of different combinations of the enemies' respective speeds.
I played around with the MAME debugger and it appears that the DIPs only govern the difficulty settings for the first 8 stages. Beyond that the game enters a preset loop that is the same regardless of the initial difficulty level. Below is a table of how I believe the progression works. Difficulty 1 is easiest, 6 is hardest.
| Stage | | "Easy" | | "Normal" | | "Hard" | | "Hardest" |
| Stage 1 | | 1 | | 1 | | 1 | | 6 |
| Stage 2 | | 1 | | 3 | | 2 | | 6 |
| Stage 3 | | 2 | | 4 | | 3 | | 6 |
| Stage 4 | | 2 | | 5 | | 4 | | 6 |
| Stage 5 | | 4 | | 6 | | 4 | | 6 |
| Stage 6 | | 4 | | 6 | | 5 | | 6 |
| Stage 7 | | 6 | | 6 | | 6 | | 6 |
| Stage 8 | | 6 | | 6 | | 6 | | 6 |
| Stage 9 | | 5 | | 5 | | 5 | | 5 |
| Stage 10 | | 3 | | 3 | | 3 | | 3 |
| Stage 11 | | 3 | | 3 | | 3 | | 3 |
| Stage 12 | | 6 | | 6 | | 6 | | 6 |
| Stage 13 | | 6 | | 6 | | 6 | | 6 |
| Stage 14 | | 6 | | 6 | | 6 | | 6 |
| Stage 15 | | 6 | | 6 | | 6 | | 6 |
| Stage 16 | | 6 | | 6 | | 6 | | 6 |
| Stage 17 | | 1 | | 1 | | 1 | | 1 |
| Stage 18 | | 1 | | 1 | | 1 | | 1 |
| Stage 19 | | 1 | | 1 | | 1 | | 1 |
| Stage 20 | | 4 | | 4 | | 4 | | 4 |
| Stage 21 | | 3 | | 3 | | 3 | | 3 |
| Stage 22 | | 2 | | 2 | | 2 | | 2 |
| Stage 23 | | 2 | | 2 | | 2 | | 2 |
| Stage 24 | | 5 | | 5 | | 5 | | 5 |
Two things to point out here: 1) The difficulty progression from Stage 9 to Stage 24 is the same regardless of DIPs. This same progression loops itself after Stage 24. 2) I feel this is evidence that the "Normal" and "Hard" difficulties are backwards in MAME. Notice how the progression to the hardest difficulty (6) happens sooner on the "Normal" setting.
The progression of those internal difficulties jives pretty well with my observations with MAME, as well as with this TG post (http://www.twingalaxies.com/showthread.php/109661-Tutankham-amp-misc-chatter?p=558549&viewfull=1#post558549) by "artz" that is over a decade old (assuming he started out on the hardest setting):
One thing I noticed about the game in the later stages is that the monster speeds slow down quite considerably throughout the game. A few months ago, with cheats on, I went all the way thru stage 39 to test this theory. Here are the breakdown of the monster speeds:
1-8 fast
9-11 slow
12-16 fast
17-27 slow
28-32 fast
33-39 slow
3. Swarms
Enemies will normally spawn from their hideouts with every tick of the timer. However, every 16 ticks a "swarm" will occur where up to 8 enemies will spawn very quickly. The number of enemies that spawn in a swarm depends on how many are already active on the screen. If there is only 1 enemy present, then 7 will spawn in the swarm. If 4 are present, then 4 will spawn in the swarm...etc, etc.
The most important thing to remember about swarms is that they are governed by a timer and that timer CARRIES OVER into the next stage. If a swarm is 2 ticks away from happening when you finish a stage, it will happen 2 ticks into the next stage. Although they are always 16 ticks apart, I think there is a separate swarm near the end of Stage 2 that is independent of and does not affect the overall swarm timer.
It is crucial that you are aware of the timer, know when swarms are going to happen, and can position yourself safely to deal with them.
4. Long Start vs. Short Start
This is something I have not seen mentioned in any way in all the old posts and brief FAQs I've found on the game. The more I played the game the more I began to notice that the very first timer tick on Stage 1, from 60 to 59, would happen at different rates. Sometimes that tick to 59 would happen immediately, sometimes not until I had rounded the first corner. Each timer tick should be ~2 seconds, or 128 frames. So wtf.
I played around with the MAME debugger and discovered that the internal timer that governs the on-screen timer actually starts running as soon as the game is loaded in MAME. Every time that timer rolls to a certain value the on-screen timer ticks down. If you start a game just as that internal timer rolls over, you can short yourself an entire tick. This seems like a minor issue, but it has 2 repercussions:
1) A shorter timer means you'll have less bonus time at the end of the stage. Not a whole of points to lose, but points are points!
2) Keeping track of the swarm timer becomes slightly more complicated. At least for me. I'm not great at doing math on-fly, in my head. If I can manage to start a game with the full "60" value in the timer, that makes it easier to keep track of the 16 ticks between swarms without worrying that it's going to happen in some weird fraction of a tick.
The good news is that the attract mode loops in sync with this internal timer, so you can use visual and audio cues in the attract mode to make sure you always start a game at the same time and get the better "Long Start." This should work on arcade; not just MAME. And if you frown on that kind of pre-game tomfoolery, then get stuffed. <Allen>
5. Safe Spots
Oh god I'm not ready for this part yet and this post is so long already. I'm still having trouble with Stage 4, so I have a lot to learn in this regard...and will save it for a future post that I will make in a couple of days.
That's all for now. Hope this provided some good introductory info and inspires some people to play and dig into this game!
-
Kreygasm
-
wow love it
-
I absolutely love it!
Can't wait to dive in, and hopefully make some contributions.
Thank you Jeremy.
-
Nice write-up. Gonna try this tonight.
Update: Brutal but fun. It's like some weird pac-man/robotron hybrid. Haven't passed the 2nd board yet but I'm kinda drunk :o
-
I'm a Tutankham widow BibleThump
-
That post gave me multiple Kreygasm's
-
lit mate
-
Given the information Jeremy has provided, I've decided I'm going to do all my learning of the game on the "Easy" setting. After looking over the difficulty progression ((and the possibility of switched dips in MAME) <Pigger>), it seems like it's the best way for me to learn the maps, and general strategy.
-
Thanks everybodyyyyyy.
A couple more notes:
1. When the timer runs out you don't die. The laser stops firing, THEN you die.
2. Using a flash bomb to kill all enemies on the screen will give you all points for those enemies.
Here's a screenshot of the end of Stage 2 with some info regarding the spawns in that area.
(https://i.imgur.com/M1YlejQ.png)
-
Nice one Jeremy.
I've played a few games of Tut while it was at Barcade in Brooklyn. Fun game. I'll only add (very basic info, but I didn't see it anywhere): you only get one flash bomb per life. As far as I know, there is no way to get another after you use it.
-
Good to know about the flash bomb. I almost pulled a 9k on the first board and thought afterward that I should've used the flash bomb to push it over. I wasn't sure if those "kills" would count tho.
I finally got past the 2nd level this morning. Rolling with Easy/5 lives for the moment while learning the game. I'll probably knock it back down to 3 once I get better at level 2.
-
Nice one Jeremy.
I've played a few games of Tut while it was at Barcade in Brooklyn. Fun game. I'll only add (very basic info, but I didn't see it anywhere): you only get one flash bomb per life. As far as I know, there is no way to get another after you use it.
Good to know about the flash bomb. I almost pulled a 9k on the first board and thought afterward that I should've used the flash bomb to push it over. I wasn't sure if those "kills" would count tho.
I finally got past the 2nd level this morning. Rolling with Easy/5 lives for the moment while learning the game. I'll probably knock it back down to 3 once I get better at level 2.
This is actually a very good point that I should have mentioned in my first post.
There are 2 flash bomb settings. The standard setting, or "TGTS" I guess, is the "1 Flash Per Life" setting that Hank mentioned. It's just what it sounds like. You get one flash bomb per life. If you use it you don't get another until you die. They don't stack, so if you die without using a flash bomb, you still only get one for your next life.
The 2nd flash bomb setting is called "1 Flash Per Game" in MAME. I have seen two documents on KLOV that seem to contradict each other on what this setting is supposed to do. Currently, in MAME, using this setting gives you an extra flash bomb every 20,000 points. There doesn't seem to be a limit on how many you can carry. This is probably the setting that is used for any "marathon" scores on TG. One of the arcade manuals on KLOV says this setting is supposed to give you one flash bomb for the entire game, with an extra at 30,000 points...but that doesn't seem to be the way it works in MAME.
One way to practice and get deeper in the game would be to use the "1 Flash Per Game [which really means an extra every 20k]" setting.
Personally, I think the best course of action is to not stick around and clean up enemies or flash any extras at the end of a stage. No single enemy is worth more than a single tick of the timer bonus and they normally only spawn once per tick, so it makes more sense to clear the stages as soon as possible. And you definitely don't want to waste a flash if not in danger. The exception would be cleaning up a swarm near the end of a stage. If clearing a swarm will be worth more points than the time it takes to do it and leave the stage then it's worth sticking around.
-
Yeah, agreed. No need to waste a flash really. I was just trying to pad my Tut "1-1" PB as I ran towards the exit <Allen>
-
Wall Shot
You can kill enemies in vertical space! This trick seems to work only when firing against a wall and when firing to the right. Here's a clip from Rob Barrett's 589k game over at MARP (http://replay.marpirc.net/r/tutankhm).
(https://i.imgur.com/aqD5OoT.gif)
-
I'm far from an expert in this game, but I have done that horizontal shot in a vertical corridor by accident before. I think what is happening is that laser takes a split second to absorb into the wall (it's a line, not a point) and you can run and shoot in this game. So if you fire horizontally while running up/down (and the enemy is close), the enemy can hit the tail end of the laser before it fully absorbs into the wall. I never experimented to see if you can do it with left/right fire only.
-
Konami vs. Stern ROMsets
I've attached an image below that illustrates the major differences between the Konami (tutankhm) and Stern (tutankhms) versions of the game. Seeing as how Stern made the game for Konami, the differences will make sense.
(https://i.imgur.com/feT81Zg.png)
Tada. That's it. Just the copyright message on the title screen. This can be verified by digging the through the code in the relevant ROMs. The only affected data is stuff that relates to the copyright graphics.
-
Tut, you goofy-eyed fk...
(https://i.imgur.com/28plO4S.gif)
-
So, how the hell do you do lvl 3,
I have no idea at all how to get past it.
-
So, how the hell do you do lvl 3,
I have no idea at all how to get past it.
Here's my current strategy, though I'm not having 100% success with it.
Each red box in the picture below is where I try to be when the swarms happen. I try to work from each spot to the next after a swarm. Ignoring the deviations to get the treasure, it looks something like this:
1. For Box 1, just get there ASAP. Depending on when you finish Stage 2, you might have time to grab the key right away, but it's probably better to just wait it out and deal with the next swarm. Getting to the key should be pretty easy after that. Up the left side and over the top.
2. Getting to Box 2 is tricky for me. Sometimes a lot of bats will spawn out of the nearby spawn points and there's no way to beat them to Box 2 from the bottom area of the screen. If I'm close to a swarm, I'll just back track to the area over the top of the first big enclosure and wipe the enemies from the screen. Then I'll head back. If there are no bats I can usually get to Box 2 even if the gorgons spawn from the top. They're slower. Once I make it there, I just spam the laser to the right to pick off anything that comes out of that nearby spawn point, and quickly pick off anything that comes down from the left.
3. Heading to Box 3 I go down the left side of the central spawn point as that makes it easier to deal with any enemies coming up to meet me. Box 3 is not a spot you can park in, so you'll have to shimmy back and forth in that area to deal with a swarm. The real goal is to get to Box 4 before any swarm happens.
4. I want to be waiting at Box 4 for a swarm so I can spam the laser to the right and then immediately gun it for the final doors when the swarm ends. Go up and over the walls that block your path, not between them. Go between them on the way back (also the best time to grab that last treasure). I have trouble dealing with swarms in the final section of the maze, so I want to get in and out ASAP, otherwise I end up using a flash bomb.
5. Then it's just a matter of working backwards and repeating the process.
(https://i.imgur.com/tUPuMYD.png)
-
Magical Shitty Laser
Fun facts about the laser:
1. You can only fire a shot once the previous shot has hit a wall, an enemy, or dissipated by traveling far enough in open space.
2. Shots can be fired continuously by holding the fire stick in one direction (but they will still follow the rules in Fun Fact #1).
3. You can fire shots over or under enemies. Just being in the same tile as an enemy does not guarantee a hit.
4. The laser is right-biased, something I have just figured out in the past couple of days.
Take a look at these two setups:
(https://i.imgur.com/Bljkuj9.png)
Common sense would dictate that these tactical scenarios, though mirrored, are equal. The enemies approach from the essentially the same direction (they must move up and then over to reach you) and the player has the same amount of time to react to enemies coming from the spawn point. However, these situations are far from equal. The picture on the left is a slaughterhouse for the enemies. You could park there all day, spam shots to the right, and you'll never die. The picture on the right is a death trap for our intrepid explorer. Ooooh...Intrepid. Lit? <Allen>
For whatever reason, enemies can slip through shots fired to left even if the wall is only 1 tile away. This is extremely important if you find yourself in a tight situation and are hunkered down in an alcove where the enemies will approach you from the left. I died so many times while spamming in the long vertical corridor near the end of Stage 2 and it frustrated the hell out of me.
Perhaps this is a programming bug, or an unintentional side effect with how the objects are rendered/refreshed on the screen. The wall shot appears to only work when firing to the right so maybe the two are related.
The lesson here is that shots to the left must be carefully timed. Thank you magical shitty laser.
-
Nice lvl 3 write-up. I've gotten close to completing it (on the way back to the exit with key#2) but that's about it. That key at the beginning of the level gnarly. I haven't gotten it w/o using a flash bomb first.
On the upside, level 1 and 2 are a breeze at this point.
-
If I'm close to a swarm, I'll just back track to the area over the top of the first big enclosure and wipe the enemies from the screen. Then I'll head back.
Yer, backtracking to wipe enemies off the screen is huge in this game.
-
Explorer Respawns
Here are some maps indicating the respawn points for the explorer when a life is lost. The red boxes are the tiles in which he respawns and the arrows indicate the horizontal sections that correspond to each respawn point.
Things to note:
1) These points are accurate for Stages 1-16, so I'm assuming they remain the same indefinitely.
2) Respawns appear to be solely based on horizontal position.
3) The sections are mostly 16 tiles wide. The first and last sections are larger and smaller, respectively.
4) The explorer must be a full tile into the next section before he will be able to respawn in that area. If he is partly in the previous tile he will respawn in the previous area.
5) Notice that the final tunnels leading to the exits in Stages 1, 3, and 4 wrap around and cross into the previous section's respawn area. This means you can be only a couple tiles from the exit, die, and then respawn very far away. Be careful!
(https://i.imgur.com/STriFPJ.png)
-
I've got to point Bondo over to this thread. He's a 1m+ pt player I believe and could add some insight I'm sure.
Edit: I sent him a message
-
I've got to point Bondo over to this thread. He's a 1m+ pt player I believe and could add some insight I'm sure.
Edit: I sent him a message
Thanks Steve! I feel a little like a substitute teacher at this point: only able to handle one lesson at a time and no real experience with what I'm talking about. It would be great to have the pros weigh in and confirm or correct (or add to) the info I'm collecting here.
-
Why dont you ask RTM
Kappa
-
Why dont you ask RTM
Kappa
I don't think he plays it all that much
-
Why dont you ask RTM
Kappa
I don't think he plays it all that much
I think the Kappa is because I posted some questions about Tut on TG, RTM said he'd take a look, and never responded. In 2003 he posted an analysis of Rob Barrett's WR game and it's in the TG archives. I was under the impression that he would have some insight in to the game settings, at least.
-
Old TG Threads:
Rob Mruczek's write-up on Rob Barrett's world record 622,040 game:
NEW World Record on "Tutankham" (Arcade) !! (http://www.twingalaxies.com/showthread.php/110387-NEW-World-Record-on-quot-Tutankham-quot-(Arcade)-!!)
Several threads on strategy, player PBs, and PB progression:
Latest News on Tut (http://www.twingalaxies.com/showthread.php/110071-Latest-News-on-Tut)
Tutankham & misc chatter (http://www.twingalaxies.com/showthread.php/109661-Tutankham-amp-misc-chatter)
Tutankham score (http://www.twingalaxies.com/showthread.php/113055-Tutankham-score)
Tutankham strategy (http://www.twingalaxies.com/showthread.php/109362-Tutankham-strategy)
Anyone still play Tutankham? (http://www.twingalaxies.com/showthread.php/134782-Anyone-still-play-Tutankham)
Other Stuff
GameFAQs Walkthrough (http://www.gamefaqs.com/arcade/584089-tutankham/faqs/14032)
Robotron: 2084 Guidebook: How to succeed at Tutankham (http://www.robotron2084guidebook.com/home/games/tutankham/)
-
3 years? Well better late than never I guess. At least JC won't ask me to make a new topic (<Pigger>)
Been playing this a bit recently and I've noticed a couple of things (I can't yet explain) which have aroused my curiosity, if you will.
-Enemy types are predictable. Seems to be a constant number of each enemy that comes out of a certain spawn point (maybe each spawn point is the same constant?) before the next one appears.
-Spawn points spawn the same enemies. Some only spawn the fast & nasty fuckers. Some spawn the others. Some do both. Some may do all 3 types.
What I'm getting at is, if you can predict with high confidence what enemy will spawn next, it will give you the upper hand. Safely anticipating those fast bastards seems crucial to me.
^this stuff could depend on each loop of the game and internal difficulties, adding to the complexity.
Jry also pointed this out to me, the spawn point in the picture never spawns an enemy.
(https://i.imgur.com/9GlimKq.png)
I'd love to incorporate this into my gameplay. This section is one of the trickiest in the game.
Anyway not much new information but hopefully a few thought provoking questions. This game is annoyingly annoying and with the right information I don't think would be all that difficult to score largely
Lit
-
A few years ago I found what seemed to be a partly commented disassembly of the Tut code. I don't remember exactly where I found it, and re-Googling hasn't helped me. I think it was from someone who was porting Tut over to another platform, so the code is sort of rewritten for that. I still have the original copy that I found and I've attached it below. Maybe some programmers out there can take a closer look. :) ***cough*** sock ***cough***
-
^awesome stuff there Jry, really hope someone with the right knowledge can have a look.
I have zero idea how to read this, so could be completely off here but I found this table interesting:
points_table_index fdb $88E8
fdb pts_40
fdb pts_60
fdb pts_40_2
fdb pts_50
fdb pts_100
fdb pts_200
fdb pts_500
fdb pts_400
fdb pts_1000
fdb pts_50_2
fdb pts_1000_2
fdb pts_1500
fdb pts_2000
fdb pts_3000
fdb pts_4000
fdb pts_4000_2
fdb pts_5000
fdb pts_6000
fdb pts_7000
fdb pts_8000
fdb pts_9000
fdb pts_9900
fdb pts_110000
Looks like its the point values you can acquire through various means. Enemies, keys, doors, treasure etc
Last couple (last one especially) is pretty curious. Of course as I said, could be looking at this totally wrong :)
-
The port is for the Tandy Color Computer (my favorite 8-bit computer). Tutankham and the Color Computer share a lot of hardware similarities, including a 6809 CPU (my favourite 8-bit CPU). The guy doing this port is Mark McDougall, you can find his blog here:
http://retroports.blogspot.ca/ (http://retroports.blogspot.ca/)
He actually did get the game running on the CoCo, essentially arcade perfect but it displays sideways because the monitor on the arcade game is oriented the other way. The project is on-hold right now and the graphics routines still need to be recoded to re-orient everything, plus sound and other details need to be added.
He's busy with other projects right now, but this project has been tempting me to pick it up and finish it.
If I do, well, that would mean learning the code inside and out, eh? Mind you, there are always a zillion things in my list of neat things I'd like to do. I could try looking through it to see if I could spot some specific logic of interest. As is, I am not familiar with the code so it may take some digging to pinpoint where something specific is hiding in the code.
-
Hi John,
Long time listener, first time caller. My ultimate code wishlist would be for someone to figure out if the falling sign on building 4 of Crazy Climber is random or determined somehow, also if it possible to conquer with any sort of regularity. This piece of code was responsible for me smashing 3 different Crazy Climber marquees and finally having to sell the arcade game at the urging of those who love me. Can I please add something like this to the zillion? <popcorn> I would offer many fantastic beers and a smashed marquee.
-
If I do, well, that would mean learning the code inside and out, eh? Mind you, there are always a zillion things in my list of neat things I'd like to do. I could try looking through it to see if I could spot some specific logic of interest. As is, I am not familiar with the code so it may take some digging to pinpoint where something specific is hiding in the code.
Anything to do with enemy movement and spawning logic. If that is figured out, there really isn't much more to the game.
-
Started playing Tut again recently. Still tough.
If only I could play like this guy: