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Cart #ketabarihu-0 | 2021-11-21 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
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TO LOAD THIS GAME IN IMMEDIATE MODE TYPE:

 
load #ketabarihu

VVhat's up ?
11-21-21

  • Used the timer from my earlier game, "Star Wars Shooter" for greater timing accuracy.
    Should run the same speed now either online or offline.

. . .

Cart #wuzuhageso-0 | 2021-11-16 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | License: CC4-BY-NC-SA
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This cart ^ runs faster online than offline, especially during gameplay. Something for @zep to examine perhaps.

. . .

One of the very first color computers I was introduced to years ago was the Apple ][.

Now I know I started a series in here called Applecart and - I may return back to it. We'll see. But for now I thought I would share with you one of the complete games I wrote back when i was 11-years old in INTEGER basic and back on the Apple ][ computer. And I may write more LORES games although I have a different project in mind now that this one is complete.

JANITOR

It was a unique idea for its time what with everyone on the Apple ][ making 6502 machine-language space shooters in HIRES graphics (280x192) and incredibly complex tactical games in text only (40x24) in Applesoft Floating Point BASIC - few people except amateurs such as myself were making LORES games (40x40 pixels) and often in INTEGER basic as it was faster than FLOATING POINT basic.

I even made a bit of a story for it.

. . .

You knew when you applied for a position at the local gym that they weren't going to give you a great job. You have to blame your mustache you think. It was always just the right size and shape as a miniature pushbroom. And sure enough the moment your boss saw you he scratched his chin for less than 5-seconds, pointed a beefy finger at you and said, "Janitor !"

Well it wouldn't be so bad if the place was empty at night but this workaholic he wants you to clean while people are still milling around and exercising in the middle of the day ! And almost all of them are litterbugs ! After eating their snack or drinking their beverage they toss it right down on the floor - right in front of you and then dash out hoping you won't catch them ! So your mission is clear.

Clean up the trash on this floor with your pushbroom. Push it all into the wastebasket that is in the middle of the room. And do so in record time. If you can catch a few litterbugs on the way so much the better and oh yes - there is a mystery ??? It will net you big points if you can find it ! It can even appear more than once and it is up to you to find it ...

If you do find the secret, be the first to post what it is - and if you're especially worldly and wise - why it's an important item to find in the Apple ][ computer.

. . .

At the beginning you will be treated to a nice Apple ][ "emulator" Press (O) key to continue through it.

Once you have saved your high score and it has at least one point in it, when you restart this cart from the beginning, you can press (X) to go straight to the game.

Use the arrow keys to navigate your player once you have left the elevator. To push trash merely put your player up against it and move in the direction you want it to travel. The giant "U" in the center is the trash can. Push your trash all the way down to the bottom and it will vanish and you will receive 2-points, just like in basketball.

When a litterbug comes by, they will be in quite a hurry and often throwing trash on the floor as they go. If you're quick enough, you can catch them by the scruff of their neck and net yourself a cool 10-points.

There is a bonus ??? too. I'm not going to say what it is but it has to do with a bug I came across back when I wrote the game originally - having to do with the LORES graphics. At the time I had it when I was 11-years old I just worked around it. Today I exploit it for big points. You can get a 35 whopping points if you know what you are doing. Knowledge of the Apple ][ may help here. And a CLUE is actually given before the game begins.

High-score is saved so when you play later you can compete against it - but you only have 60-seconds to clean the floor. It is very unlikely you will be able to clean the entire floor as you are just after points in this case and your boss pays not by cleanliness but the amount of trash you've put away.

When your time is up, the elevator will re-open, return to it and the game is complete.

To start a new game, press (X) and remember, to bypass the Apple ][ boot, you can press (X) again - once you have saved a high score greater than zero points.

If you have any questions, comments, or kerosene, please let me know in the section below.
Also if you find a bug or think the scoring system could be changed.

See if you can beat my high-score of 108 (played online).

Enjoy !

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Aha! I was able to find the secret, after wondering why I was unable to push one block-- there's a

invisible piece of trash you can find by feel and then push into the bin!

Including that, my best score was 85.

Though I don't know its significance to the Apple II

(I'm guessing it's something about the apple II color palette given all the custom colors in the game, but I'm not sure what...)

Secret reply, @icegoat.

Originally when I coded this game those many years ago I was not checking the color of the litterbugs and an INVISIBLE one would go sailing past leaving trash behind. After a bit of debugging I determined it was the same color as the floor #5 so I set it so #5 would not appear in the choices.

But then later in playing the game ANOTHER invisible litterbug went by ! It was not until hours of tedious debugging later I finally realized it was not color #5 but color # 10.

That's when I started to investigate what was going on.

You see the Apple ][ computer LORES graphics had 2-grays, and oddly enough they were exactly the same color. Color # 5 and # 10. Now on a B&W monitor you could see one was shifted a half pixel to the right yet on a color TV and color monitor it was invisible and seamless. I had a color TV at the time.

So when I came across it back in writing Janitor on the Apple computer, I just patched over it and if color #10 was chosen for any reason, I changed it to #5. Then in my color table removed it entirely not even making it a choice.

Today though I realize it's definitely something interesting - so when I was making this remake of Janitor I decided to take advantage of it, making the floor gray as the original game and choosing other colors for both trash to pick up and litterbugs. Making sure that a litterbug was never color #5 or color #10 yet the trash COULD BE and by being color #10 appeared perfectly invisible when on a board color #5. And you could still read the screen pixels to see the difference.

So, yes, occasionally some invisible trash will get dumped and if you can direct into the bin, it's worth big points.

Congratulations on finding this hidden scoring method ! :)

Really cool concept. I dig the backstory too- especially the part about his mustache looking like a pushbroom :)

My ! Thank you, @phaselock.studio.

I'm not sure how to get that to highlight. Normally you can type someone's alias after the @ key and it works, but if your name is split by a character like period or under or space - to date I have not figured out how to get it to highlight.

As for the bushy mustache. I am reminded of "Peabody's Improbably History" and the janitor there there with the big mustache sweeping things up - I think that's where I got the idea of making a Janitor game for the Apple ][.

Did you discover the secret scoring ?



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