No worries, it happens! As for me, I just got back from spending a couple of weeks AFK, so I apologise in turn!Sorry for the late reply. I think I have forum notifications enabled now!
I don't believe this is the case - the demo is actually reproduced elsewhere in ArcArc and it isn't nearly as big. The demo was distributed on Acorn Computing November 1993 coverdisc #1, and is 637,121 bytes uncompressed. On the other hand, the 1.00 version in the Games folder (SparkFS/SparkPlug needed to decompress) is 1,618,054 bytes uncompressed, and has the copy protection screen (although it's been cracked to allow you through even if you get it incorrect).Judging by its size, I think the ArcArc 1.00 version is the cover disk demo. It had a few of the games from the Aztec zone IIRC. This might have the same bug I mentioned, though after 30 years I don't have any record, and only marginal memories. I will have another look sometime when I set up an emulation environment.
The dates I gave were the date given in the !Run file (which also match with the dates in the !Help file). It does seem very odd though - I wonder if there's a fourth version lurking about somewhere (maybe a 1.01.5 or similar?).From your analysis it seems likely that there were two 1.00 releases: the demo, and the full copy. Then 1.01 fixed the bug I found, which had been reported in the field for some time. I have a vague recollection of this being more like months than weeks, but for whatever reason that doesn't square with the dates you give.
Interesting! Personally, I really enjoyed playing the computer version of the game. It's very true that the game was difficult, but that was actually really fun to try to beat when I was younger.Every now and then I google to see who's checking out the game again. Often the reviews are negative, as they were mostly back when it was released, but someone always chimes in with some love for it. Even back then people seemed to expect a lot for something which - being published by Sherston - was targeted mostly at kids. I posted a comment yesterday on a recent YouTube video, which I'll copy here.
Here's the video: https://youtu.be/nuGs1HL0x5s?si=udrE3xHn61hAOQP1.
By the way, in case anybody is interested in playing, I made a LibreOffice Calc file that uses macros to simulate the copy protection used for the game, in which you would place the octagonal manual into the octagonal lid of the box in a certain orientation, and read off the shape at that location. I've uploaded it here if anybody is interested! When you load it you'll be warned of the presence of macros in the document; you'll need to enable them in order to be able to click the Rotate button.
[edit: Added some code in the copy protection sheet so that the macro can't run two or more times at once - this can mess up the sheet! If you already downloaded it, you may want to replace it with this new download.]
Statistics: Posted by Sophira — Sat Oct 19, 2024 1:53 am