Pinball Magic 2024 (WIP)

[Jean-Marie]

This is a revamped version of the french game Pinball Magic (1990) by Loriciel.
I have converted the first table from the PLUS version, and it can be played in this WIP disc demo.
I know it doesn't compare well with Pinball Dreams, but it can still be entertaining.
Back then, I had been put off by the stark graphics on the CPC, while the PLUS & GX version was colorful. 
Default controls are CTRL: left flipper, RIGHT CURSOR: right flipper/launch ball. They can be changed by running REDEFINE.BAS (the changes will be saved on the disc).

[XeNoMoRPH]

Excellent, if you could add some music too, it would be incredible

[Jean-Marie]

After struggling with an army of bugs, Table 2 is ready !
Curiously, it matches table 7 on the PLUS version🤔 I guess they figured out it was rather difficult for a second level...
Try using "dead bounces" and "drop catches" to level up!

[kawickboy]

A nice project. Loriciels was never able to write good tunes on CPC, but was a great Atari ST developer. Music is really missing in this game.

[robcfg]

Isn't it a bit strange? 

I mean, the ST and the CPC have essentially the same chip, but using half the base clock frequency.

[dodogildo]

I mean, the ST and the CPC have essentially the same chip, but using half the base clock frequency.

What chip is that?

[robcfg]

Well, the AY-3-8912 and the YM2149 are the same chip with the only difference that the YM2149 has double the envelope resolution (32 steps instead of 16, iirc).

On the CPC the base clock frequency from which the sounds are generated is 1MHZ and on the ST it's 2MHZ.

[Jean-Marie]

Here is table 3, and it's quite challenging! Here is a poke for infinite balls : poke &7663,0.
Remember that the game allows you to terminate a level by pressing TAB when all the targets have been turned off.
These one let you skip a level at any time by pressing TAB : poke &75D8,&C3:poke &75D9,&BE:poke&75DA,&98.
I'll have a look at the music at the end, as I focus on the levels transfer and code optimization first.

[Jean-Marie]

Levels 4, 5 and 6. Halfway through !

[Jean-Marie]

Tables 7, 8 and 9. Almost there !

[kawickboy]

That's far better. With good tunes the gx4000 release will remain poor.

[Jean-Marie]

All levels completed, and in-game code fully optimized !
Run"trainer" to play with unlimited balls, and press TAB to level up.
I'm gonna try to insert a music player now.

[Gryzor]

Yesss music

[Jean-Marie]

The game is now powered by the fabulous CHIPNSFX from @cngsoft, and offers you 12 hits from the maestros of the heydays, selected from the huge library of DJ César !
And the Sound FX have been redone too ! And more code has been optimized for speed !
Most titles were unheard of on the CPC, and all have been converted by CNG from the C64 or Atari ST.
Here is the playlist.:

• Level 1 STARION1.CHP Starion Intro 1988 after Zenox
• Level 2 FOLLINOX.CHP Follinoxe 2004 AY Riders after Factor6
• Level 3 LEDSTORM.CHP L.E.D. Storm 1988 after Tim Follin
• Level 4 DELTA-ZK.CHP Delta Zak 1991 after Brian after Rob Hubbard
• Level 5 ELIMNTR0.CHP Eliminator Atari ST 1988 after Jochen Hippel after Jeroen Tel
• Level 6 MONACOGP.CHP Super Monaco Grand Prix1991 after Jeroen Tel
• Level 7 PULSOIDS.CHP Pulsoid (C64 version) 1988 after Steve Barrett
• Level 8 LEDSTORO.CHP L.E.D. Storm hi score 1988 after Tim Follin
• Level 9 GPSIM64A.CHP Grand Prix Simulator 1987 after David Whittaker
• Level 10 CRAZYCM1.CHP Crazy Comets 1985 after Rob Hubbard
• Level 11 ASHTRAY.CHP Ooh Crikey (Your mind is my ashtray) 1991 after Jochen Hippel
• Level 12 CHIMERA2.CHP Chimera (victory) 1985 after Rob Hubbard

Note that the Sound FX overlaps the Music during the game, which some of you might find disruptive. In that case, you can turn off/on the FX by pressing P to pause the game, and the S key. In the same way, the M key (qwerty) will mute the music on/off.
Remember you can listen to hundreds of chiptunes by downloading CHIPNSFX (press CTRL & O to select a file).
So, I had to reprogram the keyboard handler, and I finally realized that you can nudge the table! I thought that was only possible on the PLUS version 
Hence, I've changed the default keys to :
CTRL: left fiipper
Right cursor : right flipper/launch ball
SHIFT: nudge left
cursor down: nudge right
cursor up: nudge ahead
They can be modified by running Redefine.bas as before.
Interestingly, there is a shaking video effect when you nudge the table (CRTC reg , but you won't see it on Winape, Caprice64 & RVM. Amspirit and ACE display it correctly. I've not tested with the other emulators.
You must now press the space bar when the Basic loader is running in order to activate the Trainer mode, until you see the border turns mauve.
I managed to cram everything in 64K, so no RAM extension needed!
Happy Easter !✝️

[XeNoMoRPH]

[Gryzor]

This is how I played the very first time my dad brought me to a pinball hall😁

[Xyphoe]

The game is now powered by the fabulous CHIPNSFX from @cngsoft, and offers you 12 hits from the maestros of the heydays, selected from the huge library of DJ César !
And the Sound FX have been redone too ! And more code has been optimized for speed !
Most titles were unheard of on the CPC, and all have been converted by CNG from the C64 or Atari ST.
Here is the playlist.:

• Level 1 STARION1.CHP Starion Intro 1988 after Zenox
• Level 2 FOLLINOX.CHP Follinoxe 2004 AY Riders after Factor6
• Level 3 LEDSTORM.CHP L.E.D. Storm 1988 after Tim Follin
• Level 4 DELTA-ZK.CHP Delta Zak 1991 after Brian after Rob Hubbard
• Level 5 ELIMNTR0.CHP Eliminator Atari ST 1988 after Jochen Hippel after Jeroen Tel
• Level 6 MONACOGP.CHP Super Monaco Grand Prix1991 after Jeroen Tel
• Level 7 PULSOIDS.CHP Pulsoid (C64 version) 1988 after Steve Barrett
• Level 8 LEDSTORO.CHP L.E.D. Storm hi score 1988 after Tim Follin
• Level 9 GPSIM64A.CHP Grand Prix Simulator 1987 after David Whittaker
• Level 10 CRAZYCM1.CHP Crazy Comets 1985 after Rob Hubbard
• Level 11 ASHTRAY.CHP Ooh Crikey (Your mind is my ashtray) 1991 after Jochen Hippel
• Level 12 CHIMERA2.CHP Chimera (victory) 1985 after Rob Hubbard

Note that the Sound FX overlaps the Music during the game, which some of you might find disruptive. In that case, you can turn off/on the FX by pressing P to pause the game, and the S key. In the same way, the M key (qwerty) will mute the music on/off.
Remember you can listen to hundreds of chiptunes by downloading CHIPNSFX (press CTRL & O to select a file).
So, I had to reprogram the keyboard handler, and I finally realized that you can nudge the table! I thought that was only possible on the PLUS version
Hence, I've changed the default keys to :
CTRL: left fiipper
Right cursor : right flipper/launch ball
SHIFT: nudge left
cursor down: nudge right
cursor up: nudge ahead
They can be modified by running Redefine.bas as before.
Interestingly, there is a shaking video effect when you nudge the table (CRTC reg , but you won't see it on Winape, Caprice64 & RVM. Amspirit and ACE display it correctly. I've not tested with the other emulators.
You must now press the space bar when the Basic loader is running in order to activate the Trainer mode, until you see the border turns mauve.
I managed to cram everything in 64K, so no RAM extension needed!
Happy Easter !✝️

Fantastic work!!!

Great job as always <3

2 things quickly...

1) Was trainer.bas removed on this version? I can't find it or is there a new cheat mode? I'd like to test the other tables.

2) "SHIFT : nudge left" doesn't seem to be working for me, at least in AMSpiriT emulator I'm testing in. (I can't run ACE because I don't have MorphOS, and you said the CRTC shake effect doesn't work in other emulators) The other nudge controls do seem to work though.

[XeNoMoRPH]

ACE-DL is available for Windows, MAC and linux -- http://www.roudoudou.com/ACE-DL/

[Jean-Marie]

I deleted TRAINER.BAS to make some room on the disc (we can only store 64 files)! But the Trainer mode is still there : you need to run PINBALL.BAS, and immediately hold the Space bar. The border will turn to mauve if you're successful.

Code Select Expand

20 IF INKEY(47)=0 THEN BORDER 5:cheat=1
I have no clue why the Shift key doesn't run on Amspirit. If you really wanna use it, I guess you'll have to redefine the key (run"redefine.bas"). But as Xeno pointed out, ACE runs perfectly on Windows now!
Oh, and the shaking effect runs fine with CPCEC too, César's emulator. I tested it this night.
I'll release a new version soon with a better sound effect for the flippers, and a TILT message will be displayed if you're too vigorous! I might also turn off the sound effects by default (you will still be able to turn them on during the pause), I dunno...

[Jean-Marie]

Update:

• Added a TILT message in the score panel, and a sound fx
• Better sound effect for the flippers
• Fixed a bad optimization when redrawing the bumpers
• A few more minor optimizations

I have included some instructions in the BASIC loader, and it will display the active controls. You can redefine the keys from there, and also launch the trainer mode.
Well, I guess I'm through then... So it must be version 1?
Alternate download link : 

[Xyphoe]

ACE-DL is available for Windows, MAC and linux -- http://www.roudoudou.com/ACE-DL/

Ahhh nice!! Thank you!

I had no idea, all I found was this - https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/ACE_(Emulator) and no reference to the ACE-DL version. Maybe that page could do with an update - or ACE-DL it's own page? @Gryzor ?

[Gryzor]

ACE-DL is available for Windows, MAC and linux -- http://www.roudoudou.com/ACE-DL/

Ahhh nice!! Thank you!

I had no idea, all I found was this - https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/ACE_(Emulator) and no reference to the ACE-DL version. Maybe that page could do with an update - or ACE-DL it's own page? @Gryzor ?

It's not up to me, anyone who wants can do it 🙂

If it's ok with the dev I can whip something up quickly by copying stuff from its page...

Edit: oh, not much info there so not sure what to add? ¯⁠\⁠(⁠°⁠_�o⁠)⁠/⁠¯

[Xyphoe]

Update:

• Added a TILT message in the score panel, and a sound fx
• Better sound effect for the flippers
• Fixed a bad optimization when redrawing the bumpers
• A few more minor optimizations

I have included some instructions in the BASIC loader, and it will display the active controls. You can redefine the keys from there, and also launch the trainer mode.
Well, I guess I'm through then... So it must be version 1?
Alternate download link :

Great job!!

Thank you - works perfectly in ACE-DL emulator.

I will probably feature this in Friday's AMSTREAM live stream.

I noticed SFX is off by default, honestly - I would have left it on with the music. I don't think it's too intrusive at all.
Just a reminder for everyone - you have to pause first with 'P' and then press 'S' to turn it on whilst in pause mode.

Also just a thought - maybe you should probably get a website setup for all your productions so they get more noticed? Just want your hard work to get more recognition Maybe an itch.io page is not suitable given things like Pinball Magic, Sly Spy, etc are hacks/updates of old commercial games but Cyrille uses GameJolt for his.

[Xyphoe]

ACE-DL is available for Windows, MAC and linux -- http://www.roudoudou.com/ACE-DL/

Ahhh nice!! Thank you!

I had no idea, all I found was this - https://www.cpcwiki.eu/index.php/ACE_(Emulator) and no reference to the ACE-DL version. Maybe that page could do with an update - or ACE-DL it's own page? @Gryzor ?

It's not up to me, anyone who wants can do it 🙂

If it's ok with the dev I can whip something up quickly by copying stuff from its page...

Edit: oh, not much info there so not sure what to add? ¯⁠\⁠(⁠°⁠_�o⁠)⁠/⁠¯

LOL I've seen there's been a quick edit added there! That will do at least, and lead people to Google further!

I suppose it's up to the author of the software to advertise their work.

[Jean-Marie]

I noticed SFX is off by default, honestly - I would have left it on with the music. I don't think it's too intrusive at all.
Just a reminder for everyone - you have to pause first with 'P' and then press 'S' to turn it on whilst in pause mode

Yeah, that was quite a dilemma... Personnaly, I don't really like the way it interrupts the music, and I presumed everyone would think the same. Maybe I was wrong? I'd like to hear other people's opinions about that.

Also just a thought - maybe you should probably get a website setup for all your productions so they get more noticed? Just want your hard work to get more recognition

Thanks a lot for your interest! I took a vow of humility after having been to cocky in a previous life  Human glory is vain, only celestial glory is meaningful.