Space 1999: the Invasion

[Andre Leao]

To be released the next few days...



https://planetasinclair.blogspot.com/20 ... asion.html

[Timmy]

I was reading the article and I wanted to say that I know a lot of GAC internals if they need help.

[Andre Leao]

Thanks Timmy, will forward your message to Luís

[EdToo]

I've just completed the Woot release, but I had to cheat as there is an issue early on that makes it impossible to get anywhere. There are also a few bugs/features that could be polished. Is Luis interested in feedback?

[Old-User]

I use the flamethrower to kill the alien but it seems the alien never dies, so I cannot get the energy pack.

OTOH, I was expecting to "examine Maya" and have her transformed into some lovebug...

[EdToo]

I use the flamethrower to kill the alien but it seems the alien never dies, so I cannot get the energy pack.

OTOH, I was expecting to "examine Maya" and have her transformed into some lovebug...

The alien does die, but the description doesn't update to acknowledge it. You need something more before you can get the pack.

[Andre Leao]

I'm sure Luis will be interested. We choose not to fix anything, unless it made the game incomplete

[equinox]

I'm mapping and solving this game at the moment, and have hit a problem.

I can't drive the scooter. I wear the spacesuit and ENTER SCOOTER. It says I can now open the door; but OPEN DOOR is not accepted.

Can I get a bug fix please? (or a hint, if I'm missing something)

[Andre Leao]

Can you send me a screenshot, please. I remember there was a red herring regarding the space suit

[equinox]

Can you send me a screenshot, please. I remember there is a red herring regarding the space suit

Screenshot: https://ibb.co/yPjdNJ2

[Andre Leao]

Sent you a new file by PM. Found an unexpected "?" at a low condition, probably added at the final version due to a low memory issue (the game is on the limit of memory).

Can you test this version, please? Sorry.

[equinox]

André is looking at this issue to find a fix There seems to be some corruption because the game uses almost all of the available memory. (A pity there wasn't a 128K version of GAC...)

A mini-review: I think the atmosphere of this game is impressive given the Speccy's memory limitations and the short text. It feels like being in Star Trek. There are various other characters who don't just sit around demanding items, like greedy Yolkfolk, but seem to be working on different parts of the mission: you can call them up on your "comlock" device, and it feels like teamwork! The occasional location graphics help with the atmosphere too, and the map is quite plausible, with all the usual Trekkie stuff (living quarters, security areas, travel tubes) plus some scary moon caves (well, it's a tiny maze).

Vocabulary is a weak point: the old "guess the verb" problem. I often knew what I wanted to do, and it was correct, but it was hard to find the words that the game would understand: USE, REPAIR, REPLACE? INSERT, OPEN, UNLOCK? Again this may be more of a GAC (or memory) limitation.

[Andre Leao]

@equinox I was looking at thedata file, and could not see anything wrong with the original game (forget about the last version I sent you this week).

I will have to play it again, but just two notes:
1. Do you have the flashlight?
2. The righ word is "key-card"

Did you save the game at that part? Can you send me a snapshot?

[equinox]

I don't want to try solving it again.
Please send me a solution in text (n. n. w. get lamp) and I will test it.

I believe I have got a solution that "should" work, and i have also drawn a map.
But even equinox has only got so much time.

My THEORETICAL solution is:
- Get comlock, get keycard, get fire extinguisher (using keycard), extinguish the fire and get the flashlight. Then we can visit level 2.
- Get the laser, save Helena, get the "good" spacesuit, magazine, sword, medical kit, and gas flask.
- Give magazine to guards (get key), so get the microchip. Then we can get the energy pack.
- Get energy convertor, give to weapon people, get flame thrower.
- Get engine, give to people, use gas flask to kill the alien.
- Get destruct code card and use it, you win.

Maybe I missed some alien combat but this seems to be the basic solution.

[Andre Leao]

I don't want to try solving it again.
Please send me a solution in text (n. n. w. get lamp) and I will test it.

I believe I have got a solution that "should" work, and i have also drawn a map.
But even equinox has only got so much time.

I will have to play it again and check which item you're missing (or maybe you have to recharge something before opening the door, I can´t remember). I completed the game 4 months ago. I should have written the solution.

I will do it as soon as possible, I also want to send the complete solution to CASA and @8BitAG.

[equinox]

I will do it as soon as possible, I also want to send the complete solution to CASA and @8BitAG.

skweeeee I made a cool map though

[Andre Leao]

Here goes a map I draw when completing the game...

Spoiler

[equinox]

Goddammit...
I decompiled your game and studied it carefully in the pub, over a beer.
Well, I have a nice map too.

Map is here (unfinished, incomplete): https://cl4.org/_1999.xlsx
I will delete the file later.
When I solve the game, I will produce a proper 100% map. This one is only experimental.

[Timmy]

(A pity there wasn't a 128K version of GAC...)

No, not yet, but I might be able to create a 128k version of GAC.

There was a time when I reverse-engineered the textual part of the GAC format, and wrote an interpreter in C (which I then compiled with z88dk to make it spectrum compatible).

If I wanted to make a 128k version of it, I'd probably move the descriptions and messages into separate banks and therefore using a bit more memory.

The graphical part of the format was very machine specific so I didn't do much about it, but if there is really a need for people wanting to use more than 48K, then I might want to look into it.

[equinox]

No, not yet, but I might be able to create a 128k version of GAC. [...]

That would be cool (deserves its own thread?). There seem to be CPC and C64 versions (and maybe others?) so I wonder how similar the format is — but we already have decompilation tools. There would be the same size issues on every platform, on I suppose, because the CPC and Commodore also have 128K models.

In reality I don't know if GAC is the future Trying to be "all things to all men" (text and vector graphics) doesn't necessarily work very well — and if you look at the game box and marketing, they were trying to sell it as an imaginative game-making tool and they didn't mention "anything you make with this is a text adventure". I would like to see more large, 'literary' text adventures, Inform-style (think Level 9 without the limitations) but at the end of the day the Speccy isn't the right platform for it. I thought, for example, On Reflection was really good... properly Lovecraftian atmosphere.

@8BitAG probably has an opinion.

[ICreateWorlds_dotNet]

Hi guys, I´m the creator of SPACE 1999: The Invasion.
First of all, thank you for playing the game. Never in a million years, 34 years ago, I imagined that someone outside my room would ever get to play what was for me; just something I did because I missed Space 1999 at the time, and I loved GAC from the moment I got it and experimented with it.

The only reason I did a Space 1999 game that feels set in the second season is because I wanted to include Maya, of course. I hate the second season. I can´t stand what they did to the show, the clothes, and mostly the sets, particularly that they replaced the main mission from season 1 with that bloody awful control room in season Two. So, just to clear this, in my mind, this game is set in the season one environment. The main mission in my mind is the one for season one. It´s just Maya and other characters from season two are in there.

But I have to thank Andre Leao for recovering my old tape. If it weren´t for him, this post would never exist.

Also, Andre is responsible not just for saving my old tape, which I kept at the bottom of a drawer for 30 years, hoping to one day look at my original game again. Still, he´s also responsible for getting me back to creating adventure games for the ZX Spectrum today. He's also responsible for writing novels based on my games as a companion piece to my ZX stories. But that is another story. You can learn more about it on my Itch.Io page if you want.

So...thank you for playing the game.
And no.
I have no idea how to complete it nowadays. Andre did it several times, but I have zero clue how to play my adventure. In this game, I only fall into my own traps and die at each step I take or any command I write.
I´m starting to think I´ve created too many death traps in this game... each door I open, I die.

Also, although Andre is doing masterful work fixing some of its bugs, it´s not easy to spot everything because even as a GAC game, Space 1999 is a terrible job in GAC programming from my side. I cringe when I look at the code in this one and then compare it to the code on my new 2023/2024 GAC adventures. It´s a bloody miracle Andre can navigate and still fix some bugs. I´ve tried and I got lost in my terrible code.

Another problem with GAC is that when we try to fix some bug and the game's memory is mostly non-existent, GAC tends to "Explode." Even if GAC does not shatter the game as it usually does if we go beyond the memory limits, it often replaces little bits of code, erases variables, switches the order of stuff, etc. It´s a nightmare.
This is the major problem when trying to fix this game now.

I know people seem stuck on a "door" puzzle right now, but from what I can see from the code Adre showed me, I think it may not be a code problem but something that was not done in the actual gameplay before reaching that door. I seem to remember there´s a point where we restore energy somewhere, and I´m starting to think that the door only opens if that is done. It may not be mentioned in the text because, at that point, I may not have had any more memory to write anything into the game, so because of that, some clues may be vague.
So vague that I cannot solve my own game right now.

Adre solved it from start to finish, so we know the game works. Beyond this, I can´t say much technically because I made this game in 1990, and it´s a miracle I´m talking about it with you right now.

--

Oh, and yes.
Yes, please!
If someone can get a 128K GAC done, I´ll buy it.

I´m forced to divide my current adventures into three parts for each story because I cannot do justice in just 23K that the 48K GAC allows. I´m going insane sometimes. Particularly when it comes to text. I want to write cool descriptions, but I get to the end of the project, and all the time, I´m forced to trim the location descriptions to a bare minimum. Most of my location descriptions are telegraphic at best because I needed the memory for other stuff in the game.

A 128K GAC would also allow me to create the graphics as I want. I love the graphic editor in GAC, and I know I can create good visuals with it, but unfortunately, not when I´m doing a 23K GAC game. Believe it or not, in my current games, I sometimes only have 3 bytes at the most for each pic location. You´ll understand better how I do it if you play my current 2024 GAC games, as I don´t use the entire screen as I did in Space 1999.

I have some specific GAC adventures that I want to do, which I will only create when I get my hands on a 128K version. Otherwise it´s impossible.

---

So, regarding Space 1999, I´m going to create an Itch page soon for it too, and you will find it here among the other games I did recently: https://icreateworlds.itch.io/
I will need maps or the solution for the game to add there. So, if you guys want to send me your Space 1999 maps, I´ll be happy to add them to the page later. I may create a players section with all your maps and drawings from playing the game.

---

If you want to check out my regular illustration work visit : https://www.icreateworlds.net

And please, someone build a 128K GAC ! How hard can that be nowadays ?!
I´m waiting for a 128K GAC to convert my old fantasy comics into a GAC adventure. https://icreateworldsblog.wordpress.com ... ee-comics/But I want to do it with good graphics and not be limited to what can be done with the 48k version, as my old graphic novel has a ton of stuff that only works on a GAC adventure if I can create good graphics for it.

-

Anyway, this is what I wanted to say. Thanks for playing Space 1999 and if you want to check out my current 2024 ZX Gac adventures, visit me here: https://icreateworlds.itch.io/
As I said, a Space 1999 page will be created soon.
And I have three more games done, which I will release soon. A second adventure/book on my Seaview Gac adventure is being written right now, and I plan to have that game done in about two months or so.
A brand new game based on SPACE 1999 is also in my plans unless I get sued by Gerry Anderson or something in the meantime.

Thanks!
Don´t ask me for tricks and tips for Space 1999 because I die in my own game at every command I type now, and I have no clue what I´m doing.

[Old-User]

It´s just Maya...

Ah yes, Maya was special...

[equinox]

Ah yes, Maya was special...

When Maya transformed to remove the heavy metal object from the door, I was like "HEY! Maya! I see that you like heavy metal -- how about if you--"
She reported me to the (space) cops.
I'm very glad. I was a bad male human being and I needed to be punished.

OK I'm P?s?-taking. I watched "Wicked Little Letters" today which is (according to the Bechdel test, and ignoring punks) the most feminist film ever. I do recommend seeing a film that is mostly scenes of women only. It ain't woke (in this case). It is just telling a female story.

the end

[equinox]

Reply to ICreateWorlds_dotNet:

Believe it or not, I'm an Englishman who knows James Bond and The Prisoner, but I had no idea that "Space 1999" was a TV series. I thought it was just a new Spectrum game. So it was total guesswork -- I didn't know anything about the characters or skills. I had to disassemble the game to find out the solution. (And the guess-the-verb problem is really serious. USE KEY versus UNLOCK DOOR. You must get this right. You know this by the way you mixed up CALL and TELL. It was almost a game requiring point-and-click like 1990s Monkey Island.)

I have studied your game by breaking it apart, and I hope to produce a solution (NORTH, WEST, BLAH) and a visual map. I think Andre might do it before me, then I will be very angry but we will see.

Andre Leao is very cool, yes

If you want to make a big serious adventure drama, then use a modern tech like Inform 7. (I've released games in that format before, and I hope to do more. I love 8-bit but it's tiny when you want text.)
Your game was presented to us like a "found lost" (the child in the doorway of the church)...
Anyway: even as a boring hacker, I got hours of pleasure from it, and so will others. Thank you

[Timmy]

I feel like talking about GAC might deserve another thread, or discord. So that we can discuss your game here instead.

Should I make a GAC related thread later? (not home today until late in the evening).

EDIT. I'm very cautious about talking about GAC. The last time I did something for it, it had 0 downloads.