Thank you for your bug reports. The first bug (lockups after collecting certain ammo items) has already been fixed a while ago. Nisaba forwarded (your?) videos showing such a crash in the Concealed Ruin level to me and I was able to recreate the bug, track it down and fix it. The lockup only happened on real hardware, not in DOSBox, so most people never experienced that. And the stunner items that caused the bug were only spawned when entering a level with less than 5 ammo, which made the bug even less likely to happen for those who stock up on ammo by returning to the BWB in between levels.
The second is a game design decision, not a bug.
Foray in the Forest (development thread)
Re: Foray in the Forest (development thread)
Hail to the K1n9, baby!
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Re: Foray in the Forest (development thread)
For shyts and giggles while I was play testing during pre-release I did one play through to play every level without once going to the BWB to refill to see if it was possible to have enough ammo based on the charging stations and ray guns available in each individual level and it was possible. However it was a whole lot easier to use the BWB. Strangely i never experienced that crash.K1n9_Duk3 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 14, 2025 11:31 ......And the stunner items that caused the bug were only spawned when entering a level with less than 5 ammo, which made the bug even less likely to happen for those who stock up on ammo by returning to the BWB in between levels.
The second is a game design decision, not a bug.
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Re: Foray in the Forest (development thread)
Fascinating discussion, Bounder!
I recently learned more about this 'tragedy of CGA / EGA' elsewhere. Quadrupling the CGA memory planes, as you say, required four times the output circuitry. So EGA was the best that could be done with the original CGA architecture at that price point.
Not making the expanded colour palette compatible with 200p was shortsighted, I agree. A few hardware tricks to detect the 'right' monitor could have allowed a 64-colour palette in 320x200.
Doing it over again:
Looks like IBM had the wrong assumptions about how people would use CGA, so yes, switcheable palettes would be better. So much better. Might have been like Amstrad CPC, but with a more limited palette.
I agree with all of your points, and things would have looked different if they had been followed. Maybe more ZX ports that way, as well.
When it comes to 'severe limitations leading to an abundance of creativity,' I would love to see what could be done with the original IBM 286s.
Something like the 8088 MPH demo, but for the AT. The relatively standardized hardware of an AT/EGA should allow all sorts of hardware hacking 'tricks' that would be impossible to replicate on clone systems.
Anyway, I hope to find out about running FITF on a VGA 386, and will post later if that happens.