i_CAT - new game

BAM!BAM!BAM!
BAM!
BAM!  BLUE AZURE MONDAY BAM!
BAM!
BAM!BAM!BAM!BAM!


Recently we released a new game - DIGDOG - which received good reviews from DOG lovers.  But CAT Lovers were feeling left out.  By popular demand (albeit one person) the request came in to do something about this.  We needed a CAT sprite, and off to the stamp collector we went.  Gambler was up to the task yet again, to build a cat image.  It was a lot of work, but he did it again - knocked it out of the park!  I LOVE THIS CAT.  We also had to update the title screen.  Sure, we wanted to have the title be DIGCAT, but the DIGDUG draw algorithm doesn't allow us to do this.  The D&G in DUG are cloned to the D&G in DIG.  What to do?  The first thing was to convert DOG to CAT and that was relatively simple, using existing bytes as much as possible to create the new lettering outlines.  The "I" was already there in DIG, but we needed to create another word.  What would it be?  With the DIGDUG disassembly in-hand I found the display list call-outs and decided to try to partially disable the display list to remove the D&G in DIG and see what that looks like.  The precise eight bytes were zeroed out and - boom, done!  Gambler's CAT face was so cute that I tried to incorporate it into the "i" - his looks better, but the artwork is OK.  Kids across the world will love this new game.

There was once i-Magic, i-Pod, i-Phone, i-Pad, i-Photo, i-DVD (& i-Sick) and now there's…

i_CAT   *new game*  AVAILABLE ONLY AT ATARIAGE.COM


i_CAT TITLE SCREEN PIC


i_CAT GAMEPLAY PIC


This game is completely original DIGDUG stock code (w/ TEPperware™ reconstructed code), except for the title screen and the new character - i_CAT - she's a great & mischievous cat.  Both NTSC and PAL versions available below.  Every CAT lover will love this game!  Every CAT lover that doesn't have a cat will want a cat after playing this game.  DISCLAIMER: no animals are damaged or hurt during the development and gameplay of this game.

NOTE:  THERE ARE TWO VERSIONS OF EVERYTHING - one version has the original harpoon that the DIGDOG throws at the creatures to pump them up.  The other version has an invisible harpoon - you can shoot but you don't see anything.  Which version do you prefer?

NTSC i_CAT binary (contains TEPperware™) w/ Harpoon
 i_CAT_NTSC_HARP_476C.bin   16K   2 downloads
NTSC i_CAT emulator (contains TEPperware™) w/ Harpoon
 i_CAT_NTSC_HARP_16K.a78   16.13K   3 downloads
NTSC i_CAT binary (contains TEPperware™) w/o Harpoon
 i_CAT_NTSC_noHARP_EF47.bin   16K   2 downloads
NTSC i_CAT emulator (contains TEPperware™) w/o Harpoon
 i_CAT_NTSC_noHARP_16K.a78   16.13K   2 downloads

PAL i_CAT binary (contains codeBLUE™) w/ Harpoon
 i_CAT_PAL_HARP_4E38.bin   32K   2 downloads
PAL i_CAT emulator (contains codeBLUE™) w/ Harpoon
 i_CAT_PAL_HARP_32K.a78   32.13K   2 downloads
PAL i_CAT binary (contains codeBLUE™) w/o Harpoon
 i_CAT_PAL_noHARP_F35A.bin   32K   2 downloads
PAL i_CAT emulator (contains codeBLUE™) w/o Harpoon
 i_CAT_PAL_noHARP_32K.a78   32.13K   2 downloads

TRANSLATING TO THE WORLD OF INVINCIBILITY
Moving on, it's time to bring in the Mod Squad to modifix the game to be playable by any "kid."  Some games are easy to make "invincible," however this one isn't.  With fire bombs, multiple killer creatures and rocks dropping on your head, all of these need to be handled.  First, for the collision detection:

YESCOLL:
F746--A9-01-----LDA #$01--------;MONSTER AND DIGDUG COLLIDE!!!
F748--85-84-----STA DETHWISH
F74A--A4-80-----LDY LASTMOVE
F74C--BE-31-C0--LDX DANIMIX,Y
F74F--BD-55-C1--LDA ADEATH,X
F752--85-66-----STA DDINDX
F754--20-C8-F7--JSR VANPUMP-----;STOP DISPLAYING PUMP
F757--A0-0C-----LDY #SNG8-------;GOTCHA NOISE
F759--4C-EF-FD--JMP NOISE-------;NOISE IS A SUBR

To skip over the "death" shenanigans, simply jump over it by adding a jump at $F746 ($3746 on the EPROM), change $A9$01$$85$84 to $4C$57$F7$EA.  Or, if you don't want to hear the "gotcha" noise every time you would have died (but didn't), change $A9$01$$85$84 to $4C$5C$F7$EA.

ROCK SQUASHING
Next, to disable the rock squashing routine.  This occurs at around $F6D7.

NOVEG:
F6D7--A5-E3-----LDA SQUASH------;DIGDUG WANTS TO DIE FROM SQUASHING?
F6D9--F0-07-----BEQ ROCKDETH
F6DB--A0-00-----LDY #00
F6DD--84-E3-----STY SQUASH
F6DF--C8--------INY
F6E0--84-84-----STY DETHWISH

"Death" occurs with DETHWISH ($84) = 1.  If you don't want to die (ever), set DETHWISH = 0 (forever) and you'll never die.  You can do this by deleting the increment instruction at $F6DF (change $C8 TO $EA).  Now, we still get squashed at $F6DD, but I like that!  If we use this as a trainer, to improve our DigDug gameplay we need to preserve as much of the original game as possible.  So we keep the squash (or is it squish?).  This means the squash will squish the DigDug (you) but then you bounce back to life again.  It's great!

To assure DETHWISH is never set, also change $F507 from $86$84 to $EA$EA and $D1F3 from $85$84 to $EA$EA.

ESCAPE MODE
The other "feature" of the original game [that I never liked] was the "escape mode" which generally prevents you from pumping the last creature.  I thought that the waves/levels were timed, so you would always run out of time, possibly and/or probably preventing you from killing the last creature.  But when I went into invincible mode and didn't shoot/pump any creatures, the level would go on forever waiting for me to do something (no need for the pause button any more).  It took some time to find this in the code, but I got it!  Escape mode happens around $F361, but to avoid the set-up for it, we need to go back further in the code to $F334 to avoid the speed-up of the last creature.  The way I found this was the call to the "Escape Noise" which is #SNG9.  Then it was just a matter of jumping around this part of the code.

PREV2:
F363--CA--------DEX
F364--B5-B2-----LDA MONSTAT,X
F366--A8--------TAY
F367--30-FA-----BMI PREV2
F369--29-40-----AND #$40------;NO ESCAPE MUSIC IF LAST CR SQUASHING
F36B--D0-0C-----BNE NOESCMUS
F36D--98--------TYA
F36E--29-06-----AND #$06------;NO ESCAPE MUSIC IF LAST CR GBNF
F370--C9-02-----CMP #$02
F372--F0-05-----BEQ NOESCMUS
F374--A0-0D-----LDY #SNG9-----;ESCAPING NOISE
F376--20-EF-FD--JSR NOISE

Change $F364 (EPROM $3364) from $B5$B2$A8 to $4C$79$F3 to bypass the whole escape routine.  But now you must kill all the creatures to gain the next level!  Creature Feature!

EXTRA LIVES
In the original game, I never achieved an extra life in the default level.  You had to amass 20,000 points to do this.  Now, I changed it from 20,000 to 10,000 so I can hear the bonus life jingle earlier.  Bonuses now occur at 10,000 and 50,000 and 100,000 so there's a relatively constant flow of bonus lives.  Maximum lives displayed is 9.

DF92--C9-02-----CMP #02-------;DID WE JUST PASS 20,000?
DF94--F0-08-----BEQ NEWMAN
DF96--29-0F-----AND #$0F------;MULTIPLE OF 100,000?
DF98--F0-04-----BEQ NEWMAN
DF9A--C9-05-----CMP #05-------;MULTIPLE OF 50,000?
DF9C--D0-13-----BNE ADDSDONE

Change $DF92 (EPROM $1F92) from $C9$02 to $C9$01 to achieve a bonus life at 10,000 points.

And here's the trap…I start you with 1 life.  Will you ever achieve the maximum of 9 lives?  Play on, and see!!!  (What happens at a million points?)

D212--A2-05-----LDX #05-------;SET UP NUMBER OF MEN LEFT.
D214--86-9E-----STX NUMMEN----;PLAYER 0'S MEN.
D216--A5-82-----LDA NUMPLAYR
D218--D0-01-----BNE ISCORE
D21A--AA--------TAX

Change $D212 (EPROM $1212) from $A2$05 to $A2$02 to start with 1 bonus life.

FRUIT BONUSES
The only thing missing now is more FRUIT (aka VEGGIES) bonuses.  The original game calls for 2 rocks to be dropped and then you get fruit.  WE WANT MORE FRUIT.

RFINISH:
F6C4--A9-00-----LDA #00
F6C6--95-C3-----STA TUMBLE,X
F6C8--95-49-----STA ROCKSY,X
F6CA--C6-D4-----DEC ROCKSNOW---;DECREMENT # OF ROCKS FALLING
F6CC--E6-C8-----INC FALLCNT
F6CE--A5-C8-----LDA FALLCNT
F6D0--C9-02-----CMP #02--------;EVERY 2 ROCKS DROPPED GETS FRUIT
F6D2--D0-03-----BNE NOVEG
F6D4--4A--------LSR A
F6D5--85-F1-----STA FRUIT------;SET FRUIT = 1 TO GET FRUIT DISPLAYED

From $F6D0 change $C9$02$D0$03$4A to $EA$EA$EA$A9$01 and you will get a bonus fruit displayed every time you drop a rock.  Fruit is healthy - go get it!

SQUASH
Don't know exactly how to decipher the squash/crunch routine, so I made a simple mod to not allow the DIGDOG to squash so much in the y-axis.

CRUNCH2:
D62F--C9-06-----CMP #$06-------;REQUIRE OVERLAP OF 2
D631--B0-27-----BCS CRUNCH5
D633--B5-49-----LDA ROCKSY,X---;LDA DOES NOT AFFECT CARRY
D635--69-06-----ADC #$06
D637--38--------SEC
D638--E5-D1-----SBC VICTIMY
D63A--90-1E-----BCC CRUNCH5
D63C--C9-11-----CMP #17
D63E--B0-1A-----BCS CRUNCH5

D640--B5-49-----LDA ROCKSY,X
D642--E9-05-----SBC #$06-1-----;MIGHT NEED TO TWEAK THIS
D644--85-D2-----STA RTEMP
D646--C9-17-----CMP #MINDDY----;DON'T SQUASH OFF EDGE
D648--90-12-----BCC MINSQSHY
D64A--E5-D1-----SBC VICTIMY
D64C--90-08-----BCC NEWSQSHY
D64E--C9-04-----CMP #$04
D650--90-04-----BCC NEWSQSHY
D652--A5-D1-----LDA VICTIMY
D654--D0-02-----BNE NOCADJST

Change $D642 (EPROM $1642) from $E9$05 to $E9$01 to disable DD squash.  Now, in invincible mode, things really wild, see below pic.

i_CAT SUPERBONUS PIC, line up all 8 creatures and drop the rock - you get 15,000 bonus points!!!


SOUND
We're experimenting with the tunes in this game.  One improvement is deleting the DIGDOG throwing the harpoon sound, SNG5.

ASNG5F0
SNG5F0:
EC30------------.BYTE $0B,$08,$06,$0B,$08,$06,$0B,$08   ;,$06   ;9 BYTES-1

F7E5--A0-08-----LDY #SNG5------;THROWN HARPOON
F7E7--20-EF-FD--JSR NOISE

Change $F7E7 (EPROM $37E7) from $20$EF$FD to $EA$EA$EA to disable the throwing the harpoon sound.

Next, we attempt to modify the pumping creature sound, SNG4.  The TIA volume and frequency controls are coded as follows:
ASNG4V0
SNG4V0:
EC71------------.BYTE $0A,$0A,$0A,$0A------------------;15 BYTES
EC75------------.BYTE $0A,$0A,$0A,$0A
EC79------------.BYTE $04,$04,$04,$04,$04,$04,$04

ASNG4F0
SNG4F0:
EC80------------.BYTE $02,$99,$98,$97------------------;15 BYTES-1
EC84------------.BYTE $96,$95,$94,$93
EC88------------.BYTE $32,$17,$18,$19,$1A,$1B----------;,$1C

Change freq control at $EC80 (EPROM $2C80) from $9A,$99,$98,$97,$96,$95,$94,$93,$32,$17,$18,$19,$1A,$1B to $02,$1E,$1F,$1E,$1F,$1E,$1F,$1E,$0F,$0E,$0F,$10,$11,$10 to change the pumping sound.  I was trying to make a dog bark sound.  It's not great, but for the 15 minutes I spent on it - it will do.  Remember, it's TIA.

GLITCHES
Unfortunately, this game is now a little glitchy.  I tried fixing this and gained some improvement.  I think the game expects that you must have died by now and loses some control of the creatures and Fygar's flaming breath is sometimes left behind.  But the game doesn't seem to completely crash as I played 50 levels on my first try and made it all the way through.  Beware there's some pixelization of the bonus fruit.  The bonus fruit now arrives for every rock dropped, so you can go get the bonus even if the fruit is illegible, or not showing at all.  This needs to be fixed by a DIGDUG expert, who probably has zero (0) bytes to work with.  Good luck!


FOR AGES 6 THRU 43 (so Bob can play):

WARNING>  THIS GAME IS ADDICTIVE, YOU MAY NEVER BE ABLE TO STOP PLAYING THIS GAME.  It has unlimited levels and scoring.

>i_CAT INVINCIBLE< **NEW GAME** AVAILABLE ONLY AT ATARIAGE.COM


NTSC i_CAT INVINCIBLE binary (contains TEPperware™) w/ Harpoon
 i_CAT_NTSC_INV_HARP_4370.bin   16K   2 downloads
NTSC i_CAT INVINCIBLE emulator (contains TEPperware™) w/ Harpoon
 i_CAT_NTSC_INV_HARP_16K.a78   16.13K   3 downloads
NTSC i_CAT INVINCIBLE binary (contains TEPperware™) w/o Harpoon
 i_CAT_NTSC_INV_noHARP_EF7E.bin   16K   2 downloads
NTSC i_CAT INVINCIBLE emulator (contains TEPperware™) w/o Harpoon
 i_CAT_NTSC_INV_noHARP_16K.a78   16.13K   2 downloads

PAL i_CAT INVINCIBLE binary (contains codeBLUE™) w/ Harpoon
 i_CAT_PAL_INV_HARP_4E6F.bin   32K   2 downloads
PAL i_CAT INVINCIBLE emulator (contains codeBLUE™) w/ Harpoon
 i_CAT_PAL_INV_HARP_32K.a78   32.13K   2 downloads
PAL i_CAT INVINCIBLE binary (contains codeBLUE™) w/o Harpoon
 i_CAT_PAL_INV_noHARP_F391.bin   32K   2 downloads
PAL i_CAT INVINCIBLE emulator (contains codeBLUE™) w/o Harpoon
 i_CAT_PAL_INV_noHARP_32K.a78   32.13K   2 downloads


ENJOY ALL!!!    ///blueman\\\