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Conference hydra::amiga_v1

Title:AMIGA NOTES
Notice:Join us in the *NEW* conference - HYDRA::AMIGA_V2
Moderator:HYDRA::MOORE
Created:Sat Apr 26 1986
Last Modified:Wed Feb 05 1992
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:5378
Total number of notes:38326

119.0. "MindWalker" by ERLANG::FEHSKENS () Mon Sep 29 1986 12:16

    I picked up a copy of MindWalker this weekend and was quite impressed
    by it.  It strikes me as even better than MarbleMadness at exploiting
    the Amiga's features, at least in a game context.  Great graphics,
    great sounds.
    
    Has anybody else played with MindWalker?  I have two questions:
    
    1) What's the secret to "grabbing" one of those green doors as you
       fall down the tube?  It seems that once the hands are centered
       over a door, it's still pretty much a chance proposition that
       you'll "catch" it.
    
    2) Is there a bug in the brain?  Is the player's figure supposed
       to be displayed as well as the shield?  Not knowing where your
       body is makes playing this part of the game a bit more difficult
       (and unfair?) than it seems it ought to be.  The instructions
       show the figure displayed.  You can sort of infer where your
       body is from the position of the shield, but...  It's hard dodging
       those viruses and firing neurons when your body's invisible!
    
    I tried finding the "edge of the universe" and there doesn't seem
    to be one.  The playing field seems to be generated as you explore
    it, and the restriction that an idea's path can be no "longer" than
    32 squares seems to obviate the need to save a whole lot of "far
    away" topology.  Does anybody know anything about how the game works
    internally?

    len.
    
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119.1HYSTER::DEARBORNThe One to Watch <>Mon Sep 29 1986 15:207
    There was a mention of the game in Amazing Computing.  They said
    that the game has been floating around for quite a while, but this
    is the first time that it has appeared with DIRECTIONS.  One comment
    said that it is the closest thing to a drug experience he has ever
    seen on a computer.
    
    
119.2Lots of funCLT::MULLENDan Mullen. 'Black Sabath @ 78 speed.'Mon Sep 29 1986 17:4831
    I have MindWalker and have played it for about 2 months.
    
    The trick to grabbing the green doors is getting the
    hands centered both virtically and horizontally and
    this is fairly easy once you get used to the fact the
    the hands 'move' exactly opposite to the way you move
    the joy stick.
    
    You should be able 'see' yourself in the brain.
    I remember hearing this problem before. I think it had
    something to do with not enough memory for the sprites.
    Try making sure that MindWalker is the only thing running
    (i.e. delete all other windows).
    
    As far as I know there is no edge to the universe (at least I
    haven't found it either).  I often take advantage of this
    when reaching the square of clear thought(?) would take
    too many form changes and there is a lack of pyrimids in
    the area (which is often).
    
    I don't know how the game works internally but I do know
    that with practice it can be beat (my room mate did it)
    It took about 6 trips into the brain to gather enough
    shards of sanity to solve the puzzle.
    
    In my opinion its a great game. Plus its not copy protected
    and it keeps a list of high scores.
    
    Enjoy,
    
    Dan.
119.3I Couldn't Stop Before I Went Blind...ERLANG::FEHSKENSTue Sep 30 1986 11:2414
    I've got 512K and MindWalker is the only thing on the machine.
    Should I pull MindWalker out of the disk's window, then close the
    window, *then* run MindWalker?

    I grab the doors just as you describe; as far as I can tell,
    even when I'm "centered", only about half of them get "caught".
    Since the hands are positioned at the bottom of the screen, when
    the doors are right near them, it's impossible to see the bottom
    of the door; hence, maybe I'm not centered vertically?
    
    Is it possible that you and I have different versions of the game?
    
    len.
    
119.4Should be working!??CLT::MULLENDan Mullen.Tue Sep 30 1986 12:2417
    Hmm,
    
    Pulling MindWalker out of the disks window shouldn't be
    necessary (I've never had to do it).
    
    Patience is key when grabbing the green doors, don't get
    hyped if you miss the first couple (the music and graphics
    tend to speed up and its easy to panic).
    
    I would sugest bringing your copy back to the dealer and
    trying it on his machine to eliminate either the game or
    your machine (very doubtful that its your machine).
    
    Good luck,
    
    		Dan
    
119.5Some Do, Some Don'tERLANG::FEHSKENSMon Oct 13 1986 11:3810
    Well, I took my copy of Mindwalker around to a bunch of Amigas,
    and so far 2 out of 4 display the figure and the other 2 don't.
    Thus, it is clearly my Amiga that's at fault, but it's not the only
    one that behaves that way.  The dealer's best guess was that there
    was some subtle change made during production.  My Amiga works
    fine in all other respects (at least as far as I can tell).
    I guess I get to play "take the problem to Commodore" now.
    
    len.
    
119.6ChipsHYSTER::DEARBORNThe One to Watch <>Mon Oct 13 1986 11:505
    I wonder if this has anything to do with the change in graphics
    chips.  Some were shipped with 'Extra Halfbright Mode' and some
    weren't.  Maybe there were other side effects...
    
    
119.7Fishy?ERLANG::FEHSKENSTue Oct 14 1986 11:008
    I have extra half bright mode - the PD test is obvious.  I think
    this is an animation bug, rather than a graphics bug.  I am checking
    this on a few other Amigas, to see if there's any correlation with
    serial number.  One of the ones that it worked on also had extra
    half bright mode, so I don't think that's the cause.
    
    len.
    
119.8NiceHYSTER::DEARBORNTrouvez MieuxTue Nov 25 1986 09:1313
    I picked up a copy of the game this weekend.  It's great.  The sound,
    in stereo, is quite nice.  The different screens really showcase
    the Amiga's outstanding graphics capabilities (not just the game
    screens, but the "hall of fame" screens, etc...really beautiful)
    
    Another nice thing, for sloppy players like me, is that it gives
    you several chances per life, and three lifes.  As a result, I can
    get a little farther into the game without getting killed in the
    first few moves.  For fun though, move the difficulty indicator
    all the way to the right, and watch what happens!
    
    Nice Game.  Nice to watch.  Nice to listen to.  Nice to play.
    
119.9No Longer "Broken"DRUMS::FEHSKENSThu May 14 1987 16:188
    Well, the mystery is finally solved.  My Mindwalker was bitten by
    the sprite bug related to the positioning of the window via Preferences.
    
    I got another Workbench with a copy of Grabbit, and ran Mindwalker
    before screwing around with Preferences and everything worked fine.
    
    len.
    
119.10buggy brainHYSTER::DEARBORNTrouvez MieuxTue Jan 10 1989 14:0015
    Let's turn the clock way, way back...
    
    I have installed this game on the hard disk of my A2000.  The now
    has problems when you are in the second level of the brain, similar
    to those mentioned in earlier replies.  Your character is not
    displayed, only your shield.  One of the virus sprites is scrambled,
    creating a vertical bar of noise on the screen.
    
    Does anyone know if there is anything I can run to eliminate this?
    I have an old demo called Oing (several small bouncing balls) that
    has the same problem on the 2000.  Any clues?  Maybe some kind of
    memory patch?
    
    Randy
    
119.11ANT::SMCAFEESteve McAfeeTue Jan 10 1989 16:197
    
    I'm not sure, but wasn't this something about having the screen
    too far to the left or right?  Try going into preferences and moving the
    screen more toward the center.  Also, morerows can cause you sprite
    problems...
    
    - steve
119.12Seems to be my recollectionSTAR::BANKSIn Search of MediocrityTue Jan 10 1989 16:374
    I think .11 explains the one time I had this problem with MindWalker.
    I'd gotten ahold of a field test copy of 1.1 (or was it 1.2?), and
    had the screen shoved so far over to the left that it couldn't DMA
    the sprite.
119.13fixedHYSTER::DEARBORNTrouvez MieuxWed Jan 11 1989 11:3010
    You were right. On mine, the screen has to be moved almost all the
    way to the right.  That fixes the problem.
    
    I created a 'click first' icon that uses asetprefs to set up the
    proper settings for the game.
    
    All is well (except in the scientist's mind).
    
    Randy