22 September 2020, 08:49 | #1 |
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Before there was MegaBall... there was BALL
I've been trying to find this early version of what later evolved into MegaBall. I had it years ago but now the original downloaded archive is long gone. Has anyone come across it more recently? I don't know if it ever made it over to the European BBSes... hopefully it did because the pre-Aminet file repos on this side of the pond have not been well preserved...
PD/Shareware game by Ed Mackey, circa 1990/1991. Thanks in advance! |
22 September 2020, 12:05 | #2 |
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22 September 2020, 18:03 | #3 |
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Thanks, I found that shortly after posting... but it's incomplete. The original icons, docs, datestamps on the files are missing.
So, halfway there - still looking for the original distribution archive. |
05 October 2020, 20:57 | #4 | |
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Last edited by DrBong; 05 October 2020 at 23:48. Reason: Fixed typo + sentence! |
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06 October 2020, 05:02 | #5 |
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@ DrBong
Good detective work, thanks! And just a few days from the game's 30th anniversary |
07 October 2020, 19:35 | #6 |
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No problem mate - glad to be of service! I already had the Assassins compilation version on my HD. Just took me a few minutes to track down the original release archive, thanks to the invaluable PD lists on Amiga-Stuff.com.
Anyway, I didn't realise that the game's 30th anniversary was coming up (geez, we're getting old! ). I might just have a way of commemorating it! Hmmm, stay tuned.... Last edited by DrBong; 07 October 2020 at 20:14. Reason: Added sentence! |
11 October 2020, 12:07 | #7 |
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Ooops, I posted this in the other thread... better here:
Disk in The Zone! made from Dr.Bong's .LHA The game runs on OCS / ECS and AGA. Last edited by DamienD; 14 October 2020 at 19:59. |
11 October 2020, 20:20 | #8 |
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Apols for hi-jacking the thread but as the topic of MegaBall has come up I was hoping I may be able to be put straignt on a possible misconception I have.
My Lager-addled memory from back-in-the-day tells me that in addition to the main Megaball release there were loads of third party PD disks with home-designed levels that you could get from the PD Libraries but I can't seem to find them now. Am I right & if so can someone point me to where to find these please or is this just another false memory ? Thanks |
11 October 2020, 21:47 | #9 | ||
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Quote:
Quote:
http://aminet.net/search?query=megaball Last edited by DrBong; 11 October 2020 at 21:58. |
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11 October 2020, 23:09 | #10 | |
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I just went off the naming for the MegaBall series: http://grandis.nu/eabsearch/search.p...xclude=&limit= |
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11 October 2020, 23:24 | #11 | ||
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There was source code in the CAM version, but no graphics or audio files to complete a build. Not sure yet if those were omitted from CAM of if they were never distributed in the first place. Also, the CAM and Assassins releases were crunched with PowerPacker. I recently found just the Ball executable on an old hard drive - which I suspect came from that still-missing original archive via a BBS - and it was not crunched. I didn't know how to decrunch things myself back then, so that's probably how it was distributed. Quote:
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12 October 2020, 12:19 | #12 |
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Brilliant thanks !
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12 October 2020, 16:01 | #13 | ||
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Quote:
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12 October 2020, 20:34 | #14 |
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A couple of further dumb questions if I may ?
Am I right in thinking I can only run MegaBall 4 from an HD install ? I would prefer to run from ADFs (as thats how my PD collection is setup under WinUAE). If not would I be right in thinking I could run MegaBall 3 or 3 from ADFs & do these versions also allow you to load the range of HomeBrew 'Boards' as alrady mentioned earleir in this thread ? Thanks again for any advice. |
12 October 2020, 21:04 | #15 |
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It’s intended to be HD installed, but it can run from floppy with a “manual” installation. On a single-disk setup you’ll have to forego (most of) the music. With multiple disk drives you’ll need to adjust the icon tooltypes so that it looks for the music on another volume rather than the relative path of MB_Music/. Boards are loaded via a standard file requester so those can be stored anywhere.
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12 October 2020, 23:52 | #16 | ||
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New HOL entry for BALL !!!
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Quote:
BTW, check out the HOL double-barrel screenshot below with the Mackey brothers' subtle dig at IBuM! Ball (PD) ------> http://hol.abime.net/5464 <------ (New HOL entry) Last edited by DrBong; 13 October 2020 at 19:23. Reason: Added screenshot! |
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13 October 2020, 20:03 | #17 | ||
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Anyway, I needed to knock up a HOL entry last night for Ball and use my A500 to take screenshots with the Action Replay.....so I quickly adapted your ADF to autoboot straight into the game and included decrunched game exec + doc files since there was plenty of space on the disk. It tested fine on both my A500 and A1200/030. In the Zone for anyone interested.... Quote:
As for the source code, my guess is that the graphics and audio files weren't distributed if the Mackey brothers had immediate plans to expand on Ball by developing shareware versions of it that were released as MegaBall a year later. We'll probably never know unless someone in your neck of the woods unearths some crusty old disk or hard drive/backup with the original PD release on it. |
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13 October 2020, 21:46 | #18 | |
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I don't know why it doesn't work on KS 1.3; I used "LoadWB" and "EndCLI" from this disk: "Workbench v1.3 rev 34.20 (1988)(Commodore)(A500-A2000)(GB)(Disk 1 of 2)(Workbench).adf". I haven't seen this issue before and I've made loads of KS 1.3 disks using the above "LoadWB" and "EndCLI"... The weird thing though is; after it "craps out", just type "LoadWB" and then "EndCLI" and all is good. Seems it doesn't like from the "S/Startup-Sequence" which is highly odd. Anyway, will look / try to fix tomorrow night after work. |
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13 October 2020, 21:54 | #19 |
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@DamienD
Yeh, I was quite surprised when it crapped out. Nothing in the startup-sequence looked out of place to my eyes. Weird! |
13 October 2020, 22:19 | #20 | ||
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I forgot that with 1.3 you need "icon.library" in order to display icons... Adding this to disk fixed the issue. New disk in The Zone! that works on all KS versions Edit: slightly updated the disk to make it look better on KS 1.3: Last edited by DamienD; 14 October 2020 at 19:54. |
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