old level designer says hello

[equinox]

Hey guys.
I've got a LOT to say on this forum.
Let's say:
1. firstly: I was the guy whose girlfriend made a yam-yam cake (I've seen you talk about it on here) -- I will post pictures again, maybe, maybe. (By the way, I think it was an old forum, but I remember a guy saying "I always wanted to taste the yam-yam", and the other guy replied "the yam-yam always wanted to taste you too" -- I still laugh about this.
2. I was (am) "Equinox Tetrachloride" and "Paul Collins" -- I made levels for R'n'D a very long time ago (2002, 2003). I've seen people on here ranking my levels among the best, which is very flattering, that means a lot to me.
3...
I got some questions and issues, regarding "tape" recording playback problems. I'm just going to throw this out as an idea, 'cause I might be in the wrong sub-forum, etc. but if old Holger is still around (bless his heart) -- yes, we got a compatibility issue.
4...
other things...

Love -- equinox. It's 2023 and I have an alcohol problem. But I really want to talk on this forum, unless you all hate me, I have lots to discuss.

[Holger]

Hi Equinox,

great to see you here in the forum again!

1. firstly: I was the guy whose girlfriend made a yam-yam cake (I've seen you talk about it on here) -- I will post pictures again, maybe, maybe. (By the way, I think it was an old forum, but I remember a guy saying "I always wanted to taste the yam-yam", and the other guy replied "the yam-yam always wanted to taste you too" -- I still laugh about this.

I remember well... and yes, I'm afraid that this mouth-watering picture is lost, together with the first or second forum. So yes, it would be highly appreciated if you would post it again here.

Regarding the two comments: I don't remember who wrote them anymore, but the second comment very much sounds like it could have been written by Alan Bond, I would say.

2. I was (am) "Equinox Tetrachloride" and "Paul Collins" -- I made levels for R'n'D a very long time ago (2002, 2003). I've seen people on here ranking my levels among the best, which is very flattering, that means a lot to me.

They are still outstanding level sets for R'n'D, I think, using relatively small playfield sizes with non-custom elements only, but challenging the player with tricky levels that require quite some thinking (sometimes using engine edge cases to solve a level). Great stuff, and still highly recommended! They are part of the "Contributions" level collection (and were directly bundled with the game package once) and can be found as the following level sets:

- Contributions_2002/rnd_equinox_tetrachloride
- Contributions_2002/rnd_equinox_tetrachloride_ii
- Contributions_2003/rnd_paul_e_collins_iii

BTW, I still have a fourth level set from you (containing 95 levels) that was never released, which really is a shame. I once wanted to include it in an updated "Contributions" level collection, but it never went beyond the year 2006 (which is no coincidence, as my son was born a year later, causing quite some things R'n'D to come to a stop). This level collection really should be updated, as there are a number of other unreleased level sets which deserve to be released.

I got some questions and issues, regarding "tape" recording playback problems. I'm just going to throw this out as an idea, 'cause I might be in the wrong sub-forum, etc. but if old Holger is still around (bless his heart) -- yes, we got a compatibility issue.

Yes, I'm still around.

And I read your last mail from 2013 again this morning (which I never answered ) which contains a long list of issues I should have checked and maybe fixed long before. So, yes, if you have found something weird regarding tape recording or playback compatibility, please feel free to post it to the "Bug Reports" forum.

I have lots to discuss.

I will always be happy to read about here in the forum, and hopefully there are still a few people left who might also be interested!

All the best,
Holger

[equinox]

Thanks, Holger, for your kind message. In exchange, enjoy the YAM CAKE again (remember to save it this time -- maybe you could hide it inside R'n'D as an Easter egg feature -- it was baked in mid-2004 by my good old Goth girl at the time):

https://ibb.co/7X8vwZm
https://ibb.co/Bj7V693
https://ibb.co/ctd74s3

[equinox]

Now let me talk about the problem with old "solution tapes".

As you know, I made my levels mostly around 2003, a quarter of a century ago. BUT R'n'D is programmed with version compatibility, so that things should work back into the past.
I am currently running R'n'D 4.2.0.3 (I can try a newer one if you have it, but I don't think that's going to make a difference).

I created four level sets (three were published, and the fourth maybe was not): based on file_identifier in leveinfo.conf:
Sets 1 to 3 are version 2.1
Set 4 is version 3.0
Most of the solution tapes are fine, but here are the problems:

set 1 lv 11 Fun Factory -- generates enough emeralds but dies while collecting them
set 1 lv 48 Now Use Miners and Climbers -- gets enough emeralds but messes up the exit route and dies
set 2 lv 45 Shiny Things -- solves half the level, then gets blown up by bomb
set 3 lv 60 Sinking Ships -- demo desyncs, player runs meaninglessly against a wall
set 4 lv 5 Smash and Grab -- correct solution but wrong game timing? blown up on final game frame
set 4 lv 10 Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head -- demo quickly desyncs, player runs into acid
set 4 lv 26 The Diamond Heist -- correct solution but wrong game version? dragon fire breath can no longer destroy the brown lock
set 4 lv 80 I Just Wanna Push My Rock -- demo quickly desyncs, player runs into walls

ALSO: set 2 level 94 has a design flaw where you can easily win by hiding in the pipe. The level needs fixing so that the intended (much more clever) solution is the one you must use.

Holger, can you explain this? Maybe the tapes were fine then, but have broken due to changes in the code? -- But I know you tried to be very careful with version compatibility. -- I've got more to say about R'n'D too, but I think this is enough for now.

[equinox]

They are still outstanding level sets for R'n'D, I think, using relatively small playfield sizes with non-custom elements only, but challenging the player with tricky levels that require quite some thinking (sometimes using engine edge cases to solve a level). Great stuff, and still highly recommended! They are part of the "Contributions" level collection (and were directly bundled with the game package once) and can be found as the following level sets:

Actually that annoyed me a bit, at the time. I remember you introduced "custom elements" and "custom graphics", and I thought: okay, that's cool, now we can implement anything -- for example, I could probably write Super Mario Bros. in R'n'D.

But we already had about 100 different elements (from Boulder Dash, Emerald Mine, Supaplex...) in the R'n'D world, and it seemed unnecessary to add more. That's why my levels are different from most of the early levels: because I tried to combine all those things, to create "strange new worlds" (Star Trek?). If you have to learn an entire new set of rules for every single game, that's actually a mental killer. (Imagine doing newspaper chess puzzles where they kept adding new pieces and squares.)

Or maybe I was just jealous. Anyway, it sucks that you didn't publish my 4th level set -- there is good stuff there

[equinox]

Also yet one more comment: in the old R'n'D, you had to view the level (menu screen) before playing it, but now you can move from one to the next. That's convenient, but it means you don't see the level title/name any more, and sometimes there might be funny puns, or a USEFUL CLUE, in the name. I wonder if you could increase the window/screen size a bit, and put the name beside the level, while it's being played.

[filbo]

Hi Equinox -- I remember quite enjoying your (3 published) levelsets, though I don't think I've touched any in at least a decade...

Speaking of old things, RnD 4.2.0.3 is many revs out of date, and old-tape-compatibility is a fun subject that Holger gets to keep revisiting all the time :)

I bet if you used today's 4.3.6.0, some of those tapes you called out will magically have started working again. (And I wouldn't be surprised if a few others magically stopped working... it's hard to keep perfect compatibility with ancient bugs & mysteries!)

In-game facilities for testing old level tapes have also improved over the years. Download a pre-built or build your own 4.3.6.0, then run `rocksndiamonds --help`. You can run commands like `rocksndiamonds -e "autotest rnd_equinox_tetrachloride_ii`.

BTW, RnD 4.3.5.2 (current build on my machine) autotests successfully 100/100, 50/50, 64/64 levels of those 3 levelsets. So either the tape bugs you're experiencing have been fixed; or you have your own private cache of different (and more-challenging :) solution tapes...

[ellipirelli]

Hello, Equinox, I found your website in 2014 during my constant search for levels for RnD with all 4 level sets and put them here in the forum:

viewtopic.php?t=2291

[equinox]

Thanks guys. I will have to upgrade my R'n'D, and test again.

One more question while I'm here: I remember playing some really funny R'n'D levels, clearly done by an Englishman (or Scottish, Irish, Welsh): there was lots of text in the "scrolls", and the idea was that a mad professor had hired you, to do certain jobs for him. It made me laugh really hard, and the level designs were good too. The first(?) level was a moving train; and I remember one where it said something like: "I've found a way to turn blue jewels into gas ovens full of shit." They used custom elements, but nothing complicated, just a few "hacks".

Can anyone identify the creator, and the level set? They're probably around here somewhere.

I'd love to do a "forum level-making project" too, like the old DOOM level designers do, except that I'm too busy right now (work, and house-cleaning, and other things).

[equinox]

Hi Equinox -- I remember quite enjoying your (3 published) levelsets, though I don't think I've touched any in at least a decade...

Cool. Thank you!

BTW, RnD 4.3.5.2 (current build on my machine) autotests successfully 100/100, 50/50, 64/64 levels of those 3 levelsets. So either the tape bugs you're experiencing have been fixed; or you have your own private cache of different (and more-challenging solution tapes...

That's nuts. How could it work in one version, then break in the middle, and work again in a later one?
Well I will have to check it out.
Can you possibly send me your set of tapes, in case I do have any errors or omissions? The ones where he runs into a wall and does "wrong things" do suggest like it's the wrong level...

[equinox]

In-game facilities for testing old level tapes have also improved over the years. Download a pre-built or build your own 4.3.6.0, then run `rocksndiamonds --help`. You can run commands like `rocksndiamonds -e "autotest rnd_equinox_tetrachloride_ii`.

BTW this is particularly funny 'cause I've been hacking the ancient ZX Spectrum game "Rockfall" again (1985!) and when you return from the machine-code call, the return value is either 5 (representing the exit door) or zero -- well -- I think so -- lol. (Not so unlike the traditional Unix or C pattern of returning zero or non-zero.) I want to make a sequel but it's complicated.
At least the 8-bit machines can be run at 1000% speed.

As far as the PC goes, I'm a horrid consoomer (on Windows 10) and dunno if I will be able to command-line it. We'll see.

[filbo]

Can you possibly send me your set of tapes, in case I do have any errors or omissions?

This was with the tapes embedded in Holger's distribution of such things, https://www.artsoft.org/RELEASES/rocksn ... s-1.2.0.7z (access from https://www.artsoft.org/rocksndiamonds/levels/). That .7z file is dated 2006-02-28; the contained .level files are dated between 2002-09-14..2003-09-02, and tapes 2002-09-24..2003-09-01 (except a few later replacements out to 2004-03-14, for which older .orig files also exist).

At least the 8-bit machines can be run at 1000% speed.

Should be 100%, if they have some sort of frame-syncing -- or more like 1000x speed, if they don't!