Category: Knockabout

Knockabout has been available in varying forms for about 3 months now. I’d received next to no feedback on the game after initially making it available on the ZX Spectrum Next forum back in August. Recently, a new forum opened at Spectrum Computing which I joined. It had a section for letting people know what projects you are currently working on. I posted a topic about Knockabout and within a couple of days got a much better response and some proper feedback.

One of the surprising things with the previous releases was the lack of reported bugs (one of the first versions had a typo in the level data which made it impossible to get past level 4). In software there are usually two reasons for this: 1 – the code is perfect and bug free or 2 – no one is using the code. I’m realistic enough to see the latter as the reason for the lack of bug reports. Maybe it will be the former one day. 🙂

Turns out there were some cosmetic glitches and some right howlers. From a rotating switch not being drawn correctly in a certain situation, player tiles being left behind after moving which would block your progress and the undo mechanism which – apart from working intermittently  – would randomly corrupt memory.

I made a number of intermediate builds available on the forum to get to the bottom of the reported issues. After a hiatus of a month or so (I was working on contributions for the upcoming WOOT! ZXMAS 2017 tape magazine but, more on that to come…) I’ve picked up the code again and made a proper new build available.

The following changes have been made in build 107:

• Added levels 83-90.
• Fixed switch graphics glitch when rotating a 2×2 switch anti-clockwise.
• Logic fixes to undo system.
• Undoing a move was corrupting memory.
• Try and stop issue where a ‘stuck tile’ gets left behind on the level after moving.

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My guess at the the number of levels – 136 – has been confirmed. I managed to find a newer version of the Nintendo DS game ‘PuzzleBoy’ – 1.10. rather than 1.04. This had a read me file which states the game has 136 levels and more usefully, the source of the additional levels. PuzzleBoy is a not a direct clone of Kwirk. While it uses the levels, they are interspersed with other levels that I assumed had been written by the author of the DS version. It turns out though that they are from Amazing Tater (a sequel to Kwirk on the Gameboy) and PuzzleBoy, a version of Kwirk for the PC Engine.

This proved rather helpful in getting me past level 71 which I had been stuck on for a while, as I found and downloaded walkthroughs for Amazing Tater and Puzzleboy. I then managed to track down which game the level was from and then used the solution to complete the level. I couldn’t figure out a way to auto convert the levels from the DS so I’ve been adding them in one at a time as I’ve been progressing through the game – which is why they’ve been added in spits and spurts.

The following changes have been made in build 106:

• Added levels 71 to 82.
• Swapped the Restart and Map options around in the break menu.
• Made the code entry screen look similar to the level info screen.
• Added support for blocks greater than 1 x 1 starting over a hole.
  Needed for level 74. I think this is an enhancement from Amazing Tater as Kwirk doesn’t appear to have blocks or switches starting over holes.
• Fixed a bug creating a block when you had two n x n blocks on the same y axis. Spotted on level 71.
• The initial switch position on level 12 was incorrect.

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