User talk:ATMachine

Fate of Atlantis

Hi there, ATMachine! Whoa, I had no idea Kerner's line was different originally. Thanks for adding this! :-) I uploaded some screenshots to go along with your text.

Regarding the submarine on the flag in the swastika...do you happen to know which version has it? I checked the backgrounds of some English and German releases with Scumm Revisited (version 2.0.12.46) and the flag seems to be a modified version of the 1938 to 1945 Reichskriegsflagge with the swastika replaced by a Balkenkreuz in every version. I think I've heard before that it was a swastika but I just can't seem to find a version that has it. Maybe it's an urban legend or was in some demo version with the submarine backgrounds still included?

I also found someone claim the animation when Kerner deforms into a horned disfigured dwarf was changed in the CD version. For some reason, their comment is ROT13 encoded, here it is decoded: "In the disk version, Kerner's final transformation is differently animated than the CD version. They both end in the same, but the process is different, in one of them they included his nazi clothes while the other is more animalistic." Indeed, I noticed the animation looking a bit different (note the differently colored boots, for example) when comparing this video of the Italian floppy version to this video from the English CD version but that could only be a glitch in the emulation. DekuNut (talk) 10:30, 6 August 2019 (EDT)

Hello there!

I can confirm that Kerner's transformation animation is different in the English PC floppy & CD versions. I never realized that! Good sleuthing work there.

I wrote the description of the submarine flag from memory (as I did with Kerner's dialogue). I must have confused the Balkenkreuz on the submarine flag with a swastika. And checking my copy of the German version, it remains in the game after all. I've corrected the page info. ATMachine (talk) 19:09, 6 August 2019 (EDT)

Further update: it's actually the palette rather than the animation that was changed in Kerner's death sequence.

The Balkenkreuz on the submarine flag originally having been a swastika sounds plausible, though I have no evidence for it. I'd love to play older pre-release builds of the game to see if it was included. ATMachine (talk) 02:36, 7 August 2019 (EDT)

Thank you for those finds and your edits, so great to find out more about the version differences! Looks like there are quite a few more than originally thought. Unfortunately, upon checking the English demo versions, I can confirm that they do not include the submarine background in question. However, as you said, it would make sense that the flag had a swastika at some point, seeing how the real-life counterpart does too. Unseen64 has an article on an early pre-release build that shows the upper control room of the submarine, though unfortunately not the room with the flag. But maybe there are other screenshots from old magazines floating around. I'll be on the lookout. Thanks again. DekuNut (talk) 07:21, 7 August 2019 (EDT)

Hello. I discovered a while back, after some digging, that there exists a glitch in the CD version of the game that prevents you from earning the Indy Quotient points for when you launch yourself out of the torpedo launcher, preventing you from ever getting all of them. I was wondering if either of you could find out the cause of this glitch, and, if not, know anyone who can. It would be very appreciated. Thanks in advance! Bobb11881 (talk) 17:26, 23 November 2020 (EST)

I've never heard of this glitch. In fact, in my copy of the CD version I think it works OK, as I have 977 points total (which IIRC is 1000 minus the points for beating Singing Arnold, Anton the fists-path catacombs Nazi, and the Atlantean prison guard in fist-fights). I know there are some issues with IQ points in the EGA version of the Last Crusade adventure game, but I was unaware of any such issues in Fate of Atlantis. I'll have to investigate further. ATMachine (talk) 04:08, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

Checking the hint book, the points for defeating Hans (I misremembered - it's Hans, with the alternate slab option, rather than Anton whom I've never knocked out properly) are 6, 10 for Arnold, and 9 for the Atlantean dungeon guard. Totalling 23, fitting with a 977/1000 total. Whereas it's 9 points for launching Indy out of the sub successfully. Besides the PC CD, I also have 977 points for this on my copy of the PC floppy version, so I'm not sure where to begin with this. Email me (de831118 AT gmail DOT com) if you want to elaborate with more details. ATMachine (talk) 04:20, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

Day of the Tentacle prerelease material

Hello! You seem to know a lot more about prerelease material of Day of the Tentacle than anywhere else online, in fact I notice the Unseen64 article I cited even links to your (dead?) website. First of all I wanted to thank you for making the article far more interesting, but more importantly I wanted to know if you had links to any other prerelease material I might not have seen? Not even neccessarily for the article, I just find it fascinating...

I also notice your bio claims you're responsible for "dustbin", does this mean "dustbin.mixnmojo.com"? If so, great job, but that being the case, I wondered if you might have any idea where the concept art found at https://mixnmojo.com/media/galleries/Day-of-the-Tentacle-Concept-Art originates from? Some of it appears in articles, DOTT Remastered's Concept Browser etc but some of it seems to be entirely unique to mixnmojo.com --NeoDement (talk) 09:53, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

Yes, "dustbin.mixnmojo.co" (note the suffix) is my website. Unfortunately most of the images were ruined by Photobucket's switch to not allowing remote linking of images.

I don't know if I have anything you wouldn't know about in regards to Day of the Tentacle. About the only things I can think of are the hint book, which has a walkthrough that at one point refers to Dr. Fred's Zom-B-Matic from the original Maniac Mansion as the Brain-O-Drain (TM). And the article on DOTT in LucasArts' Adventurer #5 newsletter, which refers throughout to Tim Schafer as "Tim Delacruz" for some bizarre reason.

I don't remember who put the concept art up on Mixnmojo; it wasn't me, but someone else. Perhaps they got it from Larry Ahern somehow (maybe a portfolio website?), because it seems to be mostly character concept art by him.

ATMachine (talk)

Oh yes, I've seen all of those. Thanks anyway though! I checked out the full spread from the magazine scan the Razor concept art was found in and found several more interesting early versions of rooms, some of which were also on the back of the game box.

I also sourced the lost Purple Tentacle animation rough, which was the one I was most keen to add a second citation for. It's from LucasArts' Adventurer #6.

I assume https://my.xfinity.com/~ervind/ was a copy of the current dustbin and didn't host any unique lost material?--NeoDement (talk) 15:58, 29 April 2020 (UTC)

Xfinity (previously known as Comcast) was my old host, before they shut down their personal web hosting service. I moved to Mixnmojo after that, and updated the site from time to time (so the Mixnmojo versions of the webpages are the latest ones, with more rather than less stuff). But then Photobucket killed my images. Frankly that left me kind of dispirited.

ATMachine (talk)

Hi, sorry but I believe you are wrong about the image of Bernard reading the letter. I've done a gif to show you, and if you agree, I will be reinstating it in the article: https://imgur.com/a/EwrX6Me

The hat is immediately noticable, but the eyebrow difference is present too. You have also documented the "I don't think you should drink that..." room, but I have already documented that as "Toxic River" on the Room Differences page. --NeoDement (talk) 15:24, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

Upon further analysis of the Bernard reading the letter image I believe you're correct. All black pixels next to a significantly lighter colour are thinner looking than they are in the final game, and as you say, it is the exact same frame present on the back of the box, so a revision seems unlikely. I'll put deletion requests on the files and merge your version of "Toxic River" with the one on the Room Differences page. (much nicer scans and insight into the silhouette change)--NeoDement (talk) 16:02, 1 May 2020 (UTC)

Hi! You mentioned being dispirited about Photobucket killing your images. I stumbled upon this on the Monkey Island 2 article here, it looks like you could possibly restore a vast majority your images from this? http://web.archive.org/web/20151002175436/http://home.comcast.net/~ervind/ --NeoDement (talk) 10:10, 10 May 2020 (UTC)

Thank you!! :D ATMachine (talk)