{"id":7599,"date":"2025-01-10T20:48:56","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T19:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ceo.oric.org\/?p=7599"},"modified":"2025-01-10T20:48:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T19:48:56","slug":"zorgon-keyboards-revenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oric.bqtt.net\/index.php\/2025\/01\/10\/zorgon-keyboards-revenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Zorgon: keyboards revenge !"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>(Scroll down for English version)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Zorgons Revenge est un des jeux les plus populaires sur Oric. Mais, sorti sur Oric-1, sa configuration clavier pour le niveau &#8220;space mission&#8221; n&#8217;est pas adapt\u00e9e au clavier Atmos, et encore moins aux claviers modernes pour les \u00e9mulateurs.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oric.bqtt.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Zorgon_title_x4-1-1024x106.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7610\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oric.bqtt.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/oric_keyboard_issues_zorgon_keyboards_only-2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7605\" style=\"width:306px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>L&#8217;exemple \u00e0 ne pas suivre<\/strong><br>Le niveau &#8220;space mission&#8221; utilise les touches &#8220;X&#8221; et la fl\u00e8che gauche pour faire monter et descendre le vaisseau spatial. Comme l&#8217;illustre Dbug sur Defence-Force dans son <a href=\"https:\/\/osdk.org\/index.php?page=articles&amp;ref=ART16\">article sur la gestion du clavier<\/a>: c&#8217;est parfait sur Oric-1, et moins pour les autres machines ! Et le logiciel ne proposant pas de reconfiguration du clavier, Zorgons Revenge \u00e9tait l&#8217;illustration de l&#8217;exemple \u00e0 ne pas suivre en termes d&#8217;ergonomie.<br>Il existait des palliatifs, comme la cassette &#8220;Joystick adapter 1&#8221; qui permet d&#8217;utiliser un joystick via l&#8217;interface PASE, \u00e0 la place du clavier. Mais combien de joueurs se servent encore d&#8217;un joystick aujourd&#8217;hui (PASE qui plus est) ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Des indices curieux<\/strong><br>Au cours de mes nombreuses num\u00e9risations de cassettes, je suis tomb\u00e9 sur une cassette de Zorgon contenant deux fiches d&#8217;instructions: une en anglais, indiquant les touches habituelles, et une en fran\u00e7ais, indiquant les touches SHIFT et CTRL pour bouger le vaisseau verticalement. Voil\u00e0 qui serait bien pratique, car adapt\u00e9 \u00e0 la fois \u00e0 l&#8217;Oric-1 et \u00e0 l&#8217;Atmos ! Mais le jeu, lui, \u00e9tait impossible \u00e0 charger, la bande ayant mal vieilli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oric.bqtt.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/article_zorgon_manual01_fr_v1v2-1024x816.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7600\" style=\"width:516px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Interrog\u00e9 \u00e0 ce sujet en 2019, alors que je croyais \u00e0 une erreur dans les instructions en fran\u00e7ais, voici ce qu&#8217;en disait l&#8217;auteur, John S. Sinclair:<br><em>Question:<\/em> Zorgon est sorti avant l&#8217;Atmos, du coup les touches pour le niveau spatial sont pr\u00e9vues pour le clavier de l&#8217;Oric-1 (X et fl\u00e8che gauche). Avez-vous jamais envisag\u00e9 de corriger cela pour l&#8217;Atmos, dont la touche X est loin de la fl\u00e8che gauche ?<br><em>R\u00e9ponse:<\/em> Je pense qu&#8217;on l&#8217;a fait, ou peut-\u00eatre bien qu&#8217;on l&#8217;a juste adapt\u00e9 au joystick. Difficile de se souvenir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Question:<\/em> Le manuel en fran\u00e7ais ne parle pas de touche X ni de fl\u00e8che gauche, mais de CTRL et SHIFT pour d\u00e9placer le vaisseau, ce qui est une erreur. Est-ce qu&#8217;une premi\u00e8re version utilisait ces touches ? (ce qui expliquerait que la notice, d\u00e9j\u00e0 partie \u00e0 la traduction, n&#8217;aurait pu \u00eatre corrig\u00e9e \u00e0 temps)<br><em>R\u00e9ponse:<\/em> C&#8217;est une bonne question. Je crois que Ctrl et Shift proviennent d&#8217;Atlantis, un jeu BBC \u00e0 scrolling. J&#8217;allais sans doute les r\u00e9utiliser, et il s&#8217;est trouv\u00e9 que le clavier de l&#8217;Oric \u00e9tait diff\u00e9rent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mince alors, il l&#8217;aurait corrig\u00e9 ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>La r\u00e9v\u00e9lation<\/strong><br>Il y a quelques semaines, mon fr\u00e8re m&#8217;a ramen\u00e9 des cassettes Oric. Dedans se trouve un exemplaire de Zorgons Revenge, avec la pochette indiquant &#8220;for the 48K Oric&#8221; sur l&#8217;avant, &#8220;48K Oric-1 and Oric Atmos&#8221; sur le c\u00f4t\u00e9, et avec des instructions en fran\u00e7ais au dos. La fiche d&#8217;instructions s\u00e9par\u00e9e manquait. Comme d&#8217;habitude, je num\u00e9rise syst\u00e9matiquement le signal audio, pour v\u00e9rifier qu&#8217;on n&#8217;a pas une version diff\u00e9rente. Et l\u00e0 je me rends compte de quelque chose d&#8217;inhabituel: le jeu est pr\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9 du petit soft &#8220;ALC&#8221;, ce classique charg\u00e9 de limiter les &#8220;Errors found&#8221; sur Atmos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oric.bqtt.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screen96_article_x4-2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7608\" style=\"width:339px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br>Je compare le contenu du jeu lui-m\u00eame, avec un transfert pr\u00e9c\u00e9dent, et bien que WAV2TAP n&#8217;ait rien d\u00e9tect\u00e9 d&#8217;anormal, je vois 3 ou 4 octets diff\u00e9rents. Erron\u00e9s ?<br>Bien. Nouvelle num\u00e9risation: r\u00e9sultat identique. Bizarre. Et subitement, la connexion se fait: je lance le nouveau fichier .TAP, je joue jusqu&#8217;\u00e0 tomber sur le tableau &#8220;space mission&#8221;, et l\u00e0\u2026 HOURRA, la version corrig\u00e9e n&#8217;\u00e9tait pas un mirage, le manuel en fran\u00e7ais ne contenait pas d&#8217;erreur, et John S. Sinclair a une bonne m\u00e9moire: CTRL et SHIFT permettent de monter et descendre !<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Les suppositions<\/strong><br>Je n&#8217;ai \u00e9videmment pas une quantit\u00e9 monstrueuse de cassettes de Zorgon. Mais de ce que je peux observer jusqu&#8217;alors, seules certaines &#8220;versions fran\u00e7aises&#8221; (sur la jaquette) ont b\u00e9n\u00e9fici\u00e9 de cette nouvelle version. Il existe des VF qui ont toujours les touches X et fl\u00e8che gauche; seul le manuel (s&#8217;il est encore l\u00e0!) ou l&#8217;\u00e9coute de la bande permettent de dissocier les deux versions. En revanche jusqu&#8217;alors je n&#8217;ai pas trouv\u00e9 de version anglaise utilisant CTRL et SHIFT.<br>Ce que l&#8217;on peut imaginer, c&#8217;est qu&#8217;apr\u00e8s le succ\u00e8s de Xenon-1, IJK a produit et vendu de grandes quantit\u00e9s de la version Oric-1, et que la version corrig\u00e9e n&#8217;est arriv\u00e9e que plusieurs mois apr\u00e8s, une fois l&#8217;Atmos sorti, le probl\u00e8me identifi\u00e9, et les (gros) stocks d&#8217;anciennes versions \u00e9coul\u00e9s. Il est donc envisageable, mais ce n&#8217;est qu&#8217;une supposition, que seules des versions destin\u00e9es au march\u00e9 fran\u00e7ais aient b\u00e9n\u00e9fici\u00e9 de cette nouvelle version. En effet, le march\u00e9 fran\u00e7ais s&#8217;est maintenu plus longtemps que le march\u00e9 anglais, et a donc peut-\u00eatre \u00e9t\u00e9 le seul \u00e0 b\u00e9n\u00e9ficier des derniers lots produits par IJK. Dans la m\u00eame veine, il semble que Tansoft n&#8217;ait sorti son dernier jeu, Insect Insanity, que sur le march\u00e9 fran\u00e7ais.<br>Ceci expliquerait la relative raret\u00e9 de cette version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Les diff\u00e9rentes versions connues<\/strong><br>Pour finir, voici une synth\u00e8se des diff\u00e9rentes versions &#8220;officielles&#8221; (par IJK, donc) de Zorgons Revenge, connues \u00e0 ce jour:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>la d\u00e9mo pour les magasins, qui contient un \u00e9cran promotionnel sp\u00e9cifique<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>une version destin\u00e9e aux journaux de l&#8217;\u00e9poque ? Selon Oric Owner (num\u00e9ro 9), c&#8217;est cette version qui aurait permis d&#8217;avoir des vies infinies en mourant d&#8217;une certaine fa\u00e7on avec le vaisseau spatial, mais aurait \u00e9t\u00e9 corrig\u00e9e avant commercialisation. Jamais diffus\u00e9e ? Je n&#8217;ai jamais r\u00e9ussi \u00e0 d\u00e9clencher ce cheat avec les versions que je poss\u00e8de.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>version &#8220;48K Oric-1&#8221;, jaquette et feuille d&#8217;instructions en anglais. C&#8217;est la premi\u00e8re version vendue, &#8220;for the 48k Oric-1&#8221;.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>version &#8220;48K Oric&#8221;, jaquette et feuille d&#8217;instructions en anglais. &#8220;Oric-1&#8221; a \u00e9t abandonn\u00e9 avec la sortie de l&#8217;Atmos, au profit de &#8220;for the 48K Oric&#8221;, mais le programme est inchang\u00e9. La feuille d&#8217;instruction aussi parle de &#8220;Oric manual&#8221; au lieu de &#8220;Oric-1 manual&#8221;. La fin du texte au dos de la jaquette est un peu modifi\u00e9, notamment l&#8217;adresse d&#8217;IJK qui change et l&#8217;ajout du nom de l&#8217;auteur du dessin.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>version &#8220;48K Oric&#8221;, dos de la jaquette et feuille d&#8217;instructions en fran\u00e7ais. La jaquette indique sur le c\u00f4t\u00e9 &#8220;48K ORIC-1 and ORIC ATMOS&#8221;. Programme inchang\u00e9.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>version &#8220;48K Oric&#8221;, dos de la jaquette et feuille d&#8217;instructions en fran\u00e7ais. Identique visuellement au pr\u00e9c\u00e9dent, mais la feuille d&#8217;instructions est corrig\u00e9e et indique les touches SHIFT et CTRL, et sur la bande le programme est pr\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9 du petit programme ALC. Bien entendu, le programme diff\u00e8re puisque X et la touche fl\u00e9ch\u00e9e ont \u00e9t\u00e9 chang\u00e9es pour CTRL et SHIFT. Cette version n&#8217;est plus compatible avec Joystick Adapter 1 pour l&#8217;interface PASE !<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">En reste-t-il \u00e0 (re)d\u00e9couvrir ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oric.bqtt.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/zorgon_tape_title_x2-1024x179.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7611\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Zorgons Revenge is one of the most popular games for Oric. But, released for Oric-1, its keyboard configuration for the &#8220;space mission&#8221; level doesn&#8217;t suit the Atmos keyboard, and is even worse for modern keyboards used with emulators.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oric.bqtt.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/joyad1-1-1024x996.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7612\" style=\"width:420px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>An example not to follow<\/strong><br>The space mission level uses X and left Arrow keys to move the ship up and down. As explained in Dbug&#8217;s article on Defence-force, <a href=\"https:\/\/osdk.org\/index.php?page=articles&amp;ref=ART16\">about the keyboard handling<\/a>: it&#8217;s perfect for Oric-1, less for other machines! And the game does not offer keys confirguration, making Zorgons Revenge an example not to follow in terms of keyboard design.<br>Some workarounds existed, such as using the PASE joystick interface combined with the tape Jostick Adapter 1. But how many players still use joyticks today? (especially PASE?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Strange hints<\/strong><br>Having done tapes transfers for many years, I stumbled upon a Zorgon tape hodling two instructions sheets: one in English, describing the usual keys, and another one in French, saying that CTRL and SHIFT were used to move the ship up and down. Which would be quite convenient, since it would work on both Oric-1 and Atmos! But I wasn&#8217;t able to load the game, time having damaged the tape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When asked about this curiosity in 2019, as I thought it was a mistake on the French instruction sheet, here&#8217;s what author John S. Sinclair had to say:<br><em>Question: <\/em>Zorgon was released before the Atmos, so the space level keys are designed for Oric-1 keyboard (X and left arrow key). Did you ever consider fixing this for Atmos, whose X key was far from the left arrow?<br><em>Reply: <\/em>I think we did or maybe just made it work with a joystick. It&#8217;s hard to remember.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Question: <\/em>The French instructions don&#8217;t mention X and left arrow keys, but CTRL and SHIFT to move the ship up or down, which is a mistake. Was an earlier version of the game using these keys? (which would explain the French version, already sent to translation, couldn&#8217;t have been corrected in time)<br><em>Reply: <\/em>That&#8217;s a good question. I think Ctrl and Shift were from Atlantis, a BBC scrolling game. I probably was going to use those and the Oric keyboard was different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mmmmh, so they would have corrected the keys at some point?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/oric.bqtt.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/article_zorgon_inlay_sides-353x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7615\" style=\"width:180px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The revelation<\/strong><br>A few weeks ago, my brother brought home Oric tapes. Among them was Zorgons Revenge, with the inlay stating &#8220;for the 48K Oric&#8221; on the front, &#8220;48K Oric-1 and Oric Atmos&#8221; on its side, and having French instructions on its back. The separate instruction sheet was missing. As usual, I sampled the tape to check if there was any difference with previous transfers. I then noticed something unusual: the tape began with the small &#8220;ALC&#8221; program, the classic piece of code designed to prevent having too many Atmos&#8217; &#8220;Errors found&#8221; messages.<br>I then compared the game itself with a previous transfer, and despite WAV2TAP hadn&#8217;t spotted anything special, 3 or 4 bytes were different.<br>Transfer errors? I started again: same result. Strange. And suddenly, the light: I launched the new TAP file, played until I was in the space mission level, and then\u2026 YES, the corrected version wasn&#8217;t an illusion, the French manual wasn&#8217;t wrong, and John S. Sinclair had a good memory: CTRL and SHIFT allowed to move up and down!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Guesses<\/strong><br>Or course, I don&#8217;t have loads of Zorgon original tapes. But from what I&#8217;ve been able to see so far, only the &#8220;French versions&#8221; (on the inlay) have been improved. There are other French versions still using the X and left arrow key; only the instructon sheet (if it wasn&#8217;t lost!) or listening to the tape allow to differenciate each version. But so far, I haven&#8217;t found any &#8220;English version&#8221; using CTRL and SHIFT.<br>What one could guess, is that after the success of Xenon-1, IJK produced (and sold) huge quantities of the Oric-1 version, and that the improved version was made months later, once the Atmos was released, the problem identified, and the (massive) previous stocks sold. So it sounds possible, but that&#8217;s just a guess, that only versions for the French market were improved. As the French market stayed strong longer than in the UK, maybe it was the only one benefiting from the last production batches from IJK. In the same vein, it seems that Tansoft only released its last game, Insect Insanity, on the French market.<br>This would explain why the improved version is rather rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Different known versions<\/strong><br>Here&#8217;s a sum up of all Zorgons Revenge official (i.e. from IJK) known versions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>shop demo, holding a specific promotional screen<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>press reviews version? According to Oric Owner (issue #9), this is the version that would allow to have infinite lives when dying in a specific way during space mission, but that would have been fixed before commercial release. I have never managed to use this cheat. Never released officially?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;48K Oric-1&#8221; version, English inlay and instructions. The first sold version, &#8220;for the 48k Oric-1&#8221; version.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;48K Oric&#8221; version, English inlay and instructions. As the Atmos was released, &#8220;Oric-1&#8221; was replaaced by &#8220;for the 48K Oric&#8221;, but the program is the same than before. Instruction sheet now states &#8220;Oric manual&#8221; instead of &#8220;Oric-1 manual&#8221;. The texte at the back of the inlay ends differently, with the new IJK address, and the drawing artist name.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;48K Oric&#8221; version, French on back of the inlay and instructions. On its side, the inlay states &#8220;48K ORIC-1 and ORIC ATMOS&#8221;. Same program.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;48K Oric&#8221; version, French on back of the inlay and instructions. Visually the same as previous, but corrected French instructions with SHIFT and CTRL, and the tape begins with the small ALC program before the main one. Of coursse, the program is different since it now uses CTRL and SHIFT instead of X and an arrow key. This version doesn&#8217;t work anymore with Joystick Adapter 1 for the PASE intrface.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Would there be more versions to (re)discover?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Scroll down for English version) Zorgons Revenge est un des jeux les plus populaires sur Oric. Mais, sorti sur Oric-1, sa configuration clavier pour le niveau &#8220;space mission&#8221; n&#8217;est pas adapt\u00e9e au clavier Atmos, et encore moins aux claviers modernes pour les \u00e9mulateurs. L&#8217;exemple \u00e0 ne pas suivreLe niveau &#8220;space mission&#8221; utilise les touches &#8220;X&#8221; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7608,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,362,318],"tags":[785,789],"class_list":["post-7599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ceomag","category-games","category-software","tag-histoire","tag-ijk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oric.bqtt.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oric.bqtt.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oric.bqtt.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oric.bqtt.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oric.bqtt.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/oric.bqtt.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oric.bqtt.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oric.bqtt.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oric.bqtt.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}