Monaco '79

It's like 'Monaco GP' - before it got so 'Super'!

A 2D, top-down, fast-paced, vertically scrolling racer for the Commodore Amiga (OCS/ECS) inspired by Sega's classic 1979 arcade game 'Monaco GP'

AmiGameJam 2024 - 'The Sequel That Never Was'

For AmiGameJam 2024, this game can be considered a sequel to 'Monaco' - the PD game released by 'Boys in Beige' in 1993.

Alternatively, this game may be considered as a prequel to 'Super Monaco GP' - the Sega arcade port developed by Probe and released for the Amiga by U.S Gold in 1991.

But really it's just trying to be the best possible version of the original Monaco GP arcade game on the Amiga!

Requirements

Any stock Amiga with 512K chip RAM should run the game fine, at least when booting from floppy/ADF. To run from Workbench you will require an additional 512K RAM of any type. Of course, you can the game under emulation with e.g. FS-UAE or WinUAE.

This game has only been tested on the following real hardware:

• A500+ (stock): KS 2.04 - 1MB chip RAM

Controls

Joystick

• Up = HIGH gear
• Down = LOW gear
• Left = Steer LEFT
• Right = Steer RIGHT
  
• Fire (primary) = Accelerate (release to brake)
• Fire (secondary) = toggle between high and low gear

Mouse

During the title screen or high scores screen:

• Left Mouse Button (or Joystick Fire) = skip
• Right Mouse Button = exit the game and return to AmigaOS/Workbench.

During gameplay (or 'attract mode'):

• Left Mouse Button = toggle music mute
• Right Mouse Button = abort the current game and skip to high scores screen. Your score will not be recorded.
  

Gameplay

It's a pretty simple 'old skool' racing game. Just drive fast and avoid crashing! There's no real aim or goal other than to survive and achieve the highest score possible. However there are a few gameplay mechanics to be aware of:

• The game is split into two phases, standard play and extended play. The game starts in standard play mode.
• During standard play mode you have infinite lives but race against the clock. The only penalty for crashing is the time lost.
• If the timer reaches zero during standard play mode prior to reaching the qualifying score for extended play mode, the game is over.
• Upon surpassing 2000 points, you qualify for extended play mode, but standard play will continue until the time reaches zero.
• During extended play mode there is no clock, but you have a limited number of lives. You start with one life and gain an extra life every 2000 points scored. Crashing will result in the loss of one life. When all lives are lost the game is over.
• Score is accumulated on both distance traveled and speed.
• The faster you drive the more points you will score to get you to extended play mode sooner and gain those extra lives faster, but at the obvious extra risk of crashing.
• Conversely, driving too slowly may mean you don't reach extended play mode before time runs out, and it will take longer to accumulate a high score and extra lives.
• At the start of the game you will only encounter a maximum of one other rival car on the screen at any time. As your score increases, the chance for an increasing number of rival cars also increases.

Hints & Tips:

This game is designed to be hard! The following hints & tips may help you survive longer and get a higher score:

• Your rivals do not drive on the roadside verge, but you can! Use this to your advantage, particularly when restarting after a crash.
• After a crash you restart on the verge. On straight sections you can stay there and pass all cars easily at high speed in complete safety until the road starts to turn again. This can be especially beneficial in the dark tunnel section.
• Immediately following a crash, you are immune to collisions with the scenery (but not other vehicles) for a few seconds. You can use this to 'get up to speed' and rejoin the track safely. This is particularly useful on the bridge section!
• The other cars' movements may seem erratic at first, but they are actually fairly predictable. Study their movement patterns.
• Your car is capable of significantly higher speed than your rivals. Whilst this is an advantage, and must be used to score well, it's unlikely you will be able to drive 'flat out' in high gear for long before an inevitable crash. Practice 'feathering' the throttle around other cars to pass safely.
• When releasing the throttle at high speed, changing down to low gear will make you decelerate faster.
• Once you reach the extended play qualifying score, any remaining time in standard play mode is a good time to take more risks and potentially score significantly more points. You still have infinite lives until the timer reaches zero, but you are guaranteed extended play, so put your foot down and go for it - you have little to lose!
• In the tunnel you may be tempted to seek refuge on the verge (as described above), but unless you are very accurate you run the risk of either:
  • Hitting the tunnel side wall and crashing.
  • Getting 'side swiped' by another car you didn't see since your headlights are only covering a small section of one side of the track.
  Taking up a more central position (maximizing the coverage of your headlights) and moderating speed might be a better option

TO-DO / Comparison with 'Monaco GP'

The game is not yet on feature parity with the 'Monaco GP' arcade game. In particular the following features have not (yet) been implemented:

• Gravel/Rough surfaces where the car 'wobbles'
• Firetruck in extended play
• Puddles

Credits, Acknowledgements & Thanks

Programming by Neil Davis
Music by Ben Geeves
GFX & SFX: Neil / Ben / Sega

Many thanks to Ben Geeves, for not only donating some of his great music to the game but also for sharing his amazing 'Monaco GP Remake' PC game which was a huge source of inspiration and reference for this Amiga version. if you want to play 'Monaco GP' on your PC (or Raspberry Pi) go check it out!

Greetings to everyone on the awesome AmigaGameDev Discord. There are so many of you and if I attempt to list everyone I'll end up leaving someone out! You know who you are, many thanks for all your invaluable help for a newb' in the creation of this game :)

This game was made on Linux with the help of the following tools & people:

• vasm (m68k) & vlink by Frank Wille & Dr. Volker Barthelmann
  
• Amiga Assembly extension for Visual Studio Code by Paul Raingeard
  
• ptplayer ProTracker mod player w/ support for ext. sfx by Frank Wille
• GNU Make
• GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)
• ipng2iff by 'm0ppers'
• netpbm
• FFmpeg
• amitools by Christian Vogelgsang
• salvador zx0 compressor & 68k decompressor code by Emmanuel Marty
• FS-UAE Amiga emulator
• WinUAE Amiga emulator by Toni Wilen  (run under Linux using WINE)
• 'SafeStart' code by Edwin Th van den Oosterkamp from his excellent 'Bare-Metal Amiga Programming' book.

Finally, thank you to Sega, for creating such amazing arcade games - and especially driving games - across the decades and the inspiration for this retro nostalgia trip!

Legal

© Copyright 2024 Neil Davis / 'No Nonsense Games' All rights reserved. Sale and/or commercial use is strictly prohibited without prior written consent.

FAQ

Preemptive FAQ:

Q: Why don't the other cars crash out when they hit me? That's not fair!
A: Because that's how the arcade game worked and arcade games aren't fair.

Q: I randomly crashed in the tunnel without seeing another car! What happened?
A: Another car may have hit you from the side outside of your headlights beam, or if you were driving too slow, you may have been hit by a faster car from behind. Yes, it's unfair. See above.

Q: I hit 9999 points and now I can't score any more and the road doesn't change. What's going on?
A: Congratulations! Now give it up champ, you won! Just like the arcade game, there is no proper ending (yet. one maybe added later.) And yes, this isn't a fair reward for your super human (or trained AI's) effort! See above.

Q: Why is the headlight beam visible but not the car in the tunnel during demo/attract mode? That looks odd!
A: Because that's also what the arcade game does. See a theme? ;) Also, the main car is hidden so it doesn't have to deal with collisions, but the tunnel would be completely blacked out without the headlights beam active.