Topic by musicalman 2018-02-25 16:47:48 (edited by musicalman 2019-02-25 07:45:30)

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Hi all,
In 2006 I think, I discovered Technoshock and found just how brutally hard it was. The game is still available even now, so you can still download and try it if you want. It's free, so why not? While it's meant for much older versions of Windows, it still works well on newer ones if DirectX is installed. I highly recommend though that you play the game not only with headphones, but with virtual 3D sound. Playing it just in stereo is considerably more difficult. Direct Sound's virtual 3D features are broken in Windows Vista and higher, but I am currently writing an article containing several workarounds to get these things working on modern versions of Windows. I will let you all know when that is up.

I recently took an interest in this game again, as I do every couple years. I beat it in 2011, with the help of cool people in the original Technoshock thread and using cheat codes, and I think in 2015 I beat it again. i'd like to have another go at it in 2018 and make it mean something. Lol

Because the game is so hard, I thought a walkthrough would be written for it by now, but it doesn't seem to have happened yet. I started a text walkthrough back in 2011, and it's over halfway done, though I never finished it and have been too lazy to really get it going. Recently though with the advent of me getting 3D sound working, I have really wanted to get this off my "things I want to do but never finished list."

For years I have been thinking of doing an audio walkthrough too. That would force me to be more familiar with the game and would be more fun to make. For the record, I was very inspired by Raul Gallegos's walkthroughs of Shades of Doom and GMA Tank Commander. Obviously I am not him and I wouldn't have his style exactly, but I think we need more audio walkthroughs like his.

My audio walkthrough would be in multiple parts, with each part being a level or story of the game. Doing both a text and an audio version would not only be most helpful for people who work in different ways, but would be a nice way for me to check my info. I would not look at the text while recording the audio though. I would instead rehearse the level before recording so that I'd have it down first.

I plan to use the original sounds of the game, and not a mod. I realize that some people hate the original sounds, but I believe using a mod will cause confusion. I plan to post my audio walkthrough on Anyaudio once it's finished, but will also host it on Google Drive. Maybe the text version could be in the articles room when I finish it.

I can't say for sure when anything will be finished, as I really am not good at predicting that and I have been busy lately with life. I want to complete the walkthroughs by the end of 2019 though (it was previously 2018 but as we know it never happened).

So would anyone be interested in this, or is Technoshock one of those forgotten games that nobody cares about? Lol

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Reply by john 2018-02-25 17:28:02

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I'd be quite interested in seeing this, on multiple levels.
There have been a couple recordings of the game made over the years, but as far as I know they're no longer available, and none of them included actual descriptions of why something worked.
I never managed to get terribly far in the game, so I'd really like to see somebody take it on.
Also, since there aren't any recordings around, a walkthrough would be great to add to agarchive.net. This would also make sure that it was available forever, not just until it was removed from dropbox or whatever system hosted it.

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Reply by musicalman 2018-02-25 17:33:20 (edited by musicalman 2018-02-25 17:35:10)

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Yeah I totally agree. I don't use Dropbox anymore because I don't have enough space and my public links seem to have permanently been suspended. I haven't had that issue with Drive, but if it was posted on the archive that would be even better. I will certainly keep that in mind. Thanks for expressing your interest!

As an aside, do you remember anything about the recordings you mentioned? I haven't heard any of them, but that doesn't surprise me as of late. Were they cool in any way?

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Reply by vaibhavbhandari 2018-02-25 18:26:00

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Yeh I also tried playing actually twice but I couldn't ever beat that game so if someone can do a walk through then it will be great because for some reason I did not understand how to play it.

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Reply by john 2018-02-25 18:50:05

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I don't recall for sure who made the tapes. They were made using a mod, and were audio only.

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Reply by musicalman 2018-02-25 20:57:54 (edited by musicalman 2019-02-25 07:48:40)

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vaibhavbhandari, do you remember what you were having trouble with? Maybe I can help you. I spent the past two hours dusting stuff off on the text side of things, and it's been a lot of fun. I can, when I'm on top of my game and have a little luck on my side, make it through the first two stories with high amounts of health without cheating. Story 3 and up isn't going to be fun though. Like I say I've beaten the game at least once, but I'm not looking forward to this.

What I've been doing most is working out strategies to eliminate all the enemies on sight so they don't hit me much, and to dodge the most difficult traps. That, I think, will be the key to a successful playthrough, and it is for this reason that I will be describing strategy for each critical spot, and obviously the audio will show that as well when I do it. I think this game needs both types of walkthrough when I think about it, because I can carefully explain a strategy via text which is useful in its own right, but I can't show you how it's actually done.

If you have questions about the game, or information you'd like to share, now would be the time and place to ask or tell. I feel games like this need a little more attention. But, I almost grew up with this game so I am, in a way, very fond of it despite its cruel disposition.

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Reply by Jayde 2018-02-26 03:50:09

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I'd be interested to see this.

My memory of things is that level 5 and 6, in particular, were downright mean, and moving the refugees/prisoners around in level 6 was a nightmare. I'd love an audio or even a text walkthrough of this one though. This game pulled absolutely zero punches after the first level.

Check out my Manamon text walkthrough at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8ls3rc3f4mkb … n.txt?dl=1

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Reply by musicalman 2018-02-26 12:31:19 (edited by musicalman 2018-02-26 12:32:13)

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I figured you would. You seemed to be a wealth of knowledge in the original thread, and I think it was your advice that kept me going.
I didn't find story 5 too bad if memory serves, but I"m not there yet. I remember 4 being the biggest nightmare with 6 close behind. My order of difficulty from most to least is probably 4, 6, 5, 3, 2 and 1. This will probably change after I play the whole game again though.

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Reply by Socheat 2018-02-26 14:49:04

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Yes, would love to hear that. I heard Gorthalon and Peter play this game on PG13LP.

And sorry for hijacking this thread, but is there a way that I can listen to your old audio play throughs? It was fun to listen to, though. I really love it.

Thanks and hope to hear the new play throughs soon!

Socheat's Website

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Reply by vaibhavbhandari 2018-02-26 15:09:17

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Hi,
I was stuck after the part when we break that door in level 1.

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Reply by musicalman 2018-02-26 18:00:18

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Socheat wrote:

Is there a way that I can listen to your old audio play throughs? It was fun to listen to, though. I really love it.

Thanks and hope to hear the new play throughs soon!

If you're talking about mine, they're in this threadsmile. Please direct further discussion to that thread.

vaibhavbhandari wrote:

Hi,
I was stuck after the part when we break that door in level 1.

I assume you are having trouble killing the robot. He is indeed a formidable opponent if you're not prepared. It took me quite a while to cross that hurdle.

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Reply by musicalman 2018-02-28 12:08:20 (edited by musicalman 2019-02-25 07:50:55)

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So, here's something I've been thinking about.
Because the text walkthrough is by far closest to completion, I plan to finish that more quickly. How do you guys want it? In a single text file with sections? In a html document (it would most likely be a quick and dirty thing done by hand). A zip file with individual text files for each section? I really don't know what's best. I'm not picky, but only because I really don't have much experience formatting stuff.

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Reply by Angel 2018-02-28 13:41:50

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I really do not care what is the format of the walk trough, I like this game, but I am not so good at it.

I am myself and noone is ever gonna change me, I am the trolling master!

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Reply by vaibhavbhandari 2018-02-28 13:51:01

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I think that it will be good in different text files.

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Reply by musicalman 2019-02-25 08:08:37 (edited by musicalman 2019-02-26 12:35:49)

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Hi everyone,
Well after a year minus 3 days of inactivity on this thread, I should probably pop in and report my progress. Sadly, I haven't done a whole lot, but I have been doing some behind-the-scenes work to improve the text. I would love to start recording audio soon. While the text is much farther along, I want to release both audio and text at the same time.

I have two questions for you guys:
1. Are you all okay with an html with different headings for each section for the text walkthrough? That is what I am leaning toward. If there aren't any big objections I will do that. If there are, now would be the time to bring them up.

2. This is my first big project of this kind, and I feel a bit naive assuming that it will be useful to everyone. So I've decided to let some people look it over before I release it, but I don't know who. So am asking in this thread for any takers.

For now I have thought of asking three people to look it over, who have different levels of success with the game. You of course also need to have decent English and communication skills. Anyone who is interested, post in this thread or send me a pm or e-mail or something, and let me know at least how far you have made it in the game, so I know roughly where you are. If you want to actually collaborate, that would be fun but I don't know anyone who knows this game well in 2019.

For those who are in, I will initially send you the intro, plus the first three stories, which I've written nearly to my satisfaction. Story four needs some proofing I think, and I haven't written 5 or 6 yet.

What I am looking for most is comments about the style. Is it helpful, distracting, or incomprehensible? However you are also very welcome to check the actual walkthrough over and suggest changes to it. If you like how it's going, I will send stories 4-6 to you after I have finished so you can check those out too.

I won't be publicly mentioning who gets in and who doesn't. I will be sending PMs out to those who are in. Don't take it personally if you aren't. Remember this is to get some help editing and for me to get preliminary input. And anything could change too.

So, any thoughts?

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Reply by Jayde 2019-02-25 10:15:49

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So, I'm in, if you'll have me.
I have beaten the game once, although that was well over a decade ago. I haven't played it much in the last little while, but I remember it was very much trial and error, and pretty tricky. I used to have a pretty perfectionistic strategy to get through the game with minimal problems, but I remember almost none of it anymore. I'm not sure where this puts me.
I would love to take a look at the text and stuff, however. My English skills are very sharp, and I'm a fairly good communicator. I may be able to help in various aspects of guide improvement.

Check out my Manamon text walkthrough at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8ls3rc3f4mkb … n.txt?dl=1

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Reply by musicalman 2019-02-25 10:25:21

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Nice. I was hoping you'd chime in. Any more takers?

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