Task Force

Task Force
Developer: Scorpius Games Publisher: PD Soft Platform: Amiga Released internationally: March 1994 This game has unused areas. This game has uncompiled source code. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has revisional differences. This game has a development article This game has a bugs page

Task Force is a freeware turn-based tactical squad game.

Sub-Pages

Development Info

Bugs

Source Code

Leftover sections of the game's source code appear on disk, and can be recovered using a tool such as DiskSalv. They consist of the following:

• An alternate version of the first map, MISSION1
• The game music, mod.ingame (identical to final version)
• Three assembly language source files: ST-PTPlay.s, TF-Instructs.s, TF-Main.s
• Graphics files: TF-Armour.gfx, TF-Key.gfx, TF-Masktiles.gfx, TF-Masktiles2.gfx, TF-Panel2.gfx, TF-Paneledge.gfx, and TF-Tiles.gfx (identical to final version)

On October 25, 2022, the author released the game's final source code on itch.io. The following differences can be seen with the source fragments on disk, which reveals the fragments to be a slightly earlier unreleased build of the game:

• TF-Main.s:
  • Adds a function to press M to display the game map in-game
  • Adds a function to press S to toggle the music in-game
  • Adds a 40-frame delay after attacks
  • Comment correctly identifies the hotkeys for fire phase (previously said move phase)
• TF-Instructs.s:
  • Adds two pages to the in-game documentation, describing the map and music toggle, crediting Steve Packer for the intro graphics, and Mark Sheeky for the intro music
  • The mission graphics file is changed from 9,357 bytes to 9,691 bytes
• MISSION1 is different (see below).

Other things noticed in the source code on disk:

• The mechanical effect of the Lasight SMG is to add +5 to the user's combat skill.
• A typo in a source comment mentions a "main loop rotuine"

Additionally, the main game executable has the symbol table intact, revealing the names of functions.

Unused Test Map

Leftover code appears on the disk for MISSION1, a slightly modified test version of the first mission file Mission1. The notable differences are:

• The mission is called "Operation Test" instead of "Operation Spring".
• The description text is empty.
• The starting positions of three of the five squad members are different. In the finished game, they appear together in a quincunx pattern in the bottom-left of the map. In the test map, two appear at the bottom-left, one at the top near the exit, one at the very top-left of the map, and one at the entrance to a fort at the top-left.

Final	Test Version

Revisional Differences

Task Force was released as CU Amiga magazine coverdisk #78, with the April 1994 issue. This version is missing the intro, probably done by the magazine to save disk space, as two other pieces of software were distributed on the same disk. The game files are otherwise identical, and the in-game documentation still credits the intro.

Mysteriously, the files on disk are dated 17 October 2020. The source code released by the author in 2022 also has this date. It suggests that the author's computer clock was set to this future year for some reason. The exception is the startup sequence, dated 20 October 1993, which is probably the correct date that the magazine received the disk. This would suggest that the game was completed and submitted to the magazine in October 1993, and later released in 1994.

At least two slightly different distributions appear to have been made, one of those via PD Soft. These versions include the fragments of source code on the disk, whereas the CU Amiga coverdisk did not. In the PD Soft version, the additional source file TF-Panelweps.gfx is recoverable, but not MISSION1; in others, it is the other way around.

In all known distributions, aside from intro, source fragments, and other technicalities like disk icon or disk name, the game executable itself is always identical.