Dicky's Diamonds

Dicky's Diamonds
Title screen of the game
Game No.	519
Voting	5.17 points, 6 votes
Developer	Brian O'Shaughnessy
Company	Romik Software Ltd.
Publisher	Antlantis Software Ltd.
Musician	Brian O'Shaughnessy
HVSC-File	/GAMES/A-F/Dickys_Diamonds.sid
Release	1983
Platform	C64
Genre	Arcade
Gamemode	Single player
Operation
Media
Language

Description

Dicky the Owl

In the game Dicky's Diamonds, the player controls the owl Dicky, who moves along the threads of a spiderweb, gradually weakening the web. He must beware of the spider Stephen, who repairs the threads damaged by Dicky and poisons him upon contact. Once Dicky has weakened all the threads, including those repaired by the spider, the web tears, revealing a diamond in its center. If the last spiderweb thread followed led to the center of the web, the owl takes possession of the diamond, and the level is successfully completed. Otherwise, the owl and spider fall to their deaths, the diamond is lost, and the level must be repeated. In either case, the spider then builds a new web, places another diamond in its center, and a new round of the game begins.

Backstory

Stephen the Spider

Swinging Diamond

The owl Dicky's treasure, consisting entirely of diamonds, was stolen by Stephen the Spider. Although the spider has hidden its loot well, to enjoy it, it always places one of the jewels in the center of its web. This allows Dicky to weaken the spider's web until it finally tears, releasing the diamond — and if the owl happens to be in the center of the web at that precise moment, it can grab the stone and fly away with its regained possession.

Design

During the game, the screen always shows two leafless trees standing in a meadow, between which Stephen the Spider is spinning his web. Because this scene is depicted against a dark gray background, it appears somewhat gloomy and unimaginative. The owl and the spider, both represented as monochrome sprites of a small size, are also rather plain. The authors, however, went to great lengths to animate the tearing web, so that at least the final scene of each successfully completed round offers a spectacular display.

At the beginning of each round, Stephen the spider weaves a new web and places a diamond in its center.

When all the threads of the spider web are colored black, the web tears...

...but only if the owl happens to be in the center of the web can it grab the diamond.

Graphics

The screen display during the game is divided into two parts: The top 29 grid lines (corresponding to approximately four lines of text, displaying the game score) are displayed in monochrome text mode (video RAM from address $6000, character set from $4000), while the rest of the screen uses multicolor bitmap mode (video RAM from address $6000, bitmap from $4000). Interestingly, both the character set for displaying the score, remaining flights, and lives, and the bitmap memory area are located at the same address — the first 272 bytes of this memory thus contain a rudimentary character set that does not include the full alphabet, but only the character definitions necessary for the status display:

Rudimentary character set during gameplay

The owl Dicky, the spiders Stephen and Cecil, and the display of bonus and penalty points in the lower right corner are monochrome sprites; the diamond in the center of the web is a multicolor sprite.

Sound

A three-part theme song plays while the intro with the configuration options or the high score list is displayed (see section Theme). During gameplay, however, the sound output is limited to accompanying game events with short sound effects.

An interesting sequence of sounds accompanies the chase between Stephen the spider and Dicky the owl (5 repetitions of a sequence that repeats every 463 ms).

A pitiful, two-part hoot accompanies Dicky the owl's fall after an encounter with a spider (2835 ms).

Hints

The goal of the game "Dicky's Diamonds" is to move the yellow owl Dicky across all the white threads of a spiderweb in each round, thereby weakening them (indicated by a color change from white to black) and scoring points. Dicky can also move along already damaged, black threads, but must use one of his limited number of flights to do so. It is therefore advisable to plan the owl's route so that it travels on white spider threads as much as possible.

The player's task is made more difficult by the fact that the spider constantly moves around the web, repairing damaged threads. Through these repairs, the owl gradually loses its accumulated points; if its score is empty, it loses a life. The round also ends if Dicky the owl encounters the spider, or if it can no longer move because it is surrounded by black threads and has no wings left.

The goal of each round is to turn the entire web black, with Dicky the owl reaching the center of the web via the last white thread, while Stephen the spider is leaving. In this case, the web tears, and Dicky flies away with the diamond suspended in the center; any remaining wings are converted into points and added to the score, and the game advances to the next level. If Dicky is not in the center of the net after changing the color of the last thread, the net will still tear, but the owl, spider, and diamond will fall to the ground, the owl will lose a life, and the level must be replayed.

Screen Layout

Typical scene from the game

Controls

Configuration screen, shown here with the default settings

The configuration and launch of "Dicky's Diamonds" is done exclusively via the keyboard and is clearly documented on the start screen and in the configuration menu. From the start screen, pressing F4  (i.e., the key combination SHIFT F3 ) takes you to the configuration screen.

Pressing F1  allows you to adjust the speed of the spiders (from 0=slow to 9=extremely fast), F3  gives the owl unlimited flights, F5  allows you to choose the starting level from 1–7, and F7  toggles a second spider named Cecil, who comes to Stephen's aid from level 8 onwards, on or off. Pressing RETURN  returns you to the start screen, from where the game can be started by pressing F1 .

In the game itself, the only objective is to skillfully guide the owl Dicky through the spider web. The fire button is therefore non-functional, and only control commands for the six directions in which the spider webs run are accepted, either via joystick or keyboard:

• U  or : upward left
• I  or : upward right
• H  or : left
• K  or : right
• N  or : downward left
• M  or : downward right

Controlling the owl is only necessary at spider web intersections. Once the owl has chosen a path, it will follow it to the next intersection, even if the joystick returns to its resting position or is even moved in the opposite direction — which is particularly disadvantageous if the owl suddenly encounters a spider halfway along the way.

Tips

• Since the owl must end each round of the game by turning one of the spider threads leading to the center black, it is advisable to start each round by exploring the outer threads of the web.
• If only a few white threads remain in the center of the web, Dicky the owl can lure the spider there by remaining motionless in that area for a while. The spider will then head directly toward the owl, flashing colors and playing a warning melody.

From level 8 onwards, Stephen the spider is supported by his friend Cecil — who, however, neither repairs webs nor specifically pursues the owl.

If Dicky can no longer move because he has run out of wings, Stephen the spider rushes directly at him and poisons him.

If Dicky's points run low because Stephen has repaired numerous spider webs he weakened, the game ends.

Solution

The game has no "solution", although Dicky's diamond hoard should be finite, and Dicky should therefore regain all his jewels after some time. Instead, the goal is to score as many points as possible round by round, while flying as little as possible and avoiding all encounters with the spiders.

Cheats

In the CSDb there are several Cracks with a Trainer function. Although they all look quite similar with two options each, only the "Unlimited Lives" function is truly useful. The option "Unlimited number of flights", which is usually offered as an additional option, can also be found in the regular configuration menu of the game and is therefore superfluous.

The only interesting option offered in the trainer "Dicky's Diamonds +2D" by Hokuto Force is "Stop Spider Stephen" (first image in the following gallery). When activated, this option leaves the spider helplessly trapped in the center of its web, allowing the owl to calmly weaken the web's threads and, with skillful route planning, eventually grab the diamond in the center. However, the owl should be careful not to fly too often along already blackened spider threads: if it lands at a junction of exclusively black threads and has no more flight options available, the game freezes and can only be ended by resetting or turning off the C64.

Votes

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
5.17 points at 6 votes (rank 1060). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
Universal Videogame List	3.4/5	13. Februar 2025
Lemon64	4,04	13. Februar 2025 - 27 votes
Ready64	5,00	13. Februar 2025 - 1 voto
Commodore User	Presentation 4/5, Skill level 4/5, Interest 4/5, Value for money 5/5	Issue 9 (June 1984)
Commodore User	Presentation 4/5, Skill level 4/5, Interest 3/5, Value for money 4/5	Issue 13 (October 1984)
Home Computing Weekly	5/5 (instructions 85%, playability 100%, graphics 95%, value for money 100%)	Issue 10 (November 15, 1983)
Tilt	Intérêt 3/6, Graphisme 4/6, Bruitage 5/6	N° 10 (Mars 1984)
Tilt	Graphisme 4/6, Animation 3/6, Bruitage 4/6, Intérêt 4/6	N° 17 (Novembre/Décembre 1984)
Rombachs C64-Spieleführer	8	September 1984 - "Verdict 2"
Zzap!64	22% (Presentation 55%, Graphics 31%, Sound 51%, Hookability 39%, Lastability 23%, Value for Money 42%)	No. 6 (October 1984)

Critics

Stephan64: "A graphically and musically beautiful game, but one that doesn't manage to hold your attention for long, as the repetitive gameplay (coloring the spiderweb as black as possible as quickly as possible, and then charming the spider until it finally runs to the center) becomes tedious after just a few rounds. Considering its early release date, however, it still gets 4 points as recognition."

Rombachs C64-Spieleführer: "The game idea is good, as is the graphic design. As an action game with tactical nuances, it's quite interesting (rating 2)."

Miscellaneous

Cover

Cassette cover

Inlay

Cassette inlay, outside

Cassette inlay, inside

Cassette

Cassette for the game "Dicky's Diamonds"

Theme

The following image shows the theme song in standard musical notation. For creative reuse, the sheet music is also available as a PDF document (File:DickysDiamonds PDF.pdf) and in ABC musical notation (File:DickysDiamonds.abc.txt).

Sheet music of the theme song, reconstructed by logging all write accesses to the SID

Cassette Loading Routine

If the background color is changed before loading, the beginning of the loading routine becomes visible as the filename.

When "Dicky's Diamonds" is loaded from the original cassette, the first part of the program overwrites the buffer for the interrupt vector at address $0319/$031A, triggering the start of a loading routine that is stored in the program's cassette header block and has already been read into the cassette buffer at address $0343−$03FB as soon as the program has searched for the first file on the tape. The fact that this loading routine even occupies the memory cells reserved for the filename in the header block is crudely concealed by the fact that the filename begins with the PETSCII codes $93 (clear screen) and $1F (set character color to "dark blue"). Of course, the contents of the cartridge buffer can still be made visible by changing the screen background color before loading "Dicky's Diamonds" (left image in the gallery below).

The loading routine is not intended to speed up the loading process, but primarily implements a rudimentary copy protection mechanism. First, however, it checks for the presence of a cartridge by searching for the identifier "CBM80" at address $8004 and, if successful, aborts the loading process with a cold start of the C64 — even if the "CBM80" identifier is merely in RAM and only simulates the presence of a cartridge.

It then loads two subsequent, unnamed program segments from the cassette into the memory areas $0801−$29BF and $4000−$7AFF using the Kernal routines and subsequently decrypts the entire contents of the program memory by cyclically XORing it with the data bytes at address $0200−$0202. This address range contains the BASIC input buffer, and the decryption routine relies on the fact that the program was loaded with the "LOAD" instruction and that, therefore, the values ​​$93 (token for "LOAD"), $00 (end of line), and $41 (character "A" from the instruction word "LOAD") are successively located at this point. For example, if you try to use the abbreviated version "lO" of the LOAD instruction to load "Dicky's Diamonds", the third data byte will contain the value $00 instead of $41, decryption will fail, and the program will crash after loading — because the game's start sequence is unrecognizable due to the incorrect decoding:

; Correctly decrypted program start after loading with "LOAD"
$0802: JSR $FF84  
       LDA #$01
       STA $0318  
       LDA #$08
       STA $0319  
       JSR $1F4E  
       JSR $0D79  
       LDA #$80
       STA $0291  
       LDA #$00

; Incorrectly decrypted program start after loading with "lO"
$0802: ADC ($84,X)
       ISC $01E8,X
       STA $0359  
       LDA #$49
       STA $4219  
       JSR $5E4E  
       JSR $4C79  
       LDA #$80
       CPY $0291  
       INX
       BRK

Video Recording

Complete solution of the game from level 1 to level 8

Highscore

The following list invites you to immortalize yourself with your highest score. To ensure comparability of the scores achieved, you should play with the default parameters (i.e., speed 3, start in level 1, no unlimited number of flights, second spider from level 8). The ranking is determined solely by the score achieved; however, the level achieved can be provided as additional information.

Topscore of Ivanpaduano

1. Ivanpaduano - 780 - 1 (10.03.2025)
2. Stephan64 - 670 - 2 (18.02.2025)
3. Niemand - 0 (tt.mm.jjjj)

	#2 Stephan64		#3 Niemand

Links

• C64Games.de - Game No. 2739
• Gamebase64.com - Game No. 2165
• CSDb - Release No. 11863
• CSDb (all entries)
• Lemon64 - Game No. 720
• C64.com - Game No. 2191
• ready64 - Game No. 2697
• Dicky's Diamonds at MobyGames

• ZZap64 test report
• ZZap64 test report
• Universal Videogame List
• Commodore User test report (p. 62)
• Commodore User test report (p. 71)
• Games Computing test report (p. 75)
• Home Computing Weekly test report (p. 10)
• Tilt test report (p. 30)
• Tilt test report (pp. 64)