Character buffers

The character buffers occupy bytes 0x60-0x7F in pages 0x98-0xAC.

Page Address Character Page Address Character Page Address Character
0x98 9860 Little boy no. 1 0x9F 9F60 Little boy no. 8 0xA6 A660 MR CREAK
0x99 9960 Little boy no. 2 0xA0 A060 Little boy no. 9 0xA7 A760 BOY WANDER
0x9A 9A60 Little boy no. 3 0xA1 A160 Little boy no. 10 0xA8 A860 ANGELFACE
0x9B 9B60 Little boy no. 4 0xA2 A260 Little boy no. 11 0xA9 A960 EINSTEIN
0x9C 9C60 Little boy no. 5 0xA3 A360 MR WACKER 0xAA AA60 BOY WANDER's pellet
0x9D 9D60 Little boy no. 6 0xA4 A460 MR ROCKITT 0xAB AB60 ERIC's pellet
0x9E 9E60 Little boy no. 7 0xA5 A560 MR WITHIT 0xAC AC60 ERIC

The bytes in each character buffer are used as follows:

Byte(s) Contents
0x60 Animatory state
0x61,0x62 Location (y,x)
0x63 LSB of the primary command routine address (see 6226)
ERIC's post-midstride animatory state (see 6500, 653C)
0x64 MSB of the primary command routine address (see 6226)
ERIC's post-midstride y-coordinate (see 6500, 653C)
0x65 Destination y-coordinate (see 69D2)
Walkabout event identifier (see 62D7)
ERIC's post-midstride x-coordinate (see 6500, 653C)
0x66 Destination x-coordinate (see 69D2)
ERIC's animatory state before he started firing the catapult, hitting, or jumping (see F46E)
0x67 Number of mini-walkabouts remaining (see 6B3D)
0x68 Message repetition delay counter (see F800)
0x69,0x6A Interruptible subcommand routine address (see 6226)
0x6B LSB of the address of the next character in the message being written on a blackboard or spoken (see 70D2)
Walkabout destination x-coordinate (see 6B32)
x-coordinate increment to use while chasing ERIC (see 7BFB, 7C18)
Number of movements remaining to ascend or descend the staircase (see 6390, 63BE)
Number of movements remaining to wipe the blackboard (see 71E8)
Intermediate destination x-coordinate (see 633C)
0x6C MSB of the address of the next character in the message being written on a blackboard or spoken (see 70D2)
y-coordinate increment to use while chasing ERIC (see 7BFB, 7C18)
x-coordinate of the next column of the board to wipe (see 71E8)
Number of paces remaining until the interruptible subcommand is terminated (see 633C)
0x6D LSB of the address of the next character in the submessage being written on a blackboard or spoken (see 70D2)
y-coordinate of the top row of the blackboard being wiped (see 71E8)
0x6E MSB of the address of the next character in the submessage being written on a blackboard or spoken (see 70D2)
0x6F,0x70 Uninterruptible subcommand routine address (see 6226)
0x71 Counter determining how much longer the character will stay down after being punched (see 6F99), hit by a catapult pellet (see 6D1C), knocked out of a chair (see 6C55), or tripped up by a stampeding kid (see 69F6)
Distance remaining for the pellet to travel (see 6D1C)
ANGELFACE's pre-punch animatory state (see 6F1E, 6FE2)
BOY WANDER's pre-fire animatory state (see 702C, 7072)
0x72 Pre-knockout animatory state (see 6A46)
0x73,0x74 Unused
0x75,0x76 Address reached in the command list
0x77,0x78 Start address of the command list
0x79 Unused (always 0x00, but checked by 6226)
0x7A Various flags; initially populated by 6900 with 0x00 for kids, 0x10 (bit 4 set) for teachers, and 0x20 (bit 5 set) for catapult pellets:
Bit(s) Meaning if set
0 Restart the command list at the next opportunity if bit 1 is reset (see 6226)
1 Always reset
2-3 Unused
4 Character is a teacher (checked by 6317)
5 Character is walking fast continuously (set for pellets and stampeding boys; see 6A6E)
6 Character is walking slowly continuously (always reset, but checked by 6317)
7 Character is walking slowly (see 62B2)
0x7B Walking speed change delay counter (see 62B2, 7DEA, 7DF2, FA10)
0x7C,0x7D Continual subcommand routine address (see 6226); set to 629F initially by 6900
0x7E,0x7F Unused