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Today I got older.


Kiwi

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I just turned 32 years old today. I first played the Atari 2600 I think I was 4 years old. And that was my first passion of video games. My older brother and sister didn't have the patient to play through video game like I have. So now, I finally can make video games. Only for the Colecovision though. Well, I can make Flash games, and Petit Computer. I'm really interested working with system with limitation.

 

I got my Colecovision in 2008, because of Burgertime. I never actually given a good chance to play the arcade version. After watching Classic Game Room review of Burgertime, I decided to get a Colecovision. My first experience with Colecovision, I guess when I was around 6 and my brother's friend brought it over. I think it mainly because of Donkey Kong, I guess he had the one with the death animation. I believe he had Super Donkey Kong. I recall seeing the cutscene, especially Donkey Kong Jr. Anyway, so yeah I got the Colecovision from Ebay.

 

In December 2008, I begun my quest to start learning how to program for the Colecovision. I spend hours trying to load graphics to the VRAM my first time programming. And it was my first time programming in C. I had a little experience with C++ and have taken classes for that. I learn and read through the cv programming manual multiple of times, and learn how the function work. I had no idea what pointer was. It was until my Kid Icarus shoot'em up that I finally figured out how pointer works. That was the main key how my games work right now.

 

I have to give newcoleco a huge thank you for sharing his work among the Colecovision community. Those source code was a big help, since I have to see how the code is set up.

 

I have published 3 product so far with Collector Vision. These guys are nice and very cool to deal with. They are very patient with me, the nutty programmer :P.

 

Pong/Computer Space - I didn't want to just have boring arcade PONG or Computer Space. Plus, I wanted to fill all 32KB with stuff. So I added stuff that wasn't in the arcade version. The keypad certain super useful for picking mode. I was going to program a menu, but keypad was suitable. I wanted hide a big easter egg, but I decided not to do that. I did leave a few easter egg.

 

Flappe Byrd - My friend's brother brought me an iPad with Flappy Bird. He told me what happened to the game and how the author pulled the game from the store. I was so impressed that an 8 years old is paying attention to video game event, so that was one push for me to make Flappy Bird for the Colecovision. Doing this project taught me how to do double buffered screen. So it'll draw the pipes on the other screen while the game is playing. So it solve the pipe flickering problem.

 

I decided to add another game to it, Sparrow's goes Flapping. Like PONG and Computer Space, I didn't think Flappy Bird can stand on it own, so a 2nd game was warranted. I intend this game to geared towards hardcore gamer. Someone who want a longer game to play and see what changes after beating the Fire Bird. It's the first game to be release with my enemy behavior system technique™. I compressed the hell out of the graphics in which some of it had to be decompress into Colecovision's tiny 1024 RAM, 324 byte was for that. For example, That backdrop in Flappy Bird was 36 byte compressed instead of being 96 byte. Gaining byte back is a break though for me, so I can add more stuff to Sparrow's Goes Flapping.

 

I think this is the last time I'll do this type of 2 games in one. I really want to expand upon Sparrow's Goes Flapping. One thing I should have done is beta testing. Gamester81 did struggled with the control. I did try to add cooldown to the button, but I should have increase that time. I think I should have made the sparrow more heavier and Coleco controller button kinda not good. At least I fore-thought that if someone wanted to use an Atari controller or Sega controller, I mapped the dash attack to the down button.

 

Flappy Bird did have music in, but I took it out to dedicate space for Sparrow's goes Flapping. I'm thinking of splitting these games and fill up 32KB space of goodies.

 

Spunky's Supercar! - I was so obsessed with that raccoon so I had to make that game. >_> <_<... Um... yeah. Anyway, I did want to test the water if this game can be possible to do for the Colecovision. So I finally completed this game last year. I didn't want to let Raccoon Lad and Retroillucid down, and keep them waiting. Also, I didn't want to let them down for not completing PONG and Computer Space either. Seeing what happened between groovybee and Game for your Intellivision, I didn't want that to happen with us. I try not to keep promise that I can't keep. And Spunky's Supercar! was beta tested and I got great suggestion. Also, that's how that game got 3 level of difficulty. The game is almost impossible in level 4 - 6 on loop 3.

 

There is more games to come upcoming months. I'm planning to complete Adventure of a Witch, almost done. Rock Cutter, 2 levels are done, 4 bosses are programmed. There's prototypes being made to be future games. Eventually, I'll crack bankswitching, so I can make megapower games.

 

I love making games and I love the Colecovision. That TMS9918 graphic chip is limited, but I love it anyway. It's a really cool system.

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