Boulder Dash - Loaner Cart; Reviews and Reservations

[Zwackery]

Got the cart today, will be taking it to the Game Lab tomorrow night for play and review!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

We are waiting for the feedback...

[Zwackery]

We are waiting for the feedback...

Sadly last week was midterms, so the club canceled their meeting, and this week is fall break, so no students. It's next Wednesday or bust! Either way I will get the game off to the next recipient in one week.

[King_Salamon]

Where are the photos??

[Zwackery]

I'll get photos and review up soon - sorry this is the first week back from fall break and things are very busy - but in the meantime, who is next on the distribution list? Let me know so I can get the cart in the mail.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

1. lazzeri (if he is still interested)
2. SIO2 (not sure about him)
3. King_Salamon

Any more people interested?

[SIO2]

SIO2 (not sure about him)

 

Sure, I will give it a try when my turn comes up.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Sure, I will give it a try when my turn comes up.

Since lazzeri didn't reply the last time we asked, we should continue with you.

[Zwackery]

Some pictures of Boulder Dash:

 

1) in the Game Lab projected on the game wall

2) on a table in the Game Lab during another type of gaming session

3) in my office, where's Waldo-style

4) near the university's mighty Panther mascot

 

 

 

 

[Zwackery]

Cart goes out in the mail tomorrow and I'll get a review up this weekend.

 

11/3 update:

 

Sent the cart to SIO2 today. Also, I threw a vintage silver on black Atari patch into the box to go with the other feelies in there.

[SIO2]

 

Got it today. Look forward to playing it soon.

[SIO2]

 

Just seeing how it looks in my cabinet. Good right?

[Wickeycolumbus]

IMG_20161107_150754.jpg

 

Got it today. Look forward to playing it soon.

 

Just realized... I still have the poster It needs to be with it's family again...

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Got it today. Look forward to playing it soon.

Looking forward to your review (and Zwackery's too!).

 

BTW: Are there any more people interested into getting the cart? Besides King_Salamon, the waiting list is empty.

[SIO2]

Made this SaveKey to send off with Boulder Dash. In case someone hasn't heard of it, it plugs into the right joystick port and some games can save high scores to it. Now everyone that gets the cart can obliterate my high score

 

P1040092.JPG

 

BD begins it's journey from Michigan to North Carolina today

Are there plans available for the save key? I think I would like to build one for myself while I have Boulder Dash here to test it with. I think I have the components on hand. I have the db9 and the 24LC256 and some perf board. What else is there? I can not tell because of the glue.

[SIO2]

Please disregard previous post. I figured it out.

 

 

I also tied all floating pins to ground (not shown in diagram).

Edited November 10, 2016 by SIO2

[Jinks]

Does atarivox work as a save key for this game? I have both never tried that feature? Or just being too dumb now?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Yup.

[alex_79]

Please disregard previous post. I figured it out.

 

IMG_20161109_190913.jpg

 

I also tied all floating pins to ground (not shown in diagram).

I put 10k pullup resistors on scl and sda pins on mine.

[SIO2]

The save key on the left in the photo is traveling with Boulder Dash. I just wanted to make a save key for myself in case I write a game where I want to save a score. I also have Atarivox but I have several systems that I play and I just leave Atarivox connected to the one console. The save key size makes it pretty convenient to move between consoles.

 

Better get in line for Boulder Dash Jinks. It is coming to Canada next if King_Salamon's location is correct.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Don't forget to play and save your personal high score of the traveling SaveKey.

[SIO2]

As Wickeycolumbus said, I did not receive the poster with the rest of the game/box/manual/stuff.

 

I just wondered if the poster is on its way here because, I will probably be ready to move this along early next week. I still need to get some photos and will spend some more time playing the game this weekend but, I think I know what I need to for my review.

[SIO2]

An interesting but little known fact is that Boulder Dash owes its existence to the BASIC programming language.

When Peter Liepa who programmed the original Atari 800 version of Boulder Dash became inspired to write a video game, he first contacted a software publisher to inquire what sort of game might be in demand. The publisher informed Peter that they had received a demo of a game from Chris Gray written in BASIC which had potential if it could be sped up and and improved. So, Peter Liepa and Chris Gray collaborated on the original Boulder Dash which Peter then wrote in assembly language for the Atari 800 home computer system.

Once the game was complete, Peter felt he deserved the most credit and lawyers had to be brought in to sort out what percentage of the royalties Peter and Chris would each receive.

Well fortunately, years later when Andrew Davie and Thomas Jentzsch came together to produce a version of the classic Boulder Dash for the Atari 2600 they got along much better. Perhaps that was due to the fact there was not much money involved. We may never know.

What I have learned though in researching this game is that it takes no less than two programmers to create something like this.

For those who don't know, Boulder Dash for the Atari 2600 is a 2 dimensional vertically and horizontally scrolling game where the player guides the character (Rockford) while he digs his way through a cave filled with boulders that can fall on him and cause him to explode. Explode? Maybe the boulders are sulfur or something.

The goal of the game is for Rockford to collect a set number of diamonds which thanks to the 2600's incredible graphic resolution look like pizza slices. BTW, if the "diamonds" fall on Rockford he will also explode.

Boulder Dash 2600 was released in 2012 after 10 years of development. Only 250 game cartridges were produced. It has long since sold out making a copy hard to obtain and costly. For whatever reasons, there will be no more produced.

Andrew Davie however, has generously offered up his personal boxed copy of the game to travel the world so that those who were not lucky enough to own one of the 250 copies but still wish to play Boulder Dash 2600 may have the opportunity. Visit Atariage.com 2600 forum to read the rules and request the loan of the cartridge. I did and am honored to have had Boulder Dash to play and experience however briefly.

As one of the conditions of borrowing the game, the authors request that the player write a brutally honest review of the game and highlight any faults with it. This is my review and the faults are... blah... hmmmm.. uh.... not many.

After playing the game for several nights, the only things I could come up with that I didn't like are things that others may like or consider features.

The first is, that when Rockford must push a boulder out of the road (not often as most just fall when he digs out under them), the player must press and hold the joystick button for a moment. Because this game is timed and because it plays fast and is better played as fast as possible, that delay to move a boulder seems very long and cumbersome especially at higher skill levels.

The second thing is the all time high score which can be saved to a save key device is for practical purposes not viewable until the end of a game. The high score can serve as a motivational factor for the player presenting a goal to exceed and can influence the decisions a player makes if they know what the high score is ahead of time. Now, you could just start a game and kill Rockford off right away to see the high score in the information displayed at the end of that game. There is a way, just not a convenient way.

The final thing is the creative method by which the game informs the player they have earned a bonus life. The screen glitters with tiny dots to visually signal to the player that there is one more Rockford. Every time it happens I think the system glitched or someone plugged in a vacuum cleaner.

Overall though, the game is a marvel of sights and sounds and fluid motion that challenge the mind and entertain for hours upon hours. Any serious 2600 fan will want to experience Boulder Dash 2600 for themselves.

I would give it five stars on a five star scale or 97 percent on a 100 scale.

Edited November 11, 2016 by SIO2

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Thanks a lot for your review.

 

And especially for adding a bit of history of the original game.

 

Well fortunately, years later when Andrew Davie and Thomas Jentzsch came together to produce a version of the classic Boulder Dash for the Atari 2600 they got along much better.

True, though we discussed a lot of stuff to the max, there never was any trouble between Andrew and me on how to split the profit between us two.

 

Now let me address your three points:

The first is, that when Rockford must push a boulder out of the road (not often as most just fall when he digs out under them), the player must press and hold the joystick button for a moment. Because this game is timed and because it plays fast and is better played as fast as possible, that delay to move a boulder seems very long and cumbersome especially at higher skill levels.

That's intentional. The original also adds some (random) delay here. However, there exist some hacks which remove that delay, so you are not alone here.

 

The second thing is the all time high score which can be saved to a save key device is for practical purposes not viewable until the end of a game. The high score can serve as a motivational factor for the player presenting a goal to exceed and can influence the decisions a player makes if they know what the high score is ahead of time. Now, you could just start a game and kill Rockford off right away to see the high score in the information displayed at the end of that game. There is a way, just not a convenient way.

Adding the SaveKey was an afterthought and a high score display didn't exist in the original. So we came up with this solution. Probably there is a better, more convenient way. E.g. briefly displaying too when the game starts. Any other idea? (just in case...)

 

The final thing is the creative method by which the game informs the player they have earned a bonus life. The screen glitters with tiny dots to visually signal to the player that there is one more Rockford. Every time it happens I think the system glitched or someone plugged in a vacuum cleaner.

Interesting, you are the first to mention that. I wonder if more people have similar feelings here.

 

We were trying to reproduce the shimmering effect from the original without overloading the engine. The Cosmic Ark trick requires (almost) no extra CPU time, so that's why we chose it.

 

I would give it five stars on a five star scale or 97 percent on a 100 scale.

Wow! Edited November 11, 2016 by Thomas Jentzsch

[+Andrew Davie]

True, though we discussed a lot of stuff to the max, there never was any trouble between Andrew and me on how to split the profit between us two.

 

That's not how I remember it! We argued about money... you wanted less money and I wanted you to have more