243 replies to this topic

[Cafeman]

After no progress at all in Sept and Oct, I'm back at it.  Here is the first demo of Adventure II XE.  I use it in Atari800win - I attach cartridge, use OS-B (perhaps XL will work for you - Tep392 uses the XL setting, but I never got it to work. So I use OS-B.  It might depend on which emulator you use.)  I set the cart type as an XEGS 64K cart.

You can only play game variation 5 here.

Controls
Here's the key setup which Tep392 handled when he ported the game a while back.  I asked him to include the Joystick2 button because I always hated having to learn forward and press the Space Bar.


* or Select to select game level
# or Option to select character after entering 1980
S or Start or Joystick1 button to start game
R to revive
P to pause
space or Joystick2 button to rotate object
Pressing Select or Option during game play will exit game same as 5200 reset key

What's different about this demo1 compared to the 2007 5200 version?

Here are the most noticeable changes:
- items are hidden in some different places. This will continue to evolve before I call this finished.
- There's only 1  different sound effect in this demo, although I have the game's code all set up now to start adding new sounds to bank1. Next demo will have more.
- dragons will now give up their chase of you sometimes. You'll hear their scream of despair when they stop chasing you screen-to-screen.
- Minotaur will drop you off on different screens now, not always the troll bridge screen like in the 5200 version.
- splash screen /title screen w/new font /win screen w/ statistics.

What am I working on right now?  

- more new sounds/music
- dots will change hiding locations based on which variation you are playing.
- have to add in the end-of-game stat for how much time it took you to beat the game

Feel free to report any issues with the game, I may have left something screwy in there.  Let us know which emulator you played it on, or if anyone played it on real hardware, which I have not done yet. I need to buy one of those Classics A8 flash carts soon.

Attached Files

•  adv2_xegs_demo1.bin   64K   102 downloads

[wood_jl]

WOW!!!

Depending on price, I may buy 2 of these carts!!!!  Can't wait!

[Rybags]

My suggestion - just rename the game to get Atari out of the picture altogether.

[accousticguitar]

Are you going to have a randomized object placement option in this version?  That would be way cool.

[tep392]

Looks excellent!  Works fine in XL mode on the version of Atari800win I'm using.  Also, the flashcart version I built a while back worked on both my 400(48k) and 800XL.  May just be an issue with the version of your emulator.

Perry

[Cafeman]

accousticguitar, on Tue Nov 15, 2011 6:52 AM, said:

Are you going to have a randomized object placement option in this version?  That would be way cool.

Well, that is a bit of a misleading statement, because most of the objects in the 5200 version did have randomly chosen initial locations, plus when Troll steals an item, he hides it in additional randomly-chosen locations.    I am guessing you are talking about overall how certain keys would always be in the same locations.

I have to have some control over the randomization, else you wouldn't be able to solve the game.  But anyway - yes, more full randomization is one of my goals for the XE version, including adding some randomization to the dot hiding locations. An experienced 5200 AdvII player will notice randomization changes in this demo, but it isn't done - I basically have set up the frame work but need to go back in and finish the new hiding code.

Keep the suggestions coming. Nothing major will be added, but anything that could make the game more fun is welcome.

[Cafeman]

Rybags, on Tue Nov 15, 2011 5:21 AM, said:

My suggestion - just rename the game to get Atari out of the picture altogether.

Atari, back in 2005 or 2006, legally and officially gave me permission to use this name for the 5200 and Atari 8bit computer line. It's taken years for me to actually work on the A8 version, but so what.   I provided fair-trade services to Atari by working with Curt on the Flashback 2 version of Adventure II.  I realize that one never knows, but I would hope that atari's general counsel Kristen would honor the original agreement.  I have honored my original agreement by not distributing the 5200 ROM - only "limited-play" demo's were agreed upon.

[wood_jl]

Cafeman, on Tue Nov 15, 2011 7:48 AM, said:

I provided fair-trade services to Atari by working with Curt on the Flashback 2 version of Adventure II

Informative!  I never knew there was a connection.  I should have!  Now you make we want to dig out the Flashback, but I don't know which Rubbermaid tub it is in.  This XE version is going to fit in and mesh quite well, with the existing Adventure family!

[Cafeman]

wood_jl, on Tue Nov 15, 2011 7:22 PM, said:

Informative!  I never knew there was a connection.  I should have!  Now you make we want to dig out the Flashback, but I don't know which Rubbermaid tub it is in.  This XE version is going to fit in and mesh quite well, with the existing Adventure family!

Oh, this is an old subject and you can do searches and read all about it on these forums - but just to clarify, I dont' want to take credit for programming that version.  I merely  supplied design elements, maze ideas,  and art from our 5200 project. Curt and his team coded it based on the original 4K Adventure game, bumping it up to 8K, I believe.

[accousticguitar]

Cafeman, on Tue Nov 15, 2011 7:42 AM, said:

But anyway - yes, more full randomization is one of my goals for the XE version, including adding some randomization to the dot hiding locations.

Wonderful; I'm looking forward to it!

[Cafeman]

A picture or two. Thanks to Bryan for the AA splash!

Attached Thumbnails

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[Marc Oberhäuser]

Looks great!

[Cafeman]

Update: I have changed the dot hiding logic. The dots, or "Bat Eggs" as I called them, will not always be in the same spots on every game variation in Adventure II XE.

In Adventure II 5200 the dots were always in the same 3 locations, and you really could not find the 3rd dot unless you played a "Vast" level.  In Adventure II XE, every level you will be able to find all 3 dots - in different locations.  I think its fun to find them.

If anyone wants to help to be a tester of this game, PM me.  You can play it on an emulator if you wish, but I would hope to have someone who can test it on a real system too - I currently cannot but I have to find a way to play it on my Atari XE or 800XL, be it via one of those IO cables or a flash RAM cart. I just haven't gotten around to buying one yet.

I am going to start posting my updates to this page :   http://cafeman.www9....v/AdvII_XE.html

[Rybags]

I could test, but can't devote a whole lot of time.

I've got 128K and 1 Meg AtariMax flashcarts, and most models of the 8-bit machines with 48K to 1 Meg RAM (once I install my Ultimate 1 Meg).  All PAL except my 1200XL.

Also got IDE Plus 2 and SIDE on the way - so I've got many of the possible hardware configurations covered.

[TheRamboTX]

Put me down for one of the carts - sounds great!!

[Cafeman]

Rybags, on Fri Nov 25, 2011 11:59 PM, said:

I could test, but can't devote a whole lot of time.... I've got many of the possible hardware configurations covered.

I appreciate any help testing at all - sounds good!   I test it pretty thoroughly myself on the 800win emulator, but it helps for some others to play a few rounds now & then to see if they identify any problems that I haven't seen.  Especially on real hardware.  I'll be in touch once I feel I've done enough new stuff.

Speaking of hardware, a question - can people play this bin image on real hardware using the SIO2SD? TMR said he couldn't figure out how to mount the cartridge using SIO2SD.   If not, is there an easy way to convert my 64k bank-switched cart image into a format which will work w/SIO2SD?

Edited by Cafeman, Sat Nov 26, 2011 2:35 PM.

[Blues76]

Is this cartridge going to be available via atariage store?

[Cafeman]

Blues76, on Sat Nov 26, 2011 2:27 PM, said:

Is this cartridge going to be available via atariage store?

I'm not sure what Albert's plans are , but that was the original plan. We haven't discussed it for a while.

[Mitch]

Cafeman, on Sat Nov 26, 2011 2:07 PM, said:

Speaking of hardware, a question - can people play this bin image on real hardware using the SIO2SD? TMR said he couldn't figure out how to mount the cartridge using SIO2SD.   If not, is there an easy way to convert my 64k bank-switched cart image into a format which will work w/SIO2SD?

Do any of the A8 flash carts support bankswitched games? I know the AtariMax ones do not support them.

Mitch

[Rybags]

Banked cartridges can't be played using SIO hardware emulation devices.

You either need an actual banked cart or one of the few RAM upgrades that support emulating banked carts.  AFAIK the new TurboFreezer is one of those few.

The VBXE can do banking in the same style as a banked cart but the bank select mechanism is way different.  If you were to always change banks via subroutine call then it'd be fairly easy to use VBXE.

Standard large RAM banking is totally different to cartridges - most banked carts change a 8K region $A000-BFFF but most extended RAM systems change 16K @ $4000-7FFF.

If you're using a 128K banked AtariMax cart, then plenty of people should have one - they're pretty cheap so no reason not to buy at least one.

[Cafeman]

THe bank switch scheme I'm using switches 8k banks , I believe in the $8000-$9FFF area. It is the same scheme as the XE 64k carts, from what I understand.

This is disappointing news - so nobody using an SIO device can play my A8 homebrews because I'm bankswitching?  How did Tempest XL handle the memory needs then?

Also,  Mitch stated none of the AtariMax carts support bankswitching, but Rybags stated I could use a 128K banked AtariMax cart - I'm confused by these two seemingly conflicting statements.

[tep392]

Cafeman,

I don't know much about the SIO devices, but the Atarimax flash cart do bank switch.  The problem is that they have the fixed and banked regions opposite of what the XEGS carts have.  When I ported your 5200 code I actually made two versions, one for XEGS banking and one for Atarimax, which was the version I used for hardware testing.  I gave you the XEGS version because it would work with the boards available for producing 64k carts for sale on AA.

Edited by tep392, Sat Nov 26, 2011 8:58 PM.

[Rybags]

Looks like testing for practically anyone will have to be via emulation.  Except for those few that could burn an EPROM and use in an XEGS cart.

VBXE could simulate the cartridge type you're using - patching the game to use it's banking scheme should in theory be fairly easy.

But again, we're talking limited numbers of people who own VBXE.

[Mitch]

I could test via EPROM board but my time is pretty limited at the moment. If you need someone to test on actually hardware and can't find anyone let me know.

Testing via EPROM board reminds of the old 5200 Koffi testing days.

Mitch

[Cafeman]

Mitch, on Sun Nov 27, 2011 4:35 PM, said:

I could test via EPROM board but my time is pretty limited at the moment. If you need someone to test on actually hardware and can't find anyone let me know.

Testing via EPROM board reminds of the old 5200 Koffi testing days.

Mitch

heh, yep, I remember burrning 32k eproms too back in those days. Then I  got a 5200 flash cart for advII 5200 and thought I'd never have to go back.  I still have my pocket programmer somewhere.  Mitch - do you actually have the right kind of  board to test this 64k XE type of memory layout?