Star Castle Arcade - Beta Release

[+save2600]

 

You mean the "siren" effect? I could tune that down a bit easily. But so far you are the only one who complained. If you stay alone, I won't change it.

 

Yes, the siren or background sound. Love what it does - just is a tad too loud in comparison to the rest of the game. Makes me want to turn down the volume. Not good.

 

Hope I'm not the *only* one that feels this way.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

 

BTW: I think the siren in the Arcade game is even louder. OK, it also sounds better...

[+save2600]

You're right. Same with the Vectrex version too. Must be the way the 2600 generates or handles certain tones. Just seems during certain swings, the siren is much louder than it needs/should be - IMO.

[iesposta]

I would like to try the siren a little lower.

Also, is it supposed to ramp back down when there are only a few ring segments left? It seems like that is when it should be highest. Between ships it goes up like the arcade.

[BrianC]

Is it possible to have a difficulty option that keeps the arcade difficulty intact? I know ports make things easier and some games can be unfairly hard, but some games are difficult for the right reasons and, if that's the case, I rather have that difficulty intact.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Is it possible to have a difficulty option that keeps the arcade difficulty intact? I know ports make things easier and some games can be unfairly hard, but some games are difficult for the right reasons and, if that's the case, I rather have that difficulty intact.

Have you tried the game? Especially with left difficulty = A it starts pretty hard and ramps up even more. While this is not 100% identical to the Arcade, it is IMO difficulty enough for a homebrew. I have no chance to get that far without cheating.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I would like to try the siren a little lower.

Also, is it supposed to ramp back down when there are only a few ring segments left? It seems like that is when it should be highest. Between ships it goes up like the arcade.

The frequency of the siren is as close to the Arcade as possible on the 2600.

 

And the ramp up and down is 100% identical to the Arcade. Try shooting down almost all segments in the Arcade and you will see (EDIT: hear! ).

Edited August 28, 2013 by Thomas Jentzsch

[Greg2600]

game looks terrific, great work Thomas.

[BrianC]

Have you tried the game? Especially with left difficulty = A it starts pretty hard and ramps up even more. While this is not 100% identical to the Arcade, it is IMO difficulty enough for a homebrew. I have no chance to get that far without cheating.

 

yeah. I have a hard time getting past the first level. It's just that a lot of games these days are being toned down for casual gamers.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Some tips for beginners and casual gamers:

• Try to keep 1 or 2 consecutive segments of the outer and middle ring intact
• Do not destroy the outer ring completely. You score more by killing the gun and get an extra life for that.
• As soon as there is a gap in the inner ring, keep moving!
• Wrap around the screen and attack the gun from behind.
• Either strafe along the castle or bounce from the ring and reverse direction.

[BrianC]

Actually, I was playing on the harder mode and I normally keep both switches at A, so I didn't realize that bouncing could be turned on/off. I got further on the easier difficulty.

Edited August 28, 2013 by BrianC

[CrazyChris]

I will have to try out the harder mode.

[BrianC]

The siren reminds me a lot of 1942. If someone ever makes a port of it to 2600 or 7800, I hope they use that sound.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I will have to try out the harder mode.

 

 

Actually, I was playing on the harder mode and I normally keep both switches at A, so I didn't realize that bouncing could be turned on/off. I got further on the easier difficulty.

 

I suppose the difficulty is about right.

[BrianC]

well, it had nothing to do with my experience with the game. I do find it plenty challenging. It's just that, I like to see the difficulty intact when possible, even when I'm not good at the game, except when it's hard for the wrong reasons. I know this is nothing like that, but games like Puyo Pop on GBA (which is stupidly easy and waaaaay toned down difficulty wise, even on the higher difficulties) and casualized iOS games like Tapper make me view "toned down difficulty" as a buzz word.

Edited August 29, 2013 by BrianC

[Thomas Jentzsch]

IMO the arcade version is intentionally that hard just to prevent long plays and create more credits.

 

For a homebrew replicating this, is no good idea. So the maximum difficulty is decreased, which should allow good players some really long sessions. But nevertheless the game gets really hard after some rounds.

Edited August 29, 2013 by Thomas Jentzsch

[BrianC]

oh ok. I understand where you are coming from and it is plenty challenging as is, especially in difficulty A. Playing without bounce is even harder. Definitely an impressive homebrew and a blast to play.

[iesposta]

IMO the arcade version is intentionally that hard just to prevent long plays and create more credits.

 

For a homebrew replicating this, is no good idea. So the maximum difficulty is decreased, which should allow good players some really long sessions. But nevertheless the game gets really hard after some rounds.

That is what I was trying to say, Thomas. The arcade game just wants more quarters.

When I play at home, I want gameplay that isn't so hard that I am dead after 60 seconds, or so simple there is no challenge.

Now that rapid fire doesn't let you cheat, this is a game I will be proud to buy, own, and play often!

[BrianC]

I found out there were multiple revisions of the arcade, with both an easy and hard version. I found a video of the hard version. Do both versions eventually get impossible, or just the hard rev? I tried one of the revisions in MAME and it seemed closer to the speed of difficulty B, so I guess that was the easy rev? Does the Vectrex one get impossibly hard too? Anyway, after playing and reading more, I think the difficulty for the 2600 was a good call, especially due to the difference in resolution.

Edited August 29, 2013 by BrianC

[Zoyx]

This is me playing the arcade version.

 

The Vectrex version is easier, and probably can be rolled. The main problem is the controls.

[BrianC]

Awesome video! I like how Double Dragon music is in the background.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

 

Yes. One of the difficulty switch options would be less friction.

I could combine that with left difficulty = A. How much lower should it become?

 

Note: The arcade has a bug there which I did not replicate. The friction is different between flying left and right. Same for up and down. I tried to find a compromise.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

You're right. Same with the Vectrex version too. Must be the way the 2600 generates or handles certain tones. Just seems during certain swings, the siren is much louder than it needs/should be - IMO.

Actually I had it even louder before.

 

Did you notice that the siren volume is constantly slightly varying? This is meant to reproduce the arcade's sound flanging effect.

 

Anyway, I will reduce the volume a little bit(!) in the next final(?) version.

[LS_Dracon]

 

Anyway, I will reduce the volume a little bit(!) in the next final(?) version.

Not a good idea, it's already too low compared with arcade.

Also Atari 2600 can't handle much information for the audio volume, it's only 15 values, 0 is mute and 15 is most louder. If we change the volume "a bit", the changes are drastic.

 

This siren code Thomas did is awesome, replicating the arcade sound with perfection. I fear reducing the volume it could be inaudible if you set the TV volume low (like me).

 

I really NOT big fan of the siren, for me I'll remove it at all, but we're trying a perfect port and this include the perfect siren Thomas coded.

 

My suggestion is a option to not play the siren, but I'm afraid there's no rom enough, or free button\switch to set it.

[+Nathan Strum]

Or people can always turn down their TV volume.