Boulder Dash (R) For Intellivision

[+JasonlikesINTV]

Thanks for posting the video, Mike!

[intvnut]

Now that sounds like a challenge! Smooth scrolling while keeping the score up. It's been done, but it's tricky and not always possible depending on what exactly is being drawn to the screen.

 

On the Intellivision, it's exceptionally tough. If you want to use hardware scrolling but keep the score/status display stationary, then you need to devote a ton of GRAM cards to holding shifted versions of the score / status / etc. so you can display them, and you can't really have changes in color within the score/status display unless you put an empty "buffer" character between color changes. That's because the STIC doesn't allow for split-scroll. (Unlike the NES PPU, with an appropriate mapper chip.)

 

River Raid manages vertical scrolling with fixed status by moving pictures upwards in GRAM every time the display scrolls downward vertically. Because it has that large blank area at right, it doesn't have to worry about the status information bumping into anything else. Bump 'N Jump does something similar with the driver's speed; however, you'll notice there's a 0 to 7 px area below that that just displays nothing, and that area grows/shrinks as the screen scrolls.

 

For horizontal scrolling, it's noticeably tougher to achieve. In Space Patrol, I managed the parallax scrolling by modulating GRAM, as opposed to using hardware scrolling. And you'll notice that the scrolling bands have no color changes horizontally. I burned a ton of ROM to pre-compute all of the scrolled images. (Have a look at the source if you're curious.)

 

To have smooth scrolling in Boulder Dash with the score / stats / etc. displayed would require quite a large number of GRAM cards, and imposing quite a few limitations on the display. You basically would have to devote around 40 GRAM cards to build a 2 row by 20 char bitmap to hold it, leaving only 24 GRAM cards for the rest of the graphics. It would also probably take most of the available cycles just to update the graphics for that.

 

Alternately, you could do something somewhat hacky, such as blanking the status bar while not on an even grid point, but I think that'd end up being fairly distracting. That'd save a ton of cycles, but it would also mean the status / score area would be blank while the screen scrolls. Is that acceptable? ... Not exactly sure. As it stands, I think BD as implemented works quite well and plays to the hardware's capabilities.

 

There's a reason Super Cobra and Mission X only showed your score occasionally, and let it scroll away with the screen. The hardware really works against any other option.

 

Boulder Dash truly does push the hardware. It pushes it in a different way than Space Patrol did. I'm suitably impressed. Well done, Scott!

Edited March 30, 2015 by intvnut

[Thomas Jentzsch]

The tile based scrolling worked well in Boulder Dash 2600, so it works well here too.

 

Of course smooth scrolling would have been nice, but only if you wouldn't have to compromise the game somewhere else.

 

The only (minor) complaint I have is, that the scrolling is a bit too short. From the videos I have seen, this causes a bit stop and go scrolling and doesn't let you look ahead very much.

[Games For Your Intellivision]

The tile based scrolling worked well in Boulder Dash 2600, so it works well here too.

 

Of course smooth scrolling would have been nice, but only if you wouldn't have to compromise the game somewhere else.

 

The only (minor) complaint I have is, that the scrolling is a bit too short. From the videos I have seen, this causes a bit stop and go scrolling and doesn't let you look ahead very much.

 

 

There is actually a hidden way to enable 'auto centering'. It centers the screen but it was not liked by most people and defaults to 'off'. It allows you to 'look ahead' more. I forget how to enable it but will ask.

Edited March 30, 2015 by Games For Your Intellivision

[freewheel]

 

There is actually a hidden way to enable 'auto centering'. It centers the screen but it was not liked by most people and defaults to 'off'. It allows you to 'look ahead' more. I forget how to enable it but will ask.

 

I can see why most people wouldn't like that. Auto-centered characters only work in certain types of games and can be very annoying otherwise. And it wouldn't be Boulder Dash, unless my memory is COMPLETELY off. I remember the scrolling having to "catch up".

[Thomas Jentzsch]

 

I can see why most people wouldn't like that. Auto-centered characters only work in certain types of games and can be very annoying otherwise. And it wouldn't be Boulder Dash, unless my memory is COMPLETELY off. I remember the scrolling having to "catch up".

The "catch up" scrolling is something which annoyed me in the C64 original.

 

I wasn't suggested auto-centering, but something which I call "delayed scrolling". It is originating from the original Thrust (Boulder Dash for several platforms does something similar too, so not my idea) and was then ported by me to my Atari 2600 Thrust version and to Boulder Dash too (where it was really essential due to the small screen view). For this to work, the scrolling must at least be as fast as the character movement, which is the case here.

 

The idea is to start scrolling when your character is e.g. 30% away from the border. And then you scroll the screen until he is away e.g. 60% (those two numbers have to be carefully chosen, to avoid opposite direction scrolling), including any further movement while you are scrolling. That way you reduce the number of scrolling events significantly and you can look ahead a bit further.

 

Checkout this video:

Edited March 31, 2015 by Thomas Jentzsch

[freewheel]

The 2600 scrolling looks identical to the C64 scrolling from a similar video Youtube helpfully linked for me. Except the 2600 scrolling is more jerky (not surprising given the platform). It's the same sort of "catch up" algorithm that works well for games such as this. Maybe I'm missing something.

Edited March 31, 2015 by freeweed

[Games For Your Intellivision]

Just to be clear...the C64 version is not the 'original', the Atari 400/800 version is.

 

One of our testers complained that ours didn't 'auto center' like the 'original'. I think that he was referring to the C64.....

 

We implemented what we felt was C64 like auto centering and everyone hated it. First Star said it was 'never in the original game' and it must go........it was made an option and defaulted to 'off'. However, it kept turning itself 'on' during testing.....so, the method to turn it on was made more difficult.....so the player can toggle on and off depending on the situation. However, it is an undocumented feature....of which there are a few in the game.

[+save2600]

Played this game today and believe it or not, is the first version of Boulder Dash I've ever tried! Never had it for any of my systems BITD, and despite owning Rockford for the Amiga for years, have yet to play that even.

 

Fun game! And more difficult than I thought it would be. Easy to get clobbered by boulders if you're not paying too close attention. Can't comment yet as far as comparisons go, but I would like to be able to try the centered scrolling option. Is it a combination of keypad presses or what?

[freewheel]

Just to be clear...the C64 version is not the 'original', the Atari 400/800 version is.

 

One of our testers complained that ours didn't 'auto center' like the 'original'. I think that he was referring to the C64.....

 

Very true. Quite a lot of games from that era actually originated on the 400/800, or the Apple II, but are more remembered from their C64 versions. Market dominance does that, fortunately or otherwise.

 

It's certainly the standard I compare 90% of 80s games to; I'm as guilty as anyone for doing it. That's actually one of the trickier parts of porting something from home computers of the 80s - it's impossible to satisfy everyone.

[intvnut]

 

Very true. Quite a lot of games from that era actually originated on the 400/800, or the Apple II, but are more remembered from their C64 versions. Market dominance does that, fortunately or otherwise.

 

I'm glad I didn't use the C64 Moon Patrol as a reference for one of my own games... It's... uuuuugly, and it sounds awful! How'd they manage to make it sound so... wheezy? And snow-capped mountains on the moon? Really?

 

Anyway, it goes to show, it's probably best to derive from the original than from a derivative.

Edited April 1, 2015 by intvnut

[Thomas Jentzsch]

That's actually one of the trickier parts of porting something from home computers of the 80s - it's impossible to satisfy everyone.

First a hobby developer should satisfy himself.

 

So, since I grew up with a C64, that's usually the platform I take as base for my ports. In case of Boulder Dash the difference between the platforms are not that big, the most obvious ones are the colors used for the caves. But of course we checked out the Atari original to look for differences and alternatives.

 

BTW: The scrolling between Atari 8 Bit and C64 seems pretty identical to me. Both start scrolling scroll until Rockford is about in the center of the screen. C64 seems to start scrolling a little later and a bit too slow.

[pimpmaul69]

First a hobby developer should satisfy himself.

 

So, since I grew up with a C64, that's usually the platform I take as base for my ports. In case of Boulder Dash the difference between the platforms are not that big, the most obvious ones are the colors used for the caves. But of course we checked out the Atari original to look for differences and alternatives.

 

BTW: The scrolling between Atari 8 Bit and C64 seems pretty identical to me. Both start scrolling scroll until Rockford is about in the center of the screen. C64 seems to start scrolling a little later and a bit too slow.

off topic but its cool seeing you wander on over to the inty section. I dont wander to the 2600 section much these days but ive tried to get roms of everything you have touched. Its a little harder to keep track of every game/rom that comes around in the 2600 section. Anything new/recent you are working on?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Actually I am only wandering to the Boulder Dash or Thrust sections.

 

Yea, there are a lot of games done for the 2600. The vast majority are done with batari Basic and many (if not most) of them are not very impressive.

 

My latest release is Three.s, Star Castle Arcade will hopefully soon be (finally!) available on cart. If you want to try out, the ROMS for both are available too.

[pimpmaul69]

Actually I am only wandering to the Boulder Dash or Thrust sections.

 

Yea, there are a lot of games done for the 2600. The vast majority are done with batari Basic and many (if not most) of them are not very impressive.

 

My latest release is Three.s, Star Castle Arcade will hopefully soon be (finally!) available on cart. If you want to try out, the ROMS for both are available too.

i will definitely check them out.

[herkamur]

I received Boulder Dash today and must say that it's excellent. Nice work. It plays great. My sister and I played the C64 version in about 1985 or so. Thank you.

 

I'll admit that I'm used to the C64 scrolling and I'm quickly getting used to how this one works. Either method works for me.

[Games For Your Intellivision]

To toggle 'auto centering' press '5' on the keypad and the upper 'fire' button in a scrolling cave.

 

To turn it off, do the same.

 

Most people dislike it, but it may be useful in some situations.

[Games For Your Intellivision]

Fewer than 100 copies remain of the initial run of Boulder Dash® for Intellivision....get your copy before they run out!!!

 

 

www.naberhood.com

[jaybird3rd]

Fewer than 100 copies remain of the initial run of Boulder Dash® for Intellivision....get your copy before they run out!!!

 

www.naberhood.com

Congratulations!

 

Is there a chance that Boulder Dash® for Intellivision might be followed by an Intellivision port of Boulder Dash® II?

[Rev]

Will Boulder Dash II have a snow level?

[wolfy62]

No, Boulder Dash 2 will be based in California, and as we all know we have no snow pack or water here.There are only rising costs for the stuff we don't have anymore!!!

 

Damn that global warming!

[+JasonlikesINTV]

I heard Carl was working on Mrs Dash

[Games For Your Intellivision]

Congratulations!

 

Is there a chance that Boulder Dash® for Intellivision might be followed by an Intellivision port of Boulder Dash® II?

 

I think a sequel is a possibility depending on how well Boulder Dash® Volume 1 sells. Some people I would have expected to grab a copy already haven't, so we'll see.

 

I'd personally like to do a version with levels unique to the Intellivision.....maybe something where you could save/load user created levels created on the ECS.

 

Just an idea...

[+intvsteve]

This is an interesting idea! it really would be cool to unleash some of the features that were available in testing, too. A level editor... And if digital distribution is a possibility even more interesting ideas become possible...

[David Alexander]

Ordered from Nabor Hood Games. I hope its as fun as it looks.