Draconian (2600)

[+D Train]

Yes, I corrected him. (Very old build with your original sample.)

The New Retro Show (bearded Mike)

He just starts playing everything and doesn't read directions.

So in many ways, the archetypal atari player?

 

I always loved reading the instructions, though.

[+SpiceWare]

I always loved reading the instructions, though.

We had fun with the manual for Draconian

[Andromeda Stardust]

Yes, I corrected him. (Very old build with your original sample.)

The New Retro Show (bearded Mike)

He just starts playing everything and doesn't read directions.

I watched like the first 30 seconds of the video before getting the impression this guy has no clue what he's talking about. I'd rather he just upload a raw gameplay footage and save the rambling for somewhere else.

 

And yes I am guilty of this before. My Pokey Pokey Pokey unboxing/gameplay video was edited in only two cuts and I did not read the manuals to Super Circus and Bentley, which made me look like a moron when I failed spectacularly. At least I had a good run of Donkey Kong though...

 

[+D Train]

We had fun with the manual for Draconian

Yay! I am looking forward to it!

[NE146]

Geezus H I really need to keep on top of the Homebrew section because this is the first time I've ever even heard of this, and the first post is from 2014!!!! Holy crap and it even has the old "A LIE, A LIE" voices. Amazing friggin work. Is this out on cart? I need to get!

 

On another note.. I wonder if it'd be possible to do Rally-X on the same engine? Not that I'm a Rally-X fan.. just curious.

[+SpiceWare]

Thanks! It did go on hibernation from October 2014 to March 2017 while we worked on BUS Stuffing and ultimately created the new CDF bankswitch scheme. CDF is what allowed me to add voice, diagonal shots, rotating station cores, etc. which I couldn't do with the original DPC+ version of Draconian. CDF's also used for John's new Super Cobra Arcade.

It is out on cart, was sold at PRGE a couple weekends ago, and will be sold at FPF a couple weekends from now. It'll soon be added to the AA Store for shipment in December.

 

Not Rally-X as the kernel does not update the playfield in the game area, it's only used for the score/lives. The radar display is based on Ed Fries' Rally X though (have you seen that?). I could see using it for Sinistar, though need to figure out something else for its radar as it shows a lot more info.

 

I'll be rebooting Frantic to use the new CDF bankswitch scheme, its kernel updates the playfield so could be used for Rally-X.

[Trebor]

Happy Birthday, Darrell!

[+SpiceWare]

Thanks!

[lucifershalo]

It is a wonderful conversion, Darrell

if only you could do a better Sinistar conversion

[+SpiceWare]

Thank you! I plan to look into Sinistar, but have a few other things on my plate I'd like to take care of before then.

• Look into support for larger cartridges (more space for better sounding samples)
• Convert Frantic to CDF
• Convert Timmy! to CDF
• Create a framework for CDF development and write up a tutorial on it.

The framework would be sort of like batari BASIC in that you specify a few options that will configure the game to use prebuilt kernels and their supporting C code, after which you only have to worry about the game logic (which would be written in C, not BASIC). Converting Frantic and Timmy! first gives me 3 sets of kernels to start the framework with.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Happy Birthday, Darrell!

Happy Birthday. Don't forget your party hat!

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

More Timmy development, awesome!! I played so much Jumpman (and Jr.) back in the day it would be amazing to have something similar to a VCS version of it. Looking forward to it!

 

Also, Happy Birthday Darrell!!

 

 

• Convert Timmy! to CDF
• Create a framework for CDF development and write up a tutorial on it.

The framework would be sort of like batari BASIC in that you specify a few options that will configure the game to use prebuilt kernels and their supporting C code, after which you only have to worry about the game logic (which would be written in C, not BASIC). Converting Frantic and Timmy! first gives me 3 sets of kernels to start the framework with.

[+Cafeman]

I'm embarrassed to admit that only today did I realize the name was changed, from Bosconian! Very cool similar title, I'd love to read how you came up with Draconian!

[+SpiceWare]

I'd love to read how you came up with Draconian!

 

 

see reply #7

[+SpiceWare]

A little something from Nathan's been added to the initial post

[Arenafoot]

A little something from Nathan's been added to the initial post

first Atari 2600 homebrew game that has its own desktop wallpaper????

[iesposta]

I just played Starmaster, one of my favorite Activision games.

Turn it on and you get a 1 channel, 5 note, Star Trek-like "tune" that goes up 4 notes and down on the last note which is WAY out of tune.

Complete the whole game mission and you get the same tune with the same "sour" last note.

 

Wow.

 

And I put the entire Bosconian 2-channel start music and 2-channel high score end music, and didn't fall on any "off" or "sour" notes.

Hard to believe they are both on the same system with the same sound limitations!

Note: Draconian is plain TIA sound, not the in-tune 3-voice DPC "Pitfall II" method.

 

Those early programmers REALLY had no musical talent.

 

It wasn't until the 2-channel Ms. Pac-Man start tune that I remember saying, "Wow, that's excellent. Sounds like the arcade machine!"

 

P.S. Bump N Jump is excellent also.

Edited November 17, 2017 by iesposta

[RevEng]

[...] Note: Draconian is plain TIA sound, not the in-tune 3-voice DPC "Pitfall II" method. [...]

My personal preference is for well-done TIA sound, like was done here, and not the DPC soft-synth method. The latter always sounds scratchy.

 

Give me real TIA, singing in all her glory.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

My personal preference is for well-done TIA sound, like was done here, and not the DPC soft-synth method. The latter always sounds scratchy.

I am sure this can be improved over time.

[iesposta]

I am sure this can be improved over time.

supercat's orig routine had a beautiful tone with vibrato.

Adding in updates during ARM processing time degraded things a small amount. Apparently any skipped Audv0 updates will cause a scratch or noise.

[RevEng]

Agreed that the pops from DPC audio are from updates not happening perfectly every 76 cycles.

 

There's also a "fuzz" type aliasing sound that I hear with 2600 soft-synth when a few instruments are playing. I'm not sure if that's just a matter of samples exceeding the Nyquist limit, or the limited bit depth.

[iesposta]

Agreed that the pops from DPC audio are from updates not happening perfectly every 76 cycles.

 

There's also a "fuzz" type aliasing sound that I hear with 2600 soft-synth when a few instruments are playing. I'm not sure if that's just a matter of samples exceeding the Nyquist limit, or the limited bit depth.

 

 

I even tell myself that in TIA Audio, just going from Volume 0 to a note WITH a volume is physically going to "push out the speaker cone" and there may be a pop.

I like to keep the volume where it last was, and silence by making the Channel = 0, but then I'm weird, I mean... I look at things in different ways. Yeah that...

 

 

P.S.

Thanks for the wallpaper, Nathan!

It's much more cost-effective getting a Desktop Picture, then getting a full-size poster printed up and buying a plastic frame to hang it, although I wouldn't give up my Space Rocks or my Star Castle Posters! (Star Castle I had to buy the poster-size myself when AtariAge switched to the smaller, folded, in-box poster.)

[+Nathan Strum]

Thanks for the wallpaper, Nathan!

It's much more cost-effective getting a Desktop Picture, then getting a full-size poster printed up and buying a plastic frame to hang it, although I wouldn't give up my Space Rocks or my Star Castle Posters! (Star Castle I had to buy the poster-size myself when AtariAge switched to the smaller, folded, in-box poster.)

 

You're welcome! Ironically - my computer desktop is always so cluttered I can never see any picture on it anyway.

 

Darrell asked me for the 4K one, and it was easy enough to put together with the render files I created for the box art (which well exceed that resolution). The 5K one was at Albert's request, since he has a 5K iMac.

 

And congratulations on the excellent work on the sound on Draconian (and Super Cobra, for that matter)! I'm still blown away by how much it sounds like the arcade game.

Edited November 18, 2017 by Nathan Strum

[Andromeda Stardust]

My personal preference is for well-done TIA sound, like was done here, and not the DPC soft-synth method. The latter always sounds scratchy.

 

Give me real TIA, singing in all her glory.

I understand the scratchiness. Pitfall II and Chetiry are two games that use this mode exclusively. I haven't noticed much difference between Pitfall II on original cart vs Harmony either.

 

Really unique sound effect, the scratches give the game a vintage vibe. In all honestly I don't think you could ask for better sound quality considering its 15kHz 4-bit, even if you employed a smart dithering algorithm, which would eat up a lot of ARM time.

[iesposta]

I understand the scratchiness. Pitfall II and Chetiry are two games that use this mode exclusively. I haven't noticed much difference between Pitfall II on original cart vs Harmony either.

 

Really unique sound effect, the scratches give the game a vintage vibe. In all honestly I don't think you could ask for better sound quality considering its 15kHz 4-bit, even if you employed a smart dithering algorithm, which would eat up a lot of ARM time.

 

I love the in-tune sound as much as good TIA sound.

 

It is amazing and brilliant that it can do 3-channels using 1 TIA channel, all by only changing 1 volume register.

That is, only the volume is changing, with a value of 0 to 15, and the output is 3-channel in-tune sound?!

 

The programmers can get it a little better: example - "Stella's Stocking" - and that does not even use DPC. All done in the software display kernel. 2-voices for each 2 channels, for 4 voice music.

And "Better Than Pitfall II v8". (Right and Left Difficulty A uses higher notes)

Better Than Pitfall II Music V8 (2007) (John Payson).bin

 

And whatever happened to 4A50 bank switching?

Can CDF do what 4A50 did easier and better?

If it was hardware that never was built, DPC+ is hardware that never was built. It's emulated.

Sorry, I digress. Blame Cosmic Stardust...