Dark Chambers to Gauntlet Conversion

[CDS Games]

There's one minor glitch I noticed (while playing the wizard; no idea if it's character-specific). Moving diagonally has inconsistent X velocity. When moving upward diagonally, your X and Y velocity are the same, so you move at a 45-degree angle. When moving downward diagonally, your X velocity is about half your Y velocity.

 

Wow, great catch! Now fixed. And the top passageway glitch is finally corrected too.

 

Right now I'm adding some functionalities like a magic power potion and degrading generators. Both of those things are actually done, but having to reassign item #s through the levels will take a bit of time.

[Lynxpro]

I am so impressed with this. People have been talking about doing this to the A8 and 7800 versions of Dark Chambers for years but you did it with the 2600 version, CDS Games. Most impressive! Keep up the great work!

[CDS Games]

Thanks! The 7800 version would make an awesome Gauntlet no doubt about it.

[CDS Games]

A few days late for the feast of St. Nicholas, but here's a 32k version for your digital stockings.

 

gauntlet1206.bin

* Purple sorcerors restored, including disappearing
* Demons restored and redrawn
* Added Extra Magic Power potion--all characters can now destroy generators with this upgrade
* Generators & bones now come in two levels. Shooting a Level 2 degrades it to level 1, while shooting a level 1 destroys it. This permanently fixes the generator shooting issue. Also added a second level 2 bones sprite.
* Added orange potion
* Added new food sprite (ham!)
* Mostly fixed narrow top passageway issue
* Fixed inconsistent diagonal velocity
* Added invisibility amulet. Enemies cannot see you once this is picked up. Players turn visible again though when they open a door.
* Added new level color schemes
* Increased the frequency of powerup potions

There are a few bug fixes left, and whatever comes up in testing, and that should wrap it up.

And huge thanks to Wickeycolumbus and Omegamatrix for help with the bankswitching.

[AW127]

Played the new 32K version today in Stella for a while. Plays great and especially looks great. Sprites look very well and also things like the chicken-food are well painted. I also give it a go on my Harmony and my PAL-Atari to see how it runs. Played only the first three levels today, because i had not more freetime. Everything okay, except the colors on PAL of course. In the whole, this is a very cool hack!!!

 

One thing i noticed while playing today. I am very used to the C64-version of Gauntlet, because i played this game alot on this computer since i am a child, so i know the diagonal shooting-angles very well. Today, when i played this new Gauntlet hack on Atari-2600, some of my diagonal shots miss the enemys and i had the feeling that the diagonal-angles here are a little bit more steeper than for example in the C64-version.

 

So i had a deeper look and take screenshots and i think, it is true. It is only a small difference, but the player can feel it, when he is used to the C64-version. Look here.

 

This are the angles when a player shoot in C64 and Atari version:

 

 

Here i set a middle-point in the player-sprite and in the weapon (the shot) when it flys. Then i put both lines together and scale the distance in two points. Okay, maybe this is not an exact method to compare, but i did the best i could with zoom in painting-program to find exact points.

 

 

In the first measurement the distance is 51 pixels and in the second 49 pixels, so the Atari-shots really seems to be a little bit steeper, like i felt it while playing. It`s only a small difference here between C64 and Atari shots, but as longer the shot is on it`s way, the more is the difference and it can be felt in the game. I dont think that this is just imagination, because C64-Gauntlet i play since i am a child and nearly all of my diagonal-shots find the way to the enemy.

 

So my question is, if the angles can be changed just a little bit less steeper or is this impossible, because they are like they were in "Dark Chambers" and nothing can be done here? If it is not possible to change, it`s still a very playable and good hack, but when it is possible to change the angles a little bit, the playing-experience would be perfect (at least for people who played the game on C64.

Edited December 12, 2015 by AW127

[CDS Games]

Wow, that's a very thorough analysis!

 

Yes, it's changeable, with a caveat. The program makes the weapon travel a certain set number of pixels in the X direction, and a certain set number of pixels in the Y direction. Change either one and you will affect the angle. But you also change its speed at the same time.

 

For example, you can increase the horizontal travel 1 pixel to cut down on the angle. But now the warrior also shoots faster horizontally. Also, that will leave you with only 1 pixel difference between a regular shot and upgraded shot speed. I could then increase the shot speed upgrade 1 pixel but that might make it too fast.

 

You could also slow down the vertical travel to decrease the angle, from 3 pixels to 2. But now the warrior's shot will be quite slow on the straight vertical.

 

So you'd have to strike a balance between the angle and the shot speed. And also the diagonal shot of the elf through walls.

 

Let me study the shot speed across all the platforms before messing around with this. I seem to remember that it is pretty slow on the c64. And let's wait for some feedback on the difficulty of the game as well--if it's too easy now I won't have any qualms about decreasing shot speed slightly to compensate.

[AW127]

Okay, i understand the problem. When changing the angle influences the speed of the shots, then this really would be a problem to change, because the speed of the shot is good like it is now. Maybe then it is better, to let it like it is. We will see what other players (also people, who played game on C64) will say, when they tried the game. Maybe everybody is satisfied, then nothing needs to be changed. Today i played the game one hour more and after playing a while, i felt that i gradually get used to the new diagonal-angles. But when i then play the C64 version directly after, i must get used to the other angles again.

Edited December 12, 2015 by AW127

[First Ninja]

 

It's been touched on upthread but nothing solid has been decided yet. All's I know is I'd like to have one for myself at the end of this process.

 

One option I'm considering is just to let Al cook them up via the custom cart feature. Maybe I'll shoot him an IM.

 

That's a great idea, although (and to be perfectly honest) I would love to not only have a physical cartridge, but a proper box and a manual too (and perhaps also a sticker? ^_^ ).

 

Please take it under consideration and keep up the great work!

[Inky]

This is looking excellent!

[AW127]

One more question i have here. When you look at the first picture in my post above, you see the warrior-sprite of the C64 and the Atari-2600 versions. On C64 it can be seen, that there are different sprites, depends on, in which direction the player steers. When you run "up" you see the sprite from behind, when you run diagonal-right or diagonal-left you see the sprite from this angle. This gives a more realistic feeling when you run around on the screen.

 

In this new Atari-2600 hack, you see the player-sprite all the time from the side, also when you run up. Now my question. Is it possible in the Atari-version, to see the sprite also from behind or in other angles? Or is this to complex for the Atari-2600 and would take away to much resources, so that the gameplay would suffer then in other points?

Edited December 18, 2015 by AW127

[CDS Games]

Ah, great question. You got it exactly right: too complex and too many resources.

 

Dark Chambers does not use diagonal sprites, so that capability would have to be added, and I am not sure I can do that. A better programmer could, but then the problem is that you simply do not have room. Adding animated diagonals means an extra 4 directions x 2 frames per direction = 8 extra sprites per character,. There are 7 characters per bank, so that's 56 new sprites you have to make room for in one bank. Ouch.

[+grafixbmp]

Dont forget reflection cuts that sprite count in half

Edited December 31, 2015 by grafixbmp

[CDS Games]

Good point; I forgot about that. But even 28 is not peanuts in the kernal bank.

[CDS Games]

Here is the final version.

 

Gauntlet (Atari 1985).bin

 

No big changes to game play, just cleaned up a bunch of outstanding issues:

* Bankswitching glitch corrected
* keys display fixed
* finished correcting top passageway issue
* fixed shooting Death bug
* minor graphics changes to potions
* Objects redone on levels 81-153

I've updated the original post with the final file and some new images. Thanks to everyone who provided coding or playtesting help, and Al of course!

Edited December 31, 2015 by CDS Games

[AW127]

Tried the final-version some minutes ago in STELLA and i had a crazy bug. In first level i took the key, but could not open the door to the room on the right and the ghosts walked through the closed door. This bug, where i can not open the door, was not in former version. Or is it just my STELLA, because it is not the newest version? But i dont think, i think this is a bug in this version of the hack.

 

And please release a PAL60 version of this thing here in the end. This hack is to good, to be not played in PAL countries on PAL consoles.

 

 

Addendum:

Tried around some more with the game and now i can not reproduce the bug, where i could not go through the door, a second time. Strange. Now this works normally. I will try around more, to reproduze the situation.

 

But the bug, that the ghosts walk through the closed door in Level-1 is always there. Also in all older versions of your hack, but i dont noticed it until now. This needs to be corrected, because in real Gauntlet game, the standard-enemies can not go through closed doors.

Edited January 2, 2016 by AW127

[CDS Games]

A PAL 60 version has now been added to the first post of the thread.

 

I've had that "bug" too--the player sprite is just a bit too low. If it happens again, try moving up a little and going through the door.

 

I'd have to look at the code, but making doors impassible to monsters would be very difficult. There would have to be some kind of collision check against objects, and I don't think there is one.

[CDS Games]

SECAM 60 version now added to the first post, pour encourager les autres. Seriously though, I am actually delighted with the way this turned out.

 

 

It was a bit of a mess in the beginning, because I was just trying to match to the closest hue. But seeing how fantastic those dark blue walls looked on the black background, I simplified everything and just splashed in the brightest colors for the enemies/objects. Spot color--that's what seems to work best.

[iesposta]

SECAM 60 version now added to the first post, pour encourager les autres. Seriously though, I am actually delighted with the way this turned out.

 

SECAM screenshots.jpg

 

It was a bit of a mess in the beginning, because I was just trying to match to the closest hue. But seeing how fantastic those dark blue walls looked on the black background, I simplified everything and just splashed in the brightest colors for the enemies/objects. Spot color--that's what seems to work best.

Wow, you have really gone above and beyond making a SECAM build.

Isn't that format just in France and one North African (state?)?

I always wondered if shows in that format look okay, and why it allows so few colors for games.

[CDS Games]

Russia, and the Middle East, I think, as well? I don't know much about it honestly--there are threads on here where it is explained.

 

It was a fun challenge, and the experience is making me wonder how much of SECAM's rep can be blamed on bad color choices.

[AW127]

Great!!! Thanks for PAL60 version, this is a superb hack overall!!!

 

If that "enemys can walk through closed doors" bug could be fixed it would be closer to the real Gauntlet game. Because in the real game, the player can sometimes wait behind a closed door and enemys can not reach him. So when there is a way to change this, it would improve the hack any more. But when this is to hard to integrate in the hack, because this function was different in the "Dark Chambers" original ROM, then it`s also okay. Nevertheless it is a very good hack.

 

Sprites and objects really looks sweet and to use double-clicking for activating potions and other things, also works good here. One thing i find out - in the PAL60 version the dark grey background in some levels, for example in level-6, is nearly as dark as the black exit and the exit is not easy to see then in such levels. In the NTSC version, this grey color is one step brighter and there this problem dont exist. Some colors looks little different in PAL60 version, but not bad, just little different. For example the skin color of the sprites dont have the orange-pink color, it looks more like orange-yellow.

 

Last question - in the first entry here in the thread, there are screens with all sprites and objects of the game. Have you copied together all things of the game for the thread here, that people can take it as something like a manual, or are these screens also available in the game somewhere? I waited in the menue of the game and thought maybe these screens come automatically after a while, but nothing happened. Or can they be seen, by pressing certain button-combination or something?

Edited January 4, 2016 by AW127

[CDS Games]

Hmm..thanks for the feedback about the PAL colors...it sounds like I made a mistake with level 6.

 

Those "screens" on the first post are not in the game....I just liked the way the arcade's attract screens looked so I drew a version with the 2600 sprites.

[AW127]

I made some comparison-screenshots, so the color-differences can be seen better. Screenshots are made with standard-color-palettes of STELLA V3.6.1.

 

When i look at the pictures, i think the grey in the PAL60-version is not only one step darker. It seems to be at least two steps in the color-palette. Here you see the problem of the exit, which is hard to see. Also some other colors looks little different. Is it possible, that the colors can be adjusted a little bit better for the PAL60 version? This would make sense, i think. Especially for the background-colors, because the problem with the "hard-to-see exitis" is not only in level 6. Also in level 1 for example, the background is much darker in the PAL version. The PAL-palette in STELLA looks little bit different to the real color-palette of the PAL-consoles, but the problem with the "dark grey" exist also on the real PAL-console.

Edited January 5, 2016 by AW127

[YANDMAN]

What the hell!! this is amazing.

 

Not been for a stroll around the hacks forum for a good while, come back and always find something super cool.

[AW127]

Yes that hack is really great. Sadly the "to dark grey background" problem in the PAL-version still exists.

[CDS Games]

Ok, I've corrected the PAL dark gray backgrounds...they are all a step lighter now. The first post in the thread now has the updated PAL ROM.

 

As far as fine-tuning sprite colors, I don't have any PAL equipment or even a Harmony cart to test colors on--just Stella. So I'll leave that up to you folks in Europe. To give you a head start:

 

* The sprite color data is mixed in with the sprite graphics data in banks 0 and 4. Find the sprites, and usually (but not always) the color tables are nearby.

* The level background colors begin at F24A in banks 2 and 6, and the level playfield colors begin right afterward at F25A.

* The colors for the 4 characters on the title screen start at F376 in banks 3 and 7.

 

Any other locations you need, just ask. And if you come up with a new PAL conversion, please post it in the thread for comment and discussion.

 

By the way, there is indeed a manual for this--it is currently in Al's hands.