yell0w_lantern Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 I was just thinking - Oink! might play better with a Trak Ball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 I was just thinking - Oink! might play better with a Trak Ball. Maybe we should stick to porting over good games. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yell0w_lantern Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 (edited) Maybe we should stick to porting over good games. It's all relative. I like Oink. Edited January 15, 2016 by yell0w_lantern Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Maybe we should stick to porting over good games. Is it possible it would become a good game with Trak-Ball support? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mountain King Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Nicely done. I just downloaded all the mods and I have say Star Wars the Arcade Game is much more playable with a trak ball. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 So, what other games would work better with Trak-Ball support other than the nearly impossible-to-do Crystal Castles? Over on Facebook, Megamania and Spider Fighter were recommended. Personally, I'd vote for paddle support for those - same with Galaxian and Space Invaders but they both feature Trak-Ball support on the 5200 - but I won't stand in the way of anyone suggesting more titles for Trak-Ball support. Common sense would probably say "no" to Star Wars Jedi Arena although its movements would be similar on a Trak-Ball to 5200 Tempest. Pole Position would also be crazy but 5200 Pole Position includes it [mainly because Dan Kramer was going to piggyback off the Trak-Ball with his Steering Wheel Controller before Atari management nixed his project when the 5200 got the ax treatment]. I suppose Gyruss would work but the Driving Controller would probably work better. Adding it to Atari Football might salvage that ancient game. It would be like a middle finger flashed to the late George Plimpton. Playsoft should jump into these discussions. He's been adding Trak-Ball support to 5200 games/conversions like Blowsub, Slime, and Missile Command+. Do any other titles come to mind? I think 2600 Crossbow was mentioned before. Perhaps those Milton Bradley titles that used their canon-like gimmick controllers but there's probably no love for them. I know I haven't played them before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 So, what other games would work better with Trak-Ball support other than the nearly impossible-to-do Crystal Castles? Over on Facebook, Megamania and Spider Fighter were recommended. Spider Fighter is a pretty awesome game. I haven't tried Megamania yet (but I do own it). I would recommend that any game that has only horizontal or vertical movement on a single axis and does not allow continuous movement in any direction (ie player movement stops when character reaches the edge of the playfield; not on a circular or continuous playfield like Gyrus and Tempest) would be a candidate for paddle control. Paddles are far more common than trackballs and most gamers already own one, so I would vote for paddle control over trackball for games with linear, single axis control schemes. Obviously a trackball is still necessary for games utilizing true X,Y precision across the play area, or for spinner games where the character travels in a continuous loop. It has been said the driving controller is too low resolution to use as an arcade spinner. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 I agree, but the problem is, that paddle adding paddle control to an existing game is even more difficult than adding trackball support. So the chances for being able to add trackball support are significantly higher than adding paddle support. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 I agree, but the problem is, that paddle adding paddle control to an existing game is even more difficult than adding trackball support. So the chances for being able to add trackball support are significantly higher than adding paddle support. Space Invaders would be pretty cool as a Paddle and/or TB hack, even if that's not how they played it in the arcade. Race across the screen at break-neck speed and basically never miss the UFO ever again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Space Invaders would be pretty cool as a Paddle and/or TB hack, even if that's not how they played it in the arcade. Race across the screen at break-neck speed and basically never miss the UFO ever again... It definitely would become easier. But not sure if it would become better. For me, the limited movement is part of the strategy how the game is played. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 It definitely would become easier. But not sure if it would become better. For me, the limited movement is part of the strategy how the game is played. Agreed. On the other hand, if the overall pace of the game could be boosted accordingly it might be fun to play. Not sure how well SI would work as a "twitch" game but I'd play at least once. On yet another hand, I don't feel strongly enough about it to invest the time in programming it myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Agreed. On the other hand, if the overall pace of the game could be boosted accordingly it might be fun to play. Not sure how well SI would work as a "twitch" game but I'd play at least once. On yet another hand, I don't feel strongly enough about it to invest the time in programming it myself. That's a major problem there. That and a lot of us have no programming skills whatsoever. We can only cheerlead, suggest, and raise awareness of what's already been accomplished to fellow enthusiasts. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 That's a major problem there. That and a lot of us have no programming skills whatsoever. We can only cheerlead, suggest, and raise awareness of what's already been accomplished to fellow enthusiasts. Without cheerleaders, the programmers likely wouldn't bother. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Without cheerleaders, the programmers likely wouldn't bother. I would prefer female ones. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Without cheerleaders, the programmers likely wouldn't bother. There is some truth to that but I don't want it to get overblown. The programmers are the stars. We benefit from their efforts. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 That and a lot of us have no programming skills whatsoever. I've done a bit of assembly language programming over the years and I've poked around in 2600 code a little, but I'm not destined to be the next Thomas Jentzsch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 Modded CX-53 CX-22 mode: 170 ST Mouse mode: 340 Do any of us have original Atari hardware? I finally own a genuine, non-hacked piece of Atari Trak-Ball hardware for the 2600. Picked up a CX-22 tonight. $10 on craigslist. Less than a mile from my house. A little roller cleaning and it works pretty well. The fire buttons are a bit wonky. They act like other Atari buttons I've worked on that get some sort of fine grit between the snap dome switch thingy and the circuit board. I'll take them apart, clean out the grit, hit them with Deoxit and they'll hopefully be good as new. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted March 9, 2016 Share Posted March 9, 2016 Just tried playing the joystick version of 2600 Centipede with the CX22 in joystick emulation mode. It's marginally better than a regular joystick. I like Missile Command played with the trackball in JS mode better than an actual joystick, too. But, in both cases, the trackball version is waaay better to play. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
78001987 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 any word on if Crystal Castles would be possible? That would be the Holy Grail, I would think, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 I finally own a genuine, non-hacked piece of Atari Trak-Ball hardware for the 2600. Picked up a CX-22 tonight. $10 on craigslist. Less than a mile from my house. A little roller cleaning and it works pretty well. The fire buttons are a bit wonky. They act like other Atari buttons I've worked on that get some sort of fine grit between the snap dome switch thingy and the circuit board. I'll take them apart, clean out the grit, hit them with Deoxit and they'll hopefully be good as new. IDK but my CX-80 (acts like a CX-22) has gold dots under the buttons and they are nice. I'm not a big fan of dome contacts. They are hard and not very responsive. Why didn't Atari just use rubber/silicone membranes with carbon dots in their controllers like every other company? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 IDK but my CX-80 (acts like a CX-22) has gold dots under the buttons and they are nice. I'm not a big fan of dome contacts. They are hard and not very responsive. Why didn't Atari just use rubber/silicone membranes with carbon dots in their controllers like every other company? They did on the 5200 controllers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 I'm curious. Have any of you played Colony 7 to any significant extent? I'm still seeing screen rolls as I mentioned a while back and was wondering if any of you are seeing it. I just played a game. Made it up to level 7. During the course of that game, I saw the screen glitch and roll twice. There's so much going on, that it 's really hard to mentally capture what's happening on the screen at the time of the glitch. One time during this game, I know it happened when there were four of the little "rainbow saucers" in the upper right hand area of the screen, in an area less than 1/4 of the screen, I'd say. And I think the targeting cross hairs were in the same area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 (edited) Did you ever notice this in the original joystick version as well? Edited March 12, 2016 by Thomas Jentzsch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Did you ever notice this in the original joystick version as well? I never played the original version enough to notice. I'll try that when I get some time. Does Stella happen to have a way to break or somehow trigger an alert when the line count in a frame is off one way or the other? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigO Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Did you ever notice this in the original joystick version as well? I played 5 games tonight and didn't see the glitch. I can't say that I would have for certain seen the glitch playing that many games of the Trak-Ball version. It doesn't happen every game. I didn't expect this to be the case, but using the CX22 in joystick emulation mode made for a better experience than a playing Colony 7 with a real joystick. I'm now considering possibly rethinking my position on creating a JS emulation module for my CX53 mod... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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