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Jumpman level design contest


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I finally got a chance to play with Omnivore and create a sample Jumpman level. This is really fantastic work - thanks for all your effort! I will certainly try to come up with a level, and if it's not awful, submit it :-)

 

FYI, I read through the reverse engineering notes and saw mention of Jumpman being a copy-protected disk.

 

I've dumped two identical original Jumpman disks (one of them from shrink-wrap) and there is no copy protection that I can identify. Perhaps an earlier or later release had copy protection but these disks did not.

 

The dump is in my preservation torrent but I'm attaching it here as well. Hopefully it helps clear up any confusion about what is original vs. "hacked" code.

 

Jumpman (1983)(Epyx)(US)!.atr.zip

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I finally got a chance to play with Omnivore and create a sample Jumpman level. This is really fantastic work - thanks for all your effort! I will certainly try to come up with a level, and if it's not awful, submit it :-)

 

Thanks, and looking forward to seeing more levels! I hope to release an extension for Omnivore next week that will make it easier to create levels with custom code. I'm trying to build-in ATasm (a MAC/65 compatible assembler) so that you can edit the assembly and generate a test image without leaving Omnivore. I have a procedure now that uses cc65, but it's complicated and doesn't work on Windows.

 

Hopefully it helps clear up any confusion about what is original vs. "hacked" code.

 

Thanks for that. I still have my copy of Jumpman from the 80s, but it was pirated so I was never sure of the provenance. It has a bad sector on it, but maybe that was just a red herring? Having looked through the code on the image from Atarimania (and it turns out it's identical to the one you just posted) I can't find any code that actually checks for any copy protection. So, yeah... Maybe my image just had a bad sector in some place that doesn't affect the game.

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Threw together something at lunch for the "spirit" of the season :)

 

No tricks, only treats - however since Im using some elements not in their intended fashion a "feature" may have been exposed which makes finishing this a challenge.

 

Enjoy

 

Spooky.jpg

Spooky.atr

Edited by Goochman
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  • 1 month later...

You just got chosen to play Santa, but first you must prove to the Elves you can handle any emergency that comes your way - Are you Santa enough to complete the "Santa Trainer"!

 

I dont know how to do custom code so this is just alot of tricks baked into 1 level. Its pretty tough initially but def finishable without dying.

 

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

 

santatrainer.png

SantaTrainer2016.atr

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Its pretty tough initially but def finishable without dying.

Thanks for the new level!

 

It took me a few tries to finish this one. I can't beat it without dying. The best I've been able to do so far is "only" lose two lives. That's really losing two lives too many, right?

 

I have a couple of issues with this level:

 

1) The down vine on the left-hand side of the screen is pretty "iffy." Sometimes I can't get off at the bottom without dying. I think this has to do with the vine's placement.

 

2) There are quite a few places on this level where if a bullet comes out at you at the "wrong" moment, then you're pretty-much dead. I guess that happens on some of the original levels of Jumpman too.

 

I had a good time playing this "Santa's Trainer." I like what this level looks like when it's complete-- it has lots of holiday cheer!

 

Thanks, again for this special Christmas treat-- and thanks to Rob for the level editor so that we can get treats like this from time to time from people who love to people who love Jumpman!

 

Adam

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Thanks for the new level!

 

It took me a few tries to finish this one. I can't beat it without dying. The best I've been able to do so far is "only" lose two lives. That's really losing two lives too many, right?

 

I have a couple of issues with this level:

 

1) The down vine on the left-hand side of the screen is pretty "iffy." Sometimes I can't get off at the bottom without dying. I think this has to do with the vine's placement.

 

2) There are quite a few places on this level where if a bullet comes out at you at the "wrong" moment, then you're pretty-much dead. I guess that happens on some of the original levels of Jumpman too.

 

I had a good time playing this "Santa's Trainer." I like what this level looks like when it's complete-- it has lots of holiday cheer!

 

Thanks, again for this special Christmas treat-- and thanks to Rob for the level editor so that we can get treats like this from time to time from people who love to people who love Jumpman!

 

Adam

 

Thanks for playing and the feedback. As for the down vine challenge it was a tricky area to setup - since the tree is angled I couldnt let you drop down on it, otherwise it would be an instant kill. I let the vine take you into the tree so you need to be quick to scamper. Think trying to climb a real Xmas tree, not real sturdy branches to hold you - need to keep moving :)

 

As for the bullets, I normaly like to have 2 or 3 to increase the challenge - I found 1 is just right for this level since you need a little time to decide what to do. I found even with 1 bullet it made things dicey in a few areas!

 

There def is some polish I could apply to all the levels Ive done, but dont have alot of time to work on them. Im more than happy to provide whatever assets are needed for others to modify if the .atr is not enough.

Edited by Goochman
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Thanks for the levels Goochman, going to give them a good go in a min...

 

Still one of my favourite games although I have been playing Ori and the Blind forest on the PC this week and its just a thing of beauty, a classic metroid/vania game but the story, levels and graphics are utterly stunning. If you like exploration / puzzle / power up games then you MUST see this...

Edited by Mclaneinc
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  • 2 weeks later...

Dandy is one game I never played back then but I've grown to love it, really nice Gauntlet clone...

 

Mr Robot, loved the colour and music but it was always too easy...

 

unlike Lode runner, always way too hard...superb animation by the late Douglas Smith, very much like Dan 'Choplifter' Gorlins love of small man animation, just look at Typhoon Thomspon and the ST or Amiga to see the expression he's gets out of little characters.

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Dandy is the direct predecessor to Gauntlet.

 

-Thom

 

Thank you Thom, didn't know that so after I read your post I had a look around and saw Ed Logg directly quoted Dandy as being inspiration for Gauntlet...

 

 

You live and learn, thanks again, I love all that trivia..

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didn't know that [Dandy is the direct predecessor to Gauntlet] so after I read your post I had a look around and saw Ed Logg directly quoted Dandy as being inspiration for Gauntlet...

 

The April 24, 2016 Antic interview with John Palevich (the programmer of Dandy and the Deep Blue C Compiler) is great; it's really worth listening to it. I thought I knew the relationship between Dandy and Gauntlet, but this shed interview new light on it. Plus, if I recall correctly, early versions of Dandy were supposed to feature two computers: one for the DM and one for the player. You can hear the Antic interview #164, with John Palevich, here:

 

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-164-john-palevich-dandy-and-deep-blue-c-compiler

 

Let me bring this back around to Jumpman. Are there still plans to make a compilation of Jumpman levels, sorta a Jumpman 2 for the Atari, or was there not enough user-designed levels to make this possible?

 

Adam

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Let me bring this back around to Jumpman. Are there still plans to make a compilation of Jumpman levels, sorta a Jumpman 2 for the Atari, or was there not enough user-designed levels to make this possible?

 

 

The answers to your questions are: yes, and no. Rob and I are still planning that project. There weren't enough user-designed levels, but there were certainly some to seed the new project. I've been working on levels with custom code and Player/Missile enemies. I really need to share those levels and code — hopefully that know-how will inspire programmers to create awesome new levels.

 

—Kevin

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