[QUESTION] High Score Saving with Stella?

[Draugr]

I'm building a Raspberry Pi image for my Ultimate Atari Flashback project. I had an idea to make a folder with all the arcade ports released on the 2600 (Defender, Ms. Pac-Man, etc...). I then wondered if it might be possible to somehow save high scores for these games so when I go back to play the same game next time, my previous High Score would still be showing. I know the games themselves can't do this, but that is when I thought about the emulator (Stella). Perhaps it has some ability to store the high score data similar to how MAME did it for arcade games (via a high score text file per game. Ex: dkong.hs).

 

I know you could probably set Stella to save a snapshot on exit, then auto load that next time the game is started, but that can get messy. For example when you exit the game in the middle of a play. The next time you'd launch that same game, you'd be back at that same point in the middle of the previous play, not at the start screen, or title screen as normal.

 

Anyhow, I'm not aware if it is possible, but it would be great if there was some way to store high score files or data automatically for games like Defender, Kangaroo, Gyruss, Popeye, Missile Command, etc.

 

If anyone has any info or knows of a way to achieve this, please let me know.

 

Thanks,

John

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Most games don't store high scores at all. So how should they show high scores?

[Draugr]

I took a look at some of the games that I thought did show the high score or at least until powered off. Space Invaders Deluxe (Hack) does, but Ms. Pac-Man, Defender Arcade only seem to keep the last score. I always thought it was the high score that would show after the game was over. Maybe I'm getting them confused with the Atari 7800 versions. No big deal, I was just curious if it was possible for games that do temporarily store the highest score until the game is reset, or powered off. I guess not many of the 2600 titles did that back then.

[Living Room Arcade]

Seven years later

  

On 4/1/2017 at 10:35 AM, Draugr said:

I'm building a Raspberry Pi image for my Ultimate Atari Flashback project. I had an idea to make a folder with all the arcade ports released on the 2600 (Defender, Ms. Pac-Man, etc...). I then wondered if it might be possible to somehow save high scores for these games so when I go back to play the same game next time, my previous High Score would still be showing. I know the games themselves can't do this, but that is when I thought about the emulator (Stella). Perhaps it has some ability to store the high score data similar to how MAME did it for arcade games (via a high score text file per game. Ex: dkong.hs).

 

I know you could probably set Stella to save a snapshot on exit, then auto load that next time the game is started, but that can get messy. For example when you exit the game in the middle of a play. The next time you'd launch that same game, you'd be back at that same point in the middle of the previous play, not at the start screen, or title screen as normal.

 

Anyhow, I'm not aware if it is possible, but it would be great if there was some way to store high score files or data automatically for games like Defender, Kangaroo, Gyruss, Popeye, Missile Command, etc.

 

If anyone has any info or knows of a way to achieve this, please let me know.

 

Thanks,

John

 

Hello @Draugr!  Are you still around?  Good news!  Today, Stella has this kind of high score feature!  Info

 

Not all Atari 2600 games are currently supported, though.  Here is the list of currently supported games: 

 

Classic games
Asteroids (Atari)
Atlantis (Imagic)
Barnstorming (Activision)
Beamrider (Activision)
Berzerk (Atari)
Breakout (Atari)
Centipede (Atari)
Chopper Comand (Activision)
Circus Atari (Atari)
Cosmic Ark (Imagic)
Decathlon (Activision)
Defender 2/Stargate (Atari)
Demon Attack (Imagic)
Dig Dug (Atari)
Donkey Kong (Coleco)
Dragster (Activision)
Enduro (Activision)
Frogger (Parker Bros)
Frostbite (Activision)
Galaxian (Atari)
Grand Prix (Activision)
H.E.R.O. (Activision)
Jr. Pac-Man (Atari)
Jungle Hunt (Atari)
Kaboom! (Activision)
Keystone Kapers (Activision)
Mario Bros. (Atari)
MegaMania (Activision)
Millipede (Atari)
Missile Command (Atari)
Moon Patrol (Atari)
Ms. Pac-Man (Atari)
Phoenix (Atari)
Pitfall! (Activision)
Pitfall II (Activision)
Q-Bert (Atari)
Seaquest (Activision)
Sky Jinks (Activision)
Solaris (Atari)
Space Invaders (Atari)
Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back (Parker Bros)
StarMaster (Activision)
Super Breakout (Atari)
Vanguard (Atari)
Yars' Revenge (Atari)

Homebrews
Conquest of Mars (ChampGames, John W. Champeau)
Draconian (SpiceWare, Darrell Spice Jr.)
Lady Bug (ChampGames, John W. Champeau)
Oystron (Piero Cavina)
Qb (Andrew Davie)
Seawolf (Manuel Rotschkar)
Star Fire (Manuel Rotschkar)
Stay Frosty 2 (SpiceWare, Darrell Spice Jr.)
SWOOPS! (Thomas Jentzsch)
Ultra SCSIcide (Joe Grand)

 

Want to help configure more games to use the high score feature?  Get started here.  

Edited February 19 by Living Room Arcade

[Draugr]

@Living Room Arcade

 Awesome news. I just started building a mini-PC system for the Atari 7800,I'll be adding the latest Stella and 2600 games as well, plus Colecovision.

 

[+fdr4prez]

37 minutes ago, Draugr said:

I just started building a mini-PC system for the Atari 7800,I'll be adding the latest Stella and 2600 games as well, plus Colecovision.

What?!? no more Inty love from ya?

 

 

[Living Room Arcade]

On 4/1/2017 at 10:35 AM, Draugr said:

I know you could probably set Stella to save a snapshot on exit, 

@Draugr  I like your idea to let Stella record high scores by taking a screenshot after the game is over.  I like it because it's quick, it's easy and it would work for almost any game.  

Edited February 20 by Living Room Arcade

[Draugr]

3 hours ago, fdr4prez said:

What?!? no more Inty love from ya?

 

 

@fdr4prez No need for my Intellivision games on the PC emulator as I have an Intellivision Ultimate Flashback with all the games and such. I love that system and I have it in its own storage case with all the manuals, overlays, controllers, etc. I love all the old systems. I had a Colecovision Ultimate Flashback but I got a lot of work to get it up to date, so I'll just toss CV on the current PC for now. 

 

I do have some catching up on the Intellivision front, but its hard to keep up on all this retro stuff and of course real life stuff too.

 

[+fdr4prez]

11 minutes ago, Draugr said:

@fdr4prez No need for my Intellivision games on the PC emulator as I have an Intellivision Ultimate Flashback with all the games and such. I love that system and I have it in its own storage case with all the manuals, overlays, controllers, etc. I love all the old systems. I had a Colecovision Ultimate Flashback but I got a lot of work to get it up to date, so I'll just toss CV on the current PC for now. 

 

I do have some catching up on the Intellivision front, but its hard to keep up on all this retro stuff and of course real life stuff too.

 

We can change your Reset button script so it will also work with CoolCV and your Ultimate Inty FB can also host your Coleco collection.

 

I did this to a friend's Ultimate Inty FB unit.

 

short press will reset the game and long hold will exit the game for both emulators.  

 

 

[Draugr]

I just checked out the latest Stella release and the high score saving. It's definitely a start but is near impossible to use in a cabinet, or a console where you don't have a keyboard. A key could be mapped to pull up the High Score table, but the problem is entering your initials. Without a keyboard it doesn't seem to work. I tried using my joystick. Perhaps a future update will include a way to use the controller to scroll through the alphabet like many arcade games did and then you could just press fire or the mapped INSERT button when you are done and the score and initials are saved in the program. Still a great feature and hopefully one that will grow in time. 

 

I'd really love to see in game high score tables, but I guess that would be too much work to edit the roms for each game like Asteroids, Missile Command, etc. and add code to implement high score tables for each game type. That would be a cool feature, but each game being different would probably be a nightmare to implement. 

 

Edited February 20 by Draugr

[Thomas Jentzsch]

1 hour ago, Draugr said:

It's definitely a start but is near impossible to use in a cabinet, or a console where you don't have a keyboard. A key could be mapped to pull up the High Score table, but the problem is entering your initials. Without a keyboard it doesn't seem to work. I tried using my joystick. Perhaps a future update will include a way to use the controller to scroll through the alphabet like many arcade games did and then you could just press fire or the mapped INSERT button when you are done and the score and initials are saved in the program. Still a great feature and hopefully one that will grow in time. 

The mainline Stella is targeted for PC usage. And that's as much as we, the development team can handle.

 

But everyone can e.g. fork Stella and create their own version. Or support the mainline Stella.