video61atarisales Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 we are pleased to announce the release of our first 5200 game "MEGAOIDS". We have ten built, and its first come first serve. we will be building more, its labor intensive for sure. so please, we are at this time unable to take orders via the phone. this must be done by e-mail.our two e-mail address are, video61@tcq.net this one is checked on a regular basis all day long.the other one is, video61atarisales@gmail.com this one gets checked once or twice a day. the price on "MEGAOIDS" is, $39.95 plus shipping if it applies. please also state what is your country of origin to determine the shipping rate. at this time paypal is the quickest best way to pay.we have three more releases almost done, that we hope to release yet as the year goes by.thanks,lancewww.atarisales.com 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariBrian Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 Photo of the finished product ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 we are pleased to announce the release of our first 5200 game "MEGAOIDS". We have ten built, and its first come first serve. we will be building more, its labor intensive for sure. so please, we are at this time unable to take orders via the phone. this must be done by e-mail. our two e-mail address are, video61@tcq.net this one is checked on a regular basis all day long. the other one is, video61atarisales@gmail.com this one gets checked once or twice a day. the price on "MEGAOIDS" is, $39.95 plus shipping if it applies. please also state what is your country of origin to determine the shipping rate. at this time paypal is the quickest best way to pay. we have three more releases almost done, that we hope to release yet as the year goes by. thanks, lance www.atarisales.com I watched this video and the ready-for-release 8-bit video for Megaoids and it looks like several times that objects hit the ship, yet you do not die. Is this a different life system from typical asteroids or can you explain? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
video61atarisales Posted July 30, 2018 Author Share Posted July 30, 2018 I watched this video and the ready-for-release 8-bit video for Megaoids and it looks like several times that objects hit the ship, yet you do not die. Is this a different life system from typical asteroids or can you explain? Thanks. sorry, extremely busy. and the web site will be updated with pics and a page, a.s.a.p. we are trying to get 3-5 more done by the end of the year. so we are very pressed for time. as far as your question, you have shields that slowly degrades from 100, down to zero. thanks, lance www.atarisales.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 sorry, extremely busy. and the web site will be updated with pics and a page, a.s.a.p. we are trying to get 3-5 more done by the end of the year. so we are very pressed for time. as far as your question, you have shields that slowly degrades from 100, down to zero. thanks, lance www.atarisales.com Okay. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteym5 Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 (edited) Hello everybody. I am the programmer of Megaoids. This was converted from the original Atari 8-bit source code to run on the Atari 5200. Registers and memory locations were changed, and the code to read the keyboard and joystick was replaced to work with the Atari 5200 controllers. You have the default 5200 analog joystick controller that varies the rotation of the ship depending on how far you press left or right, or you can choose digital joystick option that moves left or right at one speed that work with both the 5200 controllers and the adapters for the db9 Joysticks. 5200 version Megaoids is designed to work with the stock Atari 5200 system with 16K RAM, 6502, Pokey, Antic, GTIA. Does not take advantage of any custom modifications to the system itself. Photo of the finished product ?? Edited July 30, 2018 by peteym5 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DamonicFury Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 I watched this video and the ready-for-release 8-bit video for Megaoids and it looks like several times that objects hit the ship, yet you do not die. Is this a different life system from typical asteroids or can you explain? Thanks. Haven't played it, but from looking at the video, I see that there are 100 units of Shields that tick down when you get hit. Once you reach 0, your ship explodes and the game ends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smbaker Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 Manufacturing hardware takes time and materials cost, but downloading software does not. Are plans on releasing this as a downloadable rom image only, for those who already have multi-load cartridges of some sort? Is there anything unique about the hardware? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted July 30, 2018 Share Posted July 30, 2018 Haven't played it, but from looking at the video, I see that there are 100 units of Shields that tick down when you get hit. Once you reach 0, your ship explodes and the game ends. ...and it looks like the sparkling jack gives you an increase in shield power, 18 to 36, so it doubles shields left, most likely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
video61atarisales Posted July 30, 2018 Author Share Posted July 30, 2018 Manufacturing hardware takes time and materials cost, but downloading software does not. Are plans on releasing this as a downloadable rom image only, for those who already have multi-load cartridges of some sort? Is there anything unique about the hardware? sorry, that is not part of our business. we do physical product only. but thanks for inquiring. lance www.atarisales.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted July 31, 2018 Share Posted July 31, 2018 Hello everybody. I am the programmer of Megaoids. This was converted from the original Atari 8-bit source code to run on the Atari 5200. Registers and memory locations were changed, and the code to read the keyboard and joystick was replaced to work with the Atari 5200 controllers. You have the default 5200 analog joystick controller that varies the rotation of the ship depending on how far you press left or right, or you can choose digital joystick option that moves left or right at one speed that work with both the 5200 controllers and the adapters for the db9 Joysticks. 5200 version Megaoids is designed to work with the stock Atari 5200 system with 16K RAM, 6502, Pokey, Antic, GTIA. Does not take advantage of any custom modifications to the system itself. Can't wait to receive my copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteym5 Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 The Bright Sparkling Sprites are "Energy" that recharge your shield. When reaches 0, you ship explodes and the game ends. There will be asteroids of a different color that show they have the energy ore inside them when you destroy them. Conversion to the 5200 is the next step in this games evolution. I was inspired by more advanced versions of "Asteroids" like "Blasteroids" and a few games on different platforms. This started off as a Turbobasic game for the Atari 8-bit back around 1990. Now I knew Video61 had hundreds of 16K blank boards and shells in stock. I did a conversion of Venture for the 16K cartridge that were cheaper to produce and lowered the price. Not long after I looked for a set of games I can do on 16K cartridge I proposed up with a set of games that fit these cartridges, with maybe using some compression. Also there were still Atari 8-bit that only had 16K machines. So I made this "16K for 16K series with the intention making games that can run on any 8-bit machine, and even have an option to port them to the 5200. Megaoids is the first to come, we are looking into releasing Delta Space Arena (Omega Race Clone), Tile Smashers, Putt 18, HeliCommander, AmokBots, etc. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariBrian Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 Looks like he still uses paper cut outs for labels. And does he not put the dust door back in the shell ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteym5 Posted August 3, 2018 Share Posted August 3, 2018 (edited) Looks like he still uses paper cut outs for labels. And does he not put the dust door back in the shell ?? What else are labels suppose to be made out of? Video 61 is using pre-cut paper label sheets and using a laser printer. Some may need to be trimmed because some shells had a different size of indent or no indent at all. Atari and other manufacturers made several different versions of the shell. Video 61 is using empty shells he has in stock. I am not sure if every type has the dust door. I see several other homebrew titles also did not re-attach the dust door. Did you receive your cartridge yet? Was it OK? Edited August 3, 2018 by peteym5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteym5 Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 I should mention, the original version of "Megaoids" done in 1990 was Turbo Basic compiled, and used some ML routines for the PM graphics. The new version on cartridge is all done in Assembly from scratch. The cartridge version was running too fast at first and needed to be slowed down. I did correct proportional sprites by making them 14 pixels tell. The ship angles were all pre-drawn and the images were copied as data for the player/missile graphics. The same data is also used for Delta Space Arena. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 Love it! I only played a couple of games, but this is intense fun. I attached a Starplex controller via my Master Play Clone (thanks atariguy1021) and it really makes this game fun. Edit: Played some more. This is my High Score... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Alexander Posted August 10, 2018 Share Posted August 10, 2018 Hi, went to your website and cant find where this game is listed. Sent you an email, hope I can get a copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
video61atarisales Posted August 11, 2018 Author Share Posted August 11, 2018 Hi, went to your website and cant find where this game is listed. Sent you an email, hope I can get a copy. hi, we got you covered, we have a few left. also we are just a few weeks away from the next release. we hope its tile smashers, this is the 8-bit version, but the 5200 version is just a port of the 8-bit version. thanks, lance www.atarisales.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteym5 Posted August 15, 2018 Share Posted August 15, 2018 How many people have a working 5200 trackball controller? All the documentation I could find on them is they work just like the joystick controller. How fast the ball is moving in a direction is the same as pressing the joystick in the same direction. No special programming is required to make a game use the controller. If someone plays Megaoids, or any other upcoming game with alternate controllers and they work, great. If not, they will need to use their joystick. However there is no guarantee beyond using a joystick based on the information I found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swami Posted August 15, 2018 Share Posted August 15, 2018 How many people have a working 5200 trackball controller? All the documentation I could find on them is they work just like the joystick controller. How fast the ball is moving in a direction is the same as pressing the joystick in the same direction. No special programming is required to make a game use the controller. If someone plays Megaoids, or any other upcoming game with alternate controllers and they work, great. If not, they will need to use their joystick. However there is no guarantee beyond using a joystick based on the information I found. If a game is programmed for the trackball, it will move where you roll it to with the speed you roll it. If the game was not programmed for the trackball, you usually get this weird effect where the speed of the ball in a direction is equal to the position of the analog joystick relative to the center. Usually, this does not matter much, but in some cross-hair type games, like Star Wars Arcade, (which is not trackball supported, but you can use it anyway) the center position is not stop, but center of the screen. So, the speed you spin the ball in a certain direction is the distance you move from the center in that direction; As soon as you stop rolling , you go back to the center and you are always fighting against that pull toward center. I dont see how this would be a problem with megaoids. I think the problem could be that while you are trying to roll left or right, there will be a slight angle to your spin, so you may accidentally be thrusting or using your shield or hyperspacing ( if that option is in there somewhere), depending on the position threshold for these occurrences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteym5 Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 If a game is programmed for the trackball, it will move where you roll it to with the speed you roll it. If the game was not programmed for the trackball, you usually get this weird effect where the speed of the ball in a direction is equal to the position of the analog joystick relative to the center. Usually, this does not matter much, but in some cross-hair type games, like Star Wars Arcade, (which is not trackball supported, but you can use it anyway) the center position is not stop, but center of the screen. So, the speed you spin the ball in a certain direction is the distance you move from the center in that direction; As soon as you stop rolling , you go back to the center and you are always fighting against that pull toward center. I dont see how this would be a problem with megaoids. I think the problem could be that while you are trying to roll left or right, there will be a slight angle to your spin, so you may accidentally be thrusting or using your shield or hyperspacing ( if that option is in there somewhere), depending on the position threshold for these occurrences. For the 5200 game I ported over, I left the controller read setup for the joystick. If asked about the trackball controller later, our answer, as long as it reads as the joystick direction, it will work with my games. During beta testing, we attempted to locate a working one for a reasonable price. As stated, all the documentation I found states that it works with the joystick games with no special programming. There is also no special set up in Altirra or Atari800WinPlus to simulate one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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