I don't like Thwocker.

[Jess Ragan]

Does anyone else here feel the same way? I mean, it's got the great graphics you'd expect from an Activision game, and the physics for the bouncing mascot are quite realistic, but the gameplay is frustrating... it's too easy to bounce into those blasted instruments. Also, it doesn't look like it's finished... once I collect all the notes of a song, everything vanishes to the touch, including what I assume was supposed to be the exit to the next stage. Then you have to hear Frere Jacques over and over and over again, which wasn't exactly my favorite song even before the 2600 started playing it.

Oh well... maybe the game would have been excellent if Activision tied up all the loose ends, but as it is I prefer their other prototype Kabobber.

 

JR

[Tempest]

Well the prototype is only 80% complete, I think those issues would have been fixed before the final released. I too find it frustrating, but it's still a blast to play. It's like the other game he programmed, Reactor. Hard to play but fun as hell.

 

I try not to judge prototypes unless I know they're at least 95% complete. I think this one would have been a winner if they had finished it.

 

Tempest

[Alex]

Yes, unless we're missing something, there isn't too much to the game. I think the graphics are very nice, and the gameplay that exists is on par with other Activision games. I would have liked to see the complete game. It would be fun if someone could take some of these unfinished protos and complete them.

[Scott Stilphen]

It's possible the version that Charlie (the programmer) has is more complete than this one.

[Osbo]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Tempest:

Well the prototype is only 80% complete, I think those issues would have been fixed before the final released. I too find it frustrating, but it's still a blast to play. It's like the other game he programmed, Reactor. Hard to play but fun as hell.

 

I try not to judge prototypes unless I know they're at least 95% complete. I think this one would have been a winner if they had finished it.

 

Tempest

---

 

I never understand Reactor

[Osbo]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Scott Stilphen:

It's possible the version that Charlie (the programmer) has is more complete than this one.

---

 

Wasen't that cart the only one? There's more copies out there?

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Osbo:

 

The programmers usually don't have the cart themselves...though I am sure some do. But what most programmers did have was the latest build they were working on stored on disk somewhere. Many of the programmers took their projects with them on disk and other media when they either left the company or the projects were cancelled. This is how the high score cart for the 7800 finally managed to come out. Also many programmers I am sure worked on other projects for intellectual curiosity and experimentation that have never even been heard of to this day. This is why the recent contacting of some of these programmers from the past has been so exciting. Many of them do have projects they were working on and never finished or did finish but the projects were cancelled prior to finalizing the code. That is how some of these recent protos have been getting made to Cart form such as the ones a this years CGE show.

[Osbo]

I wonder how did the programmer then test the game it's working on, I mean, in 1977 they didn't have a PC with an Emulator, or a Supercharger...

 

p/s I'd love to see the game's code

[Osbo]

Now... how the heck that cart ended up in a thirft store?

[Tempest]

I've always wondered that myself. All I can guess is that one of the testers never gave the cart back and gave all his Atari stuff to the thrift store when he moved (or died).

 

Tempest

[mos6507]

There were lots of ways to develop 2600 games back in the day.

 

While they certainly burned a lot of EPROMs, I don't think they relied on this exclusively.

 

The earliest development methods involved timeshare mainframes doing cross-assembly and storing the code on cassette, loading into a breadboard version of the 2600 that had what one might consider to be a prototypical Supercharger--the Jolt board.

 

Later on they used to debug their code using what's known as a logic analyzer. This allowed them to monitor the processor and the memory locations and set up breakpoints/triggers. The 2600 has no way to natively halt the processor and run a monitor program. It needed this kind of extra hardware.

 

Later on they had special dual-ported ROMulator type things that would hook up to Apple IIs, Atari 800s, PCs, and lastly the Atari ST.

 

It's interesting that the Supercharger was not, that I'm aware of, used as a development tool until the modern era, when in fact it could have been had it been reverse engineered by other 3rd parties. It would have proven to be a very convenient development system.

 

The closest thing to that would be the Canal-3 Superchargers in Brazil, but no original titles were released for that system, just tape conversions of existing titles.

[Osbo]

That sounds like a lot of work for the cents Atari used to pay to the programmers!

 

[ 09-04-2001: Message edited by: osbo ]

[NE146]

eh? pennis?

[Osbo]

quote:

---

Originally posted by NE146:

eh? pennis?

---

 

doh!

 

[ 09-04-2001: Message edited by: osbo ]

[Joel D. Park]

I believe in most cases they had to burn the game to an Eprom and play them each time they wanted to test it. It had to be quite a time consuming process.

[Tempest]

quote

Wasen't that cart the only one? There's more copies out there?

 

Nope, there are at least two possibly three more. There's this one, the programmer has one (Charlie Heath), and I saw one at CGE in a case in the museum (I'm not sure if that one was the same one or a different one).

 

Very rarely will there be only one of a particular prototype known to exist. In most cases two or three more are usually discovered over time. Many of the 5200 prototypes started out as "one of a kinds", but over the years more were found. I think there are at least 5 of each of the 5200 protos known to exist, so I'm sure there are a few more Twockers out there waiting to be discovered.

 

Tempest

 

[ 09-04-2001: Message edited by: Tempest ]