Odyssey 4?

[Odyssey 4?]

RLE is useful for display large graphics and save rom, as you can stretch an image horizontally, specifying the color and how many pixels in a row it should draw before pick a new color.

If you increase "how many pixels" every frame, you make the scale-in effect.

This is also a common drawing method for flat shaded polygons.

And for quick and simple data compression.

 

According the doc, O4 was going to be released around 84/85.

[Odyssey 4?]

Yeah, I think it is about the ROM limit without bankswitch - "8Mb" (megabit) cart.

Not bad. I wonder which processor it is going to use...

It refer to "Hitachi" but I don't know if it is the processor or video chip. If it is the processor, it should be a variant of Motorola 6809 (Vectrex processor).

It is a competent 8bit processor with multiplication capability, a step up from Z80 or 6502.

[Odyssey 4?]

So cool! Thanks for sharing it!

 

Odyssey 4 System Specs :

 

4bpp background capability (15 colors - Master System like)

8 Sprites 2bpp 16x16 pixels (3 colors each, NES like) with support for RLE (Zoom/Scaling support?)

12 bit color palete (4k possible colors - Game Gear like)

Variable screen resolution - up to 640,480 (Dreamcast resolution)

[Baby Pac-Man]

We make games for fun.

If it is not fun anymore, there's no point to continue the project.

 

Kurt, I wish you continue with the project, if it still fun to you. This game is amazing.

[Dungeon of Eternity - Rogue Like RPG]

Thanks.

 

Does it use any keyboard function other than inputting your name at the beginning?

Just for name input. I think the controller was enough for play the game.

It's faster to press the controller button than press a key on keyboard.

 

The sound is using my new sound driver I created, and is very powerful for O2 standards.

[Dungeon of Eternity - Rogue Like RPG]

Game is finished.

I don't know about the cart production for now, some bad things happened.

Sadly, my games are being pirated in Brazil, that's why I not release the ROM for you test.

I don't care people playing my games for free, in an emulator (they're made for people play anyway).

But I do care a moron selling pirate carts and profiting from my work. These type of scumbags do not deserve any cent.

Even worse, they're selling a unfinished ROM I've posted, and the cart not even was released yet.

 

I'll stop here to not say anything worse.

[Items for Atari 2600 manufactured in Brazil]

I was reading an old Brazilian videogame magazine (entitled "VideoGame") from 1991 and found 2 oddity I think some of you may like.

That was the unique mag from there featuring Atari game reviews by the time.

 

The first one is a game under development by "Engecomp" software (never heard about) that will feature a famous Brazilian singer Angelica.

There's no picture of the game, but was described as "memory game" (matching card game???).

It probably was never released, but it is interesting to know another brazilian game was in the works back in 90's (the other is MegaBoy).

 

The second surprise was an advertisement of a unknown to me "Conector Atari Console". Note Conector is the company brand, the console is just described as "Atari Compatible" console that will be released "October 1991".

Never saw this clone either. I'll post below both scans.

 

I did some search and found nothing relevant. There are many Engecomp's around to know which one was the aforementioned, and certanly Atari + Conector will never result in what I was looking for.

[Dungeon of Eternity - Rogue Like RPG]

It will have a cart release for sure

[Dungeon of Eternity - Rogue Like RPG]

Thanks.

Sadly, the map is the same, but it's huge and will take a while for you memorize it.

[Dungeon of Eternity - Rogue Like RPG]

I've finished the game, now I'm fine tuning the difficulty.

 

The game features Title, Game Over and Victory screens.

 

This is the title screen in all Odyssey2 glory :

 

[sprite graphics advice/assistance?]

Do you have spare cycles in the kernel to enable Ball?

I think you can use it for an extra color for the eyes.

 

EDIT : A quick attempt :

 

[Dungeon of Eternity - Rogue Like RPG]

Thanks.

 

I forgot to say all enemies have at least 2 levels and there are 12 enemies + Beholder and the Last Boss.

Even if the sprite are the same, some of them are stronger than others.

 

I have plans to display the enemy level, if I get some free bytes....

[Dungeon of Eternity - Rogue Like RPG]

Thanks!

[Dungeon of Eternity - Rogue Like RPG]

This is my new RPG game for Odyssey2 / Videopac

Originally my plans was to port Pedit5 (the first CRPG ever) but this game is too RAM consuming for O2 and the combat mechanics is almost non-existent.

 

So I come with my own thing, although the graphics are very close to Pedit5 ones (there are original monsters created by me BTW).

The maze is the same from Pedit5 because it's well designed and a very challenging place.

 

Well, as you can see, the game is very complete (I would say 85%). The objective of the game is collect more gold as you can, find treasure chests, kill abominable monsters and try to find the "Amulet of Eternity" which grands to you eternal life.

 

But it will not be easy, as deep you go inside the dungeon, the more difficult enemies will come.

 

The game features weapon and armor upgrades, and 3 types of spells to help your quest :

 

Fireball - Combat spell. Not effective on all enemies.

Heal - Increase the hero's HP. A rare spell.

Light - Defensive spell, it helps in combat by making you a bit stronger, also reveals more easily secret doors and gives you a bit of rest, making some difficult enemies to not appear. But the effect stands for 1 minute only.

 

The combat also features random critical hits for both, player and enemies and naturally, the enemies/chest position are totally random every time you play.

 

There are others features such one Beholder that roam the dungeon, and can find you even if you're not moving.

And one Final Boss (not working yet). He's the amulet holder.

 

Here's a gameplay Video :

 

 

Note the game is not finished yet. I'm currently working on sound effects so, they might change a bit in the final version.

[Robo-Ninja Climb (Atari 2600)]

Very cool!

[Baby Pac-Man]

[ZeroPage Homebrew Twitch Stream]

Thanks for posting the videos, they are a good feedback for the programmers.

[Mario 16-bit on NES]

This little demo shows all 64 sprites moving independently.

 

SprTest2.nes

[3D printed Brazilian Odyssey/ European Videopac case]

If you're going to pursuit it I think the best is looks for a cart mold.

[Mario 16-bit on NES]

You have 64 tiles 8x8 pixels per screen, only 8 on same scanline. You stack them to make a "meta sprite".

 

Mario uses 8 tiles (2x4) for each layer = 32 tiles, you can have 2 sprites like that on same screen. Actually my original plans was draw the princes on top of the tower, but I ran out of space for sprite graphic data (I would need a RAM cart for that).

 

64 tile limit is not really a problem for an 8 bit machine like NES, the problem is processor speed to set all sprites registers (X,Y position, graphics, collision check). This is why you have slowdown when too much sprites is on screen, you ran out of time to set all sprite registers at 60 fps.

[3D printed Brazilian Odyssey/ European Videopac case]

Another way to do it is laser cutting acrylic boards.

But will be a nightmare to assembly and glue together all the parts...

Perhaps, you can use acrylic just for the cover?

 

Edit : Inject mold is not less than 3k last time I research about.

Not to mention the expensive initial batch, like minimum 1k pieces to start.

[Mario 16-bit on NES]

Mario16bit.gif

 

I really really like the animation and the background artwork. Really cool!

 

Codemaster NES games like Ziggy uses multiple layer sprites to show more color for their character. Capcom do this for their games too. Their late releases really show sprites with more than 3 colors like Chip and Dale 2.

 

Yes, I know. But they never did a 12 color sprite

Thanks for creating an animated gif.

[Mario 16-bit on NES]

It was an April fools... Sorta.

 

The rom really displays a 16 bit looking sprite, but the DMA thing was BS.

 

I've stacked 4 sprite layers, each layer with 3 colors, to get all 12 colors you see.

 

The problem is I'm using all the NES resource just to show that sprite, I can't display anything more on same horizontal area.

 

Here's the sprite sheet, showing the process of creation.

 

 

[Mario 16-bit on NES]

I'm studying NES hardware these days, and find something really interesting.

Using OAM DMA with NMI to plot sprite pixels, I can draw a 16 bit looking graphics on a stock NES hardware!

It is really difficult to get the timing, but the result is really good!

Don't believe me? Download the rom below and test it on your favorite NES emulator!

I've designed this sprite specially for this new technique. How cool would be a Megaman or Castlevania game with sprites like this?

Oh, and I'm not cheating, this is the basic mapper, CHR ROM (no cart RAM) and no co-processor.

Tell me your thoughts.

mario16.nes

[[Atari 2600] RoboMechanik - a puzzle/action tile-based game]

Some levels are too easy.

Try to add sokoban stuffs on all the levels. The flying enemies (bats?) are too easy, try make them twice as fast.

 

How about sokoban keys? Do not pick them, push them into the doors. This make the levels more longer.