opcode

Hi! Since I live in Brazil, I have lots of them and I can obtain a few more. If someone here would be interested, just let me know what you are looking for. I still need some VCS new in box games for my collection (which is reaching 300 new in box carts for now). We could exchange want/trade lists... Eduardo "opcode" Mello

I took it from a Brazilian video magazine, VideoNews #11, 1983. The companion text says: "This is the Graduate, a complete videogame acessory line, released by Atari. Beside the console itself and controllers, there is a printer, voice module, alphanumeric keyboard and remote control (sic).". Nice picture indeed... Eduardo "Opcode" Mello

Hi there! Have anyone here seen the picture bellow before? Eduardo "Opcode" Mello

Hi again, Dan Bievenu has suggested me to use the noise channel in order to generate deeper bass sound. Indeed there is a noise mode which does produce 8 times lower pitches than the corresponding standard mode. It means 3 octaves below. I tried it and it works but.... The sound quality is a little odd. Sounds like something right out of the 2600 (no offence here, it's just I am not used to this kind of sound in the CV) . Pitfall's "Tarzan cry" tune is a good example. Or maybe the drummer in Pooyan. The problem is the waveform is now more like small peaks inside big valleys. The standard mode uses square wave. Anyway I have included the demo. Also, it is my last post about Pac-Man Collection for the next few months. No, it doesn't mean I am leaving. I will be hard in the work readying some few surprises in time for PhillyClassic and CGE. I will resume PMC after that and hopefully it will be ready till year's end. Wait for a few announcements soon. Till there, thanks for everyone here for the support, encouragement and help. See you guys! pac003.zip

Here is a new build. This time I have placed all melody channels in the right octave, but accompaniment is still 2 octaves above, since it has already reached the bottom for the CV frequency range. I also corrected a small error in the end of Ms. Pac-Man's first intermission track. pac002.zip

Here is the first Pac-Man demo. For now it will just play music. All Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man music pieces have been included, and you just need to run it in a good CV emulator. I would suggest MESS, as it has the best CV sound emulation around. To play the tracks just press 1 to 6 in the CV keyboard (keys 1 - 6 in MESS). Music will play... Simple like that... Pac-Man has two tracks and Ms PM has four. About the sound quality, as I said before, don't expect arcade perfect sound here. The PM arcade features 8 different waveforms and the CV just allows square waves. Also, the frequency range is a lot wider in arcade, so I was forced to raise one or two octaves here. That means the music will be a little higher pitched than the original. As a last note: Pac-Man is indeed louder than Ms. Pac-Man. The original arcades work this way, so it isn't a bug... Enjoy and please send me comments. Eduardo Mello PS: Hey ZylonBane, thanks for your offer! pac.zip

Yesterday I finished Pac-Man and Ms Pac-Man music. I have never really realized how limited in frequency range the CV sound chip is. I had already had a few problems with the invaders march sound in Space Invaders (very deep bass), but now I have also found this chip isn't capable of simulating perfectly the sound of Pac-Man. To start with, the Pac-Man arcade sound chip is able to generate several waveforms, but the CV just generates square waves. So the sound texture will differ a little. And I was forced to raise an octave or two for each music piece because the CV wasn't able to produce the same deep bass accompaniments as the original game. Aside it, the music sounds the same, with perfect arcade timing and even the same volume decays. Since I can't post a snapshot of the music here (and a mp3 file would be too big) I am thinking about posting a little demo latter... Maybe tonight or tomorrow.. This way you guys would give me a little feedback. Eduardo Mello

I wouldn't go THAT far. In my experience none of the home versions of PacMan and it's sequels quite get the monster behavior right. Hi! I must agree... But fear not, as I think a spot-on version will show up soon on the ColecoVision... http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19992 Eduardo Mello

Hi! I would wish some help of you guys. I am now working on the ghosts sprites and it would be nice if you could help me choosing that ghost shapes you think is the best. Bellow are three versions for the ghost. The first one is from the arcade and I will be using it for all opening and intermissions (I have deliberately darkened the ghost eyes so it doesn't influence any decision). The second one is a reduced version I have created. All mazes have been reduced by 25%, so the ghosts will need to be reduced too. The last version is from PSX Namco Museum, which does use the same reduction factor. Which reduced version do you think is better? Thanks, Eduardo Mello

Hi! A more Ms Pac-Man maze: Frames Resulting screen Maze mask Eduardo Mello

Has you already tryed to contact Daniel? Eduardo

Hi! Very interesting! My Japanese isn't very good too, but I think I was able to translate the remaining names: OTOBOKE - Pretending ignorance (nick GUZUTA - someone who lags behind) nick AKABEI - Red fence (maybe) nick AOSUKE - Blue help (maybe) Really funny names, eh?! But very meanful... Does someone confirm? Eduardo Mello

Here is a more faithful version for the first Ms Pac-Man maze. I have included both frames and the resulting image. I also created a small test program to check the resulting screen and it looks almost identical to picture #3. I now must check the resulting effect on a TV set... Frames Mix Arcade Eduardo Mello

Just as a side note, I am porting both Pac-Man and Ms Pac Man for the ColecoVision. You can see it here: http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19992 Suggestions are always welcome. Eduardo Mello

A little update: I am working on the Ms Pac-Man screens layout. I need to do it now, as it will influence the remaning development... Ms Pac-Man is little bit more complicated than Pac-Man, as the mazes are dual colored. The CV isn't capable of generating more than 2 colors per character line (8 pixels), so I am planning a little trick: the idea is to interleave 2 screens to produce more colors. The interleaving must be very fast (60 frames per second), so the image will look steady. I have already tested it with some screens and it looks very nice. Just the maze border shows a little flickering. Bellow is a sample: notice a frame has the maze border and the other one doesn't have. Displaying each frames alternately every 1/60s will produce something similar to image #3, which is very close to the arcade original screen... I have also included the dots layout mask, just for reference... Eduardo Mello

Hi Dennis. The dots placement (as showed in screenshot #4) will be completely transparent game wise. I mean, the player won't notice it, as the onscreen graphics are displayed like screenshot #3. It's just a programming artifice. If you superimpose both images, you will notice the dots are in the exact same position, thought they seem misaligned in screen #4. The CV is tile based, so I need a "real" character maze underneath in order to be able to move the shapes, which will complement the game sprites. Beside that, the maze has the same dots number as the real arcade. I don't think ever the NES version does have all dots... Eduardo

I am still hard in the work programming the ColecoVision ports of Pac-Man and Ms Pac-Man. Pac-Man now features all sounds and music, but I am not completely happy with the scheme I am currently using. I am thinking about a new scheme, but it would require a complete rewrite of the sound routines. Well, no pain no gain... Bellow are new screenshots. The opening screen are almost the same as before, but now the layout is definitive. Beside that, the screen were taken using MESS, which previously didn't run PMC. The game screen layout is done too (but still running just in Adamem). I am also including the dots maze layout, which isn't symetric like in the arcade. It is so cause the CV Pac-Man uses 6x6 virtual characters for the maze, instead the usual 8x8. It brings a lot of complications but the final result is much more faithtful. This dot maze will be direct mapped (it means, every 8x8 character in the maze is represented by an unique character in memory. It is so to allow graphic shapes to be superimposed over the dots (in this case, the ghost eyes). Just for comparison, I have posted a arcade screenshot too. More as it evolves... Eduardo Mello

Yep, indeed... So many games, so little time...

If I remeber well, DK3 was indeed planned for the CV. But I can't remember if a number was given. The problem with DK3 is that I think it's totally different from the others DKs programwise. So if I was going to port it, I would do it as a standalone game, not a collection package. In other hand, it seems DK and DKJr share a lot of code. Others arcade ports would be indeed nice, and I am working toward this objective. I have already completed SI and SI Part II, and now I am working on Pac-Man and Ms Pac-Man. DK ports would be next. I already have a list of favorite arcade games which I could love to port: Gyruss, Moon Patrol, Galaga, Xevious, Pole Position, maybe Commando... Kangaroo... Pengo... Some of these games would need some extra hardware to be done right, like extra RAM. I am studying the possibilities... My ports will eventualy get released in cart form, probably before this years CGE... By the way, about the Mario speed up question, all my ports are based on actual arcade code, so the right speeds are a natual result...

A more screenshot. Not a big deal, but just a more screen finished. Animation is proving very challenging. Perhaps sound would be next. Pac-Man is roughly 20% done now...

Just a small update... The intro sequence is almost done now. I have just implemented the alternate ghost names. Everything is working nice, but I still need to finish a graphic shape routine. I already have a rough version of the intro, with the ghost having no eyes! Ugh! When the shape routine is ready, the eyes will be placed there. But so far I am very happy about how accurated the intro is shapping up. Everything animates with tenths of second precision. As soon as the entire sequence is done and polished, I will make a demo available... For now, I am posting a new screenshot. It was took using Adamem. Not too different or great but... Eduardo

Hi Here is a mock up image for how the first DK would look in the CV. I can assure the screenshot bellow is perfectly feasible in the CV... But squeezing the 256 pixels tall arcade into a 192 pixels tall CV screen was a bit challenging. Nevertheless I think the resulting screen looks indeed nice and preserves most of the original layout.... Eduardo

Really? Do you still have the docs? It would be nice to take a look on it... Was it the MegaROM game Kevin talked about so much?

Uhm, looks like a few of you would like to see a new DK and DKJr... Lets see, I am not going to promess anything for now... I believe there is room for improviments, but I am still skeptical about how many CV users would want a new version...

Hi! Very interesting point... I have always though Donkey Kong would be the next logical step in classic gamming after Space Invaders and Pac-Man. But, contrary to the last two games, DK is already widely available for the CV. Ever worst it was the pack-in game! And the conversion quality, while not stellar, is very acceptable, evermore if you take into account some really bad ports like Gyruss or Super Cobra... I don't know, I would like to do it, but I think the interest would be very small... Eduardo