PacManPlus

The only problem I see using character modes for shots, is that I'm using character mode for the mountains, and the star background. …maybe it is time to start over when I come back to that game...

So, in keeping with the spirit of Defender, when I get back to work on it, I'm looking for ideas on how to do the player's shot on the screen. The player's shot spans most of the horizontal area of the screen... which can be an issue when including the player, the player's thrust, and enemies, shots, etc. in the same zone. Plus, the shot begins / ends in an odd way (don't know any other way of explaining it). I'm trying to think of any 'tricks' that would help here... The player's explosion I'm going to change; to get more 'explosion particles' on the screen, I'm going to remove all enemies, and quickly switch to another DLL using a bunch of single-byte bitmaps. The enemy explosion will unfortunately have to be an in-place explosion instead of a particle one. There's just not enough Maria time... especially if you are killing multiple enemies in quick succession. It would be cool if someone had disassembled Defender II for the 2600 or Defender for the 5200 with comments so I can see how some of the enemy AI was done... Or even the arcade version. That would get the game done much faster. I tried contacting Eugene Jarvis, but unfortunately he was one of the few who never answered me. (I was lucky with Owen Rubin and Alan McNeil). Anyway, hoping for some ideas for when I pick this up again. Thanks, Bob

I never did get to ask Propane13 how he was doing it: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/154267-something-else-im-working-on/page-1 I think making the bricks sprites might be the best option. I was (a while back) going to change the Space Invaders enemies to sprites (they are tiles right now) so that they can move in a 'wave' like the arcade does, but I decided to leave well enough alone.

Hi guys: I was reading the 2600 Galaga thread, and I picked up on some conversation about the design of labels, part numbers, etc. and if they should reflect the original (Atari's) style or not. I was surprised to find that some of the more active and long time members (and mods) actually didn't care for using the 'retail' style labels. Personally, I felt that I kind of went 'in-between' as I liked the placement of the system name, and the name of the game, but decided to use the entire label for the artwork. I've kept that pretty much my 'standard' which, IMHO, is a nod to the original era of the system, but takes a bit of a new direction. It's almost like a 'what if this game was released during the retail life of the system' kind of thing. One thing that I also noticed, was the model numbers. Al gave (again IMHO) an excellent example of a standard: 'AA-26-001' which, if Al doesn't mind, I will start using on my games from this point forward (AA-78-800 and forward). I started with 800 to not presume that I would get the first numbers for any reason. Also, I know the 'AA' is for AtariAge, but any and all of my games are always Al's to sell as long as he wants to. I'm also going to go back and re-number my past releases this way: AA-78-800 - Pac-Man Collection (2006) AA-78-801 - Asteroids Deluxe (2007) AA-78-802 - Space Duel (2007) AA-78-803 - Space Invaders (2008) AA-78-804 - Super Pac-Man (2008) AA-78-805 - Crazy Otto (2010) AA-78-806 - Failsafe (2010) AA-78-807 - Moon Cresta (2011) AA-78-808 - Meteor Shower (2012) AA-78-809 - Scramble (2012) AA-78-810 - RipOff (2012) AA-78-811 - Jr. Pac-Man (2012) AA-78-812 - Armor Attack II (2013) AA-78-813 - Frenzy (2013) AA-78-814 - Astro Blaster (2014) AA-78-815 - KC Munchkin (2014) AA-78-816 - Astro Fighter (2015) AA-78-817 - Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest (2015) AA-78-818 - Crazy Brix (2016) AA-78-819 - Super Circus AtariAge (2017) AA-78-820 - Baby Pac-Man (2019) AA-78-821 - ReZolve AA-78-822 - Adventure III: The Quest For The Chalise AA-78-823 - Defender So, my question is, am I overstepping any bounds, here? Or being presumptuous? Does anyone see a problem with doing this from this point forward?

Hi guys: Ok, ready to start taking payment please. For the two 'standard' carts, $30 + $4 shipping For the others, $35 + $4 shipping send to: [email protected] PLEASE include your handle here, and your name and address to send to (in the PayPal payment to Al, not in a post here). Thanks guys, Bob

You now have awesome paddle control. They work wonderfully on the real thing. Just so you know, the joystick left and right directions are the paddle 0 and 1 buttons, respectively. So, to check for the paddle 0 button in the right port, you would see if the right 'joystick' is being pressed left. Likewise, to check for the paddle 1 button in the right port, you would see if the right 'joystick' is being pressed right. I like the effect when you pause the game as well. It turns black & white until you un-pause it. Nice touch.

I'll be testing the paddles on the real thing in a little while...

You need to call it during a DLI. Here's the code from Super Circus AtariAge. I use two DLIs; one at the top of the screen and one at the bottom. (We know which one it is by the 'DLIFLG' variable - $00 is the top, $01 is the bottom.) The one at the top gets the paddle reads. The one at the bottom updates all of the movable objects. OUTP0 contains the value of paddle 0, and OUTP1 contains the value of paddle 1 (both in the right controller port. You would use INPT0 and INPT1 for the paddles in the left port): ; KERNAL - MAINTAIN THE ON-SCREEN DISPLAY DLI PHA ;STACK REGISTERS TXA PHA TYA PHA CLD LDA DLIFLG BEQ DLITOP JMP DLIBOTTOM DLITOP LDA #$01 STA DLIFLG DLIPADDLES LDA #$00 STA INPTCTRL ;PADDLES LDY #124 ;STANDARD PADDLES USE 104, 'BEST ELECTRONICS' USE 108 (OR 112 FOR ALL) DLIPLOOP STA WSYNC LDA INPT2 BMI DLISKIP0 STY OUTP0 DLISKIP0 LDA INPT3 BMI DLISKIP1 STY OUTP1 DLISKIP1 DEY BNE DLIPLOOP LDA #$80 STA INPTCTRL JMP DLIOUT ; THIS ROUTINE TAKES CARE OF THE LAST DLI ON THE SCREEN, THE 'VERTICAL BLANK ; ROUTINE'. DLIBOTTOM LDA #$00 STA DLIFLG ;RESET FOR TOP DLI INC RTLOCAL+1 ;INCREMENT CLOCK BNE DLICONT INC RTLOCAL DLICONT JSR LOADER ;LOAD UP NEXT FRAME DLIOTHER JSR TUNER ;DO TUNES JSR RAND ;UPDATE RANDOM NUMBER DLIOUT PLA ;UNSTACK AND LEAVE TAY PLA ;THIS IS WHERE MOST DLI'S LEAVE TAX PLA NULLRTI RTI I hope this helps. I'm not sure how to inject ASM code in basic, hopefully someone can help...

Holy crap - I just checked it out... This looks amazing! We need to get paddle support in this game. Great job so far!

@ jxmx3 - This is cart only. I believe Al will have the option of CIB or cart and manual in the store (Al, correct me if I'm wrong). @ Shawn - I was considering it, but I don't want to go overboard. If shipping / fees end up being a little more than that, it's fine. Thanks, guys

BTW, guys, to the people who missed it, I apologize. I don't have that many boards left, otherwise I'd make more. I think I have two left, and one of them is my 'tester' (with a socket in it to test EPROM burns). At least at this point I don't have to cannibalize cart shells any more.

Thank you - It's been a while since I've done this. So, guys, is it alright to ask for $4 shipping?

Hi Guys: Thank you so much, Al, for the offer - I appreciate it. Very kind of you. Is anyone on that list *not* in the U.S.A.? If everyone is from the states, I can basically charge $2.00 for shipping. I've always used bubble envelopes for just about every one of my cart releases I've ever done, to keep the charge low. If anyone on that list is not in the states, please let me know.

I have assembler code to handle paddles (used in Crazy Brix and Super Circus AtariAge). If there is enough time, we should be able to use it (how many DLIs are being used?)

Thanks guys... List has been updated. There are three left, one of them is a 'standard' cart.

Hi guys: Ok, they are ready. Here are the pictures: Number / Cart Color / Logo Color / Claimed By / Paid: Sparkle Red / Yellow / DracIsBack / Yes Standard Cart / None / Mitch / Yes Standard Cart / None / gorfcadet / No Pink / Yellow / Jinks / Yes Cyan / Yellow / sramirez2008 / Yes Cyan / Yellow / mmervine / Yes Red / Yellow / Trebor / Yes Red / Yellow / SIO2 / Yes Lt. Green / Dk. Green / KevinMos3 / No Lt. Green / Dk. Green / bradd1978 / Yes Glow-In-The-Dark / Black / GoldenWheels / Yes Glow-In-The-Dark / Black / GaryH917 / Yes Blue / Yellow / jxmx3 / Yes Blue / Yellow / eebuckeye / Yes Shiny Gold / White / Gray Defender / Yes Shiny Gold / White / rxmage / Yes Grey / Yellow / x=usr(1536) / Yes Grey / Yellow / Kosmic Stardust / Yes Partial Translucent / Black / groundtrooper / Yes Partial Translucent / Black / iesposta / Yes The two standard carts are $30, and the others are $35, all + shipping, so I'll need to know where it's going. The hard part is, I no longer have a PayPal account (haven't had one in a while - and I refuse to get one with them), so I'm trying to see the best way to accept payment (other than just a check). Again: NO PMs PLEASE. Post here so there is no question who reserved which color first. PLEASE - two things to note: - 3D printing a cart case is not going to look *perfect*. There WILL be imperfections, but on the whole I think the cases look good. - I'm concerned with carts 'fitting' in all 7800s. I've tried all of them in mine, and they work (but fit snugly), and I know some 7800s can be finicky. Please keep that in mind. MODS - can I please have permission to always edit this post, as I want to update it with who has what color, who paid, etc... Thank you. Thanks, guys Blob

Just a head's up... I should be finished with the cartridge cases this weekend. It's looking like the 3D printed carts will be $35 + shipping, and I will have two 'standard' carts for $30. I hope that's ok. Remember, DracIsBack already has one, and it's the Sparkle Red color that I will not be reproducing. So that will leave 19 total.

The entire XX00 support (2600, 5200, 7800) for the first 3 home cartridge game consoles that Atari put out. (Call it the 15600 - or someone else mentioned 'Atari Generations Flashback') I'm not sure which is the best 5200 emulator, but the 'A7800' emulator is about as exact as you can get for that system.

I see there's no scanner in the Colecovision version (unlike the arcade). That would make things go quicker. This can absolutely be done on the 7800. Left/Right scrolling is easy. It looks like there are only 5/6 enemies on the screen at one time, at least in the beginning. Regarding the twin controller, you know that you can't shoot up or down in this game, right? So the 7800 buttons / joypad are more than adequate for left-right shooting.

Basically, if you're willing to sacrifice resolution (i.e. 160 pixels instead of 320), your colors are MUCH more richer. For example, Bentley Bear uses 160A backgrounds and 160B sprites. For tiles, that's 3 colors + a background (which can change between zones, as is done in that game) for each displayed set of tiles. You can have multiple sets of displayed tiles with different palettes within each zone, but the more different ones you have, the more Maria time it takes. For sprites, that's 12 colors and you can choose between 2 palettes for each sprite. The only drawback is that pixels are twice as wide as high. I've used 320B mode for some of my games, and that is a little more tricky. You only have two palettes with at most 3 colors in each (without some trickery, you only have 2). Rikki & Vikki uses this mode in a masterful way, and I'm amazed with what they have done. Scramble uses 320B mode for everything, with transparency for the scrolling playfield. Berzerk / Frenzy uses 320A mode. (7 palettes, one color in each). I needed to fill the screen with the mazes, and 320B mode would have taken too long. There is a bit of slowdown already without it. This is why the walls are only one color. I could have broken up the tile mode into different sections while drawing the maze to get the additional colors, but that would have taken too much Maria time for all of the different tile modes that would need to be added to the DLs. I guess the point is what TailChao said in his first response. The 7800 could run just about anything the others could. It's just a matter of, if you need to have a limitation, where it would be: the number of colors, or the resolution. Sound is a horse of a different color. Including a Pokey (or another sound chip like BupSystem) would take care of the sound issue.

Will this create files that I can 'include' in 6502 assembler? Basically it's just data that you can do an 'include "GRAPHICS.S"' within the source. I created a command line program to convert .BMPs to 7800 graphic data (it creates that include file), but I did not add support 320C and 320D mode as I don't completely follow the makeup of those modes. If I can use this for ASM 7800 development, I will switch over to it instead, it looks very intuitive and easy to use. Thank you, Bob

I actually did the reverse; I first created Frenzy on the Atari 7800, and then ported that to the NES. I have the Super Mario Bros source code, and actually got it to compile using the 7800's compiler, but the video / sound drivers are still the NES versions. I always meant to attempt to convert it to the 7800 just to prove that it can be done, but I never got around to it. With a lot of work, I still believe it can be done. It may not look as good in 320 mode due to the limited color palette, but it would work.

Also... If someone intends on getting the *exact* same part and attaching it in the *exact* same place I did, here are the .STL files to print the case for it. Bob Cuttle Cart II Case STL Files.zip

Thank you So I also 3D printed a modified version of the cartridge case, supporting the new SD slot on all sides (even underneath). It works wonderfully... I'm not touching this one again unless something goes wrong. Again, I need to shout out to Crossbow, without you this cart would have went to waste.

Hi guys! Ok, I attached the new shroud for the MMC card... This one was a newer one so it actually fit regular SD cards as well... So, I tried one. I had a 1Gb micro SD card in a standard SD card adapter: To my surprise, it worked!!!!! From everything I read on line, it shouldn't have. My only thought is that Chad put the correct protocols in place for the 'newer' SD cards, but still only used the older MMC shrouds (probably because that's what he already had). This is very cool. I used this part: https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Yamaichi-Electronics/FPS009-2409-0?qs=sGAEpiMZZMuJakaoiLiBpk0jQ9N%2FJxLG2b9p6QRWhow%3D Please note that their stock photo looks different than the shrouds I got. The ones I got were better suited anyway. Now I'm wondering if the smaller 'micro sd' card slots will work... but I don't want to mess with this any more.