simonh

For ROTF, folks may also want to post which "Wave" they made it to. Remember, if you beat all 20 waves, you'll score bonus points for lives remaining. I'm looking forward to seeing the high scores and screen shots roll in . ~S

If you go for Return of the Fungi, make sure to download the updated release from RetroUnite -- zip file: "DD3-Bundle-210922.zip", binary: "ReturnOfTheFungi_ii.xex". This updated version fixes the "load" issues that some folks were experiencing, and also fixes a PAL/Graphics bug.

I've just spent a little time messing with toggling between PAL and NTSC modes for the Atari emulator in Altirra, and realized what I wanted was a reference chart for "matching" colors between the two palettes. For my next assembler project, I want to write some nifty code that checks the Atari mode (PAL or NTSC), and switches color palette appropriately. The idea being that the colors used are "close enough" the same in either mode. After carefully capturing all possible colors for both modes (with a little test program), I extracted their RGB values (using a paint program), and wrote a Python program to automatically compute the minimum distances between pairs of colors (think minimum distance between two 3D points in a "color cube" with R, G, B axes -- yay, Pythagorus). The result is a standalone HTML page that gives the closest matches between the NTSC and PAL palettes which can be used to select pairs of Chroma-Luma codes. Perhaps someone else might find this useful in the future... ntsc-pal-match.html

Hi folks! Thanks for all the detailed detective work that went into root-causing the loading issues that some folks experienced. After reviewing the analyses, I decided to officially modify and re-release the code. I have relocated the custom character set, display lists and interrupt routines to upper memory; the lowest address any segment is now loaded into is 0x2600 -- hopefully this will fix the compatibility woes that were previously experienced. As @pjedavison mentioned, the new bundle (DD3-Bundle-210922.zip) is available at RetroUnite. The corrected ROTF binary is named ReturnOfTheFungi_ii.xex. I learned a thing or two this week! Cheers, ~Simon

I have to say, what a total thrill it is to see ROTF running on real hardware!! Thanks for posting the pics! ~Simon

Yeah, thanks for pointing that out. I guess the note should have been something more along the lines of... "This game has been tested on Altirra configured as 'Atari 800 OS-B NTSC / 48K', but will probably run on similar configurations / emulators / original hardware." The code doesn't try anything "tricky" -- just your usual Display List Interrupts and Vertical Blank Interrupts. Selecting PAL gives you a slightly different color palette, but plays just as well.

25 years ago, I was a teenager, single, with time to spare on my hands. These days I'm a working parent with an active social life. Don't hold your breath for a sequel It took a few years to get here, but, the last installment of the trilogy has finally been created!

Did you at any point notice that the conversation you're responding to is nearly three YEARS old? What can I say? I'm a slow reader! I see what you did there Talking of "being slow"... I finally got around to finishing the Digger Dan Trilogy -- it just took me 38 years!

I am pleased to announce that, after laying dormant in a scrap book for more than three decades, the original idea for my third game in the Digger Dan Trilogy -- Return of the Fungi -- has been dusted off, developed, and has now been released as an Atari 800 48K binary (.xex). You can download the game as part of a Bundle that includes all three games (Diamonds, and Dan Strikes Back being the other two), in addition to full documentation for all three games that you can load into your web browser. The bundle is being hosted by RetroUnite here: After 35 years, Return of the Fungi finally completes the Digger Dan trilogy

Well, I just discovered I have the ability to blog here. Maybe I'll write something less vacuous next time... who knows?! ~Simon

Did you at any point notice that the conversation you're responding to is nearly three YEARS old? What can I say? I'm a slow reader!

Lance has received permission, though, to legally sell cartridge versions of some games originally released in Europe only on tape/disk. I believe that this is the situation with the upcoming "Barbarian", but will have to ask him again to clarify. I don't believe Dan Strikes Back (English Software) was one of them! Does Lance have documentary proof to the contrary?

I will probably release the source code eventually, but I haven't yet decided what form it will take. I'm seriously thinking about documenting the design, complete with illustrations from my original hand written notes, rather than release just the assembler code. The music playing while the title screen is showing was composed by J.S.Bach It was a little piece I learnt to play on the piano when I was a kid. The music during gameplay was my own composition, written especially for "Dan Strikes Back".

Here's the results: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=127969