Atarius Maximus

This is it! The final release of Dungeon Stalker is ready. Unless any further bugs in the game are found in the next few months version 245 will be the version released on cartridge in October. The only changes in this version were improvements to the enemy sprites and the AtariAge logo sprite. I didn't make any gameplay modifications. The instruction manual was also updated to include the new sprite images and credits to Trebor and Defender_2600 for their contributions to the game during it's development. Thanks to everyone for your posts and suggestions, and most importantly for playing the game. Cheers! Steve Edit: The full source code for Dungeon Stalker will be released in this thread shortly after the cartridge release. Edit 2: I updated the instruction manual to correct a spelling error (v1.245b). DungeonStalker_v1.245.a78 DungeonStalker_v1.245.bin DungeonStalkerManual_1.245b.pdf

Glenn's Miniature Golf+ was a great hack. I bought a copy back in '03 or so when he created it.

Nicely done, Mord! I could definitely see this as very useful for a game. I took a quick video of what it looks like here: http://youtu.be/CN5PbCp5sig http://youtu.be/CN5PbCp5sig

Here's some tips to get you started. 1. Get the files. Download and install all the files that you need. · Get the batariBasic files. This AA thread has the latest version of bB. · Get the Visual batariBaic files. As a beginner, you'll definitely want to download Visual Batari Basic. It includes graphical editors for sprites and playfields, support for the titlescreen kernel, and a music editor. · Get an Emulator. I recommend Stella. It's cross platform and offers the highest level of compatibility with batariBasic features. 2. Read the Tutorials. AtariAge members CurtisP and SeaGtGruff wrote some excellent tutorials and posted them to the batariBasic forums. · From CurtisP: Programming Tutorial · From SeaGtGruff: Tutorial Session 1 | Tutorial Session 2 | Tutorial Session 3 · If you're new to Basic, I'd highly recommend starting with Random Terrain's batariBasic page (which he just linked to above). His page is very well organized with lots of answers to beginner questions. Once you're more familiar with batariBasic his page is also the best place to go for up to date commands and syntax. His site is like the bB bible. 3. Learn from Example. You can download a whole lot of codes samples I wrote here at AtariAge. 4. Ask for Help! When you get stuck, there's lots of us around to help answer questions.

I'd recommended it, it's a fun, challenging game.

I own 28 homebrews for the 2600. For several of them I bought the original and the upgraded version. Go Fish Mental Kombat Gunfight Alien Greed II Climber 5 Jammed Skeleton Skeleton+ Crazy Balloon Swoops! Qb Joust Pong Thrust Thrust+ Marble Craze Space Treat Space Treat Deluxe Mondo Pong Allia Quest Oystron Seawolf Backfire (AtariAge) Backfire (Packrat with my label) SCSIScide Starfire (I won a patch!) Synthcart Power Off! This Planet Sucks! Edit: I guess you could say I own 30, if you include my own games. I also have Cave In and Gate Racer II on cart. Edit 2: Ooops, I forgot about Stay Frosty 2, The Byte Before Christmas, and the AA Holiday carts from 2003 and 2005. I also have some custom carts made of my own homebrews that were never released as well another 20 or so hacks on cart. I guess my actual real "homebrew" number is around 35, with hacks around 55. ​

Very unique and interesting idea, SoundGammon. I'm not sure what I could do to help exactly, but if a few changes needed to be made for the actions of certain joystick or button combinations I could probably help accommodate you if you'd like to use Touchdown Challenge for your project.

I wanted to express my gratitude to Al and everyone else who helped out, attended, and played all the great games Al had set up. The booth looked fantastic and I wish I could have been there. I grabbed a few photos from the set of pics that Al shared of Dungeon Stalker in action at the show.

I would expect the creator of Sadistroids to be pretty good at Space Rocks TE! Great score, Thomas!

Yep, I can see that as being an unfair strategy, and to Nathan's point very boring to watch. This game is so difficult that even attempting to "lurk" isn't really a good way to last forever, and I never saw more than 4 or 5 UFO's at the end of one stage using that strategy (and also never got past the 3rd field of asteroids). There is still a fair amount of skill (and of course luck) involved. Either way, I was just having fun with the game this weekend trying to get the highest score possible, and had a great time doing so. Congrats to the winner of the competition!

Thanks! I played it for at least 2 or 3 hours the last few days and got progressively better at it. I can routinely score in the high 20k range now. I was never able to beat RevEng's 55k score, my best was around 39k. The very beginning of a new asteroid field is the most dangerous, I'd fire furiously and target the large asteroids first as the shield doesn't help much if they hit you. Near the end of the level, I'd always leave 2 or 3 small asteroids on the playfield and try and avoid shooting them while targeting UFO's and the larger ship that splits up for racking up points. It involves a fair amount of luck as the UFO's can of course shoot the asteroids too, and you have to be careful to not accidently shoot the remaining small asteroids. It's also key to stay in the middle of the screen, moving around is certain death. While I did play without the timer, I don't think any of my games went much longer than 5 minutes.

Here's T:ME Salvo in action, from @AtariTexas' twitter feed.

Playing at home I've managed to get 36,530. I've been in a friendly competition with RevEng this weekend on getting a high score, and so far he's got me beat at 55,620. We're not using the timer so we may have both gone over the 5 minute mark, but if I did it wasn't by much. This is a hard game!

I just started following you. More pics please!

Agreed, Thomas! I noticed that right away. The Stay Frosty 2 poster looks awesome too!

Thanks for sharing Bob! Love the pictures, and love that there was a pic of my game set up too.

My best on Space Rocks TE so far is 35,630. I had the timer turned off, but I'm pretty sure the game was less than 5 minutes long. I love this game!

We've had a few more weeks of play testing and some additional changes were made. This is the version that Al will be using at the Classic Game Fest in Austin this weekend. Thanks again to everyone who has provided feedback and helped out. I hope everyone has a great time at the show. The core game is complete, any further changes before it's released this fall will be very minor. Below is a summary of the changes in this version. 1. Reversed Color option. The previously posted version swapped the colors so the background was black and the dungeon maze was colored. Based on feedback, an option to have a colored background and a black dungeon maze was put back in - simply hold the pause button down when you turn the game on to revert back to the original color scheme. To do this in mess, hold down the letter 'O' on the keyboard. Edit: You only need to hold it down long enough to get to the screen that displays the AtariAge logo, once you see that you can let it go. 2. Movement bug fix. Horizontal movement was limited in the far left vertical corridor for the player. That bug has been fixed. 3. Dungeon maze changes. An additional opening was made in the top right area of the dungeon, as well as a small opening on the far left side of the dungeon that can be used to fire an arrow through, but not walk through. This was to address the difficulty of navigating those areas and getting trapped by multiple enemies too easily. 4. AtariAge Logo added. The AA logo was added during the opening sequence of the game. 5. Level Colors updated. The order of the colors used in the level progression were changed. Edit: I added a few screenshots that show the reversed color option, the new dungeon maze changes, and the new AA logo. DungeonStalker_v1.243.a78 DungeonStalker_v1.243.bin DungeonStalkerManual_1.243.pdf

I know my Adventure Plus hack is one of the best sellers in the hacks section and I've sold 231 copies since 2003. CaveIn has sold 71 copies since 2010. Those numbers are as of December 2014.

Al shared a pic with me of a Dungeon Stalker cart that he'll be taking with him to demo the game at the Classic Game Fest this weekend. He gave me the thumbs up to share it here. It looks great. Edit: I'll share a new version this week with some minor changes and bug fixes.

Yeah, it's a dragster hack that also has auto-shift, making it super easy to get a score under 6.

I just recently found this, Thomas, very interesting to see how everything ranks. It's cool that I've got a game on both the homebrew and hacks list, although it appears my very first hack from back in 2003 has been overtaken by Pac-Man Arcade.

Thanks guys! Comments like that are what makes it fun to work on games like this and share them, and makes it very motivating to work on another game in the future. It wasn't just me, RevEng and Trebor made huge contributions as well. Thanks to everyone that's shared such positive input about this game. Al will have Dungeon Stalker up and running at his booth at the Classic Game Fest in Austin, and the plan is to have a general AA release of the game on cartridge with a new manual designed by David Exton (and likely a box) at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo in October 2015. That's of course assuming everything is ready by then, but it's looking like it will be. There's likely going to be at least one more newer release of the game prior to the show in Austin, but the changes will be very minor.

Thanks for sharing those extra details, Trebor. You're right, Expert mode is brutal. I made a few minor revisions to the instruction manual and updated my previous posts with the new download. I'll also go ahead and attach it here. DungeonStalkerManual_1.232b.pdf