Brian O

To be fair, I was the one who wrote "press start", knowing that the 2600 doesn't have a "start" button. The others have written "press to start", but... press what? So both sound a little weird to me... =) Yeah, that would probably be best. Sup, tokumaru? I was going to make it say "Press fire to start", but it seemed too long. "Press to start" should work also. Since the only thing you can really press is the button on the joystick. -B

Metal Gear Solid for the PS1.

Hi John, Good catch -- My Nintendo is showing. -B

Thanks, man! (I'm hoping the same thing.)

R2D2 - LOL.

LOL. Nice character art Thanks for the kind words.

Eric -- I understand what you're saying, but I have been trying to do my due diligence with this game. Instead of just blurting out "Hey, I have an idea in my head -- make me a game!", I have done my best to try and think through different scenarios and gameplay, even w/ my limited 2600 knowledge. While concept and art may be 1% to you, I think that number is a bit low. I'm not trying to take anything away from the developers/programmers, but I think a good game concept and good artwork is essential to a good game. Also, this has nothing to do with me not taking initiative. I have never programmed a thing in my life, and it would be extremely difficult (if not impossible) for me to start now, and learn assembly language. In my mind, I have taken the initiative by posting my fleshed out concept, screenshots, label art, box art, and manual art. As well as concepts for title screens (as bad as mine were!). Maybe the game is never picked up by anyone. Maybe no one ever develops it. That, of course, would be disappointing, but what can you do? All I know is that I've done all I can do, and I've learned a lot in the process. A lot of people on the forum have contributed their ideas to how the game can be developed. I think if the game wasn't interesting and didn't have the chance to be fun, no one would even bother to continue providing feedback and insights. But thanks for not pulling any punches and being honest about the game's development chances. I'd rather hear that than "don't worry, you'll have 20 guys who want to make your game". I will definitely be on the lookout for label contests, sprite artwork, etc. -B

Programming for the 2600 is often about sacrificing one thing to get another, and about having to decide what you're willing to sacrifice versus what you want to keep. For example, if the walls and doors are red (i.e., Jumpy's color), then missile0 can be used to draw them: background = white background player0 = red Jumpy missile0 = red walls and doors player1 = various objects (different colors: green, blue, red, purple, etc.), as well as black platforms missile1 = black platforms, as well as red key platform playfield = the dark (black) ball = the edge of the dark (dark) That would let everything move and scroll at 1-clock intervals. The screen could be divided into vertical zones, with platforms being limited to certain y positions, and the various objects being limited to the areas between the platforms, so different COLUP1 colors could be used for the objects. Missile1 could be used for the narrowest platforms-- 8 clocks wide-- but player1 would have to be used for the wider platforms (16 clocks wide, 24 clocks wide, and 32 clocks wide, or whatever). Michael Michael -- I think the walls and doors being red would look good. And it would be a plus if it allowed the game to work as originally concepted Finding it hard to let this game idea rest. I feel like Michael Corleone in the GFII -- every time I try to get out, you guys pull me back in again (with your great ideas). Thanks again! B

Ok. Here's my last cent bout this game. Using hyper sprite and PF to the game logo I can draw a feasible title screen with a good color trick at most left. Note the color uses Atari 2600 palete, sadly we haven't a 100% pure red. LS -- This looks great too! Again, amazing what you guys do with such a limited pallete. -B

I second this. Good stuff, make it happen! Need any help, let me know.

Hey, yuppicide, Richie Knucklez is in Flemington, NJ, right? I've been wanting to take a drive there and beta their Ms. Pac-Man high score Are you in Jersey too? -B

Sorry for the tripple post (!), but I'd like to ellaborate on this point. Here's an image to illustrate what I mean: Look at the scanlines where Jumpy is displayed. At the right you can see how the black would be displayed if we didn't do anything to hide it, and the pink part is the time you have to do something about it. IMO, changing the PF color to white is the easiest way to do it, and that requires only 5 CPU cycles (the pink part is at least 8 cycles wide, so it's OK). The rest of the scanline plus the next HBlank can be used to update the ball's position and size, to prepare the next patterns for Jumpy, and to make the PF black again. I think there's enough time. Jumpy's white parts could be tricky, because we'd actually have to change PF1 and PF2. As for the other sections of the image (the title, the platform and the text), the same trick can be used, you just have to find the best time to make the PF white, even if that requires moving things horizontally a bit. I see no problem if the title or the platform need to go a little to the left or to the right. Unfortunately there's no way I can't commit to other people's projects right now, but I really liked your game idea and I think it would make a fun 2600 game. But I think that what we're doing here is nice, talking about the possibilities and imagining how things could be. At least it keps the ball rolling, and if we keep the idea alive eventually someone might even decide to code it. Hey tokumaru, I love that title screen. It amazes me what some folks are able to do with such stubborn hardware. Thanks for illustrating how the title screen is drawn. Like I said, I have learned a tremendous amount since joining the forum (and continue to learn more each day). I really appreciate folks like you taking the time to go through things. I do still have a flicker of hope that someone may decide to code this, but I'm not holding my breath. I will most likely rethink some of the game play, and possibly remove the doors and/or the walls, since they seem to be problematic given the fixed number of graphic elements. I've thought about having the platforms disappear when you touch them, and maybe coupling that with some moving platforms, but again I'm not sure what the machine is truly capable of. I know must folks here can write custom kernels and increase K size to accommodate certain graphical/functional challenges. Well, thanks again for your help! If the game ever gets made, your name will definitely be on the "thank you" page! -B

Thanks everyone for their feedback, and for all of the concept work that you all submitted. I think at this time I'm going to put the FotD game idea to bed. I don't want to waste anyone's time, since I myself cannot code the game. Again, the game may need some minor modifications to be made to work properly -- perhaps the doors can be removed, etc. And I would be more than willing to work with anyone who wants to try and make this game happen. I personally think this would be a fun game and I know I would love playing it if it were made. It's just at this point in time I have received enough messages from people telling me that I'll need to code it myself or forget it, and I know that I am not capable of doing that. I still intend to be an active member on the boards, however, and I will be more than willing to help anyone who needs it (even if it's just bug testing, etc.), especially after how great everyone has been to me. Thanks again, everyone! -B

Hi Eric, Thanks for all of the feedback. I'm basically a designer, not a developer/programmer. As much as I love the 2600 and how much I'd love to create an Atari 2600 game, I'm afraid I just don't have the know-how to do so. I have tried to go through the tutorials on the site, but since I have never programmed anything in my life, I get lost very quickly reading through some of that information. When I posted my concept for Fear of the Dark, the response seemed to be very favorable and people seemed interested in the game. I assumed that if the game seemed interesting and entertaining enough that someone would offer to work with me on developing it. A few folks on the board were honest enough to tell me that it was unlikely someone would take on the development of the game. I completely understand that, believe me. But I figured I would continue comping up some screens, just for fun and see what happens. So, while I appreciate the information you have provided, I am not sure what I'd be able to do with it other than modify my screenshots and some of the game play to fit what the TIA could handle (my other screenshots also had walls and power ups), but not sure it would do anything but invite more messages telling me to just code the damn thing myself. I may just modify the screenshots based on more recent feedback and keep them to myself. We'll see. I don't want to waste anyone's time. I think, at this point, I am going to put this game idea to bed. I gave it my best shot, and I still think it could be a great game if developed, but taking it to the next level is beyond my capabilities. Thanks again for the feedback. -B

Thanks! This was the screen I had originally comped. tokumaru said that using RevEng's kernel, a much more robust title screen could be created. He had provided me with a comp (see here), and I basically just shifted some items around. Since I do not know the hardware, I'm not sure what issues this would cause.

Sure, but being such a simple kind of collision I guess it wouldn't be a problem to check for it in software instead of using the hardware collision flags. But like you said, the effect probably won't even look good, so there's no reason to worry about this. Yeah, that was my original idea for the ball too, until I remembered about the walls and doors. Missile 0 is still free, but the fact that it will share Jumpy's colors in the scanlines where both are displayed doesn't help... I just can't think of a way to have it all. What if flicker wasn't used, and the playfield just moved 4 color clocks at a time? Would it look too choppy? If that were the case, would the platforms scroll smoothly, since they would be sprites, as opposed to the playfield? I think if the platforms moved smoothly, but the darkness moved 4 spaces at a time, it may not look terrible, but it's harder for me to visualize since I haven't had any exposure to how something like that would animate. -B

Yeah, when you don't know about the hardware details there's no way to know how much you can "bend" the rules in your favor. I don't think so... AFAIK, the "48 pixels per scanline" still applies. Thanks. It's still your art though, I just rearranged it to show you that you don't have to be as conservative as you thought with the title screen. Gotcha. I was thinking 48 pixels per sprite, not scanline. I made a quick comp of an updated title screen that leverages your comp. However, I moved Jumpy out of the dark, and placed him below the title. This way, the title, character and "Press To Start" copy are to the right of the dark square. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks again! -B

tokumaru was kind enough to inject my title screen concept with steroids : New FOD Title Screen Concept

WOW! I didn't realize you could get that level of detail with the title screen. This one blows mine away. I love it. Quick question -- Could the name of the game be positioned to the right of Jumpy? See my revision (attached)? Thanks man, nice work! -B

Thanks, man. I hope it gets made, too

I'll have to look into that. I have been creating everything in Photoshop, since I am not a programmer. Not sure how far I'd get with RevEng's kernel. Thanks for the kind words about the manual. LOL re: the Spanish copy. I was going to set all of the copy in dummy text. That would have sucked for you Fear of the Dark's a great song. It'd be nice to have some snippets of that in the game! -B

Here's a new Title Screen comp. Not sure if this is doable, but I made sure to keep all graphic elements to 48 pixels wide. I ditched the black box and the jump swoosh that I had in a previous iteration. -B

Thanks for the input, guys.

Here's a new comp of the Fear of the Dark title screen. I limited each item to 48 pixels wide. Any thoughts are welcome. -B

Awesome. Nice find.