BladeJunker

Is there a hardware forum, I come to this section so often I forget there are others? I posted some controller designs here but I haven't been booed or moved by an administrator. I'd hope somebody would tell me my fly is open or I have food stuck in my teeth. ^_^ Regardless I think trying the speaker addition sounds cool as long as the vibration doesn't hurt the 2600 over time, heavy bass and the like. Well you could always add an external port to the 2600 like a PC to plug speakers into ijs.

The reason I don't release the final BIN files on my newer releases is I got sick of seeing people selling cheap unauthorized cartridges on EBAY. I would rather keep the BIN file private and make the legitimate copies mean more to the owners then let people profiteer by selling crappy rip offs. Really? I thought cartridges were hard to acquire or build as that's the main thing that prevents most people with homebrew is the cost. Still I have seen actual knockoff DS games but I still wonder about the profit margin of these close replications. I respect your desire to maintain the integrity and quality of your products. This idea was born out of the similar nature of 2600 games to mobile games as they both offer fast instant fun but struggle with long stretches of playtime thus the cheap download price I've seen for iPhone/iPad games. So sorry I wan't trying to undercut your business, its just hard to figure out where funding can come from to aid in more 2600 homebrew.

I was thinking of the business of selling 2600 homebrew and concluded the pricing model for mobile game download might be well suited as in $1 transactions. Although cartridges will always have the extra costs of materials and manufacturing a low price download option could generate some revenue beyond the niche market. I think the existing emulators are great but to appeal to the iPhone crowd a "slicker" menu veneer and some streamlining of options would help with mass appeal when selling to hipsters and the like. Anyway just an idea on how to fund more homebrews.

I took a crack at a Fraggle Rock concept. I figure something along the lines of the Oddworld games would mesh well with the characters & setting. Environmental puzzles, spelunking peril, and I tiny bit of language or singing communication. I think it would have to be less of a wide angle view that Oddworld uses and more of a closer focus like The Neverhood employed. The sprites would be quite "concentrated" in object use for maximum detail and characterization but limited to the number of things present and visible per screen, so small scale scenarios.

Thanks for the picture, almost as good as the real thing. Well I can't blame him since I'm sure conventions were more fun when he was younger but now its an occupational hazard. "Did being on Ellen make you gay?", "No, but your stupid question did." ^_^

Whoops I missed this one because you mentioned The Thing then aliens that I mashed it together in my mind lol. Although the existing Alien game is okay I never liked the Math Muncher sprite they used since I think the title baddie's shape could have been approximated more faithfully with a bit more effort, only visual but important. I'd agree that Berzerk would have been a better template for Alien than that of Pac-Man, wow when I think about it Berzerk works for a lot of things.

I see, the convention circuit I'm guessing? Don't get much of that in my area, the biggest conventions are confined to Vancouver mostly and I don't get out there much. Still I see what you're saying, not so much flying under the radar but rather not being seen as a threat all together. I have come across photos of the actors signing some of your carts which is cool, wouldn't mind a Bruce Campbell signature on a Atari cart.

Well thank you, I spent a fair amount of time honing the design into what you see. Heck even I find it ambitious, looks like at least $200+ just to make the prototype. Been trying to track down a local distributor of parts but the joystick style I chose as ideal will likely have to be imported from the USA up to Canada where I live.

Yeah I would say I got a little "gun shy" with mid-line color change use after reading about its high costs but using it in combination with the SCORE bit would definitely have quite a few uses. Still I should consider color changes more so in the HUD graphics than I do. Unfortunately as a non programming type its been hard to gauge its kernel cost, the best I can do is to rate each "effect" with a level of difficulty and note any requirements that I need to cater to its use.

I guess my Background question was already answered, didn't look close enough at the debug examples. Well I can find uses for that. Boy the debug option is great at revealing what is doing what, saves me time asking and it saves others time from politely answering these kind of questions. HMOVE, haven't really delved into it although I am aware of its existence and its visual byproducts. Not too sure what kind of stance I'll take on it yet, leave it, hide it, or completely cater to a code base that eliminates its on screen appearance.

Oh thanks for the Stella debug info, I only emulate Atari infrequently so I haven't gotten that familiar with all its options yet. Okay I see what Battlezone does,very clever distribution. Changes to the background color? Well I already delved deeper by asking Tjoppen already about the Background so its up to you if you want to field the question first lol. Still its neat to see how the plane sprite is made, front made of Player but is the main hull Playfield or Missiles?

Darn I thought might be the case, I think I was trying to will the Ball into doing more than it can lol. However "can't duplicate horizontally" is pretty definitive so I'll conk my head to stop myself from thinking of it as another Missile as its more of a lesser Missile type. I forgot about the SCORE bit which is dumb on my part since its a handy default hardware option. So you can't "split" or change the Background color vertically at all per scanline then, it can only be one color top to bottom?

I've had plenty of experience with the stock 2600 but the highest praise I can give it is that it is adequate and it gets the job done. I had some intense sessions that resulted in me pulling the skin off the stalk many times. Of coarse nothing new here as many people on this forum have made alternative controllers for the 2600 so I'll just get on with it. I started with a large heavy base one along the lines of the Nes Advantage or a joystick that plugs into both controller ports. Mostly wanted to utilize all the inputs possible into a single controller to diversify control setups. At first it was confined to a single option but that turned out to be too limited in usage for such a large expensive construct so I started adding logical extensions of operation. -First thing I did was widen it so that 2 players could use it much like an arcade cab setup. Because of the button placement I had to add a setting switch to "turn off" the buttons associated to the 2nd players inputs for obvious reasons. Added a little color coding to identify the 2 main fire buttons, stuck to red. -Next I thought why not allow both joysticks to be used together by one player so I put a redundant fire button on top of both joysticks for easy access. Mulled over grip issues but decided a "Crane Game" style was the best middle ground. -Lastly I thought the base was pretty wide so why not add Paddle knobs too since the cost was negligible at that point. Couldn't figure out which tech to put into the knobs since the Driving paddle doesn't use a potentiometer, perhaps another setting to approximate Driving input from a potentiometer? With my budget its an either or situation so I haven't ordered any parts yet unless I want to suspend collecting retro games for a while.^_^ Another concept was using the usual suspect or a Sega Genesis/Mega Drive controller(3button) to mod since I have many lying around. Again I didn't want it to be overly static in function so I broke it down to 3 setting or modes. It really depended on the controller used as to how setting were changed since a Start button would be tapped to switch modes while a controller with Turbo switches could utilize the 3 stops on the switch. -Standard:4 way joystick and a Fire button -Platformer: Left, Right, Down, Fire, Jump(Up) -Maximum: Left, Right, Fire, Fire2(Up), Fire3(down) My last concept was something in between the extremes which was a 6 button gamepad that plugged into both ports. It was either modding a Sega fighter gamepad or do an extreme mod to a Snes controller. Both layouts had there strengths but I couldn't decide which would serve 2600 games best so perhaps this forum has some thoughts on the matter? Mostly these designs have just sat in my directory till I get the cash together and schedule some time for it but I thought it would be better to share them and maybe get some feedback.

Just a few questions that I humbly request anybody answer. -I can't remember where but I read the Ball object doesn't multiplex well, is that true? -I assumed but I should confirm, can you split the Playfield vertically into 2 seperate regions of Playfield color and Background color. I just want to make sure what I'm seeing in 2600 games isn't being accomplished some other way. -I'll post some examples but its mostly a question of what are the usual methods used to achieve instances of "Playfield cohesion" or appearances that defy the standard Playfield limits. Is it just heavy Missile object use, Playfield layer flicker, or vertical split screens?

Ah very nice stuff, I actually just caught a video demo of Army of Darkness 2600 over at MaximumRD's channel and I thought it looked quite fun. I usually avoid game hacks but they can be done well as is the case with your movie games, West World Berzerk stands out to my eyes as a great adaption. Elvira looked looked like my cup of tea but sorry to say I didn't like the Phantasm game, although I read you didn't have much of a budget to work with. Just tried Mad Max, I liked it, it was fun had good sound effects and the car diversity from the film was well represented. Actually amazing how many new and old 2600 movie games have already been done, thanks for dropping by and giving us info on your cool games. Boy you must have some connections and or deep pockets to acquire these licenses?

Another vote for Mad Max, yep there was a Nintendo game. Definitely would be fun to play in an action packed convoy shooting and jumping from vehicle to vehicle like some kind of gun toting Frogger lol.

Just finished "It's Alive", pretty good, scary and sad all at once. I see all 3 up so I'll eventually give them all a look. Based on Cafeman's triple threat horror game I drew up this screen just for fun.

Although I'm leading you to YouTube posting of films don't think I don't recommend a purchase of any of these fine films. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTOVMI7Jx-o&feature=channel

Yeah 85 and onward was definitely the age of the Nes in north America among other systems at that point, would make a fun game though and its a worth a try. Actually tried "translating" the Nes BTTF game into Atari form because I liked the HUD and sprite art if not the game but it ended up more like a 7800 game when I was done.

Lol there's a game that will keep you on your toes. Not a bad idea to combine all that since that would make for one messed up setting perfect for a survival horror game. I've seen Larry Cohen's The Stuff but I haven't seen the It's Alive series yet. Magic now there's an early Anthony Hopkins movie I've been meaning to check out. Prophecy I'm not at all familiar with but I'll give it a watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y-8JpWsb70&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dpZFqYBVSA&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PppxRKpKkQs

That sounds like a good Das Boot game breakdown, personally I wish more games changed perspective since some aspects of any subject matter benefit from views from different angles. I had considered minigame mayhem for MPATHG as it would fit well and the PC game had its strengths but I was thinking its kind of standard practice for films that are hard to translate into gameplay that I tried to think what else could be done, still definitely something to include or combine to express the physical pranks present in the film. Yeah I know the Mach 2.0 passenger plane was, is an amazing aircraft that I imagine a lot of people would like to fly one.

Yes there is a China Syndrome game, well I guess that's done lol. I don't think it was a popular game but it does concentrate on the reactor control aspect of the movie but no Jack Lemon or Micheal Douglas. Yeah I saw that too about ROTAS, I don't know how they thought they could fool Alien fans with that poster image. I found some DVD releases of it both in north American and European territories. The Special Features look decent so I think it will be worth while to track down a copy. Was the original widescreen or was the film version 4:3 since I know some lower budget movies used 4:3 film stock sometimes? Oh thanks for the compliment on the sprite, it was hard to figure out the adult body so I based it partially on the smaller tadpole stages of the creature.

Dukes of Hazard, the TV show is an extremely weak memory of mine at this point but even I know the modern films were crap by comparison to the original. Visually the General Lee's flag would look cool from a top view ala' Bump N' Jump but I can't help but think a profile view like Moon Patrol might make the jumps feel more dangerous and reflect the distance better. Still plenty of orange in the palette to match the main verhicle. Smokey and the Bandit, big fan of this Burt Reynolds classic and I can see some good game material there. Didn't like 2 but 3 was pretty good. Also I have to agree with Stewie Griffin's labored suggestion of "Go get some of that hot...Sally Field ass." 9_9, as cute as she is I consider her a total miscast for Burt's hottie sidekick in that film. I think I'll have to give it another watch for inspiration, why don't you all join me. It's flopped with non english subs on it but it's up till they take it down. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsc41qLb9DA

I'll take your word on the timing as I just caught the end of the Atari era as a hand me down or the family Atari. But don't worry too much about "Would be cool if it happened" since "inspired by" can go a long way where the game could be dead on carbon copy but the names will change since the licensing is more trouble than its worth, we'll stay in the realm of homage so we can actually play and own copies of these potential fan games without lawyers getting involved. "Captain Spork, ready the phantom lasers!" Yeah 2001 is early but late to the party is more likely than during or after the video game crash so I think we can give it a pass. Death Race 2000!, nice choice as I could have seen Roger Corman as being keen or greedy enough to allow a game if he'd been asked. I'll skip over the remake and check out this asap. Battlestar Galactica, the more I think about it the more I wish it had existed. Airport 1979, with the Concorde!, I like this choice since you have to figure a game based on this would not only involved what is happening outside the plane but also what is happening inside it as well. Das Boot definitely has plenty of options in terms of hacking existing engines for submarine based gameplay but I think someone else who is a bigger fan of it could do it more justice than I for its design. So calling all Das Boot fans, please suggest design concepts for a possible game. Grease!, here's another fan favorite I don't think that I could do justice but maybe a Simon/DDR type game. Definitely would dedicate both sound channels to get the best music possible. Mad Max has potential, as bad as the Nes game was I think its basic setup of driving the wastelands and infiltrating gang strongholds was a good idea. Normally I wouldn't suggest a gas tank meter but you kind of have to given the backstory of the movie. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is one of my favorite Python films but how to capture its humor in a game for the 2600. Perhaps a combo of adventure style gameplay for physical pranks and a text engine for the written jokes or dialogue. This will take some time and thought to work out. Some great suggestions to mull over.

Just finished watching The Deadly Spawn or Return of the Aliens Deadly Spawn(Although Return is usually reserved for sequels for obvious reasons ^_^.) and I liked it, kind of a cross between Evil Dead and Alien. It had a brisk pace being 82 mins long but making it longer wasn't necessary. Still not sure about what kind of game would be suitable for it yet but I tried translating the large main creature into a sprite design so maybe a first person affair. Although I kind of like the idea of something similar to Splatterhouse starring the cape wearing kid from the movie.