BladeJunker

Wow just got finished reading the Knight Rider post Cafeman referenced for humor sake and boy a lot of venom was spewed all over it. It's definitely possible he was a troll but its equally plausible he was a naive dreamer who probably gave up after too many harsh words(I should know I am one. ). I'm just glad I said "someday" in regards to making a movie game for the 2600 and I haven't posted any concrete design documents for fear of being attacked after reading that post, yikes. I'm just here to wax nostalgia, brain storm game design, and screw around with the 2600 limits. This post is nearing 300 views and I appreciate everyone who has dropped ideas and shared some of their favorite films and TV shows. Still don't be shy with anything you would like since its been great fun watching everything I've managed to track down, currently watching The Deadly Spawn after watching Scavenger Hunt & Midnight Madness(Wow J Fox sure is whiny in that flick.) so keep them coming. Just trying out the Berzerk/Thing type setup with some overhead perspective. Also been screwing with the "Scavenger Madness" concept, I see it as a GTA-like setup of outdoor engine for driving and indoor for item hunting. Just testing graphics appearance and object distribution so far so its not within limits.

Is there any room in your budget for an AV mod like the Longhorn Engineer's? http://longhornengin.../atari-av-mods/ Just something to consider as the output is pretty noisy even when you try for the best possible tweaking of the modulator. I've been thinking about getting one to sharpen up the pixels as much as I can since softness of picture is welcome but static never looks good. Shame about the Harmony cart being an ill fit into a 6 switch since that's what I got, still I agree with SpiceWare the hidden switches are annoying on the 4 switch which will be bothersome to reach for if you give them functions. Too bad the 7800 isn't a 100% compatible but it should get you started till you get any different models along the way. Good luck finding a Heavy Sixer friend.

Good choice, would have sold like hot cakes. Just watching Dirk Benedict in Scavenger Hunt, he's 67 now, wow took a long time for his smooth looks to crack with age. I prefer the old Battlestar Galactica, the new one is just too damn serious for its own good and I don't like any of the characters. Also the male cast really takes a backseat in the new series, yeah chicks look hot in spandex but there's nobody for me to relate to anymore. Anyways old school Battlestar Galactica would make a great 2600 game.

I see Midnight Madness is Micheal J Fox's film debut and I also found it on YouTube lol. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpaWfWn-FEs Time Rider, Fred Ward is an underrated actor.Can't say I've seen it but it looks funny much like Tremors in that regard. I see Belinda Bauer in it too, I remember her from Robocop2. Speak of the devil Richard Masur is in it too, just finished watching him in Scavenger Hunt and he was also in The Thing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQE14U8nBKQ Joysticks(1983) yeah I saw that a few months ago, not bad and stars Joe Don Baker the original Walking Tall, funny how he got cast as scumbags through most of his film career afterwards. I still think the first great Adult game has yet to be made on the 2600, I didn't like Porky's on 2600 but I thought it showed promise compared to Mystique's efforts. Got to work in some topless scenes for any game based on Joysticks.

Another vote for Cannonball Run is always welcome. Code of Silence, I'll give it a watch because I like Chuck and robots but many of his movies have not aged like fine wine I'm afraid. What did Steve McQueen say to Norris after seeing his first movie, "Stick to karate Chuck.". ^_^ Still that MIA 7800 looked pretty good that its a shame it was never finished and released for retail. China Syndrome kind of fits in the same boat as The Manhattan Project or The Andromeda Strain that its hard to focus the larger peril into gameplay scenarios. It can always be condensed into a game about controlling the peril itself directly without human characters like Reactor did. Including Jack Lemon as a video game character is definitely appealing but I'm struggling to think of a game concept, perhaps I should watch the film again for inspiration.

The 60's version really blows away Time After Time even in FX, believe it or not. You have to remember the era it was made, then appreciate the sets and the machine itself, and the time travel FX. Don't misunderstand, I enjoyed Time after Time too but the cheesy 70's light-sparkles FX are distracting to me. Anyway, concerning 2600 games , and I see TV shows are being mentioned now ... dare I mention ... Knight Rider? (BladeJunker, if you don't undertand the humor in that statement, research Knight Rider on this 2600 forum) I know the 70s dated things in a bad way at times(light sparkles lol), just too many radical film experiments that didn't age well much like synthesizer musical scores of the 80s(Just try and watch Ladyhawk now and not chuckle at the music.). Oh I know Knight Rider since syndication for the show ran quite long into the 80s although I haven't watched in years but the theme music is always fresh in my mind.

You and me both, how come no game. I guess it just got lost in the game crash shuffle, by the time someone thought to do it the market became unstable. Maybe some sort cave exploration with Gobo as the main character could work, also worth while to include Sprocket or the Gorgs somehow.

Cannonball Run was definitely on my list of potentials, the 2600 could always use another racing game. Spinal Tap is one of my film favorites but it will take some thought to make a game out of it. Scavenger Hunt I haven't seen that but apparently there isn't a DVD release yet but I did find it on YouTube if anyone cares to watch it, it has a great cast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kal7IA1T3Q8

Okay I'll check out the 1960's version, I'm quite fond of Time After Time(1979) which has H.G. Wells as the title character but I'll watch almost anything with Malcolm Mcdowell or David Warner lol. Best movies they ever showed at my school were Labyrinth and Stand by Me which reveals the era I grew up in.

I miss the times when creature features got into movie theaters. The title threw me off with the "Return" as I thought it was a sequel at first but I see this 1983 film had a few titles. I like the Spawn creatures and their pinkish red coloring works well with the 2600 color palette. Definitely see gameplay potential in this film but I should go watch it before I suggest any gameplay concepts.

Logan's Run(My namesake btw.) has some potential and certainly could have been a 2600 game, the cancelled Planet of the Apes comes to mind being from the era and having similar gameplay needs. Treasure Island, I'm guessing you mean the 1985 film with Martin Landau? Google keeps giving me the older and newer versions as there have been so many. You don't mean Muppet Treasure Island do you? ^_^ Still pirates are great fodder for video games, just like ninjas. The Time Machine is brimming with potential as the story has much adventure in it, plenty of versions of that as a movie too. Were you thinking of the 1978 TV film with Priscilla Barnes or just the story in general? I was thinking a Blade Runner game along the lines of the ZX Spectrum version wouldn't be too far out of the 2600's rendering ability with some added refinements on top as well.

Well I laughed at first but perhaps the 2600 equivalent of Heavy Rain could possibly make a game based on that very somber emotional story. Grieve, Grieve, Cry, Remorse*Combobreaker* Acceptance, You Win! ^_^

Yeah suspense is something I'd hope to capture in a Thing game, I thought the existing game captured a tiny bit of that but fell short. Still I like your basic gameplay structure of rooms and unique units and the objective. Yeah Berzerk does come to mind as a good game perspective as the overhead view would lend itself well to room searching and basic controls. I should dig up my old mockup and have a go at the Thing again. -Tron sure, I do think the Intellivision monopolized Tron games a lot. -The Black Hole, the robots do offer good foils for mission based objectives and the impending doom of the black hole does offer the motive to hurry. -Star Wars definitely, I haven't put a lot of time into it yet but I was thinking of doing a platformer with Luke as there were plenty of spaceship derived games already. -I can't disagree with Superman as a choice since the existing game was not very good to say the least, definitely plenty of potential for some good action gameplay.

Never actually seen Cloverfield, I'm not a big fan of shaky cam or adverts that withhold so much lol. 2001:ASO is an interesting choice, could certainly reproduce that psychedelic "doorway" part of the journey. Definitely would have to play up the HAL Dave struggle more so than the movie did, perhaps a Portal like game with environmental entrapments and taunting dialouge.

1986 is a little late but Solaris was released in 86 I think so its possible it could have sneaked in. Regardless I like anything with a bomb or a timer involved. I've only seen bits of this movie but I'll go and watch the whole thing since you think it would make good game material.

Good idea I was thinking of that a little while ago, maybe an old school Metal Gear type game, Snake is after all "inspired" by Plisken.

I was just thinking about all the Atari games that were based on movies from its era including Agent X's conversion to Cloak & Dagger to the infamous E.T. we all know and love lol. So I've been contemplating making a game based on a movie someday and was wondering which movies people might like to have a game of? To narrow it down let's say movies from 1978 to 1983 as this is the likely time frame such a game might have come out. Also feel free to mention 2600 movie games you liked too. To get the ball rolling I was thinking John Carpenter's The Thing would have been a cool 2600 game and its release date of 1982 just fits into the time range.

Actually that is a lot of multiplexing at 8 sprites when you consider that the average maximum is 6 total and nothing else can occupy its scanlines. Have you considered making variants of your sprites using Missile0, Missile1, and or the Ball object to lessening the amount of flicker put upon your Player objects? Btw that is hilarious how Mattel forbade multiplexing on the Intellivision, I doubt the game industry could have functioned at all if the companies that made consoles stopped developers from trying new methods of rendering.

I'm not anywhere near an expert but what I do know is that only some flat screens have those type of options for CRT based issues and that without those settings you'll have to alter and optimize your code to correct it, maybe even have multiple kernels if your type of flickering varies enough from screen to screen. SeaGTGruff was telling that he was getting different results on his LCD screen based on plain flicker or interleaved flicker where plain flicker was working better on his modern set since it would interlace the varied passes into one visible image. Like I said I'm not the one to ask but I think I'm in the realm of what your asking.

Impressive, this is a much better representation of the arcade game on the 2600. I'm a big fan of Xenophobe but I don't why since its not a very good game lol, perhaps its the look & atmosphere. Still wouldn't mind getting my hands on the Lynx version.

I dig the chibi style sprites, I had thought about suggesting that but I wasn't sure. I see you sprite is basically 12X12 in resolution, I'm guessing you're adding a couple color clocks to each side of the Player objects with there respective Missiles when needed? Here's some suggestions for you sprite designs, Ogre is definitely the best very cool.

I'd like to expound/expand on that. What Tjoppen means is that even though you can do a color change during any machine cycle of a scan line, you're limited to making color changes at every third color clock, since 1 machine cycle equals 3 color clocks. For example: A color change that occurs during machine cycle 30 would occur at color clock 90 (or 3 * 30). A color change that occurs during machine cycle 31 would occur at color clock 93 (or 3 * 31). So you can do a color change at color clock 90, or at color clock 93-- but not at color clocks 91 or 92, since they aren't evenly divisible by 3. And note, when I say you can do a color change on any machine cycle, I'm referring to a single color change. If you do two color changes-- the second immediately after the first-- they'll be separated by 3 machine cycles, or 9 color clocks, since it takes 3 machine cycles to write to a TIA register using the zero-page address mode. Furthermore, if you want to change the playfield color and you want it to coincide with a playfield pixel boundary, you're limited to every third playfield pixel, since 1 playfield pixel equals 4 color clocks, and it takes 3 playfield pixels to get a multiple of 3 color clocks: 1 playfield pixel = 4 color clocks (4 is not evenly divisible by 3) 2 playfield pixels = 8 color clocks (8 is not evenly divisible by 3) 3 playfield pixels = 12 color clocks (12 *is* evenly divisible by 3) Of course, you can still do a playfield color change at any time-- it just might take effect partway through a playfield pixel, such that the first part of the playfield pixel is one color and the second part of the playfield pixel is a different color. That's fine if you *want* the playfield pixel to be two different colors. And even if you want each playfield pixel to be just one color, you could make sure that the playfield pixel where the mis-aligned color change occurs is always turned off, so the color change won't show up until the *next* playfield pixel. Thank you very much as this was what I was looking for as a "visually oriented" Atari enthusiasts. ^_^ This will help greatly in my pixel artist guide as us doodlers appreciate a good solid evenly defined pixel dimension.

Okay how do you divide a Playfield by such irregular values like 17.8 or 10.7. If you round up the value does that mean one column of mid-line color change is less wide than the majority since within Tjoppen's screen capture it appears the first column starting on the left is narrower than the rest? Also if there is one narrow column does it matter where you put it in horizontal position?

Oh good, thank the creator since that would have been far less useful. Believe me I wasn't thinking of going for dramatic increases just moderate mid-line color change increases, 3 is plenty for me given the width of each Playfield column. My goal for the 2600 graphics standard is a moderate quality increase based on easily achievable kernels. Actually one of my "rules" for per scan line color changes is to actually not change them very much at all since the horizontal axis is so color challenged it creates too much contrast in most circumstances. Thanks for the game examples, they were most helpful.

Very cool I love it. Its very neat to see what it looks like.