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iesposta

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Posts posted by iesposta

  3. Posted · Edited by iesposta

    MortoffGames,

    The one you recreated is more rare, I'd guess.

    I have 1 like that.

     

    All the rest look like this, or are without a sticker:

    post-29575-0-48525500-1509410250.jpeg post-29575-0-22530100-1509410445_thumb.jpeg

     

    I've NEVER been able to find this foil one!

    post-29575-0-87217300-1509410295.jpeg post-29575-0-34000400-1509410312_thumb.jpeg

     

    And yes, I do own this one:

    post-29575-0-94967700-1509410515_thumb.jpeg

     

    And I have the Space Rocks one that was sold in a Dutch Auction, where I should have gotten #1 as I bid the most, but ended up receiving #3 because GameGavel was run by that Coleco Chameleon - Mike Kennedy guy who, surprise, didn't even conduct an Auction properly!

    • Like 2

  5. Posted

    I'm so happy you decided to keep a Vectrex.

     

    Vector Patrol is about to be released by Kristof Tuts, and it's one of the most amazing achievements yet on the system - hands down!

    I personally believe it tops anthing on ANY system!

    What I've play-tested just should not be possible, but he did it.

    I still watch the credits roll like I've just seen a 5-star movie, my jaw agape!

     

    Vectrexian was fantastic, and Vetor Pilot spectacular.

    Vector Patrol manages to eclipse them. Not just in the game and the game play, but in sound, music, options, attention to every detail...

    I laughed out loud, I cried -- heck, I lost my mind and I got the console removable stickers and a custom joystick made, AND made my own overlay!

     

    Vector Patrol will create new Vectrex owners.

    Do not miss this masterpiece.

     

    post-29575-0-06001800-1508894961_thumb.jpg

    • Like 3

  6. Posted

    The Colecovision was brilliant because Expansion Module #1 played Atari 2600 games, and allowed game play of new Colecovision Arcade-like games, as well as your entire existing 2600 library.

    I was still very much into Atari Supercharger games when we sold our 4-swich woody and I bought the Colecovision with Expansion Module #1 (which the opening needs to be enlarged a bit to fit the larger Supercharger RAM-cart).

     

    After 1985 I had graduated high school, and home TV video games weren't as important as working a job and playing real arcade games.

  7. Posted

    It was supposed to. Atari was talking to Nintendo about marketing the NES, so it would have presumably been a contemporary with the CV. But the crash created a chasm that cause us now to think of the two as different generations

     

     

    The 7800 complicates things, but in reality, it did not leapfrog the 5200, it had a much better sprite chip, but much worse sound than the 5200. And they are only designed two years apart. So I'd say they both should belong to the same generation technically speaking. They are closer to each other than the 5200 is to the 2600 anyway. Lumping the 2600 and 5200 in the same gen is just absurd!

     

    And the forgotten "game console" of the 3rd gen that spanned the entire generation, including the chasm between the CV and the NES was the C64! :P

     

    I agree with all you've said, EXCEPT "5200 and 7800... only designed two years apart."

    The 5200 IS a 1979 Atari 400. There was no improvement over the 400/800 computer in the 5200. The fact that they can't run Atari Computer Code remains a mystery to me because it has the same chips that the Atari 400 computer from 1979 has.

    The 7800 was made for Atari with a custom, very 1984 tech Maria graphics chip, plus the ability to use other sound hardware in the carts (that only 2 games, Ballblazer and Commando happened to use POKEY - which is the 1979 Atari Computer's sound chip.)

    The 7800 Ballblazer is graphically a little bit better than the Atari Computer version due to the Maria chip.

    • Like 1

  9. Posted

    I ran this while my Atari was still cold. There was no change after warming up.

    attachicon.gifbustester.jpg

     

    That's a shame that it fails.

    It will not happen, but games and demos should be made even if they only work on VCS/Vader systems.

     

    Atari developed BUS for The Graduate computer attachment which they shelved.

    The Graduate would fit the woody / Vader Atari 2600.

     

    Atari the company changed hands, and released the 2600 Jr. 9 years after the VCS release.

    Atari the company released the Atari Flashback Portable 39 years after the VCS.

  10. Posted

    Please put me on the end of this list, so if the quantity made isn't sold I can buy one.

    And add me to any other "future run" of Panther by you, or the next person to create these.

     

    Thank you very much!

     

     

    If you're reading this and still buy new works for the 2600, please enjoy my contributions of ideas, artwork, sound, music, and play testing I've done for this hobby since 2011. Just a mention of thanks is usually my payment (in the manual, on the box, or the couple of works that have my name in thank you code onscreen like Space Rocks :jango: and Vector Patrol :lust: for Vectrex :love: ).

  11. Posted · Edited by iesposta

    I bought a Red Sea cartridge.

    I have expressed interest in buying Pink Panther 2600 to others here on AtariAge.

     

    I am lucky to have seen and played the real first run cart, I just haven't been able to own one or was willing to spend crazy money on this hobby for a rare low release item.

     

    I heard it used extra RAM in a unique way, but apart from the demateralizing effect I can't guess what the extra RAM's use was.

    Maybe I didn't play it long or deep enough.

     

    I'm always tempted to recreate what I played with bB, but the "game play" wasn't anything special.

    I guess it is having a game with recognizable characters and music, kind of like the Garfield prototype, that makes game play less important a thing when desiring to own a cart.

  12. Posted

    I'm clinging on to the iOS (jailbreak) DPC+ capable build that is Ver 3.9.3.

    That creator did get to the 4.+ builds on Android, but disappeared Summer 2015.

    If I knew how to build the iOS ARM version with his front end, I would compile it myself for my personal use.

     

    Blutooth broke on iOS with the Jailbreak with BTstack 1.0-1 with Wii Remotes. I still use the 0.8 build.

    And Android broke Wii Remote use with their Bluetooth change in Android 4.1 and higher!

     

    Don't cry for me Portland Retrogaming, but

    I have to use the last 2016 build of Super Cobra Arcade because Stella 3.9.3 doesn't do CDF Super Cobra or CDF Draconian. :_(

    I spent a lot for 2 Wii Remotes and 2 Wii Controller Gamepad attachments! :mad:

  14. Posted

    Perhaps the most interesting thing is that I'm now using my CX-80 as my PC mouse. ;-)

     

     

    Interesting! I'll remember that now that I have two Stelladapter II's and CX40s & CX80s.

     

    Since 1994 my preference has been Kensington trackball pointers with computers.

    I always hated the mouse pickup, move back motion.

    My 1st mouse was the 2011 Bluetooth wireless mouse that came with the iMac which I also got the Bluetooth Touchpad.

     

    I'm on my 3rd Kensington at work - since the mid-90s.

    It has 4 corner buttons and a scroll ring around the billiard size Ball.

    I have the wireless USB Kensington at home.

  15. Posted

    Browsing DP after they closed via the Wayback Machine, I found this:

     

    http://www.digitpress.com/reviews/mission3000ad.htm

     

    So, Bit Corp. already made a crude clone of Bosconian for the 2600, way back in the 80's.

     

    Here's it's page on AtariAge: http://atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=1637

     

    Kewl info.
    I never would have guessed based on that screenshot.
    I like at the end they say "try a less disappointing arcade conversion like Time Pilot or Sinistar".
    Sinistar is a prototype! A great achievement, so good I had AtariAge make me a cartridge and got the box from Germany!
    Could you even play ROM files on a real 2600 in 2008?

    post-29575-0-89727500-1508616812_thumb.jpg

  16. Posted

    Super Cobra was coded DPC+ then changed to CDF which saved 50 bytes.
    Because there was some last-minute CDF driver coding, Super Cobra is finished in BOTH DPC+ and CDF.

    I just caught the last note in the Jingle at the start was not C5. :dunce: :dunce: double dunce.
    I didn't hear that on my TV testing it, but when I just played the YouTube video it really stands out, bad.

    The versions at PRGE and beyond will all have the correct AtariAge jingle.
    Thanks to the member who posted the notes are "D D D D F E D C"!

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    This game should be written up as an absolute tour de force in the future annals of classic gaming.

     

    And..

    BattleStations!.png

    ..ended up sounding almost as I had envisioned it.

    That means a lot to me and SpiceWare, I'm sure.

    Much better samples are possible, but will need a future 64K cart or some kind of additional storage that works with CDF bank-switching.

     

    With each speech sample taking almost 1K, music taking hundreds of bytes, and only a 32K cart size, of which only 28K is really usable program space, it doesn't seem possible.

     

    Also the "first" of 2600 samples during game play and not blanking the screen.

    And the technical "first" of 10 register updates per scan line.

     

    Note: Above is from memory and may be a little bit off!

    • Like 5

  19. Posted

    This is coming along great! :thumbsup:

     

    If you should run out of space (e.g. for SaveKey support, a more detailed title screen, more animations and more detailed graphics, more music and SFX, more whatever...) , either switch to 8K and/or don't hesitate to ask me for optimizing. :)

     

    BTW: Sometimes in the video it looks like getting into the gaps (cornering) is still an issue. Are you supporting diagonals already?

    Thomas, you missed the 8K in the above video.

    It has the info turned on.

     

    Seriously, nanochess. Don't hesitate to let Tomas optimize! You can then put the most into your game!

    • Like 1

  20. Posted

    SpiceWare,

    I PM'd you my music_opening data.

     

    Great job of getting this entire "talkie" game into only 32K!

    Wow, just wow. :thumbsup:

    It's amazing this most advanced kernel -- with a "first" feature of sampled speech playing during game play -- didn't need 64K, or a custom built Harmony board with larger RAM!

     

     

    Always wish there was more time to optimize.

    The Sound Effect / Song routines could give huge amounts of ROM.

    For instance 100 bytes of the opening_song are taken up by repeating that the Sound Channel = 12.

    Of course it is more complicated than that because there are a few silences, and four Sound Channel = 4.

    And mostly the Volume = 9, (again with a few volume changes).

    • Like 2

  21. Posted · Edited by iesposta

    You've made a fantastic game! Though it's a bit jarring to hear the theme song and NOT have it followed by "BLAST OFF!" once your game ends.

     

    So, erm ... okay, I hear "RED ALERT" and "BLAST OFF" super clearly. What does the third voice say??

    The theme song should be different. That is the game end song.

     

    Alar! Alar! Is Alert Alert (the t drops out sampled at low quality.)

    And "Condition Red" if you don't take out the Spy Ship which is announced "Spy Ship Sighted."

  22. Posted

    This topic is one I keep returning to over and over.

    Back in 800XL there was a type-in program that simulated a bouncing ball.

    I really loved tweaking that simple program.

    It is fun to change the "laws of physics" and decrease gravity over time, or increase rebound every bounce.

    Changing 2 or 3 numbers would result in very unexpected impossible behavior.

     

    I couldn't translate that Atari Basic program into batari Basic though.

     

    In fact I was just thinking about this last week, and I downloaded 2 physics apps for my phone.

    Your "numbers" have to be floating point because things can get down into the negative or up into large positive numbers.

    I don't think 0 to $ffffffff is a large enough range.

     

    Simply you need to track forces (which are represented in math by square root fractions and other algorithms.)

     

    (You REALLY want to make a program with hundreds of variables, it seems!. This is a case where more variables means more realistic movement.)

     

    Gravity (g) equals (D) distance times 2, divided by (t) time squared.

    And that's a simple one. And beautiful if you think of that grand weak forced represented as: g=2D / t x t

     

    Force equals gravity times acceleration.

    Acceleration equals Force divided by mass.

     

    Time has a formula, Distance...

     

    Velocity

    Momentum

    Pressure

    Gravitational Accelleration

    Energy

     

    The more forces you represent the more your video "ball" will act like a Pinball.

     

    P.S. I also wanted to mention to you if you would want to add how to set up jEdit on your website, that I'd write.

    SpiceWare's blog has it started, with the colored data entry, dasm compiling assembly files, and launching Stella.

    It works just as nice with batari Basic entry, compiling and Stella.

     

    Everytime mine "breaks" I have to relearn how I set it up!

    And then I wish I could visit your website and it will show me the steps to set it up.

    Last week I had Windows refusing to launch Stella, and the Mac side refusing to compile bB! In addition to my video card flaking out and then I can't boot either system!

    With jEdit, I can work on adding sound data and compiling assembly player programs, and at the same time code batari Basic, compile and run that in Stella.

     

    jEdit could be extended into what Visual bB is now, but someone would need to program Java plugins for the things that are missing like keyboard note / sound entry, Player design, Playfield design.

    jEdit is nice because it is Java it is platform independent and is the same on Mac, Windows and Linux.

    It can do way more than entering and compiling .asm and .bas files and launching Stella, but it can be as simple as just doing that well.

    • Like 3

  24. Posted

    This is taking shape nicely.

     

    I kinda miss the boomy explosions in the earlier releases. Maybe it could be used when a station explodes? I know the arcade version has the pipsqueek beeps for when you blow up the rocks and ships.

     

    On the other hand, "BattleStations" sounds pretty good and I can be happy with it.

    I said the same thing about the "pipsqueek beeps"', but nostalgia won over changing them. (I have no nostalgia having never played the arcade version, or if I once did I don't remember. I thought I knew all the arcade games from the 70's & 80's, and I've seen some very obscure ones, but Bostonian escaped me. )

     

    I like how Bosconian has similar sounds or the same sounds used in Galaxian, Galaga and Mappy.

     

    I have an explosion sample that the arcade game uses.

    If we manage to squeeze that in, then it can be used at 2 or 3 different speeds and this game will have explosion sounds like no 2600 game before it.

     

    I always say I'm kind of tired of hearing the same sounding explosions due to the limited TIA choices, but then you have examples like Yars' Revenge that use volume and echo and string along a massive sound. (Note: Yars' Revenge is another experience altogether through a large subwoofer!)

     

    If the samples now in the game get too terrible with a small decrease in rate then there will be no room for an explosion sample. I hoped to increase the sample rate and "blow everyone away" with spectacular samples, but not in this game's 32K size.

     

    Future games can be made with fantastic samples because the Melody board can be made with higher capacity chips, but again, it didn't happen with this game.

     

    Quite a piece of art to make Draconian do all that it does in only 32K!

     

    You can dream of a fantastic game, but then you would have to put it on a Harmony Encore cart without the flash card slot. How many would sell at a cart cost of $80-something dollars, plus $20-something for box and manual and shipping? Star Castle 8K was a successful Kickstarter for a $150 boxed game, but I really doubt we will see that again.

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