johnnywc

Zoo Keeper has been nominated in 4 categories for this year's Atari Homebrew Awards! Congratulations to @Nathan Strum for the nominations for Graphics and Packaging, and for @keebz for his contributions to the Music and Sound! Category: Atari 2600 Homebrew Completed (Port) – Game Category: Atari 2600 Homebrew Completed (Port) – Graphics Category: Atari 2600 Homebrew Completed (Port) – Music + Sound Category: Atari 2600 Homebrew Packaging

Avalanche has been nominated for 3 awards in this year's year's Atari Homebrew Awards! Category: Atari 2600 Homebrew Completed (Port) – Game Category: Atari 2600 Homebrew Completed (Port) – Graphics Category: Atari 2600 ≤ 4K Homebrew Completed (Port)

RobotWar:2684 has been nominated for Best Atari 2600 WIP (Port) in this year's Atari Homebrew Awards!

Gorf Arcade has been nominated for Best Atari 2600 WIP (Port) in this year's Atari Homebrew Awards!

Congratulations Thomas, and great work on Robot City! I'm looking forward to owning the full version soon!

Hi there! No worries, I like challenges. More importantly, I like to make games that people want to play that I also have fond memories of playing as a kid. I have to admit that I didn't play Mr. Do! a lot back in the day. They had one at the Cumberland Farms next to my high school that I played probably a dozen times or so, but honestly I wasn't good at it and didn't really know what I was doing . With that said, I think an updated 2600 port would be really cool! My only concern is that the graphics and sound/music are integral to the game (two things I'm *not* good at), so if Champ Games did tackle this one day, I would need someone to help out with both. @Nathan Strum is my graphics guy but I'm not sure if he's a fan of Mr. Do!. Finding a sound/music guy is usually the biggest challenge, so if anyone is interested, send me a PM and maybe we can work something out! Back to Lady Bug Arcade, I had an epiphany last night and woke up with an idea about how to get the maze and dots displayed in 3 colors (pink, green, and white) with little or no flicker, and this is what the game looks like now (on Stella, it looks equally as good with barely any flicker on my S-video modded Atari or my RF Atari on a CRT): You can still use the non-flickering alternating lines display using the right difficulty switch for those who are sensitive to flicker, although the flicker is barely noticeable IMO. I would like to give a shout-out to @McCallister for inspiring me to 'think outside the box' and come up with a unique way to achieve this. I've added the reserve/score display, and it alternates with the PART/veggie display: I hope to have a demo posted sometime next month. Thanks, John

Hi James! Lady Bug Arcade is a 32K port if you want to update the listing. Thanks, John

Thanks! Nathan has mentioned that he is interested in re-doing the label and box art if there is a physical re-release.

Thanks Brian! No, I don't have any plans on removing Lady Bug from the AA store. Lady Bug Arcade isn't intended to replace Lady Bug, just to be an improved version (think Breakout and Super Breakout ). Plus, if Lady Bug Arcade is sold through AA, it will most likely be at a price double of what Lady Bug retails for, so I still see it filling a need (plus it's 4th all time in sales for 2600 homebrews ). Thanks TJ!

*** EDIT: The ROMs for the first public demo of Lady Bug Arcade can be found in this post! *** Hello all, Today marks 15 years since I first posted on AtariAge about my intention to develop Lady Bug for the Atari 2600. To mark the anniversary, Champ Games has started work on Lady Bug Arcade which will be an enhanced version of the 2006 version of Lady Bug using the latest technology. The planned improvements are: - full 11x11 arcade maze (2006 version was 11x9) and the correct # of dots - 20 independent doors (2006 version had 16 symmetrical doors) - flicker-less maze using alternating playfield colors (2006 version used color-blending that tended to flicker) - door opening animation - enhanced status display on top showing SPECIAL, EXTRA and multiplier - more arcade-authentic lady bug intro from the bottom of the screen - multiple maze layouts selectable at the start of the game (or just play with the arcade maze) - high score saving to SaveKey - high score initial entry screen similar to the arcade - scoring and instruction animation screen similar to the arcade - up to 6 skulls per level (2006 version had a max of 2) - improved graphics, including multi-colored veggie graphics - 2 player alternating and possibly 2 player co-op (or vs.) mode The 2006 version featured amazing graphics by @Nathan Strum and he has graciously offered to update some of the graphics, most notably the enemy graphics since they all need to be 1 line shorter to fit in the new screen dimensions. The new version will still feature the awesome sounds by Bob DeCrescenzo (aka @PacManPlus). Here is a screenshot of the current work-in-progress: EDIT: (2021-01-15) I figured out how to display the maze and dots in 3 colors (pink, green and white) with no black lines and barely any flicker! I also have the reserve/score display working properly, and it alternates with the PART/veggie display: I also captured a video of the first level, but the resolution is terrible (480p) and the status area doesn't show up correctly, but it does show the arcade maze and door animations: We have not made any decisions about when and how Lady Bug Arcade will be released, but we plan on having it completed before the end of the year to coincide with it's 15 year anniversary. I will also post a demo in the next month or so when I have something playable. Thanks, John

This looks great @Silvio Mogno, great job! I know that Mike Haas aka @iesposta had put together a very good demo of a Q*Bert enhanced with amazing graphics, and he also happens to be a sound wizard also (he did the amazing sounds for Mappy & Wizard of Wor Arcade) so he might be able to provide some pointers for graphics and sounds.

Thanks! Hmmm, sounds like a bug. If you hit the flashing 'core' once it should blow up the Flagship. I'll take a look, thanks! Agreed! Someone on FB pointed out that in the arcade game you get killed if you crash into the bonus point scores that are displayed after you destroy an attacking enemy. 😮 I personally don't think this is fair (and most likely a bug from the arcade game), but we have added this 'feature' in with difficulty A that will be included in the next demo.

Thanks! Yes, we agree that Space Warp is a bit too difficult right now; see above for some changes we're putting in to help make it a bit less challenging on the earlier levels. Thanks in advance for your support, it's much appreciated!

Thanks for the feedback! Nathan did an amazing job on the graphics (and AtariVox voices too! ). We are still working on the difficulty; I agree that the game is a bit too difficult to start for sure. The Space Warp level especially is too challenging off the bat; we have made modifications where the enemies spawn a bit higher on the screen to help compensate for the shorter screen height vs. the arcade and it makes a big difference. We'll include this (and numerous other changes) in the next demo! Thanks for the kind words! Yes, we feel it's a bit too difficult to start and we're working on smoothing out the difficultly ramping.

that makes sense! I have very fond memories of playing Omega Race on a Vic-20 at Service Merchandise up in Auburn, Massachusetts as a kid - I loved it! I played the arcade game only a few times but have always enjoyed it - it's a fun game! Hmmm, so only Omega Race remains then... Sounds like Nathan is a fan too - that usually helps Champ Games projects get off the ground. Glad I could help!

Hi James, Thanks for the explanation. Although I understand the decision, I must politely disagree with the reasoning. Most of these games AFAIK have a ROM available (and the associated artwork) to properly judge it's merits as a completed game. Full binaries of games are sometimes not released for years (Mappy from 2018 still doesn't have a full release ROM available, for example). Furthermore, I don't think someone should actually have to purchase a game and have the physical cart and packaging in hand to be able to make accurate judgement on it's merits. For example, I will not be releasing full ROM versions of Zoo Keeper or Avalanche in 2021. This is done so Al has an opportunity to recoup his investments on the printed versions. There are demo ROMs available for both that are 95% complete and both have been declared 'final' with 2020 copyrights, yet they are not eligible. Since they will be available as physical releases in 2021, the only people that will have a 'better' opportunity to evaluate these games will be the people that purchase it; everyone else will need to make their judgement based on what's already available in 2020 (demo ROMs and the images of the printed material, etc.). Perhaps you could give the authors an opportunity to post a most updated demo to be eligible for the 2020 awards? For me personally, the Avalanche demo is derived from the final build so that wouldn't change, but I could if needed post an updated ZK demo from the final build (restricting the # of levels, Savekey support, etc.). Anyway, hope this makes sense and I hope you reconsider! If not, it looks like 2021 is going to have *a lot* of games in the competition! (most likely 5 completed just from Champ Games, plus a few WIPs!) Thanks, John

Thanks for the info TJ... was there an announcement about this and the reasoning behind the decision? I am more disappointed than surprised but don't want to jump to conclusions before I've read the arguments for not including these games in the 2020 awards although they were "Completed in 2020".

Wait, what happened!? 😕 Zoo Keeper and Avalanche and all the other games in the store aren't eligible for the 2020 awards even though most of them have fully playable binaries available for evaluation? @ZeroPage Homebrew James, did I miss a post about this? I've been head down working on Gorf Arcade so apologies if I missed an announcement.

*double post*

Thanks for the kind words, I'm glad you like it! What's the 4th one? I think the Harmony cart will incorrectly detect a Sega Genesis controller as a paddle. To override this, press and hold down Button C on the Genesis controller before turning on the Atari (or it may be Button B, I can't remember). Hope that helps!

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that this uses the CDFJ driver with MAM enabled which won't work on older Harmony carts. I would have assumed it would work on a Concerto cart (aren't those new?); it may have the old version of the ARM with the MAM bug. Gorf Arcade (and RobotWar:2684) require MAM to be enabled due to the high processing requirements (RobotWar:2684 on the later levels with 100+ enemies and Gorf Arcade with the complex graphics and the in-game voice). I could upload a Gorf Arcade with MAM disabled that should work with older Harmony carts (and possibly the Concerto) but would disable voice by default since that is what causes the screen rolls.

Get well soon, and I hope Gorf Arcade makes your quarantine a bit more tolerable! 🤞

Hello all, To celebrate the New Year, here is the first publicly available ROM for Gorf Arcade! (note: be sure to plug in an AtariVox for voice support! ) The demo is full featured with the following restrictions: - the game will wrap around to MISSION 6 after MISSION 10 is completed (after the 2nd flagship is destroyed) - Savekey support for high scores is not supported. I estimate the game to be about 85% done, with an expected release of August 2021. To-do list: - add in the ability to enter in your initials for high scores. For now, the default 'PL1' is used. - finish sounds. Some are placeholders from WoW and some were made hastily by myself. 😕 Lee "@keebz" Kebler has signed on to add a professional polish to the sounds (thanks Lee!). - 2 player support (alternating) Special thanks to Nathan Strum for the graphics, AtariVox voices, design and testing. Also, thanks to Ross Keenum for the initial batch of sound effects, and Steve Ramirez for testing, and James @ ZeroPage Homebrew for hosting the Gorf Arcade reveal a couple weeks ago on his Twitch stream. I will add in more details tomorrow. Any suggestions are welcome or bug reports are appreciated! Thanks and Happy New Year! John NTSC demo ROM: gorfarc_20201231_demo1_NTSC.bin PAL60 demo ROM: gorfarc_20201231_demo1_PAL60.bin

FYI @ZeroPage Homebrew James - I'll be posting a public demo (with all 5 levels playable) tomorrow before midnight 🕛 in the Gorf Arcade thread.

Happy Belated Birthday Al - hope it was a good one!