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nanochess

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Posts posted by nanochess

  6. Posted · Edited by nanochess

    Hi everyone!

     

    It's my absolute pleasure to announce the availability of my book Advanced Game Programming for Intellivision, the second in the series!

     

    In this book I discuss the development of games looking more professional both on terms of title screens, gameplay, sound, and music. The complete source code for Oh Mummy! Pumpkin Master, Meteor Storm, and Dungeon Warrior is included. Each of these games includes a particular technique that I wanted to comment: Oh Mummy! movement of the player on a maze, and how enemies pursue the player. Pumpkin Master, shooters techniques to create tons of bullets without exceeding total sprites. Meteor Storm, techniques for pseudo-3D scaling of sprites, animation of screen zones with multiple images. Dungeon Warrior, techniques for drawing pseudo-3D mazes on screen, including scaling of enemies per depth, and of course algorithms for Role Playing Games.

     

    A full chapter dedicated to the creation of sound effects and converting music sheets to IntyBASIC is included, furthermore tips for converting pictures to Intellivision graphics. And there is more of course like a foreword by @intvnut, and the appendix Tips from the Trench by @Zendocon. ;)

     

    BTW the beautiful Intellivision II shown in the cover is courtesy of @Rev

     

    Enjoy it!

     

    Paperback (Lulu): https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/oscar-toledo-gutierrez/advanced-game-programming-for-intellivision/paperback/product-q8gzjn.html

    Hardcover (Lulu): https://www.lulu.com/en/en/shop/oscar-toledo-gutierrez/advanced-game-programming-for-intellivision/hardcover/product-m5p856.html

    Paperback/Hardcover (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/-/es/dp/1678045624/

    E-book: https://nanochess.org/store.html

     

    P.S.: BTW this book at 294 pages is bigger than the first one!!!

     

    foto1_promo.jpg

    foto2_promo.jpg

    foto3_promo.jpg

     

    Video of the book:

     

     

    • Like 15
    • Thanks 2

  9. Posted

    5 hours ago, Peripheral said:

    Will there be a zip file coming with all the entries, as in past contests, or should we

    assume the latest and greatest roms can be found in the individual threads?

     

    The latest and greatest roms can be found in the individual threads.

     

    Sorry, never thought in making a ZIP with everything because the usage instructions are mostly listed on each thread.

     

    • Thanks 1

  10. Posted

    You're right. C4 is middle C and your chord is right.

     

    To use instruments just add W, X, Y or Z letters after your note, for example C4X. The instrument setting will persist until the next instrument change in the same channel.

     

    The example shown by @Nyuundere misses a MUSIC STOP or MUSIC REPEAT at the end.

     

  11. Posted · Edited by nanochess

    Hi everyone.

     

    This has been a great year for the IntyBASIC Programming Contest, a lot of impressive games have been built for the contest and I want to give thanks to their developers and teams for the effort put into these. In alphabetical order: ARTRAG, Black_Tiger, cmadruga, decle, digress, fsuinnc, Kiwi, Nyuundere, and TIX.

     

    Now for people reading this: Thanks for your patience! So let us start the showdown!!! 😎

     

    These are the score tables from each judge: (anonymized)

     

    score1.thumb.png.4e68accf6b50fa4193e1ef9badaaa3b3.png

    score2.thumb.png.90f994c447302b66fad1ce83e1aba285.png

    score3.thumb.png.3a2e24bc60c6dc8661c1c24d12d46f04.png

    score4.thumb.png.f9ae48160b06bf3174faa0a4de9adbb1.png

    score5.thumb.png.347e7a1c8666e9dfd5c6ba0f8eceef45.png

    score6.thumb.png.4474bdefef03b25df79fe103bfb36369.png

     

    These scores were added and collected automatically in a final table:

     

    961696045_scoringtable.thumb.png.a1ce90e43ef23959202a61d8176d1c84.png

     

    The final table created automagically this graphic:

     

    936671240_finaltable.thumb.png.9682ef850cc835377d1924e11d449dd7.png

    So the places remain as this:

     

    1st place. Infiltrator (cmadruga, ARTRAG, Nyuundere, and TIX)

    2nd place. The Pandora Incident (Pandora Team: cmadruga, ARTRAG, Black_Tiger, and Nyuundere)

    3rd place. TV Powww! (decle)

    4th place. Eggerland Mystery demo. (cmadruga, and Nyuundere)

    5th place. The Depth of Nitemare. (kiwi)

    6th place. Mr Turtle. (digress)

    7th place. Space Combat. (fsuinnc)

     

    The special prize awarded by Mark/Space Inc. to the best entry using ECS and/or Intellivoice goes to Infiltrator (cmadruga, ARTRAG, Nyuundere, and TIX)

     

    Further some judges wanted to contribute with comments to each entry:

     

    Quote

     

    Nice mix of games this year, some semi-random thoughts:

    Depths of Nitemare:

    Enjoyed playing but found the black and white off-putting. Even a simple color scheme such as enemies red, shops/inns green, etc would have greatly improved the experience, same with any text overlayed, some work into using text box popups that appear on the main map would greatly improve the presentation instead of just overwriting the map.

     

    Mr Turtle:

    I've really grown to dislike using the Intellivoice when used for anything other than robot voices in niche scenarios, it really doesn't fit here

    Unfortunately we are all used to Super Mario so the jumping and walking collision detection for the environment needs improving.

     

    TVPowww:

    I really want to try it with the microphone someday.

    Love the title screen

    Needs some more user controlled setting like the ability to set the game time to whatever the player wants, I'd like to play the space game for 5 minutes straight, not just the arbitrary times 15 or 30 second times. 

    Also allow multiple, named players with high score tracking (LTO Flash saving would be great)

     

    Infiltrator:

    The stealth aspect is a well done MSX Metal Gear clone

    The digital audio was awesome and appropriately used.

    Great Graphics and attention to detail, definitely worth finishing and releasing on cart if it can add some randomization so the play value is extended and add lto saving between levels

     

    Pandora:

    I never played the original game it is based on but great graphics. I really appreciated the arrows showing where you could go.

    Definitely worth finishing and releasing on cart if it can add some randomization so the play value is extended, maybe LTO save slots available at certain terminals

     

     

    Quote

     

    Depths of Nitemare has a lot of potential. I am thinking it is supposed to be a direct port and is the reason no color was added. It is a shame the games was not updated to the console's features.

    I think TVPowww is supposed to be a direct port of what they saw in the videos. For that, I think they did a great job though, they are not games I would want to play.

    What is interesting about the judging is how we see scoring differently. I am not a fan of ports unless you make it something special and more "Intellivision-like". I think of Ms-Pacman and how it has more screens, different options but still looks like it would have been made back in the day. As much as I love Infiltrator, it just does not seem like an Intellivision game to me.

     

     

    Quote

     

    The Depth of Nitemare - Another roguelike game?  Why not.  The first thing I noticed was the monochrome motif, making me feel like I was playing on a low-res version of an old Macintosh computer.  Charming, but not what I'm expecting when playing Intellivision.  Each cell is 2x2 background cards which took only a moment to get used to.  Thankfully the controls were very responsive, and I could hold the action key to speed-run through the fights, which usually get repetitive very quickly.  I also enjoyed the difficulty selection.

     

    Eggerland Mystery Demo - A port of a classic game from a classic series.  The simple puzzles and music remind me of when I first played The Adventures Of Lolo on NES (known as Eggerland on the Famicom).  There was an issue that happened a few times when not touching the disc squarely in the direction I wanted, that I moved in the wrong direction, which is an issue in games like this where steps often have to be precise to avoid getting stuck.  Still, it's a good effort and otherwise plays well, and I recognized the enemies from the original game.

     

    Infiltrator - Right away, I recognized this as a miniaturized Metal Gear game for Intellivision.  The graphics are very well polished and recognizable; the one thing I failed to recognize was the security camera in my first gameplay.  Immersive environment, responsive controls, very good sound effects, and a completion percentage at Game Over to encourage players to try again - this is basically a solid commercial package ready to box and ship.

     

    Mr. Turtle - Although I know this is a port from Colecovision, I'm not a follower of that indie scene there, and so I didn't know what to expect when I first tried this game.  With the platforming action that sprawled out in front of me at the start, it promises to be a lot of fun once it's finished.  The play control is relatively simple but unpolished, the kind of thing I'm accustomed to when trying out platforming adventure games on Commodore 64.  The Air meter isn't fully implemented yet, and I noticed once that it displayed as "AAAAAAAAAI" which suggests failure to syncronize with the Intellivision scrolling logic.  Most of the obstacles like spikes I was able to recognize, but with some of the other stages it was a matter of trial and error.  The IntelliVoice produced some weird garbled dialog every time I got hit, mixed in with what sounded like "TEST" in the voice from Space Spartans that announces one of your starbases is under attack.  I do look forward to the finished game.

     

    The Pandora Incident - I never played the original game, and so this was an interesting treat to play on Intellivision, which to this day is devoid of adventure titles like this.  A professionally-done intro storyline gave me plenty of anticipation for the gameplay that was to follow.  I enjoyed the cutscenes in the gameplay, like the first one where the main character finds a bloodied dead body and tries to abort the mission but can't.  Stopping at terminals is another game element I enjoy, and I hope to see this in future games.  The graphics throughout the whole experience looked like something that shouldn't be possible on the Intellivision, which is saying a lot since I've been playing for 40 years and know what can and can't be done.  My only criticism is that the play control seemed a little too responsive - the character seems to move too fast, especially when there's no combat, and a few times I accidentally backtracked into the room I had just come from.  This is a game that definitely should be boxed and released for the broader community to enjoy.

     

    Space Combat - Even if it wasn't clearly a nod to the original Computer Space that has been around many years prior to the Intellivision, it feels like something that should be bundled in another Triple Action title, with a few other games like it.  Being 2-player only is somewhat forgivable, since that was a staple of the early sports games, but AI should be feasible since games are no longer constrained to 4 Kilobytes of ROM.  Hardly anything in the way of sound effects, like the early implementations.  I do think that the ships should at least face more directions though, to make the game feel less like something I would have typed into a BASIC interpreter on the Apple IIc at school.

     

    TV Powww - Every programming contest is obligated to have one or more "honorable mention" entries like this one, an attempt to recreate the reason behind Mattel's release of Sharp Shot.  As it is, the decent graphics and sound effects demonstrate that it's a good effort, not just something that was built as an afterthought.  Although I don't have the apparatus to play it with voice activation (and probably don't care to), I've learned from my early days of mobile phones to enjoy "single button" games.  I can see this being released with said apparatus.

     

     

    Thanks to all our judges: intvdave, intyMike, nanochess (myself), Tarzilla, Zendocon, and ZillaRUSH.

    Special thanks to our entry validator senior: intvsteve.

     

    Finally thanks to all our sponsors (who just have been properly informed about the winners): Intellivision Revolution, Elektronite, Côte Gamers, Mark/Space and Project Argon, and Collectorvision.

     

    As a surprise, Intellivision Revolution will be providing to every contestant a cartridge with their game on it. All 7 places!!! Thanks for this generosity!

     

    Zip file of all the entries: intybasic_2020_programming_contest_entries.zip

     

     

    • Like 14
    • Thanks 4

  13. Posted

    53 minutes ago, wongojack said:

    is there a difference between the 2 roms in the .zip?

    Changed the name of the ROM file just before uploading, never noticed it added the renamed file to the ZIP instead of replacing the previous one.

     

    Both are the same.

     

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

  17. Posted

    47 minutes ago, DZ-Jay said:


    Aha!  Well, it shows you were my focus of IntyBASIC has been; mostly in trying to integrate the Intellivision Music Tracker.

     

    Thanks for the correction. :)

     

    And the same ISR is called on every tick (PRNG, collisions, STIC shadow, etc.), irrespective of TV signal, and only the music player is affected?  So, time-sensitive mechanisms in games have to account for this themselves, correct?

     

        dZ.

    That's right! 👍

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    51 minutes ago, DZ-Jay said:

    I believe that IntyBASIC normalizes the frame rate to 50 Hz, skipping every sixth ISR when in NTSC, so that should simplify things a bit.

     

    Here is another hint:

    5 hours is actually 18,000 seconds (5 hours x 60 minutes x 60 seconds); but 900,000 frames (18,000 seconds x 50 frames per second).  That means that a single 16-bit counter will not be able to count that high. ;)

     

         dZ.

    Only for the music.

     

    The FRAME variable keeps counting with frame rate. The variable NTSC is non-zero if there are 60 frames per second, or zero if there are 50 frames per second.

     

  19. Posted · Edited by nanochess

    Hi all.

     

    I've wrote a new game just in time for the St. Patrick's Day 😁

     

    You are a leprechaun and you need clovers!!! But the only way at this time of the year is to fly with a balloon.

     

    The only problem is that you are flying over the sea, but what could make you to fall? For example anything touching your balloon: Triangles, pelicans, big fishes, and foxes inflating their own balloons!!!

     

    Move with the disc. Avoid pelicans, fishes and triangles. Kick the fox's balloon in order to make it to explode!

     

    If you advance enough in the game, you'll get an extra life.

     

    Each clover is valued in 10 points, dropping a fox into sea gives 50 points.

     

    Credits:

    Game, graphics, and sound effects: Oscar Toledo G. (nanochess)
    Music: Adan Toledo G. (nyuundere)

     

    Don't count on me making these each year, but I enjoyed coding this one. ;)

     

    Enjoy it!

     

    leprechaun.zip

     

     

     

    • Like 17
    • Thanks 11

  20. Posted

    8 hours ago, Spectreman said:

    Thanks. In long term this can damage the videogame hardware?

    I don't think it could damage the Atari, but it could damage itself because with the lack of decoupling capacitors then any static can destroy the cartridge.

    • Like 1

  21. Posted

    1 hour ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

    That's either the original prototype or an early version of @nanochess. From the name I would guess the latter.

    It looks like the rev.8 free version from here https://atariage.com/forums/topic/259694-aardvark-for-atari-vcs2600/

     

     

    Anyway I don't remember giving permission to distribute it commercially. *shrugs*

     

    A lot of heat and noise means the cartridge is pretty badly manufactured. From your description I think that the Flash chip is a 3.3v+ but it is feed 5.0v (because saving a regulator, or the regulator is too tiny) so it generates a lot of heat, the noise means there are no decoupling capacitors. Only a quick hack in order to get money.

     

    • Like 2
    • Sad 1
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