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CDS Games

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Posts posted by CDS Games

  3. Posted

    Cleaned up a bunch of little glitches & mistakes in this version. Aside from a few more tweaks, it is pretty much complete.

     

    gauntlet901.bin

     

    post-31389-0-17582400-1441102751_thumb.jpg

    * Fixed bug in health bar/upgrade display
    * Fixed missing sound for upgrade potion pickup
    * Standardized which non-generated enemies appear on screen at level start. Levels 1-7 as in the arcade, and Death now appears consistently above level 8.
    * Added interlaced color to title pic
    * Removed Game Over screen
    * Fixed shield upgrade bug (player was almost invulnerable!)
    * Corrected enemy hit points (to 1-3, from 2-4)
    * Weakened shot power upgrade--used to kill enemies outright, now does 2 HP damage.

    Hopefully the last few changes balance things out more. Thor and Thyra should be more of a challenge, and it won't be as tough for Merlin in the early levels. Questor now starts with 8 potions. I also varied the startup level of health (was 12 in hex): Warrior (16), Valkyrie (14), Wizard (10), Elf (12). That helps differentiate the characters some more, given all the other unique stats we had to give up.

     

    What should happen after you pass level 80? Is the game generally too easy? How's the character balance?

    • Like 2

  4. Posted

    Usually a busy time for Nukey who will finish the AtariVox+ logic.

     

    We're at the tail end of summer so hopefully it won't be too long. Otherwise if he's absolutely indisposed for the foreseeable future, I can take a stab at the logic. Assuming I can figure it out. :)

    • Like 1

  6. Posted

    Is there any folks out there as passionate about Star Raiders as I am that has the skills to take up this challenge. I mean, just how close could one get on the 2600 hardware?

     

    Pretty close. Throw enough resources at it and you can make a lot happen. Maybe not everything you want, but more than anyone would think possible. But like you hinted at--interest level is going to be the main obstacle.

     

    Finding someone with both interest and skill is a 1 in a million shot. More likely you will find one of the two. And either way from there it's tons of work. Either the guy with the interest has to learn programming, or the programmer has to slog through without pay or interest.

     

    Ever thought about just peeking under the hood, hacking a few sprites in Star Raiders just to get your feet wet? No you won't be able to implement the things you mentioned, but just messing around with the graphics can be a lot of fun. And who knows what that might lead to down the road.

  9. Posted

    Exactly BrianC...the hack is done except for the speech samples. (Although I did break a bit of Nukey's work somehow tinkering with the sounds...oops! I'll have to fix that.)

     

    I'm looking forward to this being finished, although the main reason why I started my rewrite way back when was to address the horrendous flicker of the original by re-using sprites; unfortunately this hack doesn't seem to address that - probably because it would really take a rewrite :/

     

    Nukey would know for sure, but I'd imagine so. It's a classic tradeoff--with hacking you can get to a finished game quickly but with the inherent limitations of the original. Homebrewing opens you up to all kinds of possibilities but then it takes an immense amount of effort to even get a playable game.

     

    No doubt though which one gets you the better looking product. Homebrew Pac-Man ports compared to the various hacks? Homebrew Donkey Kongs compared to the hacks?

  10. Posted

    Yep there is a way. I doubled the speed as part of the Gauntlet hack I'm working on. See here:

     

    http://atariage.com/forums/topic/238273-dark-chambers-to-gauntlet-conversion/

     

    One caveat though--it resulted in a slight issue with the side exits not always being detected. (It didn't matter for my hack because I got rid of side exits). But it would probably be fixable.

     

    If I get a spare moment, I'll take a stab at it.

    • Like 1

  11. Posted

    Now finished up to Level 50, and I've gone back through all the earlier levels and corrected all the ghost generators to bones.

     

    gauntlet810.bin

    Other changes:

    * Demons have been replaced with grunts
    * Restructured the level/room entry location tables to work for 80 levels, saving some space in the process.
    * Used the space to add 8 new level color schemes (now 16 total).
    * Fixed enemy type in generators--first 7 levels more like the arcade, and there's greater variety in later levels.
    * Starting character no longer affects generators
    * Evened out generator production

     

    • Like 2

  12. Posted

    Love the idea of repro PB labels...they seem to fare the worst in the hands of my kids. :)

     

    I'd take advantage of the great AA community Al has put together here. Could you put out a call for high-res PB label photos instead of just working with what you happen to find online? This is a worthy project and I'm sure people will contribute.

     

    Even with high-res scans though, things like the copyright text are just not going to come out real well. The most professional thing to do in my opinion (20+ years in publishing) would be to match the copyright font as closely possible and just re-type it all over again. That will give you clean, crisp black text far better than a scan will. Really, I'd even want to rasterize as much as possible (logos, display type, borders), but I understand that's not in everyone's graphic design toolkit.

  13. Posted

    Absolutely. And all of 2 sprite registers to work with, 2 missiles, and a ball.

     

    Maybe it's generational. People who just grew up playing at home only seem to see only an imperfect copy of a cabinet version and think "why bother?" They generally played at one level of technology at a time.

     

    We played games in two distinct places at two different levels of technology: arcades and home. And we tended to measure the home games by the arcade's standards. So we get excited over "arcade" hacks or homebrews or prototypes--especially a good one like this that shows what was possible on the home consoles.

  14. Posted

    Wow. Ok I'll say it....this has to be among the top arcade ports ever made. Really plays well.

     

    It's funny to read the (little bit of) media coverage this is getting, mostly similar in tone to that Kotaku piece. "Hey, this is SO OLD... isn't it WEIRD that things used to be primitive? Can you believe this crazy crap is what gaming used to be?" *sighs*

     

    Isn't it infuriating? This is running on 8k on a Pong-era console for Pete's sake! And honestly, the old games are often a lot more fun.

    • Like 2

  17. Posted

    When it first opened in NE Philadelphia, it was arcade game paradise All the main areas were on the right of the entrance. There was a large main dining room with the animatronic stage show in the back (furthest from the entrance), a much smaller and quieter dining room in the front (which had some sit-down arcade games in place of a few of the tables), and in between was a gigantic game room filled with just about every early-80s arcade game you can imagine. There are games there I'd never seen before, and haven't seen since, including Mouse Trap, Baby Pac-Man, Cliff Hanger, Kick, Fire Truck, and Thief (still one of my favorite Pac-Man clones), in addition to more well-known games like Defender (and Stargate), Popeye, Pac-Man (and Ms. and Super), Centipede (and Millipede), Missile Command, Frogger, Q*Bert, Dragon's Lair, and so forth. It was frequently updated with the newest games. Name a game from that era (except, oddly, Space Invaders), and it was probably there. It was arcade heaven, and I loved every chance we got to go (which wasn't that often). I still rememeber that era fondly.

     

    That must've been the one I went to a couple of times. I dimly remember an elevated platform against the wall on the left side with games on it....and the reason I remember it is that's where I first saw and played Spy Hunter. Made a beeline for that machine every time I went. :)

     

    But yeah...it was a phenomenal place as a kid. Now I'd probably nitpick about the food or whatever, but who cared back then? The Animatronics were definitely not a draw...I think I saw all of one show and realized it was for the younger kids.

  18. Posted · Edited by CDS Games

     

    Ok! All 4 characters are now fully implemented and selectable in any combination. And the wizard now has his own special ability--he starts with a full load of potions.

    I couldn't figure out a way to add extra animation tables, so I had to drop one enemy and share the player wizard and enemy wizard sprites. Small price to pay though for four working players, I think.

    Other changes:

    * Level counter now implemented with 2 number digits. Should be able to count to 99 now.

    * All games now start on Level 1

    * Bug fixed on 2-player games: all character combinations now work correctly

    * Changed the potion use sound

    * Potions no longer take out generators or bones (too easy!)

    Any interest in having this on a cart? I'm thinking a silver label 30th Anniversary edition with the C64/Atari computer artwork:

    post-31389-0-58805700-1438083223_thumb.jpg

    • Like 4

  19. Posted · Edited by CDS Games

    Latest version: gauntlet710a.bin

     

    Didn't like the old grunt sprite so that has been redesigned. Cleaned up the title screen also.

    But the big news is that the 4 different character classes are almost implemented in game. Argghh....so close! On the title screen, pressing select will cycle you through each character (Warrior, Valkyrie, Wizard, Elf), first alone as 1 player and then as various 2 player combinations.

     

    When you start the game, health bars and scores are then colored based on your selection. Three of the characters even start out with a power upgrade (no potion needed) as special abilities:

    Warrior (shot power); Valkyrie (shield); Elf (shot speed)

    I'm hoping to give the wizard an extra power elsewhere (like the ability to take out generators with magic, which the other characters will then lose).

    But the huge issue right now is that I don't have two extra animation tables for the wizard and elf, and because of the way the program works there isn't an easy way to shoehorn them in either. I'm trying to sort that all out, but in the meantime, the wizard just uses the enemy sorceror sprite (in only partially visible purple) and the elf uses the grunt sprite. More minor, but still annoying, is that the 2nd player doesn't appear in some of the variations.

     

    If any of the programming/hacking gurus are reading this and have any suggestions, I'd love to hear 'em.

    • Like 1

  20. Posted

    I started hacking batari's Level 3 into the 8k version, but that was a while ago and I'm not even sure how far I got. Right now I'm in the middle of Gauntlet so no plans to work on this.

    It's been a while since I looked at the code so I dunno what is feasible or not out of your suggestions, but you're definitely right, there's a whole lot of potential here.

  22. Posted

    This is a bit messy, sorry. Lots of things still need cleaning up but I haven't been able to devote much time to it lately.

     

    gauntlet627.bin

     

    * New levels added--I think you can get to level 20 or so.
    * Redrew title screen graphic
    * Got rid of the room entry table and made levels progress in an increment.
    * Replaced it with a table for playfield and background colors. Levels 1-7 as shown above, and then colors repeat every 8 levels.
    * Scoring changes:
    Grunts, demons, sorcerors: 10 points shooting, 10 points magic.
    Ghosts: 20 points shooting, 10 points magic.
    Death: 0 points shooting, 1000+ points magic.
    * Added or changed sounds for keys, treasure/food/potions, and exit

    Oh, and an experiment--starting out with the shot power upgrade. That was my attempt to work character abilities into this..lame as it is. :)

    • Like 1

  23. Posted

    Thanks! Programmed from the ground up it could have been really something.

     

    Likely Atari thought of it, but I'm guessing their settlement with John Palevich on Dandy had something to do with the decision to go with Dark Chambers instead. I wonder whether a Gauntlet port was ever discussed in house.

     

    By the way, this November is the 30 year anniversary of Gauntlet's release.

  25. Posted

    I've been working from the source code actually...and it's the only reason I've gotten as far as I have. :) Didn't realize it was Curt though who released it, so thanks Curt!

     

    I'm not one to turn down any help at all, but the whole idea behind this is to be a simple conversion. The easier the conversion, the more likely it is to get done.

     

    And frankly I'm not sure how using the VCS's playfield would make a better Gauntlet, if that's the idea here. Omicron is a fantastic implementation of the hostile playfield concept...but it's all blocks.

     

    Dark Chambers already has a pretty elegant way to put lots of sprites on the screen and minimizing flicker, so I'm quite happy working within those parameters.

    • Like 1
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