Ramses

7800 Centipede hands down. Like others have said, 2 player simultaneous play and better graphics. Now if you compare 2600 Millipede to 7800 Centipede... that's a tough one for me... someone needs to make a 7800 Millipede homebrew with 2 player co-op!

Thanks for the offer. I'd prefer to record it myself if I can, though I'll let you know if I run out of local options. Good to know about the Ultrastik 360. I wonder what the best option would be considering there are a couple of extra buttons, two of which (teleport and special ability) would need to be easy to push quickly while you're moving the sticks. Are there any spinners that you can press down on that will act as a button push? I've heard of push / pull spinners, but I've never seen them in action, and I'm not sure how well they would work for this. I wonder if it could be fabricated with the ball mouse idea i.e. Pressing down the "X roller" spinner activates the left mouse button and pressing down the "Y roller" spinner activates the right mouse button. Thanks! I'm using Fusion 2.5

Your excitement is encouraging It will be Windows only. The specs shouldn't be too crazy. It runs on my 5 year old Intel Core2 Duo with 3 GB Ram fine and there are options to lower some of the graphical effects to make it run faster if need be. It also runs on my tiny HTPC as well - forget the specs off hand. I won't be able to port it to Linux or OSX due to the development kit I'm using. I would like to try and port it to IOS and Android though. I just need to figure out the best way to implement touch controls for this game. I was actually thinking about making a little arcade cabinet for this as well On the PC, it plays best with a dual analog stick controller (although it will also support keyboard and mouse). It would need two 360 degree analog joysticks for an arcade cab and I'm not sure if anyone makes those. Another control option is dual spinners which could be pretty cool. Cool, I'll keep you in mind when I release the next beta. Unfortunately, it might be a little while before I can release a proper video demo as my machine is too slow to both play the game and record it at a decent frame rate.

Completing the 4th level in Tutankham when I was a kid. I thought it was impossible at the time.

I've never participated in the Atari 2600 HSC, so forgive me if I mention a game that was played too recently. A few of my suggestions would be: Bermuda Triangle Tutankham Commando Raid Name This Game Millipede Mangia Paddle Games: Demons to Diamonds Circus Atari

Thanks. It looks even better in motion at 60fps. I'm hoping to get a video preview finished soon as well as a playable demo.

It's funny. I kept seeing the Harmony cart mentioned in multiple threads and I didn't even know what it was until I finally checked after reading your post! Now it's something I learned as well.

Well, I tried it and I ended up getting it. I never really played many of the old isometric view games and I'm finding it very enjoyable! Definitely a one-of-a-kind for the 7800.

For the past year, I've been working on my little homage to early 80s arcade games. Development is nearing it's last leg, however there is still room for me to add things and/or make changes. I wanted to make a post here to see what your thoughts are and if any of you have any suggestions regarding features, etc. I'll also be looking for 2nd phase beta testers soon so if anyone's interested, let me know. I'll be selecting a handful. In this game, you play as the Hive Bomber, the destroyer of hives. The story is bizarre and almost non-existant like many early arcade games. It's not finalized yet but the basic gist is that Mother Nature summoned the Hive Bomber as a method of population control against the ever expanding horde of Cyber Bees. I'm thinking about keeping it as weird and vague as possible. During the early design phase, I decided to treat it as if it was an HD remake of an old arcade game. I'd describe the graphic style as faux-vector/raster hybrid, if that makes any sense. The game itself is basically a mix of Breakout, Gyruss, Centipede/Millipede, and Geometry Wars. You control the Hive Bomber which flies around the hive on a circular path (like Gyruss). With shooting controls similar to Geometry Wars, you fire bouncing cannonball-like projectiles at the hive hexes. Your goal for each level is to find 4 randomly placed honeycombs which are hidden in the hexes. On odd levels, once all 4 honeycombs are found, the hive self destructs (did I mention this game is pretty abstract?). On even levels, you need to also kill the queen which is hidden somewhere in the middle of the hive. If you release the queen before all of the honeycombs are found, she will have an impenetrable bubble shield that won't be deactivated until all honeycombs are retrieved, so it's best to avoid releasing the queen too early if you can. The Hive Bomber has many forms. Forms are essentially powerups that are hidden in the hives - 1 form powerup per hive. Each form has specific cannon attributes (light repeating, heavy, Y-shot, etc.) as well as a special ability (bubble shield, flat shield, wind push, gravity well, etc). You can "carry" up to 2 forms at a time - switching between the two by the press of a button. All forms have the ability to teleport as long as you have at least one teleport unit. Other powerups include speed increase, cannonball bounce increase, and satellites. I plan on releasing it on PC first and maybe port it to mobile platforms later. That's the basic rundown. I'm trying to keep this from being a huge wall of text at the moment. I'll elaborate more if there are any questions. Any thoughts? Does this look/sound like something anyone here would be interested in? THE MAIN ENEMIES THE BEES Worker Bee: Repairs the hive as it gets damaged. Avenger Bee: Equipped with a light plasma cannon. Pursues the Hive Bomber and fires in slow 3-shot bursts. Defender Bee: Defends the hive and protects other bees and allies. This bee is equipped with a heavy plasma cannon and a rechargable bubble shield. Queen Bee: There are a few different variants which have different attacks. All queens have a bubble shield that can only be deactivated after finding all honeycombs. BEE ALLIES Mosquito: Weak enemy that flies across the screen in an erratic manner. Stag Beetle: Heavily armored enemy. Can only be killed by hitting one of his weak points. Fires a cluster plasma bomb. Jumping Spider: Hops around on the hive. Fires webshots that can entangle the Hive Bomber. Also equipped with a light plasma cannon. OTHER Bee Killer: Kills bees. The more they kill, the more powerful they become. After killing a set amount of bees, they will then set their sights on the Hive Bomber.

Nice cabinet! If I ever get a bigger place, I'd like to get this one. I never actually played it in the arcade, only emulation. Even though it's really difficult, I do like the mechanics. I just wish the timer was a little more generous. Does anyone know of any games similar to Bagman (not limiting to just arcade games)? Are there any clones?

After thinking about it some more, there aren't as many games with warps as I thought there were. Star Fox is another and I vaguely remember Bonk's Adventure and/or Bonk's Revenge having something. Good point. Though it's technically not a homebrew game, there's a good chance it won't get much exposure. I'll have to keep that in mind when designing the secret stuff.

What's everyone's thoughts on warp zones or perhaps I should say level warps? Since just about every game these days saves your progress and you don't need to start from the beginning every time, there really isn't a need for them anymore. I can't remember the last time I've seen one. Does anyone miss them? I do in some ways. Who can remember the feeling of finding the hidden 1-2 warp zone in the original Super Mario Bros? The warps gave options for subsequent playthroughs and they helped add a sense of mystery and discovery. That said, I'd venture to guess that they probably work best on games of a certain length (30 minutes to a few hours?). I'd be curious to hear if any long games ever incorporated them (5+ hours). I've been developing a retro arcade game for the past year and I got to thinking about the options for continuing. I'm debating if I should use warps or if I should just let the player choose to skip ahead (if they already made progress). Thoughts?

Good job! Yeah for ocremix, you'd have to include a solo and change the music up a bit more in order to get it posted. It's been a few years since I've submitted anything and I'd imagine it's more stringent now. Over time, you'll probably get more views/listens on youtube especially since you have a specific niche.

I've always wanted to try this one, but I can't ever seem to find it for a decent price.

I'll have to go with Tecmo Super Bowl for the NES.

Wow, that was a bit of a surprise. I thought they were all going to hate everything about it.

Cool thanks. Actually, Millipede uses a 3" trackball, but it shouldn't make any difference. I believe all the illuminated trackballs require 12v.

I picked up a Millipede cabinet (my first arcade machine!) the other day and I want to replace the trackball. Has anyone here had any experience installing an illuminated trackball? I'm wondering what would be the best and/or easiest way to supply power to it.

Thanks for the links Random Terrain. I think I'm leaning toward controlled randomness as the general ideal. Makes sense. My favorite old school arcade game is Millipede and it's not the exact same game each time you play. I do like it's use of the game of life algorithm with the mushrooms.

Hey guys, I wanted to ask a few questions related to old school game design. Normally I'd ask something like this on a game developer forum (actually, I'll probably do that as well), but I'm curious to hear opinions from fellow old school gamers. What are your thoughts on randomness in old school arcade style games as far as high scoring goes? If you like playing competitively for high scores, do you prefer games with the least amount of random elements? Or do you prefer random elements to keep the game more interesting each time you play? Pacman is one of the top arcade games of all time and from what I understand about the ai, there's not any true randomness to it, aside from maybe Clyde. It seems random, but once you know how the ghosts behave, it sort of reduces the game down to memorizing a path. Not saying this is necessarily a bad thing. I do find the Pacman ghost AI fascinating myself. It adds a level of strategy to the gameplay. On the other hand, you can have a game with a lot of randomness - placement of powerups, enemy behavior, etc. That will keep the player from strictly memorizing a sequence and instead making decisions on the fly. The only downside is, a player might be lucky and get a rare favorable sequence of random events that make the game a lot easier for that particular play session. I would think that would be unwanted in a game that is played for high scores. Another question is: was that ever much of an issue in old arcade games? Does it really matter much in the end? Thoughts?

Tough call. Tutankham was my favorite as a kid but I'd say Millipede is may favorite as an adult. It's such a great port.

Thanks for making this video! It's a shame they are never mentioned. I didn't even realise that there were this many b&w games.