walaber

I don't have a 6-switcher, I have a regular wood-colored one with 4 switches on the front, but Stay Frosty 2 (on cart from AtariAge) won't run. I just either get snow or a completely black screen when I try to start up the game If there is a ROM around I'll download it and test it on my Harmony to see if the problem is with the specific cart I got.

That would be awesome! no rush, whenever you have time.

Thanks! Today I started working on a label for the game. I don't have the skills to make an old-school style illustration, so instead I slightly fancied up a screenshot from the game and used the Label Maker to produce this: Thoughts?

Yeah I'd like to make a PAL version, I assume it shouldn't be too hard, just adjusting the scanline count and colors. Once the NTSC version is locked I'll work on making a PAL build.

Here's a longer video of the basically-final version of the game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YaNwrS6qzg And here's a download of the "release candidate 1" version: wall_jump_ninja_20141222_RC1.bin

Got mine about a week ago, and it's amazing! My homebrew game ran perfectly, as long as other great homebrews. this thing is awesome!

quick update- I've got the positive pickup implemented. now every so often you see a floating letter [N] [N] [J] [A]. pick up all 5 and you get a brief "dash" that skips you forward several rooms. I just need to add sounds for it and I think I'll be calling this game done (after a little playtesting hopefully). I'm bumping up against the 4K limit, but I'm pretty sure I've got room for a few more sound effects (collecting a letter + the dash itself). I flicker the player between 1, 2, and 3 copies in order to make a crude "motion blur" effect on the ninja during the dash. perhaps I should use both P0 and P1 in order to make the spacing a bit tighter... NINJA DASH video: https://vine.co/v/OXHF6rubTjF

Thank you! I'm working on the final features now, hoping to finish up the game over the Christmas / New Year's holidays.

Only one that immediately comes to mind is the Flappy homebrew.

Nice work! I found it really hard to hit the other fish because you have to predict how long your missile will take to hit them, which is easier if you stand still, but that makes you a sitting duck. I feel like it would be a bit more fun if the missiles moved faster, or the opponent fish had more of a pattern to its movement.

Thanks! I'm particularly happy that your son enjoys the game My Atari 2600 finally arrived in the mail today, and I was able to play the game on actual hardware-- super exciting! Here's a quick video to commemorate: https://vine.co/v/OgIbeqKAexi I think I'm close to finished with this. I'm going to consider the positive power-up/pick-up, and maybe juice up the title screen a little, and I think it's "done". I'm really happy with how it turned out, especially the pace of the gameplay I think feels really nice and snappy.

I've been playing around this weekend with a simple game for 2600 loosely inspired by "Toobin'". So far I've got the basic controls and player sprite working + a basic scrolling playfield. No collision or other game logic just yet. This is my first time making a flickering kernel, which I used in order to get 2 colors on the player sprite (and since it rotates I can't just pick a color per scanline). I'm pretty happy with how it looks and moves so far. Controls are: Joystick LEFT: paddle with left hand (turns player slowly) Joystick RIGHT: paddle with right hand (turns player slowly) Joystick UP / Fire Button : paddle with both hands (accelerates player forward) One unfortunate limitation right now is that I'm using the "ball" for the inner tube, so the ground color and the inner tube must share a color at the moment. I'm saving the other player graphic for obstacles/pickups (hopefully). Screenshots: Video: https://vine.co/v/O6xZPEKhEOW Binary download: tubular_20141213.bin

Thanks for playing, and the comments! I agree the title screen needs a little more "juice". I also like the idea of a positive pickup instead of them all being deadly. perhaps something that makes you become invulnerable for a certain amount of time or something? Might be cool if the letters "N I N J A"individually appear in rooms and if you collect them all you get some invulnerability, or a super boost that propels you several rooms forward or something. I wish I could use a few more colors, but since I'm using the missiles for the walls, changing the color of an object will also affect the wall as well (at least for those scanlines)... I guess everything will just have to be a silhouette

This is looking amazing! I gave it a quick go on Stella and it's really great. Can't wait to see further development.

Thanks! I think it's possible that a cartridge release will happen.

I think your game is off to a good start! Something about the super tall skinny main character is unique and interesting. Level 1 is pretty boring right now though, and the unique dimensions of the character don't really have much to do with the game at this point. keep going!

Hello everyone! I'm hoping this isn't bad form, I've been posting about my Atari 2600 homebrew game "Wall Jump Ninja" over in the programming forum for a while, but I think there might be some people interested who don't normally peruse that forum. Below are a few screenshots and a download link to the latest binary for the game, I'd love any feedback that you have! I feel the game is basically complete, but am interested in hearing people's impression of the game. It's a one-button platforming action game. Tap the fire button to jump off a wall and stick to the opposite wall. jump through the openings on the right to access the next room: see how far you can make it! If you take too long, the "death beam" will get you! There are also spikes to avoid. There is some finesse to the controls, the longer you hold the button, the higher you will jump, which is important for negotiating the spikes and other obstacles. There are a few settings you can toggle with the difficulty switches: Left Switch: overall difficulty between normal and hard (changes how quickly things get difficult) Right Switch: LAVA toggle. when OFF, the ninja can wrap vertically around the screen. when ON there is deadly lava at the bottom of the screen. Here's a link to the programming forum thread Screenshots: Slightly outdated gameplay video: https://vine.co/v/OvihJxg5PzX And binary download: wall_jump_ninja_20141208.bin

Here is an updated build, I fixed the bugs mentioned about skipping over walls, and also cleaned up the ramping a bit, and a few other tidbits. wall_jump_ninja_20141208.bin

Thanks for the bug reports, I'll get those fixed up I got the score using a sprite routine now, so it looks a little cleaner. I also changed the "death beam" to have new colors that hopefully look a little more menacing, and less like a waterfall This was in the build above, but the title screen now also shows the status of the difficulty switches so you can make sure you're setting up the game how you want.

Good feedback on the score display not fitting in, I should be able to switch that to a 48-bit sprite routine... In the meantime, here's an updated build, let me know what you think! My Harmony cart, and a few homebrew carts I ordered from here have arrived, but the actual 2600 hardware I ordered off Amazon is taking forever to arrive... so I haven't tested on hardware yet myself. wall_jump_ninja_20141206.bin

I thought since this is a programming forum after all, I'd post an explanation of how the game has been implemented. I'd live any feedback or comments. The background color is changed frequently to make the "sunset" background. Color for P0 and P1 are both set to black, so that the 2 walls can be made from both missiles (mostly just left on for the entire frame to make a vertical line). The opening in the wall is just turning off one missile for a few scanlines. Player 0 is the actual ninja character. Player 1 stands in as the spikes (which sometimes appear double, but never overlap horizontally, simplifying the logic). The playfield is set to be in front of sprites, and is used to make the black bars on either end of the screen, which help mask the scrolling effect, when objects leave/enter the screen from the edges. The "death beam" is implemented with the BALL, which means that I have to change the playfield color mid-scanline in order to change from black (for the edge) to green (for the beam), and then back to black before the other edge, all while cramming in the other sprite routines. bottom of the screen you can see another playfield effect for the "lava" (that's new, it's an option you can choose, without it the player is allowed to wrap vertically around the screen). playfield is also used to draw the "ROOM: XX" display as well.

4K. Right now I still have quite a bit of free space. I'll try to post a new binary this weekend, I just want to clean up a few things first.

Progress! I found cycles in the kernel to support "double spikes" as the game gets more difficult. I also created moving spikes that oscillate up and down in the middle of a room, forcing you to time your jumps carefully in order to get past. Title screen got an additional credit line as well I also added support for one of the difficulty switches, the different settings control how quickly the difficulty ramps up. I have an idea for the other difficulty switch too that should be fun. I'm getting close to completion on this. On my list right now is: - additional difficulty switch mode change - finalize title screen - add a few more frames of player animation - fix a few bugs

I like the silver box the best

continued progress, I've cleaned up the kernel a bunch, and found cycles to implement the final main feature I wanted... the relentless death beam!! (the green thing). it chases you and if it hits you, you DIE. I've also tried a new look for the "sunset" backdrop, and made a variety of other cleanup. Here's the latest gameplay video: https://vine.co/v/OvihJxg5PzX