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NostAlgae37

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Posts posted by NostAlgae37

  1. Posted

    The ball is a bit odd--its width can only be set to 1, 2, 4, or 8 pixels. So you can't have any line at 3 or 5-7 pixels wide, or any lines with gaps between pixels (like 1F42 in your sprite). In other words, you wouldn't be able to recreate your first animation sprite with the ball. The closest you could get is something like this…all the lines are either 1, 2, or 4 pixels:

     

    attachicon.gifBallRock.png

     

    But like Nukey said, you'd definitely have to change CTRLPF on the fly and also HMBL (f you are using this design) to reposition the ball a couple pixels per line. If the kernel cycles are tight, it will be quite a challenge getting it to work.

     

    Wavy borders on the strata divisions might be possible. You can get a subtle wave effect by inserting a background-color border between the strata. Like so:

     

    attachicon.gifWavyBorder.png

     

    Haven't really looked at the code to see if it's feasible though.

     

    Very interesting, thanks for the info. Is there any possibility of replacing the ball with plain playfield pixels or just the sprite frame itself? I imagine not because the original programmer probably would have done it, but it merits asking because I think it would really up the ante on the visual appeal of each stage.

     

    Wow, I really doubted that wavy strata divisions would be possible at all, maybe there is hope after all. Now if only we could replace those pesky horizontal lines with something that looks more like the texture of dirt, the 2600 port of Dig Dug would be an impressive recreation of the original arcade experience.

  2. Posted · Edited by NostAlgae37

    Thanks, Arenafoot. Well, here is the first frame of the new rock graphic in case anyone wants to have a go at inserting it into the playfield:

     

    post-44939-0-31115000-1492686878.png

     

    It does indeed make for a nice effect on the actual game screen when it wobbles and falls (it truly has to be seen to be appreciated).

    • Like 1

  3. Posted

    Thanks for answering, Nukey. What a bummer, it would really help to sell the whole effect because currently it starts out with that unsightly square then changes into something that looks far more convincing (if I do say so myself ;-) ). I'll post the updated rom after I've had a look at the (mostly vegetable) bonus items to see if they can be massaged any further in terms of visual appeal. I must compliment the original hacker on the amazing job that he did updating the enemy monster sprites, but I wasn't entirely sold on his edits to the Dig Dug sprite or the way that he left the rock graphics unaltered (although after your reply I can understand why).

     

    Speaking of the playfield in this game, is there any chance that the terrain strata can be updated to look more like dirt (dotted/speckled instead of horizontally lined)? I imagine that wavy/uneven strata divisions would be a pipe dream given the inherent hardware constraints. Maybe a flower on the surface above ground is not out of the question?

     

  4. Posted

    Hi, I am working on updating some of the sprite graphics for the 2600 hack Dig Dug Arcade. One of the more significant changes that I have made is to the shape of the rocks that Dig Dug can drop on the enemies. The new rocks look more natural and have a shape closer to the arcade once Dig Dug loosens them and they fall, but they are still perfect squares when stationary because they are playfield graphics instead of sprites. Is there a way to alter the shape of the playfield rocks to match the first frame of the new sprite rock that I made? My thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

     

    • Like 2

  5. Posted

    The egg, cheese, and breadstick are generated by the missiles and ball, so there is no bitmap data for them.

     

    I figured that was the case but thought that I might as well ask just to be sure (it's probably the same deal with the bottle and spinach in Popeye). If you are able, can you try my hack on something other than the FBP and tell me whether it is broken across the board or whether the issue is FBP-specific? Thanks.

  6. Posted

    Special cart, uses extra ram... not your hack. Try original, see if it works...

     

    By original, do you mean unaltered as in before I changed the graphics? Yes, the unaltered version of BurgerTime works on the FBP. If you downloaded my hack, can you tell me if it works on any real hardware (I don't have access to a 2600 or 7800 to test it at the moment)? And if so, does that mean that I have the freedom to increase the size of the sprites or do they have to stay within the original boundaries as I have done? Thanks.

     

    As a sidebar, there doesn't seem to be any sprites for the egg, cheese, or breadstick in the rom. Am I looking in the wrong place or are these somehow generated by the game code?

  13. Posted · Edited by NostAlgae37

     

    There are only 2 walking frames. Don't go taller than the existing walking frames or it will get cut off when on the top level. I chose to extend a couple of pixels with the punch because it's hardly noticeable since the punch happens so fast. I'm also attaching a few walking frames from the arcade for reference that I've edited to be single color.

     

     

    OK, Kevin, here are my attempts at some new animation frames for Popeye. The first one is the starting position, the second one is mid-stride, and the third one is a new take on the punch frame:

     

    post-44939-0-09012300-1487391819_thumb.png post-44939-0-50486300-1487391819_thumb.png post-44939-0-67856600-1487391818_thumb.png

     

    I'm not sure how the 2 walking animation frames look when looped for the actual in-game movement, but I'm pretty happy with how the first frame turned out so I can adapt the second frame if needed. I also think that the punch now looks the best that it is likely capable of. Let me know what you think. Thanks!

     

    (Edit: I decided that the above frames looked too Fleischer Studios-era, so I gave them a look more in line with the Famous Studios ethos featured in the original arcade game.)

  14. Posted

    How about Alfred Challenge and this awesome Berzerk hack with a Dr. Who theme:

     

    http://atariage.com/forums/topic/234209-doctor-who-berzerk-wspeech/page-5?hl=%2Bdrvsdaleks_20160710b.bin&do=findComment&comment=3606978

     

    Both seem like fun but are currently unplayable due to playfields with cut-off portions or garbled graphics.

     

    By the way, does anybody know why Pac-Man randomly grows into a huge version of himself (that only faces in one direction and doesn't turn as he heads down tunnels) while playing Pac-Man Arcade Enhanced (from KevinMos3's Hack Project Thread) on a FBP?

     

  15. Posted

     

    1) I went back to the original green because of the shared color with the spinach. However, after some more thought, the bottles also share the color and don't need to be green, so I changed it back to purple to match the 1st level of the arcade (in the arcade, Bluto's color progression is purple, orange, red)

     

    2) The notes were color 34. Against a background of black and F4, it could be hard to see. I darkened the background to F2 and lightened the hearts/notes/letters to 46. This should make it a little easier to see. However, once we get more playfield colors and I can make level 2 dark blue, I don't think that will be an issue.

     

    3) I've not been happy with either the Popeye or Olive Oil sprites. I finally got around to redoing them and I'm much more satisfied. You might like that he has a bit more bounce now.

     

     

    Thanks Kevin, I like some of the improvements that you made. Let me take these in order:

     

    1) I wasn't aware that Bluto and the spinach needed to share the same color (no wonder you made him green). I like the new purple color for Bluto better (even though it now makes the spinach color seem a bit strange), but I'm wondering if he would look better the same color as the water. I have made a mockup using the blue that you can see below.

     

    2) The notes are definitely a bit easier to see against the background now, thanks. I hope that you will eventually be able to make the buildings blue like you planned, because I think that will look awesome and provide an even better contrast with the notes.

     

    3) The new Olive Oyl sprite is pretty good, but I think the changes that you made to the Popeye sprite are a mixed bag. As far as his walking animation goes, climbing the stairs looks better, but when he is just walking along a flat surface that same animation makes him look like he is walking with a limp. Also, I think it looks odd that he starts out straight up and down rather than in mid-stride (this has the added downside of making the hearts harder to catch on the uppermost level in Stage 1). I don't have any issues with the new head, but I feel like his arm looks too stubby now in the punch animation and the lead arm/fist when he is walking looks a bit amorphous to me (not sure how that could be improved).

     

    By the way, here is the mockup that I mentioned above with the blue Bluto, and more importantly, the stereoscopic stairs that I mentioned in my last post added to the bottom level of Stage 3:

     

    post-44939-0-37995500-1486483921_thumb.png

     

    Feel free to use the stairs as is or tweak them to your liking as you please. I think that they look better than just having the blank black space there (at least now the player can clearly see that there are stairs there instead of just having to suppose it like before).

     

    One last thing, can you PM me Popeye's animation frames? I might like to have a go at them and see what tweaks I can come up with (it's not my first time working with pixel art or spriting).

  18. Posted

    Some more edits to Level 2 stairs and Level 3.

     

    attachicon.gifPopeye (FBP) Alt Lvl2 alt3.bin_12.png attachicon.gifPopeye (FBP) Alt Lvl2 alt3.bin_9.png

    attachicon.gifPopeye (FBP) Alt Lvl2 alt3.bin

     

     

    Here's an alternate that matches the style of level 2, but I'm not sure I like it. I think the 1st one is more clean, but I'd like to get others' opinions.

    For Level 2, the buildings have really grown on me, but once I'm done with any edits, I can make 2 versions: one with them and one without.

    attachicon.gifPopeye (FBP) Alt Lvl2 alt5.bin_2.png

     

    Kevin, I just wanted to weigh in on the amazing work that you are doing to make the 2600 port of Popeye more visually appealing. I have always been very fond of both the original arcade game and also the Atari 2600 conversion (despite its many flaws). Here are my comments / observations / suggestions on the changes that you have already made to the game and what might or might not be possible given the inherent constraints of the VCS hardware:

     

    1) The green color for Bluto is not working for me. It's a bit sickly looking, and it's not really a color that I associate with the character. May I suggest a dark blue (possibly navy) instead? Not only is it a color already associated with sailors, but the phonic "blue" is also the first syllable of how the character's name is pronounced (as in "Blue-Toe").

     

    2) The work that you have done revamping the background of Level 2 is phenomenal, that alone was enough to make me want to download this hack and play it on my Flashback Portable. The stereoscopic effect that you somehow managed to achieve with the apartment buildings is stunning and really works well. Unfortunately, the musical notes that Olive Oyl drops on this stage tend to blend into the new background and are often nearly invisible while you are trying to track and catch them (I find them continually eluding me and ending up in the water below, costing me lives unnecessarily). Is it possible to change the color of the musical notes to something different so that they will stand out from the background better and be more easily visible? Or if this is not possible, maybe change the color used for the buildings to something that will offset the notes more?

     

    3) The alternate version of Level 3 that you posted is a mixed bag for me. I do prefer how the 2 sets of stairs on the bottom level have that same stereoscopic effect that really makes them stand out from the background so that you notice that they are there. Is it possible to reproduce that somehow on the "non-busy" version of the background by using the fill color where there is currently black and "negative space" to suggest the shape of the stairs?

     

    4) This last one might sound strange, but the Popeye sprite has lost a bit of the "bounce" in his step that seemed to be more present on the much cruder original version. I realize that the sprite edits that you are using for this hack are somebody else's work and that he has substantially increased the level of detail in the characters, but Popeye's gait seems to have stiffened a bit in the process. One of the things that I enjoyed most about the animation in the original arcade game was the way that Popeye looked as he climbed the stairs in a sort of bouncy, jaunty way. I know that this might be hard to duplicate given the constraints of the VCS hardware (after all, there was a whole additional set of rear-view frames used for this animation in the original arcade game), but I think that it's still worth achieving somehow because it added a great deal to the personality of the character and enhanced the joy of the gameplay experience.

     

    Thanks so much for your work on this hack and also for taking the time to read my somewhat verbose comments. ;-)

  20. Posted

    A couple minor updates.

     

    - Test boards for the latest design are on order for delivery in a couple weeks.

    - I have the DK XM team (Robert, Marco) back together working on Dig Dug XM. I'm expecting good improvements in graphics, sound, and gameplay. Yesterday I was modifying the NTSC source code to match the PAL release and in the process I found the bug that causes the PAL version to crash on the high score cart. The XM version will work fine with it.

     

    Holy crap, when are you starting pre-orders for Dig Dug XM? Count me in! ;) (That's my favorite old-school game, in case you couldn't guess.)

  21. Posted

    I just checked in with the marketing department about timeline and am waiting to hear back. I'll update you all on this thread as soon as I know.

     

    Hi Tim, I was hoping to pre-order the Deluxe Edition from Amazon, but they still haven't put it up yet. Have they given you any information on when they plan to do this? Thanks.

    • Like 1

  22. Posted

    Hey man, no problem, you should definitely go with what you feel is best. I was just expressing my opinion on a forum (imagine that). Personally, I think that what you put together is still better than what anybody else proposed. I'll just chalk it up to a missed opportunity (the difference between something that's really cool and something that could be awesome). Peace.

  23. Posted

    Thanks. I'm really only using the characters from the bezel art. I've taken some liberties with the back of the box, etc. But I'll def check out the art associated with the link you sent. Thanks!

     

    I wouldn't necessarily feel strictly bound by the way the characters are positioned on the arcade bezel (the pac-man on the right side looks like he is trying to stomp on the ghost instead of chase it). My initial impression was that you were using it as an inspiration or jumping off point for the game box and label to impart some of the same flavor/feel. I actually thought that your take on it was a fresh one, and could be even better with the proposed changes. I don't remember very many of the classic game boxes of that era attempting to slavishly ape the arcade cabinet art (more often than not, the marketing department for the game companies seemed to be driving the bus and commissioned entirely new art for the home releases anyway).

  24. Posted

    I would love to see Brian O make box/label mockups using the minor changes I suggested (and possibly tweaking the colors by breaking up the solid yellow portion). Sometimes small details can make a huge difference in people's perceptions (it's why I tend to focus on pose/gesture in art because it can tell a story all by itself).

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