Jetboot Jack

Okay - the screens look interesting, not sure what the moment to moment play is, but I guess the video will expose that further Still think the label is odd - it detracts from the appeal of the game IMHO. And what on earth are the watermarks about - those could be removed in a couple of seconds with photoshop, what purpose do they serve? Of course your game, your decisions - just odd seeing the behaviour we abandoned in commercial development and publishing 20 years ago being trotted out in home-brew games - it didn't work for us then, and only alienates your potential customers - would it not be better to embrace your community? sTeVE

Not seen or heard about this game before, any details on it?? As to labels - not meaning to come across as mean or anything, perhaps there is a story behind the naive artwork that if shared would make some sense of this design approach? sTeVE

The NES game uses a very dynamic jump in the air and punch one frame pose, not hugely wide, but makes Popeye change shape radically - perhaps that's what to do here? I imagine they did that because the arcade punch is a very wide sprite. A leap and punch pose would perhaps be easier to create than trying to make one arm long? sTeVE

Electric Dreams also did a conversion of Dandy to various UK specific home computers - not the best work tbh... sTeVE

Not at all, it's a perception thing - as you say there was ropey collision detection in the original - this is better, it just feels odd because of the way it looks... I guess the new punch animation is very subtle, whereas the old was very bold. My button press had a dramatic (albeit unpredictable) effect on the character state, now much less so... sTeVE

Wow - awesome work on the graphics, I love the original and the NES version too - this is an awesome update. But the gameplay feels broken - Popeye's punch distance has radically shortened - which feels poor - I agree with Tempest above.. TBH - I always loved the clever cheat of double width punch frames - kinda like Bruce Lee does...

Was it's graphics capabilities one of it's key selling points to you? - Absolutely, at the time (1981) there were very few graphically capable personal computers, the 800 was head and shoulders above all others and that drew me to it. Would you place the standard of graphics in a game as being very important? - Depends on the game, some games need little visual fidelity to allow successful play, others require graphical complexity to work. It's not a simple "good graphics do not make a good game" answer, awesome text adventures are great games with no graphics, likewise ROF needs it's visual splendour to work. Would you keep on playing a game because it has top notch graphics in it. - not if it's gameplay were weak... While it is programming and game design that makes a game playable and interesting - I always think that if the graphics are as well done, it's the icing on the cake, that lifts the whole package into that special zone making it that much extra special? - true, a great game is even better when the visuals collaborate with the gameplay, no amount of visual icing can pull a dreadful game into the playable however - although often it softens the blow of dreadful gameplay! I think at the bottom line the game's components need to be of a level of visual quality required to make using them pleasing - it's a synergy between imagery and mechanics, between the play pieces and the gameplay loop that draw players in - you cannot easily divorce the two elements in a well made experience... sTeVE

Qwe - try starting with this: http://www.atariarchives.org/agagd/chapter8.php One of the best books from way back when I started playing with making my own games - Atari Graphics & Arcade Game Design By Jeffrey Stanton with Dan Pinal sTeVE

The other way round cybercylon - OpenEMU is a RetroArch port AFAIK.. RetroArch and Libretro have been around for quite a long time, much longer than OpenEMU - although I do like OpenEMU at LOT, it's lovely front end and I use it all the time. However if you are on OSX try the latest Retroarch - some of it's emulation cores are streaks ahead of the OpenEMu ones - N64 emulation is MUCH better, and it has the great BlueMSX core which is a superb MSX emulator. BUT I am having enormous trouble with the Hatari Core - RetroArch says the TOS image I am using is good, but what ever I try and load gives me a weird "Cannot load J'\\tos.im" on screen error which means NOTHING to me sadly. I have original Hatari working - but it's joystick support is appalling, an area RetroArch is excellent at! sTeVE

I think Atari quite rightly would never pack in Star Raiders with the 400/800 - first off it would have fixed the computers as just games machines in the eyes of consumers, something Atari was always going to struggle with, why compound that? Secondly giving away software with hardware is best avoided because if the buyer want's that game they will pay extra for it, and if they don't it's extra cost they could have not incurred (pack ins are not free after all). In addition as Atari found out much to their cost in the ST years, pack in software delays users from buying other software - and so slows down the market. Not packing in a brilliant game, but making sure everyone knows there is a brilliant game to buy is the best course... sTeVE P.S. 1980 was the first year I think the hardware was sold, I got my 800 in 1980...

Well I never knew that - thanks!!! sTeVE

My bad Anyway this exploration look really interesting and I think if the cart become reality making unbelievable A8 games is just around the corner! sTeVE

"Yeah it would, just imho it looks like 'cheating' :)" Not at all support chips have been part of cart based systems since day one - from the DSP in Pitfall II to the mapper chips in NES carts to SFX chips and more in SNES games - it's the advantage of having a system that uses carts!! sTeVE

Yes I have those two versions as carts and bin files - and they display the same, no corruption on the bin file versions compared with the actual cart. The one with the graphic logo is the unknown to me, and is not the Datasoft disk release which is the 1983 version... sTeVE

I am not aware of that version - I have physical and digital copies of both the carts Atari published for the A8, is the 5200 version different in anyway from either of those two differing versions? sTeVE

Excellent track... sTeVE

This would be an awesome use of Nosty's Tomek Cart (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udMW9aeF-sk) If it ever sees the light of day... sTeVE

What has happened - i am obviously in an ignorant minority - who is Mister K and what is his issue? sTeVE

Philip says: "Yes we did on some of the Atari games. (Jet-Boot Jack included!)... I am looking at the Multi-Boot disk generator right now..." sTeVE

Not heard back from him yet, I have stirred the pot - will let you know... sTeVE

Little Update - I plugged in a USB PS3 fighting stick (Hori) and when that is attached I can select HAT input and control games in a proper digital fashion without any key mapping! So why does the PS3 d-pad not show up as a a HAT I wonder? The fighting stick also works with all my other software quite well - so partial success! Still keen to hear what other sticks or pads work well with Atari800Mac though - I fancy one of the 8bitdo NES pads! sTeVE

Thanks for the update.. sTeVE

Sub(Function() - I am trying to steer away from using an external key mapper - I have experienced compatibility issues with software that does support proper key mapping (like OpenEmu) when software such as usb overdrive is installed. I have Joystick Mapper, which works well in most cases - I was just wondering if the provided mapper can be made to work in Atari800Mac, as it seems to partially work... spookt - I would love to know your experiences - changing sticks to one that does work is fine by me - if you have a working solution I am open too it! sTeVE

Did any of the corrections I discussed make it into this edition, I hate to think that the same factual inaccuracies that were in the original have been perpetuated in this printed version. sTeVE

Does anyone use this emulator - 'cos I need a little help. I have been messing with it for a while and it's perfectly serviceable, but I am confounded by it's joystick support. I use a wireless PS3 pad - works great in all games and emulators except Atari800Mac. If I want to use the left analogue stick no problem, but try as I might I cannot get the joypad button re-mapping to work in this emulator, I go to the pref pane, remap buttons to configure the joypad - save it and select the profile, load a game and all buttons are just fire - the d-pad, shoulder buttons, face buttons - all refuse to be remapped to anything apart from fire. All I want to do is make the digital pad be the joystick rather than use the analogue stick, and the only way to do that is by remapping the buttons (the emulator does not seem to see the d-pad as a hat input), but as I cannot seem to make it work - it's very frustrating. I have looked at the saved config file, I thought I could simply edit it to the correct buttons to force the remapping, but the format of the config is not very readable. Any suggestions? sTeVE