MayDay

Congrats on the apartment and the new fam. I don't know how your Dad will react, but just keep in mind that parents only want what is best for their kids (even if they don't always know what that is! ) Good luck with your new life, and remember not to ever let that Atari get too dusty! -Jason

So far, so good!

This is very kind of you, and the offer is highly appreciated. I think he's still playing around with it, and isn't down to the "I must have two cycles on line x" thing yet. Since it is his kernel though, I'm going to defer the use of any outside help to him. And, for the record, as I recall you did some fine work back when you were dealing with "notBD". -JD

Have you seen Paul Slocum's Homestar RPG demo? Anyone who has seen that and doesn't think a 2600 RPG isn't possible... well, just please check a little into something before you say it can't be done next time. I always appreciate feedback, but reacted the way I did because your comment was in no way constructive (or accurate). There won't be any need to eat your words, no hard feelings from this end, just be sure to check out the game when we're done. -Jason

You're not missing anything... and clearly understand the challenge involved. And while brpocock can maybe give you more information on the travel kernel, the way I understood his description to me was that it would be self-modifying in a sense, but just not working very far ahead. Of course that's pretty much hearsay (and may have even changed since I last heard about it), but there are absolutely no free cycles to spare (and a few lines are still over). We have a couple of other things involved with it that I'm not sure you've taken into account either, but I'll let him tell you about it since it is his beast to tame. -JD EDIT- grammar was never my strong point...

Personally, I find it ludicrous that anyone would claim we can't do an 'RPG' on a 2600, but what do I know.

March?! oh crap.... *ignores bleeding fingers and starts working again* j/k... When I first began working on this, I eventually came to two conclusions: 1. it COULD be done. 2. there was no well in hell the person doing it would be ME. Hence, the pleading for help, and brpocock coming to my programming rescue. Naturally, a few compromises have been made, but overall I think the effect will work very well. It should definetely look and feel different than any other 2600 game by the time we finish (or get to milestone 1, for that matter). I'm still excited every day when I work on this, because I think this game will make people stop and wonder what really *is* possible when they see it. I'm just saying that based on the comments I've got from several programmers along the way, suggesting other hardware as better or even saying outright it's not possible to do on the VCS (you know who you are! ). And after seeing Andrew's color demos and Paul's homestar demos, I'll NEVER say anything is impossible on a 2600! (just ill-advised ) -JD

Is it possible to put orange scanlines on the opposite rows of your blue? I know you need the extra time to display stuff, but IIRC it never takes up very much of the screen (say more than 1/4th)? Plus, I don't think it's in very many of the rooms, but I'd have to go back and play it. 2 lines of playfield would probably be too big (?)for the door bubbles, but you could do something like this: 10 10 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 10 10 Add the blank rows back to it if you like too. Just a couple of thoughts that probably won't work. -JD

If you read the posting, this is not what I said. I said "I had never heard of" which means that now I have (thanks to BRpocock early in the process). I've gone through several top 25, top 50, etc. listing of games and have never seen it appear on any of those lists. I'm sure you can find one where it is ranked, but the mere fact that it isn't on most is reason enough to say it's hardly "arguable(bly) the single most influential RPG series in the history of computer gaming". Since we didn't have a PC of any kind, I also didn't have any reason to look at those games at the time. And where I grew up wasn't exactly the cultural mecca of the video gaming industry... More to the point I think you're either trying to anger me or discredit me. To that end, you've at least failed at the first one. I'll waste no more of my time defending this inane stance, and will try to keep future postings in this topic relevent to gameplay. -JD

Two of them are sisters too... which never really flipped my a/b difficulty switch, but I hear some guys are kind of into that thing. I have to say the US curling team in Salt Lake was much hotter. Also, I haven't watched this year's Olympics much, so correct me if I'm wrong, but does anyone know why there isn't a Pakistani bobsled team? We could even send them Drew Carey, since John Candy is no longer available to coach. Bin Laden could come and tell his eldest son he has to go to school to be a doctor, which the son would refuse to do, and they crash in turn 14 during the final run. With the somewhat lackluster response to Cool Runnings, I always just knew there would be a sequel. Afghanistan, anyone? EDIT- and as a side note, I once read shows with "X" in the title are rated 12% higher on average than other shows in the same genre when running during like time slots.

With limited Atari controls, this is actually a pretty novel idea. I don't think it would work with say, a PC, as dragging and clicking would be too fast and ruin the concept. It would definitely be unique to a 2600. It's like blitz combined with not moving too fast, thus advancing an attack too far. You would have to change the rule to actually capture the king though, or stop play when in check or something. I think the actual capture would be the best though. I really wish this game was higher on the list, I was really excited when I found out somebody had this in the works. -JD

The gameplay is pretty well understood, I expect. Move across gridded map, select items from menus... 1019982[/snapback] Something else Robert hasn't really talked about was a decision I made early on in the process. I decided many of the game characters and plot should remain hidden from public view until we actually release the game because a semi-complete understanding of it would effect the way the game was played (and ultimately percieved). On finding out some of the details he agreed with my assesment, and we have moved forward to that end. That is why even the working title is left undeclared at this point. And on the other hand, it's like Robert said. 2D RPGs are really not all that different from one another. Case in point, he described CiE as an "Ultima clone", which is a game I had never heard of before designing this game. Other than being "atari-ized", for me the idea is to look and feel as close to a NES RPG as possible. <sarcasm> And while I *really* appreciate your concern </sarcasm>, if you scroll up you will also find that this is under the game programming section. For anyone like myself who doesn't really understand all this (apparently zylonbane too), I've been working on something to help expain the gameplay but have just been swamped at work and haven't had the opportunity to complete it. Starting on Monday, this should change, but that's what I said last Friday too. -JD

huh?! there's a rare 80's arcade game named after moi? Just thought I'd point out this game isn't where my handle comes from... As for the cabinet, if it's not in great condition to begin with, why would you want to keep it for a MAME? Of course, if you got a different one in better shape, that still leaves you with this one. I would say take this cabinet and sell it in some form to finance a different one. That is, unless someone takes you up on your offer to trade them straight up. -JD

I won't have time to check it out for at least a week or so, but just downloaded. Thanks again for taking the time to share this! -Jason

I think this game (and a few others!) could greatly benefit from having a custom controller. Basically, any one player only game could have two wires and use the inputs from both controllers to make more buttons to choose from. I've started a prototype which i hope to finish in the next few weeks. I know I told Bruce-Robert about it, but I'm not sure if I mentioned it in the forums in general (I don't think so). Once the prototype is operational, I'll take some pictures and post them for you guys to see what your thoughts on it are. I just don't see any good way of controls for this game (as well as super mario bros., also mentioned) and think a few classic games (kung fu masters) could benefit from it as well if they were reprogrammed. That is, if anyone has interest in such an undertaking. -JD

I have an XP upgrade. Pretty please, with sugar on top? I'd really like to see some of the code for these games without having to ask someone to disassemble a bunch of games for me. I'm gone for the weekend, but you can be sure it'll have a download early next week if it's ready. Thanks, -JD

I've seen this, and finally stumbled back into it re-reading all of my old posts. Is there a free web-based program that will split the file in half for you? The one Thomas refers to way back when no longer exists in it's old form. And if not, has anyone written their own they would be willing to share? Also, while I'm at it, how do you specify an address as GFX? -JD

I know "on demand" printing is all the rage these days, so if you already had the boxes, couldn't you pay someone like Harte Hanks (spelling?) to print say, 50 at a time? It might be a little more expensive for custom printing, but I think it would also make it look better than something you could do at home. The inserts are an entirely different beast, I have no idea what to do there. -JD

Arigatou gozaimes, Richard-san I'm not sure if we can ever repay your kindness, but want you to know we are very appreciative of it. -JD

This has a lot of merit. On www.serpo.org, the contending theory is that the "Roswell" crash actually did not take place in Roswell, but rather in two seperate locations in other New Mexico towns. One of those towns just happens to be Alamogordo. The reason we can't find the missing carts? Totally because of the alien colony coverup (they've got good in the last 50 years at passing for human!). -JD

Possibly... For a non-programmer, this means... maybe. Whether we have a save feature or not, the password system WILL be a part of the game for sure. -JD

That is not very likely. Not because I don't want to, but because the space on the logic chip is very limited. If you just need 64K, then you can use EF bankswitching which was already planned for a RPG and the Krokodile supports EF already. If you need Rom together with Ram, you could use the Superchip modes, or if you need lots of RAM, you could still use 3E. Well, it has some limitations, but look at Andrew Davies not Boulder Dash. There you can see what a smart programmer can make out of this scheme... I am always interested in new bankswitching ideas. Please PM me with the details I'm not sure... since there was no completed 64K game, I didn't realize the bankswitching technique used would already exist. So it's quite possible it would already support it. Sorry about the confusion. -JD

I sort of understand- this is why I asked if not including the source code would make it better? If we didn't do a general release of the source code, no one would technically be using the same code as we did... even if the processes are the same and such. My line of thought was we wouldn't force anything upon future programmers by doing it that way. Is there any validity to this line of thought? Or would doing LGPL make this a moot point? -Jason EDIT- rereading the entire thread, I think there is no validity... because if I understand correctly, making it GPL means we would HAVE to release the source code... possibly forcing other homebrewers who would use similar processes to do the same. Then they could have their games sold against their will without compensation and be forced to release their code. Not that anyone is going to get rich or intentionally horde their code, but I understand the implications now. Does LGPL have the same implications?

Any chance of adding support in the new batch for games it won't currently play? AA forum link for list of these games Also, would it be possible to add support for a bankswitching scheme that I don't think has been used elsewhere? We're adding a new one for a game Robert announced on this thread. If it is, please contact him, and he can give you the full details on what would be needed. I've been on Albert's list since April 1st, so I'm hoping to be high enough on the list to get one this time around. -JD

Okay, for the dumb guy in the conversation, what are the implications of releasing something as GPL? I know open-source coding is optimal, I just don't know what this all means. I can assure everyone that I have no desire to screw up what people have spent a long time creating for us. Would NOT releasing the source code at all make it okay for you Robert? Would that be better for the community, as I understand it? -Jason PS- I'm very excited about the actual game, and it seems to be coming along quite nicely. For some of the basic ideas behind it, see the dragon warrior thread or check out my blog for basic info on an RPG idea.