Revontuli

I'm working on a few videos - perhaps some hints and strategies for a few of my games. To get started, I have a video of Harpy's Curse showing a pretty good route for getting started: I haven't seen much gameplay online showing the basic "swoop" attack - folks seem to have had trouble figuring it out or using it in a lot of streams I've watched. You press the attack button when in the air, above an enemy. Birds of prey generally don't shoot or punch things, they usually fly above their prey, get them in their sights, and strike! I wanted to show that the normal attack can be both useful and powerful with a bit of timing. The harpy can be a menace even before grabbing any power ups! You can also change direction and cancel the swoop - leading to a few cases where it speeds up traversing the maze dramatically. The route shows a heart extension, the Gorgon Feather, and a boss - again, a pretty good start to exploring the giant maze. I also venture to say the game is very speedrunnable with various challenges (any%, 100%, no powerups, etc.) - I'm kind of curious how folks have faired if they've tried any playthroughs like that.

The 2600+ has had a couple of updates - I'm not able to test Harpy's Curse on the 2600+ personally but I believe that most 7800 games should work at this point (barring one or two like Rikki&Vikki and PETSCII Robots, both of which use *very* distinct ROM layouts). I do know that getting the emulation working is very much a priority. Games like EXO *do* work now (so Harpy's curse *should*), and there's an interest to get the homebrew stuff working as much as possible.

Awesome review, thank you! I will admit this version *does* actually use POKEY - this is my first try with it. Some earlier versions have a TIA music track, but I decided to give the POKEY a try for this one. The ROM is a *little* bigger, but still within the specs of some games that were released during the 7800's commercial era, so I don't think I'm cheating too much. Also, the map *does* only show half of the game - although it's a complete experience (a final boss, ending, etc.) You can unlock a secret second quest (much harder than the first) if you find the right area...so if you feel the game is too short, or too easy, there's a quite a bit more of the game to play if you look hard enough...😁 I still don't know why folks find default starting attack odd, birds of prey generally don't punch or shoot stuff - When they want to attack or eat something, they usually fly above their target and do this: Once again, awesome review - you give a good tour and description. I also appreciated you showing how to get the controls set up on the VCS so you don't reset with the press of a button. Thanks for playing!

Awesome! Looks like you made it past at least one Molobros (big dragon head boss)... I haven't really seen anyone break 10,000 points, even though that should be *very* possible in normal mode with a little practice and knowing how everything works. While levels 8 and above throw everything at you, strategic play should allow you to survive for quite a while - as with most score attack games, the overall challenge shifts from reflexes to endurance at that point. I'm planning on posting a video of tips and strategies for Dragon's Descent, since I've seen too many streamers overlook a few key features if they go in cold. Thanks for playing, I'm glad you're having fun with it!

There should be an announcement (along with the next wave of releases) in a week or two - watch this space

Sort of - every time you place gems the game evaluates the board and looks for matches of 3 - does a gem have 2 neighbors (any direction) of the same type? Each "match" of 3 gems starts at 3 points, but then a multiplier is incremented, so the second match is 6 points (x2), the third 9 points (x3), etc. This means that a 4-in-a-row is technically 2 matches (2 gems in the row in have 2 matching neighbors), so 9 (3 + 6) points, and a 5-in-a-row is 3 "matches" or 18 (3+6+9) points on its own. The multiplier does cap at x8, or 24 points per 3-match, although you can imagine that still adds up if a cascade gets some 4,5, or 6+ gems in a row. You want cascades. To elaborate: In scoring, you generally want to combo as much as you can early on - levels increment by the number of total gems removed, and not the score itself, so the more valuable each gem is, point-wise, the higher score you'll get before the game speeds up to where you can't manage (or if you're good/fast enough, start the endurance test that is level 9). Someone who gets to level 9 by just matching 3 after 3 will have a much lower score than someone who has been chaining.

Cross-posting from the programming forum, realizing I promised to reveal a cheat code here after PRGE This code will allow you to select the stage you start from - you won't be able to enter your high score if you do this, but it's good for practicing and checking out various parts of the game quickly. Code under the spoiler:

Glad folks are still playing the game! I've decided it's been long enough that I'll reveal a little secret - this starts the player at Level 9 in single player mode. Obviously a disadvantage for scoring, it's mainly used for practicing higher level play without having to work your way up normally, and largely there as a little easter egg:

OK - I promised that I'd reveal a secret or two after PRGE - This is the Stage Select. I had it enabled by default for the large-scale demo that had most of the levels, but you can activate it on the full game to select whatever stage you want. While you can play forward from whatever level you choose, remember that activating the stage select code will prevent you from entering your name on the high score - No trying to get a higher score by starting at a later level! Spoiler tag on for those who want to fight their way through to the final stages To activate Stage Select: It's handy to practice areas or levels you're having trouble with, or get a quick tour of the game.

Cross posting from the main forums - I'm planning on revealing a cheat code or two on this game after I get back from PRGE this year. They might help folks who have gotten stuck or just want to revisit the game. In a semi-related Informal poll, how many folks have beaten the game and seen the ending?

It's for sale in the AtariAge store: https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1283 ...along with the others in the "Dragon Trilogy": Dragon's Cache if you want a match-3 puzzler: https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1238 Dragon's Descent if you want an arcade roguelike dungeon crawler: https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1260

Digging up an old thread, I know, but I'm planning on revealing a cheat code or two on this game after I get back from PRGE this year. They might help folks who have gotten stuck or just want to revisit the game. In a semi-related Informal poll, how many folks have beaten the game and seen the ending?

Just noticed @ZeroPage Homebrew is scheduled to play Dragon's Havoc for the "After Dark" segment tonight, I'm curious if that's still going on... I'll probably reveal a few secrets/cheats for the game after the high score contest wraps up...

Not much in the way of recent videos (and you won't get the best sense of the control by watching someone else play ), but the beta is playable in-browser if you don't want to deal with more involved 7800 emulation: Harpy's Curse Beta - JS7800 The only major hurdle might be toggling "Frame Synch" if the game appears slow. The game is being prepped for ROM burning, we're doing the final tests on the target cart hardware - the physical copies are going to debut at PRGE in a few weeks, should all go well. I'll probably post some final developer's notes in the near future, talking about the game's coding, design decisions, etc. - a big thanks to everyone who gave this game a test during this game's development!!

I'll see how this develops - although I'm keeping my development environment locked (unless upgrades are necessary) until after Harpy's Curse debuts at PRGE. Never change you compiler version unless you *absolutely* have to, especially if you're weeks before release. It's a bit of a shame, since there have been some great additions to 7800Basic recently I'm taking a try at the RMT interface, and trying a few experiments, myself. That said, I'll almost certainly need some RMT help soon, one way or another, and if not on this project, likely on of the others I'm prototyping...

--- Todd Furmaski Revontuli Los Angeles, California --- See you there!

Submitting final builds for cart usage in the next few days - so this is the last call for anyone to report bugs, etc. (I'm trying to squash the last few, although I'm sure streamers will find new ones in seconds, despite this game being open and free to play for about a year - There's a lot of things to test in a MetroidVania...) Any feedback is also appreciated, and a last chance before this gets carved in stone burned to cartridge. A few notes on the final public builds: -The game has three possible endings, depending on certain circumstances -A wrong password starts as if it's a new game (i.e. no items etc.), this is a bug that's hopefully fixed (you'll get an "error" message and chance to revise the password). I might post a new build if I find anything more egregious.

I'm now at that phase in bug testing where I'm tempted to add little features as I fix and adjust the smaller stuff. Some more cosmetic bugs fixed, some additional sounds (check out the Siren Feather when used underwater, for instance), and some color adjustments in the 3 possible endings to the game. SaveKey/AtariVox compatible ROMs (SD Cart or A7800/HSC emulator recommended): HarpysCurse_9_20_2023_BetaG_SaveKey.bas.a78 HarpysCurse_9_20_2023_BetaG_SaveKey.bas.bin Password Only (more emulator friendly): HarpysCurse_9_20_2023_BetaG_NoSave.bas.a78 HarpysCurse_9_20_2023_BetaG_NoSave.bas.bin Happy hunting!

Tonight's update - some more minor fixes (and I'm at the point where I'm afraid fixing something will break something else, so I've been playing through the game a good chunk of the weekend). This current ROM is meant for hardware and peripheral testing, so it'll probably only work well on emulators like A7800 or an SD cart: HarpysCurse_9_17_2023_BetaA_SaveKey.bas.a78 HarpysCurse_9_17_2023_BetaA_SaveKey.bas.bin Finally got around to updating the firmware on my 7800GD - it's what I'm using for a cartridge "dress rehearsal." POKEY music is now coming through, although the quality of my old AV cable is very questionable and buzzy. Anyone else able to listen to the POKEY audio on an SD cart like the DragonFly or 7800GD on a physical 7800? Is the audio coming through OK (i.e. no buzzing or "bad" echoes)? I'm curious if this is a larger issue on my end... (also tempted to offer a cookie to the first person who posts a screenshot from the second quest... )

Tonight's update - some more minor fixes (and I'm at the point where I'm afraid fixing something will break something else, so I've been playing through the game a good chunk of the weekend). This current ROM is meant for hardware and peripheral testing, so it'll probably only work well on emulators like A7800 or an SD cart: HarpysCurse_9_17_2023_BetaA_SaveKey.bas.a78 HarpysCurse_9_17_2023_BetaA_SaveKey.bas.bin Finally got around to updating the firmware on my 7800GD - it's what I'm using for a cartridge "dress rehearsal." POKEY music is now coming through, although the quality of my old AV cable is very questionable and buzzy. Anyone else able to listen to the POKEY audio on an SD cart like the DragonFly or 7800GD on a physical 7800? Is the audio coming through OK (i.e. no buzzing or "bad" echoes)? I'm curious if this is a larger issue on my end... (also tempted to offer a cookie to the first person who posts a screenshot from the second quest... )

As I try and finish up Harpy's Curse, I'm thinking about jumping back and playing with this project. While I got bankset bankswitching working, I might move away from it for this particular project, as it might be better served with simply having more ROM banks to store content. If I can get graphics into *RAM*, however, that might be incredibly useful with how I'm already doing things. The scrolling background tiles are zone-aligned, so I think it can work and be *very* useful (I could store quite a few backgrounds pretty much anywhere in the ROM banks, and load in large number of different level themes, for instance). I know folks have been playing with this sort of thing, but I can't find the most recent discussions - perhaps a something to do after PRGE arrives. I'm also looking at 7800Basics new RMT music tracker and ability to load in external data files. I want to add more sophisitication to level format I made for Harpy's Curse, but that will almost certainly include compression and other elements.

New Beta for the weekend - mainly cosmetic bug fixes (returning to the title screen from the credits shouldn't show a glitch frame, hopefully), plus a some little updates in the second quest. Save-enabled ROMs for those with save peripherals for their 7800s and SD Carts (or A7800 and HSC setup): HarpysCurse_9_16_2023_Beta9_SaveKey.bas.a78 HarpysCurse_9_16_2023_Beta9_SaveKey.bas.bin Save-less ROMs that have wider emulator compatibility: HarpysCurse_9_16_2023_Beta9_NoDevice.bas.a78 HarpysCurse_9_16_2023_Beta9_NoDevice.bas.bin Your old saves and passwords *should* work on these new ROMs. I'm aiming to get a final build before PRGE in October, so please post any feedback, bugs, criticisms of the background color, etc. while you can!

New Beta for the weekend - mainly cosmetic bug fixes (returning to the title screen from the credits shouldn't show a glitch frame, hopefully), plus a some little updates for the second quest. Save-enabled ROMs for those with save peripherals for their 7800s and SD Carts (or A7800 and HSC setup): HarpysCurse_9_16_2023_Beta9_SaveKeyTest.bas.a78 HarpysCurse_9_16_2023_Beta9_SaveKeyTest.bas.bin Save-less ROMs for more emulator-friendly play: HarpysCurse_9_16_2023_Beta9_NoDevice.bas.a78 HarpysCurse_9_16_2023_Beta9_NoDevice.bas.bin Also realize I haven't posted one of these in a while, here's the most recent compile readout: 7800basic v0.29 Aug 9 2023 20:58:51 *** (): INFO, bank #3, GFX Block #0 starts @ $A000 symbol_or8 Enemies_or8 *** (): INFO, bank #3, GFX block #0 has 832 bytes left (52 x 16 bytes) *** (): INFO, bank #3, DMA hole #0 starts @ $B000 DMA hole code found and imported *** (): INFO, bank #4, GFX Block #0 starts @ $A000 PasswordIcon_Bossbank PasswordIcons_BossBank_or8 BossBeast_Head_or8 BossBeast_Heads_or8 BossBeast_0_or8 BossBeast_0_or8_tallsprite_00 BossBeast_1_or8 BossBeast_1_or8_tallsprite_00 BossBeast_2_or8 BossBeast_2_or8_tallsprite_00 BossBeastFlipped_0_or8 BossBeastFlipped_0_or8_tallsprite_00 BossBeastFlipped_1_or8 BossBeastFlipped_1_or8_tallsprite_00 BossBeastFlipped_2_or8 BossBeastFlipped_2_or8_tallsprite_00 *** (): INFO, bank #4, GFX block #0 has 576 bytes left (36 x 16 bytes) *** (): INFO, bank #4, DMA hole #0 starts @ $B000 DMA hole code found and imported *** (): INFO, bank #7, GFX Block #0 starts @ $A000 alphabet_8_wide scoredigits_8_wide SkyGradient_or8 TitleScreenColumns_or8 PasswordIcon_or8 PasswordIcons_or8 Star_or8 ExtraSaveGameTags_or8 Cloud_or8 HarpyTitle_1_or8 HarpyTitle_1_or8_tallsprite_00 HarpyTitle_2_or8 HarpyTitle_2_or8_tallsprite_00 HarpysCurseTitle_or8 HarpysCurseTitle_or8_tallsprite_00 single_mirror_or8 *** (): INFO, bank #7, GFX block #0 has 0 bytes left (0 x 16 bytes) *** (): INFO, bank #7, DMA hole #0 starts @ $B000 DMA hole code found and imported *** (): INFO, bank #8, GFX Block #0 starts @ $E000 scoredigits_8_wide_tilemap_or8 extraSprites_or8 tileset_Updated_or8 herodown1 HarpyFrames_or8 KeysAndFeathers_or8 shot_or8 *** (): INFO, bank #8, GFX block #0 has 0 bytes left (0 x 16 bytes) 7800basic compilation complete. User-defined 7800.asm found in current directory stack allowance: 6 nested subroutines. the canary is situated at: $1eb 3996 bytes of ROM space left in the main area of bank 1. 197 bytes of ROM space left in the main area of bank 2. 5428 bytes of ROM space left in the main area of bank 3. 248 bytes of ROM space left in DMA hole 0. 177 bytes of ROM space left in the main area of bank 4. 248 bytes of ROM space left in DMA hole 0. 388 bytes of ROM space left in the main area of bank 5. 841 bytes of ROM space left in the main area of bank 6. 0 bytes of ROM space left in the main area of bank 7. 84 bytes of ROM space left in DMA hole 0. (tracker song 'captainokane' used 148 bytes) (tracker song 'tamlin' used 304 bytes) (tracker song 'winfanfare' used 32 bytes) (tracker song 'gnoss4' used 506 bytes) (tracker song 'ogive4' used 55 bytes) (tracker song 'vexations' used 88 bytes) (tracker song 'gym1' used 161 bytes) (pokeysound module is using 245 bytes of rom) WARNING: High score support is enabled, but the hiscorefont.png was NOT imported with incgraphic. The high score display code has been omitted from this build. (hiscore module is using 708 bytes) 964 bytes of ROM space left in the main area of bank 8. (7800vox module is using 315 bytes) (tracker module is using 814 bytes) $6000 to $7fff used as zone memory, allowing 67 display objects per zone. 777 bytes left in the 7800basic reserved area. Complete. (0) Bank 7, where I handle the menus, is the tightest squeeze. Level data is now spread across banks 2,3,4,5, and 6 with the level loading system in centered in bank 2. Bank 8 is accessible all the time, so it's where I stuck most of the data I'd want easy access to (and any modules/extensions). Bank 6 has my POKEY music data (largely uncompressed and simply sequenced, but it's my first game to use POKEY), plus level data and some logic areas to free up the crowded out Bank 7. I kept bank 6 open until I started messing with POKEY audio, and it was a nice "spare room" to fit odds and ends. Bank 1 is the core game logic, branching to banks 3 (for normal levels and enemies) and 4 (for boss battles) for final frame rendering and any level- or boss-specific logic. I'm trying to wrap this one up before PRGE, so post any feedback, bugs, opinions on the background colors, etc. soon if you can!

In the interest of self-promotion I'll just say that Dragon's Havoc is available (to buy as well as an extensive free demo) if you want a horizontal shooter for the 7800 https://forums.atariage.com/topic/307013-dragons-havoc-side-scrolling-shooter-cartridge-available-for-purchase-and-demo-available-for-download-in-thread/

OK - I think I got it. I didn't seem to have trouble with the hardware (or JS7800, for that matter), just A7800 with HSC. This version looks for a byte I'm not using in the save data, and initiallizes everything to 0 if it's $FF. *Hopefully* shouldn't initialize anyone's games (I did some tests on A7800 to make sure). Always a good reasons to save your password as well HarpysCurse_9_13_2023_Beta8_SaveKey.bas.a78 HarpysCurse_9_13_2023_Beta8_SaveKey.bas.bin Since I'm prioritizing a hardware/physical cart release, I didn't check on the A7800/HSC setup until now, my apologies! Otherwise, I haven't gotten any frustrated forum posts yelling at me, so I can only assume no one's gotten to the second quest yet