Simon

Exsqueeze me? What's the question? bjk7382 means that the SuperCharger isn't able to handle files larger than 6kb. You can either use the CuttleCart for playing bigger files on a real machine, or use EPROMs. Simon

Thanks for all your feedback. Did you know that the Paul Norman, author of the original "Aztec Challenge", saw the preview-cartridge of my game at Classic Gaming Expo? He dropped me an email and said that he really liked what he saw. He is going to contribute to the limited edition of my game release with something really special, I can promise. :-) The game does not only contain the converted (and improved) original music. Paul Slocum also created a special GameOver-tune which is very nice, too. The black "spearthrowers" at the sides of the path are made of Playfield-Pixels and are animated in several frames moving towards the player. They could also have been made of sprite-graphics, allowing a smoother scrolling and more detailed graphics, missiles wouldn't be of big help here. Due to ROM-space I decided to make them as they are now - and as I like the animation this way, they keep unchanged. Best regards, Simon

Hi, just to let you know: I'm currently working on the Special Edition release of the new Commodore 64 game "Metal Warrior 4 - Agents of Metal". The game consists of more than 800 blocks of data. The Special Edition includes: labeled/numbered/signed disk in special disk-sleeve, manual, big box, cover, soundtrack-CD and tracklist. You can view photos of the items at http://www.quernhorst.de/atari/mw4.html Simon

Which homebrews for the 2600 are mentioned? Is it possible that you scan and post the article for us? Thanks, Simon

I like the cases pretty much, especially the clear ones. Quite nice to have a sight on the inside of the cartridge... The cases contain a molded "vgwiz" on the backside and if ordering 500 or more you can have your own logo molded into the case, too. Simon

Not in general. Back then in the 80's a lot of games were banned by the BPjS (Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Schriften). To mention a few: 1942, Green Beret, Rambo, Blue Max, Beach Head, Into the Eagles Nest, RoboCop, ... and our beloved River Raid. So not only games with human targets were banned... I found a list dated 1997 here - some of the C=64 games are still banned today. :-) Best regards, Simon

Yeah, Rob Hubbard at his best! I like the C=64 version most of all, eventhough it's not a hard task to complete the levels. My collection contains the CIB versions of C64, VCS and NES. Did you know that Commando was released as "Space Invasion" in Germany - you had to shoot aliens instead of soldiers. Screenshot Intro Screenshot Game Best regards, Simon

Unfortunately not. The main problems concerning the PAL/NTSC-switchability are these two facts: - you need double the space for all color tables (one table for PAL-values, the other for NTSC). - you need more cycles (and bytes) in every display-routine to check if either the PAL or NTSC-table is to be used. The best way would be to store the relevant colors in RAM and use always the same addresses in the display-routine, but this would lead to the new problem of having too less memory available. Mental Kombat didn't use as many code and graphics as A-VCS-tec Challange, so implementing a PAL/NTSC-switchability wasn't too hard. I still hope that you'll enjoy the game - PAL and NTSC versions are going to be released seperately. Best regards, Simon

Hi Rick, the preview shown at the CGE show uses some switches which might not been demonstrated at the show, even if I told Packrat about them. Color/BW-Switch toggles between in-game-music or spear-sounds Left Difficulty Switch toggles between THE GAUNTLET (running) levels only or THE GAUNTLET (running) and THE STAIRS (climbing) levels after each other. By now you can fully play and clear the different rounds of THE GAUNTLET, but THE STAIRS is unsolvable right now. So if you would've played THE GAUNTLET levels only, you would've seen at least 10 totally different screens with different pyramids, graphic sets and difficulties. :-) The levels of the final version will be longer of course, their shortness is just for the purpose of faster testing. Best regards, Simon

Hi, did somebody check out "A-VCS-tec Challenge" at last weekend's CGE? It was playable as prototype at the Packrat VideoGames booth. A few pictures can be watched here: http://www.packratvg.com/cge2k3.htm I know that at least Paul Norman, author and musician of the original C=64 game Aztec Challange, enjoyed playing the 2600 version at the expo... :-) I wish I would've been there to talk to him myself. Best regards, Simon

Thanks Manuel, I really appreciate these words from another homebrew developer. The current status: I started programming the second level of A-VCS-tec Challenge. It is based on level 2 of the original Aztec Challenge and is called "The Stairs". While you have to perform jumps and ducks in level one ("The Gauntlet") you have to avoid falling rocks by moving left and right in "The Stairs". As I originally intended the game to be an arcade version of level 1 only, you can use a console switch in this way: - Play "The Gauntlet" stages only - Play "The Gauntlet" and "The Stairs" stages one after another I hope that I'll find the time (and have enough memory left ) to continue the development soon... Best regards, Simon

Hmmm... why didn't I find that thread when I searched the forums? I must've made an error by typing the keywords. Is there a list available which shows up all PAL and NTSC games and states which titles work on the other machine, too? What about for example "Jinks NTSC" and "Galaga NTSC" from the AtariAge store? Will they work on my PAL-console? BTW: I understand "work" as being fully playable... Simon

Hi, I'm curious if my PAL 7800 would be able to play NTSC cartridges. I already searched for that theme in these forums and checked out the 7800 FAQ, but I couldn't find that information. Can PAL-/NTSC-carts be played on every 7800 console or is there a lock-out technology like in the NES for example? Thanks. Simon

I have got two different carts called "Pac Kong", one of them is named "Pac-Kong" with a hyphen. Just as you told above, one plays a music and one doesn't and the player-sprites are different if I remember correctly. I have to take a look at the two games to varify if the ladders and enemies look different... Best regards, Simon

You just need your PC for developing new 2600 titles (running a normal text-editor, DASM and z26). That's all and as you're just surfing the net I assume that you've got a PC. If you then want to test your game even on the real 2600 you either need, and that's the only thing you'd need to buy, a Supercharger or CuttleCart. But this is no must have, just developing on PC would be fine for the first step. So we're looking forward to your first game... Best regards, Simon

I haven't thought very much about the labels, manual and box yet, but I have some visions of how the label could look. As I really liked the results of the Mental Kombat label contest back then, I don't have any negative feelings towards another public contest. At first I want to finish the game and afterwards I'll concentrate on the other items... I think that a lot of people on this board are very skilled graphicians and I'm sure that there would be a lot of cool sumissions, if another contest is held. Best regards, Simon

Hi, just to let you know: I updated my little 2600-development site with more information and screenshots about "A-VCS-tec Challenge". http://www.quernhorst.de/atari/ Simon

Wow, that was great! lol Try to get this ashtray-cleaner onto this board. I think he will be a much appreciated consultant for all the upcoming homebrews. If somebody knows how to 'clean' your code from bugs, then it must be him! Simon

Sorry for my late notice of your post and thank you very much for your kind words. Best regards, Simon

Hi, I think that "Dumbo's Flying Circus", "Bugs Bunny" and "Holey Moley" are always worth playing a round or two. Simon

This is my last post to this topic... Wow, having a team-name is one of the most important things. It's indeed of bigger importance than actually knowing about programming the 2600. [/irony] +++ no carrier

I'm sure the other five concepts are: Knight Rider 7800 Knight Rider Jaguar Knight Rider Lynx Knight Rider X-Box And the last being Knight Rider for play on the original KITT-display. Only one copy of this game is planned to be produced!

Well, let's express it in a different way: it's impossible to have text shown on a 2600 as you could show it on a homecomputer. It requires a lot of timing work in the coding to duplicate the sprites at the correct positions and a lot of memory to store the charset; and even then you end up with a flickering display that doesn't even cover the whole screen. While a pure text-display on i.e. the C=64 (Screen-RAM $0400) would be the easiest thing, it's a hard task on 2600. I'd recommend starting 650x machine code on i.e. a C=64 until you know all of the instructions... it's much easier to test single instructions there. Greetings, Simon

Hi, I'd recommend to learn programming and writing the entire game first. Afterwards you could estimate a sales-price and negotiate about licenses. Showing long texts in an 2600 game is one of the hardest tasks, as there is no charset or text-output available as on homecomputers. "KITT, I need your help." Best regards, Simon

I found the mentioned game in the AtariAge-database. It was called "Robin Hood" and does show Haegar on the label. BTW: What has Robin Hood to do with ships? Strange Quelle name. Simon