Cave-In (PAL50/60 versions available)

[+Atarius Maximus]

Out of curiosity, what emulator are you using? I went to that same room you showed in the screenshot, and bumped into every wall, covering all parts of the playfield for several minutes, and I could not replicate that problem. I don't remember that happening to me in my playtesting in any of my previous releases. Hmmm.

 

I am using Stella 2.4.2.

 

 

Ok, so it's definitely not an emulator issue, that's the same emulator I use. I've tried and tried, and I cannot get my player to stick in the playfield. When I bump into the playfield, it pushes me one pixel in to the wall, and when I let go, I return one pixel backwards to where I began. I'm not sure what you're doing to see the player get bumped back more than he is advanced. Can you give me a more detailed explanation of how you're making that happen?

 

As far as the dot, I've seen it happen, but I have a really difficult time reproducing it. I'd say I can make it appear 1 out of 40 tries, using the method you described of bumping into an enemy once and then firing. Based on what I observed, I've mad a few changes that will hopefully resolve the issue. Since I have such a hard time reproducing it, I can't say for certain it's fixed - please try again on this one and let me know. I'm sure the problem was caused with one of my recent changes that makes it impossible to fire the gun until the bullet has traveled the full distance it's allowed or hits a wall. If I changed it back to how it was and make the bullet disappear when you release the button, that would definitely solve the problem. I'll use that solution as a last resort fix.

 

Steve

 

Each time I got stuck or pulled through a wall, I was walking very close to a wall at an angle anticipating a corner. IE if I was moving right, and down, when I came into contact with the wall, I would get pulled into the wall and right became left.

 

I tried doing what you said in multiple rooms, both at fast and reduced speed, and I just can't get myself stuck in a wall. I think I'm going to have to add a feature to the game that would allow you to 'unstick' yourself in the rare occassion that happens. I'll see what I can do to either fix it or allow a way for the player to get himself out.

 

Steve

[+Atarius Maximus]

Out of curiosity, what emulator are you using? I went to that same room you showed in the screenshot, and bumped into every wall, covering all parts of the playfield for several minutes, and I could not replicate that problem. I don't remember that happening to me in my playtesting in any of my previous releases. Hmmm.

 

I am using Stella 2.4.2.

 

 

Ok, so it's definitely not an emulator issue, that's the same emulator I use. I've tried and tried, and I cannot get my player to stick in the playfield. When I bump into the playfield, it pushes me one pixel in to the wall, and when I let go, I return one pixel backwards to where I began. I'm not sure what you're doing to see the player get bumped back more than he is advanced. Can you give me a more detailed explanation of how you're making that happen?

 

As far as the dot, I've seen it happen, but I have a really difficult time reproducing it. I'd say I can make it appear 1 out of 40 tries, using the method you described of bumping into an enemy once and then firing. Based on what I observed, I've mad a few changes that will hopefully resolve the issue. Since I have such a hard time reproducing it, I can't say for certain it's fixed - please try again on this one and let me know. I'm sure the problem was caused with one of my recent changes that makes it impossible to fire the gun until the bullet has traveled the full distance it's allowed or hits a wall. If I changed it back to how it was and make the bullet disappear when you release the button, that would definitely solve the problem. I'll use that solution as a last resort fix.

 

Steve

 

Each time I got stuck or pulled through a wall, I was walking very close to a wall at an angle anticipating a corner. IE if I was moving right, and down, when I came into contact with the wall, I would get pulled into the wall and right became left.

 

I tried doing what you said in multiple rooms, both at fast and reduced speed, and I just can't get myself stuck in a wall. I think I'm going to have to add a feature to the game that would allow you to 'unstick' yourself in the rare occassion that happens. I'll see what I can do to either fix it or allow a way for the player to get himself out.

 

Steve

 

Sorry it's been so long since the last update, I've been so busy at work the past 6 weeks I've barely had time to breathe. I made a minor change to the player movement code that will hopefully resolve the problem of getting stuck in a wall. I had such a difficult time replicating the problem that I can't guarantee it's fixed, I'd appreciate it if I could get a few people to test it out again. Other than that minor change, this version is identical to the last version I posted.

 

Steve

adv213.bin

[games_player]

probably been said before but I think this is what "tutankam" should have been . I mean this is a visually appealing game with a nice collection of creatures great use of color and controls. all I can say is if you decide to make a cartridge of this please post it some where as I would rush to buy it as long as it is under $ 100.00

 

well back to playing around with your game, great work !.

[iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin]

You have to make cartridges!!! That´s an awesome game!

[+Atarius Maximus]

Thanks for the compliments.

 

This game should eventually be released on cartridge, and it will cost a lot less than $100. The game has been complete for quite some time, I've been working mostly on bug fixes and play testing the past few months. I'll need to check in with Albert, there was an issue with the availability of the superchip and I'm not sure if that's been worked out yet. I also need to check with David Exton, who was working on the label art.

 

Steve

[gambler172]

Hi Steve

Checked the last version.Seems to be ok.Was not stuck in a wall again,so far....

greetings Walter

[+Atarius Maximus]

Hi Steve

Checked the last version.Seems to be ok.Was not stuck in a wall again,so far....

greetings Walter

 

Thanks for checking Walter, you've been a big help throughout development of this game. I had converted the player movement code to pure ASM a long time ago, in this revision I simply changed it back to the original batari Basic commands from Micheal Rideout's demo. Hopefully the problem has been resolved.

 

Steve

[+Atarius Maximus]

David Exton has been hard at work on a label for Cave In, and his final version looks fantastic. Take a look here: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?a...769#comment9609

 

I've been testing the game again today, and everything is looking good. I made one minor change to the difficulty levels, you now start out with the gun in game one and never lose it. The gun upgrade room is still in that level, however the upgrade will never appear since you'll never need it. I now need to start working on updating the instruction manual, as the most recent version I posted is now out of date - several things have changed.

 

Here's a quick review of the difficulty level differences:

 

Default options - shots cannot fire through walls, enemies will die after attacking 7 times, shield can be used to kill enemies when you have no gun - just press the fire button when you're on top of them.

Gameplay Notes: Enemies will not drop a gun for you in Games 2 & 3 until after you've found the gun for the first time. You cannot exit a locked cave until after you're in possession of the crown piece.

 

Game 1 - Beginner

enemies move at normal speed and never have a fast attack

no health reduction when changing rooms

keys are always hidden in the same rooms

You start out with your gun, and you will never lose it.

 

Game 2 - Intermediate

enemies move at normal speed with occasional fast attacks

1 point health reduction when you change rooms only after you are down to 3 health blocks left

key locations are randomized

You start out with no gun - you will have to find it.

 

Game 3 - Advanced

enemies move at top speed all the time

1 point health reduction when you change rooms at all times

key locations are randomized

You start out with no gun - you will have to find it.

falling rocks in the locked caves will fall twice as fast

 

There are just a few minor issues that I know are still in the game, that will likely not be fixed - mostly due to space issues. There's less than 20 bytes free now out of 32k, changing anything now is very difficult.

Enemy explosions are not red when you're in posession of the shield.

If you drop the shield inside the inivisible maze, it changes to the wrong size when dropped. There is no effect on gameplay.

The healthpack/gun upgrade may appear in unaccessible location - I've minimized the probability of it happening, but it might happen sometimes.

 

No more updates are planned for the game now - please post if you find any more bugs. I've tested the latest version of the game on my CC2 and everything seems to work fine. I know of two other issues that were reported when I was working on this back in February: getting stuck in a wall, and the bullet remaining on the screen as an unmovable dot that disappears after you leave the room. Hopefully those bugs have been elimintated, as I've not been able to reproduce them in this version. Of course, I had an extremely difficult time reproducing them back then too.

 

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Edit: I posted a minor revision (v217). Unless any more bugs are found, this will be the final version.

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Steve

adv215.bin

adv217.bin

Edited April 22, 2008 by Atarius Maximus

[gambler172]

Hi Steve

Checked your last version.Seems to work really good on real hardware.Cannot wait to see "Cave In" in the store.

greetings Walter

[espire8]

Hi Steve. I'll give v.17 some playtime tonight and report back.

 

Update: played through level 1 - no problems found yet.

 

will try level 2 & 3 next.

 

Update #2: haven't quite finished level 2, but no bugs yet.

Edited May 7, 2008 by espire8

[cbmeeks]

Any word on this? I am ready to buy.

 

:-)

Edited July 1, 2008 by cbmeeks

[Mayhem]

What bankswitch is needed for CC2 on this? I've used F4 and it doesn't seem to start the game correctly (using my NTSC 7800). Worked fine in Stella.

[Impaler_26]

The Game uses the Superchip so you need F4SC bankswitching for it.

[Mayhem]

Heh... I actually just twigged that one about half an hour ago and changed my CC2 bankswitch file

[ginnidog]

Absolutely amazing game...label art work is awesome..

 

Paulie

[sandmountainslim]

Absolutely amazing game...label art work is awesome..

 

Paulie

 

Amen Brer Paulie!

 

This game is Megabad

Wp

[yuppicide]

I really have to test this out.. 12 pages of replies and I've not even took a look yet.

[sandmountainslim]

I really have to test this out.. 12 pages of replies and I've not even took a look yet.

 

You will like it

This is a great game which deserves to see release in the AA Store in the future.

Wp

[Albert]

This is a great game which deserves to see release in the AA Store in the future.

Wp

That is the plan.

 

..Al

[johncl]

Hi. This is my first post here on this forum, and this thread was one that immediately caught my interest. I have general interest in games programming, but my main retro computer is the C64. However I have always been intrigued by the first games technology and reading a book about Atari caught my interest in their first video game machine for the home, the VCS or 2600 which it eventually was called. I have no relation to this console whatsoever until I read about it and being the tech geek I am I found it interesting to read about how the TIA worked and how the code had to go "hand in hand" with that video chip. Nifty raster work is of course essential for all cool games on these computers but on the Atari 2600 there is really no option to be "lazy".

 

I then started thinking about developing for this machine, since i liked the challenge, and came across batari basic which would probably be the gentlest approach. So naturally this thread caught my interest since i see the quality game that is possible using this (although I wouldnt really call it basic, but a simplified assembler language actually). The Cave In game and Steves work here is really nice to read about, and its fun to see how the development has progressed, and the fact that at one point its all about what the gameplay is supposed to be. Its a fast paced game indeed, but I think parts of it took some strange directions. I have only been playing it using the latest release of the Stella emulator and not on real hardware though. Here is a short list of things I would comment:

 

The way you find the keys is a bit odd. I'd rather see the key in a room somewhere so I know I have picked it up. The whole bumping into walls is a bit odd to me, and I frequently forgot about it only to see that there is a key there in my inventory. It would also be cool if the key was randomly placed within certain rooms so that the replay value went up. Also, I wish there was an indication on the door which key fits where.

 

Another cool thing would be for at least the easier levels to not respawn a mob that you have killed when you enter the room again. This enables a player to know where he has been (of course drawing a map would do the trick as well). Also you could have tried to make randomized maps as well, like Diablo, that would also increase replay value. All of these things naturally requires some nifty bitwork to save space since the amount of ram is really limited. But you know with randomly generated things you actually only need an initial seed and a function to "find the random number" based on certain parameters... just a thought.

 

When I play it in Stella, after a while there is something happening so that my char has a jerky/lag movement although mobs always move smoothly. This happens after some minutes of play. Might be an emulator issue though.

 

Other than that, an excellent game and I really hope you will be able to publish this with the nice label/manual artwork! Nothing more gratifying than getting your work packed and shipped.

[sandmountainslim]

The way you find the keys is a bit odd. I'd rather see the key in a room somewhere so I know I have picked it up. The whole bumping into walls is a bit odd to me, and I frequently forgot about it only to see that there is a key there in my inventory.

 

Ok,

This is where I have been confused.

Does one get keys by bumping into walls?

I have been playing for days and have yet to find a key in any room. Does bumping walls do it? So far wallbumping has only killed me.

Wp

[Impaler_26]

Inside the mine there are four locked gates. You'll have to search the mine to find the three individual keys that open the first three gates. To search a room for a key, simply bump into the wall. The walls of the mine are very unstable, bumping the walls causes a slight tremor in the room. The locked caves were locked for a reason – they’re very unstable. Shooting an enemy inside these caves starts a cave-in inside that room. Watch out for falling rocks!

 

If there's a key in that room, you'll automatically pick it up and it will appear in your inventory. Each locked gate has it's own specific key...

[yuppicide]

Hear me, hear me!

 

I think you should release 4 different games. Hold a contest at one of the classic gaming conventions and give away a prize.. let's do what they tried to do back in the day with those four "world" games (you know what I mean). We might even be able to find some kind of major sponsor to put up some prizes.

[yuppicide]

Just played this game again. Latest version. Latest Stella.

 

Sometimes when firing the bullet will fly across the screen, but not kill the enemy. I was playing on the easiest level, about 5 screens from the start. Firing to the right at what looks like a hawk or bird of some sort. I could keep firing, but he came right at me anyway.

[+Atarius Maximus]

Just played this game again. Latest version. Latest Stella.

 

Sometimes when firing the bullet will fly across the screen, but not kill the enemy. I was playing on the easiest level, about 5 screens from the start. Firing to the right at what looks like a hawk or bird of some sort. I could keep firing, but he came right at me anyway.

 

There have been numerous revisions to the game since my last post, including many updates to the firing code. I've been working on revisions off and on for the past 3 or 4 months. I have a bit of good news as well -- I've confirmed with Al that Cave In will ultimately be available in the AA store, although there is no definite timeframe so it could be quite a while yet.

 

I'm going to bed for the night now, but I promise I'll update this post again as soon as I can with more details about the current revision and include a new binary.

 

Thanks,

 

Steve