Adventure 2000 Alpha Now On-Line

[Kripto]

// Just wanted to edit this topic and point everybody to the playable Alpha version at This web location

 

You'll need the newest version of the Unity 3D player installed. (The page will direct you there is you don't have it). There is no sound and getting eaten by dragons is a challenge, also some objects are not fully functional. The game IS playable though, and you can win. More Info can be found towards the end of this thread-

 

Original post follows//

 

Greetings All,

 

Just wanted to officially announce that I'm currently developing a 100% free, fully playable version of the 2600 game Adventure, but experienced from a full 3D, first person perspective.

 

It's pretty far in development and will be playable on-line in your browser, in addition to as a downloadable application for both Mac, PC and possibly iPhone. It includes all of the objects and enemies from the original Adventure in their original roles with some twists. More updates, screenshots and betas/release information to follow.

 

 

 

This shot is from a very primitive, graphics-wise, state of the game. No textures, no anti-aliasing yet, etc.

 

Question- So do you guys think it would be better to keep the original smooth, solid colored walls, or should there be bricks, etc? Purist or no?

Edited May 2, 2008 by Kripto

[PacManPlus]

This looks Excellent! IMHO keep the original textures, or maybe even a setting for more advanced textures?

 

I LOVE stuff like this.

 

Great work so far!

Bob

[+Random Terrain]

Question- So do you guys think it would be better to keep the original smooth, solid colored walls, or should there be bricks, etc? Purist or no?

If you want to do it like the player has been sucked into the Atari 2600 game, then have no bricks and have giant 3D ducks chasing them. I don't think you'll need to recreate the flicker, unless you want to make sure that players truly feel like they are inside of the game.

[A Sprite]

Count me in the purist camp for textures. Not for authenticity, but because the pitch black shadows and featureless walls add more atmosphere.

 

It looks like nothing else I've ever seen...

[Kripto]

In relation to other three dimensional adaptations of Adventure. These are the ones I know of-

 

-AA member Gregory DC created an Adventure-themed map for Quake 3. Excellent design and visuals. Unfortunately it would have had to have been an extensive MOD to actually implement the game play elements of the original Adventure, so it does not have active dragons, moving bat , working items, etc. Excellent for death-match, the thread for this map can be found HERE

 

 

-AA member Gorf has done preliminary work on 'Adventure 3D' for the Jaguar system but has stated that he does not intend to release it due to intellectual property concerns. The screenshot he posted looks great and features a new design of dragon which can fly over the Adventure world. The screenshot and his comments on it can be seen HERE

 

 

Does anyone know of any other 3D versions of Adventure? I know that there are several Flash implementations of the original 2D game on the web, and that Warren Robinett has the original ROM available for download from his site, so I am hoping that the current property owners will see this as the not-for-profit fan homage that it is.

[iratanam]

Looks Good...Can't Wait.

[supercat]

What's your plan for handling the curious map discontinuities, limited visibility of enemies, and the highly-directional nature of the bridge? Having the map subdivided into regions with sight-proof walls would be annoying, but perhaps having translucent walls between rooms might work okay (no need for fancy alpha-blending; just apply a grayer color to any walls outside the current room), and don't draw objects outside the current room.

 

As for map discontinuities, I guess the thing to do would be to draw rooms as though approached via the walls through which one is looking. That should allow for map navigation to "feel" right even if things don't, in fact, make sense spatially.

[+remowilliams]

Question- So do you guys think it would be better to keep the original smooth, solid colored walls, or should there be bricks, etc? Purist or no?

Gouraud shading. Definitely.

[Kripto]

What's your plan for handling the curious map discontinuities, limited visibility of enemies, and the highly-directional nature of the bridge? Having the map subdivided into regions with sight-proof walls would be annoying, but perhaps having translucent walls between rooms might work okay (no need for fancy alpha-blending; just apply a grayer color to any walls outside the current room), and don't draw objects outside the current room.

 

As for map discontinuities, I guess the thing to do would be to draw rooms as though approached via the walls through which one is looking. That should allow for map navigation to "feel" right even if things don't, in fact, make sense spatially.

 

 

 

In regards to the spatial irrationalities of the various mazes, etc- I have an extremely convoluted plan which would actually create 'ghost' duplicates of walls and items so as to give the player the impression that they are wrapping around the screen (where that would be appropriate) when in fact, they would be seamlessly teleported on route...

 

I do, however, want to get something released within this millennium, so the initial world has been set up in an alternate solution that I believe players will enjoy (Sorry to be so tight-lipped. Remember the last page of every Coleco Cartridges' manual that mentioned "The Fun Of Discovery"? It's something like that. I think players will enjoy it much more if they don't know everything.)

 

The nature of the bridge has also been fundamentally changed for the time being. I am going to keep its' new mode of operation a secret as well, for players to experiment with and explore. I contemplated setting it up so that collision detection would be off for all objects in the bridges' 'portal' and may still do this. For it to work on every wall in the game would still require something akin to the 'ghost duplicates' solution though, so that won't be seen in near-term versions of the game.

 

Dragon and Bat animations and AI are up next.

[Wickeycolumbus]

Very nice! I dont think that you should change the graphics at all.

[Gregory DG]

-AA member Gregory DC created an Adventure-themed map for Quake 3. Excellent design and visuals. Unfortunately it would have had to have been an extensive MOD to actually implement the game play elements of the original Adventure, so it does not have active dragons, moving bat , working items, etc. Excellent for death-match, the thread for this map can be found HERE

That's DG not DC. Although I think I like DC better.

 

BTW, if it helps you can have the Quake 3 map I created using QuArK.

Edited April 3, 2008 by Gregory DG

[PacManPlus]

... all objects in the bridges' 'portal' ...

 

THE CAKE IS A LIE!!!!

 

oops, sorry; knee-jerk reaction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mos6507]

It's worth a shot but I have my doubts the game will play as well in 3D. It's just one of those things that works better in 2D. What it would take to make it work in 3D would just change the game entirely.

[Rybags]

Why not have selectable graphic levels:

 

1. Flat colours.

 

2. 1 + simple texturing, like old ST games such as Carrier Command

 

3. Fully textured, like modern games.

[Pixelboy]

It's worth a shot but I have my doubts the game will play as well in 3D. It's just one of those things that works better in 2D. What it would take to make it work in 3D would just change the game entirely.

I suppose there would be significant challenges to bringing Adventure in the third dimension. For starters, the dragons would need to have some AI which is advanced enough to move around walls and obstacles as they pursue the player (in the 2600 game, they just go right through everything). Same goes for the bat, although that's somewhat easier to manage in 3D.

 

The real problem will be camera angles: It's not too much of a hassle when the player is running around all alone, but how do you place the camera so that it shows one or more dragons while they are in pursuit of the player, regardless of their relative positions and orientation from the player's avatar, and regardless of the location of the player avatar itself? Switching to a bird's-eye view of the action whenever dragons are close by seems like the logical solution...

[PacManPlus]

What about a 3/4 view? I guess that would be called the 'chase' camera angle. Kind of like behind you, and up a little... Should be enough to see around the player?

[Kripto]

The excellent Adventure 2 for 5200, while 2D, often calls on a kind of 'forced-perspective' in its' graphics, which brings it near to being the third person view, so that's kind of 'been done' already.

 

I've been playing the current Adventure 2000 prototype and enjoying it quite a bit, even in its' unfinished state, so I don't think anyone should really be concerned the first person perspective ruining game play. That viewpoint, after all, is what this adaptation is all about.

[cosmosiss]

I say go for it. Any way I could test the WIP?

[Kripto]

I'm going to wait until all game elements are in place before doing beta versions, etc.

 

Shouldn't be long and I'll post a link here.

[supercat]

I suppose there would be significant challenges to bringing Adventure in the third dimension. For starters, the dragons would need to have some AI which is advanced enough to move around walls and obstacles as they pursue the player (in the 2600 game, they just go right through everything). Same goes for the bat, although that's somewhat easier to manage in 3D.

 

The AI would be the same as on the 2600: dragons can go through walls, but move slower than the player. The issue of being able to see the dragons through walls could be solved by having walls that are short enough to see over, but too tall to climb (note: this would work very well with the bridge--rather than allowing players to go 'through' walls, the bridge would allow players to go over them).

 

As for the maze discontinuities, I would think it would be interesting to have the rendering engine show them. To illustrate:

XXXXX|YYYYY
XXXXX|YYYYY
XXXXX|YYYYY
-----+--v--
ZZZZZ|  B 
ZZZZZ->A
ZZZZZ|

Room B is to the south of X; room A is to the east of Y.

 

If the game allows inter-room visibility, a player in room X looking southeast should see room B to the left of the XYZ corner, and room A to the right of it. If the corners were marked with floor-to-ceiling posts, the effect of moving around within room X should be quite neat.

[Kripto]

BTW- I've decided to go with a custom vertex coloring shader I've written as that doing textures, even as an option, would have been a lot of work as that I would not have wanted to settle for a half-effort. Shadows, etc, will be provided using a light-mapping technique (similar to the quality of the shadows in the Quake 3 map above) or with vertex-baked lighting, depending on performance + file size testing.

 

I'm also currently messing around with the code I wrote for the Magnet's attraction power, such as reversing it to create an 'anti-magnet' which could be used to push things out of your way. Quite fun. This type of item may be seen in a 'plus' version which would be selectable from an option menu.

[Vic George 2K3]

Rather weird. Back in the 1980s we were looking for adventure games to be more realistic. Now we're looking for games to look so much like they belong in the 1980s, even in glorious 3D polygons.

Edited April 4, 2008 by Vic George 2K3

[accousticguitar]

Rather weird. Back in the 1980s we were looking for adventure games to be more realistic. Now we're looking for games to look so much like they belong in the 1980s, even in glorious 3D polygons.

Yep!

[Elw00d]

Kids looking to the future.............Adults looking to the past..................

 

 

 

El

[gambler172]

Hi

I would like to see a working bin,until i can believe.....And i could test it anyway too.

 

greetings Walter