CurtisP Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Well, it definitely is an interesting thought experiment. In that spirit, I'll throw my hat in... How about: Ari Ant He's a humanoid worker ant. Being a polymath day-laborer by trade, Ari has many different jobs... which would therefore translate to many different kinds of gameplay. Like an ant, he is both very simple and tremendously complex. Also, his name is an anagram of "Atarian", and his initials are AA I'll come up with some mockups if anyone likes it. Cheers, Jarod. I'm all for Ari Ant. We need some player data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Behold 10 minutes of work with Inkscape and some clipart.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurtisP Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Behold 10 minutes of work with Inkscape and some clipart.... Remember kid's don't do drugs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devin Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Behold 10 minutes of work with Inkscape and some clipart.... Remember kid's don't do drugs... LOL. It's caffeine at my age.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurtisP Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 (edited) Ari Ant as a 16 line high single player. I'm pretty happy with the front and back view. The side view could use some work though. Edited August 4, 2009 by CurtisP 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e1will Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 (edited) Ari Ant as a 16 line high single player. I'm pretty happy with the front and back view. The side view could use some work though. I like it! Let me be the first to volunteer giving him a cameo in my upcoming homebrew... --Will Edited August 4, 2009 by e1will Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurtisP Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 It appears that ARI is the Japanese word for Ant. Here he comes, There he goes. He's the Ant named Ari And when he Wins the game, He will yell Atari! Go, Ari, Go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted August 4, 2009 Author Share Posted August 4, 2009 Nice job CurtisP. He looks great! Nicely done, jrok. It looks like you started something rolling! Is it too late to make the ant a hunchback? From your description, I get he's hard working and never gives up, but what else sets Ari apart from the rest of the colony? Does Ari have any weaknesses or enemies? secret aspirations? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lost child Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 ... the fuji sorta looks like an anthill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 It occurred to me that I could use the rarity database to list homebrews. There's always this list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrok Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 (edited) Ari Ant as a 16 line high single player. I'm pretty happy with the front and back view. The side view could use some work though. That's good! What I was thinking was that the actual sprite could be very subjective. In some games, Ari could be a cute humanoid, while in others he could be a six-legged nightmare, or maybe even A.R.I (Armored Robotic Insect). I guess what I mean is that a multi-legged insect might be good for some games, while a cute biped might be good for others, no? If there's no specific graphic or spriteset, people could be free to interpret him and be creative with him. Edited August 4, 2009 by jrok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrok Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 (edited) Ari Ant as a 16 line high single player. I'm pretty happy with the front and back view. The side view could use some work though. That's good! What I was thinking was that the actual sprite could be very subjective. In some games, Ari could be a cute humanoid, while in others he could be a six-legged nightmare, or maybe even A.R.I (Armored Robotic Insect). I guess what I mean is that a multi-legged insect might be good for some games, while a cute biped might be good for others, no? If there's no specific graphic or spriteset, people could be free to interpret him and be creative with him. One other thought I had about why an "ant" would make a good mascot is that it would provide some "creative cover" for games that use non-sprite based objects to represent the player, like a missile or the ball. In these cases, the reasoning behind using a single pixel for the hero could be that "ants are very small" Of course, I guess that leads back into thorny thicket of whether designers would use such a character as a crutch to generate interest without unique gameplay. EDT: Just for fun, I worked up a possible Ari implementation that incorporates the Atari "Fuji" symbol. Edited August 4, 2009 by jrok 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricBall Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Ari looks good, but my first thought was the bit from TRON. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+grafixbmp Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 I really like the ant idea. Interestingly, almost 15 years ago, I had an idea for a game for the c64 that would work extremely well on the atari. I had named it Mega ant Harvey but Mega ant Ari sounds almost the same and works out better as well. The idea was you played as the single ant and starts out with you above ground outside the colony and to most of the colony, you were looked down upon and stayed to yourself for t most part. You decided to create something new, and when you showed it to everyone, they just laughed. So, you went to the surface to be alone and sulk. You hear a noise from below and find the entrance to be blocked. You findout that enemy fire ants snuck in and captured the colony and traped them at the lower levels. So it's up to you to save everyone. You enter through the emergency exit but it has been washed out by rain water and no maintanence has been done in quite a while. The game plays by vertical scrolling up and since it has been washed out, there are now multiple paths for you to take but since everyting is so rough, you decide to find things like old apples, nuts, and any other type of object to dig into and just roll down the paths, you can decide which forks to take along the way and even jump across obsticale and breaks in the path to get ahead. There are powerups, jewels, and bonuses for rescuing other ants along the way. Every level gets consecutively harder and each has a boss to defeat. I never did much more than a basic concept so I thought I would throw the idea out there. Peace! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yuppicide Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 He should be called "Homey". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurtisP Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 He should be called "Homey". *Smack* Home don't play dat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+batari Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 He should be called "Homey". I don't get it. Though he could have friends, such as: Brill E. - Nerdy, wears glasses. Sometimes called "Sav." Arrog - Bold and narcissistic Antiperspire and D. Odor - Athletic but sweaty twins Claire Voy - Fortune teller Confid - Ari's best friend Devi - The local pervert Eleph - Never forgets Flam Boy - Not that there's anything wrong with that Mute - Half-spider Flat U. - Keep your distance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 But Homey could have an adventure. As in :- Homey sits Yule out. Obviously a Christmas cart release. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrok Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 He should be called "Homey". I don't get it. Though he could have friends, such as: Brill E. - Nerdy, wears glasses. Sometimes called "Sav." Arrog - Bold and narcissistic Antiperspire and D. Odor - Athletic but sweaty twins Claire Voy - Fortune teller Confid - Ari's best friend Devi - The local pervert Eleph - Never forgets Flam Boy - Not that there's anything wrong with that Mute - Half-spider Flat U. - Keep your distance Don't forget: Princess Tia - Ari's highly-kidnappable sovereign love interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurtisP Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Ari has been animated. The code is not at all optimized, but it works. aritest.bas aritest.bin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animan Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 <!--quoteo(post=1807727:date=Mon Aug 3, 2009 6:15 PM:name=Nukey Shay)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nukey Shay @ Mon Aug 3, 2009 6:15 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1807727"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Elevators Amiss = Spy's Demise. And wasn't Hunchy based on an arcade game?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> One of them (Hunchy/Hunchy II) is original, I think. Quasimodo is a public domain character, no matter what Disney says. I can see Quasimodo becoming a mascot. I don't know why, but a see him becoming a mascot, with everyone putting him through every genre. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disjaukifa Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 Ari has been animated. The code is not at all optimized, but it works. I just found this thread, and I have to say I like the idea, I'm playing on using Ari in some of my up coming games!!!! I really like the idea of having an Atari Mascot. Has anyone thought about opening a thread to just create characters that any dev would be allowed to use in there games? Thanks Disjaukifa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted September 25, 2009 Author Share Posted September 25, 2009 I have a WIP with Ari presently too. Tentatively, its titled "ari vs the mole king". I think it would be great to have a thread that was a repository of public domain artwork, sprites, characters, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disjaukifa Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 I have a WIP with Ari presently too. Tentatively, its titled "ari vs the mole king". I think it would be great to have a thread that was a repository of public domain artwork, sprites, characters, etc. Yes and even make it a sticky so those of us that can program but lack , or in my case suck, at graphic design could just pull the images and use in their game without having to worry about violating copy right!!! I would even contribute some . . . not saying they would be any good though -Disjaukifa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 If we want to make this a cross-game character, I recommend providing multiple resolutions to match different game kernels. 8 high double scanline monochrome/multicolor. 12 high double scanline monochrome/multicolor. 16 high double scanline monochrome/multicolor. 16 high single scanline monochrome/multicolor. 24 high single scanline monochrome/multicolor. 32 high single scanline monochrome/multicolor. With that kind of a library of mixed resolutions it would be easier for homebrewers to pick up and use either as a main character or for cameos. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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