Break: New Lynx Homebrew

[Albert]

http://www.atariage.com/development_page.h...evelopmentID=48Eric Ruck has announced that he is developing a new Breakout clone for the Atari Lynx titled Break. Eric's version goes far beyond Breakout and features several different gameplay modes, as well as many options to keep Breakout fans coming back time and time again. You can read more detailed information as well as view screenshots of an early version of Break here.

[Tom-Lynx]

Awesome! REALLY awesome!

 

Eric... good luck finishing this game through to completion. You've got at least one customer lining up to buy

 

Tom

[holygrailvideogames.com]

Make that 2 customers. Breakout is my son's favorite game and I think it is a great game as well. Good luck!

[+davidcalgary29]

...make that three! Is the game going to be distributed independently, or in co-ordination with a house such as Songbird or Telegames?

[eric_ruck]

Excellent, only 99,997 more copies to go...

 

Don't know how it'll be produced or distributed. Carl at Songbird has already expressed interest.

 

I'll keep y'all posted. Today I wrote the pause feature. Probably writing the paddle size options next.

 

Eric

[Jay]

Looks great, hope you can do a deal with either Songbird or find another source to get this one published, if you need any beta testers i will gladly playtest it and report any bugs/errors!

[SwedenLynxer]

Very good news for every Lynxer around the world, this looks very intresting!

 

Also sounds good that Songbird has expressed interest. Maybe I would be posible to use Songbirds "new high-color display engine" that was used to create the pictures in the Commemorative CGE Lynx cartridge? The same type of pictures would be perfect in this type of game as backgrounds

 

To Jay: Are you the guy that was behind the Lynx UK homepage? If so, what happend to it? I can´t find it anymore

[AtariDude]

Keep me posted. This sounds like a good game that I would buy.

[Jay]

To Jay: Are you the guy that was behind the Lynx UK homepage? If so, what happend to it? I can´t find it anymore

 

Yeah i used to run LynxUK, someone hacked into my Geocities account last year and deleted the site, i didn't have any of it backed up:P plus i've searched high and low to recover some stuff but without any luck, but next month it's making a albeit small comeback just click on my 'homepage' and see when.

[bergbros]

How close is Break going to be to Arkanoid? I really liked Arkanoid in the arcades? WIll it have similar powerups and branching paths to various screens? Also, will the player have to hold the Lynx vertically like Klax and Gauntlet? How about Comlynx support?

[eric_ruck]

How close is Break going to be to Arkanoid?  I really liked Arkanoid in the arcades?

 

I haven't really decided yet. The "Advanced" modes will have some similar and some different power ups, as well as similar and different ways you get to them. I'm more trying to capture the feel of Breakout with the features of Arkanoid.

 

The other deciding factor is really time. I want to make sure I can release this game by CGE at the latest, and the number of features will have a lot to do with how much time I can squeeze in on the game between now and then. I only put 5-10 hours/week in on the game, although I work very quickly.

 

Also related to time is space, and Lynx capabilities. Right now the game is entirely written in C, although I do know 6502. If (when?) I have to start optimizing for size in space in assembler, that might mean fewer features. Also, it's becoming very clear to me that I will have to spend some time building a system to keep graphics (and possibly sound) data in ROM.

 

Will it have similar powerups and branching paths to various screens?

 

Powerups definitely. As well as, I guess, "power downs", or hazards. Plus the skill level affects the balance between power ups and downs, among other things.

 

Various screens, also yes. Not sure how many, but probably a whole big bunch. I thought about branching, but I wouldn't count on it. Let's just say that's one of the very low priority features that will probably not make the cut.

 

Also, will the player have to hold the Lynx vertically like Klax and Gauntlet?

 

No...well, probably not. This is more of a horizontally oriented game anyway. It two player mode the screen space is really at a premium, but I really hate holding the Lynx vertically, as much as I like Klax -- it makes my hands go numb.

 

How about Comlynx support?

 

No Comlynx, but two player support like Ponx. In one player, the player uses the joypad left and right and either A or B to launch the ball (and maybe activate powerups, maybe). Two player mode, the first player's power up button becomes Option 2. Second player uses the A and B buttons to move the paddle and Option 1 for power ups.

 

Basically there are a ton of options. First, 5 play modes, including classic, progressive (like Super Breakout, decending bricks), head to head classic, advanced (like Arkanoid/Breakout 2k) and head to head advanced.

 

Also number of balls per game (3/5/10), skill level (easy, normal hard), and paddle options (which I'm working on now). The cool part about the paddle options is that you can set them separately for the players in two player mode, so you can use it as a handicap feature. The two paddle options are size (small, normal, large) and movement (normal, fast, acceleration and turbo).

 

If I have time and space in the ROM I'm considering a hidden bonus game. But it will probably only appear in a limited number of copies :wink: . And if I can do it, believe me, it will be something worth having.

 

Eric

[patters98]

Yeah i used to run LynxUK, someone hacked into my Geocities account last year and deleted the site, i didn't have any of it backed up:P

 

Just in case you didn't already know about it - did you check the Web Archive?

[lucienEn]

That's great!

 

If you need help with any technical issues let me know.

 

You'd need a load function from ROM if you don't have enough space (which should be always the case :-). Carl from Songbird or I can send you example code for that.

 

Also you can change the startup address to be changed from 0x400 to 0x200 to give you more room at the end (although probably better way is to store variables at 0x200-0x3FF).

[eric_ruck]

Thanks...I got sample code from (I think) Bastian that shows how to make something like a simple file system in ROM...looks to me like a poor man's not-quite DMA (I'm a recovering embedded systems programmer).

 

Project only *temporarily* stalled as I roll out a new product to the first customer (web app, not Lynx game). Naturally said product isn't quite ready so I'm feverishly doing a Frankencode thing...

 

Eric

[+karri]

Hi,

 

I am currently writing an ABC-notation sound engine that can be used for controlling the sounds.

 

The idea is very simple:

 

At every display frame I check if there are any notes to play. Once a sound has ended I fetch a new note from the score if it is available. So you just need to enter an ASCII-description of your score and make a call to my asm-routine after you have swapped your screen buffers in the VBL-interrupt.

 

char drawPending;

 

VBL() interrupt

{

if (drawPending) {

SwapBuffers();

drawPending = 0;

}

update_music();

}

 

The music notation itself is in ASCII like:

 

|:CDEC|CDEC|EFG2|EFG2:|

 

You can define the instrument by a special Lynx command "I":

 

I

 

The and go directly to the hardware registers.

 

The is the increment. When a note starts the volume is at zero. During every interrupt you add until you reach or exceed the desired volume.

 

The tells you what is the maximum length you can play the note before it starts to fade. Some instruments like the drums start fading almost immediately. Others, like a flute, can hold the note forever.

 

The is the opposite of attack. It tells you how much to subtract from the volume. The tone will continue fading even after the note has ended.

 

I am still going to create a command for changing tempo and volume on the fly.

 

To make a multitimbral tune you have to specify one score-file for every instrument:

 

char abc_music0[]="Ixxxxx|:CCCEDDDFDDEEC4:|";

char abc_music1[]="Iyyyyy|:cccedddfddeec4:|"; /* One octave higher*/

char abc_music2[]="Innnnn|:CzCzGzGzCzGzCzCz:|"; /* Rhythm */

 

The code can also be used for simple sound-effects.

char abc_music3[]="Immmmm|C|"; /* a laser or a blip */

sound_channel_score_pointer[3] = 0;

 

The code is currently tested for one channel only and it is written in lyxass. Porting it to a C-library is not a big job once I am happy with it.

 

If you want to try it out I can email you the source.

 

--

Karri

[eric_ruck]

Re the sound engine, thanks, although I basically wrote something similar but a lot simpler, due to the simple nature of the sounds in this game. Still, I wouldn't mind seeing it.

 

I've been thinking about assembling a central repository for Lynx programming, although truth be told I don't exactly have a lot of time to work on it. Still, everyone who's done any programming on the Lynx probably has a pile of notes that would be useful to everyone else in the community.

 

Eric

[TheBizDude]

Any updates on the development of this title

[eric_ruck]

Any updates on the development of this title  

 

I made the questionable decision to start a new company in a down economy and I've been a bit busy pushing two projects out the door, so I haven't touched the code since about the end of January. But I'm hoping once these projects get out to reward myself with some Lynx development time.

 

When last I left off the basic gameplay was working and the option screens were complete, and I did some of the paddle and movement options. I left off working on the "Advanced" moving bricks, as well as started work on power ups. But there's still plenty left to do.

 

Eric

[Atari Smeghead]

If I have time and space in the ROM I'm considering a hidden bonus game.  But it will probably only appear in a limited number of copies  :wink: .  And if I can do it, believe me, it will be something worth having.

 

Eric

 

Eric,

First off, You can count me with the people who greatly appreciate you putting forth the effort to make us a new Lynx game. I'm a huge Breakout fan, and would definitely pick up a copy when it becomes available.

 

I did want to weigh in on your comment about a hidden bonus game, however. Obviously, I think it's a marvelous idea! But I do not think it's a good idea to only include it in certain copies. I know that I would be extremely bummed to find out that I had a copy that didn't have it included. I'd feel a bit gyped. If you're going to do it, you should let everyone enjoy the fruits of your labor.

 

Again, thanks for supporting the Lynx, and good luck!

[Europatari]

it would be a wonder, if you upload the roms of every version

 

[VladR]

16-yr necropost

 

[4ever2600]

Can't wait to try this!!

[Europatari]

10 hours ago, 4ever2600 said:

Can't wait to try this!!

me too

[thefred]

2 hours ago, Europatari said:

me too

You do know this Thred is from 2002 right? Hasnt been updated in years.

[Fadest]

If you are interested in breakout clones, you should check Catkanoid and Fission here :

https://atarigamer.com/lynx/games?q=genre&v=Breakout

The roms are available.

 

(or download Yastuna 1 in my signature and try TetrisNoid, but this is not the usual breakout clone you are expecting :D)

Edited September 11, 2019 by Fadest