What would minecraft look like on the Atari 2600?

[+Propane13]

The idea just struck me-- what sould Minecraft look like on the 2600?

 

-John

[Rex Dart]

Like Dig Dug, more or less.

[Godzilla]

I'm more interested in what sould looks like.

[BladeJunker]

The idea just struck me-- what sould Minecraft look like on the 2600?

 

-John

I've been working on that concept on & off for several months but its been hard to find a balance of the gameplay features (sprites) and the rendering limits on the 2600. I'd agree with Rex Dart that it would look something like Dig Dug in that the player carves paths through a Playfield graphic so the same basic engine concept as DD. I've mostly used Terraria as reference for what I'd like it to look like but its not as easy as it seems.

 

I guess you could use mid-line color changes coupled with color changes per scanline within a Playfield graphic to create regions of different block material colors (Stone/Water/Gold) and use both Missiles set to Playfield bit width to make organic outer edges to those Playfield regions. The alternative to that would be a flicker based Interlaced Multicolored Playfield system like SeaGTGruff is working on which frees the Missiles up but has specific color restrictions to compensate for its visible flicker byproducts.

 

I thought it might possible to do a lighting system based on clipping the Playfield using blocks of dither pattern but I don't have the know how to even try such an undertaking. I think it would be one of those situations where it would work but nothing else could be going on at the same time lol.

 

The other major challenge is getting items, monsters, and the player rendering on the same scan lines on account of the customizing nature of the games environment. There is basic sprite work division as in Player0 is the Miner, Player1 is the monster, and the Missiles and or Ball are the items. With bit constructed sprites you can put some on odd scan lines and the other on even scan lines if you skip scan lines or use an alternating scan line renderer with some flicker to extend things a bit.

For items I used a banded separation setup where tables, wall hangings, and lighting fixtures could only exist in there respective vertical positions within the "wall' height which is an example of a logical restriction. You can also use monster fiction to keep monsters at there respective vertical positions like vampires die in sunlight, slimes prefer dark caves, woodland creatues flee dark caverns, etc.

 

If you ever take a go at it don't do what I did and try to make it pretty since Minecraft is more about function than beauty so stay true to that original spirit.

[Animan]

A few months back, I began work on a 2600 homebrew that was partly inspired by Minecraft:

 

http://www.atariage....errain%20hunter

 

(Latest build here)

Edited February 27, 2012 by Animan

[+Nathan Strum]

Ummm... blocky?

[AtarinDave]

Hmm, maybe I should make a screen test on that subject and see.

[+Gemintronic]

Hmm, maybe I should make a screen test on that subject and see.

 

There you go. You can thank me later.

 

Minecraft.bin

[Atari Punk 78]

It would have to be in 2D wouldn't it?

[+Gemintronic]

It would have to be in 2D wouldn't it?

 

lack of memory for a 3D array for the world is a huge showstopper. You dig out a block of dirt and that changes a particular world(x, y, z) value. If you have even a 16x16x16 world that adds up to 4096 separate values. I hardly get 26 variables for a standard 2600 game

[John_L]

Probably better.

[Osgeld]

 

If you have even a 16x16x16 world that adds up to 4096 separate values. I hardly get 26 variables for a standard 2600 game

even if you just used all the system ram just for 1 bit world data your only looking at 1024 available bits on a 2600, course 3d takes a bare minimum of 3

[Ranthulfr]

I bet someone could make a good 2D version of Minecraft using the 2600 Boulderdash kernal.

[Bill Loguidice]

I'm not really sure how you could create anything resembling Minecraft, 2D or not. I don't recall many true construction-type games being attempted on the platform, and probably with good reason. That kind of thing is computationally intensive. I would think we'd see a game with a user level editor built-in as a first step to ever attempting a Minecraft-like game, and even then I'd expect some assistance on the cartridge side of the equation.