Work In Progress: "Bentley Bear: Crystal Quest"

[Underball]

XM Who?

 

If you don't quit your trolling, you'll find yourself on mod-preview.

Oh, booga booga booga to you too. It's a joke. Laugh. Lighten up.

 

I was complimenting Bob on his amazing work that already runs without the need of the forthcoming 7800 Viagra expansion module.

[DracIsBack]

Let it go, dude.

[PacManPlus]

Please guys, let's not turn thins thread into the 'other' one...

 

Underball, I do understand what you meant, and I do appreciate it. Thank you

Because of the way I am making this game (and the fact that I am using the $4000-$7FFF area for graphics), I do need the XM for sound - as I want to utilize the Pokey in this game. I just can't see using TIA for this.

[Trebor]

Because of the way I am making this game (and the fact that I am using the $4000-$7FFF area for graphics), I do need the XM for sound - as I want to utilize the Pokey in this game. I just can't see using TIA for this.

 

Very cool

 

Absolutely, TIA would distract from this awesome title, and it is silly to keep buying and assembling the same hardware over and over again with the XM present. It reads like the needed carts for larger games are already possibly becoming harder to obtain (Per the O'Shea comment). No need to give you further aggravation and wasted time worrying about solution for hardware which is already in place. It leaves more time for some additional game development - Or of course some well-deserved down time for you.

[jaybird3rd]

It's a little difficult to find fully populated 565 boards (I haven't been able to get it working on a 339 yet). Also, the 2600 cart shells (aside from the Red-Label versions) won't work for the 7800. I've tried modifying them, multiple times. So, being that O'Sheas decided to ruin whatever stock there were of 7800 cart shells by selling them for the gold instead of approaching the community first (which I asked him to do), we could get very low on both carts and boards very fast.

If you're looking for fully-populated '565 boards and 7800 shells, I've still got a ton of them on hand (I picked up hundreds of cartridges from the O'Shea stock just before it was scrapped). Just let me know how many you need.

[+Stephen]

It is indeed a picture of a cat with a slice of good old American Govt. Cheese on its face.

 

The Internet is full of hilarious images, this is one of them.

What a waste of a good piece of cheese - LMAO.

[Stun Runner 87]

Wow, Pacmanplus and Pacman Red are Atari gods.

Good luck finishing this new game your working on.

 

This new game looks like it could be the best game yet for the 7800.

There isn't really any other sidescrolling action games like this other than ScrapyardDog.

 

And its great to see Bently Bear back after all these years, lol..

I was a huge Chrystal Castles fan when I was a kid.

 

Put me on the list to aquire this upcoming hit, thanks.

Edited July 5, 2012 by Stun Runner 87

[PacManPlus]

Level 3 is completed. Not posting bins yet - I will post them after the CGEXpo.

 

Anyone get past levels 1 and 2 yet? ... WITHOUT using save states?

[mmervine]

Watched the video that you posted on YouTube...really amazing work!

[gambler172]

Level 3 is completed. Not posting bins yet - I will post them after the CGEXpo.

 

Anyone get past levels 1 and 2 yet? ... WITHOUT using save states?

 

 

No really hard,only possible with a trick..,,

You know,what i mean

But it is a really great game.

greetings Walter

[PacManPlus]

... Just a question if anyone knows.

 

I'm having bankswitching issues on the real thing. Using a 565 board seems to work, but using the same eproms on a 339 always makes the first level switch to the wrong bank. It's not the board though, as someone else on here has the *opposite* happen to him (i.e. works on 339 but wrong bank on 565). I don't get it - I'm writing the bank number to $8000 like it says in the docs:

 

 

	  LDA	 LEVEL
	  LSR							;HIGH NYBBLE OF LEVEL IS WORLD (0-6)
	  LSR							;LOW  NYBBLE OF LEVEL IS SUB-WORLD (0-7)
	  LSR
	  LSR
	  STA	 $8000				  ;SWITCH TO THE CORRECT BANK

 

Does anything else need to happen to ensure the correct bank? I looked in the Crossbow source, but they make a macro that sets a constant. I don't see how that could possibly work.

 

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Bob

[Trebor]

Anyone get past levels 1 and 2 yet? ... WITHOUT using save states?

 

Sadly, I can't say I have...Will post when and if I do...lol.

[gorfcadet]

Yep... might be a tad hard.

[PacManPlus]

Ok - this one should be a little easier. It also includes the 3rd level.

Bentley.A78

Bentley.BIN

BentleyP.A78

BentleyP.BIN

[Eckhard Stolberg]

... Just a question if anyone knows.

Your code should work for properly setting the bank. But on the 2600 different boards or different types of EPROMs can change the value you would get from reading the unused bits in the TIA read registers. Therefore problems like the one you are experiencing usually indicate a case of accidentally using zeropage addressing instead of the intended immediate addressing. Maybe that's a problem on the 7800 too. Did you check if the level counter gets initialized properly?

[keitaro]

The earlier version yes, It's hard (but also addictive). I can't go beyond level 1-3, the most far I go were the zone with a 'big hole' with rocks before and after it. The 'bouncing effect' when you collide by error with a rock makes me falling that hole ...

 

I will try the new version

 

A thing that I see in the early version: sometimes if a skeleton falls in a hole, he go up again.

 

About level designs, are always in woods? How about have someones in caves or sky? (yes, maybe inspired too much in wonder boy but can be done with simple backgrounds)

 

 

Also when playing today I think: man, playing this on real hardware would be awesome. Good work!

Regards,

[Jinks]

Ok play a couple games. Very cool hard to imagine it's a 7800. Very hard game I found never get past level 1-2 on ten or so attempts. Too many baddies and too fast.. always dead. trees should turn around when they hit a object and skeletons die in holes.

But so far looks like the makings of the greatest 7800 game ever made!!

This game is crazy hard!! if you gave me 30 men might make it to level 3 as it sits. I would consider myself a slightly below average casual atari gamer skill level wise.

But lots of people do like hard games and i could really really suck!!

In general like I said the workings of a fn legend!!

[Jinks]

Ok how i find it hard is if you die and your unarmed your screwed as you can never get your weapon b4 the bad guys get you = end of game. also i managed to cheat to the end of level one and thats where it all ended the boss is way too hard 20 attempts and gave up. maybe if it was slower on the attack? Or was a bit more stationary and threw weapons?

The level desgins is very cool. i like the day to night changes and the platforms changing the physics of the movements(does throw you off the first time tho)

Just trying to give some feedback. I respect all your decisions on your game creation and final product and hope you do not take offence to my suggestions. This by far does blow away many nes platfotm titles for sure the graphics are outstanding!! I wonder if the ym chip could be used for sound. This masterpiece deserves all the best!!

Edited July 9, 2012 by Jinks

[PacManPlus]

Hi guys!

 

First off, thank you for the compliments, always.

 

@Eckhard - Thanks for the info - the level indicator on the screen is correct, it's just the bank that's wrong. Mitch also found that it may have something to do with the speed of the eproms. Is there a way to force it to be correct? I've even tried doing an 'AND #$07' and 'CLC' before storing the register in case anything was acting on it.

 

@Keitaro - I know about the skeleton coming back up from the hole - I was going to change it... but I kind of like it! it happens when the skeleton touches land while falling. (i.e. if he falls in an open area with no land around he won't come back up). BTW, I removed the 'big hole' with the rocks before and after it. It was too hard, too early. Finally, all of the first level (i.e. 1-1 to 1-8 ) is in the woods. The second level (2-1 to 2-8 ) is in a different environment, as is each subsequent level.

 

@Jinks - Are you trying the one I just posted? I tried to make it easier but I could revisit it. Which level were you not able to reach the jewel before getting hit by an enemy?

 

Thanks again,

Bob

[Jinks]

 

@Jinks - Are you trying the one I just posted? I tried to make it easier but I could revisit it. Which level were you not able to reach the jewel before getting hit by an enemy?

 

Thanks again,

Bob

Yeah I tried the one you just posted at 1:56pm today the top a78 file unless the lower one is easier? Which level I was on where that multi kills happened? A few times it happened cant remember where I think level 1-7 lots of time when you respawn after death and there is the jewel there and three enemies coming at you running thru the jewel and no way, you can not get it, your hooped!! Maybe more advanced gamers would be able to react fast enough to do some sort of wild ass jump? But the end of the level boss is a real bugger!! On real harware if I made it to the end of level 1 and fought that boss it would be a screen smasher! Cause after all that work without being able to cheat on a emulator the frustration level would be too high! The levels are real long which is very cool. adds lots of depth to the game. At first I thought there would only be only 3 or 4 sections to each level and this looping atarish different color different game thing all the time, but no there is lots to this game. Hell the backgrounds change during the level and the scrolling smooth as silk. and the and the could go on all night and day about how col it is, the boss sprite size very awesome!! You know what would be super cool but a retarded amount of work is maybe at the end of the game or at level 2 or 4 something like that there be a vertical high res battle something like the dragon fight on ninja golf but cooler and different, and the bosses say stuff to you on a cut scene after levels 1 and 3 and the end of the game. the other levels 1 and 3 normal fighting style for bosses...I wish I could program....I really can't imagine the work it would take to make something like this, like hell the guys that did shit like this back then had a freaking team of programmers and so on all to make one game. This already looks arcade platformer quality in many respects, christ with the score zooming up like that after killing a dude a thought I was playing a snes for a minute!!

Edited July 9, 2012 by Jinks

[life_is_pleach]

Looks fantastic. Please count me in.

[Trebor]

I rather this game be hard than easy. If we are blowing through the demos without a problem when the game is fully released as beautiful and technically accomplished the game will be, a quick pass through will lead to a negative impact on the replay value and overall gameplay.

 

Here is a suggestion regarding difficulty - and this idea I thought was cool to gain both the interest of first time players as well as accomplished players. Double Dragon II on the NES (And other games as well) allowed you to only pass so far when choosing an easier difficulty setting. You could only fully play through the whole game, including battling the last boss at the game's most difficult setting (Shadow Master, I believe is the hardest difficulty).

 

Perhaps something similar can be implemented for Bentley:

 

EASY = Enemies and overall challenge are a breeze, but you are only allowed to play through 25%-30% of the game. A message congratulates you on the accomplishment so far, but also encourages you to try a harder setting.

 

MED = Enemies and overall challenge is slightly more difficult, but you only get to play through 50%-75% of the game with another message similar to the aforementioned.

 

HARD = Enemies and overall challenge is quite difficult (IMHO, this is the difficulty of the game per the first released binary in the OP), you are allowed to play through 90-99% of the game, but no final boss battle…A really motivating message should present itself to not give up and try the most challenging setting and be a gaming master.

 

MASTER = Enemies and overall challenge is slightly more challenging than the HARD setting and you are allowed to play though 100% of the game, including the final boss battle.

 

This works on two levels… 1) You are training to become better at the game (Without feeling like you're in a "training mode") with the option to start at your own ability and challenge level 2) You are motivated to continue and stay the course until you fully complete winning the game with motivation and rewards of accomplishment (to a degree) as you conquer each level of difficulty challenge presented.

 

 

Just my 2 cents, probably worth less in most places

Edited July 9, 2012 by Trebor

[DracIsBack]

Anyone have tips for jumping? I've tried with the pro controller and the joypad and I find jumps to be frustrating as can be, especially with the time limit. I'm perpetually landing on rocks and spending an inordinate amount of time trying to jump from tree stump to tree stump (while the health bar declines). Either I'm missing something or the jumping could probably be fine tuned.

 

The potential is there in this game and I love the villains, the art and the variety. Just hate the jumping mechanics right now. :-)

[PacManPlus]

Thanks guys!

 

@Trebor - good points... I'll keep that close while I finish the levels and music. That's something I can look into.

 

@DracIsBack - Are you holding down the 'B' (throw) button to run faster / jump higher? Like SMB and Wonderboy, the 'A' button is jump and the 'B' button is throw jewel / run. In the future, the difficulty switch will reverse the scheme if desired.

 

Side note - about the music: Looking at my Korg X5D keyboard, and noticing that it has a 8-pin DIN serial port connector on it, I was thinking of wiring a 8-Pin DIN to 9-Pin DSUB connector and redirecting the output in the keyboard through that port (from what I researched you can do this). I also purchased a Serial Port to USB adapter. If I put this all together and it works, once I get the layout of the data, I can create a table to take the keys hit and the duration and convert them to Pokey (and TIA for other games) AUDF values.

I'm waiting for the parts to come in. Wish me luck! (God I hope this works - it will speed the music creation up considerably)

... and if I should get a MIDI guitar that has the same option, it would go even faster! (I'm more of a guitarist than a pianist).

 

Bob

[Trebor]

Wish me luck!

 

Good Luck!