Donkey Kong XM Pre-order and demo

[Trebor]

Still *STOKED* about the update to the elevator level. For those with the less red/more green CRT, it will look like this with that alternate palette:

 

 

Perry, you are *The Man*. Favorite arcade game of all time on my choice system of the 8-bit era in arcade perfection glory...WOO-HOO!

[Trebor]

Perry,

 

Came across an issue. The Spring always kills Mario at Bonus 2500. All the Springs before it pass without issue.

 

This does not happen in the Arcade. You can stand in the spot and wait for the timer to run all the way down if you wanted to:

 

 

 

It appears to not clear Mario by being over ~2-3 pixels more left than the ones that cleared his head before it.

[tep392]

Great update and lots of nice new features. Among other things, the color of Game Over on all the screens is correct now.

I know I mentioned them before but:

1, Jumping or hitting the pies on the factory level has the bonus numbers in blue instead of white. Other bonus numbers are correct in white.

 

I've been aware of this for a while but havn't had a chance to fix it. It's because I accidently used the same DL for a cement bucket as used for the score effect, when I was trying to squeeze 5 of them on the screen at once. I've just made a change to have the 5 buckets share 4 dl's to free up the score dl. Now I can make it white again.

 

2. I don't know if you want to implement it or not but the bonus numbers in the final countdown to ten turn a different color along with the music. It's a different color depending on the screen.

Chuck

 

That's not going to be easy because of the way the bonus text works. Probably won't happen, but thanks for the suggestion.

 

Perry

[tep392]

Perry, the new demo is fantastic!

Among the changes, the new animations of the fire (of oil) are beautiful and the new colors are very nice.

 

Thank you. I'm particularly pleased with how the oil can fire animation turned out.

 

Regarding the colors, I think the palette of Mario seems to be a good compromise for the bouncing objects.

And one thing I ask myself, if technically is possible to add the word _help_ for Pauline.

 

Anyway, always better! Thank you!

might happen if I have enough time and can find space for it.

 

P.S.

 

I take the occasion to signal some details (see images)

 

I forgot to update the piece of code that erases the standing Pauline when DK grabs her. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tep392]

This is absolutely beautiful.

 

I found something that is not right with gameplay on the Rivet Level, but it is probably something one can rarely test. I was playing the Rivets screen, and I jumped across the last rivet. The last rivet CLEARED. At the same time, I hit a firefox. I died instead of clearing the level. Is there a way to give priority to the level clear?

I'll look at that. My first thought is that you must have hit the firefox in the same loop as clearing the rivet. With the loop time being 0.05 seconds long, that probably won't happen often. Should probably just chalk it up to cutting it too close.

 

I found a surprise on the Rivet Level: I jumped next to Donkey Kong, pulled away, and got 100pts!

I added that Arcade quirk a while back. It's actually a side effect of how they detect jumping over objects and how they used two invisible "enemies" on either side of DK to kill you if you get too close.

 

He seems to score similarly in other areas, like jumping away from firefoxes and fireballs.

That's because I changed the code that checks when you are over an object so it uses a wider window when the joystick is right/left vs. centered. This mimicks the object detection in the arcade version. This is the reason you don't always score points when jumping a barrel. Your proximity to the barrel is only checked when Mario is at the peak of his jump. If your joystick is centered when he's at his peak, the window will be narrow and the barrel has to be directly under him to score. Conversly, if you jump away from a barrel with the joystick right or left, the window is wide and you can score points relatively far away from it. It's intersting learning the technical reasons why games behave they way they do, don't you think?

 

I can't seem to score 100 by waiting to jump away from the first blue barrel on the ramps.

I have noticed that also. Not sure why though. I'll take a look at it.

 

Is it possible to fix the hammers, to only destory objects at the ends of the ramps? I noticed you fixed the collision detection with Mario's head. Great Job!

I'm not sure what your saying about the hammers. Can you elaborate?

 

I noticed Mario springs back properly on the Ramps, when jumping of the level near the upper hammer. Is it possible to fix this for other levels?

He should spring back any time he jumps to the edge of the screen. What area have you seen it not work? Have you tried jumping to the hammer on the rivet screen?

 

It was great to get 300 points for jumping two barrels. Mario seems to jump too far horizontally, without as much hang time as the arcade. It's a shame he can't clear a barrel when jumping away from it. It seems as if fixing that would make him unable to clear gaps on the elevator level, but I am not sure.

 

His jump length is the same height and distance, in pixels, as the arcade. This makes it look like he jumps farther and not as high because of the rectangular shape of the pixels. The original Atari programmers didn't reduce the number of pixels to compensate for their rectangular shape when designing Mario and the platforms. That's why everything looks stretched. He jumps the same number of girder segments as in the arcade. That's not true for objects like barrels though. They reduced the number of horizontal pixels to keep them round, so he can actually clear more of them.

 

Finally, would it be difficult to allow Mario to walk most of the way over a rivet and clear it by walking back?

Possible, but probably won't happen. I need to call it finished at some point.

 

One last thing... Have you seen the MARIO graphic used in the new D.K.2600? I really like the look. His thinner size may help in some collision situations!

 

His image size dosen't actually affect collisions. That is controlled by the size of the boundry's I define. I've though about making him thinner, but I would have to give up detail. With the screen being stretched the way it is, I'm not sure it would look right to have a thin Mario running around. it.

 

I had to Photoshop it, due to flicker. If you like this, I would be willing to map out this Mario for use in the 7800 version.

 

GREAT JOB!!!

[+darryl1970]

That's because I changed the code that checks when you are over an object so it uses a wider window when the joystick is right/left vs. centered. This mimicks the object detection in the arcade version. This is the reason you don't always score points when jumping a barrel. Your proximity to the barrel is only checked when Mario is at the peak of his jump. If your joystick is centered when he's at his peak, the window will be narrow and the barrel has to be directly under him to score. Conversly, if you jump away from a barrel with the joystick right or left, the window is wide and you can score points relatively far away from it. It's intersting learning the technical reasons why games behave they way they do, don't you think?

 

I agree. I learned about the invisible enemies next to Kong by using MAME. I used the hammer cheat at the top of the Rivet screen, and the hammer will actually destroy the hidden enemies. It's interesting that they did not use the same technique in Crazy Kong. Even with the cheats active, Mario dies when he touches Kong.

 

I'm not sure what your saying about the hammers. Can you elaborate?

I will add a picture below. Basically, Mario is not supposed to be able to destroy objects on the ramp level above him, EXCEPT at the very end, where the level is low enough. Of course, due to the vertical nature of the arcade screen, the hammer doesn't physically reach. I imaging this could require some trickory.

 

He should spring back any time he jumps to the edge of the screen. What area have you seen it not work? Have you tried jumping to the hammer on the rivet screen?

I will check this again. I did not really test this under different circumstances. I did notice the Rivet hammer spring. One time, I jumped off of the right side of the rivets, and I must have just hit the exact limit, because Mario hit the wall and went straight down -- no bounce..

Also, the arcade version will spring Mario back up from the TOP rivet level, as long as Mario is positioned about 3/4 off the floor. None of the home versions have recreated this, and I believe this is insignificant enough to fall under "It has to be finished sometime." I think you have done an excellent job, and I think it's just great that he springs back, instead of just reversing the x-direction.

 

 

His jump length is the same height and distance, in pixels, as the arcade. This makes it look like he jumps farther and not as high because of the rectangular shape of the pixels. The original Atari programmers didn't reduce the number of pixels to compensate for their rectangular shape when designing Mario and the platforms. That's why everything looks stretched. He jumps the same number of girder segments as in the arcade. That's not true for objects like barrels though. They reduced the number of horizontal pixels to keep them round, so he can actually clear more of them.

In the arcade, it is possible to jump, running away from a barrel. If done correctly, Mario will just clear the barrel. It seems insignificant, but it really is a great strategy when a group of staggering barrels is headed toward Mario. It's actually possible to acheive this on the 8-bit computer version, even with the poor collision bounding. I suspect it may have to do with the speed of the barrels. Again, this is not a big deal. I'd personally rather see Mario able to jump backward. LOL. That's even more insignificant, but I remember thinking I was SO cool when I would do that in the arcade. haha!

 

His image size dosen't actually affect collisions. That is controlled by the size of the boundry's I define. I've though about making him thinner, but I would have to give up detail. With the screen being stretched the way it is, I'm not sure it would look right to have a thin Mario running around. it.

I actually think that would look good. One of my PET peeves with this Mario, although it might seem petty, I can't stand his face. His mustache should extend one more pixel back, under his nose. I am willing to help out with cleaning up the Mario graphics. You have made Donkey Kong, barrels, fire, etc. look so great. I hate to see such an ugly Mario. I created a mock-up of the arcade vs 7800. I stretched the arcade version to the rough-double pixel of the 7800. You can see Mario is quite off. (especially the walking position not shown here). I also overlapped the arcade-stretch and the 7800 Mario. I think this would really polish the look! Let me know if I can help with this.

As you can cee, his face may just need two pixels removed from the white area and some minor manipulations.

[tep392]

I'm excited! I just recieved a minty, complete in box, Needhams EMP-20 programmer. I downloaded the software a week ago but decided to install it off the original 3 1/4 floppy for fun. Now all I need is to find my old parallel printer cable.

 

I've made some nice updates to the game which I hope to upload later today.

- The smashed object graphic is correctly animated and multicolored.

- The elevator bouncer uses correct colors.

- Added "help!" graphic to Paulines animation.

- Hammer duration matches arcade and color changes at 50% time left.

- Fixed bug so Pauline is erased when DK grabs here.

- Adjusted bouncer position and collision boundry. Might be a little too forgiving now. I'll look for feedback.

[mmervine]

I'm excited! I just recieved a minty, complete in box, Needhams EMP-20 programmer. I downloaded the software a week ago but decided to install it off the original 3 1/4 floppy for fun. Now all I need is to find my old parallel printer cable.

 

I've made some nice updates to the game which I hope to upload later today.

- The smashed object graphic is correctly animated and multicolored.

- The elevator bouncer uses correct colors.

- Added "help!" graphic to Paulines animation.

- Hammer duration matches arcade and color changes at 50% time left.

- Fixed bug so Pauline is erased when DK grabs here.

- Adjusted bouncer position and collision boundry. Might be a little too forgiving now. I'll look for feedback.

 

Wow! Can't wait to play this when it is ready!

[+Defender_2600]

I'm excited! I just recieved a minty, complete in box, Needhams EMP-20 programmer. I downloaded the software a week ago but decided to install it off the original 3 1/4 floppy for fun. Now all I need is to find my old parallel printer cable.

 

I've made some nice updates to the game which I hope to upload later today.

- The smashed object graphic is correctly animated and multicolored.

- The elevator bouncer uses correct colors.

- Added "help!" graphic to Paulines animation.

- Hammer duration matches arcade and color changes at 50% time left.

- Fixed bug so Pauline is erased when DK grabs here.

- Adjusted bouncer position and collision boundry. Might be a little too forgiving now. I'll look for feedback.

 

 

:lust: !!

[tep392]

I've posted updated demo's in the 1st post. Let me know what you think.

 

Perry

[Trebor]

Looks awesome, and thanks for fixing the elevator issue as Mario can now stand in place the whole time and not die...Great job!

You definitely can see where the collision needed to be more forgiving too.

 

[Trebor]

Fireball came down an "invisible ladder" (Ladder was not extended) and got me:

 

[Trebor]

On Level 3 your player can out run the first (diagonal) falling barrel for both Difficulties A & B.

This is not possible in the Arcade.

You can out run it on Levels 1 and 2, but Level 3 and higher you are forced to wait for the barrel and jump over it or your player will die.

The barrel is too slow and Mario is too fast.

 

[tep392]

Hmm? I must have changed something. You can't outrun it in earlier versions.

[Draugr]

I can't wait for the XM and this to come out. Is there a new pre-order list to join

[ChuckH]

This is a great update. I love the hammer animation as well as the Help! animation. The duration of the hammer being on is quite accurate now also. I like all the things that you've done. One thing that I'd like to mention is the placement of the lower hammer on the first screen. In the arcade it is to the left of the lower right ladder instead of to the right as in the picture. You have it where the white circle is located.

[Trebor]

Once you clear the pie level, the fireballs and all other "objects" disappear from the screen in the Arcade.

Screen capture shows the climb up the ladder by DK, but the disappearances occurs immediately after making it to the top; prior to Donkey Kong's slide across to the ladder.

 

 

Ditto with Elevators:

 

And Ramps:

 

Obviously no deal breakers with this issue, but just mentioning it in case mimicking the Arcade better is a possibility.

[Trebor]

Speed of the elevators on on Level 3 also appear to be too slow.

Respecting the Arcade you are practically forced to take the bottom route for the second half of the screen because the top 'shortcut' across is nearly (if not) impossible to pull off, due to the elevators being so fast.

Level 3 in DK XM (A & B difficulties appear the same) still makes it relatively easy to skip across the top. It should only be that 'easy' on Levels 1 & 2.

 

Also the Arcade fireballs are faster and "babysit" (Follow Mario) better:

 

[Trebor]

This has occurred several times - never seen it in the Arcade...The heart overlays the "HELP!" graphics.

The "HELP!" graphics are supposed to be not present with the heart on screen:

 

 

Although I guess this ties into the issue mentioned regarding the 'objects disappearing' when level is completed.

[tep392]

Strange, I though I had that worked out last night. Is it only on the cement screen? Maybe "help!" turned on while kong was sliding over the the ladders? I turn it off just after Mario reaches the top platform.

[tep392]

I figured out the stubborn help message. Thanks Trebor!

[+Defender_2600]

...only to signal a detail in Ramps level (the steps of ladders):

 

 

 

 

[NRV]

This thread made me remember of a trick from my days playing DK at the arcade. The problem was I didn't find it looking through faqs, so I was "forced" to try all the Mame versions of DK (i was starting to think I just dreamed about it).

Basically you jump from the top of the bottom right ladder and Mario (jumpman?) goes through the floor, ending the level very easily (this seems to work only in the third japan version of the game, so I suppose it was corrected later).

 

Anyway, this is how it looks (itsameeee princess.. really!.. where are you going!?)

 

(by the way there is some interesting and detailed info here:

http://www.coinopspa...ced-donkey-kong

about the game)

[The Usotsuki]

Crazy Kong has that bug, not?

[tep392]

Speed of the elevators on on Level 3 also appear to be too slow.

Respecting the Arcade you are practically forced to take the bottom route for the second half of the screen because the top 'shortcut' across is nearly (if not) impossible to pull off, due to the elevators being so fast.

Level 3 in DK XM (A & B difficulties appear the same) still makes it relatively easy to skip across the top. It should only be that 'easy' on Levels 1 & 2.

 

Are you sure about that? I've read the arcade code and it looks like the elevator only moves slower on Level 1. Elevator moves 1 pixel every 1/15 second. At level two and above the elvators move 1 pixel every 1/30 second.I'll check in Mame later today to verify. I may be missing something.

 

The ease of jumping to that platform might be related to Mario's jump distance. I took another look at both Mario's running speed and jump distance. If I normalize for the difference in pixel ratio's, Mario runs just a tad fast, 5%. He slows down a bit horizontally while jumping and actually moves slower. But jump distance is about 20% longer. Distances between the platforms and down elevator are within 5% of the arcade, so the longer jump distance is making it easier. These are all things that I can adjust fairly easily. I'm also thinking about changing the frame rate of his animation. It's much slower than arcade version, 10hz vs 20hz repectively. I tested it and doesn't look quite right with the current sprites, but Kevinmos3 did some nice sprite edits that I can use with the legs and arms in the correct positions. I'll also have to update the walking sound to stay in sync.

 

Also the Arcade fireballs are faster and "babysit" (Follow Mario) better:

 

Yes, I havn't touched the fireball AI yet. Not sure that I will either. I really want to get this finished.