Donkey Kong XM Pre-order and demo

[tep392]

This is what I'm thinking. From the HSC screen, firebutton or reset will start game and joystick or select will return to menu. I also need to check the select button during the Intro animation and HHCYG? screen to let people jump back to the menu. In game, select and reset have always gone to menu and restart game.

[Lord Thag]

Man, everyti e I'm absent for a bit something awesome gets released. Sign me up! I want one.

[+swlovinist]

Is there an update on when this is shipping out first batch? I cant wait!

[tep392]

This is the news I've been waiting for from Curt, so I can do some final testing and ship carts.

 

"Okay, just packed up the XM and I'm loaning you my CC2 just in case you need it, so its all in the box."

 

I was expecting the test XM unit a few weeks ago, but there were some delays due to technical difficulties. Curt has been hard at work trying to get this project finished.

 

So assuming I get it later this week, I'll need a few days to do some solid play testing. I'm sure I'll be able to start shipping orders in 2 weeks.

 

I'm so sorry for the delay. I will also be posting a video on youtube of the game and XM at work.

 

Perry

[Trebor]

This is the news I've been waiting for from Curt, so I can do some final testing and ship carts.

 

"Okay, just packed up the XM and I'm loaning you my CC2 just in case you need it, so its all in the box."

 

I was expecting the test XM unit a few weeks ago, but there were some delays due to technical difficulties. Curt has been hard at work trying to get this project finished.

 

So assuming I get it later this week, I'll need a few days to do some solid play testing. I'm sure I'll be able to start shipping orders in 2 weeks.

 

I'm so sorry for the delay. I will also be posting a video on youtube of the game and XM at work.

 

Perry

:-D :thumbsup:

 

YES!!!

[+swlovinist]

Thank you so much for the update, and I cannot wait to play this amazing project.

[tep392]

I've just uploaded the final demo's to the 1st post!

[bfollett]

Looks good, you seem to have taken care of the issue with starting the game when the demo is running. Also, changing the difficulty to Arcade and Novice didn't go unnoticed by me either. It's funny I was almost going to do another post suggesting Arcade and Novice because they have the same number of letters, but I just decided to leave well enough alone. So glad you came up with the same idea. Sometime I think some of the things I report are a bit too nit picky, but you always seem to consider them. I had just one issue, and this may only be because I only have pro-system. If I hit [ctrl] R in pro-system to do a reset the sound gets all wonky and out of sync on the menu selection screen when you are choosing options. It's probably just a pro-system error, but may be worth a quick check on real hardware.

 

Bob

Edited August 23, 2013 by bfollett

[tep392]

I've experienced ProSystem sound getting out of sync also, but I don't think it could be the game. I just can't think of a way for what I have observed to happen on a real system, so I've chalked it up to emulation. I've heard of that problem with other games as well. I will check it out when my XM arrives though. Can you tell me what screen you were on when you pressed reset?

[bfollett]

The more I play around with reset, the more I think it is an emulator issue. Pretty much resetting at anytime can cause the out of sync sounds. I'm pretty sure you'll find it to be an emulator issue.

 

Bob

[tep392]

Thanks for the feedback Bob. Regarding your earlier observation of Mario's animation on the elevators, it's related to how the code handles sprite updates during VBLANK. Mario is not updated in the same frame as the elevator, even though they are anmiated in the main code at the same time. This makes it look like he is hopping on the elevator. I'm not going to make any major changes to the kernal and risk breaking the game, so we will just have to live with it. Sorry.

[Trebor]

Mario is not updated in the same frame as the elevator, even though they are anmiated in the main code at the same time. This makes it look like he is hopping on the elevator. I'm not going to make any major changes to the kernal and risk breaking the game, so we will just have to live with it. Sorry.

 

That kind of stuff becomes noticeable and very apparent on high resolution displays within emulators.

On the real hardware via CRT, or a 7800 emulator which emulates a CRT, it is much less apparent, if noticeable at all.

[bfollett]

Thanks for the feedback Bob. Regarding your earlier observation of Mario's animation on the elevators, it's related to how the code handles sprite updates during VBLANK. Mario is not updated in the same frame as the elevator, even though they are anmiated in the main code at the same time. This makes it look like he is hopping on the elevator. I'm not going to make any major changes to the kernal and risk breaking the game, so we will just have to live with it. Sorry.

 

I figured you probably had looked into the elevator issue and decided it was too involved to easily change. It's good to hear from Trebor that it probably won't be that noticeable on real hardware. Let's see the only other little thing I mentioned that didn't get changed was that there is still no space after the comma between 1981 and 1983 on splash screen. Something tells me that's not going to ruin the game for anyone.

 

Great Job,

 

Bob

[Trebor]

It's good to hear from Trebor that it probably won't be that noticeable on real hardware.

Anyone who has the original Donkey Kong for the 7800 can try it now. It's the same code (One of the few pieces of original code left).

 

Whether noticeable or not, it too is not going to ruin the game for anyone.

[bfollett]

I know the last thing you want this close to release is any more bug reports, but I have a few more. All these were only tested under pro-system.

 

1) After finishing a game, if you press the start button(F2) when you are on the high score entry screen. It looks again like the screen might be briefly switching to 320 mode and you see garbled characters before the restart.

 

2) If you press the jump button while Mario is climbing up or down a ladder, he momentarily pauses, so repeated presses, kind of makes him climb in a slow stutter motion. I tested this in Mame and the jump button should have no effect while climbing.

 

3) This is potentially a bigger problem, and I've duplicated it multiple times. On the rivets screen, clear all but one rivet, then run and jump over the last rivet, but be a bit over-zealous and hit the jump button multiple times. You will either cause the game to reset or more often crash with the screen shown below.

 

Bob

Edited August 26, 2013 by bfollett

[doyman]

Any more available?

[tep392]

I know the last thing you want this close to release is any more bug reports, but I have a few more. All these were only tested under pro-system.

 

1) After finishing a game, if you press the start button(F2) when you are on the high score entry screen. It looks again like the screen might be briefly switching to 320 mode and you see garbled characters before the restart.

I'll take a look at that.

 

2) If you press the jump button while Mario is climbing up or down a ladder, he momentarily pauses, so repeated presses, kind of makes him climb in a slow stutter motion. I tested this in Mame and the jump button should have no effect while climbing.

I don't do that so never noticed. But looking at the code, I'm betting the original Atari code does the same thing. I made no changes. Here's what happens. The code prioritizes the button over the joystick, and Mario's state will change based on one or the other, not both. If Mario's state is "climbing ladder", the button press is treated as joytick centered. I don't know if this was done for a good reason or not. I could instead assume you want to keep going up and treat it as going up. Maybe I'll post a version like that in the thread and let people test it out. I don't want to introduce another bug with the change. I could see this being a good thing if you are trying to jump immediately when you reach the top of a ladder. I'm guessing that is why you are pressing the button while climbing.

 

3) This is potentially a bigger problem, and I've duplicated it multiple times. On the rivets screen, clear all but one rivet, then run and jump over the last rivet, but be a bit over-zealous and hit the jump button multiple times. You will either cause the game to reset or more often crash with the screen shown below.

 

Bob

I'll check this out as well. Thanks for the feedback.

[bfollett]

I could see this being a good thing if you are trying to jump immediately when you reach the top of a ladder. I'm guessing that is why you are pressing the button while climbing.

 

You are correct. I first noticed the problem when I was climbing a ladder and I wasn't sure I was going to get to the top before a barrel arrived, so anticipating having to jump as soon as I got to the top of the ladder I started rapidly pressing the jump button near the top of the ladder and that's when I noticed the stuttering climb. As to multi button press after the final rivet jump... What can I say, I'm a bit of an over-zealous game player. Someone should video tape me playing action games, it might get them $10,000 on America's Funniest Videos.

 

Bob

[Jinks]

I never button mash. after being trained in run and jump games like downland with an anolog stick on the trs-80 its all about timing.. There is no jumping backwards like smb or further jumps and so forth each acition gives you just that... wrong move no turning back your dead!

[tep392]

Bob,

 

The bug that happened when the button is pressed at the end of the rivet screen was caused by some missing address pointers. Turns out you could press the button most any time during the rivet screen animation sequence to cause buggy behavior. Like kong continuously scrolling through the bottom of the screen. It's fixed now.

 

I also fixed the glitchy transion out of the HSC initials entry mode. It was also visible without pressing consol buttons to exit early. It happens just before player2 enters their initials.

 

I did make the change so the button will not slow down Mario on the ladder. But you won't be able to press the button early to automatically jump when the top of the ladder is reached. This is due to button debounce. It's no different with the arcade version.

 

Thanks for the help.

[bfollett]

Nice, you made short work of those bugs. Are you going to post another binary for testing or are you sure your latest fixes don't require any outside testing?

 

Bob

[tep392]

Nice, you made short work of those bugs. Are you going to post another binary for testing or are you sure your latest fixes don't require any outside testing?

 

Bob

The changes were very minor.

[ColecoGemini]

Wow.

 

All I have to say is Holy Crap.

 

Also - on the last few pages - at what point does it go from bug reporting to "I'm trying everything I can to break this game!!!!"

[bfollett]

Ok, I know this shouldn't effect regular game play, but much the same as the pressing the jump button while climbing ladders. If you press the jump button while using the hammer, you get the same stutter steps. It's probably the same code fix as the ladders, so should be pretty simple if you want to include it. Sorry if it upsets ColecoGemini, but these little things all add up and make the difference between a very good release and a great release.

 

Bob

[tep392]

I'm aware of that, but will not be making any change. It's actually more involved than the ladder climbing change. I don't see any real benefit in gameplay, so will leave it be. But thanks for the suggestion.