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New DK for VCS?


sqoon

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While I am a 7800 owner, Atari 2600 is deserving of a new DK. I own the 2600 version of Donkey Kong for 22 or 23 years. I am hoping a new DK would happen for the 2600. I have to agree that a new DK should be in a 32k rom cartridge.

 

The more it is considered, the elevator and cement/pie levels would most likely take it past 8K storage. Add in intro and 'How high can you get?' screens and 32K may be the best scenario for a new VCS Kong.

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If 32k is what it takes to make a nice shiny DK for the VCS then that's what should be used. There's no point in creating artificial barriers... Goodness knows there are enough barriers in coding DK on the VCS as it is without worrying about cart sizes. :)

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Set all the barrels animated and moving "on rails." Kind of a neat effect you can follow a barrel down the screen, but it is just looping.

Let me see how far I can get at my current skill level. At the least I'd like to get this level all playable where Mario can climb and you can jump barrels for points.

And remember, all this is done in relatively easy Basic language!

 

I had the idea of looking at bit three of an increasing counter to use as a flip-flop for the animation. I'm sure it's not a new idea but it just came to me how to do a delayed flip-flop. That's the real fun of programming when you figure a solution to a problem without learning it from someone else.

 

It's getting harder to add screenshots with all the moving and the flickering but here's one I edited together:

post-29575-0-94788800-1351224449_thumb.jpg

JumpmanRED20121025.bas.bin

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I gave up on the playfield graphic Kong. Just can't do much with 6 x 30 playfield, even with a sprite overlay (unless someone has a suggestion). That pile of Kong poo above was the best I could think of...

 

PAC-MAN-RED said in an old thread, "...can't do justice to [Kong] with one player," so I took that advice and went sideways and made half a Kong! Credit goes to PAC-MAN-RED, I changed maybe three pixels and added some color.

post-29575-0-58364100-1351559558_thumb.jpg

Thoughts?

Also anyone know where I can learn movement techniques? Not animation, how do I get Jumpman to climb the girders and ladders? Coordinate tables?

 

Added climb animation and fire button jump! Hid the princess for now, althought I don't mind the flickering, maybe I'll have it when you get to the top, she appears.

 

JumpmanRED20121029.bas.bin

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Thanks for the encouragement!

I understand that this is a small community and that it will be both loved by some people and hated by other people because of all the flickering.

That is okay. You do things like these for yourself, first, because you want to do them.

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Why with the flickering? Can't the DPC+ kernel make nice playfield rows squished together enough to look like thin girder beam pixels?

It is my design decision to flicker 2 playfields. One for red girders, and one for blue ladders.

I could make it a static playfield, but then I could only change color every other line.

The Pie / Cement Factory and the blue girder levels may be done with one playfield.

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It is my design decision to flicker 2 playfields. One for red girders, and one for blue ladders.

I could make it a static playfield, but then I could only change color every other line.

I like the idea of Omegamatrix with alternating PF colors. But probably there are other disadvantages which you already considered.

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Honestly I don't see the problem with flicker at 30Hz. It can become an issue with HDTVs (deinterlace causes half-scanline bars on progessive displays) and youtube videos (youtube deletes every other frame on interlaced or 60Hz flicker sprites causing certain game elements to disappear), but on CRT TVs, 30Hz looks flawless if it's over a black background. Even the 20Hz flicker of Pacman 4k is acceptable to me. IMO Donkey Kong just doesn't look right without different color ladders and platforms.

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Whoever would'a thought, back in 1977-1978, that the VCS would be going strong 30 years later? Even Atari had designed the VCS with a life/market expectancy of 2 years at best. Since then, all sorts of techniques and tricks came to pass, eeking out another year, after year, after year.. Memory in cartridges have increased as well. It's a natural progression. We already *KNOW* what can be done in 2k and 4k. It's been done. So let's leave that behind and not worry about artificial limitations. If this takes 32k or 64k or 128k, shit man.. I'm all for it! If it needs the Arm processor from Harmony, well then let us use it! 32k was possible back then anyways, just not cost effective. The cartridge would have been larger and had vents or perhaps possibly a micro-sized fan too.

 

Pushing the boundaries of software tricks and creativity is of the same philosophy as pushing hardware. As long as it plugs into a real stock unmodded VCS, then it's game! (no pun intended)

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Agreed. And both both options (flicker, alternating colors) provide those different colors.

I would love to do the first screen like Omegamatrix does, but his playfield is doing mid-line color changes.

If I could program assembly, that's what I would do. With batari Basic I can't do mid-line color changes.

 

Also the extra detail on the Princess and the white "OIL" on the barrel is the ball which changes position, width and colors as it goes down the screen. I don't think that is possible with the current batari Basic.

 

The top text Donkey Kong and Help also use "score" routine with player0 and player1 changing data as the screen is drawn from left to right.

Again, in batari Basic that routine is at the bottom of the screen, and apart from changing the 10 number shapes, then there wouldn't be a score at the bottom.

If I use "noscore" that area is left blank, I don't think you can use it for play-field for sprite display or anything without a custom kernel part.

 

Addressing modern TV's deinterlacing causing scanline bars, my projecter does this, but only on certain flicker rates. Certain flicker rates cause sprites to display every other line. Pac-Man 4K has no problem. The delinterlacing even smooths out the sharp edges of Pac-Man and looks really good.

 

Keep suggestions coming! I'm still having fun with this project.

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This looks really good!

 

One suggestion on the playfield... what I did with Lady Bug was mix two colors to produce the maze color (mixing pink and green) which left the doors green. By doing this only the doors flickered at 30hz and the maze was displayed constantly with the mix of pink and green (blech!).

 

You actually have two good colors you can use... So, have one screen that has everything displayed in white and a second screen that just has the girders in red. A bright red and a white should produce pink girders and white ladders, with no flicker on the girders. Experiment with the colors and I'm sure you can come up with something that looks pretty good.

 

Good luck!

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