Venture: A Poll for the Atari Community

[Kjmann]

We have a dilemma. Some People have said that the game is not difficult enough.

 

We have put in a challenger mode for the game but we are running out of space in the 32k cart. (the Cart must be 32k or less to do a 5200 release)

 

So we have a choice:

 

A) leave the game the way it is and not add a new Map or new rooms to the game which will keep the standard mode for the purists out there.

 

OR

 

B) we can dump the Standard Mode and make this game a more challenging Venture (Pun intended) overall with a new map, new baddies and new obstacles.

 

Vote using the Poll here. I won’t answer comments or questions in public here.

[Gabriel]

I voted to leave the the game standard. My interest in the game is seeing the classic which I lusted after on my friend's Colecovision on my Atari 5200. I want a reasonable port of the arcade game. At this point I'm not really interested in a 5200 version of Abysmal Abyss.

[Charlie_]

I voted to leave Venture the way it is. The way Exidy designed it. Or as close to the arcade version as possible.

[+DamonicFury]

Since the Colecovision version is already a pretty great port of the arcade game, I'd lean more towards Challenging Venture (Venture 2?) for the 5200. I wonder if it would be feasible to offer both versions however... buyers could choose which they wanted, or buy both if they so chose.

[+TrekMD]

How about adding some new levels after the original ones?

[fred]

Make a Venture II!

[jetset]

Leave it as! Just fix the bug where it effectively "ends" after completing all the treasure rooms.

[+Cafeman]

Keep it as-is , close to the coin-op. If you don't have memory for new maps, at the very least make challenging mode 'challenging enough' so that we can't beat it on our first play through. that shouldn't take much memory.

 

I'm not familiar enough with Venture to know this - does the game ever end? Or should it keep repeating the levels over & over until you finally die? (that's how most coin-ops were).

 

Could you make it so that after beating arcade maps, then proceed to challenger difficulty for the next maps, and then do something beyond the present challenger difficulty for the 3rd repeat? Low-memory impact suggestions include:

• make the player hit the enemies twice instead of once before killing them ;
  
• change enemy movement patterns to be different from the coin-op (I'm talking about once the player has already beaten the coin-op-identical levels). This could apply to the outer 'overhead map' creature's movement patterns as well as the inside-the-room creatures' patterns. It doesn't have to be complex either - just a different yet learnable pattern. Something the player needs to learn but won't breeze through the first day.
  
• another way is to reduce the distance Winky's arrows travel once you get to that level in the game.
  

Any Venture fans like/dislike these ideas, if so post something and give kjmann food for thought.

[sqoon]

Take the original Venture and add another level or two with completely new rooms and new baddies. Best of both worlds. Purists get their original Venture, and those wanting more get it as well. I like it a lot.

[scobb]

Fix the bug and leave true to arcade!

[fernando marrin]

Atarimax has 64k pcbs ready to go...

[KevinMos3]

I'd say best option is to go with a 64K cart like Ziggystar did with Gauntlet.

 

But, if you don't want to go with that option, I'd say move away from the original Venture and do something better -- new levels, new graphics, etc. I was never a big fan of Venture, but if I have a desire to play it, I already have plenty of options. I'd rather see something new/improved/better on the 5200.

 

Improved graphics for the walls, player, enemies, etc. would be really nice. Do something like Cafeman did for Adventure with Adventure II. He kept the original spirit of the game but gave us something much better. THAT's something that would interest me. Otherwise it's just a "meh" title in my opinion.

[walter_J64bit]

Yes, there needs to a third option in that poll!

I say keep Standard Mode and add the challenging mode with the use of the 64K cart. Cafeman has good ides too!

Edited October 27, 2012 by walter_J64bit

[fernando marrin]

what's next for the 5200 Sal?

 

i already take venture for granted...

[BydoEmpire]

Since the Colecovision version is already a pretty great port of the arcade game, I'd lean more towards Challenging Venture (Venture 2?) for the 5200.

That's kind of how I feel. If these are the options, then the 'challenge' version sounds like the one I'd most want to play..

[ledzep]

Ya, I'd like a 3rd option. But I voted for keep it original. If the game is popular there can always be a Venture 2 or Venture Strikes Back or something with new maps/tougher levels/whatever. If there's some known bug that can be dealt with that would be cool to fix, too.