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Circus AtariAge (2600)


Omegamatrix

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  • 4 weeks later...

Looks very nice. Circus Atari for the 2600/SVA was always a pretty good game but will be more appealing with balloons instead of just squares. I read the one comment paraphrase "will you include the bonus stage with the big balloon" and he refers to the ancient arcade version. To me the most important thing that was lost porting that was the sense of scale. In the arcade version, your little acrobats would fly through the air on these great suspenseful arcs and that is lost when downsizing for the port. I felt the same way about Asteroids port. It's a question really of resolution I suppose.

 

I edited this post wrong recently, sorry for misattributing you Omegamatrix.

Edited by Tin_Lunchbox
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If I implement moon gravity you will probably notice the arcing more as it will be slower. In the meantime my life has been very busy (in a great way) :) It also looks like CAA might make an appearance at PRGE, and there will be a whole slew of other great games there as well. I'm still trying to find time to playtest some of these games, but in the meantime CAA has be moving along too. I'm trying to get a playable demo for PRGE, which means garbage coding like there's no tomorrow to get her done...

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Just dirty.

Tried Circus Atari after with the Gemini controller. Far right is at the end of the knob range. I like your range better.

Question: I put 470k linear paddle pots in my custom arcade Atari joystick because the stock paddles are far too sensitive and only use a tiny fraction of the travel for the vast majority of games. Will the smaller range of movement on my custom controller work with Circus Atari or will I have to use stock paddles? FYI stock paddles use 1MOhm pots but no game I've ever played registers any movement past ~400k.

Edited by stardust4ever
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Question: I put 470k linear paddle pots in my custom arcade Atari joystick because the stock paddles are far too sensitive and only use a tiny fraction of the travel for the vast majority of games. Will the smaller range of movement on my custom controller work with Circus Atari or will I have to use stock paddles? FYI stock paddles use 1MOhm pots but no game I've ever played registers any movement past ~400k.

 

Good question. Download the latest posted binary (post 99), try your paddles, and let me know:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/207391-circus-atariage-2600/?p=2822206

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  • 2 weeks later...

Circus AtariAge is being demoed at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo this weekend! Another great Paddle game remake.

Look here for a binary file soon for Stella or Harmony.

There is much more to be added, but this is at a "just playable game" state.

It is beautiful, colourful, and FUN! (The original Circus Atari is still fun to play.)

I have been testing it for Omegamatrix, and we agreed to make the safe zone on the see-saw larger so anyone can pick it up and play a bit. With 5 lives my best score is 204 balloons.

I like that there are six colors in the 3 rows of balloons!

Real hardware on a CRT is incredible because of the acrobat's "phosphor trail." Trippin' wild!

I can't wait to read your feedback...

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Yes, a working demo for PRGE will be posted shortly after PRGE. Get your paddles ready. :) In terms of the hit zone... the original demo I made was a little harsh so I doubled the target area to make it easier (for the demo). We didn't want to frustrate anyone at the show. Just a few more days people, and it'll be here!!! :D

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For those who couldn't attend PRGE this year, here is the Circus AtariAge demo. :)

 

 

CAA_PRGE_Final.bin

 

 

post-7074-0-32125500-1381083084_thumb.pngpost-7074-0-71079000-1381083090_thumb.png

post-7074-0-00461900-1381083097_thumb.pngpost-7074-0-94953300-1381083105_thumb.png

post-7074-0-28735100-1381083114_thumb.pngpost-7074-0-94798700-1381083131_thumb.png

 

 

This game uses paddles. If you are using the Stella emulator you'll need to tell it that this game uses paddles. Go Options, Game Properties, Controller, and change the P0 Controller drop-down to Paddles.

 

post-7074-0-74379900-1381083547_thumb.png

 

If you are using a Stelladaptor, make sure it is plugged in before you open Stella.

 

 

This is an early demo still, please remember a lot of stuff is still missing... for now :) If you leave the demo alone it'll run through the splash screens for PRGE. Finally if you are using a Harmony cartridge, try using the rom with the Harmony in menu mode... hint hint ;)

  • Like 9
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Looks gret ! Any plans for ingame or title screen music ?

Absolutely! For the demo, music was one of the things that there just wasn't enough time to put in. The title screen itself was really meant for PRGE, and I cannibalized some of previous work to make it. This title screen is going to be swapped for a completely different one that I have in mind (when the time comes.) :)

 

 

This game is currently only about 25% complete... the todo list is basically, well, everything. :ponder: I've been keeping notes of cool gameplay ideas as they come to me, but for right now it is about getting the core game working. I wished I could have implemented the jumper bouncing off the balloons in time for PRGE, but that will come about in later builds.

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Frankly, I was not seeing the point of an updated Circus Atari, but am all converted now - Circus AtariAge promises to become another deeply addicting and immediately absorbing new homebrew for the 2600, joining the likes of Lady Bug, Toyshop Trouble or Lead, to name a few. :lust:

 

Really impressed by the love to detail - for example the "living" letters in the "provisional" title screen are a great touch.

Of course looking forward how the indicated real title screen can eventually topple this one.

But it would be a pity if the demo title screen gets scrapped and lost.

Suggestion - how about keeping it as the basis for a series of intermissions, whenever a new gameplay element is being introduced?

For variation, the little stickmen could then go through different animations for each succeeding intermission (maybe in two phases: first a celebration, followed by a little sketch introducing the next element)

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Absolutely! For the demo, music was one of the things that there just wasn't enough time to put in. The title screen itself was really meant for PRGE, and I cannibalized some of previous work to make it. This title screen is going to be swapped for a completely different one that I have in mind (when the time comes.) :)

 

Nice to see the binary counter again. :)

I'm sure the final title screen is going to be great.

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First off - Omegamatrix you are doing an EXCELLENT job with this game; it's looking and playing awesome! :)

 

.... I read the one comment paraphrase "will you include the bonus stage with the big balloon" and he refers to the ancient arcade version. ...

 

Secondly, I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I would like to respond to this. I was actually referring to the 7800 version of Super Circus AtariAge: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/167421-super-circus-atariage-new-wip/page-12?do=findComment&comment=2134312

 

Sorry about the side-track... Back to your regularly scheduled program! :)

 

Bob

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  • 3 weeks later...

I put the old demo ROM on my harmony and spend 20 minutes trying to figure out why it wouldn't work, before I realized I downloaded the wrong file! :dunce:

 

I finally got a chance to test the game out. Absolutely brilliant! The hijinks of these circus performers never gets old! Also the blood is a nice touch but it kinda makes me feel bad for the little fellas to see them go splat on the gound.

 

Also, I tested the game with my custom arcade joystick with built in 470k/500k paddles. It works great. There's about the same amount of overhang on the left as there is on the right side. That means that other brands of paddles (like the C64) which used 500k pots, should work just fine.

 

Enough of technical dribble. More circus hijinks...

 

The balloons are colorful and pretty. By far the best part of this homebrew compared to the original is how they crammed so freakking many balloons on a single line. I've yet to be able to clear them all but I think it's perpetual. I believe the balloons respawn if you clear the entire row!

Edited by stardust4ever
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The balloons are colorful and pretty. By far the best part of this homebrew compared to the original is how they crammed so freakking many balloons on a single line. I've yet to be able to clear them all but I think it's perpetual. I believe the balloons respawn if you clear the entire row!

I'm glad you enjoyed the demo. :) I haven't worked on it much at all since PRGE, and I've come to realize it will be a multi-year project. In the end it will be fun!

 

The balloons do respawn once the row is cleared. They also change direction once you clear them! One of the many things I want to do is add a small respawn sequence, but that is still far away yet.

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