KevinMos3 Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 (edited) Now with youtube video. Captured from my 7800 with s-video mod. The choppiness is due to the frame-rate conversion.http://youtu.be/7VbSkaInBXUThis was originally a fairly quick edit of Choplifter!, but became a little more detailed. Here's a list of changes: Shortened the tanks & added more shading Changed HUD graphic (Wings and Instrument Panel) and added text DEAD, LOAD, & SAFE Removed strange protrusion from heads of hostage sprites & edited running animation Added some detail to the Mines & reduced their width by 2 pixels Added shading to the windows of the HQ building Added a second color to the clouds Added shading to the power lines Added a bit more shading to the buildings Changed title screen colors & added 2nd color Changed sky color from 88 to 98 Lightened color of hostages' skin from 30 to 36 Changed ground color from E8 to F9 Changed Airplane colors from greens to grays (left blue alone) Tweaked landing pad from EE to 2E Here is the final version with an instrument panel HUD originally by Defender_2600 and adapted to this (Thanks Marco!): Choplifter (HUD).a78Choplifter (HUD).binAnd the final version with rescue wings for the status bar: Choplifter (Wings).a78Choplifter (Wings).binAnd a couple screenshots of the original so you can see most of the updates. Here's a bookmark file for Hex Workshop. Not all colors are bookmarked -- only the ones I was interested in changing, but there are quite a few for you to play around with.Choplifter a78 (HW Bookmark).zipPrevious Versions: Alternate versions of the HUD: Choplifter (HUD).a78Choplifter (HUD2).a78Choplifter (HUD3).a78I just keep messing with it. Here's one with green ground. It would be nice if it were hacked to have multiple levels. The game could cycle between Dirt, Sand, Grass, and Snow.Choplifter (HUD) green.a78Choplifter (Edit)v2.a78Choplifter (Edit)v2.binChoplifter (Edit).a78Choplifter (Edit).binHere's a version with 3 colors in the title logo. The way it cycles is kinda cool, but I still prefer the main download above. Choplifter (Edit)v3.a78(Note: the title cycles color, so the screenshot just shows all three) Choplifter (Edit).a78Choplifter (Edit).bin Edited September 22, 2013 by KevinMos3 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Nice work!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebor Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 The thing that kills me about stuff like this (And excellent work Kevin) is the game do not need to be completely redone or reprogrammed to look this good. The level of detail and much better color scheme just would have took a little more time, patience, and testing to get it looking as good or at least close to it. I know there were the time pressures and other constraints, but seeing this side by side, hell even just that top status/info area, you would think this is comparing two different systems. Bravo Kevin, I'm a big fan of all that you continue to due with these games. These are some awesome updates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadrunner Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Nice hack A few ideas, Can the air mines be made smaller, those things are huge! Can the American flag be raised higher, the pole seems a bit low. And can a demo mode be added that shows the final score? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinMos3 Posted February 9, 2013 Author Share Posted February 9, 2013 (edited) Can the air mines be made smaller, those things are huge! Done. See 1st post for the updated binaries. Can the American flag be raised higher, the pole seems a bit low. Not without adding additional sprites which I cannot do. And can a demo mode be added that shows the final score? Not with my abilities, although that's an idea I'd love to see done. Edited February 9, 2013 by KevinMos3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Defender_2600 Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 The thing that kills me about stuff like this (And excellent work Kevin) is the game do not need to be completely redone or reprogrammed to look this good. The level of detail and much better color scheme just would have took a little more time, patience, and testing to get it looking as good or at least close to it. I know there were the time pressures and other constraints, but seeing this side by side, hell even just that top status/info area, you would think this is comparing two different systems. :thumbsup: Bravo Kevin, I'm a big fan of all that you continue to due with these games. These are some awesome updates. ...Kevin, I will have to sell my original cartridges! I have designed a new HUD, now is a instrument panel with digital displays vintage. Speaking of vintage, I used the color red for the helicopter. Marco Choplifter 7800 HUD new v2.bmp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinMos3 Posted February 10, 2013 Author Share Posted February 10, 2013 (edited) ...Kevin, I will have to sell my original cartridges! If you lived in the US, I'd say to send me your cart and I'd convert it for you. Unfortunately, overseas would be too much hassle. I have designed a new HUD, now is a instrument panel with digital displays vintage. Um, wow! Thank you. That looks better than I'd hoped for. I've added it to the game with a couple of caveats: * The score numbers share color with the clouds and mountain tops, so that will have to stay white. * I've made a few different versions, one very close to your picture but with the addition of more rivets and I used RED for the DEAD text. * Another version uses the 3rd color in the HUD for highlights. I'm not yet sure which I like best, but I think these all look good (definitely way better than the original game). See the 1st post for pictures and binaries. P.S. I left the helicopter color at 32 (in the v2 and 31 in the HUD versions), but you can easily change it to whatever color you like with the Hex Workshop bookmark I posted before. If I go lighter, it's too close in color to the HQ building. Edited February 10, 2013 by KevinMos3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebor Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 Some very nice updates since I last checked here. Great job with the updated HUD, Marco. I like the RED color for DEAD, Kevin. Then I thought the SAFE color BLUE looked too much like the sky, and think GREEN would look nice. Then it occurred to me, why not do the full 'traffic light'? RED = DEAD YELLOW = LOAD GREEN = SAFE The YELLOW = LOAD works well if you equate yellow with caution or warning due to the lives your trying to save on board. Just a thought, not sure if the LOAD and SAFE colors are shared elsewhere, which of course would likely mean they cannot be changed to something else. Regardless, DEAD = RED is great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinMos3 Posted February 11, 2013 Author Share Posted February 11, 2013 (edited) Then I thought the SAFE color BLUE looked too much like the sky, and think GREEN would look nice. Then it occurred to me, why not do the full 'traffic light'? I wish I could, but the HUD is a standard 3-color graphic. So, that blue looks like the sky because it is. It's actually blue in those spots because it's showing the sky behind it. Just a trick to make it appear more than 3 colors. So, the color schemes of the Status Display in the versions above are: Blue, Red, Gray (wings) Gray, Light Gray, Black (HUD 1) Gray, Black, Red (HUD 2, 3) The score shares color with a different graphic (the mountains and clouds), so that's why it can be white. Altogether it appears to have 5 colors, but really it's only 3. Edited February 11, 2013 by KevinMos3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebor Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 I figured there was a bit of palette sharing, but thought it doesn't hurt to ask. Thanks for the info, and again, great job with this hack...It makes the game look worlds better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Defender_2600 Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 (edited) Guys, I'm very glad that you like the new HUD Kevin, thank you for you have entered this in the game, the video is a little emotion. I've added it to the game with a couple of caveats: * The score numbers share color with the clouds and mountain tops, so that will have to stay white. Perhaps it is possible to have a version of the game with the score numbers red (or yellow). My idea is to sacrifice one color (white) in the clouds and mountains and then change the color violet to white. I also changed the color of the indices of the analog instrument (gray to BLUE) I have a suggestion for the graphics of the score numbers (1, 4 and 7). The logic is to replicate the resolution of the old displays. * I've made a few different versions, one very close to your picture but with the addition of more rivets and I used RED for the DEAD text. Initially I used the color red for the DEAD text (v1) . But when I chose the new palette, to highlight the numbers of score, the DEAD text was difficult to read (on CRT display). * Another version uses the 3rd color in the HUD for highlights. Very three-dimensional! Thank you for your kind attention Edited February 13, 2013 by Defender_2600 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinMos3 Posted February 12, 2013 Author Share Posted February 12, 2013 (edited) Thanks for your help and input Marco. I updated the rom with those score font changes and the indices of the analog instrument as you suggested. I'll upload the binary when I get home today. I tried out your suggestion for the score color and removing a color from the mountains, but I just don't think it's a good trade-off. The original mountians look great (one of the games better graphical features), so to me, it's not worth reducing the look of the mountains to have a different color for the score. I thought maybe it would look acceptable to checker-pattern where the lighter purple is, but that still did not do them justice. So, I'll be leaving the mountains as they are. After all, the new dash HUD is at least 20x better than the original status display. edit: Updated in 1st post. Edited February 12, 2013 by KevinMos3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Defender_2600 Posted February 13, 2013 Share Posted February 13, 2013 Kevin, thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinMos3 Posted February 14, 2013 Author Share Posted February 14, 2013 I know I said the last one was final, but I've edited the run animation of the hostages -- so new binaries in the 1st post. This may be sacrilege to hardcore collectors, but I went ahead and converted my Choplifter cart. This is what prompted that last edit... just one final touch before doing the cart. I was going to buy another Choplifter for conversion, but decided not to wait. I was surprised to find that it just used the standard 32K board. I thought since it had a RED text label that it would be on a non-bankswitched Supercart board but it wasn't. I used the nice clean no-wires inverter method that I showed here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmervine Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Kevin-nice work!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roadrunner Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Another idea. What would this game look like with a black sky and little stars... maybe a moon too. Could that be done? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebor Posted May 8, 2013 Share Posted May 8, 2013 Another idea. What would this game look like with a black sky and little stars... maybe a moon too. Could that be done? The 7800 and SMS ports are based on the Arcade release (port) of the game. You're obviously referring to the original release on the Apple II. Not a bad idea at all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgkhC0XGFjs A PC port from the 90's (Airlift Rescue) tackled this quite well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKhAuWRPiTA Plays beautifully under DOSBox for more modern systems. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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