barnieg Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 As GroovyBee has posted about his new homebrew Killbotz! I thought I should give the other Mattel system some Attention and post about my homebrew idea for the Aquarius which was somewhat inspired by a recent thread about whether the Atari 2600 could do a Robotron like game so I thought what about an even more "challenged" system! Still at very early stages and so far based on my clumsy efforts at C & Assembly on the Aquarius which started out using some Bezerk graphics. Have been working on some chunky graphics utilizing chjmartin2 brilliant graphic tool. And yes I intend to have speech probably using the miniexpander - now all I need is a cheap real Aquarius+ miniexpander so I am not relying on emulation!! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pimpmaul69 Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 awesome to see some aquarius homebrew love. i definitely look forward to a new game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmart604 Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 I don't own an Aquarius but I'm certainly interested to see what you do with the chunky pixels. The game LumASCII on the Speccy certainly shows what you can get out of a built in ASCII font :- http://youtu.be/tlNMyvD0stU Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catsfolly Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Vewy Vewy Intewesting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnieg Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share Posted March 31, 2013 All clever C and assembly routine ideas will be greatly appreciated Need to get a half decent block moving routine working that can plot chars of 2x1,2x2 and 3x3 also need to be able to print blocky pixel fonts which I hope will similar to early 2600 games & the intelliivision style characters. GroovyBee: http://www.bobs-stuff.co.uk/ is great and the ZX-81 stuff he's done I think shows whats possible, I will probably use the full extended ASCII of the Aquarius but want to avoid making it look like an ASCII game if that makes sense!! Going to target 16K ROM image for unexpanded Aquarius with optional miniexpander sounds. There is some overhead to Z88dk but I think that's worth it for some of the features available Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Awesome! Robotwon? Sounds like Elmer Fudd talking! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaybird3rd Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Excellent! Glad to see homebrew development picking up for the Aquarius! Going to target 16K ROM image for unexpanded Aquarius with optional miniexpander sounds. There is some overhead to Z88dk but I think that's worth it for some of the features available Well, if you find that you need more space, definitely let me know. My cartridges can give you from 32K up to a full megabyte of bankswitched ROM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pimpmaul69 Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 I don't own an Aquarius but I'm certainly interested to see what you do with the chunky pixels. The game LumASCII on the Speccy certainly shows what you can get out of a built in ASCII font :- http://youtu.be/tlNMyvD0stU i have played tons of ascii games (mostly on mi ti-83 plus) but nothing as sweet looking as this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck D. Head Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Fantastic news! Cant wait to see this. Going for compatibility with the bare Aquarius makes good sense, but not sure how well you could play a Berzerk style game with the keyboard anyhow. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnieg Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share Posted March 31, 2013 (edited) I used to play Tron Deadly Discs with just the keyboard overlay, but that was a long time ago . Maybe Mini Expander needs to be a minimum requirement?, although I have no idea how the emulation of the controllers work in Virtual Aquarius! Fantastic news! Cant wait to see this. Going for compatibility with the bare Aquarius makes good sense, but not sure how well you could play a Berzerk style game with the keyboard anyhow. Good luck! Edited March 31, 2013 by barnieg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnieg Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share Posted March 31, 2013 Think a Robotic Ellmer Fudd trying to say "Robotron" Walter the Wobot from Judge Dredd: http://www.facebook.com/WalterTheWobot?ref=stream hmm should it be "Wobotwon" Awesome! Robotwon? Sounds like Elmer Fudd talking! :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pimpmaul69 Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 (edited) Think a Robotic Ellmer Fudd trying to say "Robotron" Walter the Wobot from Judge Dwedd: http://www.facebook....obot?ref=stream hmm should it be "Wobotwon" fixed that misspelling for you. also reminds me of kwipke from the big bang theowy. also dual controllers direction pads being used would be awesome. Edited March 31, 2013 by pimpmaul69 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquaman Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 you sure have my attention! Any homebrew effort for the Aquarius is much appreciated! A nice Berzerk version seems like a good idea. PS Mini-Expander and Joystick use seems to be of the essence with such a game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquaman Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Sorry, I wasn't trying to get anyones eye tested, just used a small font by accident Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riffraff Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Way cool! Glad to see the aquarius getting some homebrew love. I programmed an artillery duel game using the basic when I was about 13 years old. Sadly I did not have the cable to hook up to a cassette player to save the program =) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck D. Head Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 you sure have my attention! Any homebrew effort for the Aquarius is much appreciated! A nice Berzerk version seems like a good idea. PS Mini-Expander and Joystick use seems to be of the essence with such a game. I think you got Berzerk from my post, he is going for Robotron, sorry for the misdirection. I know they are similar, but Robotron is much more of a challenge for the Aquarius I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquaman Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 I think you got Berzerk from my post, he is going for Robotron, sorry for the misdirection. I know they are similar, but Robotron is much more of a challenge for the Aquarius I think. Robotron is indeed even more amazing if he pulls this off! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnieg Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share Posted March 31, 2013 There will be some bezerk ideas in there http://atariage.com/forums/topic/210151-robotron-2084-for-atari-2600/ has some good ideas I think you got Berzerk from my post, he is going for Robotron, sorry for the misdirection. I know they are similar, but Robotron is much more of a challenge for the Aquarius I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnieg Posted March 31, 2013 Author Share Posted March 31, 2013 I'll be even more Amazed Robotron is indeed even more amazing if he pulls this off! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 http://intellivisionrevolution.com/entries/intellivision-miscellaneous/mattel-aquarius-homebrew-robotwon-2525 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck D. Head Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 http://intellivision...w-robotwon-2525 Can't turn back now, it's officially an actual thing on the interzetz! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 I suppose I need to start looking for an Aquarius I know nothing about these, so if anyone wants to start a thread (or reference one) or even make a demo video.....sell me on the Aquarius 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck D. Head Posted March 31, 2013 Share Posted March 31, 2013 Here is my best sales pitch; read all about Jaybirds Aquaricart: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/189033-aquaricart-the-aquarius-album-cartridge/page__hl__%20aquaricart 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
river9999uk Posted April 1, 2013 Share Posted April 1, 2013 Looking forward to this one! I shall certainly be forming an orderly queue! As the new cart cases seem to be a go-er as well it should all make the scene a little more attractive...hurrah! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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