Sonic the Hedgehog AKA Zippy the Porcupine Demo

[Cybearg]

Just a random Tumblr thing.

 

Zippy should totally have a butt-attack, though.

[Cebus Capucinis]

[Master_Programmer]

I'd actually would like to see what people would come up with for alternate levels. They would have to learn the format behind the level data tables though. I actually used a text editor to make the levels (Dos' Edit) and then used a separate program I made in QB64 to convert that text file into level data the game used.

 

 

...you make QB64 programs to aid your Batari Basic programming too?! O.O

[+Gemintronic]

...you make QB64 programs to aid your Batari Basic programming too?! O.O

 

QuickBASIC/QB64 programmers are the secret underground force in homebrew. We don't even know about eachother

[Sprybug]

...you make QB64 programs to aid your Batari Basic programming too?! O.O

Yeah, the program read a text file of the level I made in EDIT, converted it to level data and exported it as a text file for me to cut & paste into the program. For Zippy, I made a complete graphic level editor in QB64 so I can visually construct the levels. Then I wrote a portion in the program to export the level data to a text file that I copy and paste as a level data table straight into the Batari BASIC code. There's a bit of a bug in it that I haven't figured out though. It tends to mess up one of the values almost seemingly at random.

[Sprybug]

This one's awesome too!

[Andromeda Stardust]

Level design is greatly aided from a GUI level editor. It's like the night and day difference of hacking Super Mario Brothers with a hex editor as opposed to using the YY-Mario executable. There's better editors now, but the YY version was the original tool. With a hex editor, you'd have no idea what your level would look like until you load it in an emulator or on hardware. With the level editor, you'll know immediately what it would look like. Myamoto created hand drawn levels using graph paper for the original Super Mario Brothers. These would have to be hand converted into hex code that the ROM can convert. In 2005 I tried making Ms Pacman custom maze packs (Namco NES version) using graph paper and converting it to hex by using RLE encoding. It is not a trivial task to work in this manner, so if a game programmer can use a higher programming language to create his/her own level editors, this greatly shortens the development cycle and aids in the creation of better levels. I eventually gave up and instead created a series of Game genie codes instead, that changed pointers for the maze data, which allowed a gamer to play any of the 8 beta mazes that already existed in the ROM. I consider myself an intermediate hacker, but I still don't know a thing about creating raw code; I can only edit existing values within a ROM. I tip my hat to anyone who can create game code from scratch, and Sprybug has achieved seemingly impossible feats here.

[TrekMD]

This looks great so far! Love these de-makes!

[Sprybug]

Got word that the 64k upgrade for bB should be out this weekend allowing me to continue my development for Zippy. Also with this and by my being able to combine two variables into one for the overhead map portion, has freed up one variable that I can now use for MUSIC. Originally I wasn't going to have a soundtrack playing while you played the game because I knew it would be pretty difficult to make the sonic game soundtrack sound good on the Atari, but once I tried the game over and level finish music it didn't turn out half bad, so I'm willing to give it a shot. It does feel kind of empty not having music while you play.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Got word that the 64k upgrade for bB should be out this weekend allowing me to continue my development for Zippy. Also with this and by my being able to combine two variables into one for the overhead map portion, has freed up one variable that I can now use for MUSIC. Originally I wasn't going to have a soundtrack playing while you played the game because I knew it would be pretty difficult to make the sonic game soundtrack sound good on the Atari, but once I tried the game over and level finish music it didn't turn out half bad, so I'm willing to give it a shot. It does feel kind of empty not having music while you play.

Yay, 64kb ROMs... And SOUNDTRACK!!!

 

Maybe Princess Rescue 2 will use 64kb and have the full 32 levels with warp zones, plus water levels with new enemies (Fish and Octopus).

[Sprybug]

Yay, 64kb ROMs... And SOUNDTRACK!!!

 

Maybe Princess Rescue 2 will use 64kb and have the full 32 levels with warp zones, plus water levels with new enemies (Fish and Octopus).

I completely forgot that I need one more variable for note duration. Let's see what I can come up with for that.

If I ever do another PR game, it'd more in the vain of SMB3 and I would experiment with DPC+. I would maybe add a Yoshi. Who knows. But one game at a time.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I would maybe add a Yoshi. Who knows.

:lust:

[Sprybug]

Alright, so I messed around with the Green Hill Zone music yesterday and here's what I came up with. I had to change a few notes here and there because they weren't available in the TIA.

music.bas.bin

[AtariBrian]

Sounds really good

[Dan Iacovelli]

the music is really good

[iesposta]

Alright, so I messed around with the Green Hill Zone music yesterday and here's what I came up with. I had to change a few notes here and there because they weren't available in the TIA.

WOWOWOWOW WOW!

I didn't thnk you could get THAT much in there. It is beautiful!

Quite a talent with the music programming.

I'd rather have the tune "less" and/or a note skipped, because an out of tune note really hits hard. You seemed to get them all, in and more. Sounds like more than 2 channels.

My 3-channel music in an upcoming AtariAge release suddenly doesn't feel as cool.

[Sprybug]

WOWOWOWOW WOW!

I didn't thnk you could get THAT much in there. It is beautiful!

Quite a talent with the music programming.

I'd rather have the tune "less" and/or a note skipped, because an out of tune note really hits hard. You seemed to get them all, in and more. Sounds like more than 2 channels.

My 3-channel music in an upcoming AtariAge release suddenly doesn't feel as cool.

It's all in the arrangement, in fact I'd like to rearrange the "B" part of the song as it loses a little in the song. You always have 2 channels at your disposal, so if there's a "rest" happening in one channel, replace it with a different part of the song that's active. Since GH Zone's music has a bouncy and straight note bass line, I can swap it out with the snare drum sound for a quick beat without losing really anything or perhaps for a quick beat, throw in that middle part since it's really close to the bass line musically. The B part of the song does have an arpeggio line that I omitted, because I couldn't find a real good way to implement it since it wasn't the baseline nor the melody, but it could be the thing to really make it work, so I'm still open to getting that in there somehow. I don't want to cut the holds of the melody too short and I love the driving bass line in that part.

[Cybearg]

Amazing work!

[Andromeda Stardust]

Sprybug, I gotta hand it to you: the sonic music you made honestly sounds better than a lot of NES chiptune efforts that I have heard. And the NES has five channels to work with (two rectangles, one triangle, noise, and PCM). It's absolutely amazing what you can do, especially considering that the majority of original games had no backgound music at all and only made simple blips and beeps for sound effects.

[PFL]

That music is really well done. It certainly gives the Master System version a run for it's money.

[Sprybug]

Zippy is running at 64k thanks to all of RevEng's efforts. Figured out some issues and there was the fact that I was using an older custom Score_Graphics.ASM file that wasn't properly putting things in the right place for 64K configurations. I'm also using his currently unreleased (V5) version of this 64K Batari build which fixes things so user functions work properly. I have a few in this game, so I needed this one and so far no bugs to report.

[iesposta]

Good news!

This can be the first Atari 2600 64KB single game (not cartridge, Stella's Stocking is 64KB of more than one game).

It wasn't too hard to switch over, was it?

Too bad real hardware will have to wait for a real cart.

Will you be able to release a World in 32K like with PR?

[CPUWIZ]

Good news!

This can be the first Atari 2600 64KB single game (not cartridge, Stella's Stocking is 64KB of more than one game).

It wasn't too hard to switch over, was it?

Too bad real hardware will have to wait for a real cart.

Will you be able to release a World in 32K like with PR?

 

What do you mean by "hardware will have to wait"? Between me an Al, we probably have 1000+ of PCB's and PLD's to make this happen.

[iesposta]

 

 

What do you mean by "hardware will have to wait"? Between me an Al, we probably have 1000+ of PCB's and PLD's to make this happen.

I mean we can't test 64K binaries on our harmony cartridges.

[CPUWIZ]

True, but people with EPROM burners can get PCB's from me, that can be socketed (out of sockets at the moment). That's how the old-school programmers had to do it for the most part.

 

Man, I remember having to do that with my first SNES game, and we're talking multiple large EPROM's here. At least the test department erased them. LOL