Star Castle Arcade - Beta Release

[Albert]

Can someone do me a favor and take some blended screenshots of Star Castle Arcade? I'd like the title screen as well as a few different gameplay shots. When I say "blended", I mean shots that blend several frames together to compensate for any flickering.

 

Thanks!!

 

..Al

[Kiwi]

Here are some screenshots with phosher mode on. I think what's my sleepy head brain translated when you mentioned blended frames.

 

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Thanks!

 

Here is a slightly better title screen, which shows the copyright date (so people will know it the game new )

[mmervine]

I have to say that I am not very good at this game, so I will have to keep playing to get better. Very impressive work...seems to work great on my 7800!

[PFL]

^

Same here. I'm lucky if I can last 60 seconds! I really want to like it though. Practice, practice, practice, I suppose...

[Thomas Jentzsch]

60 seconds? What kills you that fast?

[CrazyChris]

Thomas,

 

Play 2600 Asteroids and get a feel for the control. That is what

I was thinking.

 

Chris

 

 

I could combine that with left difficulty = A. How much lower should it become?

 

Note: The arcade has a bug there which I did not replicate. The friction is different between flying left and right. Same for up and down. I tried to find a compromise.

[Zoyx]

I seem to recall on an earlier build that the b difficulty was one hit to destroy a segment, and a difficulty was two hits to destroy a segment. What happened to that?

[mmervine]

Really enjoying this and getting a little better with some practice...ok, maybe I found a bug...I re-read the entire thread, so I hope I didn't miss anything...I am playing the latest build (140) with my Harmony cart and my 7800. When I try to pause the game, it flashes 'paused', but keeps going.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Oh, THAT much lower. I thought you just meant adjusting it to better match the arcade.

 

Asteroid behaves very different. The ship accelerates much slower and slows down much slower too. And different to Asteroid, in Star Castle you have to move around the screen a lot, almost always. If I only add the lower friction, the ship's control will become much more difficult. And if I also add Asteroid's low acceleration, the game will become impossible as soon as the mines hunt you.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Really enjoying this and getting a little better with some practice...ok, maybe I found a bug...I re-read the entire thread, so I hope I didn't miss anything...I am playing the latest build (140) with my Harmony cart and my 7800. When I try to pause the game, it flashes 'paused', but keeps going.

Does it continue when you release the pause button?

 

Probably the problem is that the 7800 is cannot be auto detected when you play the game via Harmony (on the TODO list for the next Harmony BIOS version). The final cart will of course not have this problem.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I seem to recall on an earlier build that the b difficulty was one hit to destroy a segment, and a difficulty was two hits to destroy a segment. What happened to that?

I removed that option, because the game was way too easy with that, especially after adding the 3rd bullet. With fast thumbs you could break through the rings in one blast.

 

I replaced that with the option to start the game at higher difficulty.

[mmervine]

Does it continue when you release the pause button?

 

Probably the problem is that the 7800 is cannot be auto detected when you play the game via Harmony (on the TODO list for the next Harmony BIOS version). The final cart will of course not have this problem.

Thomas-yes, it will only pause for as long as I hold the button...glad you know about it...I haven't found any other issues...great game!!!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

The beta test is done. Thanks to all testers for your valuable feedback.

 

While there will be no further changes, please continue reporting any bugs you find. If any...

[+iesposta]

The beta test is done. Thanks to all testers for your valuable feedback.

 

While there will be no further changes, please continue reporting any bugs you find. If any...

Yes! Thanks for you time and hard work on bringing this loved game to 2600!

[Keatah]

I disliked Star Castle then and I dislike it now. And that won't ever change. I can't break 25k without extreme effort, nor do I care to. But man.. what a technical achievement! And the attention to detail is remarkable even more so. I remember looking at the starcas.bin "demo" rom, with the shields and lines in the center. That was at the end of 2011. And here we are today with a completed game that plays true to form. Simply Wow!

 

Seeing material like this makes one wonder what will happen in the years ahead. In the meantime the VCS (with the right software) is a shining example of what it means to be more than the sum of your parts.

[+iesposta]

I disliked Star Castle then and I dislike it now. And that won't ever change. I can't break 25k without extreme effort, nor do I care to. But man.. what a technical achievement! And the attention to detail is remarkable even more so. I remember looking at the starcas.bin "demo" rom, with the shields and lines in the center. That was at the end of 2011. And here we are today with a completed game that plays true to form. Simply Wow!

 

Seeing material like this makes one wonder what will happen in the years ahead. In the meantime the VCS (with the right software) is a shining example of what it means to be more than the sum of your parts.

I just came across that "demo" rom!

Here is a screenshot, and another demo that quickly followed.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I can't break 25k without extreme effort, nor do I care to.

25k? I think I never even reached 20k.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Good news for everyone who wants to be creative.

 

There will be a label contest for Star Castle Arcade. It may take a while (next month) before it is started, but you can already begin to make up your mind or discuss ideas.

Edited September 6, 2013 by Thomas Jentzsch

[YANDMAN]

This is what ill be going with, i knocked this up as soon as i heard of this project, If you wish to enter it im happy with that

 

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

It looks great and you can enter it of course (assuming there are no valid copyrights violated).

 

But since there already exists a Star Castle for the 2600 which uses a large parts of the original artwork, we have to make sure that the new label etc. becomes different enough.

[PFL]

60 seconds? What kills you that fast?

Just my ineptitude. I am terrible at games in general and I tend to play this game like Asteroids (camping in the one spot for most of the time) which, of course, doesn't work. I just need to get used to flying around a bit more.

[YANDMAN]

It looks great and you can enter it of course (assuming there are no valid copyrights violated).

 

But since there already exists a Star Castle for the 2600 which uses a large parts of the original artwork, we have to make sure that the new label etc. becomes different enough.

Yeah all of these things you mentioned already went through my thoughts, Ill just make this my own version and when it goes on sale ill buy it but use this label system for myself, I have no idea how long copyrights last for i would be very surprised if any of this artwork is still copy-written, if the super nintendo's was up many years ago this probably is too, And yes it does echo the other versions design but thats a natural step to take, Had atari actually released this game they would of also done the same but i totally understand your notion of creating something different, you would really require a good artist of which i am not, This will remain Yan's custom i think ...............Any idea how long until its made available

[+iesposta]

This is what ill be going with, i knocked this up as soon as i heard of this project, If you wish to enter it im happy with that

 

 

Exactly what I want! Contest over.

Maybe add: Selectable NTSC, PAL, or Black & White. (Yes I WANTED a B&W option!)

Fix: Star Castle (caps) brings (missing s) great graphics, great sounds, and great fun to your ATARI. (one sentence)

 

AtariAge can not use "ATARI" or the Fuji symbol, but that is what it should look like.

[Albert]

We need to differentiate this release from D. Scott Williamson's earlier release, so the above artwork will NOT be used for this game. Artwork submitted to the contest will need to be original artwork. I may allow the same title from the marquee to be used, but that would be it. I will be working on the contest page and will post it up as soon as I can.

 

Thanks,

 

..Al