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Space Raid (2600)


nanochess

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Well guys, here is a very improved version and I still have 15 bytes free in ROM :D

Also I've keep the name Space Raid, I like it. The other name looked like a good idea in the night, but this morning... you got the idea.

Among the new enhancements:

  • Player's bullet now centered.
  • Enemies' bullets now centered.
  • Increase on difficulty on each level.
  • There are now enough fuel posts for the maximum difficulty (at stage 32)
  • Crosshair to shoot enemies (only in easy difficulty)
  • Force fields bigger and now can be in top or bottom of path.
  • I've rewrote display kernel to use HMOVE on each scanline.
  • Synchronized dotted line with elements at fortress.
  • Variations in timing for silo missile firing.
  • Some extra graphics for cannons and fortress walls.
  • Variable color in space (it's hyperspace :D)
  • Some improvements in level design.
  • Improvements in sprite colors.
  • More random shooting.
  • Alternate background color each two fortresses.
  • Score doesn't go back to zero after reaching 9999.
  • All known bugs solved.

By the way, after finishing all this I just checked the other ugly game that inspired me to create this and IT IS 8K!

 

So I believe I did a good effort with only 4K. I could do mine in 8K and add some extra graphic candy, but naaah! it's more interesting this way :D

If someone wants to do a Youtube video of the game I'll be very happy :)

As always, I'm open to comments ;)

 

nanochess_space_raid_ntsc.bin

nanochess_space_raid_pal.bin

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I like the new name. With regards to the '3D' in the title, it's not like Atari game makers in the past were averse to hyperbole! Go with whatever makes you happy bloke. I don't really care what the game's called as long as it plays well.

 

PS: Just as a heads up I was going to test the PAL build on real hardware but the telly I've got over here (I'm working in China jut now) just died on me! Hopefully, I should have a 'new' one in the next few days if that's not too late for you. :)

 

You'll like the new version :), at the end I keep the original name.

 

What a shame your Atari died! Yep, I can wait a few days to know your results in PAL :), I can be pretty slow when it's about hardware, I want to do it the old way: searching for the right memory in my things, dismounting a cartridge, doing the adaptation, remounting the casing, test :)

 

Already Mr SQL did a test with real hardware and the NTSC version, so I'm pretty happy :D

Edited by nanochess
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One thing I found frustrating was the fixed interval between shots fired from your ship. In the other versions, both the arcade and the ultra-horrible 1982 home "edition" you can jam super-fast on the fire button and get shots that are more numerous and spaced closer together. Multiple shots on-screen at one time.

 

In this Space Raid, no matter how fast you fire you can only have one "bullet" on-screen at one time. I'm not a VCS programmer so I don't know if it's a limitation of the hardware or just a choice you made.

 

I also propose 2 versions. And this applies to any new homebrew. Why not make one for purity sake, make like a 2k or 4k version. When that's complete, expand it and make a Special Edition to showcase talent & capability of both man and machine. After all, the VCS is an expandable piece of hardware.

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One thing I found frustrating was the fixed interval between shots fired from your ship. In the other versions, both the arcade and the ultra-horrible 1982 home "edition" you can jam super-fast on the fire button and get shots that are more numerous and spaced closer together. Multiple shots on-screen at one time.

 

Yep, I've made player bullet so fast as possible to compensate it.

 

 

In this Space Raid, no matter how fast you fire you can only have one "bullet" on-screen at one time. I'm not a VCS programmer so I don't know if it's a limitation of the hardware or just a choice you made.

 

TIA only allows 2 "missiles", one is being used for player and other for enemies. It's possible to put several "missiles" per screen without flickering but I'm extremely constrained in the display kernel.

 

There are limitations on what I can do per display line. Anyway I'll consider it for future versions maybe even I could opt for flickering.

 

Thanks for commenting. :)

 

I also propose 2 versions. And this applies to any new homebrew. Why not make one for purity sake, make like a 2k or 4k version. When that's complete, expand it and make a Special Edition to showcase talent & capability of both man and machine. After all, the VCS is an expandable piece of hardware.

I'm thinking about it ;)

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Issue with shooting and blowing stuff up?

 

For example, when I press fire, and the enemy craft is all the way on the right side (and properly lined up), he will explode instantly. You can't see your shot traverse the distance between you and your target. This happens with Difficulty B set, with the cross-hairs.

 

Now, on Difficulty A, your shot is always visible, and takes some time to make its way to the target.

 

Is that the intended behavior?

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Issue with shooting and blowing stuff up?

 

For example, when I press fire, and the enemy craft is all the way on the right side (and properly lined up), he will explode instantly. You can't see your shot traverse the distance between you and your target. This happens with Difficulty B set, with the cross-hairs.

 

Now, on Difficulty A, your shot is always visible, and takes some time to make its way to the target.

 

Is that the intended behavior?

 

Congratulations! :) you've found a bug!

 

I had the time so I've corrected it immediately ;)

nanochess_space_raid_ntsc.bin

nanochess_space_raid_pal.bin

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While I'm fixated on the behavior of weapons shots I noticed that they sometimes transform from a single "-" to a more square-ish shape. The effect seems to last only a couple of frames.

post-4806-0-78860600-1381030224_thumb.pngpost-4806-0-30459900-1381030229_thumb.png

 

And do you think it's possible to make the enemy rockets appear closer to their silos when they are first launched?

post-4806-0-45468500-1381031395_thumb.png

 

Edited by Keatah
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While I'm fixated on the behavior of weapons shots I noticed that they sometimes transform from a single "-" to a more square-ish shape. The effect seems to last only a couple of frames.

attachicon.gifnanochess_space_raid_ntsc_20131005-2_26.pngattachicon.gifnanochess_space_raid_ntsc_20131005-2_29.png

 

And do you think it's possible to make the enemy rockets appear closer to their silos when they are first launched?

attachicon.gifnanochess_space_raid_ntsc_20131005-2.png

 

 

The bullet thing is a kind of artifact of my crammed display timing.

 

The enemy rockets are exactly at that distance because is the minimum between sprites required by my display routine. Both are in my TODO list, but both aren't easy.

 

Can you please make a PAL60 version (exactly like NTSC version but with PAL colors)?

With the exception of very old TVs, the majority of European TVs support 60Hz.

 

PAL60? hmmm, let me investigate about it.

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This is coming along very nicely! Can totally see this maturing into an excellent conversion of Zaxxon. Took a bit of getting used to the way the two levels of height play, but think I have it down. Played it a few times just now and keep getting blowed up by that kamakazi bastard. :lol:

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This is coming along very nicely! Can totally see this maturing into an excellent conversion of Zaxxon. Took a bit of getting used to the way the two levels of height play, but think I have it down. Played it a few times just now and keep getting blowed up by that kamakazi bastard. :lol:

I'm glad you liked it! :D

 

What do you think it misses to be a properly conversion?

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Skip to 3:28 to the longest run if you don't want to see through 2 short run. I'm sorry for the low quality and the video skips in some part. I had to ditch the sound since it was not in sync. I do need to install hypercam 2 and Xvid compressor on this machine. I thought it was cam studio at first, but I didn't want this machine to be compromised by mal-wares by installing the wrong software. Anyway, enjoy the gameplay footage. Edited by Kiwi
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Here's another gameplay video of this game in action. In this version, I was not fooled by the upper lightning barrier. I eventually get to shoot a rocket after many attempts. I got my revenge against that boss.

 

I installed HyperCam 2 on this i3 processor computer, which is faster than the Atom processor netbook. This one have sounds and no frames skips. I tried to capture 30fps, but the program recorded at 15-16 fps. Only step up is to figure out how Bizhawk works and have it output better a video. Enjoy.

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