Mappy on our 8 Bit

[Paul Westphal]

I really think this can be done, and done well on the 8 bit. The levels are small and scroll from side to side, there are not to many sprites on screen at once, and not to many sounds to implement. The music of the coin-op could sound awesome as well!

[bfollett]

Well in the arcade, there are 5 multi colored sprites for the cats and Mappy, plus a 6th for the shockwave when you open a door. With only 5 single colored sprites, you'd have to design the game using both hardware and software sprites, so I don't think a good looking release would be that easy at all. It would take some careful planning especially when you consider all the differently colored objects that you have to collect on the board too.

Edited March 8, 2014 by bfollett

[José Pereira]

Hi.

This time I'm not 100% sure because I only had time to saw those YouTube videos of some of the available versions like this one from NES:

 

-> FIRST: Simple: Top different colours it's DLIs and PRIOR4 that Elephant goes behind.

 

THEN:
-> PLAYING AREA PLATFORMS:

a.)- PRIOR1

b.)- Elephant P0+P1 3colours in Multicolour mode (something like 8A+94->9E)

c.)- PFs Platforms: PF0_Brown and PF2_Light Brown

d.)- PFs Objects: PF1_1st colour + PF3_always white

e.)- Catch/Get an object the '100,... points/other number' in PF3=white

f.)- Enemys guys as P2 and P3 two enemys per line then more will flicker (like in Crownland and MSX/NES way). Also put/design them like '2600way' scanline DLIs that TMR did in Callisto:

g.)- The our shot '(((' / ')))' as white_PF3/5th Player/4MISSILES

 

 

 

And, like I said, without trying but I think that this one, maybe it will even fits in ours just 128chars/one A8 charset.

I am open to listen comments and suggestions but this is just my 2cents (this time without 100% sure if this works!... )

Edited March 8, 2014 by José Pereira

[Bryan]

Well in the arcade, there are 5 multi colored sprites for the cats and Mappy, plus a 6th for the shockwave when you open a door. With only 5 single colored sprites, you'd have to design the game using both hardware and software sprites, so I don't think a good looking release would be that easy at all. It would take some careful planning especially when you consider all the differently colored objects that you have to collect on the board too.

Just mux the sprites (some flicker is acceptable when they're all on the same level) and use PF gfx for shockwaves since their motion is simple to animate. Of course, if you want more colorful sprites then you've got some work to do.

[The Usotsuki]

What about referencing...didn't the MSX1 get a version? That has monochrome sprites.

[JamesD]

What about referencing...didn't the MSX1 get a version? That has monochrome sprites.

Yup... the only MSX cart I own

[JamesD]

[LoTonah]

 

The NEC version almost looks like it was done in a character mode, no sprites.

[JamesD]

 

The NEC version almost looks like it was done in a character mode, no sprites.

Color wise it looks good but the animation isn't real smooth.

 

The Fujitsu FM-7 appears to be a character mode. No bitmap mode?

 

I can't say I'm a fan of the MSX version. It's sort of a bare minimum effort if you ask me. They don't even play the music at the right speed; it sounds like it's dragging.

[tschak909]

I've never understood the love of the TMS9918 VDC (used in MSX, ColecoVision, SG-1000), limited palette, and while it can spit out lots of sprites, they are monochrome, and the chip actively works against you to prevent you from changing things anywhere except the Vertical Blank, so you can't do mid-screen interrupts without either seriously abusing the chip, or by changing the chip itself to support these things (no hardware scroll, seriously, WTF?)...

 

(with that said, I do understand WHY the hardware guys used them. They are dead easy to interface to just about anything, and you just give it a 16K block of RAM, and you've just implemented your display.)

 

anyway.. my 0.02

 

-Thom

[kenjennings]

Wikipedia says about the TMS9918 VDC "...There can be 32 monochrome sprites of either 8×8 or 16×16 pixels on screen, each sprite can have its own one color. There can be no more than 4 sprites on a single scanline; any additional sprites' horizontal pixels are dropped. Sprites with a higher priority are drawn first...."

 

Is that true? 4 sprites per scanline is not any better than the Atari.

[Rybags]

It looks good in some cases due to the 256 pixel graphics with colour.

 

It's a compromise situation - that's your hires, and you put up with 32 column text in the bargain.

In the end though, it's the results that count. There's not really all that much on TI-99 that impresses, and similar on most of the other systems that use it.

[+davidcalgary29]

I'm just going to chime in and say that I want to be first in line for the finished product. I love Mappy!

[JamesD]

It's a fun game and I love the music. If you are going to port it, get the music right!.

[Aking]

I've never understood the love of the TMS9918 VDC (used in MSX, ColecoVision, SG-1000), limited palette, and while it can spit out lots of sprites, they are monochrome, and the chip actively works against you to prevent you from changing things anywhere except the Vertical Blank, so you can't do mid-screen interrupts without either seriously abusing the chip, or by changing the chip itself to support these things (no hardware scroll, seriously, WTF?)...

 

(with that said, I do understand WHY the hardware guys used them. They are dead easy to interface to just about anything, and you just give it a 16K block of RAM, and you've just implemented your display.)

 

anyway.. my 0.02

 

-Thom

 

 

even with all those limitations, the msx pulled off some amazing action games back in the day

[Stormtrooper of Death]

I also programmed on the MSX (Philips NMS8280 with video genlock standard built in (most expensive MSX in the 80s!) while i had my Atari. Both MSx and Atari have their charms.

[JamesD]

I just dug out my MSX system and Mappy cart.
The music and gameplay are faster on my machine. I wonder if he was playing an NTSC version on a PAL machine.

[+iesposta]

I love Mappy so much, I bought the arcade game.

I want to make an Atari 2600 version.

Maybe I can help create a 7800 version?

It must contain all the music (and there is a lot of music for such an early game).

[Synthpopalooza]

Tell you what ... I can try to see if I can come up with the Mappy in-game level music in the next week or so. The idea I had:

 

POKEY 3-channel, put AUDCTL into 16 bit mode for channels 3 and 4 ... for the bass, use distortion 12 in 8-bit mode for channel 1, and for the lead, use both distortion 10 in 8-bit mode for channel 2, and distortion 12 in 16-bit mode for the last two channels. This should accurately emulate the distinctive saloon piano lead sound in the original music.

 

My assembly skills aren't the greatest, but I do still have the music routine that Pac-Man-Plus used in the Bentley Bear game I worked on musically for the 7800, I can easily do up a musical piece using that, and then maybe someone can alter it for the Atari 8-bit.

[Synthpopalooza]

OK! I got something.

 

Keep in mind, this is 7800 assembly code, but using the POKEY. Should be easy for someone to translate to 8-bit assembly. It only has 3 channels because I used 16-bit sound on one of the voices. I find this gives a very nice rendition of the theme music. Here's how it's set up:

 

Channels 0 and 1 are 16 bit, set to distortion 12a to get the high saw notes.

Channel 2 is 8 bit, distortion 10, set an octave up to match with the 16-bit channel and simulate that old 1920's piano sound.

Channel 3 is 8-bit, using distortion 12a (buzzy bass)

 

The song only plays through the first two motifs, but I can add in the last motif. Just getting too late here and gotta get to bed.

 

Also, since this uses all the atari channels, any game effects wull need to share channel 2, keeping in mind it will alter the lead sound a bit when game fx happen, and the logic would need to be able to resume that channel's music once the game sounds aren't playing.

 

Included is an Atari 7800 .bin, .a78 file (which should execute using MESS or ProSystem) and the source code if anyone wanted to port it to the 8-bit. It's pretty much notes and durations. Getting the shuffle in the tune was VERY tricky.

 

I also included an mp3 sample.

 

 

 

test16k.A78

test16k.bin

test16k.asm

mappy.mp3

[Synthpopalooza]

I also wonder if this game would lend itself to Super IRG mode. It'd have to be done differently though.

 

For one thing, you'd need to scroll the playfield at 30 fps (25 fps PAL) for the effect to work properly. But if you rely on the base PF colors for most of the platforms and the house awning, and use the blended colors as accents for the objects that you need to pick up, I don't think the flicker would be bad at all. And you can still use DLI color changes too since you aren't altering any color registers in the VBLANK.

[Rybags]

Pretty good musical piece there, reminds me a little of the Blagger 2 music on C64.

[Tempest]

I'll have Mappy running on an MSX at the MGC today. Stop by the museum and have a look.

[Bryan]

OK! I got something.

 

That's a very good approximation of the original.

[Synthpopalooza]

Thanks! If this game ever gets past the planning stage (on either XL/XE or 7800 platform) I'd be willing to take on doing all the music for it. Been playing Mappy alot lately and the music just gets into your head.