+playsoft Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 This is a conversion of Laser Hawk by Andrew Bradfield with graphics by Harvey, first published by Red Rat in 1986. You may recognise the design on the splash screen if you played through the last ATARI BLAST! demo. This is the first conversion I have done of an 8-bit game which needs more than 16K to run (so I had to do a full disassembly, no being lazy this time). Excluding the splash screen, Laser Hawk has 37K of code/data and requires 10K RAM for the screen buffer, player/missiles, character sets and variables. As such I have created a 64K ROM image which uses the same 32K bank switching scheme as M.U.L.E. This is supported by the Atarimax Ultimate SD cart and Altirra. I have mapped the controls: START = start PAUSE = pause/resume RESET = reset # = select level * = select number of players 1 = toggle beginner mode (on the title screen, you get a "B") 3 = toggle engine noise You can see the original Red Rat packaging here: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-laser-hawk_2903.html And other re-releases here: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-laser-hawk_7028.html http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-laser-hawk_25151.html http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-4-star-compilation-volume-1_6831.html It was played in the 8-bit High Score Club where there are links to Harvey's web pages with some discussion about the program and graphics design: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/123246-hsc5-contest-7-laser-hawk/?p=1496950 lh.bin lh_source.zip 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aking Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 show off ... BBC base, commodore ,amstrad ,spectrum and apple all can be "destroyed" in just one game wonder if Hawkquest is even possible... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aking Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 is that a downloads record? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Thanks for this Paul! I am going to give this a try this evening. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Does it work better with digital sticks or was there added support for the standard analog 5200 joystick? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+playsoft Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 wonder if Hawkquest is even possible... I think it would be more like a re-write than a port, since the screen buffer alone requires 17K. For me the ports need to be quick as the long term project is still ATARI BLAST! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+playsoft Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 Does it work better with digital sticks or was there added support for the standard analog 5200 joystick? Thanks. The analog stick is made to look like a digital one, so I would think it will play best with a digital (I only have analog). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coleco Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Thank you. This and all of these other amazing conversions are making the SD Cart the best investment ever. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 This is a conversion of Laser Hawk by Andrew Bradfield with graphics by Harvey, first published by Red Rat in 1986. ................ Paul, Thank you so much. This game is great. I've been wanting a good shooter on the 5200 and this is excellent. I really like the auto-fire for this conversion. Also the stock controller works perfectly. Well done! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 The analog stick is made to look like a digital one, so I would think it will play best with a digital (I only have analog). Good to know. I have one of grips' NeoGeo arcade stick conversions to the 5200 but alas, I do not have the Ultimate SD...yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+playsoft Posted March 22, 2014 Author Share Posted March 22, 2014 Thank you. This and all of these other amazing conversions are making the SD Cart the best investment ever. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks! If you haven't already may I suggest you try the current ATARI BLAST! demo http://atariage.com/forums/topic/217200-something-new-gtiablast-5200-wip-for-ultimate-sd-cart/?p=2900181. This uses the 512K format supported by the SD cart. I am hoping to get details of the cart's programming API which could open up all sorts of possibilities. Paul, Thank you so much. This game is great. I've been wanting a good shooter on the 5200 and this is excellent. I really like the auto-fire for this conversion. Also the stock controller works perfectly. Well done! It's great when the little things are noticed. I ported without auto-fire first but I find having to repeatedly press and release the fire button is not good on the standard controller. Good to know. I have one of grips' NeoGeo arcade stick conversions to the 5200 but alas, I do not have the Ultimate SD...yet. All the ports I've done so far work in this manner. Grip's arcade stick looks fantastic! I have converted Thorn/EMI Pool but want to see if I can take advantage of the analog stick, since I find it hard to finely position the cross-hair on the original. I'll mention on any future conversions when analog control has been added. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bohoki Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 awesome work how do you decide which ones to convert? i suppose ducks ahoy is near the bottom of the list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+playsoft Posted March 22, 2014 Author Share Posted March 22, 2014 awesome work how do you decide which ones to convert? i suppose ducks ahoy is near the bottom of the list It's been either ones that I have fond memories of, or ones where I have some connection (I'm working on ATARI BLAST! with Harvey - he did the graphics for Laser Hawk). Ducks Ahoy wasn't even on my list as I'd never heard of it. I've given it a quick port and it seems to be working, let me know if you find any problems with it. da.bin da_source.zip 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian63 Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 All I can say is "Wow!" and Thank you! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAC-42 Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Gosh, Paul, thanks a lot for these conversions. It's great that the 5200 can benefit from the 8-bits like this. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bohoki Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 what the hell man are you some kind of magician 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bohoki Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 oh and thank you this may sound crazy but since you are so quick nobody has ever converted a game that is already on the 5200 just wondering how a400 digdug or frogger would turn out i wonder if one could even tell the difference i'm not really familar with all the stuff already converted but if you want a little list in no order and if coincidentally you are working one one i already listed feel free to just post it and make me think you are a miracle worker atlantis demon attack mr robot mean 18 (do we have a golf game?) ace of aces desert falcon hardball superman 3 tower toppler aztec challenge hard hat mac (i used to play the heck out of that on a 8088 cga computer at school) colony 7 flight simulator 2 floyd of the jungle gumball baja buggies bumperball golden gloves quazimoto moon lander tutti frooty ghostbusters spare change alley cat billiards Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+playsoft Posted March 23, 2014 Author Share Posted March 23, 2014 How long it takes to port depends on the game - those that run on a 16K machine are the simplest and if you are lucky, like I was with Ducks Ahoy, can be ported in a few hours. Laser Hawk where I had to do a full disassembly and shuffle everything around probably took 3 or 4 times as long. Some games won't port because they require too much RAM. I have some other stuff to be getting on with now but I will try and do one port a month. I do have Pool running on the 5200 but I want to try and make use of the analogue joystick before releasing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegamezmaster Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 Thank you for all your fantastic work! You're awesome! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 atlantis demon attack Hi Bohoki. These two have already been converted. I played Demon Attack a lot, it is one of my favorites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmervine Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I have a similar problem with Laser Hawk as I did with Cavern's 3...I can not move the ship down...tried two different joysticks, so I don't think it is a calibration problem (all other games are fine). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+playsoft Posted March 23, 2014 Author Share Posted March 23, 2014 In the Cavern's 3 thread I posted a calibration program. What values do you get from that when you move your joysticks down? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 It's been either ones that I have fond memories of, or ones where I have some connection (I'm working on ATARI BLAST! with Harvey - he did the graphics for Laser Hawk). Ducks Ahoy wasn't even on my list as I'd never heard of it. I've given it a quick port and it seems to be working, let me know if you find any problems with it. Ducks ahoy worked great. Played with the analog stick, once I figured out what to do I played a nice game, got 47 ducks home. Thank you as always. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmervine Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 In the Cavern's 3 thread I posted a calibration program. What values do you get from that when you move your joysticks down? Paul-here is my data: L 01, R 90, U 01, D 9A, Center 51 47 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+playsoft Posted March 23, 2014 Author Share Posted March 23, 2014 Paul-here is my data: L 01, R 90, U 01, D 9A, Center 51 47 The full range is 01 to E4 with a centre around 70 - like ON gets with his Wico. Standard sticks tend not to be as good but have more range than yours. I used Kenfused's joystick code in Laser Hawk (it was better than mine) - you need a value of A4 or greater for right/down but you are only getting 90/9A. I guess you could try calibrating the 5200 pot or I can send you versions of C3 and LH adjusted for your sticks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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