My New 2600 Donkey Kong Conceptual Gfx Now 4 Boards N bin!

[Godzilla]

not thrice?

[Godzilla]

Godzilla,

 

That's a bold concept picture.   Its not impossible (except for a couple minor pixel detail issues), but the flicker would be intense.   Here are some suggestions for reducing flicker.

 

1. Change the spots in the barrels to the color of the girders  

2. Change one of the colors of the fireballs to the color of the girders.

3. Eliminate the high score.  It can always be shown on the title screen instead.  

4. Change the hammer heads from brown to the girder color, and elimnate the pixels of the ends of the Hammers making them rectangles.

 

Cheers!

 

Thanks for the tips. I know that I've got some scanline color issues. the girders may also need to be made monochromatic.

The fireball already uses the red from the girder, and its body color is the same color as the barrel. Do I need to change the body color of the fireball? or maybe just make it black... could make it the same color as the barrell? you will see both of these in the next screen shots. (of course in reality they probably couldnt exist on the same scanline. I added a gradient effect to fire, I think it helps.

 

Anyway in response to the feasability of the other screens in 2600 donkey kong, here they are :-)

 

Just another note, ALL the board layouts are taken directly from the arcade levels in a mask and scaled into the 2600 res. These screens do not draw all the way out to the edges, which may with how much is being drawn.

 

 

WHO WILL TAKE UP THE CHALLENGE :-)

 

My ISP recently changed my IPs around,

can someone tell me if my images are still showing up? My isp won't let me see self-references...

 

Thanks in advance.

 

does the one inside the quote work?

or do the ones below this line work?

 

[Godzilla]

dupe

[moycon]

I can see the 4 pics at the bottom.

 

The others in the quote...I cannot..sadly.

[Godzilla]

thanks moycon. They are just the same images twice, with diff ips. So now I know which ips work. All images in this post should now be working again... thanks again.

[Godzilla]

Just in case some people can't see the pictures from my new ip, i ul

[Jack-Ass Tramiel]

A year ago I attempted to hack the rivet level into an approximation of the cement factory level. (See below.)

 

Unfortunately, upon studying the code, I discovered that the rivet level could not be altered much. Floors #2 to #5 are the same -- the code stores the information for one floor (specifically, half of it), then simply replicates it four times -- and mirrors it -- to create the multiple floors.

 

 

[ATARI TROLL]

Can you post your dk Tramiel for download. Pics look great!

[ATARI TROLL]

I meant to say is your dk hack still available and would you put it out here to download?

[Jack-Ass Tramiel]

Sorry, but there is no DK hack.

 

That picture of the cement factory is a proof-of-concept that I put together with a paint program. From that picture, I attempted to redo the rivet level to look like my cement factory test. But, as I detailed in my post above, I concluded that this is impossible to do.

 

I was also going to redo the first board to make it resemble the jumping jackhammer screen. Instead of moving elevators, the platforms would be stationary. The barrels would be changed to springs that would not bounce but, instead, rain down from random points as they move across from the left to right of the girder below Kong. Unfortunately, I concluded that the first level, too, would be impossible to modify.

 

I'd like to hear from somebody who has also tried to hack the level layouts of Donkey Kong, and who could either confirm or refute my conclusions. (I hope that I am wrong because, after all, then I could create my hack.) To date, I have neither come across a level hack of Donkey Kong or somebody, like me, who has tried to modify the level design.

[theaveng]

OBVIOUS FLAW: The multiple-colored Mario. The 2600 sprites can only do one color per scanline. Nor do I think the 2600 could handle both red girders and yellow ladders at the same time.

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Still, it would be cool if someone (Ebivision maybe?) could re-create a "from-scratch" version of Donkey Kong. Unfortunately, I suspect everyone is afraid of getting sued by Nintendo. I don't think Nintendo would bother with a port to a 25-year-old console, but the mere fact that they *might* has everyone scared.

[theaveng]

i was trying to keep most of the screen realestate for the game. and these arent 'accurate mock ups' they are conceptual drawings to inspire :-)

 

Right. And here's my conceptual drawing for Dance Dance Revolution ATARI:

 

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END SARCASM. The purpose of a conceptual drawing is to show what a game could look like >>>taking into account the limitations<<< of the system. If you don't take into account the 2600's limitations than your drawing is no more useful to programmers than my picture above.

 

Like the sprites. Clearly a 2600 could NEVER copy the detailed sprites you included in your conceptual drawing. So, they should not be there. They should be replaced with sprites a 2600 can actually do.

[Godzilla]

my sprites are DIRECT modifications of the mario sprites from 2600 mario brothers. my enemies are DIRECT modifications from miner 2049'ers enemies. my donkey kong is a DIRECT modifications from the original 2600 DK, using the same pixel size, as is my pauline.

 

If some items have to be reduced to one color per scan line in places, that is fine. It certainly seems to me that 2600 games can display as many colors per scan line as allowed by the programmers skill. of course more can be achieved by allowing a certain level of flicker/shimmer. just look at adavies screen shots.

 

Simply because something is beyond 'coder a's' skill levels, does not mean it is beyond the skills of 'coder b' (just look at solaris or the recently discovered 3d cube (tho zylon hates me mentioning it,) or adavie's work.etc.)

 

the 2600 is a system of ever-stretching limits :-) prod-prod.

[rasty]

Still, it would be cool if someone (Ebivision maybe?) could re-create a "from-scratch" version of Donkey Kong.

And call it "Crazy Fish"?

 

Nor do I think the 2600 could handle both red girders and yellow ladders at the same time

Actually, the girders and ladders could very well have different colors as long as you don't have both on the same line.. that would be ok for levels 1 and 4!

 

Clearly a 2600 could NEVER copy the detailed sprites you included in your conceptual drawing.

What's so wrong with the sprites? With some flicker, most if not all of the sprites in the conceptual images could be feasible. Even mario's 2-colors sprite is doable by joining (the) 2 player graphics since there are never more than 2 colors on the line. Of course flicker would kick in when a 3rd sprite appears on the same horizontal lines..

Some ChronoColor could also come to the rescue

 

Rasty.-

[Robert M]

In my opinion, Godzilla's concept images are 90% accurate as to what could really be done on a 2600 as a static image. The problem is how much could still be done if you want to animate the thing.

 

Cheers!

[theaveng]

my sprites are DIRECT modifications of the mario sprites from 2600 mario brothers.

Your fake sprites look NOTHING like the ones in Mario Bros (below). Also, you missed my point. It's not enough to grab sprites and then edit them in photoshop. You have to take into account the Atari's limitations. You have to make the picture LOOK like an Atari game.

 

For example, look at how Mario below only has one color per scanline. That's the best an Atari can do. Your pictures look like something from a Nintendo ES or Colecovison....faaaar beyond the capability of the lowly 2600.

 

[rasty]

You have to take into account the Atari's limitations.  You have to make the picture LOOK like an Atari game.

 

For example, look at how Mario below only has one color per scanline.  That's the best an Atari can do.

Oh, that's not the best an Atari can do!

 

Did you check my post above?

 

Greets,

Rasty.-

[Room 34]

In 1978, Warren Robinett's boss told him to give up on his idea for "Adventure" because he said it couldn't be done.

 

I think ZylonBane has a good point in that you can't just make any arbitrary low-resolution graphic you want and call it a 2600 screen mock-up. There are limitations of the system that need to be taken into account when envisioning a new game or a hack.

 

At the same time, people are constantly discovering new tricks to make the system do what was long thought impossible. Godzilla's screenshots surely will never translate directly into a functional 2600 game, but like NE146 said about Pac-Man Arcade, someone with programming knowledge on the system might get enough ideas from Godzilla's visualizations to come up with something new and unexpected.

 

So where are all of the good (or any for that matter, since I've not seen any) DK hacks for the 2600?

[Godzilla]

it is not like i just drew stuff in photoshop arbitrarilaly. I used actual 2600 pixel sizes, kept my enemies to one color per scanline, and everything else to a MAX of 2 colors per scanline. I believe the 2600 could make a donkey kong CLOSE to my screen shots. It may need ram on the cartridge ala CBS'es later games or the super charger, agreed. But I worked hard to not go too far crazy from what the 2600 might be able to achieve. I kept my color usage very low too, reusing the same red, brown, blue, etc. I even went back in and modified the original images based on some earlier suggestions, if you read back in the thread, you will see i altered the images to meet everything that was said.

[Room 34]

I'm not trying to undercut your work, Gojira... sorry if it came off that way. I was just trying to reinforce ZylonBane's point in a more general way than specifically refering to your images.

[Godzilla]

I'm not trying to undercut your work, Gojira... sorry if it came off that way. I was just trying to reinforce ZylonBane's point in a more general way than specifically refering to your images.

 

I know, and (best bartyles and james voice) 'I appreciate your support' I quite understood what you were saying, and agree with it. My reply was mostly to all the messages before your message :-)

[Lost Monkey]

dk2k3.zip

[Godzilla]

sweeeeeeeet. :-)

 

(btw I like Rocket from the Crypt too. IIRC I first heard them on a CMJ cd.)

[Goochman]

Interesting Lost Monkey - Nice colors - Now is there was only a game in that bin

[ATARI TROLL]

That Kicks Ass Lost Monkey! Think you can turn it into a playable version? If so, I would help in any way! Maybe we could get others to help as well!