Delta Space Arena for Atari 8-bit

[peteym5]

If you are using altirra check your overscan setting.

 

 

 

I don't recall seeing the glitch over to the right of the screen (I may have just not noticed) but I've definitely seen the phantom objects at the top of the screen. I was using Atari800Win+ FWIW.

 

tjb

 

 

the upper screen issues show even on real ntsc hardware and 1084 monitor output...

 

 

The "glitch" on the right side of the screen is standard ATARI behavior whenever wide screen is enabled.

The "Glitch" are disabled sprites and normally should not be visible on standard NTSC TV Sets. It is difficult to know what happens with certain monitors This was tested on real hardware. Widescreen shows some artifacts in emulation if overscan is enabled. Not sure if there is a vertical adjustment on a 1084 monitor.

[xeen]

Levels in demo version are too easy.

So I personally can't predict real playability and fun, unfortunatelly.

Demo version should give this information to player, in my opinion.

 

If I can compare:

Demo version of Tempest Extreem give me any required information about the game I need (TX is great, btw)

[peteym5]

Levels in demo version are too easy.

So I personally can't predict real playability and fun, unfortunatelly.

Demo version should give this information to player, in my opinion.

 

If I can compare:

Demo version of Tempest Extreem give me any required information about the game I need (TX is great, btw)

 

 

 

I only have the 10 levels in the demo that goes back to the title screen after 10 levels are played. Some additional things were altered for the demo so it is slightly different than the Cartridge version . The Cartridge plays up to level 99 and repeats the last 10 randomized levels until you run out of lives.

Edited August 13, 2014 by peteym5

[Creature XL]

On the topic of your game releases, do you actually make any money on the games? After factoring in your time for programming? Most of the programmers in the community are doing it for the love of the machine, and the love of the hobby, not to make money (since there is so little of it to be made anyway.)

 

That's wrong thinking. I bet he (or any Atari coder) doesn't code a game to earn money instead of finding a real job.

Well, except RPC_Games, but that's another story

 

After I've got around 60 Euro for "Mighty Jill Off" with the 2nd place in the ABBUC contest, my friends said "bad earning per hour".

I replied: "How much money have you gotten for your hobby?" Then there was silence.

What this should say is, I (and maybe Pete and others) are developing stuff for fun. But when you can make some money out of it, why not?

[+MrFish]

I fully support Pete or anybody else's right to sell programs they create, at whatever price, and using whatever distribution method they deem appropriate. Whether I agree with the details or would do the same myself is another matter. But I respect their right.

 

So some people like to code for the fun of it. So what? They'll receive their praise and accolades as payment. And people should only sell things if they can make large amounts of money doing so? Why can't programmers get a little pocket cash to put back into their hobby, or whatever? Nobody has a problem if people sell hardware in the community for money. Well, we know the hardware itself costs money, so we can't expect anyone is going to pay for hardware and give it to us. But then they are collecting something in addition for their time and effort.

 

[tjb]

I fully support Pete or anybody else's right to sell programs they create, at whatever price, and using whatever distribution method they deem appropriate. Whether I agree with the details or would do the same myself is another matter. But I respect their right.

 

So some people like to code for the fun of it. So what? They'll receive their praise and accolades as payment. And people should only sell things if they can make large amounts of money doing so? Why can't programmers get a little pocket cash to put back into their hobby, or whatever? Nobody has a problem if people sell hardware in the community for money. Well, we know the hardware itself costs money, so we can't expect anyone is going to pay for hardware and give it to us. But then they are collecting something in addition for their time and effort.

 

Well said.

[Goochman]

Finally got a few minutes to play this.

 

Very smooth and a bit easy as others have mentioned. There is something 'missing' which makes the challenge worth it IMHO. Wondering if there is something surrounded by a shield that is the goal of destruction each screen - combining some Star Castle elements with Omega race. Just seems something is missing for those Orbs to be just hanging around a maze.

[peteym5]

Thankyou for the positive feedback. I believe I have corrected the major issues with the game and if Video61 gets the cartridge working, I will give him the greenlight to produce the cartridge. Have to keep in mind the demo only has altered and limited data and programming to set up the levels. Only a small part of what is in the actual cartridge game.

 

I will be watching how well this game does and will influence the work on several other 16K games. I discovered putting a game onto a 16K and using Inflate has several advantages over larger bank switching cartridges. For one, slightly less CPU usage overhead. Removeing the bank switching logic frees up some space and increases the speed of the game. I try my best to keep bank switching writes to $D5xx area out of the VBI and DLI and try only to use them between levels or game initialization. Do things like load font and sound data to ram before game or level starts. The second major advantage is costs, according to Video61 and others, 8 and 16K Eproms are cheaper, plus removing the cost of extra logic chips.

 

I estimate I can get around a 22K worth of game into a 16K cartridge, depending on how much of it needs to be compressed. You just have to make sure you have enough RAM area to expand to.

 

As a few of you know I am working on Tempest Elite that will need 128K and supports VBXE. It goes through a series of checks for VBXE and loads the VBXE sprite routine if detected. If not detected, it defaults to load standard Atari Player / Missile routines.

 

 

 

[+JAC!]

Just watched the video. Looks like awesome action. I like the fact that you bounce off the wall instead of crashing.

[Shawn Jefferson]

That's wrong thinking. I bet he (or any Atari coder) doesn't code a game to earn money instead of finding a real job.

Well, except RPC_Games, but that's another story

 

After I've got around 60 Euro for "Mighty Jill Off" with the 2nd place in the ABBUC contest, my friends said "bad earning per hour".

I replied: "How much money have you gotten for your hobby?" Then there was silence.

What this should say is, I (and maybe Pete and others) are developing stuff for fun. But when you can make some money out of it, why not?

The question I asked about money, and the comment about hobby programmers, was directly connected to the fears of piracy. Why worry about piracy unless the goal is to make money?

 

I also respect anyone's decisions around how to release their games, how much to charge, etc.. Ultimately it's their decision of course.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Shawn Jefferson

[+CharlieChaplin]

I estimate I can get around a 22K worth of game into a 16K cartridge, depending on how much of it needs to be compressed. You just have to make sure you have enough RAM area to expand to.

 

 

Well,

 

good compression depends on how you code your game. Last year I compressed "Assembloids" with Superpacker/Exomizer from 37kbytes down to 16kbytes... (or Atari Blast from over 400kbytes down to just 100kbytes).

 

-Andreas Koch.

Edited August 15, 2014 by CharlieChaplin

[peteym5]

Finally got a few minutes to play this.

 

Very smooth and a bit easy as others have mentioned. There is something 'missing' which makes the challenge worth it IMHO. Wondering if there is something surrounded by a shield that is the goal of destruction each screen - combining some Star Castle elements with Omega race. Just seems something is missing for those Orbs to be just hanging around a maze.

 

I had given thought about Star Castle or similar type clone. I remember seeing the arcade game many years ago and seemed not to make it to many home consuls. Being a simple game, could have been a easy port to the 8-bit. I probably would find a way to ramp it up.

 

Several months ago when I was considering the 16K series, a few people I worked with suggested I avoid posting which titles or ideals I should go forward with on Atari Age. Concerns about getting 100s of posts full of stupid from members on here. Get pages full of games I should make or shouldn't. I understand certain games never got ported to the 8-bit either because of licensing issues or concerns about piracy. I was not because the 8-bit lacked abilities. Could probably do a port of most games in the 1970s to early 1980s. I am only going to make a limited number of games based around my multiplexer or routines I have on hand to save time on making them. I am only one person and can only do a certain amount of games per year.

 

I have given thought about working with other programmers for other projects. Help them put together some games we want to see done on the 8-bit. I have my personal interests in space shooters. war game shooters, and adventure type games.

 

Some people ask me to do "Mouse Trap" or "Lady Bug", Coleco/Intellivsion/TI 99 Pac-Man similar games. However these games seemed to have been done because other companies could not secure licensing for Pac-Man. Pac-Man, Ms.Pac Man, etc were done very well on the 8-bit. I would not mind letting someone else do "Mouse Trap" or "Lady Bug". KJMANN12 can probably do music/sounds. Email us for questions.

[peteym5]

I know some people are wondering what is going on with Delta Space Arena. I am working with Video61 to produce the cartridge. No exact release date has been decided at this time, however we are working for a September release. It will be cartridge only, target price will be around $40 USD.

[peteym5]

Here is an update to the Delta Space Arena demo. Has several minor tweaks needed to be done. Minor reduction in CPU cycle usage during the VBI, some overloading was causing issues.

 

I attempted to push unused player / missile graphics out of the overscan area. These are normally not visible, however I cannot account for everyone's monitor when using standard hardware. It was visible in emulation if highest overscan is set.

 

Corrected an issue with the demo where the enemies were each level had the same enemies starting in the same spots, some levels they started stuck in the walls and that made it too easy to kill them.

 

 

[popmilo]

Great game! Crazy how flickering becomes not important when you do things right as you did. It's great how fluid gameplay feels!

[Heaven/TQA]

Just watched the video. Looks like awesome action. I like the fact that you bounce off the wall instead of crashing.

 

Never played Omega Race?

[Mclaneinc]

Really nice version of Omega Race with extra's, control feels perfect...

 

Hope it makes you a tidy sum Pete.

[Mclaneinc]

 

Never played Omega Race?

 

First game I got for my Vic 20, great version as well...Peteys game is superb tho..

[peteym5]

Thankyou for the compliments. I apologize for delays with getting the cartridge out, we are having some glitches that are trying to be resolved before going to production. I know a few stated they were seeing some stuff that should be off the screen. The target price for the cartridge is $40. That is going to be a target price for several other future games I have in development. I am working with Video 61 directly for the art work on this one.

 

Anyway, this is a further update attached here. There was some issues when trying to load from DOS on a real Atari.

[+therealbountybob]

I completed the first demo on the emulator and thought it was quite good but a bit easy. I've just played the latest demo on my 130XE/PAL/CRT and the flashing of the walls was not nice at all, to the point of it not being playable for me. I did a few levels and they are fun but you need something coming after you or some time limit or something to add to the challenge perhaps

[Atari8bitCarts]

This looks great, and I'm sure these might have been already asked.

What language did you code this in?

Did you use a base program (i.e. a project that needed rewriting)?

What IDE do you use, compiler?

 

Thanx, I'm really interested in writing some program myself and this really does look great.

[Atari8bitCarts]

coming into the discussion late, what about Space Duel? You've already conquered the physics/motion coding obstacle. It's two player though.

[peteym5]

This looks great, and I'm sure these might have been already asked.

What language did you code this in?

Did you use a base program (i.e. a project that needed rewriting)?

What IDE do you use, compiler?

 

Thanx, I'm really interested in writing some program myself and this really does look great.

The game is fully written in Assembly language. A few sections were borrowed from prior game projects I have around, and had to be adjusted to fit this game. Most of it is done from scratch. Mads Assembler.

 

I completed the first demo on the emulator and thought it was quite good but a bit easy. I've just played the latest demo on my 130XE/PAL/CRT and the flashing of the walls was not nice at all, to the point of it not being playable for me. I did a few levels and they are fun but you need something coming after you or some time limit or something to add to the challenge perhaps

I am not sure if this flashing is a result of Super IRG style screen being more noticeable on the slower Pal frame rate. Most of the stuff that uses Super IRG should work on both NTSC and PAL with the rapid changing of character sets beyond the human persistence of vision. That is what everyone is claiming about Super IRG. I am in the United States so I can only test in Emulation and NTSC.

 

The Cartridge has many more levels and keeps going beyond level 10.

[peteym5]

Here is an update to Delta Space Arena. fixed issues with sound effects on real hardware. For some odd reason, they were not working correctly. Video 61 should have the game available soon on cartridge.

[Reds1f14]

It looks like some fixes happen with one of the last updates to make sure it works properly on a PAL system. Looks slightly darker but corrected flicker on a real Pal Atari.