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New pacman for atari 2600


DINTAR816

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Well, this is the final 4k version, unless anyone has any suggestions.

In the 8k version could be done with 2 players if a cartridge as the "F8SC" (with 128 bytes of RAM) is used. :)

 

Looks nice, I would just adjust the E and R letters in "Game Over" so it looks more balanced. (I did this with bithacker)

whk4us.jpg

 

I had a friend come over and play it last night - he was very impressed. He also mentioned this the first 2600 version of Pac Man that got the "Wocka Wocka" sound effect right! :D

Edited by WildBillTX
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We'll never know the exact circumstances of what went on in the coders' office,

I didn't say the quote you're attributing to me. As far as not knowing what went on in the coders' office, that's not true. As stated, we interviewed Tod at length for the book to clear up a lot of these myths that have been repeated over the years. Likewise he also posts and responds on the Atari Museum group on Facebook.

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I'm sure someone has already mentioned this in the 24 pages I've already read, but... you do know they had a white elephant "SuperSystem" to sell, right? Sure was easy to just stick the two versions of Pac-Man next to each other to show how much cooler the 5200 was...

 

Honestly, I wish the myth that coders/publishers would ever intentionally gimp their own commercial games to make another version of the game look better by comparison would just die already. If you really think about it, the very idea is absurd based on the primary reason why these companies exist, i.e., to make the most money possible and to put out product that makes consumers want to spend more money on their stuff in the future. Time and again it's been clear and/or literally proven that the reason why a particular version of a game has been poor comes down to the factors that you'd expect, e.g., time pressures, programmer skill, available resources, etc.

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I didn't say the quote you're attributing to me. As far as not knowing what went on in the coders' office, that's not true. As stated, we interviewed Tod at length for the book to clear up a lot of these myths that have been repeated over the years. Likewise he also posts and responds on the Atari Museum group on Facebook.

 

Just thought I'd mention that I finally talked my other half into letting me get the book you and Curt wrote "Atari: Business Is Fun". Looking forward to finishing it. I'm up to the part where Dab-Ney is forced out by Nolan.

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Looks nice, I would just adjust the E and R letters in "Game Over" so it looks more balanced. (I did this with bithacker)

whk4us.jpg

 

I had a friend come over and play it last night - he was very impressed. He also mentioned this the first 2600 version of Pac Man that got the "Wocka Wocka" sound effect right! :D

I am impressed by that, but even more by the energizer sound. I listened through all of the different Pokey versions of Pac-Man Collection, and the sound took awhile to perfect. (They also nailed some of the Ms. Pac-Man sounds, like the monster chomp). However, that was on the Pokey.

 

I thought the TIA may not have the range, since it took so long to get it with Pokey. Seems like it's right on. The whacka, the energizer, and the fruit sounds are all pretty good. I think the monster chomp is really close. It sounds like it is a sound where the pitch ramps up, but isn't as smooth on the arcade. I'd have to actually play to test my theory, but it sounds as if the arcade is the same thing, except the notes cut off before the next pitch. Probably not worth the kernel space, since it sounds so good as it is.

 

REALLY GREAT!

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Well, this is the final 4k version, unless anyone has any suggestions.

 

First off - just want to add my praise to this fantastic achievement - it's pretty amazing what you've been able to do in 4K!

 

One suggestion (or question), and apologies if this has been mentioned in the 25+ pages before, but it looks like the dots are much darker yellow in this version than in the arcade:

 

post-30-0-29998400-1417624711_thumb.pngpost-30-0-14514200-1417624747_thumb.png

 

Actually, the arcade dots look more pinkish/tan maybe? Is there a technical reason for the dark yellow/orange dots?

 

Besides that little nitpick it's awesome - great job!!! :)

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Here is the version in pal 60, also made another version ntsc because I changed the color of the message "game over". :)
The version of pal50 is more complicated to do, I have to change many things, the sounds will be the hardest part, because I have to make it sound equal to 60fps.
Well, this is the final 4k version, unless anyone has any suggestions.
In the 8k version could be done with 2 players if a cartridge as the "F8SC" (with 128 bytes of RAM) is used. :)

 

Without downloading and trying these on my Atari yet did the sound issue ever get fixed ? Way back I mentioned the ticking noise in the background and when you said you fixed it the sound was still there when playing it through my Harmony cart but when playing it on my computer it was not there . Love your work but thought I should bring this up .

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Dintar816, I hope you can share the TIA sound routines with PMP for hit 7800 Pacman 320 homebrew. Pokey seems totally unnecessary after hearing the in-game effectsI

I agree that the TIA is capable of better than what we hear currently in TIA 7800 games. However, there are some notes in the start theme that are out of range for TIA. Dintari just does an excellent job of degrading the sound gracefully.

I would say Pokey should be used in the 7800 port, which is expected to be much more arcade like.

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I agree that the TIA is capable of better than what we hear currently in TIA 7800 games. However, there are some notes in the start theme that are out of range for TIA. Dintari just does an excellent job of degrading the sound gracefully.

I would say Pokey should be used in the 7800 port, which is expected to be much more arcade like.

 

Isn't the Pokey already done? I remember trying both Pokey and non-Pokey versions, not to mention that a version of PMC has both pokey and non-pokey sound.

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I agree that the TIA is capable of better than what we hear currently in TIA 7800 games. However, there are some notes in the start theme that are out of range for TIA. Dintari just does an excellent job of degrading the sound gracefully.

I would say Pokey should be used in the 7800 port, which is expected to be much more arcade like.

 

I remember a few years ago some programmer here on the forums said creating the "wocka wocka" sound was impossible with the TIA. I thought that was true, because most of the other 2600 versions and hacks sounded annoying like a duck with a sore throat or spacebar on a old typewriter being held down (thump-thump-thump).

 

BTW I love the low notes on the opening theme, I never believe the 2600 could nail such low notes. Sounds cool on Stella in stereo mode. I hope Dintari adds a low bassline on the music for the intermissions for the 8K version.

Edited by WildBillTX
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Isn't the Pokey already done? I remember trying both Pokey and non-Pokey versions, not to mention that a version of PMC has both pokey and non-pokey sound.

I did what I call the XM version which will use POKEY if it is detected, or fall back to the original TIA sound. I think Bob also put all his latest and gratest features into this version.

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yeah. I tried it via emulator and would love to have the later version on cart, pokey or no pokey. I also got to see the XM in action and play some games on it at Toomanygames a few years ago. Bob does some nice stuff with the 7800. I have Jr. Pac-Man and Failsafe and both are good stuff. Too bad about the XM being delayed.

 

I think the 320 Pac-Man games are impressive, but the higher resolution comes at the cost of having to scroll the screen.

 

The 2600 really surprises me sometimes when it comes to sound. I used to be impressed just hearing music in games like Dig Dug and then there's games like Millipede and Jr. Pac-Man that came closer to the arcade than I ever thought possible (not to mention awesome music in homebrews like Marble Craze and Thrust+ Platinum and hacks like the Mr. Roboto Berzerk hack and Combat Rock). Now yet another Pac-Man comes along and again does the unthinkable when it comes to sound on the 2600.

Edited by BrianC
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The TIA is very similar to the POKEY in how it generates sound. It's primary weakness, besides having only 2 channels, is it's course control of frequency. This results in many notes being out of tune. But it's ability to produce sound effects are very similar to the POKEY. With careful programming and enough CPU/memory thrown at it, you can do very good things with the TIA.

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