Fixing the Tempest proto

[Arenafoot]

Here's a new, partially fixed ROM, and a list of what was changed: tempest_fix401.bin

I can't get it to work on Stella.............. is it just for the Harmony Cart??

[Tangentg]

I can't get it to work on Stella.............. is it just for the Harmony Cart??

It worked on mine...

[Keatah]

Works here as well.

[groundtrooper]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.

[Arenafoot]

It worked on mine...

 

Works here as well.

I tried Stella, Z26, and even Javatari ......its not playable :-(

[Keatah]

You should be able to shoot the red flippers and move the C-shooter. Can you do that?

[groundtrooper]

 

I tried Stella, Z26, and even Javatari ......its not playable :-(

 

It is playable for me in Z26 and Stella for windows,

[YANDMAN]

this is very cool indeed. i hope it makes it to cart.

[Arenafoot]

You should be able to shoot the red flippers and move the C-shooter. Can you do that?

no, its stationary... plus the words underneath are messed up

[+D Train]

Perhaps it's time for our Finest Minds to investigate Tempest 2600.

 

Quick, Commissioner! Light the Atari Age signal!

[Inky]

Does this work on the Flashback Ultimate Portable? Is this the version on that?

[alex_79]

no, its stationary... plus the words underneath are messed up

Have you pressed RESET (F2) to start the game?

 

Also, you're using a quite old version of Stella, try downloading the latest one:

http://stella.sourceforge.net/downloads.php

 

The garbled text is normal, it is mentioned in the first post:

 

* Copyright partially restored (this was in the code already, just wasn't visible, then I tried to fix the 6-digit code but botched it up)

Edited December 13, 2016 by alex_79

[Arenafoot]

Have you pressed RESET (F2) to start the game?

Ohhhhh..... thats why! Thanks!

[Keatah]

Seems attract modes on VCS games can really break your day!

[+sramirez2008]

Does this work on the Flashback Ultimate Portable? Is this the version on that?

 

It works on the Flashback Portable. I'm actually impressed by how playable it is. -Thanks CDS Games

 

[CDS Games]

Glad that worked out Arenafoot! I hacked it completely in Stella so that would have been baffling.

 

I've only had time to work on this sporadically, but I've gotten a bit farther. The chunky playfield looked awful so I went ahead with straight line levels. The first with the V shape level is the latest working version...the second is an older version with a cylindrical playfield.

 

tempest1022.bin

tempestcirc501.bin

 

The idea would be to finish the V-level, then design 3 additional levels, combine them, and then bankswitch through them in game.

 

The good news is that this is very finishable, and it's a fun game, even more so at higher levels when things speed up. The display is glitchy and the switchover from blue to red levels has to be fixed--there's a bug there that makes the colors go screwy. Also, adding driving controller support would be fantastic.

 

Player lives are at BE if you want to top yourself up to see higher levels.

 

[Dutchman2000]

Carla did work on a version of Tempest for the 2600, but she told me that this was NOT her version as hers was "completely different". Also the date of this prototype is past the time when she worked at Atari. When we were working on 5200 Tempest, Keithen told me he talked to the programmer of the 2600 version back in 1984 and it definitely was NOT Carla. He doesn't remember his name though. So we are still trying to find out who programmed this Tempest cart.

[CDS Games]

Ah, that make sense. Thanks for clarifying that Dutchman.

[Tangentg]

They're going to be combined into a single file if this was completed, right?

[CDS Games]

Yep; that's the plan anyway.

[Dutchman2000]

Any luck on restoring the title screen?

[CDS Games]

No, but I haven't really tried either.

[Supergun]

I can't wait! I would love to see the title screen, in crisp detail, on my own television with actual hardware, the way Atari intended.

 

To this day, I still dream of finally finding this 1984 shiny reflective silver cartridge and adding it to my collection. Atari may have been done with those style labels in 1984, but I was not done with them, nor ever will be.

[Draugr]

Just stumbled upon this thread. Can't wait to see this completed. I loved the 5200 release which I picked up as soon as it went on sale. I'd do the same for this version as well!

 

Any further progress since December?

[+Psionic]

Carla did work on a version of Tempest for the 2600, but she told me that this was NOT her version as hers was "completely different". Also the date of this prototype is past the time when she worked at Atari. When we were working on 5200 Tempest, Keithen told me he talked to the programmer of the 2600 version back in 1984 and it definitely was NOT Carla. He doesn't remember his name though. So we are still trying to find out who programmed this Tempest cart.

Is there any possibility this version was done by someone outside Atari (i.e. Roklan)?