Laser Blast X

[peteym5]

I recently "completed" Laser Blast that had been on my list for like 5 years now. KJMANN12 and I originally it was to be part of a multi-game cartridge, then considered for a stand alone cartridge. I did my own version from scratch. I had concerns about doing a "Weak" game on cartridge, but I feel I added a lot of game options to this one to where you can play it similar to what was one the Atari VCS 2600 to something much more elaborate with many more enemies moving around the screen . Since KJMANN12 departed from what I do, I had my own freedom to decide what to do with this game.

 

Instead of just doing an exact port of a 2600 game, I wanted something that will take advantage of the Atari 8-bit features like having 4 independent player sprites on a line and higher multicolored resolution for the ground, mountains, and star back ground. Do a parallax effect with back ground and foreground scrolling at different rates. Several variants you will be able to play include 3, 4, or 6 tanks on the ground, alien fighter crafts are also flying above the tanks, and enemies can either shoot lasers or "little bolts" up at your ship.

 

If anybody has any other ideals, post something. Please keep it relevant to Laser Blast.

 

The game will now be beta tested to check for any issues running on various Atari computers. The release date will not be set until beta testing is complete. I may also decide to add more features later.

Edited April 26, 2016 by peteym5

[gozar]

I liked Laser Blast on the 2600... That is, until I figured out how to play forever and then it became an exercise in tedium. Make sure it's random enough that the player won't get bored.

[+Stephen]

Screenshots look good, I loved the game on the 2600.

[peteym5]

I added an option to disable the tank fixed positions apart and they move independently along the ground. This throws in a whole new challenge to the game and probably took out the whole repetition issue people complained about the 2600 game.

When something is "ported" you want to leave the ability so people can play as the original game as well as play with the enhancements turned on.

[+Cafeman]

Screenshots look nice!

[peteym5]

I added X after the title because marketing research says titles with X in the title get higher ratings.... (just kidding), anybody remember that joke from "Stargate SG-1" episode "Wormhole X-Treme". I believe they were directing the joke at "The X-Files"

 

It actually was put there to show it runs on the 8-bit computers, XL, XE. but it should run on the 400/800 because it does not do anything with RAM under OS or with the extended banks of the 130XE.

 

I get some conflicting reports about the cartridge port on the 800 about it being able to run and map a whole 16K cartridge, needs to map 8K at a time. That is why there was left and right cartridge. I thought the left/right cartridge thing was originally done because of the availability and expense of EPROMS back around 1980.

[peteym5]

I took the screen shots with the full over scan showing. With all the modern HDTV and digital wide screen video displays, people may see many of their Atari 8-bit games that utilize over-scan may see the display list interrupt background color changes beyond the left and the "fuzzy" on the right. What was not originally visible on narrow screen displays.

[Grevle]

Looks very nice, Looks like Arcade quality game.

[doctor_x]

idea.

[peteym5]

I decided to start a new thread for Laser Blast because the prior one went off the subject because I did not write the right thing. It was like kicking a bee hive here, so I am not even going to say anything or respond to anything further on a certain subject.

 

The Atari 8-bit had many advantages over the Atari 2600 (VCS) like having 4 players that can be placed independently vs 2 players that have a "repeat" flag where the player can be copied 2 or 3 times in a row. That is why you the 2600 version 3 tanks underneath that always stayed the same distance apart. We all know the 8-bit can do better with the backgrounds. One thing I looked at right away was to do a bunch of variants of Laser Blast onto one cartridge. Like having 3 or 4 tanks on the bottom, or have fighter crafts above. I am not going to give too much away with the options, but current design allows for 32 variations of Laser Blast. I think I am doing the laser beam the same way by using the missile sprite and changing the horizontal position every x number of lines.

[Dmitry]

That game looks nice! Activision was the gold standard for 2600 games, in my mind.

[peteym5]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7dGFn-XBqA

 

Here is an early video of some of the game play. I am working on a longer one with music and commentary.

[Jetboot Jack]

I notice on the title screen "Copyright 2016"

 

Can you copyright something that is an unlicensed copy of someone else's work?

 

Perhaps you have permission and I am ill informed?

 

sTeVE

 

P.S. Screen shots look cool...

Edited May 6, 2016 by Jetboot Jack

[Marius]

I notice on the title screen "Copyright 2016"

 

Can you copyright something that is an unlicensed copy of someone else's work?

 

Perhaps you have permission and I am ill informed?

 

sTeVE

 

P.S. Screen shots look cool...

 

It's the added smoothness that is copyrighted.

[Kripto]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7dGFn-XBqA

 

Here is an early video of some of the game play. I am working on a longer one with music and commentary.

 

 

That looks great! If you're looking for stuff to add, maybe the player's ship can withstand more than one hit, but becomes harder to control while producing smoke.

[peteym5]

"Laser Blast X" is an early working title meaning it is subject to change. If there are too many concerns about the title, We have an alternate name already chosen. Video 61 has not started making any cartridges and is not due for release until beta testing, box art, and manual is together. Each time we contact companies, we usually get a response that they are not concerned because we are producing it for an obsolete platform. Not like we are doing it to run on a Mac, Windows PC, XBOX, Playstation, or Nintendo.

 

I added many things already for many different types of game play, like more than 3 tanks on the bottom and planes above.

 

This may be the last game that is a "clone" of something from another obsolete system for awhile as I am focusing on more original work now. I had to dump Ladybug, Mouse Trap, and Zookeeper because those had music pieces and needed someone like KJMANN12 who had a good ear for replicating music from arcade games. I am focusing on finishing up for other games I had already started before I can start up anything else.

[Goochman]

IM sure there's a few folks here that could contribute some music for ZooKeeper.................

[peteym5]

I may make a post asking for help with RMT music for some future games, but want to try to get some current game projects more complete before I start up anything else. Zookeeper seems to be more unique and is something not done before. I hadn't decided if I am going to use multi-color or mono-colored player/missile graphics yet for it.

 

If it seems like I am prolific with making games, it is because I had many games started over the last few years and finally got around to finishing a few. I use a common template to give myself a kick start, along with copy and paste code from completed programs. But those practices are very common in the computer programming industry.

Edited May 7, 2016 by peteym5

[snicklin]

I added X after the title because marketing research says titles with X in the title get higher ratings.... (just kidding), anybody remember that joke from "Stargate SG-1" episode "Wormhole X-Treme". I believe they were directing the joke at "The X-Files"

 

Using similar logic, you should choice to add an 'A' at the start to make it "A Laser Blast X", then you will be near the top of alphabetically ordered games listings!

[Heaven/TQA]

Lady bug Would be ass

[peteym5]

Lady bug Would be ass

I am not sure this is a negative or positive comment. It could reference either way.

 

 

Using similar logic, you should choice to add an 'A' at the start to make it "A Laser Blast X", then you will be near the top of alphabetically ordered games listings!

I was considering Laser ----- X something other than "Blast". Laser Blitz was a basic game on the Vic-20 that look sorta the same but had dissimilar game play. We can probably get away of using "Laser Blitz X" because there nothing left of Commodore. Activision still exists, but is a totally different company now.

[Heaven/TQA]

of course it was an iPhone autocorrection... I would like to have proper Lady Bug on A8 so it was a positive comment.

[peteym5]

I wonder if we can dissemble the Coleco version of Lady Bug and figure out the music notes and create a new song with RMT. Would need the note table for that chip also. I don't have an ear for that like KJMANN12 had.

[Marius]

I wonder if we can dissemble the Coleco version of Lady Bug and figure out the music notes and create a new song with RMT. Would need the note table for that chip also. I don't have an ear for that like KJMANN12 had.

 

So what you in fact propose is to rip something? Well... that is interesting...

 

By the way you could learn to transcribe music yourself. There are a lot of tutorial movies on youtube about this subject. There is also software available to help you with making transcriptions, or even better that does some of that process for you (with mixed results I must add).

[peteym5]

I had thought about creating something original game running around a maze and eating dots while dodging enemies. Maybe combine it with an random maze routine and scrolling screen. I also passed up on doing anything like Pac-Man because it had been done many times, along with Pac-Man done well on the Atari.

 

I am currently tied up with doing other game projects right now and want to get that out of the way before starting up anything else. A lot of work and time goes into these games and I like to maintain a high quality standard. Any help is appreciated to move things along faster.

Edited May 10, 2016 by peteym5