An Intellivision Marble Game

[Eric7100]

Can somebody please make an Intellivision marble game, along the lines of Marble Madness or Marble Blast Gold? Of course, the Intellivision version would have some limitations, but still...

[+save2600]

You'd think a Marble Madness game would suit the 16-direction disc well. I bet the Intellivision could pull off a decent, if not blocky port.

 

In the meantime, can play this game on a lot of different systems, with analog mice and trakballs even!

[+JasonlikesINTV]

I'd like to see a Rube Goldberg game for Intellivision. I want to press a button, and then sit back and allow the game to play itself

[+cvga]

How about a game like Super Monkey Ball? Would it count as a marble game?

[+BBWW]

I'm still waiting for Death Race 2020.

[+BBWW]

I think Marble Madness would be harder on the INDY than you think. I though of trying to get a "Marble in Box Maze" game done you are moving the entire plane and all associated parts on the plane. So you are redrawing a huge amount with every frame.

[mr_me]

The original Marble Madness was pseudo 3d done with tile graphics. Scrolling it shouldn't be a problem with Intellivision. Drawing the grid could be a problem. Intellivision has half the resolution of other systems and drawing the grid could be tough. A checkerboard pattern might work better. Not sure about shadows with the multi colour limitations. Displaying the two digit timer on a scrolling background is an issue. Use up a couple of sprites or use the Intellivoice? Kicking meatballs around in Diner might be the closest thing.

 

The original Marble Madness used a trackball. Some home conversions used a d-pad. I've never played marble madness, how do the different controls work out?

 

I wouldn't mind seeing someone program a trackball controller with an Intellivision game. [Trackballs and mice and spinners are digital devices not analog.]

Edited February 18, 2017 by mr_me

[GroovyBee]

A Marble Madness style game is certainly possible on the Inty with the following caveats :-

- Make it all monochrome (like the Speccy version) to avoid overly simplistic leveldesigns.
- Show a portion of the level (like the GameBoy version) and scroll it left/right.
- Display a timer on screen using MOBs (I do that in Apple Snaffle).

By far the hardest parts will be :-

- Designing compelling levels that fit within the 64 card programmable limit.
- Clipping the player's avatar and enemies as they pass behind elements in the terrain.

It would end up being a marble game that pays homage to the original, but in reality it probably wouldn't much look like it.

[+DZ-Jay]

You'd think a Marble Madness game would suit the 16-direction disc well. I bet the Intellivision could pull off a decent, if not blocky port.

 

In the meantime, can play this game on a lot of different systems, with analog mice and trakballs even!

 

It's not the movement; the compromises would need to be done on the graphics. Perhaps something closer to "Gyroscope" on the C=64, but with simpler graphics.

 

I agree with some of GroovyBee's suggestions for a good version, but not all. I don't necessarily think it has to be monochrome, but two colours should be sufficient. I also imagine it possible to be designed in such a way that you can cycle GRAM cards to scroll, rather than scrolling the screen. It would look more procedural and different from the original, but like GroovyBee said, it would pay homage to the original "feel" and style.

 

-dZ.

[GroovyBee]

I agree with some of GroovyBee's suggestions for a good version, but not all. I don't necessarily think it has to be monochrome, but two colours should be sufficient.

I don't think that all the angles are at 45 degrees in the roaming space of the marble, so you'd probably end up with some "colour clash" where walls would colour the spaces the marble can traverse. That might be an acceptable trade off, but in my mind you'd get much more freedom in level design if its all monochrome on the Inty.

 

Edit: Took a look at Gyroscope (as was suggested by DZ-Jay) and its much more in keeping with what the Inty can do. The levels appear to be designed such that the player's avatar cannot go behind the terrain. Thats a far simpler prospect to handle.

Edited February 19, 2017 by GroovyBee

[+DZ-Jay]

I don't think that all the angles are at 45 degrees in the roaming space of the marble, so you'd probably end up with some "colour clash" where walls would colour the spaces the marble can traverse. That might be an acceptable trade off, but in my mind you'd get much more freedom in level design if its all monochrome on the Inty.

 

Edit: Took a look at Gyroscope (as was suggested by DZ-Jay) and its much more in keeping with what the Inty can do. The levels appear to be designed such that the player's avatar cannot go behind the terrain. Thats a far simpler prospect to handle.

 

Yeah, that's the idea that I had (like you were suggesting), taking the original concept and designing a play-field to the strengths of the Intellivision. I think we can keep all the angles at 45 degrees and get away with an absolutely isometric diagonal view and still use two colours (a là Gyroscope).

 

If you design the play-field graphics to resemble the original at least in concept, and keep the terrain somewhat interesting in the vein of the original, and add reasonably realistic physics simulations (acceleration due to gravity, friction, etc.); by the time you add cool cartoony animation and sound effects, you'll have the full "feel" of the original -- even if it really isn't too close technically.

 

I played Gyroscope to death when I was 12 years-old and I loved it! The only thing that broke the illusion of Marble Madness for me was having to use a joystick rather than a track-ball, which always felt slightly discordant: less direct manipulation of the gyroscope, and more like remote control.

 

However, if used right, the Intellivision disc can correct that issue in spades -- but it will have to be properly engineered to account for usage mechanics (e.g., rolling the thumb to roll the ball), not just translating 16 directions to movement directly, or else you'll end up with the same joystick problem I mentioned.

 

OK, now, there's your (vague) specification. Someone go code it now!

 

-dZ.

[1980gamer]

When I started reading this, I was going to suggest Gyroscope as well.

 

Dz. Christmas Marbles! or Christmas Tree Balls a-rolling. Don't let them break!

 

Bad names in an effort to find a developer of previous Christmas themed games,

 

Not to get off topic, How is P-Machinery going?

[+DZ-Jay]

When I started reading this, I was going to suggest Gyroscope as well.

 

Dz. Christmas Marbles! or Christmas Tree Balls a-rolling. Don't let them break!

 

Bad names in an effort to find a developer of previous Christmas themed games,

 

Not to get off topic, How is P-Machinery going?

 

LOL!

 

P-Machinery is going rather well, although development is on hold at the moment while I catch up with some previous commitments. I expect to continue working on it within the next couple of months and get it to a respectable and usable level to start working on my next game this year. That's the plan anyway.

 

The next step I need to work on is the core sprite kernel which will include autonomous sprite movement (i.e., set velocities vectors for an object, and it will move automatically until told otherwise).

 

The framework is actually quite useful right now, except for sprite, graphics, and sound handling; for which there is no high-level support at all.

 

However, in my opinion, the memory allocation model, the event-driven engine and state machine, and the plug-in architecture for hand-controller decoders, are exceedingly useful already.

 

-dZ.

[carlsson]

I will admit this one took nearly two hours to convert, but in that time I also looked up the syntax sed -n '1~7p' inputfile > outputfile in order to get every 7th line from a file, plus that I developed a PHP script to transpose the music any number of subtones up or down (to better fit the range, as this one initally went down to B-0 while the music data doesn't accept anything below C-2). Perhaps some of the notes go ridiculously high, it could be remedied by staying with the "flute" sound instead of the "clarinet" sound.

 

(Oddly, my experience is that flutes always play higher notes than clarinets, but apparently in the IntyBASIC world, the opposite is true)

 

gyroscope.bin

gyroscope.bas

[+DZ-Jay]

I will admit this one took nearly two hours to convert, but in that time I also looked up the syntax sed -n '1~7p' inputfile > outputfile in order to get every 7th line from a file, plus that I developed a PHP script to transpose the music any number of subtones up or down (to better fit the range, as this one initally went down to B-0 while the music data doesn't accept anything below C-2). Perhaps some of the notes go ridiculously high, it could be remedied by staying with the "flute" sound instead of the "clarinet" sound.

 

(Oddly, my experience is that flutes always play higher notes than clarinets, but apparently in the IntyBASIC world, the opposite is true)

 

gyroscope.bin

gyroscope.bas

 

Wow! That sounds very good... until the bridge, then it goes all wacko and off-key.

 

That's very nice if you can just do that with a mostly-automated workflow.

 

-dZ.

[GroovyBee]

I will admit this one took nearly two hours to convert

Another tune that needs a game to go with it.