C16 conversion: Way of the Exploding Fist

[+CharlieChaplin]

Fandal converted the C16 version of "The Way of the Exploding Fist" for the A8:

 

http://a8.fandal.cz/detail.php?files_id=7464

 

 

(Before someone asks: The filelength is less than 16k, but uses $2018-5E51, so it does not work on Atari 400 or Atari 600XL with 16k RAM.)

 

Any volunteers for converting the C64 version ?

 

Edited November 1, 2017 by CharlieChaplin

[Rybags]

Nice job. Haven't checked it running yet but the graphics look identical, C16 version seems to use hires for the competitors.

 

 

The C64 version might be a good candidate for VBXE. A problem with their bigger games is you want some memory holes to plug A8 specific code in. But games with lots of sprites such as this provide that memory hole as you can just put all the sprites in VRam anyway and use the standard Ram hole created for your emulation layer.

[+MrFish]

Neat!

[R0ger]

Haha we were talking with Fandal what game to convert from C16/C64 platform whole Bytefest (2 weeks back). This one was not mentioned. But then I think he would mention it if he were working on it at that time. Does it mean he made the conversion in 2 weeks !?

[Level42]

All raise hands who find C16 games to be an insult for the A8......

[AtariNerd]

All of your game are belong to ussss.

 

(Confession - had an adored CBM machine, before I had an A8 ((family got a 64 as an extra incentive, while buying a car...)) ,but we had the VCS well before then, so the Atari mystique and warm woodgrain fuzzies had sat with me for awhile and when I later discovered the 8-bit computer line, well, hey!)

[_The Doctor__]

I like the idea everything be ported and ported well to the Atari 8 bit.... I can then ditch all those other things floating around the house and garage!

[Rybags]

Entirely possible this game could have been a quick conversion but by the looks of it, not totally straightforward.

 

The extra colour would need DLI and/or PM underlay where the C16 would just be attributes.

DList for mode change from multicolour to hires where C16 would need raster IRQ if it's in bitmap.

 

I've not looked at the C16 version but the Atari one does appear to have original music, not done in an emulation layer.

[+MrFish]

All raise hands who find C16 games to be an insult for the A8......

 

So are 2600 game conversions an insult for the A8 too? Or is it ok because they are "in the family"?

 

I'm thinking you might say that because you know what the C64 version looks like and the A8 should be able to get close to that.

 

Certainly there are many lower-quality games on the A8 than this, though, eh?

[miker]

I've not looked at the C16 version but the Atari one does appear to have original music, not done in an emulation layer.

 

Yeah, title (or rather demo mode) music is cover from C64, and the win/lose jingles are mine. Everything has been done using unmodified RMT.

[jefffulton]

This is good. 2 players and 2 missiles for each character and you have a nice set of color sprites (though not as high-res) for a C64 conversion. I like this though. If all C16 games can be easily converted in a couple weeks, it expands the A8 library. Then people can use the ported code and make "+" or "Arcade" versions if they want. Here is a good list of C16 games:

 

http://everygamegoing.com/landing/machine_types/c16/games.html

[Rybags]

Doing C16 games isn't that straightforward. For a VBXE system it gets a bunch easier.

 

The 2 main obstacles are -

. 256 characters. This is probably the biggest one. For a game where arbitrary character placement can occur it's a big problem. With VBXE you can just have a virtual character map and use blits to do bitmap conversion of the entire screen.

 

. attributes. The C16 has a minimum of 1 byte of attribute for every character cell, so can use half or all colours as a foreground colour depending on mode. Again, VBXE can deal with this.

 

The third obstacle is dealing with Plus4 64K games. Potentially they can use all of the Ram and when there's no free holes it leaves little scope to put in your emulation layer.

The other thing as mentioned various times - the games, especially 16/32K ones aren't particularly good. And in cases where an Atari version already exists, often not worth the effort.