ZeroPage Homebrew Twitch Stream

[+Karl G]

On 4/6/2020 at 10:16 AM, Thomas Jentzsch said:

I think it would be easier to write a simple Atari 2600 program for copying, no?

 

On 4/6/2020 at 2:06 PM, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

That would be incredible! Plug the source AtariVox into port 1 and the destination AtariVox into port 2 and run the program to read then write all the location data over. ?

 

I have my world record score (now broken) on Wall Jump Ninja on my old AtariVox and would love to transfer it over.

 

- James

 

@Thomas Jentzsch - Are you volunteering to make this utility to do the copy? I would be happy to do so myself, but if I were James I might prefer to have a more experienced developer to do it.  

[+sramirez2008]

Just watched the replay of last nights stream and wow!

 

@johnnywc Can't wait for the demo of Champ Sports Baseball, as well as, your new ZPH reveal.

 

@SpiceWare That demo of Cosmic Avenger looks great. Hope to see it turn into an actual finished cart release.

 

James congrats again on your Spaceman Splorf patch? Go for 8,000 I need some company.? 

 

Tanya keep trying, your close.

[+Nathan Strum]

I wish I would've known that CS Baseball was going to be part of the News segment, I would've watched the show live and could've answered a few of the questions about it. John's got an amazing start on it, and is cherry-picking features from some of his favorite baseball games, and expanding on them. We've also been looking at bad baseball games, to know what not to do.  

 

One thing I'd like to point out: the player graphics at this point are temporary placeholders. I still cringe a bit looking at them, but I'm involved in some other sprites at the moment. I'm hoping to get back to CS Baseball pretty soon. (Actually, I'm hoping  baseball gets back to baseball pretty soon. Although it seems unlikely for the time being.)

[+D Train]

11 hours ago, Nathan Strum said:

I wish I would've known that CS Baseball was going to be part of the News segment, I would've watched the show live and could've answered a few of the questions about it. John's got an amazing start on it, and is cherry-picking features from some of his favorite baseball games, and expanding on them. We've also been looking at bad baseball games, to know what not to do.  

 

One thing I'd like to point out: the player graphics at this point are temporary placeholders. I still cringe a bit looking at them, but I'm involved in some other sprites at the moment. I'm hoping to get back to CS Baseball pretty soon. (Actually, I'm hoping  baseball gets back to baseball pretty soon. Although it seems unlikely for the time being.)

everything about this is exciting! I've been waiting for a good baseball game on the 2600 since the late 70s or whenever it was that we got our atari.

 

I'd love to know what you are *not* going to do, as per the above...

[+Cafeman]

I would think the most limiting factor to CSB would be having only 1 button. 

[+Nathan Strum]

15 hours ago, D Train said:

I'd love to know what you are *not* going to do, as per the above...

Typically, things that make you want to throw the joystick at the TV.  

 

For example - Pete Rose Baseball is pretty terrible. It looks impressive on the surface, but your fielders can't cross horizontally with each other. So you might try fielding a bunt with the third baseman, and you miss it, but you can't chase after it because you get stuck when you hit the shortstop's lower boundary. So then you have to switch to the shortstop who is way out of position. They did this to avoid flicker, but it makes for terrible gameplay.

 

The ball has stopped, but the third baseman, who is right underneath, can't get to it.

 

Also, the player uniforms in Pete Rose Baseball are all the same color, so you can't tell at a glance which are the fielders and which are the baserunners. In the picture above - who is on second? The runner, or the fielder?

 

And while I'm bashing on Pete Rose Baseball  the way the camera views change are too abrupt and disorienting. You have no point-of-reference between one view and the next.

 

So... stuff like that, that sucks the fun out of the game.

9 hours ago, Cafeman said:

I would think the most limiting factor to CSB would be having only 1 button. 

It's a challenge, but not insurmountable. As John posted on Facebook, he's going for an arcade-like feel. There will be depth to it, but ultimately it has to be fun to just pick up and play. The arcade game Champion Baseball is a good starting point. It really nails the basic pitcher vs. hitter battle. M-Network's Super Challenge Baseball has very intuitive controls and it's a game John and I both really like a lot. It's hamstrung by a static view and no single-player mode though, but it's another source we can draw some inspiration from.

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

On 4/9/2020 at 11:58 AM, Nathan Strum said:

I wish I would've known that CS Baseball was going to be part of the News segment, I would've watched the show live and could've answered a few of the questions about it. John's got an amazing start on it, and is cherry-picking features from some of his favorite baseball games, and expanding on them. We've also been looking at bad baseball games, to know what not to do.  

It was a last minute inclusion, I noticed the post about an hour before the show started. How could I not talk about such super fresh off the press news!! ?

 

On 4/9/2020 at 11:58 AM, Nathan Strum said:

One thing I'd like to point out: the player graphics at this point are temporary placeholders. I still cringe a bit looking at them, but I'm involved in some other sprites at the moment. I'm hoping to get back to CS Baseball pretty soon. (Actually, I'm hoping  baseball gets back to baseball pretty soon. Although it seems unlikely for the time being.)

Really looking forward to the game, the graphics and layout are already incredible even with placeholders! I can't wait to see the animated running.
 

4 hours ago, Nathan Strum said:

For example - Pete Rose Baseball is pretty terrible. It looks impressive on the surface, but your fielders can't cross horizontally with each other.

I think I said that Pete Rose Baseball (accidentally called it Hardball, which is a REALLY good baseball game that I played on the C64 a lot) looks amazing during the stream but admittedly I've never played it and had only seen the pitching graphics, which are quite large and detailed. Graphics are one thing but playability is really king.
 

4 hours ago, Nathan Strum said:

As John posted on Facebook, he's going for an arcade-like feel. There will be depth to it, but ultimately it has to be fun to just pick up and play. The arcade game Champion Baseball is a good starting point. It really nails the basic pitcher vs. hitter battle. M-Network's Super Challenge Baseball has very intuitive controls and it's a game John and I both really like a lot. It's hamstrung by a static view and no single-player mode though, but it's another source we can draw some inspiration from.

Sounds like you're taking the right approach by taking all the good elements from other attempts and improving the ones you don't to create the ultimate baseball game. All the fun of an arcade style game but with flexibility and depth with all the things John listed on the post with the team editor, tournament mode and AtariVox announcements! Woohoo!

- James

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

On 4/7/2020 at 1:53 PM, sramirez2008 said:

You asked how many homebrews may have patches and while I don't know for sure, below are the few that I have achieved for the 2600 homebrew scene.

 

Astronomer: Stargazer Patch - Need 20 or more stars.

Space Cactus Canyon: Space Cactus Captains Patch - Score 80,000 points or more.

Spaceman Splorf: Golden Spanner 4th Class Engineer Group - Score 4,000 or more.

Tyre Trax: Trax Masters Patch - Gold Cups in each game mode 1-4

 

*L.E.M. - There were a number of patches (~50) available with the original CIB release.  I don't have one of the patches, but did buy a CIB, once I discovered this game?

 

@Albert Would it be possible to add a Homebrew Patch Gallery, similar to the Activision Patch Gallery?

Thank you so much for this list! I've added them to the top post in this thread, along with which ones I still need to achieve. I've organized them all together along with the Activision patches as well. I still need to fill out the section a bit more but all the basic are there now.

 

On 4/7/2020 at 1:57 PM, Albert said:

You can add Star Fire to that list.  There were 50 patches given away for scoring 3,500 points or more:

 ..Al

Thanks so much for the info Al! I've scheduled a patch challenge for myself in an upcoming stream for Star Fire now. ?

[Albert]

3 minutes ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

Thanks so much for the info Al! I've scheduled a patch challenge for myself in an upcoming stream for Star Fire now. ?

Excellent!  Look forward to seeing that. 

 

 ..Al

[+sramirez2008]

1 minute ago, Albert said:

Excellent!  Look forward to seeing that. 

 

 ..Al

Me too! I ordered a copy of Star Fire earlier this week.

[+sramirez2008]

20 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

Thank you so much for this list! I've added them to the top post in this thread, along with which ones I still need to achieve. I've organized them all together along with the Activision patches as well. I still need to fill out the section a bit more but all the basic are there now.

 

Thanks so much for the info Al! I've scheduled a patch challenge for myself in an upcoming stream for Star Fire now. ?

Thanks for adding the patch list to the beginning of this thread. Btw, I have to give a shout-out to @TrekMD for his high score on Astronomer. That HS is one for the ages?

[+sramirez2008]

On 4/10/2020 at 10:38 PM, sramirez2008 said:

Me too! I ordered a copy of Star Fire earlier this week.

Yesss! I hope to play this weekend and see if I can qualify for the patch. Boy, I wish I would have been around AA when this game/patch were first available.

 

Btw, the manual is really cool?

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

18 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

Yesss! I hope to play this weekend and see if I can qualify for the patch. Boy, I wish I would have been around AA when this game/patch were first available.

Exactly how I feel as well, that's why I'm trying to keep up on the homebrew patches available now. Ugh, the Astronomer patch is frustratingly out of reach!

 

- James

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

 @ZeroPage Homebrew interviews Dion Olsthoorn/@Dionoid (Amoeba Jump, Tower of Rubble, Fool's Gold) at PRGE 2019!

At long last, here is my interview with Dionoid from last year at Portland Retro Gaming Expo where I talk with him about his newly released Atari 2600 homebrew Amoeba Jump, upcoming Tower of Rubble and new projects on the horizon! Enjoy!

 

 

[+Nathan Strum]

Great interview!

 

James - are you ever going to do a tour of your collection? You mentioned you might do that sometime. 

[+sramirez2008]

2 hours ago, Nathan Strum said:

James - are you ever going to do a tour of your collection? You mentioned you might do that sometime. 

Do it...do it...do it!?
 

Btw, like how you identified Al in your video.

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

4 hours ago, Nathan Strum said:

Great interview!

 

James - are you ever going to do a tour of your collection? You mentioned you might do that sometime. 

Thanks so much Nathan, it's always great to talk to developers!! Yes, I still have plans to do a tour of my collection. I think once all these troubles blow over and Aerlan can come and film me pulling everything out from where I've tucked it all away I'll make that video. Thanks for the reminder and I'll add it to the 'upcoming videos' list.

 

4 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

Do it...do it...do it!?
 

Btw, like how you identified Al in your video.

Hahah, thanks so much. I thought it was perfect timing with Dion mentioning Al and he's RIGHT there in middle frame, just too good to pass up!

 

- James

[+sramirez2008]

On 3/24/2018 at 2:03 AM, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

UPCOMING EPISODES on TWITCH (Click Time Listing for Your Local Time):

20200426 Let's Play: Milly and Molly (Atari 7800 WIP Exclusive Premiere), Shades (WIP), Star Fire (Patch Attempt #2 ?/3500) (LIVE @ 11AM PT | 2PM ET | 6PM GMT)

Venturing into the world of the 7800. I like it ? 

 

Btw, Star Fire is quite the challenge.  My best score so far is 2,673. 3,500 seems so far away. Hats off to the original patch winners.

[+Karl G]

Milly and Molly, huh?  I'm wondering if it's what it sounds like it could be.  ?

 

I'm also wondering if it might be a good idea to drop a note in the 7800 forum about this upcoming episode for any 7800 users that may not be aware of this premiere.

[Prizrak]

Pretty neat that Carleton Handley is bringing Milly Molly to the Atari 7800. I've played the C64 version a few times and thought it was pretty neat.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[+mksmith]

2 hours ago, Prizrak said:

Pretty neat that Carleton Handley is bringing Milly Molly to the Atari 7800. I've played the C64 version a few times and thought it was pretty neat.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 

Hi! I've had some initial contact with Carleton a while ago as I also enjoyed the game and thought it would be a great title for the 7800 but he has yet to officially approve anything.  I also won't be releasing this without his approval as least in the near future.

[+sramirez2008]

Yesss!  Finally reached a patch worthy score on Star Fire. I was maybe midway through level 9. 

@Thomas Jentzschyour score is still incredible. @ZeroPage Homebrew James keep on playing. I expect you to achieve the patch soon.

 

[Albert]

2 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

Yesss!  Finally reached a patch worthy score on Star Fire. I was maybe midway through level 9. 

@Thomas Jentzschyour score is still incredible. @ZeroPage Homebrew

Congratulations!  And I happen to have one patch left!

 

 ..Al

 

 

 

 

 

just kidding

[+sramirez2008]

52 minutes ago, Albert said:

Congratulations!  And I happen to have one patch left!

 

 ..Al

 

 

 

 

 

just kidding

Get out!  Please tell me your not joking. -Missed the ‘just kidding’

[+sramirez2008]

Just watched yesterday’s replay. @ZeroPage HomebrewJames, how well does the Asteroids ‘Basicfun.com’ mini arcade play?