Albert Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Have you ever wished you could play Atari's Combat by yourself when you didn't have a friend handy to play against? Thanks to the efforts of Zach Matley, you'll be able to! Zach is developing a version of Combat called Tank AI that allows you to play against the computer! Tank AI will only feature the Tank game of Combat, but several unique mazes will be included. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Excellent! Sorta like Battlezone, from overhead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stein Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Too Cool!! This is great news! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broncoman Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATARI TROLL Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Zach your beta is awesome! You took a game and put a great spin on it. Thanks dude! It kicks ass! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxglove9 Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Finally a reason for me to play Combat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moycon Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 I've always enjoyed playing with myself. Now with this new game I enjoy it even more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Combat always had a one-player game...it's called Dancing Tanks (try to find the position that causes the tanks to jump around the screen the longest). I found one that lasted well past two minutes and into the attract mode before stopping once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Mitchell Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Combat always had a one-player game...it's called Dancing Tanks (try to find the position that causes the tanks to jump around the screen the longest). I found one that lasted well past two minutes and into the attract mode before stopping once. LOL! 2 minutes??? Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Yup...they would circle a few times, then move the entire length of the screen a few times (moving slightly upward), then repeat. This continued until the tanks crossed the top boundry of the screen. Then they broke apart and ended up on opposite edges of the playfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Hello Everyone, I'm glad to see such an enthusiastic response to the news. Tank AI started as a project for my artificial intelligence class. We should all thank my professor for letting his students choose their projects. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank Joe Decuir and Larry Wagner, recognized as the original programmers of Combat. More thanks go to Harry Dodgson, Nick Bensema, and Roger Williams, who put together the Combat disassembly. One thing I'd like to ask the community is about priorities. Because of limited ROM space, there is a trade-off between the number of mazes and the complexity of the AI. Using my most complex AI design, I could do 2 mazes. With some simplification I could maybe fit 4 in a ROM. With even more simplification, I could probably do more. Where would you like the balance to tip? Zach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 I vote better AI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Yes... better AI wins. Man, if only this had existed back in the day! I always HATED Combat and thought it was the stupidest game EVER because I never had anyone to play it with. (I really never got why they packed-in a two-player-only game. Sears' choice to pack in Target Fun made a lot more sense.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cap5750 Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Hello Everyone,One thing I'd like to ask the community is about priorites. Because of limited ROM space, there is a trade-off between the number of mazes and the complexity of the AI. Using my most complex AI design, I could do 2 mazes. With some simplification I could maybe fit 4 in a ROM. With even more simplification, I could probably do more. Where would you like the balance to tip? Zach Both? Two roms...one with complex AI and less mazes and the other with the less complicated AI, but more mazes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad2600 Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 I thought Combat was fun but not fun enough having to play against myself(in which I always lose). Sounds like a good improvement upon Combat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdono Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 This sounds like a great idea! As far as the AI goes, I am going to have to agree with the others on a strong AI. The more unpredictable the computer can act, the better. It will make for a fun and challenging game, no matter how many mazes there are. Homer: "I love you Atari!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaManFan Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 I've always enjoyed playing with myself. Dude, too much information! j/k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonasrs Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Not only am I trying to get every game from Atari and Sears Telegames,...but I also collect Homebrews, Repro's, Hacks, and Proto's with labels that closely resemble Original Atari or Sears Label games,(Mini Golf +, Snow White, RealSports Basketball, etc!).....both Pix label and Text Label....so if this game happens to come out looking alot like the original game, (with a modified title or something), I would be extremely interested,...if not.....dernnit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 One thing I'd like to ask the community is about priorities. Because of limited ROM space, there is a trade-off between the number of mazes and the complexity of the AI. Using my most complex AI design, I could do 2 mazes. With some simplification I could maybe fit 4 in a ROM. With even more simplification, I could probably do more. Where would you like the balance to tip? Zach I'd vote for a better AI as long as one of the mazes is this : Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Yaa...original Tank maze Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 I'd also vote for better AI. But the maze(s) should be complex enough to take advantage of it. I agree some of the original Combat mazes would be great. A wide-open playfield probably wouldn't be much fun. I like the idea of two versions. A strong AI version with two mazes, and then a less strong version with more mazes. And... how about for the latter version - a maze design contest, similar to the one done for Miniature Golf+? But I think I'd prefer a smarter game, than one with more mazes, if it came down to one or the other. (Would increasing the ROM size allow more mazes and strong AI?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted June 5, 2003 Share Posted June 5, 2003 Of course (since the mazes would be just Rom memory). The problem would be programming the game to fit into a bankswitching scheme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doron Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 A.I. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach Posted June 6, 2003 Share Posted June 6, 2003 All right. It appears to be unanimous that the balance should tip towards AI. I will keep this in mind when designing. I probably didn't make it clear from my last post that the AI would be good in any of the scenarios described earlier, but I will proceed with my most complex design. Two mazes is a conservative estimate; there's a good chance I can squeeze some more in. Some people have wondered how large the ROM will be. I'm going to use every byte I can get and make 32K of AI goodness. By the way, does anyone remember this thread? -Zach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.