Tumble Temple (Atari 2600)

[bluswimmer]

Hi everyone! Today I'd like to present a new, original 2600 homebrew called "Tumble Temple." In this game, you play as a hapless explorer who seems to have found himself on a pile of blocks sinking into some quicksand below. To make matters worse, more blocks are falling from the ceiling, and will potentially crush the explorer if he's not careful!

 

Controls are fairly simple; left and right to move, fire to jump. However, the blocks are incredibly fragile, and will instantly shatter as soon as you jump off of one. You get more points for breaking several blocks in quick succession, though! If you manage to jump on a block that's falling, you'll get a REALLY big bonus.

 

Currently, the game has four difficulties. Hope you all enjoy! I'm a little nervous about sharing this since this is my first homebrew that isn't a port of another game, but at the same time I'm excited for you all to try it!

 

Oh, and as per usual, you can see gameplay footage here!

tumbletemple.bin

tumbletempleV2.bin

tumbletempleV2.1.bin

tumbletempleV2.2.bin

tumbletemplev2.3.bin

tumbletempleV2.4.bin

tumbletempleV2.5NTSC.bin

tumbletempleV2.5PAL60.bin

tumbletempleV2.5SECAM60.bin

Edited January 31 by bluswimmer

[Albert]

What a fun concept! I need to try this out on a 2600.

 

How far along do you consider the game? Are you open to suggestions?

 

..Al

[bluswimmer]

What a fun concept! I need to try this out on a 2600.

 

How far along do you consider the game? Are you open to suggestions?

 

..Al

Thanks for checking this out! The game currently has all of the features that I wanted in it, though if people have suggestions I'd be willing to consider them. And of course if any bugs crop up while people play it I'll fix those too.

[+SpiceWare]

Pretty cool!

 

Seems odd that the columns all sink in sync - when this block lands:

 

it immediately sinks to the same level as the rest

 

Would make more sense to have it land like this:

 

If you're not going to use player0 (say for dropping powerups) then it'd be easy to do by drawing the columns using a quad sized player0 rather than the playfield.

[+RevEng]

Well done!

 

Your original game mechanic had me say "oooh" at the youtube video, and I chuckled when I died shortly after thinking "this might take a while".

 

If you're still interested in pushing the design further, I think it could use another element or two, to avoid the game experience being too much the same. But either way, good job!

[MemberAtarian]

My only complaint that bricks disappear if your are jumping on them while they are falling, like, the games like you are jumping from them jumping to them. Other than that, it's a unique and fan concept, I like it how quicksand takes the "island" down slowly.

[Albert]

I haven't played yet, but from watching the video:

1. Can you use a different tune at the start of the game? The current tune is from Balloon Trip.
2. Maybe use different colors for the water at the bottom to represent different levels?
3. I agree with Darrell's statement above, would be cool if the individual columns of blocks didn't all sink at the same time.
4. Some type of power-ups would be cool. For instance, one power-up could reduce the speed. Another could add a layer of blocks at the bottom. You could also have "bad" power-ups, such as one that removes one or more blocks sitting in the water.
5. Another variation would be having more blocks across?
6. Is there a penalty for allowing blocks to sink into the water? Maybe a deduction of points, or allowing blocks to sink causes the game to speed up more quickly?

That's all I have for now.

 

..Al

[eebuckeye]

The new games for the Atari 2600 are incredible! Nice job!

[bluswimmer]

I haven't played yet, but from watching the video:

1. Can you use a different tune at the start of the game? The current tune is from Balloon Trip.
2. Maybe use different colors for the water at the bottom to represent different levels?
3. I agree with Darrell's statement above, would be cool if the individual columns of blocks didn't all sink at the same time.
4. Some type of power-ups would be cool. For instance, one power-up could reduce the speed. Another could add a layer of blocks at the bottom. You could also have "bad" power-ups, such as one that removes one or more blocks sitting in the water.
5. Another variation would be having more blocks across?
6. Is there a penalty for allowing blocks to sink into the water? Maybe a deduction of points, or allowing blocks to sink causes the game to speed up more quickly?

That's all I have for now.

 

..Al

Thanks for the suggestions! I will absolutely consider adding powerups to the game, and the "Charge!" sound at the start will definitely get changed to something else.

 

As for the "uneven columns," I'm not entirely certain how feasible it would be with how the program is currently written. At the very least I'll try to address this somewhat by having the blocks fall more slowly once they hit the sand before they lock into the "grid."

[CrazyChris]

batari Basic?

[bluswimmer]

batari Basic?

Nope, this was done in Assembly.

[CrazyChris]

Nope, this was done in Assembly.

Thanks!

[+SpiceWare]

As for the "uneven columns," I'm not entirely certain how feasible it would be with how the program is currently written.

 

 

It's common to completely redo the kernels for games, I've lost track of how many times I've done that.

[Dionoid]

Cool game!

 

I think it plays a bit like Tower of Rubble, which has the same basic ingredients; a stick man running around on a deteriorating pile of rubble, trying not to get crushed by falling blocks.

 

In case you didn't know: I'm working on a '2600 port for Tower of Rubble (see my post here). No worries, I think the games are different enough and both will be fun to play.

 

For some reason you and I sometimes like to work on similar games at the same time, not aware of each other's efforts; remember Doodle Jump?

I guess that's what they call "an idea that's floating in the air".

 

And good to hear that you're doing 100% assembly!

Edited January 2 by Dionoid

[bluswimmer]

Cool game!

 

I think it plays a bit like Tower of Rubble, which has the same basic ingredients; a stick man running around on a deteriorating pile of rubble, trying not to get crushed by falling blocks.

 

In case you didn't know: I'm working on a '2600 port for Tower of Rubble (see my post here). No worries, I think the games are different enough and both will be fun to play.

 

For some reason you and I sometimes like to work on similar games at the same time, not aware of each other's efforts; remember Doodle Jump?

I guess that's what they call "an idea that's floating in the air".

 

And good to hear that you're doing 100% assembly!

It's funny, really. I was working on this game before you posted Tower of Rubble. Funny how the world works sometimes, huh?

 

Anyways, I did check out Tower of Rubble. While there's not enough there right now for me to give a proper opinion, what you have so far looks great.

[Dionoid]

It's funny, really. I was working on this game before you posted Tower of Rubble. Funny how the world works sometimes, huh?

 

Anyways, I did check out Tower of Rubble. While there's not enough there right now for me to give a proper opinion, what you have so far looks great.

 

Yes, it's funny indeed. We both like the same type of games, I guess :-)

 

Please check out the original PC-version or Tower of Rubble here. There's also a C64 port of the game, which I'm sure you'll also like.

[Nognir]

That's really a fun concept. Looking forward how this is progressing. Keep up the good work!

[bluswimmer]

Hi everyone,

 

Version 2 is out! This one adds a brand new feature, coins. When a coin is collected, a new row of blocks appears at the bottom of the screen, and you get 100 points.

 

Others things changed in this version include....

• New startup music (as an aside, I've used the previous "charge" in two games now, aside from this one. I really should have thought about changing this to being with.)
• Fixed a bug where sometimes you would instantly gain 100 points upon startup
• Fixed a bug where an extra block would sometimes appear on startup
• Fixed an audio bug that played audio on startup if sound was in the middle of playing when you lost
• Made some animation tweaks.
• Fixed a bug where the game locked the block into the grid and gave you points for jumping on top of it if you did so the frame before it locked in.
• Fixed a bug where the score counter didn't carry digits correctly. I honestly can't believe I didn't notice this one sooner.

EDIT: How embarrassing, I've already found a bug related to the coins! If you collect a coin and then die within the next eight frames, the next game will start with the extra row popping up the rest of the way. I've gone ahead and uploaded a fix.

 

EDIT 2: Fixed another bug where collisions at the VERY bottom of the screen didn't work correctly.

Edited January 4 by bluswimmer

[keebz]

Ok... this is game is simply brilliant. What an easy to grasp concept, really well executed. This is right up there with Amoeba Jump for me. Highly addictive and sometimes counter intuitive. Congratulating you on your coding isn't enough, congratulation on a great design. THAT is really something to be proud of. I love it.

[ZeroPage Homebrew]

We'll be featuring Tumble Temple on the ZeroPage Homebrew stream this Wednesday on Twitch at 11AM PT/2PM ET 6PM PT/9PM ET (UPDATED TIME)! Hope everyone can tune in to watch us play!

Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/

Games on Wednesday:
Dare Devil (2019 WIP) by Muddyfunster
Chaotic Grill (2018 WIP Update) by splendidnut
Shark Jaws + (2019 WIP) by winkdot
Snow Flakes 2018 (2019) by Lolkiu64
Tumble Temple (2019 WIP) by bluswimmer

 

EDIT: UPDATED WITH VIDEO OF SHOW

 

 

Edited January 11 by cimmerian

[tschak909]

I wish I had thought of this game concept. This is awesome! Great work!

 

-Thom

[Jason_Atari]

This is a great game, i'm impressed My only gripe is the colors are all weird, any chance of having a PAL version?

[bluswimmer]

Hi everyone,

 

Version 2.3 is out. This one rebalances the game a bit so that the game ramps up a bit slower and the maximum speed is a little more manageable. Also fixes a bug where the game just craps itself when the blocks get to the top.

 

As for a PAL version, I definitely want to get one made! Unlike Balloon Trip I actually bothered to make constant values for each of the colors, so all it would take is changing the constant values and compiling that to make a PAL60 version.

[mojofltr]

This is brilliant. Such a simple concept, but fun and well executed. Nice job.

 

...

 

Ah, I didn't know I was supposed to be destroying all of the bricks. I killed myself by jumping into the ceiling! LOL! I didn't expect that!

 

...

 

Hahha, level 5 is a blast!

Edited January 12 by mojofltr

[drludos]

I love this game! The core gameplay is very fun and original, and the graphics / sounds are cool too.

Congrats, it's a very impressive "first" original game!

 

After playing it for quite some time, here a few ideas/suggestions that may interest you:

- I find the game to "slow" on the lowest difficulty levels, as you have to wait a lot between each block falling. It really gets more fun IMHO at level 3. Maybe you should make it the default difficulty? (so the game will start in "normal difficulty" instead of "easiest difficulty" by default)

- Maybe you should display the current highscore on the title screen, so that we know whether we beat the highscore or not.

- I love you how can adjust the jump height by pressing the button longer - it feels very "smooth" and natural while playing

- Regarding the long term goal of the game: is there a way to "win"? (clearing all the block leads to game over as we fall into lava)

- I'm still unsure about what really triggers the "blocks rise" (it seems to be the coin / ring).

- Last but not least, an odd idea: did you try to modify the gameplay so that the floor don't fall down, but slowly rise up? As hitting the ceiling kills you, and hitting the bottom kills you too, if you make this change, I think it could be a fun "extra mode", especially when played at speed 3-4.

 

Anyway, I'm eager to see an eventual new version, or maybe a cart release!

Edited January 17 by drludos