else Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 (edited) With winter on the way out and spring on the way in, how about hitting the slopes one last time before heading off to the races? Hi all. It’s been a long time since I’ve posted — family, kids, work, etc. Here’s couple of games I’ve been working off and on for years (literally!). I think they’re finally in good enough shape to post (consider them works-in-progress, as the perfectionist part of me can't call anything ever truly “done” — there’s always something I can find to tweak and make better). I tried to go for pixel-perfect precision with all these games, so if there’s anything you find that isn’t quite right, let me know (though in Horse Racing ’82 I went with single color horses, otherwise the game would be a flicker fest)…. Horse Racing…. Horse Racing ’82: This may look graphically similar to the one I posted a while back, but it has a completely new game engine under the hood. In fact, the engine shares ~95% of the code with Horse Racing ’83…. Horse Racing ’83: This one is all new, and the one I spent most of my time on (hopefully it shows). Credit goes to my son, who was 12 at the time, for inspiring me to turn this in to a full circle track (take that, Atari and Intellivision!). I was just working on a single screen at the time, when he said “but dad, how come they don’t go around”. He’s almost 18 now, by the way. Gameplay: Both Horse Racing games are button smashers (as a sports game should be!). The joystick moves your horse. The side buttons can be pressed repeatedly to go faster. A game is four races, with points awarded according finish positions. The skill level selections work, but you might find them all too easy right now — one thing left to do is beef up the AI, so if you can find a second player that’s probably your best bet for now. Skiing…. Skiing ’83: Well, it took a lot of thought and effort (and countless rewrites), but I think I finally have something that’s pretty fun to play. Still, there’s more work to be done — the game engine has hooks in place for hills and valleys, left / right course movement (not just flag movement), etc. Also, the gameplay for Ski Trails is a bit under-developed. Gameplay: The joystick steers. The side buttons do nothing. Your skier has momentum, so you have to lead your turns and ease off early. The skill level selections do nothing at this time, but two player (alternating) works. A game is a single race, but you can press * to keep trying for a better time. Be sure to get the base of your skis cleanly though the gates — your ski tips don’t matter. In Slalom, missed gates penalize your final time. In Ski Trails, hitting a tree stops your momentum completely, while hitting a mogul cuts your momentum in half. Anyhow, hope you like them…. Horse Racing '82 v01.rom Horse Racing '83 v01.rom Skiing '83 v01.rom Edited April 21, 2019 by else 17 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblenkle Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 I can't seem to get skiing to load. It goes from the black title screen, flashes briefly the level selection screen, and then back to the black title screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
else Posted April 21, 2019 Author Share Posted April 21, 2019 Interesting. I've tested it both on both BlueMSX and on my actual Colecovision unit (using Atarimax Ultimate SD). What are you running it on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblenkle Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 I was running it on Virtual ADAM...I will try it on BlueMSX and my real ADAM and see what I get. Interesting. I've tested it both on both BlueMSX and on my actual Colecovision unit (using Atarimax Ultimate SD). What are you running it on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblenkle Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Very strange... For me, It did as I previously described on Virtual ADAM and BlueMSX. But it works fine on my real ADAM, ColEm, and Cool CV. Interesting. I've tested it both on both BlueMSX and on my actual Colecovision unit (using Atarimax Ultimate SD). What are you running it on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
else Posted April 21, 2019 Author Share Posted April 21, 2019 Thanks for the testing I do all my development using BlueMSX v2.8.2, so it's weird we would see a difference there. I can try to investigate more later..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bmack36 Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 They all work on the Phoenix as well . The snes controller comes in really handy for the horse racing. Thanks again for making these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zyzzle Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Thanks for these gifts! I've tested them, and they all work very well on ColEm and CoolCV; have not tried BlueMSX. I love Skiing, what fun. Your efforts of many years are appeciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 They are fantastic!!! Nice job!! They work in BlueMSX. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youki Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Cool!!!! Thanks a lot! Very well done I have been impressed by horse racing 83 's full circle track! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 I can confirm that both roms do not run on Virtual Adam and get stuck on that screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamcon Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 (edited) I can confirm that both roms do not run on Virtual Adam and get stuck on that screen. adam.jpg Well said, I thought I was doing something wrong when all I got was the opening screen. It has to be a Virtual ADAM problem of some kind, not the fault of the roms. Edited April 21, 2019 by adamcon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digress Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 (edited) horse racing 82 & 83 does work on virtual adam . you need to hit fire to advance after a few seconds. skiing was reseting though I can confirm that both roms do not run on Virtual Adam and get stuck on that screen. adam.jpg Edited April 21, 2019 by digress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
else Posted April 21, 2019 Author Share Posted April 21, 2019 What's weird is that all three games use the same startup code (they all pull in and compile a common file)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroillucid Posted April 21, 2019 Share Posted April 21, 2019 Well done sir! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
else Posted April 22, 2019 Author Share Posted April 22, 2019 Thanks for the kind words everyone. For whatever reason, as a kid these were the two games I wanted the most out of the catalog that came with the Colecovision unit. I think it was the 'real life' aspect of them that captured my imagination, for whatever reason. So with that in mind, I tried to stay true to the look and feel of how they might have been done back in the day, as best as I could anyway.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special Teams Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 Thanks - look forward to playing them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phattyboombatty Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 Else, good to have you back! Not long ago, several people kicked the old thread up a notch or two and were hoping to track you down. Thanks very much for coming back with a bang! Guess Jim will have to eat his words now... Thank you for your hard work. I just tested all 3 ROMs on the classic "Mugrat" emulator for macOS, and all three work perfectly. I love what you've done with Horse Racing '83. The perspective change is totally awesome, and I look forward to advanced developments. So glad it's fully playable and I just think it's great! Horse Racing '82 is terrific also, and really drives home the idea that we all got from the O.G. Coleco screenshots. Awesome! Skiing is of course also amazing. Again, I love the perspective changes. I'm sure you've already heard from Collectorvision about publishing these, so I look forward to seeing these in some old skool Coleco packaging soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
else Posted April 23, 2019 Author Share Posted April 23, 2019 I don't know that any of them are really 'production ready' at this point. I think the game play for all of them needs to be dialed in more. Skiing is probably the most playable, and I like what's there so far. Horse Racing has some pretty weak AI (there's actually a lot of code in the game for it, but you'd never know it). Maybe eventually I'll get them to the point where I'm satisfied with them, but not yet. I just wanted to show them off a bit because I think they're all finally in a semi-playable state.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 How does one get roms to a real Adam? Is there an SD based cart available like other systems? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumbai Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 How does one get roms to a real Adam? Is there an SD based cart available like other systems? Yes: https://www.atarimax.com/colecosd/documentation/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Vorticon Posted April 23, 2019 Share Posted April 23, 2019 Thanks. I'll add it to my wish list ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NIAD Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 Guess Jim will have to eat his words now... And I am more than glad to eat those words now that Else has returned and once again has shared his awesome work with the community. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiqMatrix Posted July 10, 2023 Share Posted July 10, 2023 (edited) @else I am very late to the party, but holy downhill Batman, Skiing '83 is absolutely incredible work! As a kid I always dreamt of playing that game completely unaware that single screenshot was just a mockup at the time. Your design decisions are brilliant. The movement does not feel mechanical or stiff, but quite natural and the slo-mo action on hard turns is the best decision you could have made for this game. I've been playing freds72's 'Snow!' for the Pico-8 virtual console over the last few years as it looks and feels like what a modern interpretation of the ColecoVision skiing game would be like imo. Then I did a search to see if anyone ever took a stab at it on the real hardware. What a nice surprise! Do you have any plans to expand upon it? Regardless, fully appreciate your hard work on this! Edited July 10, 2023 by LiqMatrix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted July 10, 2023 Share Posted July 10, 2023 I'm pretty surprised I didn't see this thread at the time. Kudos for the incredible Skiing 83 visual effects! Good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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