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Moon Patrol redux


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7 hours ago, playsoft said:

I'm not keen on the first one, second is OK though. If anyone has any more layouts they'd like to see then please post the text as you want to see it so I can just paste it in.

 

text2.png.5c3adcb4f7c325bf33b65a46ba0492d0.png

 

text3.png.7399893cbd5aeeb0d84db2b52cbac3c3.png

 


          ;012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567
  scrcode "         START: NEW GAME                        "
  scrcode "        SELECT: 1 PLAYER    C: CONTINUE         "
  scrcode "        OPTION: BEGINNER    D: DEMO             "

 

+1 on the second option.  Looks really good!!

 

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On 10/25/2019 at 3:37 PM, www.atarimania.com said:

Just my two cents...

 

The font itself looks great but, in my opinion, there's too much text on just three lines. I thought it would be better with the arcade lettering but it still appears way too heavy. Why not keep that great title screen and have the options / credits on a more airy screen? 

 

On 10/25/2019 at 10:10 PM, Nezgar said:

Maybe room to move the options text to the blank yellow area at the bottom of the screen, and put credits under the logo.

 

I like the new font.

 

On 10/26/2019 at 4:36 PM, gozar said:

I would put State/Select/Option, right justified to the :, on the left, and C/D on the right.

 

On 10/27/2019 at 12:27 AM, irich2 said:

+1 on the second option.  Looks really good!!

 

 

Updated with the second option.

 

Moon Patrol redux (revision2).xex

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I fired up the 800XL and gave it a good go.  It does look amazing.

I do wonder if it's possible to support 2 fire buttons on the Genesis gamepad for this game?  Does the coin-op use two fire buttons?

Don't know if it'll play better this way - but I think players who have the controller would like to try it out that way.  Might need to offer the two ways of configuring it so that it'll suit the player?

 

Harvey

 

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The arcade machine has jump and fire buttons:

 

mp_controls.jpg.2a53c7b1a27afd5ca16db1b3b3364a04.jpg

 

To get a taste of what using a button to jump is like you can play the (standard) 5200 version and decide whether you think it would work. To me it feels really awkward, on Altirra and real hardware too. Maybe the layout of the Genesis controller would make it better, I don't know.

 

So for the 5200 I do intend to release a version where moving the joystick up jumps as it feels so much better (not sure what to do with the existing jump button, leave it as jump or make it fire too... perhaps make 3 x 5200 versions to cover all combinations).

 

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44 minutes ago, playsoft said:

The arcade machine has jump and fire buttons:

 

mp_controls.jpg.2a53c7b1a27afd5ca16db1b3b3364a04.jpg

 

So for the 5200 I do intend to release a version where moving the joystick up jumps as it feels so much better (not sure what to do with the existing jump button, leave it as jump or make it fire too... perhaps make 3 x 5200 versions to cover all combinations).

 

Maybe you can make the control scheme selectable from the start screen (e.g. using the 5200‘s keypad). On the 8-bits the game could start with a two-button Genesis control scheme by using the second fire button to start. 
 

Not sure how deeply you patched the game but if needed you can find an example of how to add start screen selections in the source code of Shamus+ (search for ‚New Mazes for Shamus‘). Sorry if this is inappropriate advice. 

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12 hours ago, tjlazer said:

How about like this?

 

 

 

5 hours ago, kiwilove said:

I fired up the 800XL and gave it a good go.  It does look amazing.

I do wonder if it's possible to support 2 fire buttons on the Genesis gamepad for this game?  Does the coin-op use two fire buttons?

Don't know if it'll play better this way - but I think players who have the controller would like to try it out that way.  Might need to offer the two ways of configuring it so that it'll suit the player?

 

Harvey

 

 

3 hours ago, slx said:

Maybe you can make the control scheme selectable from the start screen (e.g. using the 5200‘s keypad). On the 8-bits the game could start with a two-button Genesis control scheme by using the second fire button to start. 
 

Not sure how deeply you patched the game but if needed you can find an example of how to add start screen selections in the source code of Shamus+ (search for ‚New Mazes for Shamus‘). Sorry if this is inappropriate advice. 

 

Thanks, I had already modified the keyboard code to change the keys for Continue and Demo, so it was easiest for me to hook into that. I haven't changed the keys on the 5200 but hopefully I can do something similar there.

 

Pressing J on the title screen will step through:

 

JOYSTICK = Atari joystick

GENESIS = Genesis controller, C will jump but up won't

MIX = will work with either controller, up will jump as will C on a Genesis controller really this is the Genesis controller again, but both C and up will jump

 

The settings apply to both ports during a two player game.

 

This also includes tjlazers text layout and a minor bug fix where the stack was filling up.

Moon Patrol redux (revision3).xex

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Thanks Paul for including this update.  I found it much easier and natural playing with the Genesis controller - though it's still a nail biting game.

This is now certainly a top-notch arcade conversion with that positive arcade feel and look to it.  I never put that many coins into this coin-op to get that far into it - and this ranks near the top of the list of arcade conversions for the Atari 8-bits.

 

Harvey

 

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I had no idea it was possible to make use of the Genesis controllers extra buttons. It would be great to see this implemented for use in Defender - Smart bombs/ Hyperspace and Dropzone - Smart bombs and Cloak. This would reduce the difficulty level to some degree and save atari space bars from being damaged when being smashed down with your foot. Well at least that's how i used to play it.

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1 hour ago, cgfatari79 said:

I had no idea it was possible to make use of the Genesis controllers extra buttons. It would be great to see this implemented for use in Defender - Smart bombs/ Hyperspace and Dropzone - Smart bombs and Cloak. This would reduce the difficulty level to some degree and save atari space bars from being damaged when being smashed down with your foot. Well at least that's how i used to play it.

Note - it is only two buttons that can be programmed for - and not any extras past this.  There is a project to build a controller with extra buttons available working, but that means there's the problem of building/producing it.

The Genesis controller is the only ready built available controller - in which two fire buttons can be made use of - that you can safely plug into your Atari 8-bit computer and use.  Scramble (the official 8-bit Atari computer conversion - and not the unofficial 5200 conversion of it) is the only other game that does work with the Genesis controller.

 

Harvey

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I have genesis controllers and 7800 dpad controllers. I know the 7800 controllers work on my xegs. I would have thought they too could be programed for use of the second button. Anyway back to topic great work on moon patrol. I woukd love to see Defender get simular treatment. I love the atari version but if I had the knowhow I'd have added the arcade title screen and would have tried to change the sound effects to be closer to the arcade. Especially the game start sound. It's so iconic. And obviously like I mentioned before have use of a second button for the smart bombs at least. 

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Regarding multi button joystick there is a pcb design already done, to build your own multi joy and many games already converted:

https://github.com/ascrnet/TestJoy2B/tree/master/games

https://atari8bit.net/multifire-3-button-atari-joysticks/

Is moon patrol redux compatible with this? or is multifire compatible with Sega Genesis control?

Maybe ascrnet or Mr. Robot can comment.

(side note: how can I add members names with a link so they get a notification?)

 

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As to my understanding there is no software standard for using these boards, so there won‘t be compatible games unless someone patches them. 
 

Using a second button of Sega Genesis joypads is not too difficult and should be an easy patch, all three or even six requires an adapter board and is trickier. See here: 


 

 

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1 hour ago, manterola said:

Regarding multi button joystick there is a pcb design already done, to build your own multi joy and many games already converted:

https://github.com/ascrnet/TestJoy2B/tree/master/games

https://atari8bit.net/multifire-3-button-atari-joysticks/

Is moon patrol redux compatible with this? or is multifire compatible with Sega Genesis control?

Maybe ascrnet or Mr. Robot can comment.

(side note: how can I add members names with a link so they get a notification?)

 

I tried Air Strike II from that collection with a Genesis controller and that works (B fires, C bombs). So I'd guess games that work with a Genesis controller would work with that one. Have you tried it?

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On 10/30/2019 at 11:11 AM, cgfatari79 said:

I have genesis controllers and 7800 dpad controllers. I know the 7800 controllers work on my xegs. I would have thought they too could be programed for use of the second button. Anyway back to topic great work on moon patrol. I woukd love to see Defender get simular treatment. I love the atari version but if I had the knowhow I'd have added the arcade title screen and would have tried to change the sound effects to be closer to the arcade. Especially the game start sound. It's so iconic. And obviously like I mentioned before have use of a second button for the smart bombs at least. 

I think the issue with the 7800 controllers is that they operate in one of two modes; single (both buttons appear to be the standard trigger) or double button (both buttons are independent). However to put it into double button mode you need to provide power to one of the other pins, which is not an output pin on the A8. So to get it working in double button mode on the A8 you would need to modify the cable, so that +5V goes to that pin.

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I once hooked one of these up http://www.hobbytronics.co.uk/usb-host-joystick to the joystick port and was initially ecstatic... until I looked at how long it took to read! I optimised to the point of breaking the i2c protocol (ignoring the occasional bad read) but still it was taking a good third of a frame to read everything.

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