Bass Fishing Tournament (Complete)

[+TwentySixHundred]

Posted here as now the game is complete unless any bugs, requests or things of that nature arise. Other then that the game is completed.

 

Gameplay:

It's fairly straight forward, you need to catch as many fish as you can in the provided time given before weigh in. The deeper you snag a fish the more they're worth in weight. However bigger fish are stronger and more forceful making it no easy task to land them in your boat. You must land the fish into your boat in order to receive the weight points.

 

There is an audio notification of three beeps when you have 20 seconds left of the round. Achieving an score of 1,800 or greater will allow accesses of level two, while a score of 3,600 or greater will grant access to level three. Level four requires 5,400 - Level five requires 7,200 and Level six requires 9,000. Your time will replenish for another 4min round when achieving these scores. If you have a fish hooked and hit the edge of the screen he will escape from the hook.

 

Pro Tip: There is rumors of a big ol' lunker lurking around the depths but very rarely pops his head out. If you see him and have the chance to snag him, go for it, he's worth his weight. Although he will put up a decent fight, so be prepared, it wont be easy.

 

Controls and Statusbars:

Joystick fire = Reels in lure

Reset = Return to the title screen

Left/Right = Directional

Right Difficulty Switch = Reel sound

Statusbar Left = Force/Tension

Statusbar Right = Timer

 

Title Screen:

Simple animated titlescreen to set the mood.

Main Game:

Start bringing in those fish and see what high score you can achieve.

Weigh In:

This game over screen shows the weight of Bass caught during the tournament. Your angler will be proud to show of his catch.

The game is NTSC Format, PAL if there is enough requests.

 

Latest Release: Bass Fishing Tournament 20200323.bin

Older Release: Removed!

License:

Edited January 28, 2021 by TwentySixHundred

[+TwentySixHundred]

Quick bug fix i had score requirement for round 3 wrong, updated binary in first post.

[easmith]

I love this !   A few observations:

1. It seems that when you have a fish on the line and you collide with another fish, then the  new fish "steals the hook ."  Is this intentional ?

2. Don't know of you have any space, but to have the sunset start and then progress during the round would be a nice touch . 

 

Very impressive ! 

[+TwentySixHundred]

1 hour ago, easmith said:

I love this !   A few observations:

1. It seems that when you have a fish on the line and you collide with another fish, then the  new fish "steals the hook ."  Is this intentional ?

2. Don't know of you have any space, but to have the sunset start and then progress during the round would be a nice touch . 

 

Very impressive ! 

Thanks for the kind words, im loving your golf games and now bowling also ?

 

1) Yeah the larger fish colliding with smaller fish is somewhat intentional. Basically a bug turned feature because of the priority system of how virtual sprites are checked and i liked the concept adding that next level of difficulty. Also rather then adding 7 additional collision checks which obviously i could, i feel it adds to the gameplay at zero cost of ROM or optimization. It's one those bugs you notice then think "hey that's actually a good feature, ill keep that free of charge" ?

 

2) I have some space, 400bytes of graphics data and only around 200 bytes remaining in each of the banks. The biggest problem is i have gone with optimization of the main loops, structure and the way they fetch data as highest priority. They never bank switch during a round (only to fetch data at the end of a round) and the random function is only called a few times during a round. I wanted to keep the loops as efficient as possible, so the downside is the additional cost of ROM. That's even after carefully mapping out the programs flow and structure to crunch code down for the additional levels 4,5 and 6.

 

The other issue was to fit rounds 4,5 and 6 with this method i had to make two rounds share the same graphics data. eg: 1&2 share the same data as do 3&4 ect. Then, there is the cost of a highly animated title and weigh in screens, they hogged alot of graphics ROM. I really didn't want to drop those screens in favor of more backgrounds so made the sacrifice on that end.

 

So at the end of the day i could have saved alot of ROM with adding alot more conditions to the mainloop. However with all the math going on within the loop i was trying to keep machine cycles down rather then having stuttering or risking screen roll for extra ROM space. Im guessing you had sort of the same issue with graphics ROM when adding the Desert Course and Augusta in Pro Golf, so you opted for another "expansion" type cart? Im taking a wild guess.

 

So yeah i do have some ROM space although not really enough for additional background colour changes . Thanks for checking out the game it's highly appreciated ?

Edited November 22, 2019 by TwentySixHundred

[Arenafoot]

3 hours ago, easmith said:

I love this !  

2. Don't know of you have any space, but to have the sunset start and then progress during the round would be a nice touch . 

 

Very impressive ! 

I second the sunset request!

[easmith]

7 hours ago, TwentySixHundred said:

Thanks for the kind words, im loving your golf games and now bowling also ?

 

1) Yeah the larger fish colliding with smaller fish is somewhat intentional. Basically a bug turned feature because of the priority system of how virtual sprites are checked and i liked the concept adding that next level of difficulty. Also rather then adding 7 additional collision checks which obviously i could, i feel it adds to the gameplay at zero cost of ROM or optimization. It's one those bugs you notice then think "hey that's actually a good feature, ill keep that free of charge" ?

 

2) I have some space, 400bytes of graphics data and only around 200 bytes remaining in each of the banks. The biggest problem is i have gone with optimization of the main loops, structure and the way they fetch data as highest priority. They never bank switch during a round (only to fetch data at the end of a round) and the random function is only called a few times during a round. I wanted to keep the loops as efficient as possible, so the downside is the additional cost of ROM. That's even after carefully mapping out the programs flow and structure to crunch code down for the additional levels 4,5 and 6.

 

The other issue was to fit rounds 4,5 and 6 with this method i had to make two rounds share the same graphics data. eg: 1&2 share the same data as do 3&4 ect. Then, there is the cost of a highly animated title and weigh in screens, they hogged alot of graphics ROM. I really didn't want to drop those screens in favor of more backgrounds so made the sacrifice on that end.

 

So at the end of the day i could have saved alot of ROM with adding alot more conditions to the mainloop. However with all the math going on within the loop i was trying to keep machine cycles down rather then having stuttering or risking screen roll for extra ROM space. Im guessing you had sort of the same issue with graphics ROM when adding the Desert Course and Augusta in Pro Golf, so you opted for another "expansion" type cart? Im taking a wild guess.

 

So yeah i do have some ROM space although not really enough for additional background colour changes . Thanks for checking out the game it's highly appreciated ?

ok , sounds  like you thought it out .   I don't mean to nit pick on a very fun game . 

FYI, other golf courses are completely separate ROMS from original , with all of the course graphics and colors just swapped out .

If you like those you should  check out 1vs 1 Basketball

[easmith]

After playing it a bit more, the   "stealing the bait " effect is making it nearly impossible to reel in the big one .  I will keep trying .  Have you been able to catch him ?

 

also, I don’t seem to be getting to level 2 although I am passing the threshold 

Edited November 22, 2019 by easmith

[+TwentySixHundred]

4 hours ago, easmith said:

ok , sounds  like you thought it out .   I don't mean to nit pick on a very fun game . 

FYI, other golf courses are completely separate ROMS from original , with all of the course graphics and colors just swapped out .

If you like those you should  check out 1vs 1 Basketball

Ah yes that makes sense and i had forgot your golf games were written in ASM so graphics data placement isn't restricted to one bank. Yeah i was playing 1vs1 Basketball awhile back when in WIP stages, to be honest i don't think i have tried out the latest. Might have to fire it up tonight ?

3 hours ago, easmith said:

After playing it a bit more, the   "stealing the bait " effect is making it nearly impossible to reel in the big one .  I will keep trying .  Have you been able to catch him ?

 

also, I don’t seem to be getting to level 2 although I am passing the threshold 

Yeah i can catch him it's just a matter of bringing him up bit by bit after colliding with other fish. He's not easy though and with the right timing and positioning it is possible to bring him up in one go. Level two onwards is more of a case of having to go back and keep picking him up after colliding.

 

What threshold did you get too? 1800?

 

I tested the ROM and got to level 3 where the sun sets more and scenery gets darker. Level 2 the only differences are the fish and angler reverse direction and the fish get faster. It's not till round 3 the sun sets more and scenery gets darker. Basically the angler in the boat makes a round trip (2 levels) then scenery changes and rounds 3&4 - 5&6 do the same. It was the only way i could squeeze round 6 in ROM by sharing the background colours for 2 levels.

Edited November 23, 2019 by TwentySixHundred

[+TwentySixHundred]

9 hours ago, Arenafoot said:

I second the sunset request!

Yeah i know i too wanted to do more with this feature although i had to sacrifice the amount it changes to squeeze everything in. The sunset only changes three times over the whole game (6 rounds). Unfortunately it's a combination of many reasons, graphics bank space due to the way bB stores graphics data.

 

For instance even just changing the background colours all that data is stored in the graphics bank. As far as i know there is no way around it and is quite frustrating to say the least. Especially as im using high res mode so it takes up the majority of the graphics bank data in backgrounds colour changing alone

 

I really don't think the background colours and playfield colours should be stored in the graphics bank or atleast the option to chose otherwise. I can draw playfield in standard ROM if i desire but haven't found a way to change the colour bands without that data being stored in the graphics bank. Just one those limitations bB has that limits what can be done over ASM

[easmith]

Disregard my comment about not getting to level 2 —- I read the number wrong in your post . 

 

So far as the sunset , I understand now that you have the sunset change as you get to higher levels.  This accomplishes the progression of the day effect without having to have the sunset change during a level .   If possible , the first level could have a higher sun in sky with no setting and then have it set starting in level 3 . But then many players will never see it and it is a nice looking effect . ......

 

 

This type of nit picking over details means the game is good ?

[+TwentySixHundred]

1 hour ago, easmith said:

Disregard my comment about not getting to level 2 —- I read the number wrong in your post . 

 

So far as the sunset , I understand now that you have the sunset change as you get to higher levels.  This accomplishes the progression of the day effect without having to have the sunset change during a level .   If possible , the first level could have a higher sun in sky with no setting and then have it set starting in level 3 . But then many players will never see it and it is a nice looking effect . ......

 

 

This type of nit picking over details means the game is good ?

Thanks for the feedback and kind words, yeah it's one of those things. It's definitely possible, however as you said those whom struggle to get far wont have the chance to see the sun setting. I have always thought it looks a little low though. On the other hand it's kind of a good starting point for when the cycle finishes on the third setting.

 

Those who get to level 5 and 6 will also have the chance to see both the last setting and the largest weigh-in prize fish (there is also 3 different sized weigh-in fish the angler wields) ?. Just small details although i feel it adds alot more to the game for those that may notice.

 

Basically due to limited levels, i have purposely set the game so there is always room for player progression or lucky runs yet the game will break the player in the later levels like most 2600 games do.

 

To be completely honest there is many changes id like to do but it's hard to let go of other features. I could always consider a squeal in the future, with maybe toning down on the animations and the little details in favor of more levels ect. As of now i have something else iv been working on so it would have to come after.

 

Once again cheers for the kind words and feedback it's much appreciated ?

[easmith]

1 hour ago, TwentySixHundred said:

Thanks for the feedback and kind words, yeah it's one of those things. It's definitely possible, however as you said those whom struggle to get far wont have the chance to see the sun setting. I have always thought it looks a little low though. On the other hand it's kind of a good starting point for when the cycle finishes on the third setting.

 

Those who get to level 5 and 6 will also have the chance to see both the last setting and the largest weigh-in prize fish (there is also 3 different sized weigh-in fish the angler wields) ?. Just small details although i feel it adds alot more to the game for those that may notice.

 

Basically due to limited levels, i have purposely set the game so there is always room for player progression or lucky runs yet the game will break the player in the later levels like most 2600 games do.

 

To be completely honest there is many changes id like to do but it's hard to let go of other features. I could always consider a squeal in the future, with maybe toning down on the animations and the little details in favor of more levels ect. As of now i have something else iv been working on so it would have to come after.

 

Once again cheers for the kind words and feedback it's much appreciated ?

Definitely keep the animations---  little details like when the rod bends while reeling in are really nice . Congrats !

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

CONGRATULATIONS to Bass Fishing Tournament for being nominated in the 2019 Atari Homebrew Awards!

 

Be sure to vote your favourite homebrew games of 2019 with the links below and watch the awards LIVE on February 1, 2020!

 

Awards Show: February 1, 2020 @ 12:00PM PT | 3PM ET | 8PM GMT LIVE on the ZeroPage Homebrew Twitch Channel!

 

Atari Homebrew Awards Categories (VOTE IN ALL!!):

• Atari 2600: Best Homebrew
• Atari 7800: Best Homebrew (New!)
• Atari 8-Bit/5200: Best Homebrew (New!)
• Atari 2600: Best ≤ 4K Homebrew (2600) (New!)
• Atari 2600: Best Graphics
• Atari 2600: Best Music & Sound
• Atari 2600: Best Packaging
• Atari 2600: Best WIP

[+TwentySixHundred]

Ok so as the 2019 awards are complete i noticed a bug when the fish respawn they spawn in the wrong positions. Probably doesn't bother some or even get noticed however as a perfectionist it was bugging me (no pun intended). While i was revising the code i also noticed another bug that would prevent accessing the second Easter Egg that no one has found. So i have decided to patch the release in regards to "i will fix any bugs if found".

 

Patch Release: Bass Fishing Tournament -Patch.bin First post has also been updated with patched binary

Edited February 7, 2020 by TwentySixHundred

[+TwentySixHundred]

Just so people know and those thinking of downloading this game i have found a show stopper bug. After trying to see how far i can get and going for a high score it popped it's head out. When reeling in a fish and holding the joyfire button and the required score for the next level isn't met, the game reverts back to the first level rather then gameover screen

 

It only happens with the combination of those conditions otherwise works as intended. It's been awhile since working on the source code, so i will have to crack the vault open when i get a chance and look for whatever is causing it. I have a hunch off the top of my head however it's only a guess and not certain.

 

Anyway i have wanted to break it open to add a few extra small sounds as i think the game lacks in the sound department. So it gives me all the more reason to. I plan within the next few days or so to find some spare time to sit down and have a good look ?

[+TwentySixHundred]

New build!

So as far as i can see and have tested i think i have fixed the issue (only time will tell). Played multiple games and i cannot replicate the issue again so hopefully it's all sorted. I can now focus on adding some sound effects down the track, however i probably work with it on the side of my other games. As i will be slowly continuing some work on the game i have added a build date to the ROM.

 

Changelog:

• bug fix - reverting back to weigh-in screen

 

Latest Build: Bass Fishing Tournament 20200323.bin

 

Cheers

 -Anthony ?