Unicorns season: Prince of Persia for the A8!

[rensoup]

2 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

Prince of Persia (2021 | A8) by @rensoup (Programming), @TIX(Character Art + Princess Room), @miker (Music Bank 1 + SFX Bank 1), @VinsCool (Music Bank 1 & 2),  @emkay (SFX Bank 2), @makary (SFX Bank 1), @superrune (Title Picture), @dmsc (Soundplayer), @xxl (Disk Loading + zx5 Unpacker XBios), @phaeron (Dev+Testing), Rich Talbot-Watkins (Assembler: Beebasm), @elmer (zx0 Unpacker), Einer Saukas (zx Packer)

Thanks, the credits are up to date here but outdated in your thread. Any way to change them ?

 

Also Phaeron is not involved in the project, I just listed the tools I used:

 

Quote

Dev+ Testing: Altirra by @phaeron.

 

[rensoup]

8 hours ago, Peri Noid said:

@rensoup, could you please attach an ATR image together with SIC Flasher and a game ROM file so that flashing it to SIC cart would be possible? Right now, one has to strip 16-byte CAR header, transfer so created ROM file to an ATR and only then a cart can be flashed with SIC Flasher. A DSDD 360KB image can handle this.

Thanks. 

PS. I already did it so I'm asking on behalf of others.

Added to the first page, thanks!

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

13 minutes ago, rensoup said:

Thanks, the credits are up to date here but outdated in your thread. Any way to change them ?

 

Also Phaeron is not involved in the project, I just listed the tools I used:

Thanks so much for the correction @rensoup. I've updated it on the 2021 Atari 8-Bit Completed and WIP thread and on the post here. ? Looking forward to diving into the game tomorrow on the livestream!

 

- James

 

[rensoup]

XXL posted a question (but he's being moderated)  :

 

Quote

Is there a possibility that sometime in the indefinite future there will be a recipe to make use of these programs for the Atari version?

 

https://popuw.com/editors.html

 

I doubt that there will be support for that, the problem is that there are a few hacks which are based on level number (and cutscenes that play depending on level number)

 

It can be as simple as setting a PMG color (like skeleton eyes on level3) but I think the game also has a few like play mouse anim on level8

 

It would require extra levels which is a little messy and RAM is always a short for any extra code.

 

in short: doable but too much hassle!

[rensoup]

There's lot of PoP A8 videos on YT now (with all the previous releases).

 

I just quickly browsed this one from today, from a polish streamer who tried to finish the game:

 

 

He tried twice and the second time he reached level 11 before running out of time, he looked a little pissed off (but that seems to be his usual face) ?

Having playtested the game a few times, I'll confirm that it's quite a challenge... but it gets even worse on level 12 (my favourite) ?

[zbyti]

little glitch

 

[_The Doctor__]

looks like a reflection to me... nice

set yourself free!

maybe you will slay yourself in the mirrorverse

Edited October 25, 2021 by _The Doctor__

[rdmueller]

Respect! This is a wonderful convertion of the game. Played it until I reached level 2... 

Thank you for this wonderful flashback to childhood times.

[Wilheim]

I like the intro so much I decided to make this label:

 

[Sleepy]

What a great story. :-) The game was super implemented, there is a manual and now also this great sticker for the module...

 

Now I just need a way to print the sticker in appropriate quality and have a very nice game set. :-)

 

I am now in the game already come further than "then" on the A4000 of a buddy...

 

[pusakat]

On 10/24/2021 at 8:40 PM, TIX said:

anyway after 2 loong years (at least from the time I joined) I am proud to present the final teaser for the final version of POP !!
It really seems unreal that I committed so much time to this project..

No regrets really, what saddens me though is that for some weird reason the consensus and general info regarding this port, is that the graphics are ported from the BBC version,

even today's article in indieretronews..

I'm not really into defending my work and since nobody stepped up to clarify things, this nonsense stuck..

Hi TIX, all of us who have been watching this project bloom from the onset realize and recognize your immense contribution to the look of this port and I would like to thank you for your work alongside rensoupp et cie. All the little details in the background, the characters and their animation add to a wonderful port that is certainly a landmark in retro gaming on our beloved platform. Many thanks!

[Ely]

@TIX Anyone worth their salt knows the graphics aren't from the BBC port. I mean just look at them! You've done yourself and the Atari 8-Bit proud.

Edited October 26, 2021 by Ely

[Wrathchild]

3 hours ago, Wilheim said:

I like the intro so much I decided to make this label:

double 'pp' in rensoupp

[+DjayBee]

50 minutes ago, Wrathchild said:

double 'pp' in rensoupp

<smartass>

single 'pp' or double 'p'

</smartass> ?

[Wrathchild]

Quite correct you take the 'p'  

[xrbrevin]

4 hours ago, Wilheim said:

I like the intro so much I decided to make this label:

me too:
a diff'rent variant

[Wrathchild]

From this topic: https://www.atarimax.com/flashcart/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=273

 

 

And Steve mentions 650w x 450h @ 72ppi for the AtariMax shell itself

[xrbrevin]

SIC! cart in 3d printed case:

 

 

[rensoup]

21 hours ago, zbyti said:

little glitch

It's been mentioned a long time ago but I don't plan on fixing that one because it could potentially have knock on effects

[zbyti]

10 minutes ago, rensoup said:

It's been mentioned a long time ago but I don't plan on fixing that one because it could potentially have knock on effects

I must have missed it, ok.

[rensoup]

 

I was expecting to be doing more customer service but so far this release has gone smoothly so it seems like a good time to thank the team!

 

(A little tongue in cheek, don't be mad! ?)

 

Thanks, In order of appearance:

 

@TIX: For being naive enough to believe in the project while all I had was a PC/BBC emulation version of PoP and a circle scroller running on the Atari!
For his awesome animations which he restarted over and over again only to be pissed off at me that the project consumed too much of his time!

 

@VinsCool: For producing the first half of the soundtrack and then fleeing the project then making a great comeback with another full soundtrack. So full that it made the game run out of memory and disk space!

 

@miker: For taking over where VinsCool left!

 

@emkay: For creating those fancy sounds and telling me how the project should be done and once I did it differently, telling me how I did (not do) it!

 

@superrune: For creating an outstanding B/W picture and going missing for a year and a half, only to wake up and finishing the job the day after I posted the the final video!

 

 

You guys were a joy to work with and I know the feeling is mutual ?

 

More thanks to:

@dmsc: for casually creating a great piece of A8 tech!

 

@xxl: whose name paired with XBios causes people to go into rage mode! And for the ZX5 unpacker too!

 

@kieranhj: For the BBC version of which I left nothing, except the main filename which is still pop-beeb.asm !

 

@elmer: for the ZX0 unpacker!

 

@Faicuai, @Mr Robot, @Philsan for testing the build on hardware I didn't even know existed!

 

@phaeron for Altirra without which I would have started and abandoned the project!

Special thanks to Jordan Mechner for making a great game whose inner workings are still not quite clear to me!

Edited October 26, 2021 by rensoup

[Wilheim]

7 hours ago, Wrathchild said:

double 'pp' in rensoupp

You mean, like this? With single "pp" ?

 

[Faicuai]

58 minutes ago, rensoup said:

Special thanks to Jordan Mechner for making a great game whose inner workings are still not quite clear to me!

 

This is a must watch (for those who have not yet seen it) and a testament of the "pedigree" of this production, and what a great performance you guys managed to extract out of the A8 platform:

 

 

If anyone wants to see how GOOD is PoP running on A8, simply go to settings menu (ESC), set frame limiter ti "3", and play close attention to scenes where you run into or combat an opponent, and floor slabs fall deep right behind you.... then watch those very same type of scenes on Apple-II and C64, and NOTICE the on-screen performance...

 

 

[_The Doctor__]

hmmm 60k... interesting, our version is better looking, sounds better, and is more fluid.... it's all good

Edited October 27, 2021 by _The Doctor__

[Bobo Cujo]

@rensoup I went ahead and played the entire game (Atarimax Cart version in Altirra, NTSC 130XE mode with 128KB ram, default game settings) start to finish.

 

First of all, like everyone else on this thread, I'm incredibly, unbelievably impressed by this port.  My hat is very much off to you ?

 

That said, I did run into a couple of issues (and my apologies if any of this has been asked before; it's a looooooong thread), so here's my bug reports:

 

- ESC/Option doesn't seem to skip between-level cutscenes, or skip the death music.  Was this intentional?  (I may be used to this from playing the DOS version of this game)

 

- Two of the fake life-up jugs on Level 9 are supposed to vertically flip the screen as a joke (the first one flips the screen, the second one reverses the effect).  In this version, it does nothing.  Was this intentional for technical reasons (PMG handling)?

 

- I don't think the "princess watching the hourglass" cutscene is supposed to play between:
Level 12/Before Jafar, and After Jafar/Before the ending level.

I saw it both times... (I had 12 or so minutes on the clock)

 

- I didn't get to see the ending animation because Altirra/the game crashed ?

Altirra threw up an internal error dialog message (no specifics on the actual error) when the ending was about to play. I enabled the debugger when this happened; attached is a screenshot of the history/registers windows and the history window text itself - let me know if there's a better/more comprehensive way to get a dump for this.

 

Again, despite the above, amazing work!

PoP Atarimax History Dump.txt