River Raid Squadron modern prototype for 7800

[juanitogan]

Back to a point that @Trebor brought up.  If I do choose to launch the 7800 port, odds are pretty good I'll finish it.  That's just who I am.  I've proven that time enough.  Thus, the real question is if I'll choose to launch the 7800 port.  It's too early go guess on that.  Thus far, traffic is good on itch.io, so the odds look a bit better than "extremely low."

 

If, however, this community chooses to stamp down any support for my way of building games, well, that's on you.  I tried.  That's more than most can claim.  "Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows -- the censure of their colleagues -- the wrath of their society.  Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence.  Yet, it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change the world which yields most painfully to change."

[Greg2600]

12 minutes ago, juanitogan said:

Hi, @Greg2600  Thanks for asking.  It was about feasibility testing.  I chose the tools where I believed I could test the idea the quickest.  Part of that plan proved out well, parts did not.  It's also about iteration.  Where am I going to experience the least iteration fatigue in order to develop the best possible product?  Games aren't like a business app where I can pretty solidly predict what works well and what doesn't.  People's emotions during gaming are much more finicky.  Tuning both game mechanics and art takes a lot of back-and-forth work where I often dump my best plans.  (I've played plenty of homebrew games that obviously don't take this work to the level I like to.  Why is that?  Maybe it's fatigue with unwieldy tools.)  I don't have anyone paying me to grind through that in difficult tools on projects that I have no stake in if they don't see the light of day, so I have to be smarter about it to keep my dev time down and projects focused.

 

Anyhow, after that initial feasibility testing, it was easy enough to just finish the rest of the testing and tuning in the tools where I had started.  It really is that much easier.

This is what I presumed, which makes total sense as I'm sure it's much easier/faster to program for PC over 8-bit console!

12 minutes ago, juanitogan said:

So, now, apparently, I am faced with a community that somehow doesn't find this to be a valid path towards developing a 7800 game because I've diverged away from the blessed tools in order to save time.  Yes, the 7800 port will be hard (and could be easier if there was a C compiler for it).  But, it will also be fairly straight forward because I now have well-documented 2600 code to draw from and a solid end goal.  I have, so far, produced a better game this way than I would have the sanctified way.  If people are upset because it is not "7800 first," well, okay.  I can live with that.  I can't please everyone.

I don't see anyone questioning your methods, only that since you didn't construct a 7800 game, the thread shouldn't be in the 7800 sub-forum.  It's a housekeeping issue that maybe a mod could help with, than anything else.  There is a 7800 hacks forum, for instance.  I personally don't care, but you know, some people take such things way too seriously.  ?

[Trebor]

Thanks for clarifying, @juanitogan  Best of luck with your current and future endeavors.

[+Karl G]

9 hours ago, juanitogan said:

So, now, apparently, I am faced with a community that somehow doesn't find this to be a valid path towards developing a 7800 game because I've diverged away from the blessed tools in order to save time.

 

If you do end up making a 7800 version of this, I don't think anyone will think any less of it because you made a PC version first. I think interest is just limited at the moment because it is entirely a PC game at this point, with a 7800 version just being a theoretical possibility. Often people talk about big plans in these forums that never see the light of day.

 

Congrats on the game you have made, and I hope it gets the kind of interest and feedback you are hoping for. If you do come back later with a demo or WIP that runs on the 7800, I think you will find that there is probably a good deal of interest in such a project. A well-executed River Raid port for the 7800 would be a nice thing to see.

[SoundGammon]

16 hours ago, juanitogan said:

Thanks.  It's an interesting hack that I think I've seen before, but don't quite remember for sure.  For me, anyway, such hacks don't make a better game even though they can be terribly interesting to dig through.  I prefer very few but well-tuned options.

My idea was that you might want to add his ideas to your game.

[juanitogan]

4 hours ago, Karl G said:

Often people talk about big plans in these forums that never see the light of day.

Precisely why I tried to be clear up front (and regret missing a couple points I intended to make in that first post).  I generally classify such people as tinkerers.  I learned to not be a tinkerer long ago.  My life since has been publish, publish, publish, regardless or how perfect or polished it is.  I set a minimum viable product (MVP) point and stick with it.  Polish can come later if interest drives you in that direction.  I feel you learn more by publishing MVPs than just endlessly tinkering.  I generally don't publish early WIPs because they don't guarantee much.

 

On the other hand, people need a place to find motivation for finishing work that can be a drag at times.  Motivation and momentum are the primary reasons I'm an active member with the local game-dev guild.

 

I doubt it means anything to anyone beside me but I leave remarks in my code about the 7800 port where needed.  Some parts look funny with too many steps to make the port back to assembler easier.  Thus, to me, this is clearly a 7800 WIP even though nobody else seems to be seeing it that way.  A significant assembler code base from the 2600 and assets built to the 7800 palette somehow doesn't qualify as 7800 WIP yet just because I've been transparent about the uncertainty of finishing it and am alpha testing on a PC.  This makes no sense to me.  It sounds a lot like something else.

Edited September 7, 2020 by juanitogan

[Shawn]