Jump to content
IGNORED

Champ Games - Lady Bug Arcade (2600)


johnnywc

Recommended Posts

After revisiting your previous version of Lady Bug (played it a few times here and there), I can see the differences. Lady Bug 2006 was not bad and is an excellent game, I can see where your able to add some more bells and whistles to make it closer to the arcade than the original. Thanks to CDFJ you can coax a little more out of the old hardware huh.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Bomberman94 said:

I own a Harmony cartridge with tons of games and several original cartridges (Champ Games and many older Atari/Parker/Activision/Imagic etc.). This version of Lady Bug Arcade is brighter than the others - can make more pictures or a video if it helps!?

 

Edit: Maybe a side-by-side comparison (e.g. Lady Bug <-> Lady Bug Arcade Demo) with same setting will clear this?

Unfortunately a side-by-side comparison won't be helpful since Lady Bug and Lady Bug Arcade use significantly different methods to display text and the maze.  The original 2006 version uses 48 pixel sprites for text (no flicker) and the maze is drawn by combining pink and green.  The Arcade version uses 96-pixel interlaced graphics for the text so it's appears darker (or at least it should ;) ) and the maze uses a new interlaced blending technique.

 

I have the ability to use completely custom colors for the PAL60 version, so perhaps we can just come up with a list of what colors are too bright (ie. the word INSTRUCTIONS, etc.) and I can use a darker value for those if that looks better.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Prizrak said:

After revisiting your previous version of Lady Bug (played it a few times here and there), I can see the differences. Lady Bug 2006 was not bad and is an excellent game...

Thanks!  The original Lady Bug from 2006 is and probably always will be the game I am most proud of for many reasons:  it is one of the first 2600 games I developed (along with Conquest of Mars), plus it uses technology that was widely available and commonplace in the 80's (16K ROM, 128 bytes of RAM) so it could have been released "back in the day" exactly as it is. :D  

12 hours ago, Prizrak said:

I can see where your able to add some more bells and whistles to make it closer to the arcade than the original. Thanks to CDFJ you can coax a little more out of the old hardware huh.
 

Yes, the biggest changed IMO are the arcade-like maze (11x11 vs. 11x9), the asymmetrical doors, and the max number of skulls increasing from 2 to 6.  The other additions (high scores, scoring screen, credits screen, different mazes, 2 player/ 2 player versus mode) are additional bells and whistles that I hope set the 2021 version apart from the original. :D  

14 minutes ago, Prizrak said:

Couldn't help it@johnnywc I just bought your original Lady Bug for my Atari. Don't know why I hadn't played this game more before now.
 

Thanks for your support!  :thumbsup:   I'm sure you will enjoy it; surprisingly Lady Bug had it's best year sales-wise in 2020 since 2007! :o  At half the projected price of Lady Bug Arcade (scheduled for release in November 2021), it's still quite the bargain... ;) 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

ZeroPage Homebrew has an EXCLUSIVE WIP UPDATE for LADY BUG ARCADE on tomorrow's (Tue Feb 23, 2021) stream LIVE on Twitch at 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 2AM GMT! Hope everyone can watch!

 

 

Games:

 

(SET VIDEO TO 1080P60 FOR FULL QUALITY)

 

Edited by ZeroPage Homebrew
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am liking the additional maze capability. In maze 2 you can trap the bugs in various corners, which is fun.

 

One interesting quirk I noticed was that occasionally the vegetables in the special round are all eggplants. I've never seen it do that with a different kind of vegetable, although I have seen half eggplants, half carrots.

ladybug_arcade_demo1_NTSC.png

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 2/27/2021 at 11:08 PM, e1will said:

I am liking the additional maze capability. In maze 2 you can trap the bugs in various corners, which is fun.

Thanks for the feedback Will!  Yes, the custom mazes offer more gameplay options, including trying to trap a bug or two if you're good enough.. ;) 

On 2/27/2021 at 11:08 PM, e1will said:

One interesting quirk I noticed was that occasionally the vegetables in the special round are all eggplants. I've never seen it do that with a different kind of vegetable, although I have seen half eggplants, half carrots.

ladybug_arcade_demo1_NTSC.png

That's most likely a bug, although I am a huge fan of eggplant ? so maybe its coincidence? :P   Seriously though, this is a bug and has been fixed in the latest version.  The veggie type and location is much more random but also balanced.  I'll probably post an updated demo sometime before the release in November as this one is quickly approaching RC. :D  

 

Thanks again!

John

 

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

After playing a lot of the first Lady Bug conversion you did, the symetrical play field is not bad and if you hadn't played the arcade you wouldn't have noticed. Got a question about the new Arcade one your working on, the maze flicker/fuzziness is that done to create the color of the maze and the asymmetrical format? When I first played it I noticed it but it thought it was my eyes but I see it in Stella as well.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got another thought@johnnywc, I've been super interested in getting a colecovision. Never had one as a child and it's on my list as an adult (one could definitely sink more money into it than the 2600 it feels). I was reading the manual to Lady Bug and how your mom played the colecovision verison a lot and was sad they didn't make one for the Atari. Lady Bug on the Atari, especially the Arcade one your working on us vastly superior to the CV version. Your mom would certainly be proud.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Prizrak said:

After playing a lot of the first Lady Bug conversion you did, the symetrical play field is not bad and if you hadn't played the arcade you wouldn't have noticed.

I agree!  Symmetrical doors was the big concession I had to make back in 2006 for Lady Bug to be possible given the constraints of the time, so I was pleased to see that it didn't detract too much away from the arcade Lady Bug feel.

5 hours ago, Prizrak said:

Got a question about the new Arcade one your working on, the maze flicker/fuzziness is that done to create the color of the maze and the asymmetrical format? When I first played it I noticed it but it thought it was my eyes but I see it in Stella as well.
 

It's only to create the color of the maze, doors and dots to have 3 colors with no black lines or alternating colors.  The asymmetrical doors don't have anything to do with the maze coloring.  The 2006 version method handled the different colors in the maze by displaying the green color for the maze AND the doors on one frame, and the pink color for the maze only on the other frame.  This allowed the doors to be just green (flickering at 30hz) and the maze color was a mix of the pink and green which was an odd but acceptable color.  The flickering of the maze has always bothered me and was one of the only complaints about the game from other reviewers over the years so I sought out to correct this in the 15 year anniversary 'arcade' edition. :) 

 

The new method uses 2 coloring techniques that can be toggled with the right difficultly switch.  The default method (diff b) will alternate pink and green on each line for the maze and door, and alternate odd even lines as well, giving the maze a 'full' look (no black lines) with minimal flicker (that's the fuzziness you see).  As a bonus, it happens to be that if you combine pink (red and blue) with green, this yields a non-flickering white for the dots! :D 

 

The alternate method doesn't flicker at all; it will alternate pink and green every other line, and for the dots it uses a pink alongside green (not combined) to give the illusion of a 3rd color.  The main benefit is no flicker; the drawback are the black lines and less 'full' display.  IMO, both are better than how the 2006 version and is made possible with the ARM, especially the blending method which has to redraw the entire maze/doors/dots every frame (although I'm using the same method in Qix and figured out a way to get around this by managing two copies of the playfield in memory and swapping them each frame ;) ).

5 hours ago, Prizrak said:

Got another thought@johnnywc, I've been super interested in getting a colecovision. Never had one as a child and it's on my list as an adult (one could definitely sink more money into it than the 2600 it feels).

I have never personally owned a Colecovision either but have always been intrigued by it.  I had a couple friends back in the day that had one and I always looked forward to visiting and playing a game of Donkey Kong, DK Jr., Zaxxon, Venture, Cosmic Avenger, and of course Lady Bug.  I do own a Colecovision of sorts now; the Collectorvision Phoenix, and it can play Colecovision carts as well as games from an SD card, all with an HD display!  :thumbsup:  

5 hours ago, Prizrak said:

I was reading the manual to Lady Bug and how your mom played the colecovision verison a lot and was sad they didn't make one for the Atari. Lady Bug on the Atari, especially the Arcade one your working on us vastly superior to the CV version. Your mom would certainly be proud.
 

Thank you very much, that's very nice of you to say.  My mom sadly only got to play Lady Bug for a week when we borrowed my friend's Colecovision and instantly fell in love with it... I remember she would be in my room where the Atari was set up at all hours of the night while I was trying to get some sleep for school the next day. :lol:  Her absolute favorite was Pac-man on our 800xl.  2020 marked 25 years since she passed and probably one of the reasons I felt inspired to revisit Lady Bug after all this time. :) 

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just came to praise the inclusion of the no-flicker option switch. Still lots of people that record at 30fps and games with heavy flickering look really bad at that frame rate. I would encourage more people to include that option to aid the feature videos of your games. ;)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/10/2021 at 10:21 AM, LadyBugVCS said:

Can't wait for this one to come out this year, i'm in love with the 2006 Lady Bug port!

Thanks Christopher, I'm glad you're enjoying the game! :) 

25 minutes ago, LadyBugVCS said:

Any chance we can get the coleco limited edition rom! Wish I could buy the cart buy it's no longer on sale on atari age! :)

Since the game was an exclusive limited collector's edition, we will not be releasing the ROM.  The good news is that the original Lady Bug and Lady Bug Arcade do not have this restriction and can be purchased by everyone! :D  (well, you can't buy Lady Bug Arcade until the end of the year when it's released) ;) 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...

Time to resurrect this thread!  Nathan Strum has completed his design of the packaging for Lady Bug Arcade, another in a long line of wonderful artwork he's created for many new 2600 games over the years, and I'm happy I can reveal the box artwork!

 

2600_LadyBugArcade_Render_Boxes.jpg
 

Click on the image for a larger view.  Lady Bug Arcade, along with several other games, will hit the AtariAge Store later this week.  :)

 

 ..Al

  • Like 19
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...