Rob 'n' Banks: Weekly Development Log

[+Ryan Witmer]

This is Rob:     This is Banks:

 

Together they are...

 

Rob 'n' Banks

 

So, here we go again.  I've been talking about another port I wanted to do and this is it.  If you haven't already figured it out, it's time to bring Lock 'n' Chase to the Atari 5200.

 

So, here's a list of questions you may have and my answers to them.

 

1. Is this a port of the arcade game, or the Intellivision game?

 

It's a port of the arcade game, but the Intellivision game will be a useful reference for how to approach certain things.  One problem with this game, and many other arcade games from this era is that the arcade game used a vertically oriented screen.

 

 

The Intellivision port actually cut down on the vertical size of the screen, chopping out an entire "row."

 

 

I want to get the entire maze on the screen, and I've just barely managed to do that.

 

 

This takes up the entire vertical space, so I'm going to need to get creative with how I place the other stuff on the screen.  I've seen some Intellivision games that run the score vertically down the right side, and I'll probably do something like that.

 

2. I see you have two characters there.  Will there be a 2 player mode?

 

At a minimum the traditional alternating two-player mode will be there.  I really want to try to pull off a two player simultaneous mode, and I think I can do it.  Time will tell, though.  There's a chance this plan will need to be scrapped.

 

3. What about the little car?

 

 

I don't care what I have do, what features I need to cut, this little car is going in the game.  I won't be able to use it like the arcade game does since I don't have the vertical space, but I'll think of something.

 

4. Is this a side project like Intellidiscs was?

 

Yep.  My PC game is still my "day job" and this is a fun diversion for the weekends.  Expect things to progress the same way Intellidiscs did.

 

5. How do we engage with you, yell at you, and just generally give you grief about this project?

 

I'll be updating this thread roughly every week with my progress, just like Intellidiscs, so you can yell at me here.  I also plan to stream live development sessions on my Twitch channel from time to time, typically on Saturday or Sunday mornings.  I'm also usually in the AtariAge discord #homebrew-chat channel so you can bother me there.

 

Between the Intellidiscs release and getting this maze built I'm probably done for this weekend, so regular updates should start next week.

[BIGHMW]

YES!!!! FINALLY a 5200 port of Lock 'N' Chase!!! Good luck Ryan, just like I did for IntelliDiscs, I will be all over this one.  

[Indiana Quack]

5 hours ago, Ryan Witmer said:

This is Rob:     This is Banks:

 

Together they are...

 

Rob 'n' Banks

 

So, here we go again.  I've been talking about another port I wanted to do and this is it.  If you haven't already figured it out, it's time to bring Lock 'n' Chase to the Atari 5200.

 

So, here's a list of questions you may have and my answers to them.

 

1. Is this a port of the arcade game, or the Intellivision game?

 

It's a port of the arcade game, but the Intellivision game will be a useful reference for how to approach certain things.  One problem with this game, and many other arcade games from this era is that the arcade game used a vertically oriented screen.

 

 

The Intellivision port actually cut down on the vertical size of the screen, chopping out an entire "row."

 

 

I want to get the entire maze on the screen, and I've just barely managed to do that.

 

 

This takes up the entire vertical space, so I'm going to need to get creative with how I place the other stuff on the screen.  I've seen some Intellivision games that run the score vertically down the right side, and I'll probably do something like that.

 

2. I see you have two characters there.  Will there be a 2 player mode?

 

At a minimum the traditional alternating two-player mode will be there.  I really want to try to pull off a two player simultaneous mode, and I think I can do it.  Time will tell, though.  There's a chance this plan will need to be scrapped.

 

3. What about the little car?

 

 

I don't care what I have do, what features I need to cut, this little car is going in the game.  I won't be able to use it like the arcade game does since I don't have the vertical space, but I'll think of something.

 

4. Is this a side project like Intellidiscs was?

 

Yep.  My PC game is still my "day job" and this is a fun diversion for the weekends.  Expect things to progress the same way Intellidiscs did.

 

5. How do we engage with you, yell at you, and just generally give you grief about this project?

 

I'll be updating this thread roughly every week with my progress, just like Intellidiscs, so you can yell at me here.  I also plan to stream live development sessions on my Twitch channel from time to time, typically on Saturday or Sunday mornings.  I'm also usually in the AtariAge discord #homebrew-chat channel so you can bother me there.

 

Between the Intellidiscs release and getting this maze built I'm probably done for this weekend, so regular updates should start next week.

Hi Ryan, Amazing job you’ve done with Intellidiscs! Will be getting it on cartridge!!! Now you’re doing Lock N Chase Another one of my favorite Intellivision games too! Keep up the great work Will be paying attention to the progress!!!

[TIX]

Hey @Ryan Witmer,

 

excellent idea for a port, I'm a long time fun of the game !

about a year ago I drew sprites for a similar project (that sadly never came to be)..

 

I'll leave here the little cops, in case they are of any use,

let me know if you want help with the sprites in general !

 

 

Edited May 17, 2021 by TIX

[+Allan]

Analog magazine's attempt to do Lock 'n Chase.

 

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-money-hungry_3469.html

 

Allan

 

[BIGHMW]

.xex version here from Homesoft Collection:

Money Hungry.xex

[+Ryan Witmer]

On 5/17/2021 at 4:28 AM, Allan said:

Analog magazine's attempt to do Lock 'n Chase.

 

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-money-hungry_3469.html

 

Allan

 

I found this name a few times while doing some research for this, but I never took the time to check it out.  It's not bad a for a magazine game (I'm assuming this was a type-in) but it's definitely a pretty far cry from the arcade game.  Interesting to see, at least.

[phuzaxeman]

On 5/17/2021 at 2:47 AM, TIX said:

Hey @Ryan Witmer,

 

excellent idea for a port, I'm a long time fun of the game !

about a year ago I drew sprites for a similar project (that sadly never came to be)..

 

I'll leave here the little cops, in case they are of any use,

let me know if you want help with the sprites in general !

 

 

These gifs look cool.  I like the eyeballs. 

[BIGHMW]

On 5/17/2021 at 12:47 AM, TIX said:

Hey @Ryan Witmer,

 

excellent idea for a port, I'm a long time fun of the game !

about a year ago I drew sprites for a similar project (that sadly never came to be)..

 

I'll leave here the little cops, in case they are of any use,

let me know if you want help with the sprites in general !

 

 

They look kinda cute, kinda like Pooka from Dig Dug in a cop uniform, but they do look nice and would be a great idea for Rob 'n' Banks.

[+x=usr(1536)]

On 5/17/2021 at 2:47 AM, TIX said:

excellent idea for a port, I'm a long time fun of the game !

about a year ago I drew sprites for a similar project (that sadly never came to be)..

 

I'll leave here the little cops, in case they are of any use,

let me know if you want help with the sprites in general !

I really do hope these get used somewhere - they're great!

[+Ryan Witmer]

On 5/17/2021 at 12:47 AM, TIX said:

Hey @Ryan Witmer,

 

excellent idea for a port, I'm a long time fun of the game !

about a year ago I drew sprites for a similar project (that sadly never came to be)..

 

I'll leave here the little cops, in case they are of any use,

let me know if you want help with the sprites in general !

 

 

These are very cool.  Under my current color plan, the four cops are going to have to be single-color sprites, and I'm not sure how good these would look in one color.

 

Either way, I'm a long way out from having the cops in the game, so there's plenty of time to figure out exactly how they will work.

[BIGHMW]

It'll work, I'm a go for that, you're the one making this magic happen, Hey the ghosts in the original 1982 5200/8-bit Atari Pac-Man and Pooka and Fygar from the 5200 Dig Dug (1983) were still cool-looking even though they were all single colored so I can live with that. It's up to you @Ryan Witmer, you're the one doing it.

Edited May 18, 2021 by BIGHMW

[TIX]

10 hours ago, Ryan Witmer said:

These are very cool.  Under my current color plan, the four cops are going to have to be single-color sprites, and I'm not sure how good these would look in one color.

 

Either way, I'm a long way out from having the cops in the game, so there's plenty of time to figure out exactly how they will work.

Thanks,

 

I've done some tweaks and tests and things are looking good !

Anyway I don't want to hijack the thread, when you reach the stage of sprite integration, I'd be happy to help..

 

 

Edited May 19, 2021 by TIX

[+Ryan Witmer]

Tomorrow morning around 9 US Pacific time I'm going to be working on this live on my Twitch channel for anyone who might be interested in the process.

 

Probably won't be the most interesting stream, planning to focus on the maze tileset and will hopefully have something decent looking by the end.

[+Ryan Witmer]

My goal for today was to get the maze looking respectable.  I did part of it on my Twitch stream, and a good chunk of it afterward.  I ended up with this:

 

 

This is plenty good enough for today.  Tomorrow, I'll work on something else.  Not sure what.  I might try to get the gold coins on the maze, or maybe work on getting the player in there and moving around.

[phuzaxeman]

2 hours ago, Ryan Witmer said:

My goal for today was to get the maze looking respectable.  I did part of it on my Twitch stream, and a good chunk of it afterward.  I ended up with this:

 

 

This is plenty good enough for today.  Tomorrow, I'll work on something else.  Not sure what.  I might try to get the gold coins on the maze, or maybe work on getting the player in there and moving around.

Ryan, I like how your maze is more arcade like than Intellivision and Coleco. Cool stuff. 

 

 

#fortheH

Edited May 22, 2021 by phuzaxeman

[+sramirez2008]

Oh wow!  Great choice of game Ryan and great to see that the entire maze will be included. Can’t wait to see how you incorporate the little car. I love that thing.?

[+Ryan Witmer]

4 hours ago, phuzaxeman said:

Ryan, I like how your maze is more arcade like than Intellivision and Coleco. Cool stuff.

I didn't even know there was a Coleco version.  I just checked out a video of it, it looks pretty good and it even has the car.  It does do a few odd things though, the secondary bonus objects don't show up in the right place, which is a little weird.

 

2 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

Can’t wait to see how you incorporate the little car. I love that thing.?

That car seems to have a lot of fans!  I think I might know what I'm going to do with it, but I'm not 100% sure yet.

[+Ryan Witmer]

Wasn't really able to get anything done today.  I started working on placing the coins in the maze before realizing that I need to slow down and seriously think about how I do this.

 

I'll probably spend this week considering plans for managing the coins that involve the least amount of work, and hopefully have some ideas before next weekend.

[BIGHMW]

30 minutes ago, Ryan Witmer said:

Wasn't really able to get anything done today.

 

I'll probably spend this week considering plans for managing the coins that involve the least amount of work, and hopefully have some ideas before next weekend.

I myself have been going through a serious mental strain, especially at work where they nearly doubled my work and I have had to work overtime this past week. I was going to cut some end screens for my 3 YouTube channels in order to cross-reference would-be subscribers into subscribing to all three and not just the one they're on, I even had the scripts ready for my (somewhat!) teleprompter I developed, consisting of a 19" Insignia monitor and a remote-controlled MP4 player but apparently that was not to be (so far there's still 5 hours left 'til the 10:00 pm noise curfew here at Bishop Park) so I hope I can get to it later on tonight, I just need to clean myself up and pick out some good threads in order to look more presentable to the camera, and then I can film the end screens.

[+sramirez2008]

1 hour ago, Ryan Witmer said:

Wasn't really able to get anything done today.  I started working on placing the coins in the maze before realizing that I need to slow down and seriously think about how I do this.

Just because you’ve revealed your next game, please don’t feel like you need to have it completed in a certain time frame.
 

Thanks for choosing to port this game to the 5200? 

[Cebus Capucinis]

 

But for real, don't feel rushed. It already looks incredible. The more time the better!

[ZillaRUSH]

Love this game...cant wait!!

[+Ryan Witmer]

22 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

Just because you’ve revealed your next game, please don’t feel like you need to have it completed in a certain time frame.
 

Thanks for choosing to port this game to the 5200? 

Don't worry, I'm not feeling pressured or anything, but I like to make sure I post something to keep people informed.

 

I had two things I was considering yesterday, putting in the gold coins and putting in the player.  I started working on the gold coins but then I realized that the way the coins are represented in memory has a very strong connection to how the player moves around the maze.  If I pushed ahead with the coins before planning out the player movement it probably wouldn't work, and vice versa.

 

I'll have this week to come up with a solid plan for how everything will interact.  Without that plan I'll just end up having to re-do a lot of work down the road.

[+Ryan Witmer]

Planning to do another live development stream on Twitch tomorrow morning at a about 9AM US Pacific.  I've been thinking about this gold coin problem all week and I have a plan.  I don't know if it's a good plan, but it's a starting point.

 

I'm getting the second COVID vaccine shot today, so there's a chance I might feel like crap tomorrow but I'll do my best to run the stream anyway.  The first shot just gave me a sore arm for three days, so I'm not expecting any problems.