intvdave Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 I owned this title as a kid. It was a title I wanted to forget that I even owned it. Seeing a recent post about it made me think about the game but in a nostalgic way so I figured... time for a Super Pro treatment! The updates to the game is about done. What I am curious about is: - Did anyone else care about this game? - If you could "fix" the issues of the game, what would have made it better for you? - Is an update something you are interested in? 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cjherr Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 I enjoyed it. And while I can't come up with any "fixes" off the top of my head, I'm excited to see what you have done with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJChandler Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 I am in for a copy of the Maze-A-Tron Super Pro game. Would like a Boxed version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmadruga Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 (edited) What bothers me about the game is that you spend a lot of time not seeing anything new and wondering if you are going in the right direction. Teleporting makes things even worse. Some type of "compass" would be nice. Edited October 27, 2021 by cmadruga 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfy62 Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 All I remember is I hated this game,and I went back to it and gave it many chances. I never really understood the object but I do vividly remember you get pushed off screen way too fast or actually couldn't move faster than the screen was forcing you forward. Something like that! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntyFanMatt Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 11 minutes ago, wolfy62 said: All I remember is I hated this game,and I went back to it and gave it many chances. I never really understood the object but I do vividly remember you get pushed off screen way too fast or actually couldn't move faster than the screen was forcing you forward. Something like that! Exactly. Lol. This is my most hated game on the entire system. I stay far away from it, but I know there is a group of people that like it. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Rick Reynolds Posted October 27, 2021 Share Posted October 27, 2021 Some ideas we discussed when we covered it on the podcast: it has some control issues - you can get stuck on the maze circuitry sometimes, there seems to be a bit of a delay when you hit the button to activate your shield I wondered about the auto-scrolling and if that hurt or helped the gameplay. It seems like some of the game mechanics don't make a lot of sense if you aren't auto-scrolling - e.g. changing RAM chips by entering from the top or bottom, rather then using a button or something other mechanic it lacks a feeling that you're progressing towards something. cmadruga mentions some kind of compass feature - maybe that or some kind of map/hints to help you know if you're working towards finding a bank of RAM chips I think there should be more segments of the RAM chips. I think we estimated that there were on the order of 4 or 6 RAM banks in the whole game (David, you'll know for sure digging through the code). There are 4 different circuit boards, each 38 sections. 4 * 38 = 152. You're looking to find 4 or 6 specific sections out of those 152, across 4 boards. It's just takes too long to find the RAM chips. I'm not sure how the boss-battle could be made better. I do know that I talked about wanting a "win" state of some kind, rather than just a screen where you last as long as you can. The mechanic of shooting the tops of two rising streams of numbers was a little hard to manage (???). Because you're moving across with a digital control (i.e. a constant pace, you can't "rush" over), by the time you shoot one side and start moving to the other, it has moved up on you. Maybe that's just part of the challenge, but it seemed needlessly complicated to me. Because the maze is made out of the same four pieces over and over, you never know where you are. You never have a sense of "Oh, I remember this part - I'm close". I guess this hits the same idea as the suggestion for a compass/map. You might not need compass/map if the mazes were distinctive in some way so you could learn your way around the computer system. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 Like others have said the choppy animation and controls aren't good. Player moves in eight rather than sixteen directions. Both the circuit and MCP phases have these issues. I don't like forced scrolling in games. Don't like that you can't defeat the MCP. Changing these two things would require fundamental changes to gameplay. A simple way to make the circuit phase easier is colour coding each of the four circuit boards so you know which one you're on. The problem is the circuit mazes are the same every game so feeling a little loss helps with replayability. Once you've played this game a few times, it's not hard to find the RAM. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmart604 Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 As a huge Tron fan I loved this game as a kid. In fact, I dare say more than Tron DD. ? undoubtedly part of it is pure nostalgia and loving the idea that I was “in the world of the movie”. Having said that I agree with cmadruga and Rick where at times it felt like I was just trying to say alive and wasn’t really sure if I was progressing towards where I needed to go. Rick has obviously covered off a lot of the other issues. I would be very happy to see you make a SP version of this game and I’m sure a CIB version would be snapped up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mphokie Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 I liked this game quite a bit back in the day, but my frustrations with it were pretty wells covered by Rick and cmadruga. The few times I actually got to a bank of RAM chips made me feel like I found a needle in a haystack. After spending so long just looking for the RAM really ramped up the tension w/the MCP battle. Plus, that felt like a completely different game from what you'd been playing so long previously. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMBerzerk Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 I'm in for a Super Pro version. I think changing the scroll speed would help. I often felt it's too fast. Might help if it were slower. I think the MCP should be able to be destroyed, but that might be too much to ask as suggested already. Difficulty levels would help. An in-game map would be great too, maybe only on easy levels? At any rate.. I'll buy it. I loved that game growing up and I still play it now and then now. What's next? A Super Pro Cloudy Mountain? Oooooo!!!! That would be awesome too! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mik's Arcade Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 I just remember loving this game simply because I was a Tron nerd. I barely remember what the game was even about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 21 minutes ago, IMBerzerk said: I'm in for a Super Pro version. I think changing the scroll speed would help. I often felt it's too fast. Might help if it were slower. ... Press three on the keypad at the titlescreen, the scroll speed is really slow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cellblock1138 Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 Tron based Cloudy Mountain type game would be more fun. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intvdave Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 Thanks for the feedback. I think I will solve most of the concerns you all mentioned. I do not think I am not looking to release any more games CIB. I may be just doing ROM releases from now on. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinjinhawke Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 1 hour ago, intvdave said: Thanks for the feedback. I think I will solve most of the concerns you all mentioned. I do not think I am not looking to release any more games CIB. I may be just doing ROM releases from now on. <-- Insert 'Take my money now' meme here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonsterSky Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 I like Maze-A-Tron, one of the my most preferred game, I played a lot when my parents originally purchased it. Love the sound and the anxious atmosphere. I would love to buy a pro CIB release. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intvdave Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 (edited) We need to go Intellivoice! Let me see if I can implement it. One frustration I always had was you did not know your exact energy level at any given moment (only by color and when it was being used or charged), and you had no idea how many ones you had in inventory. I just gave Phase One a play test and the dynamics have completely changed. UPDATED: Intellivoice is working so far! Edited October 28, 2021 by intvdave update status 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari5200dude82 Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 (edited) Good to hear. Another intellivoice game. I would get it as well. I haven't really explored this game to much. Looks to confusing and difficult. But very interesting. I would do a cib if it happens. Yes a super pro cloudy mountain with intellivoice . Would be the greatest thing;). Like quest. Unreleased. Edited October 28, 2021 by atari5200dude82 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+intellivotion Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 I used to play it a lot as a boy and loved it. I haven't played it again since then but if it gets a refurbishment/enhancement I'm sure I will spend some time roaming in the circuit maze and trying to kick the MCP in the jewels. I'm in, preferably CIB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMBerzerk Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 8 hours ago, mr_me said: Press three on the keypad at the titlescreen, the scroll speed is really slow. whoa... I totally forgot about that! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMBerzerk Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 8 hours ago, intvdave said: Thanks for the feedback. I think I will solve most of the concerns you all mentioned. I do not think I am not looking to release any more games CIB. I may be just doing ROM releases from now on. Before you close the book on that subject... maybe consider this one and if you HOPEFULLY plan on doing a Super Pro Cloudy Mounatin consider those last two for CIB. It would be great to have them both as CIB's. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMBerzerk Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 7 hours ago, intvdave said: We need to go Intellivoice! Let me see if I can implement it. One frustration I always had was you did not know your exact energy level at any given moment (only by color and when it was being used or charged), and you had no idea how many ones you had in inventory. I just gave Phase One a play test and the dynamics have completely changed. UPDATED: Intellivoice is working so far! Using the Space Spartans voice I imagine with some Solar Sailor tied in as well? Is there a way to record new sounds and add them in? I don't know anything about programming the games so I ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intvdave Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 6 hours ago, atari5200dude82 said: Yes a super pro cloudy mountain with intellivoice . Would be the greatest thing;). Like quest. Unreleased. Maybe I have not played Cloudy Mountain enough but the game seems pretty solid as is. What fixes does it need? Quest was following Treasure of Tarmin which I had as a kid. I do not see Treasure of Tarmin getting a Super Pro treatment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intvdave Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 2 hours ago, intellivotion said: I'm in, preferably CIB Releasing games CIB is not a focus of mine anymore. I think I will move to ROM only releases. I am sitting on Super Pro Boxing and Super Pro Gammon. It is challenging enough just to get them out in ROM format. I understand most people out here are probably more collectors than gamers. I would be happy if just one person plays the games I release. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
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.