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Fishing Derby (?)


glurk

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I think it could be a mistake to call this a work-in-progress, but MAYBE it is.  Phaeron inspired me to give it a go on A8 kernel programming, and I guess a lot is working...  I mean, sort-of.  Much more graphics left to do, not at all my forte.

 

It's playable, in a messed-up sort of fashion...  Ignore the placeholder graphics stuff, it's just there to help me get the scanline locations right.

 

fd.bin

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This one requires a kernel, because the fishing lines are the missiles - m0 and m1 - being horizontally repositioned all the way down the screen.  Kernels also are what allow color-changes on every scanline, though that does not happen in this particular game.

 

That said, it's all a huge pain to do this, and I kind of regret starting on this one.  If things one run machine cycle too long, it all falls apart...  AND I have to create graphics for the shark, and the fishermen, which I'm not good at (pixel art).  I'm sure I can get it all working, but this one will take longer, for sure.

 

I'm also dealing with a bunch of "real-life" stuff right now, so progress is on hold with this game for a while.

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1 hour ago, _The Doctor__ said:

maybe pixel artist will help glurk with graphics?

If someone wants to volunteer, I wouldn't say no.  The shark would help, but it needs to be done a certain way.  I can't use the 2600 one, because it's made up of a crazy mishmash of NUSIZ, HMOVE, and etc...  But consider this one on hold for the time being.  Too much other stuff going on.

 

AND there's a flash / glitch / issue that I can't seem to solve.  Someone please let me know how bad it is, in your own opinion...  I don't think I can fix it, I've tried so many things...  Is it something people can "live with"??  It bugs me so bad...

 

That said, here's a version that's actually fully playable, minus the fishermen and shark, and with the glitch issue:

 

fd.bin

 

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Looks pretty good. I tried to debug the glitch issue but couldn't reproduce it, it ran solidly for me.

 

Kernel overruns typically aren't too bad to debug -- they're often designed to run a fixed height, so you can just set a conditional breakpoint and have the debugger trap if you have an overrun, then check the history.

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I did a bit more on this, here's one with a big black monolith substituting for the shark I can't draw.  No one has volunteered to do that either (who likes to do actual WORK! LOL) so it's going to have to suffice for now.

 

I do these for fun, and THIS ONE has not been fun.  It's not the kernel part of it, that was a good learning experience, but I think I've accidentally introduced a subtle and unintended bug.  It's a rare thing, and maybe the original game does it too, I'm honestly unsure.  I'm not going to explain it, someone please tell me if the game seems OK.  Not really very excited about seeing this to completion, it's kind of drudgery...

 

They can't all be wine and roses, I suppose.  All that said, it should be fully playable, just missing some graphic elements like the two fishermen, their poles, and a "proper" shark.

 

If people (ANYONE) would playtest this, and comment (report bugs), it would be appreciated.   It's all I ask.

 

  fd.bin

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On 1/8/2022 at 2:36 AM, glurk said:

.

If someone wants to volunteer, I wouldn't say no.  The shark would help, but it needs to be done a certain way.  I can't use the 2600 one, because it's made up of a crazy mishmash of NUSIZ, HMOVE, and etc...  But consider this one on hold for the time being.  Too much other stuff going on.

.

If you provide the specs I'll give it a shot !

I'll be away from my workbench for a week, so after that we will have a shark  ?

 

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36 minutes ago, TIX said:

If you provide the specs I'll give it a shot !

I'll be away from my workbench for a week, so after that we will have a shark  ?

 

I have patience!  What it needs to be is the same shark from the 2600 version (I assume you have access to it).  It needs to be in ANTIC mode 6 character graphics, facing both left and right, and both of those with mouth open and closed.  It looks like 13 pixels tall, so centered vertically in a block of mode 6 characters.  I think it will fit in a 4-wide by 2-tall block.  So (4x2) x 2left x 2right = 32 characters.

 

If it takes a 5-wide by 2-tall block to fit, that's OK also.  So it would be 40 characters.  If I need to dedicate a font to it, that's no problem.

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While I wait for TIX to do the shark (no rush!) I thought I'd post some random thoughts on this one, just if anyone is interested...

 

-> When I started this one, I thought "OK, little 2K byte game, should be easy."  Hahaha, it was the hardest one yet!

-> Just my opinion, but Steve Cartwright has a cleaner coding style than David Crane.

-> 'Barnstorming' had geese, that were then in 'Frostbite' which had fish, which were then in 'Fishing Derby.'  And it has a shark...  So...

-> I don't think I'll be doing anymore of these that require pixel art to be created.  From now on, just ones where I can use the existing sprites.

-> This game has an A8 "kernel" which is also one big gigantic DLI routine.  Kind of fun to do, actually.

 

Some other thoughts are that I think (I may take this back) pretty much ANY 2600 game CAN be done on the A8 with sufficient time and effort.  But sometimes, parts may have to be compromised a bit.  The 2600 really can do some things better, like reflection and sprite doubling/tripling.

 

The A8 has a more vivid/vibrant color palette than the slightly darker 2600 one.

 

The 2600 has 128 bytes RAM $80-$FF which has changed my programming style to use zero-page variables as MUCH as possible.  It's both faster and smaller, and you can put more stuff in there because of it.

 

I really like developing for the CAR format instead of XEX, for many reasons.  The power-up state is known, memory is clear, and you can use many more zero-page locations because you are taking over the whole machine, basically.

 

I think I'll probably keep doing a few more of these ports, at least for a while.  I have a nice framework set up that makes it kind of streamlined.  Not easy, by any means, but much better than starting from scratch every time!

 

That's all for now!  I have this one essentially done now, just need to add the shark and fine-tune it all a bit.  PAL color version to be done later, after it's all up and running OK.

 

 

 

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11 hours ago, glurk said:

-> 'Barnstorming' had geese, that were then in 'Frostbite' which had fish, which were then in 'Fishing Derby.'  And it has a shark...  So...

Shark Attack?

 

11 hours ago, glurk said:

-> I don't think I'll be doing anymore of these that require pixel art to be created.  From now on, just ones where I can use the existing sprites.

Perhaps I'm wrong, but i think a lot of people like to do that pixel art?!

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12 hours ago, glurk said:

.

-> I don't think I'll be doing anymore of these that require pixel art to be created.  From now on, just ones where I can use the existing sprites.

.

Yeah I was about to reply to that.. I love doing pixel art, as many here know it's kind of my thing !

Take a look at my signature (which has not be updated for a while..)

 

So don't let this stop you, me or someone else will give you a hand !!

 

Edited by TIX
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On 1/9/2022 at 3:54 AM, glurk said:

 

If people (ANYONE) would playtest this, and comment (report bugs), it would be appreciated.   It's all I ask.

 

  fd.bin 8 kB · 15 downloads

Here: The heaviest fish only appears from the right, which somehow favors that fisherman...

 

 

Maybe it's not a bug, but a feature of the game itself.

 

Edited by Yautja
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Thelen / TIX -

 

Re: the pixel art, going into these projects I don't always know if I'm going to be able to successfully "pull off" the whole thing.  And sometimes I need the graphics before I can do much of the programming.  And so, I don't want to find myself in a position of asking someone to create graphics for something, and then be unable to complete it.

 

Yautja -

 

That's part of the game's design.  There are 2 rows of two-pound fish, 2 rows of four-pound, and 2 rows of six-pound at the bottom.  So each player gets a six-pound one on row 5 and row 6.  It's actually meant to be harder for the computer, since his is at the very bottom.  I read this is the instructions that I found online somewhere, I thought the same way at first...

 

Edited by glurk
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50 minutes ago, Goochman said:

All I know is the computer kicked my arse pulling row 6 fish left and right while the shark dined on my catch regardless :D

 

The computer player is a fish-catchin' machine, LOL.  It's meant to be challenging.  And I've now added in the difficulty settings, which make the fish even harder to catch - and it doesn't really affect the computer side.   So it's even tougher to beat when you are on "expert" setting.

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4 hours ago, glurk said:

The computer player is a fish-catchin' machine, LOL.  It's meant to be challenging.  And I've now added in the difficulty settings, which make the fish even harder to catch - and it doesn't really affect the computer side.   So it's even tougher to beat when you are on "expert" setting.

Any chance of adding a player-handicap mode? Fishing is supposed to be a leisurely sport...

 

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OK here we go,

this is my take on the shark at 10 characters.

You haven't mention colors so I tried a 3 color version (it would be easy to turn him mono if necessary),

When we finalize him I'll send you the full tile set !

 

shark-animation-6.gif.3cabff5ff250f4cfb2e0edce8103e429.gif

 

Edited by TIX
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4 minutes ago, TIX said:

OK here we go,

this is my take on the shark at 10 characters.

You haven't mention colors so I tried a 3 color version (it would be easy to turn him mono if necessary),

When we finalize him I'll send you the full tile set !

 

shark-animation-6.gif.3cabff5ff250f4cfb2e0edce8103e429.gif

 

EEK!  That looks great, but I can't use it!  What I need is the EXACT same shark from the 2600 version!  It has to be the same, because it affects the collision detection and gameplay and everything!  Like this:

 

shark.png.be4f957602f1d6c7877e461f6144effb.png

 

And it has to be mono-color.  ANTIC mode 6 characters, 4 (or 5) wide, and 2 tall.  Not any room for creativity here, sorry.  I just need to get the pic above into the game, facing left and right, with mouth open and closed.

 

 

 

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11 minutes ago, Goochman said:

I know about the fire button, but when a "heavy" fish is on the line it seems like nothing can make the fish come up - I didnt see the same struggle on the computer side.

Well, only ONE player can "pull" at a time.  Meanwhile, the other player's fish will move side-to-side.  This is part of the original game's design, and it works both ways, for each side.

 

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