+Armscar Coder Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 RAPTOR 4K – NTSC & PAL60 – Assembly – One Player 3/5/2022 RAPTOR is my second Atari 2600 game. After some very productive play testing over the last few months, I am presenting the attached binaries (NTSC and PAL60) as the final release candidate. I will feel more comfortable calling the game done once the Atari community at large has had an opportunity to play it. So, please give it a try and let me know what you think, post some scores, and I would appreciate reports of any discovered bugs. I have also attached the full manual which provides game play explanation and background on the game story. Though the game is somewhat intuitive, reading the manual in its entirety will help with the more subtle game elements. If there is something that needs more clarification, please post a question in this forum and I will be more than happy to answer it. RAPTOR is currently being featured in the 2600 High Score Club, along with some other great games, as part of the High Score Club homebrew weeks. I encourage you to post your scores over there as well. But be forewarned, those guys and gals are scoring professionals. Now that the manual is complete, my graphic designer will start working on a RAPTOR patch. For anyone who scores a 1000+ points and wants a patch, send me a photo of the game screen via an AtariAge PM with to whom and where the patch should be sent. My hope is to start shipping patches this summer. I plan to only distribute up to 100 patches and will be reserving some patches for non-emulation players until RAPTOR is available in physical form. Once the patch design is complete, the cartridge labels and box design will follow. I am always so thankful for discovering the Atari community a few years back. Special thanks to James (@ZeroPage Homebrew) and Darcy for debuting RAPTOR on ZeroPage Homebrew yesterday. My main aim in developing RAPTOR was to give back to the community by creating something fun for everyone to enjoy. I hope this game fulfills that objective. - Andrew RAPTOR_NTSC.bin RAPTOR_PAL60.bin RAPTOR Manual.pdf 3/8/2022 RAPTOR Patch List Started Jason_Atari ZeroPage Homebrew (James) sramirez2008 Vocelli Al_Nafuur ZilchSr nads Dr Moocowz 8bitSwami vitoco McCallister Skippy B. Coyote TheActivisionary Jasonhrb devwebcl OldManG Utilikey xeex RockPile14 cwieland Teleprompter PengPeng0118 KaeruYojimbo 27 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 The gameplay looked great yesterday on ZPH. Thanks for sharing the ROM. I look forward to playing it this weekend. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 Why does the crosshair sometimes disappear? I cannot see any reason and I still can kill the vehicles. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KaeruYojimbo Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 3 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: Why does the crosshair sometimes disappear? I cannot see any reason and I still can kill the vehicles. I was just wondering the same thing, so I went to the manual and found this: When a jammer is on the battlefield, the RAPTOR’s advanced target- ing system is disabled. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+littaum Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 This game is amazing. The double tap to activate the boomerang bomb is pretty novel and a great way to add in a second use for the button. The gameplay also has pretty perfect difficulty progression. It is just plain fun. Chef's kiss. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Armscar Coder Posted March 5, 2022 Author Share Posted March 5, 2022 55 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: Why does the crosshair sometimes disappear? I cannot see any reason and I still can kill the vehicles. As @KaeruYojimbo pointed out, when there is a jammer on the battlefield, the cross hairs are disabled/hidden. They reappear when the jammer is destroyed or when it escapes off of the right side of the screen. The code limits one jammer on the screen at a time, but there is no limit to how many jammers there can be per wave. The disappearing cross hairs have an indirect effect in that it may force you to use tracer fire to help aim which in turn may lead to more laser overheats. Another indication that a jammer is on the battlefield is a low level whirring noise when a jammer emerges from the left side of screen. Earlier versions of the game had the jammer sound louder. I found it quite annoying so I reduced its volume. Hopefully it isn't as annoying. As I mentioned during the ZPH stream yesterday, sound/music is hard for me. When I first started programming, this was probably the biggest shock to discover. I quickly developed a deep appreciation for sound and music in Atari 2600 games and I have much admiration for developers that do it well. Despite trying to up my game by rewriting my sound engine, I will never be able achieve some of the great things being produced out there. There are too many to mention, but a recent one that comes to mind is @Pat Brady's work on 1942. If you haven't seen/heard it, I encourage you to check it out. 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Pat Brady Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 1 hour ago, Armscar Coder said: As I mentioned during the ZPH stream yesterday, sound/music is hard for me. When I first started programming, this was probably the biggest shock to discover. I quickly developed a deep appreciation for sound and music in Atari 2600 games and I have much admiration for developers that do it well. Despite trying to up my game by rewriting my sound engine, I will never be able achieve some of the great things being produced out there. There are too many to mention, but a recent one that comes to mind is @Pat Brady's work on 1942. If you haven't seen/heard it, I encourage you to check it out. Well, thank you. Your title screen rendition of When Johnny Comes Marching Home is excellent itself. I caught the end of your segment on ZPH and have only played the game for a few minutes but the whole thing looks great. The animated scores are a fantastic detail. EDIT: I forgot this was 4K. Very impressive! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 Only had time for a few games, but I really like it. Love the double-tap, but I did use it mistakenly a few times. This game definitely has that “one more try” appeal. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Al_Nafuur Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 Great game! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 Are you posting your results here too? 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted March 5, 2022 Share Posted March 5, 2022 If you missed the interview with Andrew Pauley @Armscar Coder and the WORLD PREMIERE of Raptor on ZeroPage Homebrew yesterday, I've posted the archive video on YouTube below! Games: Raptor (2022 Exclusive World Premiere | 2600) by Andrew Pauley @Armscar Coder w/ LIVE Interview rubyQ (2022 Exclusive Final Build | 2600) by Silvio Mogno @Silvio Mogno (WATCH AT 1080P60 FOR BEST QUALITY) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Al_Nafuur Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 PlusCart users can find RAPTOR in the PlusStore folders: /Public ROMs/Homebrew/NTSC/Q-S/Raptor/ and /Public ROMs/Homebrew/PAL/Q-S/Raptor/ Or in the "Recently Added ROMs" folder. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 (edited) Played a few more games. Getting better, but haven’t been able to crack 800. James @ZeroPage Homebrew made it look easy. Edited March 6, 2022 by sramirez2008 Screenshot updated 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Armscar Coder Posted March 6, 2022 Author Share Posted March 6, 2022 Great score @sramirez2008! Someone has got to be the first one to 1000 points. You can do it. Around the 700 point mark, there is a difficulty shift where there are fewer blutonium trucks (fewer power-up opportunities) and slightly more of the harder/faster enemies. The key is still usually not to overheat, including avoiding the sky sweeper. Sometimes it is better to let one enemy go rather than risk overheating and then letting a bunch of enemies get by you. Needless to say, maximizing your escape monitor (lives left count) in the earlier waves and being stingy with your bombs gives you a better a chance of progressing when you get to these harder levels. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 1 hour ago, Armscar Coder said: Great score @sramirez2008! Someone has got to be the first one to 1000 points. You can do it. Around the 700 point mark, there is a difficulty shift where there are fewer blutonium trucks (fewer power-up opportunities) and slightly more of the harder/faster enemies. The key is still usually not to overheat, including avoiding the sky sweeper. Sometimes it is better to let one enemy go rather than risk overheating and then letting a bunch of enemies get by you. Needless to say, maximizing your escape monitor (lives left count) in the earlier waves and being stingy with your bombs gives you a better a chance of progressing when you get to these harder levels. Thank you. Yeah, I notice the diff ramp up at the 700 point mark. I have to say, 1000 points is quite the achievement. I hope to get there and look forward to some screenshots of fellow AtariAgers that hit the mark.? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fierodoug5 Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 (edited) Great game! Just finished watching the ZPH stream and played some games. Only just broke 300 points, but will keep trying. Very fun and addicting 4k game. I don't forsee myself hitting the 1k patch score anytime soon. Edited March 6, 2022 by Fierodoug5 Typo 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prizrak Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 I very much enjoy this game and it was great getting to see your interview on ZPH. Love your design and unique flair that your games have. Amazing work [emoji106]Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 (edited) @Armscar Coder I only just noticed that you are using the same PF priority flicker trick for the shield which I came up with for the clouds in Aardvark. And in your game it is a key element. Very smart. BTW: I looked into your code and there seem to be quite some options for optimizing (e.g. ZP,Y instead of ZP,X costs one byte). Just in case you want to add something (difficulty settings, night mode...), I would offer my help here. Edited March 7, 2022 by Thomas Jentzsch 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevKelley Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 Oh wow. This game is amazing. I only had a chance to play it on my phone using Javatari but I have to say this is very addictive! I love everything about it and has a great classic game feel that is easy to get into and hard to put down! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 During last night's ZPH After Dark stream we played Raptor again and I earned the patch on my first game of the night with 1071 points! - James 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 1 hour ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said: During last night's ZPH After Dark stream we played Raptor again and I earned the patch on my first game of the night with 1071 points! - James Congrats James! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 Victory! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 4 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said: Victory! Congratulations as well to you!!! - James 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Al_Nafuur Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 didn't had much time today, so only a small improvement: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason_Atari Posted March 8, 2022 Share Posted March 8, 2022 My new best score: 1,340 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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