Champ Games - Elevator Agent (aka Elevator Action) for the Atari 2600

[+johnnywc]

*** UPDATE: 12/7/2023:  Elevator Agent is now available for purchase, both as a ROM and cartridge, in the Champ Games store! ***

 

*** The latest demo ROMs can be found on the Champ Games website Downloads page HERE! ***

 

Hello all,

 

Five years ago, Champ Games started development on a port of the 1983 arcade game Elevator Action.  The project was inspired by the new BUS stuffing technology that was being developed by the CDF team ( @cd-w, @SpiceWare and @batari).  Unfortunately, due to BUS incompatibilities with some systems, all BUS projects were put on hold. 

 

Here is screenshot from the 2017 WIP of Elevator Action using BUS stuffing:

 

This past January, we decided to revisit the code and see what type of port we could produce using the available stable technology (CDFJ) and rebooted the project (similar to what @cd-w is doing with his amazing port of Bombeman aka Boom! ?   ).  Although we were able to port most of the changes using CDFJ, we worked with the CDFJ team to add features to CDFJ+ (now available in Stella 6.7) to squeeze a few more free cycles out of the ol' 2600 and include all of the graphical enhancements of the BUS version:  

 

New name, new title screen!

 

Sneaking into the enemy headquarters:

 

Collect the secret documents while avoiding the enemy spies:

 

 

Ride the escalators to reach certain floors and areas blocked by walls:

 

Some floors are dark, and some can be made dark for a few moments by shooting out the lights (hit the enemies for extra points! ) :

 

Duck and jump to avoid enemy fire, or dropkick your enemies:

 

Make your way down to the basement, hop in the getaway car and head to your next assignment:

 

Planned features:

• 1 or 2 players (alternating), plus a versus mode where one player controls the enemy spies!
• Multiple building layouts and colors (arcade has 4 different color sets).  99 total buildings to infiltrate.
• 2 button Sega Genesis support to allow fire/jump with different buttons.
• AtariVox/SaveKey support for high scores, plus QuadTari support for 2 joysticks/AtariVox-SaveKey setups
• Special challenge mode with additional enemies and powerups.

 

Release plans:

• The game is about 60% complete.
• We are coordinating with @ZeroPage Homebrew for a first-look reveal of the game in action sometime in the next month or so (once we have the game playable  ).  EDIT: Due to other obligations (finishing Gorf Arcade and Qyx), this most likely won't happen until the end of the year. 
• A demo (both NTSC and PAL60) will be made available soon after the ZPH show.
• A playable demo will be at the AtariAge booth at this year's Portland Retro Gaming Expo in October.  EDIT: The game is still unplayable as we spent most of the summer finishing up Gorf Arcade and Qyx.
• The full version will be published through AtariAge and available sometime in the first half of 2023 (if all goes well) with a ROM release on the Champ Games website after that.

 

Credits:

 

Thanks to @Nathan Strum for his usual Stella-r graphics , especially the title screen and all of the player and enemy animations (certainly much more than what was needed for Qyx  ).  Also thanks to @Pat Brady for his work on the music (and the sound driver) which is sounding great so far!  

 

Special thanks to the CDF team for enhancing the CDFJ+ driver with the specific needs for this game and the Stella team for including them in the latest release; hopefully those new features will be of use to other developers too!

 

For more information, please visit the Elevator Agent page on our website! 

 

Thanks,

John

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I am really looking forward to this one. ?

[DaveD]

Amazing work, as usual. Elevator Action is my jam. Looking forward to this one.

 

52 minutes ago, johnnywc said:

Some floors are dark, and some can be made dark for a few moments by shooting out the lights (hit the enemies for extra points! ) :

 

I know about shooting the lights out on floors but are some building dark from the get-go? I guess I never played long enough to find out.

 

Love the planned challenge mode with powerups and extra goodies. These little extras really go a long way extending replay value on these old titles. 

[+save2600]

 

Featuring Harry Styles as Elevator Agent Provocateur! But oops, looks like the updraft hiked his skirt up a bit...  ?

[+johnnywc]

32 minutes ago, DaveD said:

Amazing work, as usual. Elevator Action is my jam. Looking forward to this one.

Thanks Dave!

32 minutes ago, DaveD said:

 

I know about shooting the lights out on floors but are some building dark from the get-go? I guess I never played long enough to find out.

Yes, floors 15 - 11 are always dark (no lights on them).    Interestingly, you also get 50 extra points for shooting an enemy in the dark (either on these floors or after shooting out a light bulb).  You get the most points for shooting a light and dropping ON an enemy spy.  

32 minutes ago, DaveD said:

Love the planned challenge mode with powerups and extra goodies. These little extras really go a long way extending replay value on these old titles. 

Agreed!  We did the same for Qyx, and plan on the same for Gorf Arcade as well!   

[+sramirez2008]

Ohh I’ve been waiting for this port.  Thanks for resurrecting it.?

[TrekMD]

Just awesome!

[+D Train]

wow!

[DVDfever]

Looks absolutely awesome. Can't wait for it!

[Dionoid]

So much looking forward to this game! The amount of detail is amazing.

[Bomberman94]

Looks really fantastic - maybe you can provide a little teaser gameplay video? ??

Edited June 16, 2022 by Bomberman94

[4ever2600]

When are you guys going to do Tempest?!?!?!  Champ Games does an incredible job on all software!

[+GoldLeader]

Amazing as Always!!!

 

FWIW,  I used to own an Elevator Action arcade game...This will be so Neat-O!

[ColecoGamer]

Wow! Another day one purchase from Champ Games. ??

[nadir]

Funds are a bit tight so I don't know how many video game purchases I'll be able to make 2022/2023, but THIS one I WILL be buying, even if I have to sell some of my current collection to get it!

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

WORLD PREMIERE OF CHAMP GAMES NEW 2600 HOMEBREW ELEVATOR AGENT

AND LIVE INTERVIEW WITH JOHN CHAMPEAU

 

 (WATCH AT 1080P60 FOR BEST QUALITY)

 

Fri Dec 30, 2022 | LIVE @ 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 2AM GMT+1Day
WATCH LIVE: https://twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/
WATCH LATER: https://youtube.com/zeropagehomebrew/

 

We say goodbye to 2022 tomorrow with a huge bang by having John Champeau from Champ Games LIVE on ZeroPage Homebrew with the EXCLUSIVE WORLD PREMIERE of his Atari 2600 homebrew Elevator Agent, a port of the incredible Elevator Action!

 

Games:

• Elevator Agent (2022 Exclusive World Premiere | 2600) by John Champeau @johnnywc (Coding & Design), Nathan Strum @Nathan Strum (Art & Graphics), Pat Brady @Pat Brady (Music & Sounds) plus LIVE Video Interview with John Champeau
• Lunar Patrol (2022 Exclusive World Premiere | 7800) by Oldstyle @OldStyle
• DrunkWitch (Final Binary | 7800) by Karri Kaksonen @karri

[+johnnywc]

The first playable demo ROM of Elevator Agent is now available to download from the Champ Games website Downloads page!  Please note that the game requires Stella 6.7 to run since it is using CDFJ+.  Also, only NTSC is available for now; I will post the PAL60 version in the next few days.

 

The game is fully functional with all the arcade features included except for the hurry up music and game play elements.  In the next demo this will be added which activates after 5 or so minutes when completing a building.  During the hurry up sequence the music stops and a different warning sound plays, the enemies become more aggressive and eventually you lose the ability to control the elevators.  

 

Thanks to @Nathan Strum for the outsanding graphics and testing and to @Pat Brady for the amazing music & sounds  .  Also special thanks to @ZeroPage Homebrew for taking the time to debut the game last night on their Twitch stream channel.

 

Have fun!

 

PS The game does support Sega Genesis 2-button joysticks that use button B for fire and button C for jump.  For 1-button joysticks you press up to jump, but cannot jump straight up while in an elevator (since pushing up will move the elevator up).  However, you can jump to the left or right by pressing up+left or up+right, respectively.

 

 

[Prizrak]

I'm trying to figure out how to get in and out of the doors, I've pulled it off but I'm not sure how I'm doing it. Any insight? Awesome work, love it so far.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

17 hours ago, johnnywc said:

PS The game does support Sega Genesis 2-button joysticks that use button B for fire and button C for jump.  For 1-button joysticks you press up to jump, but cannot jump straight up while in an elevator (since pushing up will move the elevator up).  However, you can jump to the left or right by pressing up+left or up+right, respectively.

You could use fire+up/down to control the elevator. Then you could still jump and duck inside it.

 

BTW: I wondered why Stella detects the controller as Joy2B+. I found that you are checking INPT0 and INPT1. Why?

Edited January 1, 2023 by Thomas Jentzsch

[Prizrak]

I entered a door and searched inside and pulled it off twice but couldn't do it each time. I feel like it's button and a direction. I can try a genesis controller to see if that helps me 

Edited January 1, 2023 by Prizrak

[Thomas Jentzsch]

38 minutes ago, Prizrak said:

I'm trying to figure out how to get in and out of the doors, I've pulled it off but I'm not sure how I'm doing it. Any insight? Awesome work, love it so far.

You just have to stop on the side of the door handle facing towards the door. Once you find out, it is pretty easy.

[Prizrak]

I'll give it a try again, appreciate the help.

[+johnnywc]

1 hour ago, Prizrak said:

I'm trying to figure out how to get in and out of the doors, I've pulled it off but I'm not sure how I'm doing it. Any insight? Awesome work, love it so far.

Thanks!  As TJ points out below, you must be facing the door on the side of the door handle and stop momentarily to enter the door.  This allows you to walk past a door if you *don't* want to enter it like the arcade.  

1 hour ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

You could use fire+up/down to control the elevator. Then you could still jump and duck inside it.

Hmm, but then how would you fire?  

1 hour ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

BTW: I wondered why Stella detects the controller as Joy2B+. I found that you are checking INPT0 and INPT1. Why?

Sega Genesis pads read high on INPT0 and INPT1 so that's why I read both.  I do this mostly because for QuadTari detection INPT0 is low and INPT1 is high so that's how I can autodetect between the two.

59 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

You just have to stop on the side of the door handle facing towards the door. Once you find out, it is pretty easy.

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

11 minutes ago, johnnywc said:

Hmm, but then how would you fire?  

Fire only.

11 minutes ago, johnnywc said:

Sega Genesis pads read high on INPT0 and INPT1 so that's why I read both.  I do this mostly because for QuadTari detection INPT0 is low and INPT1 is high so that's how I can autodetect between the two.

This confuses the controller detection in Stella as Joy2B+ is detected if INPT0, INPT1 and SWCHA are used.

 

But its no major problem as the Sega Genesis is a subset of a Joy2B+ and the extra button still works.

[+johnnywc]

2 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Fire only.

I'll test it and see if this is okay.  My only concern is that people will naturally push up on the joystick to move the elevator up and press the fire button hoping to fire but will jump instead (even though technically you only have to tap up to get the elevator moving up).  

2 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

This confuses the controller detection in Stella as Joy2B+ is detected if INPT0, INPT1 and SWCHA are used.

 

But its no major problem as the Sega Genesis is a subset of a Joy2B+ and the extra button still works.

Glad to hear it's not a major problem as I wouldn't want to change it since I'll need to detect the QuadTari once I add in 2 player support.  

 

Thanks for the feedback TJ!