welshleo Posted May 2, 2002 Share Posted May 2, 2002 So, what game conversions would you like to see for the Atari 8-bit? They can be virtually anything you like ... within reason. How about something like Oids (Atari ST)? Or Elite (BBC Micro)? Or perhaps even something ambitious like Damocles (Atari ST) so that you can use the game saved at the end of Mercenary? Go on ... tell me what you want and it might get done (once my other project is out of the way first). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capnarrr Posted May 3, 2002 Share Posted May 3, 2002 hmmm... shadow of the beast comes to mind. Just about any side scrolling shooter. Ghouls and ghosts (loved that game). Toobin' would be a great one too. just a start, i can think of plenty more... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avram Posted May 3, 2002 Share Posted May 3, 2002 Something that pushes the atari and fun to play. Mayhem in Monsterland? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshleo Posted May 3, 2002 Author Share Posted May 3, 2002 quote: Originally posted by CapnARRR: hmmm... shadow of the beast comes to mind. Just about any side scrolling shooter. Ghouls and ghosts (loved that game). Toobin' would be a great one too. just a start, i can think of plenty more... Shadow of the Beast *almost* appeared some ten years ago. A UK Atari-only software developer, Harlequin, secured the rights for that game and another Psygnosis title, Menace. Unfortunately, after a couple of lacklustre titles on cassette, Harlequin disappeared. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelen Posted May 3, 2002 Share Posted May 3, 2002 i would like to see lemmings, i have seen the one level demo of it, and i thought it was really great. or impossible mission. Thelen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheddy Posted May 3, 2002 Share Posted May 3, 2002 That's a brave offer David! I'm a big shoot-em-up fan so I'd have to say side-scroller too (anything similar to R-type), or how about Mad Planets/Crazy Comets (not sure how well the controls would translate though, but it was on C64). Steve (Jet Boot Jack) may be able to fill you in with some more info on what ever happened to Beast - he mentioned it in a post, and it was Harlequin he was involved with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshleo Posted May 3, 2002 Author Share Posted May 3, 2002 quote: Originally posted by Sheddy: That's a brave offer David! I'm a big shoot-em-up fan so I'd have to say side-scroller too (anything similar to R-type), or how about Mad Planets/Crazy Comets (not sure how well the controls would translate though, but it was on C64). Steve (Jet Boot Jack) may be able to fill you in with some more info on what ever happened to Beast - he mentioned it in a post, and it was Harlequin he was involved with. I'm looking for another project to work on in about 6 months time, but it has to be a biggie! I'd love to have a crack at Elite, to be honest. I've seen the demo and it's sooo smoooth! The original copyright holders are easy to track down and for permission to be sought on that one. Alas, I could really do with a Beeb setup for any conversion attempt for Elite, though. Anyhow, I'm open to offers. Keep the suggestions coming in. I remember Mad Planets from the arcade. I used to love that game, but like you said the controls would be tricky to figure out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetboot Jack Posted May 3, 2002 Share Posted May 3, 2002 I think after those kind words from Mr Davies I shall retire from this group... Sorry if Harlequin's releases were lackluster David - after all we were only doing it 12/14 years ago... I have uncovered most of the Harlequin stuff, and I will be setting up a web archive,for those who would like to see what we tried to achieve... sTeVE, yes I am pissed off.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshleo Posted May 3, 2002 Author Share Posted May 3, 2002 Steve, See e-mail I sent you for a fuller explanation of the criticism ... not as bad as you seem to have taken it. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted May 3, 2002 Share Posted May 3, 2002 I always wanted Impossible Mission for the Atari 800 series Im not a huge fan but when my neighbor got it on his C64 and I didnt get on the 800 I was PO'd! There were also some arcade translations that were released on the C64 by Atarisoft and not on the 800, but I cant remember them now (Defender II/Stargate was one of them, though I got a copy of the unreleased version for the 800 later) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ndary Posted May 4, 2002 Share Posted May 4, 2002 TheLen said quote: i would like to see lemmings, i have seen the one level demo of it, and i thought it was really great. or impossible mission. Thelen There where two versions (not demos) of Lemmings for ATARI.. 1. called Lemmingi, 2. called Tommingi.. both where made in east europe.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheddy Posted May 4, 2002 Share Posted May 4, 2002 Sad news indeed, if Jet Boot Jack really decides to go The 8-bit and programming at least will sure be worse off without him. On a slightly more upbeat tone... sounds like there was some real interesting stuff in the pipe-line so I can't wait till the Harlequin archive is available. [ 05-04-2002: Message edited by: Sheddy ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avram Posted May 4, 2002 Share Posted May 4, 2002 With all this talk of remakes you may want to go to this address for updates of 8-bit games... http://retro-remakes.emuunlim.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+rdemming Posted May 5, 2002 Share Posted May 5, 2002 quote: Originally posted by ndary: TheLen said There where two versions (not demos) of Lemmings for ATARI.. 1. called Lemmingi, 2. called Tommingi.. both where made in east europe.. And ofcourse "The Brundles" from KESoft and "Lemmings Prevision". All can be found on: Homesoft Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Destructo Posted May 6, 2002 Share Posted May 6, 2002 I've daydreamed on and off about porting Crazy Climber. Here's a screen mockup: This game is tailor-made for the 8-bit: vertical scrolling, 4-color background, falling flowers/can/bottles are colored with horizontal stripes, etc. Is this "challenging" enough for you, Davies? I'll be more than happy to tell you all the clever optimisations I've worked out in my head. Looking forward to the Harlequin archive btw, Steve. [ 05-05-2002: Message edited by: El Destructo ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted May 6, 2002 Share Posted May 6, 2002 Oh, Forget my previous post - Crazy Climber would be great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshleo Posted May 6, 2002 Author Share Posted May 6, 2002 Haven't played Crazy Climber for years! I remember that I was particularly bad at it It shouldn't be too difficult to write. I think I'd better whip out MAME and give it a whirl as a reminder. Didn't the arcade version use two joysticks, like Robotron? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Destructo Posted May 6, 2002 Share Posted May 6, 2002 Yes, it used two joysticks. There are several possibilities for single-stick control: you could press the fire button to switch control from one hand to the other, hold the fire button to control one hand and release it to control the other, hold the button to "grab" with the topmost hand, etc. Whatever works best. I'd still include a two-joystick mode for the purists, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetboot Jack Posted May 7, 2002 Share Posted May 7, 2002 How do you imagine the vertical "whole building" scanner working on the left? It would have to most probably be a sprite overlay - 'cos you are scrolling the whole screen. Apart from that I think CC is a great candidate to be converted, the 2600 verion never satisifed me! I fact I reckon the 8bit could do a more colourful than arcade version!!! sTeVE sTeVE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Destructo Posted May 7, 2002 Share Posted May 7, 2002 quote How do you imagine the vertical "whole building" scanner working on the left? I have a "crazy" idea for that: "un-scroll" the characters making up the mini-map every jiffy by redefining them. (This assumes using redefined Antic mode 5 (4x8, 5 colors w/inverse) characters for both the big building and the mini-map.) Let's say there's a "solid" mini-map character with a blank space beneath it, because it's the bottom left corner of building segment. If larger fine-scroll values move the characters downwards on-screen, redefine the character thusly: code: Fine-scrolling value: 0 2 4 6 8 mini-map "lower left edge" building character: ------------------------------------ ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ==== ------------------------------------ Essentially, as the screen srolls down, scroll up the contents of each mini-map character, rolling up the data for the character below it in the process. (If both characters are the same, nothing needs to happen.) When the fine-scroll value wraps around to 0, revert the characters, coarse-scroll them one row up, and you're ready for the next round of fine-scrolling. It doesn't have to be very time or processor intensive, either. If the whole mini-map is built of, say, 6 different characters, only 48 bytes need to be changed per display frame. For an easier example, look at the blue-to-black fade character that defines the left and right edges of the sky. The graphic data for that character repeats every four lines. To "un-scroll" it, you first store a 12-byte series of that pattern somewhere in memory. Then, on every frame, use the lower 2 bits of the fine-scroll value as an index into the pattern and copy 8 bytes from there into the appropriate place in the character set. Simple, huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheddy Posted May 7, 2002 Share Posted May 7, 2002 That character unscrolling should work nice, cool! So who's going to do this game then? You seem to have it pretty much figured already El Destructo. Then David can try Elite if he really has his heart set on it. (But I wouldn't count it as a real biggie project unless he promises not to peek at the original BBC 6502 code) [ 05-07-2002: Message edited by: Sheddy ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshleo Posted May 7, 2002 Author Share Posted May 7, 2002 At least this thread seems to have got people's creative juices going ... nice going, El Destructo. Sheddy, I'd lurve to do Elite but apparently the guy who did the demo is considering working on the full conversion. Looking at his 3D engine, and how smooth it is, I'd be hard pushed to match it. On the other hand, you never know. The full source code for the galaxy maps for Elite are available at Bell's Elite web site if I remember correctly. Haven't looked at it yet. However, looking at the BBC version's source would certainly make a conversion a lot easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetboot Jack Posted May 7, 2002 Share Posted May 7, 2002 El Destructo, Yeah that's one way - when Menace gets uploaded (soon I promise) you'll see a very similar method being used for the parallax (kinda like Contagion used)... Using several character sets (say 4) and flipping them each scroll is how we did the horizontal version (only 4 pxels per character)... sTeVE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Destructo Posted May 7, 2002 Share Posted May 7, 2002 Yeah, setting up eight character sets with the "un-scrolling" built in and then flipping between them would be easier However, it would consume 8KB of RAM. My previous method used CPU instead because I was trying to observe the constraints of developing a cartridge version. If you want to support the 400, 600XL, and 5200, you can't use more than 16KB RAM. Right? It's fun to talk about this...I wish I didn't have so many other things to do. Maybe we could make it a group project! Let everyone take a share of the various routines that need building... Intrigued, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andre Posted May 9, 2002 Share Posted May 9, 2002 How about "Last Ninja" for Atari XL? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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