Retrofan Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 Hello, here are mockup screens for a new Q*Bert. Yes I know: the game exists for the 2600 and there are copyrights on it. But I want to try to make graphics better (but it's not easy). Please give comments: Version 1: Version 2: And if the copyrights are a problem: Here is Santa-Q (or X*Bert?, he jumps on a X-mas tree and turn on the lights): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanJr Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 I LIKE the Santa themed one! The difficulty here is that it is hard to make it look like a pyramid using a right triangle design (hench the Q*Bert we already have!). I wish you much luck, and hope you CAN come up with a good design! Who attacks Santa as he trims the tree? The Grinch? Capitalist Pigs? Rabid 8 year olds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 Those mockup screens look great, but I don't think they would work. Mainly beause you only have two colors (foreground, background) for the playfield graphics each scanline. And you are using three. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retrofan Posted November 18, 2004 Author Share Posted November 18, 2004 Thank you for the comments. My idea was to go a little bit around the pyramid to simplify the graphics for the 2600. And I thought black doesn't count for the 2 colors in a scanline so I can use yellow and blue, but that was a mistake? It's not easy! (enemy could be a nutcracker, the grinch, a pumpkin, Jack Skellington, an easter bunny ...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 And I thought black doesn't count for the 2 colors in a scanline so I can use yellow and blue, but that was a mistake? Yes. It's not easy! Else I wouldn't love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 Hi there! And I thought black doesn't count for the 2 colors in a scanline so I can use yellow and blue, but that was a mistake? Yes. Hm... but that's what the original Q-Bert does. Those color changes are not generally impossible, only depending on the design the timing might become nightmarish to impossible. Greetings, Manuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 Hm... but that's what the original Q-Bert does. Nope, the different colors are vertically separated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 Hi there! Hm... but that's what the original Q-Bert does. Nope, the different colors are vertically separated. Are we talking about the same Q-Bert game? Greetings, Manuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 Are we talking about the same Q-Bert game? My fault, I only thought about green vs the platform color(s). Still, the problem with the above mockup remains. The timings are probably impossible (like you said above) and/or the addtional color writes cost too much CPU time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moycon Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 Why are the shadows on the cube so F'ed up anyways? Some are on the right...some on the left. I'm sure there's a reason.... right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 Why are the shadows on the cube so F'ed up anyways?Some are on the right...some on the left. I'm sure there's a reason.... right? Without checking the code, I suppose it has to do with using the reflected PF mode, resulting in far less neccessary PF writes/scanline. Probably this compromise was necessary to get enough free CPU time for other stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salstadt Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 Man, I am loving the art style on that second mockup. Really gorgeous. - Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybergoth Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 Hi there! Man, I am loving the art style on that second mockup. Really gorgeous.- Adam The second would be almost programmable if the blocks where 6 PF bits wide instead of 5. The problem here is that you can change colors only every three pixels, so you can do a precise color change between two PF bits only for every 3rd, 6th, 9th... PF bit. Other than this, the PF display would be easy, as the design only has two color change areas per scannline, which are widely seperated... Still, with 6 PF writes and 4 possible color changes, you've alredy used up most/all of the programming cycles for a scanline. And a 2LK doesn't help either, as the PF writes and color changes would have to be repeated for each line, since it's not mirrored. The original 2600 Q-Bert design, while not perfect, is IMHO an excellent and working compromise... Greetings, Manuel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retrofan Posted November 20, 2004 Author Share Posted November 20, 2004 Man, I am loving the art style on that second mockup. Really gorgeous. - Adam Thank you very much. It seems to be very difficult to make a better Q*Bert (but it was worth a trial). I'll put in my gallery and think about another game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic George 2K3 Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 Personally, I like the alternate perspective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feralstorm Posted November 24, 2004 Share Posted November 24, 2004 It's threads like this that make me appreciate the innovation and ability 2600 programmers show. Whether you like the Parker Brothers' Q*bert or not, ya gotta admit there's some whiz-bang programming work involved to pull off that playfield. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Dogs Posted December 15, 2004 Share Posted December 15, 2004 This may be a bit to soon, but it would be pretty cool for next years Holiday Cart to be this Christmas Q*bert and have a switch to and have Donkey Claus on it too. Maybe could be a third level created getting through the toy factory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Pac Posted December 15, 2004 Share Posted December 15, 2004 I would love to see a Xmas Q*Bert with Santa Claus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bcostin Posted December 16, 2004 Share Posted December 16, 2004 I like those mockups, too. The alternate perspectives are a clever workaround. The existing Q*Bert playfield isn't too bad, all things considered. What really bugs me is the playability issues, like way the bad guys appear and disappear rather than actually moving. It results in a lot of unnecessary deaths. I just tried the much rarer 2600 version of Q*Bert's Qubes. The gameplay is a lot smoother, though that may be related to differences between what's required to be onscreen at the same time. The playfield layout is completely different, of course, but is there any chance Qubes could be hacked into an improved implementation of the original Q*Bert? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted December 16, 2004 Share Posted December 16, 2004 Yeah, could you imagine what it woulda been like to be a professional 2600 programmer back then? The boss says "here, make a port of this" and you just had to go do it...homebrewers have the luxury of selecting their level of challenge in what game they end up doing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Posted December 16, 2004 Share Posted December 16, 2004 How about Santa delivering to houses on a mountian side? He uses his sleigh to escape from the baddies who want to ruin christmas? I spaced the houses at 6 PF pixel intervals so that they are 24 pixels from start to start. 24/3 = 8 cycles between rooftops to change the PF color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uosipa llamxew Posted December 16, 2004 Share Posted December 16, 2004 I spaced the houses at 6 PF pixel intervals so that they are 24 pixels from start to start. 24/3 = 8 cycles between rooftops to change the PF color. No fair! Your image won't load on my end! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert M Posted December 16, 2004 Share Posted December 16, 2004 I spaced the houses at 6 PF pixel intervals so that they are 24 pixels from start to start. 24/3 = 8 cycles between rooftops to change the PF color. No fair! Your image won't load on my end! Dang! Dose this work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach Posted April 10, 2005 Share Posted April 10, 2005 (edited) Just found this thread last night. Couldn't resist the challenge. I picked a scanline from the Santa mock-up that looked like a worst-case scenario. lda #%11110111;2 sta PF1 ;5 lda #%00001110;7 sta PF2 ;10 lda #$00 ;12 sta COLUBK ;15; make background black ldx #$3a ;17; orange ldy #$c3 ;20; green SLEEP 4 ;24 stx COLUPF ;27; make PF orange lda #%00010000 sta PF0 sty COLUPF lda #%10001000 sta PF1 lda #$00 stx COLUBK sta COLUPF sty COLUBK lda #$ff sta PF2 stx WSYNC Edited April 14, 2005 by Zach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted April 10, 2005 Share Posted April 10, 2005 Nice, but how would you display the sprites? You already need almost 60 cycles. Anyway, still nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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