5 replies to this topic

[LMSB]

Back when the 2600 was current, we used to gather at the park every morning b4 school. I was in 6th grade
We used to play a game on the racquetball court that might be called wallball.

It involved one person throwning the ball off the wall and the rest of the people trying to catch it (in the air, or on one bounce.) If the ball was caught in the air, the "server" had to stand in front of the wall and avoid getting hit by the racquetball thrown by the catcher. If the ball was dropped or hit somebody, the person who dropped it had to run in and touch the wall and run back out. While they ran into the penalty area the other players would scramble to get the ball and try to hit them with it.

There were some other rules as well, but they all revolved around the idea of somebody getting "pegged" by the ball. Note that getting "pegged" by a racquetball stings quite a bit!


I think this can be made into a pretty hilarious Atari 2600 game. My biggest concern is whether the game should have 2 players or 1 player vs the computer. Having the game be 2 players would seem to make it a lot easier to program for less AI. I have to see if there is some way to animate the sprites when they run, make their legs move or something. I'll be starting to work on this soon. My computer ceased functioning a few days ago and I'm waiting for a replacement to arrive.

Phillip
AKA - dos-man

[atari2600land]

You might want to look at this for some inspiration.

[Impaler_26]

Take a look at the examples in this thread, there's also one for animating sprites:

http://www.atariage....howtopic=109288

I think i would start with this as a 2 player only game, you can still add a 1 player option later if you want...

[yuppicide]

I know what the game is, but the way you describe it to me "getting pegged" makes me think of of "dodgeball" combined with "wall ball".

I am picturing an overhead game for 2 players. 1 player is above the second (sort of like having only 2 baskets left in Kaboom). You hit the ball back. If it's your turn, the ball is coming at you, and you're behind the other player then the ball goes through the player in front. Once somebody scores you switch and you're now in front and the other player is in back.

[accousticguitar]

LMSB, on Wed Aug 6, 2008 11:09 PM, said:

Back when the 2600 was current

The 2600 isn't current?

[LMSB]

yuppicide, on Thu Aug 7, 2008 8:54 PM, said:

I know what the game is, but the way you describe it to me "getting pegged" makes me think of of "dodgeball" combined with "wall ball".


I was doing some research on the rules to refresh my memory. It seems there are a lot of variations.


I am picturing an overhead game for 2 players. 1 player is above the second (sort of like having only 2 baskets left in Kaboom). You hit the ball back. If it's your turn, the ball is coming at you, and you're behind the other player then the ball goes through the player in front. Once somebody scores you switch and you're now in front and the other player is in back.

I like your idea. Could be a odd sort of game, a "real" sports game that actually uses a paddle. My fear is that it would be difficult to program it since I have no paddle controller to use during testing.

Unfortunately, my replacement PC hasn't worked out. I ended up having to strip it for parts to be used in some future machine. It might be a while before I am ready to start working on wallball

Phillip