44 replies to this topic

[Atari freak 1]

I think atari could of made a better bowling game.
Here's a screen shot.
what do you think?

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[BatmiteReturns]

I would have died if Atari would have made Bowling look this good.

Is there any interest in anyone re-doing the graphics for Bowling?

[MattyXB]

Looks great. This is a job for Thomas or some of the other programmers here.

[StanJr]

I'm not sure the pins could look quite like that, but the perspective should be doable and most of the playfield.

Any programmers out there care to take a shot?

[BatmiteReturns]

The pins shown above are too detailed for the 2600.

If you remove the black border from around the pins then it shouldn't be a problem for the 2600.

[BatmiteReturns]

BTW, Intellivision's PBA Bowling had very nice graphics. The control wasn't that great but the visuals were awesome.

The basic game design used in PBA Bowling was also used in the C-64 (and Amiga) versions of Indoor Sports but it featured vastly improved graphics. It had 4 "indoor" sports games and one of them was bowling.

[BatmiteReturns]

Atarifreak: where did you get that picture of the bowling pins? It looks like a set they have on display at the Bowling Hall Of Fame & Museum in St. Louis, Missouri.

[Cap5750]

Batman,

I LOVED that indoor sports on the C-64. Actually, I loved anything made by Sporttime....they were some GREAT games.

Cap

[Atari freak 1]

Batmite, I got the pic from
www.minilane.com they make mini bowling alley's about a litlle more then half the size. (40' insted of 60')

[Atari freak 1]

Is this better?

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[BatmiteReturns]

Yes!

Much better!

I'm sure the 2600 could pull that off.

BTW, Sport Time *was* the company that made Indoor Sports! I forgot all about them!

I still have their damn intro jingle stuck in my head.

[StanJr]

Asking for that multi-colored playfield may be a *bit* much.

I'd be happy with the monochromatic earlier version.

[King Atari]

You know, that mock photo looks great, I wish Atari would have introduced a Bowling game similar to that in the Realsports series. However, for what it is, I love the original 2600 Bowling. Pure simple fun.

[Miles Tails Prower]

Ask Uncle-Duke, Im sure he could do it. He's currently doing a hack for me.

[Big_Mo]

Looking at recent screen mockups here gets me thinking, does anyone here have a handy description of the 2600's graphics modes and limitations?

I seem to recall that most 2600 games never have more than two colors on a single scanline (balls and players excepted). What about the resolution in pixels in the various modes?

[BatmiteReturns]

When I was a kid I kept wishing Atari would bring out "Real Sports Bowling" for the 2600.

Its nice to know I wasn't the *only* one who wished for it.

[King Atari]

Here's what I always hoped a Realsports Bowling would look like, with each player on each side, it would have been too cool.

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[BatmiteReturns]

Ahhh, very nice mock-up.

I remember being in heaven when 10th Frame came out for the C-64. It was promoted as a "bowling simulator" in the same vein as Leaderboard Golf was promoted as a "golf simulator". It really was a great version of bowling complete with the automatic pin sweep animations.

I even called Access Software (the developers) and asked them if they would release a sequel and the lady asked me "what else could you add?" to which I replied "you could bowl on DIFFERENT LANES!!!!"

Anyone remember this great game?

[Atari freak 1]

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Anyone remember this great game?

Yes!
We got a commadore in like 1998, for $75.
It came with 10th frame, but it didn't work, but luckly there was a person down my street who also had a commadore, and she had 10th frame, so I copied it.

*dreams of good times on my commodore*
Yes....It was great! (although, in '98 they windows 98, So the commodore was very old!, but loved it none the less!)

[Chris++]

Regarding both of those mock-ups, Activision came out with plenty of games that were at least that detailed. I speak more of the pixellation than anything else, since I'm naive about multicolored screen possibilities.

Remember, just because the home-brew community might not know exactly how to push certain Stella limits, it doesn't mean that such things can't be done -- or haven't before, especially by Doug Neubauer, or, of course, Miller, Crane, Whitehead and company.

Please read that with the preassumption of my greatest and most humble respect for anyone who codes for the 2600. It's very, very difficult -- I've never undertaken it to any useful extent, that's for sure -- and as soon as I get my raise, I'm finally going to rabidly and enthusiastically order every homebrew game available. I certainly don't mean to discredit the feats of home-spun, modern VCS designers; they have my utmost admiration, and their achievements boggle my mind.

It's just that I believe that it would be as grave a mistake to assume the community has already reached the apex of the 2600's abilities as it would've been for, say, Robinett to believe his boss when he was told that Adventure couldn't be done on the box.


CF

[King Atari]

Quote

Regarding both of those mock-ups, Activision came out with plenty of games that were at least that detailed. I speak more of the pixellation than anything else, since I'm naive about multicolored screen possibilities.  

Mine was just an example of what I would have liked to see. I always thought that the two lanes next to each other would have been awesome. Man, that would've made for some great contests between my brother and me.

I still love regular 2600 Bowling, though.

[BatmiteReturns]

hehe, yeah, I love Bowling for the 2600. Just recently I came across some old photographs I had my father take of the screen when I bowled a 300 game so I could show my brother.

[Cybergoth]

StanJr said:

Asking for that multi-colored playfield may be a *bit* much.

I'd be happy with the monochromatic earlier version.

That second try looks actually quite doable. The TIAs ability of displaying multiple copies of sprites surely will help a lot here.

Don't forgt about the background color. The playfield would be complete black all the time, you'd only change the background color twice.

Greetings,
Manuel

[King Atari]

Well, how about it? Any programmers want to take a shot at making a better 2600 Bowling game? This is one I'd really like to see.

[Atari freak 1]

Quote

Well, how about it? Any programmers want to take a shot at making a better 2600 Bowling game? This is one I'd really like to see.

I agree!
I would love for this to happen!
If it's a cartridge, I want free one for coming up with Idea!