Super Circus AtariAge (new WIP)

[GroovyBee]

How did the Wii version get the new source code, but not any of the other ports?

 

Its had HSC support for 18 months.

[Underball]

How did the Wii version get the new source code, but not any of the other ports?

 

Its had HSC support for 18 months.

Whatever. Madracas only wanted to know what he could use on a PC to play this game, not a Wii. and the Wii version doesn't support paddles. I was merely being helpful pointing out another feature the current version doesn't have since HSC integration was most recently being discussed here. There really was no reason for you to point out the features of some closed door version of Prosystem that no one else can use, but the 3 or 4 people on some cloak and daggar dev. team. We're ruining Bob's thread with this nonsense.

Edited November 9, 2010 by Underball

[+Propane13]

Can't wait until there is an H2 out or a cartridge version of this!

 

Could someone take a live video of the gameplay? It would be cool to hear and see the final product.

 

I second both of these thoughts.

 

I don't have a CC2, so I anxiously await the H2. For the moment, any of my 7800 programming (which I think I'll be getting back to shortly) is limited to ProSystem.

But, that seems to be ok. The community here has always been helpful in testing out software, and, this thread is evidence of that.

I really like how people in this community all contribute to make something good become great.

And, to follow that thought, this game looks GREAT!

 

And yes, if anyone could put together a compendium of screenshots, or a short video, I think that would be fantastic.

I'm pretty sure this will be my next acquisition.

 

-John

[PacManPlus]

Thanks

 

I can help with the screenshots...

[+Allan]

I've been playing SCAA some more and so far it works perfectly.

 

Allan

[+Allan]

HeyBob,

Now that it is just about down, can we get a more complete instructions, points list, etc?

 

Has anybody tried this with out the high score cart to see if it works OK?

 

Allan

[HammR25]

It's definitely a lot easier than it was. I need to clean my paddles though so they don't jitter.

[PacManPlus]

Thanks for testing, and for the compliments Guys!

 

@Allan: I have tested it with the HSC Also, here's the breakdown:

 

OBJECTIVE

Score as many points as possible by breaking all of the balloons, catching all of the power up balloons that occasionally drop from a popped balloon, beating the 'boss balloon' (Refill 'All' option only - see 'OPTIONS'), and catching one of the bonus items that periodically float accross the screen.

 

HOW TO PLAY

Catch your clown on the high end of your teeter-totter (located at the bottom of the screen), so that the clown on the opposite end gets flung into the air! Catching your clown on the outmost edge of the teeter-totter causes him to fly higher. You have three rows of balloons at the top of the screen; each a different color and each moving at a different velocity. There are also two sets of bumpers that will bounce your clown in different directions when hit. You start the game with three reserve clowns. Each time you miss catching a clown with your teeter-totter (or land a clown on top of the other), you lose a reserve clown. If you lose all of your reserve clowns, your game is over.

 

DIFFICULTY

There are three skill levels to select from: EASY, NORM[AL], and HARD. On the EASY skill level, your clown bounces at a steady rate, and never increases in speed. On the NORM skill level, your clown increases in speed starting after 8 successful outer-edge jumps. On the HARD skill level, your clown starts increasing in speed after 6 successful outer-edge jumps, and can get to blinding speeds. Only use this skill level if you have amazingly fast reflexes!

The difficulty increases when you clear a screen of balloons (Refill 'All' option - see 'OPTIONS'), or in intervals of 2500 points (Refill 'Row' option). The difficulty increases by taking fewer successful outer-edge jumps to get to the faster speeds.

 

OPTIONS

Pressing the 'Select' button on the console (or moving the appropriate controller when selected) highlights each of the options on the main title screen. The controller button selects the option:

• The 'Classic' option allows you to play with an 'old-school' feeling, removing one set of bumpers on the outer edge of the screen, having all three rowws of balloons travel at the same velocity on the screen, and using old-style graphics.
  
• The 'Refill' option specifies when to fill the screen/row of balloons when they are all popped. 'Row' causes the balloons in a row to regenerate when you clear that particular row. 'All' will wait until all three rows have been depleted until refilling all of them. Before refilling, however, you are subject to a 'bonus round' with a large boss balloon (except in 'Classic' mode). You must hit this balloon 10 times in order to 'deflate' it. Game play will then refill the three rows of balloons. Please note that if you miss catching a clown while trying to hit the boss balloon 10 times, you will forefit the bonus round.
  
• The 'Difficulty' options allows you to choose between the three different levels of difficulty as stated in the 'Difficulty' section.
  
• The 'Players' option allows you to choose from '1 player', '2 players alternating', and '2 players simultaneous' game play optoins. In '2 players alternating' mode, each player's turn is ended once he or she misses catching a clown. Then play resumes with the opposite player until both players have exhausted their reserve clowns. In '2 players simultaneous' mode, both players are on the screen at the same time, each with their own set of clowns (they are labeled with a '1' and '2' for player 1 and player 2, respectively). Both players also each have their own color (player 1 is blue, and player 2 is brown - eacept in 'Classic' mode where player 1 is pink and player 2 is green). Play continues until both players have exhausted their reserve clowns. If one player uses all of their clowns before the other, that person's teeter-totter remains on screen to taunt the survivng player!
  
• The 'Controller' option allows you to select the type of controller you want to use. 'Joy': uses the joystick to move the teeter-totter along the bottom of the screen in a linear motion. 'Padl': Uses the Paddle controllers to move the teeter-totter accross the screen. 'Driv': uses the driving controllers. For the joystick and driving controllers, the first player's controller will be plugged into the left controller port, and the second player's controller will be plugged into the right. For the paddle controller, a joystick will be plugged into the left controller jack (if needed) and the paddles will be plugged into the right.
  
• The 'Start' option begins the game (as does the 'Reset' button on the console).

Also the left and right difficulty switches effects the game play as well:

 

Left Difficulty Switch: Left position - Each player (in a 2 player alternating game) gets their own set of balloons. Right position - Both players (in a 2 player alternating game) share the same set of balloons.

Right Difficulty Switch: Left position - No additional barriers under the balloons. Right position - A set of three moving barriers under the balloons. In a 1 player and 2 player simultaneous mode game, the barriers travel right at a constant rate. In a 2 player alternating game, the barriers are controlled by the opposite player (for example, when player 1 is controlling the teeter-totter, player 2 is controlling the barriers)

 

POWER UP BALLOONS

Occasionally, popping a balloon will release another balloon identified with a letter that slowly falls to the ground. Catching these balloons with your teeter-totter will not only give you 100 points, but will alter gameplay in the following ways:

'T' - Clears the top row of balloons, awarding the player 30 points for each balloon left in the row.

'C' - Clears the center row of balloons, awarding the player 20 points for each balloon left in the row.

'B' - Clears the botton row of balloons, awarding the player 10 points for each balloon left in the row.

'S' - This slows the speed that the balloons travel accross the screen. This can change the way the clown and balloons react to each other when they collide.

'F' - This increases the speed (fast) that the balloons travel accross the screen. This can change the way the clown and balloons react to each other when they collide.

'N' - Gives the player a 'Safety Net' allowing one miss without losing your reserve clown. Instead, it rebounds the clown back up at the same speed and horizontal direction.

'U' - This power up prevents the clown from being affected by the balloons' travel. The clown 'breaks through' the ballons instead or rebounding off of them. This power up is cancelled if the player loses a life, clears the screen of balloons (in 'Refill All' mode), or catches another power up.

'P' - This awards the player with another reserve clown.

 

POINTS

Scoring is as follows:

• Successful bounce - 1 point
  
• Popping a balloon in the bottom row (blue balloon) - 10 points
  
• Popping a balloon in the center row (yellow balloon) - 20 points
  
• Popping a balloon in the top row (red balloon) - 30 points
  
• Clearing a row of blue balloons - 100 points
  
• Clearing a row of yellow balloons - 200 points
  
• Clearing a row of red balloons - 300 points
  
• Catching a power up balloon - 100 points
  
• Hitting the 'boss balloon' - 50 points
  
• Deflating the 'boss balloon' - 500 points
  
• Catching the bonus item (floats horizontally accross the screen) - 1000 points
  

A bonus reserve clown is also awarded for clearing the top row of ballons in 'Refill Row' mode. In 'Refill All' mode, a bonus reserve clown is awarded after clearing all three rows of balloons.

[gambler172]

Hi Bob

Checked the latest version.Works great

greetings Walter

[Zoyx]

I'm not a fan of the joystick version, but should be a lot of fun with paddles.

 

So how close are we to going gold with this? Are we ready for label submissions?

[Marc Oberhäuser]

So how close are we to going gold with this? Are we ready for label submissions?

 

Box and label are already done:)

[+Propane13]

Dear Bob (a.k.a. Dr. 7800-- I think this name that someone bestowed on you is appropriate),

 

It's been one of those days. A bad day at work, a sudden call home to take care of a quick issue, and loudness from my neighbors that can't stop their kid from banging on the walls downstairs, that is slowly impacting my stress level. In short, it hasn't been a pretty day. After getting home and logging in to fight some work fires, I grabbed a beer. I realized I needed to do something. Something different.

 

So, I bust open my laptop, and *finally* download the ROM for Super Circus Atariage.

You would think that I would have done this ages ago. But, I didn't. I don't know why.

Maybe because it's Circus Atari was the very game I bought at Big Lots for 3 bucks back in the day, tried a few times, and went "meh".

 

Why try it? Well, I looked at your recent screenshots that you acquired at my request, and I thought "wait a sec-- looks like there's a lot here".

In my frustrated rage from today's stress, I loaded the game into Prosystem, and then saw the opening screen scroll.

 

Yeah, ok, whatever. This will probably be lame. Then there's the selection screen. And... music? Music that's not bad.

Whatever. It's Circus Atari. People like it, and I think it's meh. Let's play this thing and get it over with.

 

Then, I can't for the life of me remember which key is the left joystick button in Prosystem.

So, more grumbling and hitting keys. I find it, and switch to classic mode by accident, and then, my Norton Antivirus goes off saying "Prosystem.exe is using a lot of CPU. Do you really want to use it?" Heck yeah! It can use the whole machine for all I care. Minimized that notification. What a bother.

Back to gaming, right?

 

So, I'm sighing, and mashing the keyboard, and the game starts.

And... there's light music still. And, it's not bad. And I'm thinking "ok, here we go. Same as Circus Atari.".

I lost my first clown. Nice.

 

Then I remember how it works, and the clown gets some balloons.

Then, this funky N character drops down, and I see a net appear when I touch it(yes, I could make it out).

And, I'm thinking "well, that's different. And... helpful."

 

Almost as soon as I have it, I lose it, and then my clown meets his demise. And you know what? I start laughing.

Not maniacal laughing because I killed a clown. It's something else. But, I'm not sure what.

 

Maybe it's that I'm realizing that I am out of practice. And, it's funny. So, I reach for reset.

I try again. Clowns keep hitting the ground, and I keep thinking that something's wrong. What happened to me? Surely, I'm not this awful.

So, I really start to concentrate. And, I start doing a little better. I don't keep wasting the net power-up; instead, it starts working for me.

I get a row clear, and then.... splat. And, I've got a grin on my face. What could it be?

 

And, then, I've figured it out: I'm having fun.

 

You've taken a perfectly miserable day, and ruined it by making it fun. Why would you do such a thing?

The gameplay is spot-on. I am improving, and I have made a decision within 2 minutes. I am buying this cart.

And, I'm going to show this to people. THIS is a very, very well done game.

I've been playing for 15 minutes and had to tear myself away to share my comment.

 

Kudos, Dr. 7800. Kudos.

 

-John

[Almost Rice]

The gameplay is spot-on. I am improving, and I have made a decision within 2 minutes. I am buying this cart.

 

After PMC and Defender Arcade, I decided I would buy anything Bob put out. I have not been disappointed. I love that he releases the roms for play on a CC2. Everyone of the carts I got stay in its packing, but I do check that they work. Defender Arcade did not load. Bob sent out a replacement when I shipped back the cart to him. This was 4 months after I had gotten it.

 

Like you, I have not downloaded it yet. It probably because I do not have a paddle handy.

[PacManPlus]

Dear Bob (a.k.a. Dr. 7800-- I think this name that someone bestowed on you is appropriate),

 

It's been one of those days. A bad day at work, a sudden call home to take care of a quick issue, and loudness from my neighbors that can't stop their kid from banging on the walls downstairs, that is slowly impacting my stress level. In short, it hasn't been a pretty day. After getting home and logging in to fight some work fires, I grabbed a beer. I realized I needed to do something. Something different.

 

So, I bust open my laptop, and *finally* download the ROM for Super Circus Atariage.

You would think that I would have done this ages ago. But, I didn't. I don't know why.

Maybe because it's Circus Atari was the very game I bought at Big Lots for 3 bucks back in the day, tried a few times, and went "meh".

 

Why try it? Well, I looked at your recent screenshots that you acquired at my request, and I thought "wait a sec-- looks like there's a lot here".

In my frustrated rage from today's stress, I loaded the game into Prosystem, and then saw the opening screen scroll.

 

Yeah, ok, whatever. This will probably be lame. Then there's the selection screen. And... music? Music that's not bad.

Whatever. It's Circus Atari. People like it, and I think it's meh. Let's play this thing and get it over with.

 

Then, I can't for the life of me remember which key is the left joystick button in Prosystem.

So, more grumbling and hitting keys. I find it, and switch to classic mode by accident, and then, my Norton Antivirus goes off saying "Prosystem.exe is using a lot of CPU. Do you really want to use it?" Heck yeah! It can use the whole machine for all I care. Minimized that notification. What a bother.

Back to gaming, right?

 

So, I'm sighing, and mashing the keyboard, and the game starts.

And... there's light music still. And, it's not bad. And I'm thinking "ok, here we go. Same as Circus Atari.".

I lost my first clown. Nice.

 

Then I remember how it works, and the clown gets some balloons.

Then, this funky N character drops down, and I see a net appear when I touch it(yes, I could make it out).

And, I'm thinking "well, that's different. And... helpful."

 

Almost as soon as I have it, I lose it, and then my clown meets his demise. And you know what? I start laughing.

Not maniacal laughing because I killed a clown. It's something else. But, I'm not sure what.

 

Maybe it's that I'm realizing that I am out of practice. And, it's funny. So, I reach for reset.

I try again. Clowns keep hitting the ground, and I keep thinking that something's wrong. What happened to me? Surely, I'm not this awful.

So, I really start to concentrate. And, I start doing a little better. I don't keep wasting the net power-up; instead, it starts working for me.

I get a row clear, and then.... splat. And, I've got a grin on my face. What could it be?

 

And, then, I've figured it out: I'm having fun.

 

You've taken a perfectly miserable day, and ruined it by making it fun. Why would you do such a thing?

The gameplay is spot-on. I am improving, and I have made a decision within 2 minutes. I am buying this cart.

And, I'm going to show this to people. THIS is a very, very well done game.

I've been playing for 15 minutes and had to tear myself away to share my comment.

 

Kudos, Dr. 7800. Kudos.

 

-John

 

 

After PMC and Defender Arcade, I decided I would buy anything Bob put out. I have not been disappointed. I love that he releases the roms for play on a CC2. Everyone of the carts I got stay in its packing, but I do check that they work. Defender Arcade did not load. Bob sent out a replacement when I shipped back the cart to him. This was 4 months after I had gotten it.

 

Like you, I have not downloaded it yet. It probably because I do not have a paddle handy.

 

 

Wow - Seriously, these have to be some of the nicest compliments I have ever received for one of my games. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you. I'm glad I read these just after I saw the screenshots on the XM box.

 

Thank you again. You just made my day.

Bob

[+Allan]

 

Wow - Seriously, these have to be some of the nicest compliments I have ever received for one of my games. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you. I'm glad I read these just after I saw the screenshots on the XM box.

 

Thank you again. You just made my day.

Bob

I'm pretty sure Curt just grabbed a few pics just for place holders. I really don't think it has anything to do with liking one game over another. I think you guys are both very talented 7800 programmers.

 

Allan

[+swlovinist]

This game is looking awesome! I cant wait till it is released on cart so I can buy one.

Edited November 13, 2010 by swlovinist

[potatohead]

Awesome. That's homebrew right there people.

 

 

Dear Bob (a.k.a. Dr. 7800-- I think this name that someone bestowed on you is appropriate),

 

It's been one of those days. A bad day at work, a sudden call home to take care of a quick issue, and loudness from my neighbors that can't stop their kid from banging on the walls downstairs, that is slowly impacting my stress level. In short, it hasn't been a pretty day. After getting home and logging in to fight some work fires, I grabbed a beer. I realized I needed to do something. Something different.

 

So, I bust open my laptop, and *finally* download the ROM for Super Circus Atariage.

You would think that I would have done this ages ago. But, I didn't. I don't know why.

Maybe because it's Circus Atari was the very game I bought at Big Lots for 3 bucks back in the day, tried a few times, and went "meh".

 

Why try it? Well, I looked at your recent screenshots that you acquired at my request, and I thought "wait a sec-- looks like there's a lot here".

In my frustrated rage from today's stress, I loaded the game into Prosystem, and then saw the opening screen scroll.

 

Yeah, ok, whatever. This will probably be lame. Then there's the selection screen. And... music? Music that's not bad.

Whatever. It's Circus Atari. People like it, and I think it's meh. Let's play this thing and get it over with.

 

Then, I can't for the life of me remember which key is the left joystick button in Prosystem.

So, more grumbling and hitting keys. I find it, and switch to classic mode by accident, and then, my Norton Antivirus goes off saying "Prosystem.exe is using a lot of CPU. Do you really want to use it?" Heck yeah! It can use the whole machine for all I care. Minimized that notification. What a bother.

Back to gaming, right?

 

So, I'm sighing, and mashing the keyboard, and the game starts.

And... there's light music still. And, it's not bad. And I'm thinking "ok, here we go. Same as Circus Atari.".

I lost my first clown. Nice.

 

Then I remember how it works, and the clown gets some balloons.

Then, this funky N character drops down, and I see a net appear when I touch it(yes, I could make it out).

And, I'm thinking "well, that's different. And... helpful."

 

Almost as soon as I have it, I lose it, and then my clown meets his demise. And you know what? I start laughing.

Not maniacal laughing because I killed a clown. It's something else. But, I'm not sure what.

 

Maybe it's that I'm realizing that I am out of practice. And, it's funny. So, I reach for reset.

I try again. Clowns keep hitting the ground, and I keep thinking that something's wrong. What happened to me? Surely, I'm not this awful.

So, I really start to concentrate. And, I start doing a little better. I don't keep wasting the net power-up; instead, it starts working for me.

I get a row clear, and then.... splat. And, I've got a grin on my face. What could it be?

 

And, then, I've figured it out: I'm having fun.

 

You've taken a perfectly miserable day, and ruined it by making it fun. Why would you do such a thing?

The gameplay is spot-on. I am improving, and I have made a decision within 2 minutes. I am buying this cart.

And, I'm going to show this to people. THIS is a very, very well done game.

I've been playing for 15 minutes and had to tear myself away to share my comment.

 

Kudos, Dr. 7800. Kudos.

 

-John

 

 

After PMC and Defender Arcade, I decided I would buy anything Bob put out. I have not been disappointed. I love that he releases the roms for play on a CC2. Everyone of the carts I got stay in its packing, but I do check that they work. Defender Arcade did not load. Bob sent out a replacement when I shipped back the cart to him. This was 4 months after I had gotten it.

 

Like you, I have not downloaded it yet. It probably because I do not have a paddle handy.

 

 

Wow - Seriously, these have to be some of the nicest compliments I have ever received for one of my games. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you. I'm glad I read these just after I saw the screenshots on the XM box.

 

Thank you again. You just made my day.

Bob

[Lendorien]

Out of curiosity, is this game going to be XM only or do you plan to include an operation to check for the XM and default to TIA if it's not present?

[PacManPlus]

It's actually Pokey only (whether it be the XM or a Pokey on the cart itself) - I'm hoping there will be stand-alone carts made, but that relies on a few things:

 

1 - I'm waiting for someone to get back to me on an inventory of 7800 carts that have Pokey in them.

2 - I want to modify my code to check for the Pokey in the "regular" place or the "XM" place, and I need to see if there are any "magic locations" that will tell me so.

 

 

I know I've been absent for a while (as you know I've moved to Florida), but hit an unexprected snag: it looks like I'm about to lose my job, and the job that I had planned on going to down here doesn't look like it's going to work out. So I will be absent for a little while longer while I figure out what I'm going to do.

[HammR25]

I know I've been absent for a while (as you know I've moved to Florida), but hit an unexprected snag: it looks like I'm about to lose my job, and the job that I had planned on going to down here doesn't look like it's going to work out. So I will be absent for a little while longer while I figure out what I'm going to do.

Definitely get the important stuff in order first and don't hesitate to make it known if there's anything the people here can do to help.

[Lendorien]

I know I've been absent for a while (as you know I've moved to Florida), but hit an unexprected snag: it looks like I'm about to lose my job, and the job that I had planned on going to down here doesn't look like it's going to work out. So I will be absent for a little while longer while I figure out what I'm going to do.

 

I'm really sorry to hear that. I hope things clear up for you quickly.

[Almost Rice]

I know I've been absent for a while (as you know I've moved to Florida), but hit an unexprected snag: it looks like I'm about to lose my job, and the job that I had planned on going to down here doesn't look like it's going to work out. So I will be absent for a little while longer while I figure out what I'm going to do.

 

That is sucks. It is not a good time to be out of a job. I hope good luck for you, Bob.

[BigO]

It's actually Pokey only (whether it be the XM or a Pokey on the cart itself) - I'm hoping there will be stand-alone carts made, but that relies on a few things:

 

1 - I'm waiting for someone to get back to me on an inventory of 7800 carts that have Pokey in them.

2 - I want to modify my code to check for the Pokey in the "regular" place or the "XM" place, and I need to see if there are any "magic locations" that will tell me so.

 

 

I know I've been absent for a while (as you know I've moved to Florida), but hit an unexprected snag: it looks like I'm about to lose my job, and the job that I had planned on going to down here doesn't look like it's going to work out. So I will be absent for a little while longer while I figure out what I'm going to do.

So that means that you have time to finish this up, right?

 

Seriously though, I wish you good fortune in your job prospecting.

 

And I do look forward to purchasing this an playing it if it ever becomes available.

Is there a possibility that one could replace the ROM in an existing POKEY game (with an EPROM) to make a cartridge for themselves (and pay you a licensing fee/royalty for the game code if you so desire)?

Edited December 13, 2010 by BigO

[mimo]

good luck Bob, I'm sure everything will work out for you

[PacManPlus]

Hi Guys:

 

Thanks for the good wishes, everyone. I had a job interview today, so hopefully it will work out.

 

I was able to make two of these stand-alone carts (they were made from Pokey Ballblazer carts). The rest will be made for the XM as they support the HighScore Cart and Pokey.

 

$25 + shipping for the first two people to PM me.

 

When I get up tomorrow morning I'll post who was first (again, if anyone wants them).

 

Thanks,

Bob