11 replies to this topic

[Legend]

I was wondering if there are any homebrew pinball games? Particularly for 2600 using the bumper bash control scheme or maybe some for the nes.

[KevinMos3]

A multi-screen pinball would be awesome.

[Legend]

Multi screen pinball would be great. Even the kind with enemies roaming around like pinball quest or devil crash. Maybe even some sort of pinball/breakout hybrid. Don't know if this is a bit too ambitious for something like 2600. Maybe the multi-screen is, but perhaps the enemies or breakout/pinball hybrid could be possible.

Edited by Legend, Sun Sep 12, 2010 11:13 PM.

[Nukey Shay]

Video pinball game engines aren't very complex...so it would be a good beginner project if somebody is considering their hand at writing a new game from scratch. Nearly everything can be handled completely by lookup tables in rom, so ram requirements are also very small (the majority of native ram available for "eye candy"). Maybe somebody could design a "Pinball Construction Set"-type kernel for bBasic? Then, everybody wins.

[Random Terrain]

Nukey Shay, on Sun Sep 12, 2010 10:49 PM, said:

Maybe somebody could design a "Pinball Construction Set"-type kernel for bBasic? Then, everybody wins.

That's what I'd love. I hope batari Basic will eventually have a special kernel for every major type of game that most bB users will want to make (pinball, maze game with dots, 3D style driving game, scrolling Mario-style platform game, and so on).

[yuppicide]

I still laugh at the people who said bAtari Basic wasn't possible. I laugh because I mentioned this back in the 2000's or 90's or something like that on the Stella Programmers List I believe. I didn't really chat much there 'cause I can't comprehend ASM too good.

[AtariLeaf]

I was just thinking about this since I was playing some bumper bash yesterday - I'd love to see a homebrew pinball for the 2600 or even the 7800. I wonder what could be possible on the 7800 as far as pinball goes. I hope one of the homebrewers sees this thread and considers it a challenge. I'd would DEFINITELY buy a homebrew pinball cart.

[Random Terrain]

AtariLeaf, on Sat Oct 9, 2010 1:48 PM, said:

I was just thinking about this since I was playing some bumper bash yesterday - I'd love to see a homebrew pinball for the 2600 or even the 7800. I wonder what could be possible on the 7800 as far as pinball goes. I hope one of the homebrewers sees this thread and considers it a challenge. I'd would DEFINITELY buy a homebrew pinball cart.

I always wanted to make my own pinball game and you know I can't be the only one. If someone makes a pinball specific kernel for batari Basic, you'll probably see at least a few new pinball games for the Atari 2600.

[Pixelboy]

I've always had rotten luck playing pinball simulators. I have a knack for getting the ball to fall right between the paddles and into the black hole of death at the bottom of the screen, with no chance whatsoever to save the ball. That's why I enjoy Video Pinball on the Atari 2600 so much, I can actually use the tilt feature to great effect, but generally speaking, my rotten luck keeps me from enjoying that type of game.

On the other hand, as a ColecoVision homebrewer, I've always had a certain interest in pinball games. I'm intrigued at the physics of the ball's movement, correctly processing the collision of the ball against "solid" elements on the table (angle of collision, rebound effects, etc.). I never took the time to investigate this, but sometimes I wonder if pinball physics have been documented, for video game simulation purposes.

[grafixbmp]

As far as that goes, I fell in love with a game someone here is working on designing. Sonic the Hedgehog has always fascinated me and I had a passing thought once of Sonic spinball on 2600. I designed an old style lcd screen for a portable sonic spinball once. Might be intresting to have that style of platform/pinball game on Atari.

[Ikrananka]

Pixelboy, on Sat Oct 9, 2010 6:03 PM, said:

I've always had rotten luck playing pinball simulators. I have a knack for getting the ball to fall right between the paddles and into the black hole of death at the bottom of the screen, with no chance whatsoever to save the ball. That's why I enjoy Video Pinball on the Atari 2600 so much, I can actually use the tilt feature to great effect, but generally speaking, my rotten luck keeps me from enjoying that type of game.

On the other hand, as a ColecoVision homebrewer, I've always had a certain interest in pinball games. I'm intrigued at the physics of the ball's movement, correctly processing the collision of the ball against "solid" elements on the table (angle of collision, rebound effects, etc.). I never took the time to investigate this, but sometimes I wonder if pinball physics have been documented, for video game simulation purposes.

I'm quite into pinball myself - having two real machines at home. The closest I've seen emulators come to real life physics is with Visual Pinball (along with Visual PinMAME to replicate the pinball DMD). Check out http://en.wikipedia..../Visual_Pinball and http://www.vpforums.org/ for more info and the software. It's quite tricky to get setup but once you get it going it's really very impressive (YouTube guide here: ). Some people have even built there own full size machines using the software with large displays mounted in a cabinet, e.g. !!!!!

Edited by Ikrananka, Sat Oct 9, 2010 10:14 PM.

[Pixelboy]

Ikrananka, on Sat Oct 9, 2010 10:14 PM, said:

I'm quite into pinball myself - having two real machines at home. The closest I've seen emulators come to real life physics is with Visual Pinball (along with Visual PinMAME to replicate the pinball DMD). Check out http://en.wikipedia..../Visual_Pinball and http://www.vpforums.org/ for more info and the software. It's quite tricky to get setup but once you get it going it's really very impressive (YouTube guide here: ). Some people have even built there own full size machines using the software with large displays mounted in a cabinet, e.g. !!!!!

On my end, I checked out a web page that not only explains an algorithm for collision detection and ball physics, but also offers a flash implementation. Just click on the "view" link in the "source code" section to see it in action. Pretty cool, especially with rounded objects!

I don't know if I could implement their "N" algorithm in a CV game, but if I could, I'd try to do a conversion of Intellivision Pinball.