54 replies to this topic

[Netsurfer_x1]

Well, It's been a while since I've logged in...Anyway, the conversations on this old thread made me wonder (more & more recently) if it is even possible to "port" Action 52 to the 2600.

Of course, big difference between the infamously bad NES version & this one, is that this one should have 52 games we would actually want to play instead of the poor version that (unfortunately) got released.

However, there's some problems I can see right away: First one being the cartridge size (data-wise, that is).

The NES version clocked in at nearly 2 megabytes, & it wouldn't surprize me if the homebrew weighed in at nearly half that.
Can the 2600 even handle a cart that data heavy? Or will it fry the power supply?

I totally can't wait to read the discussions on this one!

Edited by Netsurfer_x1, Wed Feb 2, 2011 8:18 PM.

[raskar42]

my dream of playing cheetahmen on the atari is coming true!

[Stan]

MY GOD IN HEAVEN PLEASE MAKE THIS.

[Innovative Leisure]

Could we have the glitches as a difficulty option?
Seriously though, I'd love to see this project surface.

[Netsurfer_x1]

Innovative Leisure, on Wed Feb 2, 2011 7:51 PM, said:

Could we have the glitches as a difficulty option?
Seriously though, I'd love to see this project surface.

So do I! But the problem is I can't program past the end of my nose. But, I'd gladly stay on as producer, playtester & provide the "Make your selection, NOW." voice sample.

I'm hoping some of the more seasoned homebrew devs see this & can chime in (& maybe even show interest) with regards to this (as of now) pipedream.

Needless to say, I'd love to see this idea get greenlit!

[Pong]

Just port it with the glitches. Such as Cheetahmen freezing for me when I die.

It happens, just to tell you.

[Netsurfer_x1]

So, attached is a cartridge & end label art treatment I came up with, if by some freak act of God this game ever does come to fruition.

The thin black line denotes the edge of the labels.
Comments are welcome, as always.

[Animan]

So, 52 AtariAge users each make a game for the 2600... in 2 hours. Sounds fun to me!

[ScumSoft]

OK! I'm on it, currently coding a Kaboom clone with Deamau5 heads

[ScumSoft]

Ok here is my submission, took a bit longer than 2 hours though.

I have no idea how to do proper paddle support, I tried to get some code going but it doesn't work.
You are free to modify the code if you want to play with paddles

[edit]A bit of story:
"After a but of a mau5 outbreak in the castle, the mice are being beheaded and tossed over the castle walls. Catch the poor Deadmau5 heads with the cheese and let them RIP"

The game will get progressively faster the more heads you catch, miss 5 times and it's game over.

Play with the Joystick for now, unless someone can teach me how to make the DPC+ like paddles.

Edited by ScumSoft, Fri Jun 3, 2011 10:50 PM.

[ScumSoft]

I wonder what happened to my attachment, well here it is again

TRIPLE POST!!!

Attached Files

•  Deadmau52011_06_03_213755.zip   6.73K   86 downloads

[Devin]

ScumSoft, on Sat Jun 4, 2011 6:19 AM, said:

I wonder what happened to my attachment, well here it is again

TRIPLE POST!!!

Looks cool so far! I've heard about it raining cats and dogs... but never mice!

[theloon]

This sounds like a fun excuse for peeps to make a quick game and er, well.. I don't see how 52 games (with 1 headline game like Cheetamen) will fit with what batari Basic can compile.

Whoever codes this thing will probably have to have generic gameplay and sprite routines they mix and match for most of the games. Jaguarmen being it's own deal on a separate bank.

[Netsurfer_x1]

theloon, on Thu Jun 9, 2011 7:33 AM, said:

This sounds like a fun excuse for peeps to make a quick game and er, well.. I don't see how 52 games (with 1 headline game like Cheetamen) will fit with what batari Basic can compile.

Whoever codes this thing will probably have to have generic gameplay and sprite routines they mix and match for most of the games. Jaguarmen being it's own deal on a separate bank.

Which is something I'd like to avoid, if at all possible. I want this to be a quality collection of games, not a collection of garbage like the NES port was. If it comes down to it, I don't mind cutting it up into several different volumes, although, again, I'd rather like to avoid that. I don't even have problems with swapping out some of the games & replacing them with original titles (there are, however, a few games that I would like to keep from the NES port & give them a de-make on the 2600, just for kitsch value).

Which is where the more seasoned homebrew devs come in...If anyone would know, it would be them.

[ScumSoft]

WHAT?! Quality!? That means I get to go an work on Deadmau5 some more then.
Two hours to code a quick game is harder to do than it sounds.

Edited by ScumSoft, Wed Jun 15, 2011 5:52 PM.

[BladeJunker]

I'm all for quick games but my god have you played Action 52, it's a pile of shit and I think everybody on this forum can do better. Now 2 hours isn't long enough but keeping it simple is still a worth while pursuit. If this catches on I'm sure some games will take on a life of there own but even a moderately small group of games sounds great. 52 games sounds good but look how Action 52 turned out, how about Action 32 or Action 16.

[theloon]

Assembly gurus could probably dig out the information to access the extra space on Melody boards AtariAge sells. Maybe someone could do a forum search to see if the basic skeleton of a multi-cart is already out there. I bet the makers of the Harmony cart would be willing to share code.

Pending that what can be done by the average Joe is to compile a BatariBasic program that treats each game as a separate set of parameters for it's own game engine. Defining what those parameters are and how varied the combinations get would be the real challenge.

[BladeJunker]

The best bet for this idea is a generic engine much like the Nes version. Because of the particular limits of the 2600 and its specific optimization no single engine will facilitate every game type but that doesn't mean most games can't be distilled into a few select game engine types.

Generic parameters:
-Scrolling, this alone greatly affects what kind of game you make and requires different engines to be optimal.

Single Screen=Space Invaders, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Pac-Man

Page Flip=Adventure, Jet Set Willy

Vertical Scroll= Frontline, Xevious (Relatively easy to do compared to horizontal scroll.)

Horizontal Scroll=Defender, Empire Strikes Back (Usually very resource heavy to produce a smooth scroll.)


-Genre priorities, each game has specific needs and methods.

Shooter= Projectiles galore ie heavy Ball and Missile usage with line skips + scanline stagger or odd to even scanline flicker. EG. Take your pick Action52 had a ton, this can range from bullet hell Shmups to short limited bursts of projectiles like in Zelda.

Frenzy= Sprites galore ie using the Ball and Missle bits to render more sprites than the default 2. EG. Lock N Chase, Robotron.

Melee=A lot of horizontal attacking which needs Player object extensions made from Ball and Missile bits ie Roundhouse kicks, sword swings, grappling hooks. EG. Cheetahmen.

Puzzle=Mostly just blocks or other rudimentary shapes so plenty of opportunity for optimization and or pursuit of art friendly rendering techniques normally too impractical for action games.

Platformer=Mostly about solid collision and gravity simulation. EG. Mario Bros.

Well that's all I got for this topic for now, I hope this helps anybody confused or intimidated on where to start such an undertaking. I like the idea and I hope it gets off the ground someday.

[BladeJunker]

Well here's a vertical scrolling shooter mockup I call Space Maniac. Avoid banging into the walls, shoot flying saucers, collect powerups, and rack up a high score.

HUD:
Maniac icon=Both Player objects.
Health Bar= Playfield with a few Ball related bits.
Score=Missile0 & Missile1 rendered characters with skipped & staggered scanlines.

Game:
Maniac ship=Player0 sprite center flopped.
Maniac bullets=Missile0
Enemy ship=Player1 sprite center flopped.
Enemy bullets=Missile1

Explosions=Missile0 & Missile1(Stop bullet generation and start explosion rendered bits.)

Space stations=Playfield+Ball bit edge smoothing.
Powerups=Playfield+Ball bits.

I included skipped scanlines and staggering in the bullet and explosion based sprites in the hope that it would help reduce clipping or flicker of multiple sprites. Also did my best to highlight where and when and where extra bits and flopping are used.

If you think it will work please take a stab at it as the last post under this topic had only a few entries before stopping.

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by BladeJunker, Mon Nov 28, 2011 9:28 PM.

[Netsurfer_x1]

Gentlemen, I like what I'm seeing! Keep this up, and most importantly, spread the word!

As far as BladeJunker's post goes, we all know about how abysmal the NES version turned out (the GEN version is admittedly better). But the goal of this is not to slap together a collection of buggy, unoriginal, uninspired collection of mostly space shooters. The goal here is to prove that a de-make is not only possible on a far less powerful console, but can actually be leagues better than the s**tbiscuit Active Enterprises pushed out the door.

Also, I'd like to keep it true to it's roots. But if push comes to shove, I wouldn't mind too much if I had to slice it up into more than one volume, but I'd rather like to avoid it.

[BladeJunker]

Here's a translation or mockup of Shootout from the Genesis Action 52 collection. Anybody with some skills seeing this please try coding this.

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[Netsurfer_x1]

BladeJunker, on Tue Dec 13, 2011 5:38 PM, said:

Here's a translation or mockup of Shootout from the Genesis Action 52 collection. Anybody with some skills seeing this please try coding this.

Not bad. 'Cept maybe have two counters: One for ammo & one for score.

[Brian O]

BladeJunker, on Fri Nov 11, 2011 2:22 PM, said:

I'm all for quick games but my god have you played Action 52, it's a pile of shit and I think everybody on this forum can do better. Now 2 hours isn't long enough but keeping it simple is still a worth while pursuit. If this catches on I'm sure some games will take on a life of there own but even a moderately small group of games sounds great. 52 games sounds good but look how Action 52 turned out, how about Action 32 or Action 16.

It should be Action 26, since 26 is half of 52 and also references "2600"

-B

[BladeJunker]

Netsurfer_x1, on Tue Dec 13, 2011 11:31 PM, said:

Not bad. 'Cept maybe have two counters: One for ammo & one for score.

Okay I added a score gauge but had to change SHOTS to a bullet icon.

Attached Thumbnails

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[BladeJunker]

Brian O, on Tue Dec 13, 2011 11:37 PM, said:

It should be Action 26, since 26 is half of 52 and also references "2600"
-B

I like the sound of that, it has a nice ring to it.