47 replies to this topic

[Sheddy]

Please visit my web site if you want to try a demo of the game I'm doing as a hobby.
I have got to the stage where I'm hoping for some feedback from testers (with real 130XE if possible)
Thanks


www.sheddyshack.co.uk

[Jetboot Jack]

AWESOME

Sheddy - I am TOTALLY blown away by your demo - I cannot wait to see more of the game.

I'm so happy to see some REAL 8bit development.

What GR mode are you using (Antic A?)...

sTeVE

[Nukey Shay]

It's Antic mode D, with 2's at the top and bottom (You can call up the display list of a running program in Atari800Win by pressing F8 and typing dlist).
Excellent demo!!!

[DEBRO]

Wow, I have to agree this a killer demo!!!

Any plans on trying to get this to run in 16K and bringing it to the 5200?

[Nukey Shay]

ROTFLMAO!!

[Nukey Shay]

BTW using Mame's ~ key, it's possible to trim the sound down to just the music (and a very few FX in some spots) by cutting all sound channel volume sliders except channel 0. Turn on the invincible cheat and record, but I dunno how to convert that to MIDI data.

[Sheddy]

Thanks for the compliments. That's high praise indeed coming from you guys. Thanks also for the advice so far. I'll keep you posted of any significant progress, but don't expect anything much soon.

[DEBRO]

quote:

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Originally posted by Nukey Shay:
ROTFLMAO!!

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[DEBRO]

quote:

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Originally posted by Nukey Shay:
ROTFLMAO!!

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Sorry about this one. I hit Enter twice

[ 04-10-2002: Message edited by: DEBRO ]

[DEBRO]

I was debating whether to keep my 800XL or my 130XE. This game has made me decide to keep the 130XE!!

I can live with having the cart slot in the back for a game like this!!!

[Tempest]

Now I have to fix my 130XE. Does anyone know how to fix a bad keybaord? It seems the keys have gone bad in columns. Keys like EDC and RFV have gone bad but some columns like TGB work just fine. Anyone have an idea on whats wrong and if Best sells a replacement part?

Tempest

[Mindfield]

First thing to try is cleaning the keyboard's contacts where they connect to the motherboard (and cleaning the motherboard as well). You might also try checking under the keycaps to the circuit board's contacts and see if maybe there's some oxydization there that's mucking them up. (Doubtful if it's occurring in columns; sounds much more like dirty/shorted contacts at the connector or broken traces in the ribbon cable)

[Jetboot Jack]

I've played this demo again and again - I can't belive how great it is!!!

Nukey - what is the full command set for the Atari800Win Monitor - I have Version 3 - but the help files do not list the monitor commands...

Tempest - I have a 130XE with a bad video output (I just got it outta storage) - but a MINT keyboard - if you mail me your snail mail address I'll send the keyboard to you - otherwise the whole unit will get thrown in the trash at the weekend...

sTeVE

[Tempest]

Ok, my address is on the way (thanks).

I just noticed your profile says you work at Crystal Dynamics. Did you have anything to do with The Horde? I love that game! Too bad my new PC doesn't seem to like it (the video and sound are all messed up).

Tempest

[DEBRO]

quote:

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Originally posted by Jet Boot Jack:
I've played this demo again and again - I can't belive how great it is!!!

Nukey - what is the full command set for the Atari800Win Monitor - I have Version 3 - but the help files do not list the monitor commands...[snip]
sTeVE

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When you are in the monitor use the ? for help and all your commands will display.

[Jetboot Jack]

Tempest - sorry to say that no I was not part of the team who put the Horde together - my tenure at CD only began this year.....

sTeVE

[Mindfield]

Just played it. And damn is that good. The predefined sprite scaling works exceptionally well, the action is fast, the music and digisound is great, and the gameplay is spot on. If I had to voice a complaint (and really it's rather minor all things considered) it'd be that explosions, or anything intended to be bright, are rather muted and somewhat indistinguishable from other on-screen baddies. Not a big deal at all, really, but I think a little coding might be able to overcome this. (Maybe use overlaid PMs to enhance them, or DLIs to alter the colour pallete on certain scanlines, etc.)

Outside of that I'm extremely impressed. There are few games of this quality for the 8-bit, so this is a welcome addition and certainly something to show off the 8-bit's capabilities. :-) Awesome work, Sheddy. I hope you do continue this project, as it's shaping up to be quite amazing even at this early stage.

[ 04-11-2002: Message edited by: Mindfield ]

[Goochman]

Why werent other Atari 8bit games put together like this. Digitized sound - I thought I was playing the ST version (almost ). This is great stuff! I love SH also

2 BIG thumbs up!

[capnarrr]

Awesome. This clearly displays some of the real power of the 8-bit system.

Atari should have hired you to do their games 20 years ago

[Gunstar]

Well, I finally got around to downloading the game and playing it on a REAL 130XE (I'm a purist-I'll never touch an emulator). Everything works perfectly (in case you were wondering if it would work on the real thing)!!! This game totally reminds me of playing a LYNX game (High praise for the 8-bitter)! Absolutely amazing! It sounds real good through my stereo PC speakers too! I can't wait for the finished product. The best shooter I've played in years on my XE...unbelievable. The 8-bit never ceases to amaze me with what it can do with a top-notch programmer at the helm.

[Avram]

Like everyone else on this thread I'm extremely impressed at how well the Space Harrier looks and plays.
Visting Chris Hutt's web page he mentions some "illegal 6502c" codes. Now, my knowledge of assembly is very, very basic but I'm curious as to what exactly these illegal codes are. Are they bugs in the chip design that can be exploited for programming?

[Nukey Shay]

"Illegal" (undocumented) opcodes were left off of the 6502 instruction set because they were either redundant or did not function consistantly with other hardware platforms. Here is an explaination of how one of them works: http://www.biglist.c...6/msg00051.html

...and here is a full sheet showing all opcodes, with the undocumented ones shaded: http://cruise.de/graham/opcodes02.html

The way they work is in relation to the bits set in the instruction's binary value...so most are so specialized that it would be difficult to find a use for them anyway.

[Nukey Shay]

Oh, and here is the main page: http://cruise.de/graham/opcodes.html

As you can see, the illegals were removed in later versions of the 65xx chip design to make way for additional instructions.

[Gunstar]

I'm curious, how does this game compare to the Sega master system version (I'm assuming there was one)? I played the arcade version years ago, but I've never tried any other version of the game. Also, how does it compare to ANY other versions out there, 8-bit, 16-bit and beyond?

[Sheddy]

Gunstar,
thanks for trying on real 130xe, and all the compliments (that applies to everyone else too) It's a relief to know it works for real! You have an APE cable or did you create a real diskette? AtariWinPlus3.0 keeps pausing on the boot with fast disk off (but not on other versions), did that happen to you?

I agree about colours looking dull or washed out, the emulators don't all do the same colours (even with "real" palette). I know Cafeman was saying he was having trouble with choosing colours for Koffi because of this. Now my 800xl is fixed, I can try and choose some better colours, although they can't be too bright or the flicker gets really bad.

Some more info about "illegal" opcodes from the Atasm Assembler Help Text

There's some screen shots of the master system version
here (click on versions to find it). Very big and colourful graphics (bigger than the arcade even!)

Regards
Chris

[ 04-11-2002: Message edited by: Sheddy ]