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7800 programming

ApolloBoy

Entry posted by ApolloBoy

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First blog entry. Cool, I guess.

 

Anyway, as most of you guys know, I'm getting into programming for the Atari 7800 (and maybe the 5200 as well), and I've already proposed making a Mega Man-type game which I've called Cordoba Chronicles as my first project. I've actually spent a fair amount of time figuring out the storyline and characters for the game, and I decided to basically combine elements from the Mega Man series, The Bots Master, (a cartoon from the early 90s that I recently rediscovered on YouTube), as well as figments from my own imagination. Here's what I've come up with for the storyline so far.

 

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The year is 2065. The world is generally at peace, but there is one element that poses a large threat to world safety. The terrorist organization known as the Lionrage Group, headed by the cold-hearted and partially-cybernetic Leo Lionrage, has risen again after years of inactivity. This time, they have a large robot army, thanks to Dr. Gray, a once peaceful roboticist who was captured and brainwashed by the Lionrage Group. The Lionrage Group began attacking various cities in the country of Cordoba, a large man-made island created in the 2030s as a terraforming experiment. In the largest city of Cordoba, called New Monterey, one boy watched helplessly as he saw Lionrage robots destroy an entire squadron of police robots. This boy is Fred Anderson, a 16-year old genius who is the adopted son of Patrick Anderson, the co-founder and CEO of VersaTech, the world's largest robotics company.

 

Later on, Fred notices that his father is working on a revolutionary new power suit prototype. The power suit is packed with all sorts of features, such as a multi-purpose scanner, communication system, a protective energy shield, and an experimental variable weapons system. At that time, Fred felt a sense of justice, feeling the need to take on the Lionrage Group himself. Seeing the opportunity, Fred borrows the prototype and makes an exact copy of it. The suit gives Fred incredible strength and agility, and along with his bodyguard robot Combat, Fred sets out to fight against the Lionrage Group and eventually take on Leo Lionrage himself.

 

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So that's pretty much it. I've got the storyline extended even further, in case I want to do some sequels. The game will obviously play just like Mega Man, but I'm still trying to figure out how the menu system will work. I don't know whether it should be brought up from the pause button, one of the difficulty switches, or from the second controller. Also, I'm still trying to think of what sound chip to use. I've gotten myself familiarized with the POKEY chip, since I've already composed some small songs in the RMT tracker, but I'm still thinking of using a Yamaha YM2612 or even the GADGETT chip that supercat proposed in his blog.

 

I'll be sure to keep you guys posted for any future developments.

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Mord

rmt tracker. That reminds me to check it out.

 

*downloads*

 

For choosing a soundchip, the best bet is to make sure whatever one you decide on is easy to get a hold of in reasonable quantities. I'd recommend against anything where you have to harvest the chips from decade old machines for instance. ;)

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ApolloBoy
For choosing a soundchip, the best bet is to make sure whatever one you decide on is easy to get a hold of in reasonable quantities. I'd recommend against anything where you have to harvest the chips from decade old machines for instance. ;)

 

So I guess in that case I may as well go with the GADGETT chip once supercat figures it out. What did you think of the plot, BTW?

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Mord
For choosing a soundchip, the best bet is to make sure whatever one you decide on is easy to get a hold of in reasonable quantities. I'd recommend against anything where you have to harvest the chips from decade old machines for instance. :D

 

So I guess in that case I may as well go with the GADGETT chip once supercat figures it out. What did you think of the plot, BTW?

 

 

The plot could work so long as it ends up meshing with the gameplay itself. Of course, the megaman series isn't far off from this kind of plot. Whether it's a terrorist organization or a mad scientist trying to mess up the world, the boss battles tend to be the thing I enjoy most about the megaman series. And is part of why I started getting away from the series in the later portion of the X series. ;)

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EricBall

The big disadvantage of using something other than TIA/POKEY sound is the lack of emulator & CC2 support. So you'll need to have the ability to make your own PCBs and burn PROMs during your development cycle.

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