kikipdph

2023-10-23T19:18:02Z

I added submarines to the game, and that's where the sea ends, and after that, you fly above the land. First, I will do the gameplay over the sea (losing lives, there will probably be bar for energy, etc.), and then the game can be experienced.

Information on how to shoot air targets and bomb targets on water and land can be found in previous posts.

plane.bin

Saturday at 07:02 PM

23 minutes ago, LatchKeyKid said:

In that case we were talking about the same thing then in regards to sprites. By graphics memory, assume you're referring to ROM space and not RAM and it doesn't sound like there is an easy fix. I've heard of people using various algorithms to compress sprite data but I don't have any actual knowledge of the process myself.

If you have a good idea, then it's not as important. For example, Solaris and Secret Quest are based on a good gameplay without many changes during the game. In Solaris, the action always takes place on the same planet and in space, while in Secret Quest, it's like going from room to room, but the idea made the game complex.

Saturday at 05:44 PM

24 minutes ago, LatchKeyKid said:

Indeed, nice improvements! It's great to see this progressing at such a pace. By needing three different sprites, are you referring to the animation using multiple sprites?

Let's say player1 changes appearance three times, and I think the term "sprite" correctly refers to a single graphic, with each frame being one sprite, while player1 remains the same. Regardless of the exact definition, you need three different images for one character, or you can use even more for a better effect.

In a 2D game, with the same amount of memory usage, you could have 3 enemies. In 3D, with that same memory allocation, I would get one enemy.

When I was creating more beautiful islands, specifically Jutland, which is a peninsula, it consumed half of the graphics memory, but it looked much better when zoomed in. Unfortunately, I had to simplify it.

Saturday at 05:08 PM

5 minutes ago, guppy said:

Nice improvements!

I got to a point where the island became closer, and then the enemy ships and planes stopped coming. Is something supposed to happen next that you haven't implemented yet?

Suggestions for further development:

Use sprite doubling to create formations of 2-3 airplanes or convoys of 2-3 ships.

Sfx for engine, guns, explosions, maybe even water/wind.

Some variety in the planes direction of travel. Have some come from behind, or fly transverse to your flight path (left to right or right to left) rather than always flying straight at you every time. Planes that change course, either to try to dodge your shots, or to get closer to shoot at you, would be cool, too.

Sinking, crashing animations for when you hit an enemy.

Keep going with the concept of getting closer to land, I'm intrigued and curious what happens if I make it to the island... landing strip? Bombing run? Tanks and trenches? Artillery shells firing up from the ground to create a new hazard? Could be a lot of cool possibilities for where this goes...

The following should be submarines and airplanes, and on land, maybe tanks or something like that. It hasn't been decided yet what it will be.

Many things are not yet done, such as sounds, and many things will likely need to be simplified because, for example, for one sprite, like an airplane, you actually need three different sprites, and a lot of memory is consumed by these effects. So, adding more detail and effects for the sake of experience could significantly burden the game.

Saturday at 02:18 PM

I've made the enemies shoot, and I've created a title screen. Although in some other 3D Atari games, they didn't pay attention to this, I listened to the advice and made the ships a bit slower than the airplanes.

I still haven't implemented the feature where you can lose a life by getting hit by an enemy missile. Information on how to shoot air targets and bomb targets on water and land can be found in previous posts.

plane.bin

Saturday at 01:55 PM

49 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

Beautiful box, poster and manual. My CIB is now complete. Thank you @kikipdph, @Atariboy2600 and @Albert.

Wow, it looks great

Friday at 09:44 AM

13 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

Added to Physical Release:

Slicks Racing (16K) by Vojta Nedvěd @nooly | Final Binary (20231010) | Declared Complete: Oct 10, 2023 | Physical Release: Oct 10, 2023 | Listing Updated: Oct 19, 2023

Updated WIP:

Frantic (32K Port / Port) by Darrell Spice Jr. @SpiceWare / espire8 @espire8 (Graphics) / Nathan Strum @Nathan Strum (Speech Data) | WIP Binary (20231015) | Listing Updated: Oct 19, 2023

Jutland Skies (32K) by Mirsad Sarajlic @kikipdph | WIP Binary (20231014) | Listing Updated: Oct 19, 2023

TankMaze (8K Port) by Bob Montgomery @vdub_bobby | WIP Binary (20231019) | Listing Updated: Oct 19, 2023

When you've already named the game even though I was hesitant, then the final game got its name I'm trying to remember other historical Atari 2600 games.

Friday at 08:07 AM

Since James on the forum suggested the name "Jutland Skies," even though it hasn't been officially chosen, the game will be called "Jutland Skies."

Thursday at 02:49 PM

The game will most likely be called "Kaiser's Kapers," and another name I'm considering is "Jutland Skies."

October 15

4 hours ago, LatchKeyKid said:

I'd probably recommend making the ships move noticeably slower than the planes if possible. The planes are heading towards the player for added speed whereas the ships are sideways in the water so not. From a gameplay perspective, firing at them is a two step process so it might be better to be a bit more lenient in terms of timing. Regardless, great progress!

From a programming perspective with DPC+, what options do you have for size/shape with the ball/missiles available? I see that they're different widths but I was curious if they can be more than one line high.

edit: Answered my own question with some research and it looks like only the multikernel has the restriction I vaguely remembered. The reason I was asking was to see whether you could make them taller/longer to look more like bombs for the bomb and to better differentiate the attack from the guns.

https://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-batari-basic-commands.html#missiles

The width is limited, but the height can be as large as the screen.

These are cosmetic matters and can be adjusted later after the gameplay is done

October 14

I've made it so you can hit the enemy, and there will be some sort of animation for hitting the target later.

To shoot at airplanes, use the fire button on the joystick, and for bombing ships, you must pull the joystick backward and then press the fire button on the joystick.

plane.bin

October 12

1 hour ago, LatchKeyKid said:

I like the idea of scaling the size of the bullets and bombs depending on distance. Are you using the Batari Basic DPC+? I'm not sure there is another version as I'm not a programmer so figured I'd ask. If so, is it possible to use one of the alternate player sprites for the crosshairs instead of the missile or ball? Are you prioritizing avoiding flicker?

Yes, the game is being developed in Batari Basic DPC+. I don't like it when flicker happens in an Atari game, so I'm trying to design games to avoid it as much as possible.

October 12

It is now possible to shoot at enemies on the ground and bomb targets on water and land. Bombing might not be perfectly executed, but it's Atari :).

Hitting enemies hasn't been implemented yet. The fire button on the joystick is used for shooting, and for bombing, you pull the joystick handle backward and press the fire button. A targeting reticle appears during bombing.

How it looks can be seen in the video via this link.
https://www.facebook.com/mirsad.sarajlic/videos/685335556602124/?idorvanity=29814905254&notif_id=1697106956925761&notif_t=video_processed&ref=notif

Or you can download the Bin file

plane.bin

October 11

I have arranged the first stage of the enemies in the game. Those who like to follow the game development steps I will put a bin file with the new progress. Right now, only airplanes and ships are arranged in one part of the game, and after that, something else should appear, perhaps submarines. The enemies will not go outside the screen to the left and right as they do now.

plane.bin

October 10

53 minutes ago, LatchKeyKid said:

Thanks. Obviously this is very early on and you've likely already thought of this (and it's definitely been mentioned above already) but I'd add the crosshairs as well to better reflect that wartime feel rather than potentially a flight sim.

The idea was that the targets on the ground and in the water should be bombed, while shooting at those in flight, but it's still too early to say. The second option of having a target is not a bad idea either.

October 10

1 hour ago, littaum said:

The perspective looks a lot like Afterburner. Maybe you can also add a target sight for shooting?

That's a good idea. One option could be that the airplane moves left and right with the joystick, and by moving it up and down, you adjust the targeting. Another option is to shoot, and when, for example, you pull the joystick back and press a button, it targets and bombs ships and other ground targets.

October 10

2 hours ago, glurk said:

Looks good. My suggestions: It should be a series of islands. Sometimes you have to land and re-arm / re-fuel. Other times, you have to bomb and shoot enemy targets. You don't know if it's a friendly island or an enemy island at first. In the sky between islands, you fight planes and ships. This goes on as long as you can, getting progressively more difficult.

Just some ideas. "Blue Max 2600" LOL....

I had a suggestion to land on an island, but for now, it's too early to say. First, I would create a battle before the island. There is also an idea for something like fast rockets that would be a significant challenge in the game, as well as a fight against the main enemy, but I haven't thought too much about the complete game scenario yet.

October 10

Now we have a ship

October 10

6 hours ago, LatchKeyKid said:

Ah, ok and sounds cool. The airplane looks like a barnstormer to me so I didn't know if you were doing flying acrobatics and piloting like a flight sim or combat like a WW1 aerial combat game. Regardless, I'm looking forward to seeing what comes in the future. I saw you're using DPC+ in Stella; out of curiosity, what does that extra hardware boost let you do that you'd otherwise not be able to? I have zero issue with cartridge enhanced games but am just curious as a non-programmer myself.

DPC+ additional hardware support provides better graphics, which may not be particularly necessary in this game because a 3D environment uses more graphic resources. Therefore, a decision must be made whether to have lower graphics but more gameplay elements or vice versa

The original concept of the game was intended to be set during World War I.

October 10

2 hours ago, LatchKeyKid said:

It's definitely already good in terms of graphics! I like how the LOD changes on the approaching airplanes. Nice! What are your potential ideas for gameplay ideally assuming technical limitations don't stop you? Will this be a shooting game or more acrobatic flying for example?

The game should be a shooter, but I don't yet have a storyline for the game. The idea is to have ships and airplanes as targets that you shoot at, and slowly make your way to an island. The island should have some significance.

October 9

In development is a game for the Atari 2600, which currently lacks a defined storyline. It revolves around an airplane, and so far, the airplane is programmed to fly with another plane approaching it. Over time, the plane approaches an island. That's the extent of it for now. You can download a test BIN file if you wish. A 3D environment consumes a lot of resources, so at this point, I'm unsure how much can be achieved within the 32-kilobyte limit. However, I'm hopeful that the game will turn out to be decent both in terms of graphics and gameplay.

plane.bin

August 19

I initiated this topic for both beginners and advanced programmers who can provide some tricks and tips from their programming approaches.

Here's an example of how we can use a single variable instead of using 3 variables to control the movement of three independent sprites. Each sprite is assigned a specific decimal value, designated here as 'v'. The sprites move up and down, reaching a certain screen height, and change direction, effectively bouncing back.

       ; Moving sprite 1
    if player1y = 18 then v = v | 1  ; Set the first decimal to 1 if sprite 1 has reached the upper wall
    if player1y = 57 then v = v & 254  ; Set the first decimal to 0 if sprite 1 has reached the lower wall
    if (v & 1) > 0 && player1y < 195 then player1y = player1y + 1  ; If the first decimal is 1, move sprite 1 downwards
    if (v & 1) = 0 && player1y < 195 then player1y = player1y - 1  ; If the first decimal is 0, move sprite 1 upwards

       ; Moving sprite 2
    if player2y = 67 then v = v | 2  ; Set the second decimal to 1 if sprite 2 has reached the upper wall
    if player2y = 100 then v = v & 253  ; Set the second decimal to 0 if sprite 2 has reached the lower wall
    if (v & 2) > 0 && player2y < 195 then player2y = player2y + 1  ; If the second decimal is 1, move sprite 2 downwards
    if (v & 2) = 0 &&  player2y < 195 then player2y = player2y - 1  ; If the second decimal is 0, move sprite 2 upwards

     ; Moving sprite 3
    if player3y = 110 then v = v | 4  ; Set the third decimal to 1 if sprite 3 has reached the upper wall
    if player3y = 150 then v = v & 251  ; Set the third decimal to 0 if sprite 3 has reached the lower wall
    if (v & 4) > 0 && player5y < 195 then player3y = player3y + 1  ; If the third decimal is 1, move sprite 3 downwards
    if (v & 4) = 0 && player5y < 195 then player3y = player3y - 1  ; If the third decimal is 0, move sprite 3 upwards

I use this < 195 when the sprite is in a section where movement is needed. For example, if we shoot the sprite, I move it to y = 200, and then movement is not necessary.