Tickled_Pink Posted August 27, 2007 Share Posted August 27, 2007 I'm about to start developing mobile phone games and am looking for some ideas for a couple of quick ones to write to get the ball rolling (and money coming in). I have a couple of non-A8 games in mind but will have to get in touch with the original developers first to see if they'd be interested in allowing development to take place. So are there any A8 games you'd like to play on the move, that you can't already? My initial platform will be Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayoK Posted August 27, 2007 Share Posted August 27, 2007 (edited) Star Raiders Zybex Quasimodo Joust Megablast (via bluetooth or something) Oh and Blue Max. Different types of games... with different development skils... just my first thoughts. Edited August 27, 2007 by JayoK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mimo Posted August 27, 2007 Share Posted August 27, 2007 Preppie! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classics Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 Xagon is a great game, and PD too so you are free to port it if you want to. STeve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercat Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 I'm about to start developing mobile phone games and am looking for some ideas for a couple of quick ones to write to get the ball rolling (and money coming in). I have a couple of non-A8 games in mind but will have to get in touch with the original developers first to see if they'd be interested in allowing development to take place. Strat-O-Gems isn't for the A8, but it'd be fun to have on my phone. I'd also like to see something like the puzzle part of Impossible Mission. Toyshop Trouble would be cool if you could make it playable. And I think permission on that one could be arranged Perhaps for Toyshop Trouble the trick would be to use the keypad for directed navigation. If there are four rows of conveyors, pushing "1" could go to the left of the top row, "6" to the right of the second row, etc. Push and hold a key to paint a toy, or double-push one of the 'edge' keys to select a color of paint. That may shift the challenge from one of physical dexterity to one of mental prowess, since avoiding incorrect painting of toys might no longer be such an issue, but it would avoid difficulties caused by poor control response. On the other hand, to make the game harder, it could be that pushing and holding a button will make the elf run faster as long as the button is held, but also paint any toys he runs near. Balancing the difficulty of that could be tricky, but potentially rewarding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cybernoid Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 I'm about to start developing mobile phone games and am looking for some ideas for a couple of quick ones to write to get the ball rolling (and money coming in). I have a couple of non-A8 games in mind but will have to get in touch with the original developers first to see if they'd be interested in allowing development to take place. Jellybeans! You can download all the source code from my signature. I had originally written Jellybeans for my Zaurus PDA in Java anyway... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lord_mike Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 Windows Mobile is your target? Why not just use this? http://pocketatari.retrogames.com/ It doesn't work well with square screens, but the source code could easily be adapted to do so... also the Nydidot Virtual display adapter (http://www.nyditot.com/Home.asp) fixes that problem. The emulator works quite well, actually... There is also a sourceforge link if you search for atari800 portable emulator... same binary and source in the package AFAIK. Thanks, Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted August 28, 2007 Share Posted August 28, 2007 ehm... the controls on mobile phones are crap so i would vote for puzzle games instead of action games i have to admit... even giana sisters on my nokia is hard to control and it was written for mobiles... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tickled_Pink Posted August 28, 2007 Author Share Posted August 28, 2007 Xagon is a great game, and PD too so you are free to port it if you want to. STeve Haven't played it but anything that's PD/Freeware/etc would be a great starting point. Toyshop Trouble would be cool if you could make it playable. And I think permission on that one could be arranged Perhaps for Toyshop Trouble the trick would be to use the keypad for directed navigation. If there are four rows of conveyors, pushing "1" could go to the left of the top row, "6" to the right of the second row, etc. Push and hold a key to paint a toy, or double-push one of the 'edge' keys to select a color of paint. That may shift the challenge from one of physical dexterity to one of mental prowess, since avoiding incorrect painting of toys might no longer be such an issue, but it would avoid difficulties caused by poor control response. On the other hand, to make the game harder, it could be that pushing and holding a button will make the elf run faster as long as the button is held, but also paint any toys he runs near. Balancing the difficulty of that could be tricky, but potentially rewarding. Toyshop Trouble is a game that could be done, if I understand it properly (never played it ). Simple yet challenging, which is really what you want from a mobile game (especially of the Java variety). Windows mobile games tend to be more complex ... there's even games like Splinter Cell in the game library. Jellybeans! You can download all the source code from my signature. I had originally written Jellybeans for my Zaurus PDA in Java anyway... Looks like a definite possibility. See my comments at the end. Windows Mobile is your target? Why not just use this? http://pocketatari.retrogames.com/ I did wonder if there was an emulator available. However, to get the most out of these games, they need to be rewritten to directly support the hardware. And an emulator aint going to make me money. ehm... the controls on mobile phones are crap so i would vote for puzzle games instead of action games i have to admit... even giana sisters on my nokia is hard to control and it was written for mobiles... That is THE biggest problem with mobiles. Turn-based or casual games are the best on most mobiles. Windows based mobiles seem to be a little better but, at the moment at least, I haven't got a real one to test my code on (currently using Microsoft's emulators) - but I will. Anyway, thanks for all the suggestions. I forgot that many of you have written games in the past for the Ataris. If you have a game that you've written for the 2600/A8/ST or any other platform then let me know and we'll have a chat about it to see if it would be suitable and we can come to some kind of agreement over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pengwin Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 Dropzone would be a good one to convert to mobile Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tickled_Pink Posted September 2, 2007 Author Share Posted September 2, 2007 Dropzone would be a good one to convert to mobile If you could plug a joystick to one. Dropzone was one of the first batch of four games I bought when I got my first XL (and the first game on it I played to death) so it's a favourite of mine - but the control system on mobiles suck for fast games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrathchild Posted September 2, 2007 Share Posted September 2, 2007 "Rainbow Walker" would work well on a mobile (I think) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potatohead Posted September 2, 2007 Share Posted September 2, 2007 M.U.L.E. Include a save state function, or just have the game do it, when something else happens on the phone. A game session could last over a few mini-sessions and I think people would appreciate that. That game does not need too much in the way of controls, making it perfect for the average phone. Graphically, it's gonna work on the little screens too. I would add some groovy sounds, spit and polish on the graphics, and a mindless mode where it's just fun to play, but not too deep. That's the hook. Once they've mastered that, let them really game on with a coupla better levels. When the game starts, for the first time, scroll a little interesting back story. From then on, present that as an option. Is there enough room in these phone / game environments to include tutorial mode? If so, have the game play that way too. People can have some fun, while grokking the game at the same time. I don't normally play phone games, but would totally play that one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhod Posted September 2, 2007 Share Posted September 2, 2007 Boulder Dash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tickled_Pink Posted September 3, 2007 Author Share Posted September 3, 2007 Boulder Dash Already done. First Star Software are still around. @Potatohead ... Apart from the crappy controls, the next biggest problem is the size of the screen. Played around with converting one ST game to the phones and it would be difficult to see how it would work - just because of the screen size. Such projects will have to wait until I can pick up a real phone to try em on. That's why an A8 game, with its reduced resolution, is more suitable. In addition, you only have a certain amount of processor time, like any 'computer'. But they are onbviously fast enough or you wouldn't have games like Splinter Cell on them. There should be enough room for a tutorial mode. The games get stored on memory cards, so I guess it's just a question of the user making sure they've got enough room. MULE ran on 48K (?) - even with improved graphics, I can't see it taking up more than 512K - 1Mb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trooper Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 Kennedy Approach /T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potatohead Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 "Played around with converting one ST game to the phones and it would be difficult to see how it would work" Yep. I was thinking about A8 M.U.L.E. for those reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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