Kjmann Posted June 5, 2008 Author Share Posted June 5, 2008 would it not make sense to open a bugtracker page here at atariage? otherwise they get lost with bugs reported in a thread. that would be great but I don't know how to start one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 PM to Al... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kjmann Posted June 6, 2008 Author Share Posted June 6, 2008 (edited) Newest version of the Demo. We are still working on the control issues and we are currently trying to implement a new line drawing routine so we can shut down the OS. Newest Demo: ...... well for some reason every time i try to make a link to a file to download off my website, Atari Age keeps reverting anyone who trys to download the file back to this thread instead. any ideas on how to fix this. Edited June 6, 2008 by kjmann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 Probably just easiest to Zip and upload here. At least then you don't need to worry about retaining the copy elsewhere once it becomes superceded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorclu Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 I tried the last version you were able to successfully download on my beige 800 with 320k (XL ram). Worked pretty good up to level three, then it just got all wonky. Was this supposed to be played with a joystick or a paddle BTW? And if you have a paddle mode, how do you select it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 (edited) Joystick only, and likely to remain that way. Paddle would be totally unsuitable anyway. Couple more comments, not sure if I already remarked on these: - end of level you need some warning before it progresses down the web. As is, you seem to get none and can easily get spiked. - I noticed the arcade in some levels you can "ride" the web radius lines and shoot down them. Will this version be able to do so also? Also, control still cumbersome. I have an idea or two about it, I'll try and get something posted about it later. Re - line routine. I've looked at some of my code - I reckon I should be able to get something that's hopefully only several hundred bytes long at most. Also, since it's not totally time-critical, I worked a way to be able to make the RAM-based screen address table a lot smaller, but still keep the thing going at a respectable (although lower) speed than using a 384 byte table. Edited June 6, 2008 by Rybags Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorclu Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 Oh yeh, I didn't hear the Atari XL/XE version of the soundtrack saying "Television is the Retina of the mind's eye" I thought it would have been funny hearing a voice like "S.A.M." (voice synthesis on the Atari 8-bit) saying that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 Rybags...there are line routines in the MADS pack, and in Carsten's Atari Wiki. so why invent the wheel twice... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kjmann Posted June 6, 2008 Author Share Posted June 6, 2008 Joystick only, and likely to remain that way. Paddle would be totally unsuitable anyway. Couple more comments, not sure if I already remarked on these: - end of level you need some warning before it progresses down the web. As is, you seem to get none and can easily get spiked. - I noticed the arcade in some levels you can "ride" the web radius lines and shoot down them. Will this version be able to do so also? Also, control still cumbersome. I have an idea or two about it, I'll try and get something posted about it later. Re - line routine. I've looked at some of my code - I reckon I should be able to get something that's hopefully only several hundred bytes long at most. Also, since it's not totally time-critical, I worked a way to be able to make the RAM-based screen address table a lot smaller, but still keep the thing going at a respectable (although lower) speed than using a 384 byte table. well, that table is being used for several things besides just the line drawing. Also doctorclu: the Sound "Television is the Retina of the mind's eye" will be in there but not in the song. you'll see......>=) Also Hers is a new demo with petes new line drawing routine in it. Control problems are still not fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 Pete, which routine did you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emkay Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 Is it just me , or is the whole gameplay much better now? (even at 50Hz). If only the bass sounds were better (the high sound can be combined with 16 and 64kHz sounds).... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jefffulton Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Well Here it is Fans. The Tempest Xtreem Playable Demo. 3 levels for you all to enjoy. =)There may still be some bugs in it but the gameplay should be pretty close to the final product. I just tried it with Atari800MacX and it is quite simply the best Atari 8-bit game I have ever seen. Incredible job. I'm speechless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 This is game is really rockin', and in no small part from the music. It's looking great, so far. Observations: 1. I noticed that the "grid" starts to lose pixels as you play. 2. As far as controls go, I would recommend Gyruss style controls. Totally directional, and very natural... no confusion about which way you're going to move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteym5 Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Pete, which routine did you use? I used the one from the Atari Wiki with some of my own tweaks. Now I see how much faster a custom line drawing routine runs, I can see much potential for it. Since the early days of the 8-bit, we had many vectored based games that ran sluggish. As you probably see, Tempest Xtreem uses several tricks for improving its speed, like multiplexing the players/missile graphics, copying graphic rectangle to the screen, and a few things are pre-calculated into tables before the game runs. Now chances are Tempest will require 64K XL/XE machine because we are planning on incorporating digital sounds as well. I am currently working out a few bugs and am aware about pieces of the web being destroyed by the bullets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetboot Jack Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Aside from the slight stickiness of the controls, something I think can be resolved by a bit 'o' tweakin' - I'd like to say how much I like what you guys have done - excellent game, really excellent... I had a real blast playing the demo - I look forward to the final release! sTeVE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kjmann Posted June 8, 2008 Author Share Posted June 8, 2008 Glad to see you all like the game so much. we are still working on the control problems but with pete and possibly with some help from rybags, who said he had some good ideas to clean up the control movement, I'm sure we will get what we all want. =) also thanks for the suggestions for the line drawing routine heaven. that helped immensely. Also in reference to the comment made concerning the bass instruments used in the music...... This soundtrack is Complete and no more changes will be made to it. new demo coming shortly. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 my pleassure... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eru Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 While I'm not a big fan of the Tempest series, I have to admit this is shaping up to be a very cool game. It's a pity we can't use the hi-res mode for this game - what you do is pretty good for what Atari can offer. A small hint: I see you're using the 3 available colors for: lines, spikes and the ship. If you made the ship using P/M, you could consider using the 3rd color for antialiasing the lines - I don't know if that would look better, but perhaps it's worth a try. Perhaps you can also leave the ship using real graphics, and use the 'spike' color for the antialiased lines. Another thing is that sometimes holes in the lines appear - if you have memory, you can keep the copy of the original drawn map intact, and when cleaning e.g. spikes, you can use that memory instead of 'black'. Good luck! eru Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 btw. is the game written from scratch or did you had a look on existing tempest versions? Kudos to the team for such an uncponventional game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+CharlieChaplin Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 Wow !! Played the Tempest demo (3rd release) in the last days and I must say, its really fantastic !! Great soundtrack, superb playability and a lot of extras and surprises... Alas, when I finished all 3 levels, the screen went black (blank) and it was impossible to restart the game or to read the current score... Maybe you can add a simple text-title for the demo that shows "Tempest" at the top, somewhere else the obligatory "press Start or Fire to start the game" and last not least your last/high-score. Thus, when the demo ends, it could be possible to restart the game (from the title) and to read the highscore... Now it may sounds more negative than it actually is. Well, I must say that this is the best Tempest version the A8 has, it has lots of the potential of the Jaguar version, including the auto-droid, the super-zapper, etc. etc. - I am really impressed !! -Andreas Koch. P.S.: The demo version has 3 levels - how many levels for the full version ?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZylonBane Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 A small hint: I see you're using the 3 available colors for: lines, spikes and the ship. If you made the ship using P/M, you could consider using the 3rd color for antialiasing the lines With only THREE colors to work with, wasting one of them on antialiasing would be a spectacularly awful idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmOneGarand Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 A small hint: I see you're using the 3 available colors for: lines, spikes and the ship. If you made the ship using P/M, you could consider using the 3rd color for antialiasing the lines With only THREE colors to work with, wasting one of them on antialiasing would be a spectacularly awful idea. I agree, plus antialiasing would ruin the overall original feel of the combination of classic Tempest graphic styling with Tempest 2000 gameplay mechanics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteym5 Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 Several different graphic ideals were considered at one time or another. "antialiasing" would probably work if it was on a 640x480 VGA screen or better. Player/Missile graphics were once considered for the ship, but all of them were tied up for the sprites coming up the web. Graphics 8 screen (ANTIC 15?) was also proposed, but quickly seen it with too many limitations. We are keeping to the Atari 8-bit video hardware with 64K ram which most Atari computers have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kjmann Posted June 9, 2008 Author Share Posted June 9, 2008 (edited) Wow !!P.S.: The demo version has 3 levels - how many levels for the full version ?!? The Full game will have 32 different web shapes and 80 levels of play. Edited June 9, 2008 by kjmann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kjmann Posted June 9, 2008 Author Share Posted June 9, 2008 Well, I sent a note to Albert about the bug tracker and he said he would be happy to set up a Bug tracker for tempest. So I sent him a short description of the game, but I still haven't heard back from him on it. I'm sure he is probably busy, So Hopefully he will have time to do it in the near future. =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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