Exidy's Circus...

[Nukey Shay]

I've been sitting on this for quite a while, and I still haven't gotten the bugs with the added platforms worked out...so I threw in a title screen and called it quits for now.

 

The added platforms will only appear when you select the difficulty switch(s) to Advanced. Be close to them if your jumper is headed for one!

 

As in the Supercharger hack, the Color/B&W switch lets you choose to play using the joysticks (for masochists). The score display has been updated to 6-digits, with two extra digits displaying the lives used/number of players, and playerup/bonus/game selection.

 

 

 

 

EDIT: glitches corrected, extra platforms now available as game selections instead of difficulties (to keep clown speedup seperate).

Exidy_Circus_Final_.zip

Edited December 14, 2008 by Nukey Shay

[+Random Terrain]

Now all I need are some USB paddles from legacyengineer.com and I'll be all set. Thanks.

[+Omegamatrix]

Man did that get screwed up. Here's my post:

 

 

 

Love the Title screen and having Circus printed in the score display. I don't know if the bugs I noticed are limited to Stella or not, but when I hit the select switch I get three guys. I think it is linked to the platforms scrolling across the screen.

 

 

I enabled the difficult switchs to expert to get the new platforms, but the jumper often jumps and just dives straight down and kills himself on the second hop. This only happens on the left side of the screen. On the right he lands on the bottom platform and does a second hop.

 

 

The title screen appears a little high in Stella (with default settings):

 

 

I then changed the Y start in Stella from 34 to 0 and it looks great:

 

But then the main screen became to low.

 

 

I'll pull out the Krok and let you know how it looks on real hardware though. I noticed the screen moving up and down a few scanlines as the paddle moved the see saw across it. Don't know if that is an emulator issue too.

Edited December 7, 2008 by Omegamatrix

[+Omegamatrix]

Nukey, on real hardware the Title Screen and Main Screen are fine. I didn't notice any scanlines moving up or down either. The three men are still there though. With the extra ledges the left jumper commits suicide about 100% of the time. The right commits suicide about 50% of the time.

 

 

 

Keep it up, Nukey. Circus Atari is worth a great hack. Here is a little Circus Atari loving for you.

 

 

I started disassembling Circus Atari a while back, going for a complete reverse engineering, but it went on the back burner. I had a few ideas but yours are much better.

[Nukey Shay]

Love the Title screen and having Circus printed in the score display. I don't know if the bugs I noticed are limited to Stella or not, but when I hit the select switch I get three guys. I think it is linked to the platforms scrolling across the screen.

Yup...the barrier copies weren't being overwritten. Fixed.

 

 

I enabled the difficult switchs to expert to get the new platforms, but the jumper often jumps and just dives straight down and kills himself on the second hop. This only happens on the left side of the screen. On the right he lands on the bottom platform and does a second hop.

As I posted, it's still buggy. You can still save him if you are close enough to catch his fall. I need to adjust the starting positions a bit once I find them so that this does not happen on the initial jump (most importantly), but I really need to implement the sideways travel when the upper platform is hit. If you look fast, the falling sprite is already in place Tho it's kind of neat how it sometimes gets carried up top. If I can't track it down, it's a "feature"

 

 

 

The title screen appears a little high in Stella (with default settings):

I then changed the Y start in Stella from 34 to 0 and it looks great:

But then the main screen became to low.

I'll pull out the Krok and let you know how it looks on real hardware though. I noticed the screen moving up and down a few scanlines as the paddle moved the see saw across it. Don't know if that is an emulator issue too.

I dunno if it's specific to Stella (Z26 works perfectly)...but I moved the title screen down by 32 scanlines (I hope this doesn't bump it too low on hdwe). The erratic scanline count is also not present on Z26 AFAIK.

 

 

Other issues fixed:

Circus Atari sets the upper lines to score mode during attract (so both 4-digit scores are shown in the player's colors). Because it's 6-digit now, this is not needed. Colors adjusted, and the scores are swapped alternately during attract.

 

The original game had an unused game selection, so I added one. Game selection #9 is a slower version of 1-player breakthrough without barriers (sideways travel still needs fixing too, tho).

Edited December 10, 2008 by Nukey Shay

[+Omegamatrix]

You might as well move the title screen back up, Nukey. On real hardware it is too low now. I think it's just a Stella problem. Also I don't notice any jumping of scanlines on real hardware or Z26, but in Stella it happens as the see saw is moved right. Fully right, the screen is higher by about one line, somewhere in the middle (as the see saw moves across) the screen pops down. If you download the pictures and switch between them quickly you can see the screen move up and down.

 

Full right (high)

 

 

Full left (low)

 

 

 

Note that the scanline is stable (262 lines) fully left or fully right. It does jump around as the see saw crosses the middle of the screen though. I can't tell what it is doing cause it is pretty fast. I really have no idea if this is just a Stella specific problem. I also wish the default screen position was better. Z26's is good.

 

 

There is a glitch in the display as it toggles from Circus to all zeros.

[Nukey Shay]

Current version:

 

I didn't like the added platforms placed in the difficulty switches, so I expanded the game variation list (currently = 32 1-player games and 64 2-player games). The intro positions are adjusted to miss them, but it still needs work.

 

Every game option is now selectable individually. The "Easy game" currently isn't easy because no slowdown is in effect (instead, this option makes high jumps permenant). That still needs work too...but here it is.

Edited December 11, 2008 by Nukey Shay

[Nukey Shay]

The show so far...

 

I still haven't figured out the movement tables, so I added one instead (and burned a byte of ram). The player slowly falls off the upper platforms, if present. The falling animation needs a bit of work yet, tho. I also moved these added platforms a bit higher, which fits with the arcade version.

 

Rather than use a seperate 32-byte table for co-operation games (2 players attacking the same set of balloons), I mixed these games into the regular ones. The list above remains the same for the original 32, but the # of players will change to "S" to signify selections that only feature a single set of balloons for both players.

 

The glitch at the end of the game has been fixed - the game selection # will be displayed again instead of random numbers.

 

The glitch of added balloons (when swapping players) has been corrected as well.

Edited December 11, 2008 by Nukey Shay

[Nukey Shay]

The balloons weren't being reset on a new game. This has been fixed. In addition, I added some more game selections:

 

Option "C" lets player 2 take control of a joystick plugged in the right port to move a defending shield to try to block player 1's clown (the 3 other barriers can also be active). The other options 1, 2, and S remain.

 

Also, the number of games has been expanded to a full 64 (of each option). A new game selection lets you turn off the bonus clown awarded after clearing the red balloons (or all balloons in non-refill games).

 

If game modes 1 or C are used, the high score is also kept track of.

 

An instruction list is included, since 256 game selections is quite large

 

 

Current file in the first post.

[Nukey Shay]

I alternated paddle readings in the display...so player2's paddle should be able to be used to move the defending shield now Not quite enough resolution to cover the whole display, but close enough I think. A moving clown will still hit it regardless.

 

Hitting the added platform has better animation now.

 

Holding down reset when cycling through the game selections makes it go faster like in Space Invaders.

 

Can anyone verify the new one up top on real hardware? Looks good in Z26.

Edited December 11, 2008 by Nukey Shay

[BigO]

I alternated paddle readings in the display...so player2's paddle should be able to be used to move the defending shield now Not quite enough resolution to cover the whole display, but close enough I think. A moving clown will still hit it regardless.

 

Hitting the added platform has better animation now.

 

Holding down reset when cycling through the game selections makes it go faster like in Space Invaders.

 

Can anyone verify the new one up top on real hardware? Looks good in Z26.

It's 4K so might work on a Supercharger, I think. I'll try to fire up the converter and load it on my SC later. I'll let you know if I get to it.

 

One thing I always got a kick out of was the animation and movement when the clown contacts the upper platform. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

Being Circus, this is one hack that I might actually burn to a cartridge.

Edited December 11, 2008 by BigO

[BigO]

I did get it to load up and run on a Supercharger. I can confirm that the motion after hitting the upper platform does need some work.

 

The title screen didn't stay up long enough for me to give a good description the two times I loaded it, but it isn't quite right. The top, say, 25% of the screen is distorted as if the horizontal sync isn't right. The balloons tilt off to the left until whatever that magic point is part way down the screen where they straighten up (and look nice).

 

[EDIT] The top part looks similar to the effect caused by some of the poor copy protection schemes on VHS tapes...all smeary and tilted

 

I'm running it on a Sears heavy 6'er right now. If it would be helpful, I can test on a couple of other TV's (all analog CRT) and try different consoles (I have 3 different heavy 6, a couple of light 6, a few 4 switch, a couple of Juniors, a 7800, a CV with expansion module...).

 

Pretty cool...I can see me buying a reasonably priced Circus Deluxe cartridge (or making my own).

 

I didn't have a second player available, but I like the idea of having player 2 defend the balloons. Is that part of the Exidy arcade game? I never played it.

Edited December 11, 2008 by BigO

[Nukey Shay]

It's not part of the arcade game. I had the extra game mode that somehow had to involve player 2 in a single-player game, so I couldn't think of anything else to put in there. Too bad that's the maximum size of the barrier tho (because it's using a quad-sized missile0...all other sprites are used). It also would have been nice to have an AI-controlled clown that you play against, but I'm no genius to create that.

 

New binary posted up top. Hopefully, it corrects the previous issues (including Stella). Also corrected was a bug that copied 1 byte of the current balloon set to the top line of the alternate balloon set (in 2-player games). I was transferring 1 too many bytes

 

In addition, the high score is stored seperately, so both players can compete to get it. During an inactive game, the controller method is shown onscreen as a reminder.

 

Hitting an added platform provides a bit more time to catch him now. The falling animation is also updated to 4 frames...and the bug where it wasn't cleared following a player death (possibly hanging the game) is fixed.

 

The paddles weren't being stored properly either...player 2 always grabbed player 1's paddle value by mistake.

[Nukey Shay]

Damn...that wiped out the bonus sound effect

 

A new final³ binary to be posted shortly unless I discover anything else wrong.

[ginnidog]

Looks good so far

[Nukey Shay]

Fixed version posted up top. I also included a few more goodies that you'll see when running the game. I wasn't too keen on changing anything that would alter the original gameplay (so that those game modes are still available), so other additions are just "eye candy". I never figured out anything for a demo mode, tho

[BigO]

Fixed version posted up top. I also included a few more goodies that you'll see when running the game. I wasn't too keen on changing anything that would alter the original gameplay (so that those game modes are still available), so other additions are just "eye candy". I never figured out anything for a demo mode, tho

I'll test again when I can, using different equipment to verify the title screen.

[PacManPlus]

Hey Nukey:

 

Just a quick note: on the real hardware, the title screen freaks out my television. It rolls like mad.

 

Bob

[+Omegamatrix]

I just tried it on my Krok cart, and it was stable on my TV.

 

The Exidy did not come out though:

 

[alex_79]

I tried the rom on real hardware (Supercharger + PAL 2600) and it is great! :thumbsup:

 

There's still some problem with the title screen though. It doesn't roll on my tv but the upper part of the image it's distorted.

I think the problem is that VSYNC it's turned off at scanline 46 in the title screen (during normal play it happens on line 2).

 

Here's the z26 log file:

Loaded ROM: data/atari/roms/homebrews/Exidy_Circus(Final).bin

(Frame Line Cycle Clock) (P0_Pos P1_Pos M0_Pos M1_Pos BL_Pos)  flags  A X Y SP  Code  Disasm

title screen:

...
( 15 262   0 -68) ( 98 106   8   2   2) nvbdIzc 30 00 ff ff  f14c: a9 82	lda #82	  
( 15 262   2 -62) ( 98 106   8   2   2) NvbdIzc 82 00 ff ff  f14e: 85 02	sta  WSYNC   
( 15 263   0 -68) ( 98 106   8   2   2) NvbdIzc 82 00 ff ff  f150: 85 01	sta  VBLANK  
( 15 263   3 -59) ( 98 106   8   2   2) NvbdIzc 82 00 ff ff  f152: 85 00	sta  VSYNC   <--VSYNC ON 
( 16   1   6 -50) ( 98 106   8   2   2) NvbdIzc 82 00 ff ff  f154: 85 02	sta  WSYNC   
( 16   2   0 -68) ( 98 106   8   2   2) NvbdIzc 82 00 ff ff  f156: c6 a9	dec  a9	  
( 16   2   5 -53) ( 98 106   8   2   2) NvbdIzc 82 00 ff ff  f158: 10 08	bpl  f162	
...
( 16  45  14 -26) ( 98 106   8   2   2) nvbdIZc 00 00 ff ff  f089: d0 fb	bne  f086	
( 16  45  16 -20) ( 98 106   8   2   2) nvbdIZc 00 00 ff ff  f08b: 85 02	sta  WSYNC   
( 16  46   0 -68) ( 98 106   8   2   2) nvbdIZc 00 00 ff ff  f08d: 85 00	sta  VSYNC   <--VSYNC OFF (line 46)
( 16  46   3 -59) ( 98 106   8   2   2) nvbdIZc 00 00 ff ff  f08f: 85 02	sta  WSYNC   
( 16  47   0 -68) ( 98 106   8   2   2) nvbdIZc 00 00 ff ff  f091: 85 02	sta  WSYNC   
( 16  48   0 -68) ( 98 106   8   2   2) nvbdIZc 00 00 ff ff  f093: 85 02	sta  WSYNC   
( 16  49   0 -68) ( 98 106   8   2   2) nvbdIZc 00 00 ff ff  f095: 85 01	sta  VBLANK  
( 16  49   3 -59) ( 98 106   8   2   2) nvbdIZc 00 00 ff ff  f097: a0 94	ldy #94	  
( 16  49   5 -53) ( 98 106   8   2   2) NvbdIzc 00 00 94 ff  f099: 84 06	sty  COLUP0  
( 16  49   8 -44) ( 98 106   8   2   2) NvbdIzc 00 00 94 ff  f09b: 84 07	sty  COLUP1  
( 16  49  11 -35) ( 98 106   8   2   2) NvbdIzc 00 00 94 ff  f09d: a2 27	ldx #27	  
( 16  49  13 -29) ( 98 106   8   2   2) nvbdIzc 00 27 94 ff  f09f: 20 00 f0 jsr  f000	
...


game:

...
(195 263   0 -68) ( 77  36   5  65  38) nvbdIZc 00 0c 02 ff  fa09: a9 82	lda #82	  
(195 263   2 -62) ( 77  36   5  65  38) NvbdIzc 82 0c 02 ff  fa0b: 85 01	sta  VBLANK  
(195 263   5 -53) ( 77  36   5  65  38) NvbdIzc 82 0c 02 ff  fa0d: 85 00	sta  VSYNC  <-- VSYNC ON 
(196   1   8 -44) ( 77  36   5  65  38) NvbdIzc 82 0c 02 ff  fa0f: 4c 65 f1 jmp  f165   
...
(196   2  18 -14) ( 77  36   5  65  38) nvbdIZc 00 0c 02 ff  f1af: a9 f0	lda #f0	  
(196   2  20  -8) ( 77  36   5  65  38) NvbdIzc f0 0c 02 ff  f1b1: 24 3d	bit  INPT5   
(196   2  23   1) ( 77  36   5  65  38) NvbdIzc f0 0c 02 ff  f1b3: 85 00	sta  VSYNC  <-- VSYNC OFF (line 2)
(196   2  26  10) ( 77  36   5  65  38) NvbdIzc f0 0c 02 ff  f1b5: 30 01	bmi  f1b8	
...

[Bubbabyte]

Sorry for bumping an old thread, but on the Atari Flashback Portable, the teeter totter flickers when on the left side of the screen. Was wondering if you could fix it, seeing as how you've fixed practically every other game for the Portable.