Arkyology - New prototype discovered - Finished Game!

[Supergun]

Great. I like the idea of the double rom image cartridge. (Original & enhanced) similar to how we did the Coleco Turbo release.

 

And just a minor update for Shawn here:

 

This morning I burned the two 27c256 EPROMs for testing out on all the 2600 compatible consoles. Im using a socketed AtariAge 32k board for this, as its the only 32k board I have. (I use it for big games like princess rescue)

 

Ill be able to thoroughly play test them tonight & this weekend, and will provide pics as well.

 

Also, for Nukey, I tried out your latest Arky version 4 rom on real hardware last night, and everytime you die, the screen shakes & goes crazy for a second. (just reporting it is all)

[Shawn]

Great. I like the idea of the double rom image cartridge. (Original & enhanced) similar to how we did the Coleco Turbo release.

 

And just a minor update for Shawn here:

 

This morning I burned the two 27c256 EPROMs for testing out on all the 2600 compatible consoles. Im using a socketed AtariAge 32k board for this, as its the only 32k board I have. (I use it for big games like princess rescue)

 

Ill be able to thoroughly play test them tonight & this weekend, and will provide pics as well.

 

Also, for Nukey, I tried out your latest Arky version 4 rom on real hardware last night, and everytime you die, the screen shakes & goes crazy for a second. (just reporting it is all)

 

Awesome. What I'm looking to judge against is a 32k eprom doubled up to fill the chip while using the normal 8k F8 bankswitching on the PLD. I have a couple 7800's that on both machines when you start the game it boots but quickly crashes to a grey dead screen. I'm wondering if this is just a picky couple of 7800's (we all know that is pretty common) or if it's cause using a 32k chip (even with the extra address lines grounded) is a problem for this specific game. I'm leaning towards it being an issue with picky 7800 machines but you will be able to find out more with testing this situation on other machines aside from 7800's. I don't have any 2600's on hand right now as I was bugged into selling the last one I had thinking I would be fine for now with just a couple 7800's til I got more 2600 machines. Well, guess I was wrong.

[+fdr4prez]

In the ROM that I released, there is no serial number.

 

In the upcoming AtariAge cartridge release, they will be serialized.

 

There will also be 2 versions of the game on the released cartridge. The original 1983 version, and a new updated version that will have a number of extended features -- power-ups, speed boost, etc.

 

A Xonox double-ender cart?

[+stupus]

A Xonox double-ender cart?

Or a playaround double ender?

[Shawn]

Or a playaround double ender?

 

Those shells are a PITA to work with installing new pcbs into.

[Supergun]

Shawn,

 

My 7800 testing barely got off the ground tonight.

 

The Arkyology rom glitches within just a couple minutes of playing. After grabbing a few hammers, the screen begins to flash & flicker as Noah makes his way down a chute & the animal sprites glitch up until things freeze and then the game completely crashes.

 

 

And the control, heh, I cant even start a game! Hitting reset results in this every time:

 

 

And pressing the fire button does nothing.

I cant even start the game.

 

EDIT: Eh wait a minute now...never mind. I just tested both on a stock 2600 4 switcher & they behave the same there. What gives here? Give me direction.

Edited September 29, 2018 by Supergun

[Shawn]

Shawn,

 

My 7800 testing barely got off the ground tonight.

 

The Arkyology rom glitches within just a couple minutes of playing. After grabbing a few hammers, the screen begins to flash & flicker as Noah makes his way down a chute & the animal sprites glitch up until things freeze and then the game completely crashes.

 

0C7D2445-3DC1-4A8F-8841-44ECA357F6B8.jpeg

 

And the control, heh, I cant even start a game! Hitting reset results in this every time:

 

E98A73ED-0B46-43AC-AC08-29513E405E73.jpeg

 

And pressing the fire button does nothing.

I cant even start the game.

 

EDIT: Eh wait a minute now...never mind. I just tested both on a stock 2600 4 switcher & they behave the same there. What gives here? Give me direction.

 

I think it hates being on a 32k chip and might just want to stay on a 8k chip. I've never seen this behavior from a 2600 game before. I've ordered some other chips to test with and I will be able to put my theory to the test soon. Glad you ended up with similar results as now know I'm not just going nuts or sucking at life (in this instance that is ) .

 

Thanks for your help. It's greatly appreciated that you took the time to do so.

[Swami]

Shawn,

 

My 7800 testing barely got off the ground tonight.

 

The Arkyology rom glitches within just a couple minutes of playing. After grabbing a few hammers, the screen begins to flash & flicker as Noah makes his way down a chute & the animal sprites glitch up until things freeze and then the game completely crashes.

 

0C7D2445-3DC1-4A8F-8841-44ECA357F6B8.jpeg

 

And the control, heh, I cant even start a game! Hitting reset results in this every time:

 

E98A73ED-0B46-43AC-AC08-29513E405E73.jpeg

 

And pressing the fire button does nothing.

I cant even start the game.

 

EDIT: Eh wait a minute now...never mind. I just tested both on a stock 2600 4 switcher & they behave the same there. What gives here? Give me direction.

 

Strange. Are the mountains some hidden part of the game? Some Mt Ararat ending that was never incorporated?

[Supergun]

That would have been bad ass actually!

But alas, no, that image is from another game Shawn & I were testing. LOL

 

Some afterthoughts...

 

Was this 32k image simply the 8k image doubled & then doubled again? And if so, how does the system know the difference? I mean, whichever one of the 4 areas it accesses, they would all be identical.

 

I do plan on trying the original 8k rom image on all my other Atari consoles this weekend, just out of curiosity really.

Edited September 29, 2018 by Supergun

[Shawn]

That would have been bad ass actually!

But alas, no, that image is from another game Shawn & I were testing. LOL

 

Some afterthoughts...

 

Was this 32k image simply the 8k image doubled & then doubled again? And if so, how does the system know the difference? I mean, whichever one of the 4 areas it accesses, they would all be identical.

 

I do plan on trying the original 8k rom image on all my other Atari consoles this weekend, just out of curiosity really.

 

 

It's all based on what the highest active address line is that is held high. I've already tried grounding the extra address lines and it made no difference.

 

Yes the binary is just added on top of itself until it totals 32k. 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 =32 is how it's built.

 

Donald Duck should have worked fine though. That was attached as the known working one in this 32k total of an 8k game. I have no idea whats going on there.

So much for being a control on your end eh?.

[Nukey Shay]

You can't just double or quadruple a bankswitched game and expect it to work properly...changes the scheme and you'll be tripping hotspots that have program data on them.

[Shawn]

You can't just double or quadruple a bankswitched game and expect it to work properly...changes the scheme and you'll be tripping hotspots that have program data on them.

 

I was getting the same problem even with all the extra address lines pulled down.

[Nukey Shay]

Left difficulty fixed, shudder after death fixed, intermission transitions fixed.

 

Edited the PAL color so it doesn't look so washed out.

 

Arky-Mod(fix_v5).bin

Arky-Mod(PAL60_v5).bin

[Swami]

Left difficulty fixed, shudder after death fixed, intermission transitions fixed.

 

Edited the PAL color so it doesn't look so washed out.

 

 

Normal lives vs extra lives works correctly now with left difficulty switch and the intermission shudder is at long last gone. Great version.

 

How about an ending screen with Noah on Mt Ararat in a cast saying "who let that consarn rassin' frassin' porcupine out of its cage?!" (homage to Yosemite Sam)

[+sramirez2008]

Would've been cool to have an animated title screen of the Ark, maybe with rising water

[Nukey Shay]

One step at a time, folks

 

2 player test version. Hit Game Select (Game Start still handles 1 player games).

I know it lacks a proper ending which displays both scores...and it still defaults to single player when you first power up.

 

Don't know if this 2-player mod is going to remain or not...but I'll try to keep it in if there's interest in it.

Arky-2p(v1).bin

Arky-2p(PAL60v1).bin

[Supergun]

 

Normal lives vs extra lives works correctly now with left difficulty switch and the intermission shudder is at long last gone. Great version.)

I can also confirm that on real hardware the intermission shudder is no longer there, but when you die, the screen still goes crazy. If it helps diagnose it, when you lose your last life, it stays crazy like that until you hit reset to start a new game.

[Supergun]

One step at a time, folks

 

2 player test version. Hit Game Select (Game Start still handles 1 player games).

I know it lacks a proper ending which displays both scores...and it still defaults to single player when you first power up.

 

Don't know if this 2-player mod is going to remain or not...but I'll try to keep it in if there's interest in it.

Is there really enough room left in the 8kb rom for this feature? Interesting indeed.

 

I only tried it briefly, and saw the player text in the center of the day intro screen. Can player 2 have a different color for its score display?

[Nukey Shay]

Yes, and yes. The original program is VERY bloated...I'm still finding stuff to cut. Some things are complete oddities, like storing the floor hole gfx in Ram and printing it back asymetrically (unless a discarded concept was to block off select holes & ladders on later levels...Mr. Walters?). I've currently trimmed over 1k out of it...adding a second player used about a quarter of that.

 

About the new screen glitch, I thought I could get away with pushing VBLANK down further so the water is deeper. Apparently not.

[hizzy]

Is nukey's version easier? I don't see the alligator.

[Nukey Shay]

When the right difficulty switch is B, alligators are not used when the program sets up a level.

When the left difficult is B, you are allowed to accumulate more than 3 lives.

When the TV type switch is set to color, the porcupine has animated legs and the day counter correctly displays days 100 to 128 (assuming you make it that far).

 

Set both switches to A and TV type to B/W for the original gameplay (where only bugfixes are present).

 

The current version adds a second player by using Game Select.

 

 

Separate score color and end-of-game screen swaps added for 2p games.

Can't seem to track down the cause of that "death rattle"...but it only happens when the framecount reaches 60 in Stella (?),

 

Arky-2p(v2).bin

Arky-2p(PAL60v2).bin

[Nukey Shay]

Oops...that didn't turn out well!

 

Found out that the stack can get clobbered as the levels progress in v2.

 

hizzy's post also worried me that people may be playing my easier variations without realizing it...so I added a game variation variable instead of using difficulty switches (I currently have 19 unused bytes of Ram anyway).

 

Game variation # is temporarily shown next to the "DAY" text until a proper title screen is made.

Games 3,4,7,8 allow lives to be stocked up.

Games 5,6,7,8 have no gators.

Even numbered games are two player.

 

Arky-2p(v3).bin

Arky-2p(PAL60v3).bin

[pwalters]

I'm just curious if those who have played this game much have figured out the trick to avoid the flying birds without ducking?

[Swami]

I'm just curious if those who have played this game much have figured out the trick to avoid the flying birds without ducking?

I have avoided the flying bird without ducking a few times, but not sure why. I assumed I was in the right spot on the ledge. Figure its best to just duck.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I don't recall that happening, but does it have something to do with standing directly at the ladder under the tunnel but not actually on the ladder?