+DZ-Jay Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 I'm sorry for the double-posting, but when I posted this on the "Intellivision Programming" topic, it didn't occur to me to post it in the general area for the rest of the community. I have finished a new, original game called "Christmas Carol vs. The Ghost Of Christmas Presents". You will need an emulator to run this game on your computer--at least until the day it is released on cartridge, sometime in the future. For those interested, you can find more information here: Christmas Carol vs. The Ghost Of Christmas Presents The original announcement post in the "Intellivision Programming" topic can be found here: Release Announcement Comments, suggestions, bug reports--all are welcomed! Enjoy! -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the.golden.ax Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Would love to get a cartridge of that. Very cool AX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmart604 Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Would love to get a cartridge of that. Very cool AX What AX said. Me too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 (edited) Hello everybody! I have fixed the bugs that were reported, and then some. I also added a few niceties to the game in general. Among the fixes are: Fixed bonus-life logic so that the game will not crash, and the life counter is incremented properly. Fixed Title Screen/Credits Screen music so that it doesn't loop over itself before it finishes. Fixed Ghost collision so that if you pick up the last present at the same time, the game will not crash. The level-end will be honoured and the collision discarded. Fixed an issue with the Snowman Attack timer, whereas in the later levels, the Snowman would not be released. Among the improvements are: Added Level Number display. Now you can see in which level you are. The score supports now 4 digits. The four-digit will only be displayed when the score goes above 1000 points. Updated some of the values in the level data to be even more arbitrary! Attached is the latest version of the game. As before, let me know if you have any problems, suggestions, or any comments at all. Enjoy and thank you for playing! -dZ. xmas_carol.zip Edited January 4, 2011 by DZ-Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 hey, what about a cart release?!?!?!?!?! seriously, how hard would it be from a technical standpoint? just getting it onto a board. not worrying about the cart shell,manual,overlay or box and stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maximebeauvais Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 hey, what about a cart release?!?!?!?!?! seriously, how hard would it be from a technical standpoint? just getting it onto a board. not worrying about the cart shell,manual,overlay or box and stuff. to my understanding, it is very different to built INTV cart then atari 2600 cart. with atari 2600, you could buy empty board and put epprom on it but with INTV it's very different. you have to built your own board but someone could correct me on that point. PS yeah, it will be nice to have a new cart out for the INTV fan !!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 Hello everybody, I'm tracking down some of the issues people have been reporting regarding the graphics on this new version. I think I may have deployed an older buggy binary, which is why I can't reproduce the problems over here. I'm doing some tests to find out why people are seeing these issues, and will be releasing an updated version soon. I thank you very much for your interest, and ask you to please hang in there and keep watching this space for an update. Thanks, -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intvnut Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 hey, what about a cart release?!?!?!?!?! seriously, how hard would it be from a technical standpoint? just getting it onto a board. not worrying about the cart shell,manual,overlay or box and stuff. to my understanding, it is very different to built INTV cart then atari 2600 cart. with atari 2600, you could buy empty board and put epprom on it but with INTV it's very different. you have to built your own board but someone could correct me on that point. PS yeah, it will be nice to have a new cart out for the INTV fan !!!! This game should fit on a cartridge easily. Like I've said several times before, I'm working on making it much easier to get cartridges made for everyone. I've had a couple setback, none of which are technical, thankfully. I'd like to see Christmas Carol in cartridge form too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 4, 2011 Author Share Posted January 4, 2011 Hi all! I have tested the ROM and this time I am sure I have the correct one. This version contains the crash fixes and the level number and other enhancements I mentioned before. You can always get the latest version of the ROM from this page. I apologize for the confusion and for the broken file. I hope people are still excited over the game as I am of working on it and that your enjoyment was not too affected by this. Thanks again to all for playing! -dZ. xmas_carol-v1.1.zip 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntellivisionDude Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 I gave it a quick one time through test. And everything looks good. I seen the level display this time. I'll try it some more tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntellivisionDude Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfwIrpE9-do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 5, 2011 Author Share Posted January 5, 2011 (edited) Hey, that's pretty cool. I'm glad you enjoyed the game. Now that you have played it for a bit, I'd appreciate any feedback you may have in order to improve it. I plan to eventually add different level screens and maybe more music, but gameplay-wise I'd be interested in knowing if you have any suggestions. Thanks for the interest! -dZ. Edited January 5, 2011 by DZ-Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 This looks great! At first glance, I thought this game was a slick Christmas theme'd Pengo clone. But after watching most of the video... it is not? If you can't shove the blocks and squish the baddies, I'd be working on that feature post haste (easy for me to say) Looks like you've got two or three different blocks to work with too. Some could be shoved, some would just melt instead... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roberto Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 Lovely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IntellivisionDude Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 Hey, that's pretty cool. I'm glad you enjoyed the game. Now that you have played it for a bit, I'd appreciate any feedback you may have in order to improve it. I plan to eventually add different level screens and maybe more music, but gameplay-wise I'd be interested in knowing if you have any suggestions. Thanks for the interest! -dZ. Well i'm not the most creative person. But how about when you touch a snow flake, give it some extra power. Maybe knock the snowman back in his cave? Or gets some extra points if you touch the ghost while he's stunned? Or maybe the ability to shoot the candy. lol But really i wouldn't change anything except having different level designs and layouts. Design some levels so if your smart enough you can always find a way out of trouble. Keep the game simple like it is. It's already addicting. Change it too much and it loses it's charm. The changes could always be for the sequel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ransom Posted January 6, 2011 Share Posted January 6, 2011 I'd love to see this offered CIB once it's finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 6, 2011 Author Share Posted January 6, 2011 (edited) Hey, that's pretty cool. I'm glad you enjoyed the game. Now that you have played it for a bit, I'd appreciate any feedback you may have in order to improve it. I plan to eventually add different level screens and maybe more music, but gameplay-wise I'd be interested in knowing if you have any suggestions. Thanks for the interest! -dZ. Well i'm not the most creative person. But how about when you touch a snow flake, give it some extra power. Maybe knock the snowman back in his cave? Or gets some extra points if you touch the ghost while he's stunned? Or maybe the ability to shoot the candy. lol But really i wouldn't change anything except having different level designs and layouts. Design some levels so if your smart enough you can always find a way out of trouble. Keep the game simple like it is. It's already addicting. Change it too much and it loses it's charm. The changes could always be for the sequel. Thanks for the comments. New levels are in the works. The level in place right now wasn't so much designed as it was hacked together: I needed to change the maze, so I just put some blocks where I thought they looked cool. No device or stratagem went into it. Now that I know the full extent of the game-play, I will prepare some new levels to consider difficulty. -dZ. Edited January 6, 2011 by DZ-Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck D. Head Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 Uhhh, yeah this looks pretty damn good as is. I wouldn't make big changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Uhhh, yeah this looks pretty damn good as is. I wouldn't make big changes. It does look great. But a few more levels would be nice or like night stalker just keep adding harder/more enemies. i hope this sees a cart release one day. nice to see original homebrews on any system! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 Uhhh, yeah this looks pretty damn good as is. I wouldn't make big changes. It does look great. But a few more levels would be nice or like night stalker just keep adding harder/more enemies. i hope this sees a cart release one day. nice to see original homebrews on any system! Unfortunately, the game does not support adding new enemies right now (it was cobbled together in two weeks from an unfinished game-engine I was making for a different game), and it would take considerable more effort to allow for that at this point. That said, new levels are coming soon, along with some new goodies that I'm sure you'll all enjoy. A cart release is also planned for the near future. I'm working on polishing up the game a bit to prepare for that. Thanks for the interest; keep watching this space for updates! -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmart604 Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Uhhh, yeah this looks pretty damn good as is. I wouldn't make big changes. It does look great. But a few more levels would be nice or like night stalker just keep adding harder/more enemies. i hope this sees a cart release one day. nice to see original homebrews on any system! Unfortunately, the game does not support adding new enemies right now (it was cobbled together in two weeks from an unfinished game-engine I was making for a different game), and it would take considerable more effort to allow for that at this point. That said, new levels are coming soon, along with some new goodies that I'm sure you'll all enjoy. A cart release is also planned for the near future. I'm working on polishing up the game a bit to prepare for that. Thanks for the interest; keep watching this space for updates! -dZ. I'd definitely be interested in a cart release for this, although I must say having watched rgw's vid that it looks hard, man the ghost moves quick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 (edited) Uhhh, yeah this looks pretty damn good as is. I wouldn't make big changes. It does look great. But a few more levels would be nice or like night stalker just keep adding harder/more enemies. i hope this sees a cart release one day. nice to see original homebrews on any system! Unfortunately, the game does not support adding new enemies right now (it was cobbled together in two weeks from an unfinished game-engine I was making for a different game), and it would take considerable more effort to allow for that at this point. That said, new levels are coming soon, along with some new goodies that I'm sure you'll all enjoy. A cart release is also planned for the near future. I'm working on polishing up the game a bit to prepare for that. Thanks for the interest; keep watching this space for updates! -dZ. I'd definitely be interested in a cart release for this, although I must say having watched rgw's vid that it looks hard, man the ghost moves quick! Have you played it? Please let me know if you feel I should tweak the difficulty. All speeds and timers are fully configurable per level; I've just tweaked them arbitrarily as I feel the need. -dZ. Edited January 10, 2011 by DZ-Jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+cmart604 Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Uhhh, yeah this looks pretty damn good as is. I wouldn't make big changes. It does look great. But a few more levels would be nice or like night stalker just keep adding harder/more enemies. i hope this sees a cart release one day. nice to see original homebrews on any system! Unfortunately, the game does not support adding new enemies right now (it was cobbled together in two weeks from an unfinished game-engine I was making for a different game), and it would take considerable more effort to allow for that at this point. That said, new levels are coming soon, along with some new goodies that I'm sure you'll all enjoy. A cart release is also planned for the near future. I'm working on polishing up the game a bit to prepare for that. Thanks for the interest; keep watching this space for updates! -dZ. I'd definitely be interested in a cart release for this, although I must say having watched rgw's vid that it looks hard, man the ghost moves quick! Have you played it? Please let me know if you feel I should tweak the difficulty. All speeds and timers are fully configurable per level; I've just tweaked them arbitrarily as I feel the need. -dZ. I haven't yet, I'm having some "computer challenges". My emulator stuff is on the "network card needs to be replaced" computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted June 6, 2011 Author Share Posted June 6, 2011 Hello: I know it's been a long time since I last posted an update on the progress of Christmas Carol, but I can assure you that development is going strong. I am still working on the last bit of polish, and adding some new and exciting features that I hope will make the game a lot of fun. The game play is complete, animations and sound effects are all there, along with multiple levels, music, introduction sequences between game stages, and lots of cool stuff! I have all introduction sequences story boarded and defined, and a scripting engine to support them; I just need to write the scripts and prepare some new sprites for them. I promise I'll prepare a demo build soon, but in the meantime, take a look at the attached animated GIFs depicting two of the features that I'm very proud of: The introduction of the first level, and the Elf's death scene. A few notes regarding these scenes: Although the introduction *sequence* is completed, I still need to polish it a bit. Specifically, you can still see the sprites as they come in and out of the scene behind the ice cubes. It'll get there. Also, the death sequence is a lot cooler in the real game than this video shows. It appears that every other frame is dropped so you can't really tell that the Elf is shaking frantically until it breaks apart. It's looks very cool, trust me. As always, comments are welcomed. Enjoy! dZ. Introduction Sequence: "Haunted Hollow - Stage #1 Just introducing the characters: The Elf walks across the screen, then the Ghost shows up, looks around, and disappears. Death Scene The Elf is killed by the Snowman, she freezes from head to toe, then shakes vigorously until she breaks, and crumbles into a pile of snow. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 You know what is amazing is that you did this in your spare time and it is WAYYYY better than so many other games on INTV and 2600 ETC ETC. I like the death of the Elf animation as he turns into a pile of dust! nice...... Keep up the good work DZ! Cart release by Dec 2011? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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