Frantic (2600)

[+SpiceWare]

29 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Maybe we could try to detect something like "lda #XX, sta SWACNT" with the same value for XX used at least 8-times? Would that work for multiple, especially coming ARM games? Or is that just special code for Frantic?

 

That would work.  At the moment this code's only in Frantic, but going forward I could see the same interleaving technique used in other ARM games due to how time-expensive the SPKOUT macro is.

 

At least 8 is accurate, there's 9 occurrences in Frantic as the menu doesn't use the score kernel. It uses this loop as time's not a constraint for the menu.

 

        
        ldx #8
        ldy #$01            ;
        sty SWACNT          ; start bit
        dec SLEEP5          ; 5  5 
avLoop:
        jsr B6_SLEEP12      ;12 17
        jsr B6_SLEEP12      ;12 29
        jsr B6_SLEEP12      ;12 41
        jsr B6_SLEEP12      ;12 53
        SLEEP 3             ; 3 56
        lda #_DS_ATARIVOX   ; 2 58
        sta SWACNT          ; 4 62/0
        dex                 ; 2  2
        sbne avLoop        ; 2  4 (3  5)
        jsr B6_SLEEP12      ;12 16        
        jsr B6_SLEEP12      ;12 28        
        jsr B6_SLEEP12      ;12 40        
        jsr B6_SLEEP12      ;12 52
        SLEEP 4             ; 4 56        
        ldy #0              ; 2 58
        sty SWACNT          ; 4 62 stop bit

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

The menu code is the part which would be almost impossible to detect. The are too many ways to waste time.

[+SpiceWare]

If you're testing Frantic on real hardware then please participate in this poll.

 

 

[+SpiceWare]

Work has resumed on Frantic!  I've spent the past few days converting the project to our new CDFJ+ format:

 

 

By changing 1 line in the project:

 

_PC_ROM_SIZE    = 32

 

to 64 this happens:

 

 

Other supported values are 128, 256, and even 512:

 

 

Heads up @Albert - been a while since I've been to Portland, so my goal is to finish Frantic in time to release it at PRGE 2023.

[Albert]

1 minute ago, SpiceWare said:

Work has resumed on Frantic!  I've spent the past few days converting the project to our new CDFJ+ format:

That's fantastic, I'm excited to hear that!

2 minutes ago, SpiceWare said:

Heads up @Albert - been a while since I've been to Portland, so my goal is to finish Frantic in time to release it at PRGE 2023.

That's also great to hear!  Last year's show was a ton of fun, and there were so many homebrew developers present, more than I've ever seen at an event.  Would be great to have you in attendance again, especially with a completed Frantic!

 

 ..Al

[rodrigo adr]

Não consigo jogar o Frantic no Atari Flashback 9.  Fica somente uma tela preta.  Alguem sabe se esse console pode jogar o Frantic ?

[+SpiceWare]

Frantic uses additional hardware in the cartridge, I don't think the Flashback 9 emulates that hardware.

 

Frantic usa hardware adicional no cartucho, não acho que o Flashback 9 emule esse hardware.

[rodrigo adr]

Entendi.  Por favor, considere fazer uma versão que utilize o hardware mais potente dos consoles flashback

[+Random Terrain]

Just solder together 10 Flashback consoles and I'm sure it will work.

[Phobos867]

This an amazing take on both Berzerk and Frenzy! I love everything about it: the enemy details, the multiple projectiles, the new enemies. It's so, sooo much better than the original game! The homing robot is my favorite addition - it reminds me of the Revenants from Doom and I love how much it adds to the gameplay loop.

Unfortunately there's a HUGE flaw on the design that just spoils it to me: If you play the alternate\frenzy version, you can easily get infinite lives by just holding the shooting button into Evil Otto. It's ridiculously broken and kills the balance of the game because there's no effort to get it - just aim to the spawn point indefinitely and that's it, infinite points and lives. Destroying blocks can also be abused to get lives without effort - I know it's how it is on Frenzy, but on that game Evil Otto is very difficult to hit, so going for extra points is still a risk-reward situation.

My suggestion to solve this issue is not giving any score points for killing Evil Otto. Otto is not hard to kill since he comes to your direction so it's no big deal in my opinion. A different suggestion is making it more like Frenzy, where Evil Otto gets progressively harder when he comes back, at the point of being impossible to kill or dodge. Not sure if this is possible tho due to the larger hit box that makes him an easy prey on any situation.

Despite my gripe, this is an amazing homebrew and one of the most fun I had on the Atari 2600 so I'm really thankful for it. I hope this can be useful somehow! :-)

(sorry any english mistake)

Edited April 23, 2023 by Phobos867

[+SpiceWare]

14 hours ago, Phobos867 said:

This an amazing take on both Berzerk and Frenzy!

Thanks!

 

14 hours ago, Phobos867 said:

Unfortunately there's a HUGE flaw on the design that just spoils it to me:

Game's not finished, lots more work to be done - especially with the Frenzy routines.

 

My plan is to finish it for release at PRGE in October.

[+SpiceWare]

On 4/23/2023 at 9:18 AM, SpiceWare said:

My plan is to finish it for release at PRGE in October.

 

Hate to say it, but RL has intruded and I'm no longer planning to finish Frantic in time for this year's PRGE.

 

The day I posted that my folks and I were on our way back from a vacation to Virginia/DC. The next day was the last day of our drive back, and we all started feeling under the weather. On April 25th we all tested positive for covid.

 

While I got over the main symptoms the following week, I've been extremely lethargic ever since.  I do OK in the mornings, but after lunch I'd be wiped out.  This has been improving, I'm now running out of steam between 4 & 5. As such, no progress has been made on Frantic as I'm too wiped out after my workday.

 

Additionally I've been dealing with an eye issue that started on May 4th, which I suspect is related to the covid.

 

May 24th (I didn't take a photo on the 4th, it didn't look this bad yet):

Spoiler

 

 

When it started my doctor thought it was allergies, so put me on allergy eye drops. Didn't help, so she put me on an antibiotic eye drop.  That likewise didn't help. During this time my eye felt as bad as it looks, which was negatively affecting my sleep.

 

I'm now seeing a specialist who put me on a steroid eye drops.  That has helped, I now only feel a minor irritation so am sleeping a bit better at night.

 

June 2nd:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

It is taking longer to clear up than the specialist expected, so she's putting me on a stronger steroid eye drop. It's not something Walgreens keeps in stock so they had to order it, hopefully it'll be in this afternoon.

[+Nathan Strum]

Wow! Sorry to hear you've been sick - that sounds awful. Some folks have gotten absolutely slammed by COVID - here's hoping you'll fully recover and be back to full health again soon!

[+sramirez2008]

Hoping you recover soon, including complete restoration of your health.

[Albert]

Damn, that sucks, sorry to hear you ended up with COVID, and hopefully you have a quick recovery.  And hope your eye clears up quickly, that certainly has to be concerting.  And no problems at all about not being able to finish up Frantic for PRGE this year, obviously your health is of top importance!  There's always next year. 

 

 ..Al

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

Oh no! So sorry to hear you're not feeling well Darrell!

 

Rest up and I hope to hear that you and your eye will be back up to 100% soon.

 

- James

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Get well soon, Darrell.

[+Karl G]

COVID has been such a crapshoot; you never know how hard you will be hit, or what lasting effects there may be. I'm sorry that you have dealt with these lingering issues, and I hope they pass quickly.

[Omegamatrix]

Hope you feel much better soon, Darrell! And yeah, no sense getting Frantic (pun intended) trying to finish a game when you ain't feeling great.

[+SpiceWare]

Took until the 6th for Walgreens to get in that stronger steroid. Have seen a big improvement since then:

 

 

Spoiler

 

[Shannon]

When I caught Covid last year I ended up getting walking pneumonia.    Even after it was cleared up and I was feeling more energetic when I went to cut my yard I was completely wiped halfway through. 

 

So yeah it can hit people in different ways for sure.  The energy drain (lethargy) seems to be the most common thing.

[+SpiceWare]

Frantic will be demoed at PRGE, so I've resumed work on it.

 

Just a minor update so far, the humanoid animation has been increased from 4 to 8 frames. Was trickier to do than I thought it would be.

 

The Sound Tool from the prior update had to be removed due to ROM space needed for the additional humanoid graphics and color data.

 

Console Switches:

• TV Type = B&W, score display shows time remaining for Vertical Blank and Overscan.
• Left Difficulty A = Max Robot Stress Test.  Score will be red and player does not lose a life (so can play forever).
• Right Difficulty A = Frenzy Special Room Test. Every room will be a special room.

Note: Difficulty switches are only checked when starting a new game.

 

 

ROM

frantic_20230917.bin

[+SpiceWare]

I think I've found a bug in Stella - on real hardware the humanoid will remain stationary for as long as I hold down the fire button.

 

In Stella the humanoid will start moving after the second shot is fired. The humanoid will then pause to fire whenever a prior shot goes offscreen and again resume moving.

 

 

Anybody else seeing this difference between real hardware and Stella?

 

[JetSetIlly]

5 hours ago, SpiceWare said:

Anybody else seeing this difference between real hardware and Stella?

I'm not. In Stella, the humanoid remains stationary for as long as the fire is being held.

[JetSetIlly]

I can replicate something like what you're describing by having autofire enabled at a rate of 1Hz