Ben_Larson Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 (edited) It has come to my attention that there has been a disturbing lack of Atari holiday cheer 'round these parts in recent years. To rectify this situation, I have taken the liberty of embarking on a crash homebrew project which I am tentatively calling 'A Very 2600 Christmas'. Basically I am arranging a bunch of Christmas songs for the Atari 2600 using some of the music code I took out of Panky the Panda as a starting point. I've got 4 songs done so far, which I am previewing here in this rom. The songs done so far are: * Jingle Bells * Deck the Halls * Silent Night * We Three Kings Use joystick left right to change songs. There's no visuals yet (literally it's just a black screen ), so I'm open to suggestions (or help!) in that regard. Let me know what you guys think... very2600xmas.bin Edited November 7, 2011 by Ben_Larson 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian O Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Very nice. As far as images/animations, I would start with a main title screen that says "A Very 2600 Christmas" with a 2600 under a tree or a stocking w/ the Atari logo on it. Moving left or right should take the user to the first song. I think a quick, looping animation should accompany each song: -- Jingle Bells: An animation of a one-horse open sleigh riding across a snowy backdrop -- Deck the Halls: Not sure what to use for this one... -- Silent Night: Perhaps the nativity scene w/ a sparkling star above it -- We Three Kings: An animation of the 3 wise men on camels walking through the desert following the star Just my 2 cents It's a really good start! -B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Very nice idea! How about an image of a group of carolers singing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben_Larson Posted November 17, 2011 Author Share Posted November 17, 2011 Ok, added 2 more songs - press joystick left/right to switch songs. The revised playlist is now: 1 - Jingle Bells 2 - Deck The Halls 3 - Silent Night 4 - We Three Kings 5 - Carol of the Bells 6 - Adeste Fideles I guess this makes it an EP now. Time to start thinking about the visuals... very2600xmas.bin 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bomberpunk Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 one of the animations should be a fireplace. another could be a window view of a snowy landscape with Santa's sleigh flying past in the distance. other song ideas: Little Drummer Boy, It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, Frosty the Snowman, Let It Snow, Silver & Gold, etc. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 (edited) It has come to my attention that there has been a disturbing lack of Atari holiday cheer 'round these parts in recent years. We tried to fix that last year, but had all sorts of issues that were finally resolved while working on Frantic. Namely we didn't know about the MAM bug which was causing all sorts of random crashing in Chun-Li*. * of which you can see some screenshots of in the slides from my presentation last weekend. Check my site. Edited November 17, 2011 by SpiceWare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben_Larson Posted November 27, 2011 Author Share Posted November 27, 2011 Here's a new version w/ one more song... and an actual display now. very2600xmas.bin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandmountainslim Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 This is AWESOME!! Love it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 Very nice! With that visual, you need Let It Snow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted November 27, 2011 Share Posted November 27, 2011 I kept it on Jingle Bells for background music while I work on stuff, and there was a couple of seconds of silence before it switched to Deck The Halls. I like the music, but it seems a bit weird changing octaves and channels like it does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out_of_Gas Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 Looking forward to seeing more of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LS650 Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 Great idea! I just checked this out with Stella and it seems okay to me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben_Larson Posted November 28, 2011 Author Share Posted November 28, 2011 I kept it on Jingle Bells for background music while I work on stuff, and there was a couple of seconds of silence before it switched to Deck The Halls. I like the music, but it seems a bit weird changing octaves and channels like it does. Yea, certain notes are only "in tune" in certain octaves, so some songs work better than others. Then you have certain songs which aren't doable period because they contain out-of-key notes (i.e. accidentals) - I actually started on What Child (aka Greensleeves), but had to give up on it for this reason. I've tried to make some of the octave switching not so noticable but some songs work better than others. We Wish You a Merry Christmas is probably the worst offender so far in this regard... The silence is on purpose, since it seemed kinda weird going straight into the next song... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted November 28, 2011 Share Posted November 28, 2011 What I meant is that it should play Jingle Bells until you get tired of it, then you can use the joystick to select another song. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben_Larson Posted December 2, 2011 Author Share Posted December 2, 2011 Ok I told myself when I started in October that December 1 was my deadline, so I think this may be the final version - for this year at least. Changes since last one: 1. Changed Jingle Bells to start on the verse instead of the chorus 2. Slowed down Adeste Fideles aka O Come All Ye Faithful 3. Added Good King Wenceslas Here's the final track list: 1 - Jingle Bells 2 - Deck The Halls 3 - Silent Night 4 - We Three Kings 5 - Carol of the Bells 6 - Adeste Fideles 7 - Good King Wenceslas 8 - We Wish You A Merry Christmas Enjoy! very2600xmas.bin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian O Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Sounds great! Nice job on this. -B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted December 2, 2011 Share Posted December 2, 2011 Thanks you! You did a nice job with this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legend Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 An animated yule log graphic would be nice so you can set it up and play on the tv during dinner or present time Christmas morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 An animated yule log graphic would be nice so you can set it up and play on the tv during dinner or present time Christmas morning. That's what Stella's Stocking is for. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremoloman2006 Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 GREAT job on this project! Now it needs to be on a cart! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFL Posted December 17, 2011 Share Posted December 17, 2011 Thank you for this. Have a great Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iesposta Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 Bump! Latest version: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/189972-a-very-2600-christmas/?p=2416862 Don't let another year go by without having Atari 2600 play joyful out of tune Christmas songs! And go buy "Stay Frosty 2" from the AtariAge Store when it comes out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari_Warlord Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 Thanks for the bump, I missed this the first time. This is really fun. If Ben still looks at this maybe he would consider adding a couple more songs to make it a full length album. Here are some suggestions: 1. The First Noel 2. The Twelve Days of Christmas 3. Anything from the Christmas in the Stars Album (Maybe What would you get a Wookie for Christmas) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 And go buy "Stay Frosty 2" from the AtariAge Store when it comes out! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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