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Work In Progress: "Bentley Bear: Crystal Quest"


PacManPlus

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@Eckhard - Thanks for the info - the level indicator on the screen is correct, it's just the bank that's wrong. Mitch also found that it may have something to do with the speed of the eproms. :( Is there a way to force it to be correct? I've even tried doing an 'AND #$07' and 'CLC' before storing the register in case anything was acting on it.

It might be a speed problem with the EPROMs, but since you mentioned that you tried the same EPROM in both boards, I doubt it. BTW, which bank does come up on the problematical boards?

 

It might be a speed problem with the logic chips though. Did you check if they are the same type on both boards?

 

If it indeed is a problem with the bankswitching logic trying to latch the bank number too soon or too late, you could try to make the pattern on the data and address bus stay longer. You could try to trigger the bankswitching by using absolute indexed addressing. On a STA $8000,X there will be a read from $8000+X before the write happens to the same address. And if you have a byte to spare in each bank, you could make the byte that gets read from $8000+X the same as the bank number. Then all the lines on the address and data bus will already be in the correct state when the R/W line changes which would trigger the bankswitching. Maybe that helps.

 

 

And about the control scheme: Maybe pressing both buttons together is easier on Nintendo's or Sega's controllers, but I find it difficult to do on both Atari's joysticks and joypads. I like your suggestion about using "up" for the jump. Then it would be possible to play the game with a single button joystick too.

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It might be a speed problem with the EPROMs, but since you mentioned that you tried the same EPROM in both boards, I doubt it. BTW, which bank does come up on the problematical boards?

 

For both Bob and myself the game would work correctly in one cart board but not the other. However, mine worked with one board type and his with the other. We were both using EPROMs of mismatched speeds though. I dug through my stash of EPROMs and found some that had matching speeds and these worked correctly for me on both cart boards.

 

Mitch

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nice game ,

 

so sad we have to wait for the add-on to play it with sound

 

Sadder would be TIA sound.

 

Saddest that Bob and Mitch has to waste time messing with hardware to make the ROM image(s) burn correctly - Good thing the XM will eliminate the additional possible hardware problems and issues along with wasted time.

Edited by Trebor
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Played it a bunch yesterday I still find the mechanism of holding the button to run fast to be awkward when you need a big jump, but I understand why it's there.

 

One little nuance. There are some circumstances where I die, then get ressuracted only to have one of the baddies land on me and kill me again immediately. A small reprieve from baddies appearing might be good.

 

Love the paralax scrolling the comes as the levels progress too!

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Thank you! :)

 

@Walter - I removed the small tree stump just before the exit. Couple that with the fact that you only have to hit the worm twice now should make it a little better. (I am going with this because I believe the first few levels shouldn't be that difficult).

 

@Eckhard - I tried the absolute indexed addressing... didn't help :( I am going to look for eproms of the same speed and see what happens :) Although when making carts I can't rely on the fact that I will always have the same speed...

Also, Maybe I will have the left difficulty choose the two button orientation swapping, and the right choose between two buttons and one + up (It's too much to try to auto-detect)

 

@Blinx123 - Boxes will most likely be available separately from Marc. Unless he, I and Al can do some sort of special one-off first run. (I don't know though, Al's been kind of busy lately)

 

@DracIsBack - I try to not put the jewel TOO close when the player starts otherwise I might as well just start him off with it. :( I wanted to give a slight bit of 'work' for the player to get the firing ability once it's lost... But if there's a level where you feel it's too difficult to reach the jewel please let me know the level/round and which half (the player can either start in the beginning of the level, or after he reaches the half-way point, he'll start half-way through the level). I'll then see if I can make it a little easier... in the beginning :twisted:

 

Thanks!

Bob

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@DracIsBack - I try to not put the jewel TOO close when the player starts otherwise I might as well just start him off with it. :(

 

I don't mind there being distance. There are just some circumstances where you re-appear in between two trees (ie. not manouverable) and a baddy practically lands on you as you materialize.

 

The game is fantastic.

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Just a thought about the run button and ProLine controllers...

What about implementing Pac Land controls? Double tap and hold the direction to run in that direction. With stock Atari 7800 pads it might be easier. Even the Euro pads have button 1 and 2 a little too far apart for easy Mario style gameplay. Of course AX's Nes pads are awesome for this, but for everyone else, PacLand style controls might be a real plus. Also, it could free up button two for another play mechanic.

Bob... it looks freaking sweet btw!

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@DracIsBack - I try to not put the jewel TOO close when the player starts otherwise I might as well just start him off with it. :(

 

I don't mind there being distance. There are just some circumstances where you re-appear in between two trees (ie. not manouverable) and a baddy practically lands on you as you materialize.

 

The game is fantastic.

 

I didn't mean for that to sound like I wasn't happy with the feedback or anything (I'm actually looking for it) :) I was just explaining why I did how I did it.

I'll look for the area where Bentley is between two trees and where the enemies are in relation and see what's what.

 

Thanks!

 

@gorfcadet - thank you :) To be honest, I'm not crazy about that configuration, but I'll keep that with the other types I mentioned above and see how much space I have left once I start working on that part.

 

Bob

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I rather this game be hard than easy. If we are blowing through the demos without a problem when the game is fully released as beautiful and technically accomplished the game will be, a quick pass through will lead to a negative impact on the replay value and overall gameplay.

 

Here is a suggestion regarding difficulty - and this idea I thought was cool to gain both the interest of first time players as well as accomplished players. Double Dragon II on the NES (And other games as well) allowed you to only pass so far when choosing an easier difficulty setting. You could only fully play through the whole game, including battling the last boss at the game's most difficult setting (Shadow Master, I believe is the hardest difficulty).

 

Perhaps something similar can be implemented for Bentley:

 

EASY = Enemies and overall challenge are a breeze, but you are only allowed to play through 25%-30% of the game. A message congratulates you on the accomplishment so far, but also encourages you to try a harder setting.

 

MED = Enemies and overall challenge is slightly more difficult, but you only get to play through 50%-75% of the game with another message similar to the aforementioned.

 

HARD = Enemies and overall challenge is quite difficult (IMHO, this is the difficulty of the game per the first released binary in the OP), you are allowed to play through 90-99% of the game, but no final boss battle…A really motivating message should present itself to not give up and try the most challenging setting and be a gaming master.

 

MASTER = Enemies and overall challenge is slightly more challenging than the HARD setting and you are allowed to play though 100% of the game, including the final boss battle.

 

This works on two levels… 1) You are training to become better at the game (Without feeling like you're in a "training mode") with the option to start at your own ability and challenge level 2) You are motivated to continue and stay the course until you fully complete winning the game with motivation and rewards of accomplishment (to a degree) as you conquer each level of difficulty challenge presented.

 

 

Just my 2 cents, probably worth less in most places :-D

I'd rather just play through the game at whatever skill level I want instead of being forced to try it on a harder level to see more of it. That sounds like the type of thing people rage about in modern games.
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For both Bob and myself the game would work correctly in one cart board but not the other. However, mine worked with one board type and his with the other. We were both using EPROMs of mismatched speeds though. I dug through my stash of EPROMs and found some that had matching speeds and these worked correctly for me on both cart boards.

Strange. I'm wondering what's going on there. What speed were the EPROMs that worked and the ones that didn't?

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For both Bob and myself the game would work correctly in one cart board but not the other. However, mine worked with one board type and his with the other. We were both using EPROMs of mismatched speeds though. I dug through my stash of EPROMs and found some that had matching speeds and these worked correctly for me on both cart boards.

Strange. I'm wondering what's going on there. What speed were the EPROMs that worked and the ones that didn't?

 

The ones that worked were 150ns. I don't recall what the other speeds were off the top of my head. I think they were all between 100 and 200ns though.

 

Mitch

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