Andromeda Stardust Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 :D :D :D Well, I loaded the ROM into my Harmony cart tonight, and OMG... :D :D :D THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING PORT OF DONKEY KONG I HAVE EVER SEEN!!! :D :D :D I mean wow! All the animations, cut scenes, everything is in tact. This is going to be an even better port than the de-facto standard, DK Complete Edition (aka "Pie Foundry"). :D :D :D Well, of course there's still lots of stuff do do, barrels, enemy AI, elevators, bouncing springboards, bonus items, victory music, more of Pauline... :D :D :D [Oh Pauline, you had me at hello...] :D :D :D Seriously though, awesome work, bro... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cd-w Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Very impressive work - the scrolling is growing on me now, but I'm still hoping for sloping girders on the first stage Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Absolutely fantastic! I'm getting this when it's done 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Musashi Posted February 6, 2013 Author Share Posted February 6, 2013 Here's the box and labels from the silver age- This is completely and totally awesome! I always loved the silver boxes where they used the title artwork from the arcade flyers (like DigDug, Kangaroo, etc.). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinMos3 Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Very impressive work - the scrolling is growing on me now, but I'm still hoping for sloping girders on the first stage I agree. This is extremely impressive, but the 1st stage needs sloping girders even though they'd have less color. It just doesn't feel quite like "Donkey Kong" without them. Everything else is looking amazing, btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Musashi Posted February 6, 2013 Author Share Posted February 6, 2013 Amazing work! Simply amazing! Thank you! Your XM version looks fantastic . It's nice to see all the classic systems finally getting complete conversions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Musashi Posted February 6, 2013 Author Share Posted February 6, 2013 Well, of course there's still lots of stuff do do, barrels, enemy AI, elevators, bouncing springboards, bonus items, victory music, more of Pauline... The ending music will be next. Actually there are even two versions. If someone knows where to find some midi files with that music, please let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Musashi Posted February 6, 2013 Author Share Posted February 6, 2013 Very impressive work - the scrolling is growing on me now, but I'm still hoping for sloping girders on the first stage Chris I agree. This is extremely impressive, but the 1st stage needs sloping girders even though they'd have less color. It just doesn't feel quite like "Donkey Kong" without them. Everything else is looking amazing, btw. I'm currently doing some experiments with the 25 m background. I'll see how that turns out. For now let's just say, slopes are not out of the question . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raygunn Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 This is completely and totally awesome! I always loved the silver boxes where they used the title artwork from the arcade flyers (like DigDug, Kangaroo, etc.). Thank you, Sir! This is the game that I have been waiting for!!! keep up the amazing work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt_Woloch Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 I'd have a suggestion about the sound here to make it even more arcade perfect... In the arcade, most notes are "decaying", that is, they start at a high volume which then decreses over the course of a split-second, while in your version the sound is switched on and stays at the same volume until it gets switched off or the note changes. I think it's technically possible to include that decay like in the arcade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LS_Dracon Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 I'm currently doing some experiments with the 25 m background. I'll see how that turns out. For now let's just say, slopes are not out of the question . And we always have possibility to change BG color on the fly. Works for Ballblazer, will work for DK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 I agree. This is extremely impressive, but the 1st stage needs sloping girders even though they'd have less color. It just doesn't feel quite like "Donkey Kong" without them. Everything else is looking amazing, btw. I disagree. Sloping girders would be nice, yes, but if it's at the expense of having a smallercolor pallette, than forget it. What's more important is that the barrels switch directions on each level. So if it were up to me, I'd vote for strait/duotone over sloped/monocolor. And if at all possible, it would be a good idea to avoid trying to make a compromise via flickering of the playfield sprites. I'm also curious as to how they will render the elevators on the 75m stage once that gets implemented. Maybe use the ball sprite, if it can be stretched big enough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Musashi Posted February 16, 2013 Author Share Posted February 16, 2013 (edited) I'd have a suggestion about the sound here to make it even more arcade perfect... In the arcade, most notes are "decaying", that is, they start at a high volume which then decreses over the course of a split-second, while in your version the sound is switched on and stays at the same volume until it gets switched off or the note changes. I think it's technically possible to include that decay like in the arcade. There is certainly room for optimization. So far only the ending tune will use ADSR curves for the notes, as it sounds really terrible without. I'll update the other tunes now and then. It's not equally important everywhere though, e.g., the in-game music does not have much of a decay. But it would still be worth doing some experimentation. Edited February 16, 2013 by Joe Musashi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 Joe, I could share the tune code I'm using in the 7800 update I'm doing. You might code it differently, but it the tune data might help. It has both ending tunes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 There is certainly room for optimization. So far only the ending tune will use ADSR curves for the notes, as it sounds really terrible without. I'll update the other tunes now and then. It's not equally important everywhere though, e.g., the in-game music does not have much of a decay. But it would still be worth doing some experimentation. So are those audio screen caps from the arcade sound effects or the ROM? The arcade blips do have a distinctive percussive effect that's not reproduced on the NES version or the VCS ports. The NES is definitely capable of doing sweeps and decays, however the Atari may not have enough pitch/volume levels to do the transition smoothly. If the author of the 7800 version wants to share the audio code between projects, that would be great. I ave Pacman Arcade (Ms Pacman hack) and Pacman 4k (homebrew) carts, and the intro music is good on both, but sounds slightly different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 The thing that's hard to reproduce on either the VCS or the POKEY equiped machines is the triangle wave form. That waveform is used in both Pac-man and Donkey Kong, and has a distinctive sound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Musashi Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 Joe, I could share the tune code I'm using in the 7800 update I'm doing. You might code it differently, but it the tune data might help. It has both ending tunes. Thanks, that would be really great! I'm mostly done with the first ending tune, but haven't worked on the second one yet. If you would be willing to share the data for this one that would be a big help since it's taking me forever to create the note tables just from listening to the original. (I believe your version is Pokey only, if you would also want to use my TIA sound, let me know.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Musashi Posted February 17, 2013 Author Share Posted February 17, 2013 So are those audio screen caps from the arcade sound effects or the ROM? ... This is the WAV output from MAME. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 No problem. I'll PM it to you later tonight. I figured out the tune by doing FFT's and picking out each note. Very time consuming but it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerSpaceFan Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 WOAH!!! This is an amazing achievement! It really looks like Donkey Kong running on a VCS! I can't wait to see how this project develops! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 (edited) Yeah, can't wait to hear the Victory SFX! Time to get them barrels rollin'! Rollin' rollin' rollin', Keep them barrels rollin', Rollin' rollin' rollin', Dee... Kay... !!! Oh, and any thought about how to incorporate the elevators on the 75m stage? I was thinking they could just match the color of the playfield, and even though they would change colors from one scanline to the next, at least you won't have to worry about background flicker. Personally, I believe sprite flicker is okay to an extent, but flickering the entire playfield will give some gamers headaches. Edited February 18, 2013 by stardust4ever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Musashi Posted February 18, 2013 Author Share Posted February 18, 2013 No problem. I'll PM it to you later tonight. I figured out the tune by doing FFT's and picking out each note. Very time consuming but it works. I usually do something similar by running the WAV files through Melodyne, which directly shows the note values. But sometimes it has difficulties separating multiple channels and then I have to do it by hand. What's also very useful is afplay (Mac only, there should be some Windows equivalent), which can play WAVs at lower speed without changing the pitch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Musashi Posted February 18, 2013 Author Share Posted February 18, 2013 Oh, and any thought about how to incorporate the elevators on the 75m stage? There are several ways to do it. What I currently favor is the following: Flicker the elevator platform with the Jack. Only one elevator shaft is working at a time (to avoid 20Hz flicker). If I can get the missiles to work, they will be used for the elevator rails. Flickering the Jack also has the advantage that I can display Pauline's handbag on the upper floor. Disadvantage is that I'll have to drop multi-colored Jacks, but they are moving so fast that this should be ok. (One design concept for the game is to optimize the graphics, even if the price is 30Hz (sprite) flicker.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 I usually do something similar by running the WAV files through Melodyne, which directly shows the note values. But sometimes it has difficulties separating multiple channels and then I have to do it by hand. What's also very useful is afplay (Mac only, there should be some Windows equivalent), which can play WAVs at lower speed without changing the pitch. Thanks. I'll have a look at those programs. Sounds like it will make things easier for me. There is often enough seperation of the frequencies in the two channels that I can separate them with a filter before analyzing them. That might help with Melodyne. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 (edited) Quick question: Does the audio code play back at a different pitch on the 7800's TIA due to the 50% increase in CPU clock speed? Edited February 19, 2013 by stardust4ever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.