Adventure II XE demo and testing

[accousticguitar]

I've been changing the Title Screen, removing the 5200-based * and # key code and putting the options right on the title screen , with joystick control. Here is how it looks now; I am still playing around with the exact layout.

 

AdvII XE Title Screen Options1.png

 

Tested the Rankings again and found the 1 little bug where sometimes I'd get a blank Ranking. Now all 14 of them do come up. The stats will explain why the player got that ranking.

 

I went back to the original 5200 Adventure II Rankings contest and pulled a few of the many unused (but still good) entries into this version. There are some custom rankings for several of the alternate icons. For example you won't get this end-game ranking unless you play as one of the Knights. I'm not revealing any more of the rankings though, other than to say there are 14 total , and there is only 1 carried over from the 5200 version.

 

Testing - Sir Diesalot as Knight.png

 

 

Looks great! I'm still looking forward to this.

[leech]

Gonna go full Gollum here... "I wants it, it is... my preciousssss"

[Kyle22]

Very much so.

[+Cafeman]

 

The stick-driven options , and the new options, seem to work fine now. You can try them out at the PRGE show next week.

 

[+Cafeman]

I'm working on overhauling the sound engine now, which was something I've wanted to do, but its been the last thing on my list to-do. Tonight I fixed a collision bug and I'm feeling happy about that. I'm not sure if the newest demo of AdvII XE made it to the 2017 PRGE or not? Haven't seen many pics of the AtariAge booth , but what I've seen the focus was naturally on the newer 2600 and 7800 titles that were available for sale. I was looking for pics of the banner because I really like the box artwork! Here is a larger sample than showed before in this thread, but I'll wait until we reveal the whole picture.

 

[Zap!]

Now that I have a working 800XL, I totally can't wait for this.

[+wood_jl]

As the (late) character "Flounder" from Animal House would say......

 

[Zap!]

I think that I'll be in the minority on this, but one thing that I didn't like about the 5200 version was that with all of the fantastic graphical enhancements, you are still a tiny square. The only reason that you were a square on the 2600 version was due to the graphical limitations of the 2600 (especially at the time before all of the programming tricks were discovered). It never made much sense to me why everything else was enhanced, but not the player.

 

I'm definitely not trying to stir the pot or cause a flame war, I'm down to buy this on day one no matter what.

[leech]

I thought he said somewhere that the XE version had added the choice of character.

[Zap!]

I thought he said somewhere that the XE version had added the choice of character.

 

Yes, just read that and that's awesome. I was primarily talking about the 5200 version.

Edited November 13, 2017 by Zap!

[+Cafeman]

Double post

[+Cafeman]

Hey, Zap....

 

You can play as alternate characters in 5200 Adventure II. There was a hint about this in the manual -- enter the code 1980 on the title screen and it unlocked the alternate icons. Most are bigger than Sir Square so it'll be more challenging to move around some screens.

 

The alternate icons in XE version all have distinct abilities now, and you can pick them without a secret code. I did this to make the game a bit more fun and fresh, especially for those like me that are tired of 5200 Adventure II. For example, crab can crawl over by objects; Knights are much tougher. My teenage son, who doesn't find Atari games fun, was playing several rounds of AdvII XE the other day as the crab and he enjoyed being able to cheat a bit, even though this also opens up other risks. Myself, I honestly don't remember where I hid all the dots across levels, so I found it fun to play as the 3d Square icon which alerts you when there is a hidden dot on the screen.

 

The homebrew fan community was adamant that Adventure II starred the square, however! Personally, I loved the fact that all the visuals were upgraded but you still played as a square. And others felt the same way!

[leech]

All of this sounds extremely awesome, it is actually what I am most excited about being released these days, oddly more so than Fallout 4 VR. We need Adventure VR.. ha

[+Cafeman]

Carrying the CHALICE will also alert you (any character you choose) if a Dot is on the screen, with a sound effect. Any opinions about this change? Is it giving players a break, or ruining the search?

[accousticguitar]

Carrying the CHALICE will also alert you (any character you choose) if a Dot is on the screen, with a sound effect. Any opinions about this change? Is it giving players a break, or ruining the search?

I like it.

[Goochman]

Carrying the CHALICE will also alert you (any character you choose) if a Dot is on the screen, with a sound effect. Any opinions about this change? Is it giving players a break, or ruining the search?

 

Cafeman - with the playtesting I did, the only dot I found was the one where you told me which screen to look. In order to make the dot quest interesting I think some sort of clue is warranted - the original gave a clue due to flashing of objects when it appeared you only had 1 on the screen (dot being the second).

 

With the size of the new kingdom I think without some sort of clue it would become tough finding all 3.

 

Since I like to throw out crazy ideas, I add one more to the collection. Once you get the chalice its kinda too late to use the Dots - how to help locate a dot without being obvious......it would be interesting if holding an object that would change color if it was within 1 square radius of a dot (ie, could be current screen or NW, N, NE, E, SE, S, SW or W 1 screen away).

[+MrFish]

The homebrew fan community was adamant that Adventure II starred the square, however! Personally, I loved the fact that all the visuals were upgraded but you still played as a square. And others felt the same way!

 

I agree with this too. We know the 8-bit systems can do more, but retaining the square helps carry over the feel of the original.

 

Some things could be done to upgrade the square without making it another object, though. For instance you could animate it in some fashion, rather than just keeping it a static square. It could be made to look like it was walking, sort of twisting back and forth or some other similar type of movement. It could also be made to turn 45 degrees if it was moving in any diagonal direction.

[+Cafeman]

I think some sort of clue is warranted - the original gave a clue due to flashing of objects when it appeared you only had 1 on the screen (dot being the second).

 

With the size of the new kingdom I think without some sort of clue it would become tough finding all 3... Once you get the chalice its kinda too late to use the Dots - how to help locate a dot without being obvious......it would be interesting if holding an object that would change color if it was within 1 square radius of a dot...

Concerning the original game, I wasn't aware that your object would blink if you carried it onto the dot screen. I thought the only clue was using the bridge to get to that boxed off area and hearing the pickup sound, even if you couldn't see the dot itself. Knowing what to do with the Dot seems very ambiguous, I doubt I'd have ever figured it out on my own.

 

I see your point about it being too late, or near game's end, if a carried Chalice was the only Dot clue. But my take is, you don't need to find them to finish a game. If I make it too obvious, what's the point in hiding them? Also, if a person actually plays the game several times, they should start to see where the Dots are, and remember Dots they located before.

 

I thought about this subject more than you'd think, over the years. I thought about putting clues in the manual. Or maybe it should be the bridge that gives a clue, since you need to bridge to grab many of the Dots? It would play a tone and maybe flash its color on a Dot screen.

[Goochman]

Cafeman - I figured you already put alot of thought into the subject!

 

As for the flashing on the original - its not specific to the dot, its how the game engine works. Whenever you have 2 objects (bridge and sword for example) on the screen it will flash. That was the give away for the dot - inside the black castle if you were carrying something and entered the dot screen it would flash telling you there was another object in the room - one you couldnt see

 

I agree that you shouldnt make it obvious - whats the point! Maybe some slight visual clue holding the Chalice would be good (slight, not obvious). That way once the game is finished it would provide a reason to play again to find the dots and a new way to complete the quest!

[DracIsBack]

Looking forward to this masterpiece.

[DracIsBack]

Will 2018 be the year this finally gets released?

[Zap!]

I really hope so!

[+Cafeman]

Brief update. I put it on hold while taking care of other things, and now my Lenovo Laptop has blue-screened, not the first time but it cant repair the problem. Thanks Windows 10 auto update. So I am getting an SsD and need to reload Windows fresh . Then I will wrap this up as time allows.

[Inky]

Has anyone tried this with an Uno cart?

[+Cafeman]

It works on both the Atarimax carts, and the XE 64k carts. (which have kind of reversed bank switching schemes). If games that work on an AtariMax cart also typically work on an Uno Cart, then AdvII should too.