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Star Castle Arcade - Beta Release


Thomas Jentzsch

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I tried to run 124 on my hardware via Harmony cart. Doesn't work. I just get garbage on the screen. I tried it on both of my Harmony carts, with a light sixer, heavy sixer and a 7800. The game won't boot for me.

 

I try version 101, and it works fine. 124 works fine for me on Stella. Curious.

 

Did you use the .cu file?

 

From the first post in this thread:

The attached zip file contains two ROMs, one for Stella (suffix ".bin"; make sure to get the latest version, always a good idea!) and one for the Harmony cart (suffix ".cu"; BIOS 1.05 required!).

Edited by BrianC
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In case of hacking the Color Bar Cart (which will work for grayscale on PAL too), one can use this PAL one. It provides a grayscale bar in the first screen too.

 

Use SELECT to loop through the simple other test screens.

Colors (1980) (Atari) (Prototype) (PAL).zip

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A minor update:

 

We have been discussing your valuable feedback (many thanks for that!) so far. And we did some tests to make up our own mind, especially regarding the visibility problems some people have reported. Nathan already has provided some tips on how to setup your TV for this game. With these tips we were able to solve most of the problems. To help you here, the game will probably come with its own (simple) calibration screen and some instructions in the manual.

 

We will increase the bullet brightness a bit, because that has little impact on the game. But we will keep the "vectorish", flickering fonts. Just because we like them. :) Same for the soundtrack.

 

We found no feasible, better solution for the weakened ring segments. So they will stay as they are now. Probably setting up your TV correctly will help here too.

 

We are currently investigating on making the ship not bigger, but a bit "pointier". I can't promise anything, but Nathan is as usual doing his best here. Fingers crossed!

 

Last not least: Regarding the frame rate problems with LCDs, we decided to keep the extra lines, because the game play is better this way. Also modern LCDs are very different from CRTs which are the natural display device for the 2600. There have been and always will be problems with LCDs, especially when a 2600 game tries to border the limits of the 2600 display. And we do not want to restrict ourselves in exploring the endless possibilities of the 2600, just because some modern hardware doesn't like it.

 

Therefore we urge everybody, if you want to make sure to be able to faithfully experience our and other people's creations in the future:

Keep your CRT!

 

This beta test will continue for one or two more weeks, so please continue to provide us your feedback.

 

E.g. personally I am not 100% if the difficulty ramp up is 100% OK. And I wonder if the sound mix is perfect. Maybe I should make the siren louder? Or is it annoying and I should silence it a bit?

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A minor update:

To help you here, the game will probably come with its own (simple) calibration screen and some instructions in the manual.

Regarding the frame rate problems with LCDs, we decided to keep the extra lines, because the game play is better this way.

 

I found an easy fix for my LCD flicker problem.

Maybe you want to include this in the manual?

"Display problems on modern TVs may be solved by trying different picture modes."

I switched TV picture mode from "game" to "standard." No more blinking!

 

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P.S. Thank you for the extra lines.

An ancient post of mine on this star castle was something like "I can see 210 scanlines, give us 210!"

To have 208 from 180 is fantastic!

That "input" has been on "game" because it is a lazy way to get a high contrast bright picture.

Don't all newer sets have standard, theatre, sports, PC, and game?

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"Display problems on modern TVs may be solved by trying different picture modes."

Yup, that's the plan.

 

I switched TV picture mode from "game" to "standard." No more blinking!

That must have disabled some picture "optimization". Some TVs allow enabling them selectively while others only have presets like yours.

 

BTW: I was always hoping for that being the cure for your problem:

Maybe you can experiment with different settings of your TV?

:)

Edited by Thomas Jentzsch
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I have just added the latest revision 134 to the first post of this thread.

 

The changes are only minor:

  • the bullets are slightly brighter
  • a few sounds were made slightly louder
  • a simple calibration screen was added (use LEFT + FIRE at startup)

We tried hard to make the ship "pointier", but we could not find a better solution within the given limits.

 

Since we are not expecting any more major feedback, this revision is called FINAL BETA now. The beta test will continue for another week. If we should not get any feedback requiring changes, we will consider the game finished then.

 

So the next 8 days are your last chance to help us improving the game! :)

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I was afraid of this happening, but my tests were never successful.

 

Would it help to disable shooting for a short time at the start of a new castle? How much time is required?

 

EDIT: Try this version please and tell me if the bug is fixed.

SCA_fix1.bin

Edited by Thomas Jentzsch
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That was a little better, but it still feels like I am cheating.

Can collision with the StarCastle be disabled until the rings are completely built? That should fix the problem if your shots go right through the StarCastle at the start, but you can still shoot rings.

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That was a little better, but it still feels like I am cheating.

What do you mean with cheating? Can you still kill a generating castle? If yes then test the attached file, please. This one waits one ring longer.

 

I can disable the shots even longer, but I only want to block them as short as really required.

 

EDIT: After rereading your post above, I did a 3rd version. This disables the gun collision until all 3 rings are generated. I am not 100% sure this is safe, because a shot might be just inside the inner ring when the gun collision is enabled again. Please give it some testing, too. If it works, this should be the best solution.

 

BTW: Are you also playing with deadly rings (right difficulty = A) and your ship inside the rings?

star_fix2.bin

star_fix3.bin

Edited by Thomas Jentzsch
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I don't know how realistic high score contests will be because even with fix 3 I easily got to level 33 and scored 79,150 with turbo fire.

At least it is no longer destroying StarCastle while the rings are forming, and now the stars can get you and you have to fly back into position.

I am just playing B as the game starts and I get close to the largest ring, usually in the upper right, turbo firing toward the center.

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I don't know how realistic high score contests will be because even with fix 3 I easily got to level 33 and scored 79,150 with turbo fire.

At least it is no longer destroying StarCastle while the rings are forming, and now the stars can get you and you have to fly back into position.

I am just playing B as the game starts and I get close to the largest ring, usually in the upper right, turbo firing toward the center.

 

Can you post a video of this? It might be easier to fix if he can see exactly what you're doing. Also - is this a technique that works on the arcade version? And if not, what in the arcade version is preventing it?

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Is this a technique that works on the arcade version? And if not, what in the arcade version is preventing it?

No.

My Stella has a fire button and a turbo fire button.

There are turbo fire hardware "PointMaster Fire Control" (I have) that you connect between a joystick and the Atari.

The Starplex controller has "Astroblast" fire if you put a battery in it.

I just tested today's build in Stella and found I could sit there destroying the Castle before the rings generated and reported it.

The last fixed version is better.

I'll try and make some videos tomorrow.

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At least it is no longer destroying StarCastle while the rings are forming, and now the stars can get you and you have to fly back into position.

Let's see if I get you right. You are now destroying the castle because with rapid fire you can destroy 3 ring segments in one blast. Which creates a gap in the rings and lets you hit the gun. Is that correct?

 

Or is the bug still related to the castle generating at the start?

 

And yes, some video would really help here. Thanks in advance!

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Can you duplicate this exploit without the use of turbo?

 

No.

My Stella has a fire button and a turbo fire button.

There are turbo fire hardware "PointMaster Fire Control" (I have) that you connect between a joystick and the Atari.

The Starplex controller has "Astroblast" fire if you put a battery in it.

I just tested today's build in Stella and found I could sit there destroying the Castle before the rings generated and reported it.

The last fixed version is better.

I'll try and make some videos tomorrow.

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Thanks for the video, that helps a lot. What emulator is that?

 

So what should we do to prevent this? And have you tried turbo fire on the Arcade version?

 

BTW: In castle 15 the mines don't kill you because you shot them with your turbo fire. You can hear that.

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