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Fighter pilots needed in sector wars...

PacManPlus

By PacManPlus
in Atari 7800

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PacManPlus Quadrunner

PacManPlus

Posted
Posted

... play Astro Blaster!

 

 

Happy Holidays everyone!

 

I've been working on this for a few weeks now, and I'm trying to get it finished for sort of a 'Holiday Gift' to everyone here. Still needs work, so no bin yet. But, here are a few screenshots:

post-1787-0-32955200-1387391535_thumb.png post-1787-0-71361800-1387391535_thumb.png

post-1787-0-14762300-1387391536_thumb.png post-1787-0-54366000-1387391536_thumb.png

post-1787-0-95577300-1387391536_thumb.png post-1787-0-41867700-1387391537_thumb.png

post-1787-0-85234400-1387391537_thumb.png post-1787-0-24574400-1387391538_thumb.png

post-1787-0-66956400-1387391538_thumb.png

 

For the purists out there, I copied the sprites directly from the arcade game, as well as the movement tables. I'm using 320A mode to get the look/feel down. The 'Fuel' gauge is the same as the arcade *divided by three* to fit on the line with the temperature gauge, which is *divided by two*. All increments / decrements to both gauges have been adjusted appropriately, so they should work exactly like the arcade.

 

For the most part, the playfield is the same, except that I had to take one zone (i.e. 8 scanlines) away from under the ship (no biggie), and one zone away from the very top of the playfield. On my TODO list:

 

- Fix some collision detection when the enemy ships are at the top of the screen

- Finish the movement / placement of the enemies for sectors 4 and 5 (half-way through 4 now)

- Warp Button

- Enemies that drop in certain waves

- Hidden bonuses

- Sound

- Speech

 

Regarding the 'Speech', I will only implement speech at non-gameplay points (i.e. after losing a ship *2 ships remaining*, when the game has ended *play over*, etc.). Any other important information (i.e. the Warp countdown) will be written on the screen behind the action. I do plan to have the attract mode announcement (i.e. the title of this thread).

 

It was challenging getting (up to) 16 enemies, 6 enemy shots, 1 player shot and the player to update each frame during VBLANK, but I finally did it. Of course, it will use the HSC.

 

I am hoping to have a BIN ready by next week, On or before Christmas.

Coming soon! :)

Bob

 

*BTW, before someone asks, "Why do you mostly do ports?" - It's because 1) I like to do them, and 2) It's fun to see what would have actually been possible back in 1984-1986. Now that I've scratched this itch, I can see about a (somewhat) original game I've been thinking about.

 

Thank you, Trebor, Nathan, Schmutzpuppe and Al for the feedback and testing up to this point. :)

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Psionic River Patroller

+Psionic

Posted
Posted

Is this the game Megamania was ripped off, er based on

I never realized the connection between Megamania and Astro Blaster - It's pretty cool.

Threshold by Sierra On-Line was based on Astro Blaster as well, to the point of being almost an exact copy (complete with warp speed function and mothership docking sequences). It was clearly an influence on MegaMania also, but the removal of the laser temperature gauge in that game allows constant firing, resulting in a drastically different game experience more akin to other "death from above" titles like Galaxian or Demon Attack. AB was more about precision than just blasting away at things, since you needed to keep track of both your laser temperature and your fuel (which could not be replenished between docking sequences).

 

In any event, this shouldn't come as a surprise, as a lot of games back then were derivatives of other games. The design of Astro Blaster was an attempt to improve on Astro Fighter (a Data East arcade game that Sega/Gremlin was distributing in North America).

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Stun Runner 87 Stargunner

Stun Runner 87

Posted
Posted (edited)

... play Astro Blaster!

 

 

Happy Holidays everyone!

 

I've been working on this for a few weeks now, and I'm trying to get it finished for sort of a 'Holiday Gift' to everyone here. Still needs work, so no bin yet. But, here are a few screenshots:

attachicon.gifsnapAstBlstr_00.png attachicon.gifsnapAstBlstr_01.png

attachicon.gifsnapAstBlstr_02.png attachicon.gifsnapAstBlstr_03.png

attachicon.gifsnapAstBlstr_04.png attachicon.gifsnapAstBlstr_05.png

attachicon.gifsnapAstBlstr_06.png attachicon.gifsnapAstBlstr_07.png

attachicon.gifsnapAstBlstr_08.png

 

For the purists out there, I copied the sprites directly from the arcade game, as well as the movement tables. I'm using 320A mode to get the look/feel down. The 'Fuel' gauge is the same as the arcade *divided by three* to fit on the line with the temperature gauge, which is *divided by two*. All increments / decrements to both gauges have been adjusted appropriately, so they should work exactly like the arcade.

 

For the most part, the playfield is the same, except that I had to take one zone (i.e. 8 scanlines) away from under the ship (no biggie), and one zone away from the very top of the playfield. On my TODO list:

 

- Fix some collision detection when the enemy ships are at the top of the screen

- Finish the movement / placement of the enemies for sectors 4 and 5 (half-way through 4 now)

- Warp Button

- Enemies that drop in certain waves

- Hidden bonuses

- Sound

- Speech

 

Regarding the 'Speech', I will only implement speech at non-gameplay points (i.e. after losing a ship *2 ships remaining*, when the game has ended *play over*, etc.). Any other important information (i.e. the Warp countdown) will be written on the screen behind the action. I do plan to have the attract mode announcement (i.e. the title of this thread).

 

It was challenging getting (up to) 16 enemies, 6 enemy shots, 1 player shot and the player to update each frame during VBLANK, but I finally did it. Of course, it will use the HSC.

 

I am hoping to have a BIN ready by next week, On or before Christmas.

Coming soon! :)

Bob

 

*BTW, before someone asks, "Why do you mostly do ports?" - It's because 1) I like to do them, and 2) It's fun to see what would have actually been possible back in 1984-1986. Now that I've scratched this itch, I can see about a (somewhat) original game I've been thinking about.

 

Thank you, Trebor, Nathan, Schmutzpuppe and Al for the feedback and testing up to this point. :)

HELL YES...

You picked a great time to do this my brutha.

I was just about to pm you the other day to ask if youve been working on anything new.

I am delighted to see what youve been up to.

I love this game and it looks just like the arcade......funny, i was actually going to suggest this game in the peddlers thread.

You can add me to the list most definately.

I would like to purchase this straight from you....

And dont forget to sign the back of the cart for me like last time.

MERRY CHRISTMAS BOB. :)

Edited by Stun Runner 87
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