Jaynz Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 I'm not entirely sure how to start this up except by saying "In the early part of 2014, I want to make KC Munchkin for the Atari 7800". Even though I am an experienced game developer, there is one amazing caveat to this - I haven't touched assembly programming in over 15 years now and I've never done Atari programming at all. This is going to be a major part-time learning exercise for me, but I want to give it a go, and also have this thread up not just to show progress, but maybe show what jumping into 7800 development is like. So every single step of this learning exercise will be on this thread! So why KC Munchkin? KC Munchkin has the dubious distinction of both making and breaking the Magnavox Odyssey2 console. It was an unusual but very well done Pac-Man clone that caused quite a few early gamers to have a brief flirtation with the system, before Atari declared that it was TOO good of a clone and got the game (the only truly successful Odyssey game out there) pulled from shelves. So it's a natural choice for nostalgic reasons. Secondly, I've made plenty of Pac-Man clones of my own over the years (though usually in C or Pascal), so I already know most of the gaming logic required. (How to turn this into ASM is a completely different story, of course.) It's also a fairly simple clone, with few bells and whistles other than the crude maze editor (which will be the biggest challenge, I predict) and a high-score table (yes, XM feature here). The basic formula of eating dots, running from monsters, clear the maze, is still present. KC Munchkin plays mostly like PacMan with the primary difference of the moving dots. There are only 12 of these dots (8 regular, 4 energizers) and they start off in the corners, then slowly move in the maze. The dots increase in speed as you eat more of them until they move at KC's own pace. The three monsters, for their part, are very similar to their Pac-man equivalents, though they don't have a monster-pen per se to move into. Lastly, there is a single square in the maze (where the monsters start) that 'rotates' its wall. That's basically the game in a nutshell. So.. next step... starting up the design and finding a good assembler package to work under Windows! 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Trebor Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Very, very, cool and looking forward to this one - both the development aspect/journal and the end product. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhcocker Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 I won't be able to contribute much, but I'll be following this closely. Looking forward to the next update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theredlineboss Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 I'll definitely be watching this, as I have been hoping for this or KC's crazy chase to be made for another system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gambler172 Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Every new game is welcome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bikeguychicago Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Weren't you also able to design your own mazes with the Odyssey keyboard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SabertoothRetro Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I'll definitely be watching this one. I loved playing KC on my cousin's O2 growing up. Do you intend to update the graphics to take advantage of the hardware? Similar to the graphical improvements that Imagic made to their games across platforms? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
famicommander Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I still play both KC games on my O2. I'll be watching this project with intereset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BydoEmpire Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I still play both KC games on my O2. I'll be watching this project with intereset. Ditto! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaynz Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 I'll definitely be watching this one. I loved playing KC on my cousin's O2 growing up. Do you intend to update the graphics to take advantage of the hardware? Similar to the graphical improvements that Imagic made to their games across platforms? The answer is.. "I don't know". That may sound like a cop-out but I'm not really sure what I can do yet or what all's going into it. I've gathered a ton of resources on the game, and just started looking over Bob's released code to see what I'm getting into. You'll have to understand that just getting KC Munchkin himself drawn on the screen will mark an accomplishment for me at this point. As time goes on, I'll be more comfortable making promises and projections. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAC-MAN-RED Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 This will help you. illya 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydro Thunder Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Love the idea! Kind of miss my O2, my first game console. KC Munchkin, Pick Axe Pete, UFO, Monkey Shines, Quest for the Ring, all great stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Aren't most games 2K? I've always wondered if it was possible to write an O2 *emulator* for the 7800. Set up the display lists and drawing routines, use their character set, and drop the BIN into a specific area of memory and translate each instruction from 8048 to 6502 if possible (and map memory locations). Of course this is just a surface thought without any research, but if possible... AWESOME! Of course it would help to know how the O2 handles sprites and what internal routines would have to be rewritten... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaynz Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 Red > That will indeed help! The other thing I would need is the /official/ layout of the four mazes. I'm only getting screenshots of the first one. Pac > Possible, but your problem would be that so many cycles would be lost in the translation aspect that you would wind up with an O2 emulator running at 'one frame every few seconds' at best. There are tricks to speed up that issue, yes, but even the low-level code gets you four instructions emulated (on average) to every one on the O2. The 7800 just doesn't quite have the speed to soak that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAC-MAN-RED Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Red > That will indeed help! The other thing I would need is the /official/ layout of the four mazes. I'm only getting screenshots of the first one. You got it. The coloured brackets indicate what part of the wall disappears and goes this order: Red, Blue, Brown, Green 200x200px Atariage KC Munchkin Avatar if anyone wants it. Got bored, and because some one mentioned it *cough* atariLBC *cough*... I made a 12 colour version of the sprites. He's kinda scary with teeth. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bakasama Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I gotta say, the Munchkin looks so happy to greet his death. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaynz Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 If I go 12 color.. he won't look /quite/ as thrilled about finally being allowed to die. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bakasama Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 I got a question about the muncher AI. Do they use the same AI or do they have a more individual AI for each character? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+TrekMD Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 This is a cool idea. KC Munchkin is a fun game! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaynz Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share Posted January 3, 2014 I got a question about the muncher AI. Do they use the same AI or do they have a more individual AI for each character? Same AI. If you watch the vids, it's pretty frequent that they'll 'trace' over one another for long stretches - indicating similar AI routines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bakasama Posted January 3, 2014 Share Posted January 3, 2014 So they have like the ghosts' AI of the 2600 Pac-Man then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Classic Pac Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 This whole idea has me smiling from ear to ear, way to go!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devas Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 What a great idea! I love KC Munchkin and KC's Crazy Chase and I'm a fan of the Magnavox Odyssey 2. I would like to see a port of Killer Bees! too. That game is awesome. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 I *love* that you are going to pull this off. If I can be of any help, let me know. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timdu Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 Has anyone seen and played the game K.C.'s Crazy Nightmare! By: John A. Reder? It's for the Atari 2600. Kind of cool. Sort of like a cross between KC Munchkin and Berzerk The story: K.C. has found himself trapped in a Atari 2600 system along with some enslaved O2 zombies! The Atari system maze is deadly, he cannot touch the maze walls, if he does his 02 code will mix with the 2600 code and destroy him! Check it out @ http://tacticalneuronics.com/content/KCsCrazyNightmare.asp Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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