Homebrew: J.Ö.R.G.E.N

[Slaytanic]

There was this huge retro gaming expo in Gothenburg, Sweden today and i meet this cool indie dev that had made an awesome Atari 2600 game for the expo. I found it incredible addictive and told him he had to post it here, which he made note of, i appologize in advace if i'm stepping on any toes but i just gotta share this sweet game like right now. It was posted on Daniel Remar's twitter feed a couple weeks ago so i feel free to share it with you all. If Daniel reads this, please respond, i belive there's alot of people that wanna thank you for this wonderfull game.

 

By the way, yeah.. that's J.Ö.R.G.E.N with an "O" with two dots over the letter, we're swedish god damn it.

 

 

 

The game is made to be played in NTSC mode, I played it on a Atari 2600 Junior powered by a Harmony card. The superb looking cover made for J.Ö.R.G.E.N (i didn't take any pictures unfortunately) are made by steamgear and could be found here: http://steamgear.deviantart.com/art/The-Atari-2600-covers-451820185

 

The other covers seems to be for other new homebrew games by other authors, i dunno if they have been posted on here but they are mentioned on Daniel Remars Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/reallyremar

 

Description from the read me:

 

The game is made to be played in NTSC mode

 

STORY
-----------------------

 

Piloting the lightning-fast SIV, you have entered J.Ö.R.G.E.N.'s dimension in an attempt to stop its terrible creatures from invading Earth. Collect the SUPER BOMBS to destroy your enemies, dodge the deadly raining LASER PLATES and face off with J.Ö.R.G.E.N. itself in the amazing finale!

GAMEPLAY
-----------------------

 

Collect the yellow SUPER BOMB to defeat your enemy and advance to the next level. Avoid the falling LASER PLATES and ENEMIES.

Hold down the joystick button to TURBO BOOST. Boosting is the key to victory!

You get an extra life when you're halfway to J.Ö.R.G.E.N., and another if you manage to defeat it. Each time you complete the game, the LASER PLATES will fall faster. After clearing the game three times, the enemies will be randomized and you get no more extra lives.

After losing a life, you will restart on the far side of the screen. Don't worry, you will never restart underneath a falling LASER PLATE. When all your lives are lost, the game is over.

Note: There is a short delay before you can restart the game after getting a Game Over.

 

DOWNLOAD LINK (from Daniel Remars web page, http://remar.se/daniel) : www.remar.se/daniel/misc/jorgen.zip

 

If i succeed there should be a attached file in this very post as well.

 

jorgen.zipjorgen.zip

[+Random Terrain]

Maybe he'll make a version that doesn't have a flashing screen. I don't get high on drugs, so the flashing doesn't make me goo my pants.

[Slaytanic]

Off to get high and play some Tempest 2000 or TxK.

[+TrekMD]

Cool, something to check out.

[high voltage]

Great, many thx

[mkiker2089]

I like the flashing screen in this one.

[Remar]

Hi, I'm the maker of the game who talked to Slaytanic at Retrospelsmässan yesterday. We made three games for the fair; Mattias made Questforge and Anton made Atarena, but I don't think the latter has been posted here.

 

I've updated the download with a version of the game without screen flashing (I just commented out the color-cycling stuff).

[+Random Terrain]

I've updated the download with a version of the game without screen flashing (I just commented out the color-cycling stuff).

Thanks. Now my eyeballs don't feel like they are being molested.

[Mr SQL]

Cool game Remar, challenging gameplay! I like the flashing effect, makes you feel the character being hit.

[Slaytanic]

Hi Remar, nice meeting you.. And very nice of you to make a version without any flashing. Please tell your mates to post their games as well. Some other guy which i belive was your buddy talked about C64 dev, please send me a PM and we can talk more about that.

 

I've submitted the game to highscore.com (still not in the database tho) and look forward to compete with all the Atari freaks over there.

Edited May 4, 2014 by Slaytanic

[mkiker2089]

I understand where Random is coming from but in this case I strongly disagree.

 

I don't remember which video it was in but the AVGN talked about how the flashing screen if used well can make even the most mundane game action seem like an event.

 

Here's a question. Could the color / BW switch be used to disable flashing?

[+Random Terrain]

I don't remember which video it was in but the AVGN talked about how the flashing screen if used well can make even the most mundane game action seem like an event.

That's like believing that lens flare and shaky cam can make the most boring movie exciting.

[mkiker2089]

Actually shaky cam does have a use if it's to show perspective. Shaky cam coming up to a window for example can imply that an intruder is approaching. It's the over use that makes it annoying. I think it's similar with screen flash. You've developed a pet peeve about it because of previous overuse. Yars Revenge for example would probably have you throwing things through a wall.

 

In this game however I think it fits because each time you touch the object it resets the playfield. Removing it makes the game feel unfinished to me. Imagine a pac man game where the maze didn't redraw or a 1 screen Donkey Kong where Jumpman just simply teleports back to the first of the stage. It's very unsatisfying. We won't ever agree on this however but I did want to explain it a little more than my one sentence above. Artistically there have to be exceptions to every rule.

[+Random Terrain]

In this game however I think it fits because each time you touch the object it resets the playfield. Removing it makes the game feel unfinished to me. Imagine a pac man game where the maze didn't redraw or a 1 screen Donkey Kong where Jumpman just simply teleports back to the first of the stage. It's very unsatisfying. We won't ever agree on this however but I did want to explain it a little more than my one sentence above. Artistically there have to be exceptions to every rule.

A flashing screen always hurts my eyes, unless the change in brightness isn't as extreme. For example, if the screen is black, the programmer could try flashing a sequence of dark colors. Another alternative is to use a multicolored screen, then quickly send a strip of light color from top to bottom when the object is touched and that shouldn't hurt anybody's eyes.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

I think the flashing is well used and adds to the game. Yes, flashing for the sake of flashing is annoying to us all and I understand that rapid color cycling affects some people more than others, but in this case removing it is a definitely detriment to the game.

[maiki]

If people played on portable CRT TVs, flashing would be OK with everyone...

[mkiker2089]

Playing with the room lights on may be the issue. You shouldn't watch TV in a dark room without some sort of ambient light preferably from the back. It damages your iris over time and leads to macular degeneration.

[+Random Terrain]

Playing with the room lights on may be the issue. You shouldn't watch TV in a dark room without some sort of ambient light preferably from the back. It damages your iris over time and leads to macular degeneration.

 

I always have my light on.

[Mr SQL]

RT,

are you playing on a classic CRT or another type of Television? I find the effect is much better on phosphor, though I realise from prior conversations it may still not be acceptable for you.

[+KaeruYojimbo]

Before the thread gets completely hijacked, I just want to say the game is really fun.

[S.BAZ]

thanks Slaytanic for this post! I was interested when I saw your HS.com submission, but it wasn't a priority. I see what you mean, great game & nice job Remar!

 

just to add my comment I don't find the flashing in this game very bad, and makes a nice effect in the game. but I've never been really sensitive to that & I know flashing can be stressful to the eyes & brain. the only game that hurts to me is Challenge of… NEXAR. I had to limit my playing of that when we played it in the HSC. the instruction manual actually warns you not to play it!

[Remar]

Please tell your mates to post their games as well. Some other guy which i belive was your buddy talked about C64 dev, please send me a PM and we can talk more about that.

 

Sorry it took so long to get back to you. We do have a C64, and Mattias (maker of Questforge) might be interested in deving for it, but we don't have any further plans for it at the moment.