Titan Axe Beta

[+atari2600land]

Thank you Atari2600land! And, I like your movie. I wonder, is he's fixing his hair in the mirror or sprouting horns? I noticed afterwards he goes on the offensive and actually begins to retaliate against the Space Rabbits! I like how the programming is being used for another medium other than gaming, and it's to good effect.

 

Not to totally derail this thread, I noticed when I began making the game, that celery has a curved shape. After he got part of his head chopped off by going through the too-short exit, he's just growing his slight chopped off part back. Not that actual celery can do that, I just thought it was an interesting idea to implement.

 

@RT - I didn't know that! I thought you would have to actually download it in order for it to count as a download.

[Papa]

One thing celery can do (other than make you lose weight rapidly by costing more calories to chew/digest than it actually contains) is absorb colors and change colors, much like a chameleon, only a vegetable!! Mayhaps a color change by jumping in a pool or possibly a puddle of purple Space Rabbit blood could do this, if only for a short time! I understand what you mean now, about the head chopping thing. Only minor instances of vampire celery regrowing parts have been documented as far as I know..

 

..It doesn't hurt too bad to derail a thread where the only comments are by people ,who don't even like the genre of the game in question, belittling and badgering it for minor cosmetic devices when it is obviously one of the best looking 2600 games of all time (*TOOOOOOOT of one's own horn!!) (*patta pat pat on ones own shoulder)!

 

I love my own game and play it a LOT!

Edited February 26, 2015 by Papa

[Rhomaios]

Just a test, I downloaded it twice and the number went up each time. You just have to refresh each time to see the change.

 

Papa, do you have a video of the gameplay?

[Papa]

Yes. I sent it to Albert here at AA and he said it looked great! Minor changes have been made since then, but it looks basically the same. I'm hoping to publish the finished game here in the Atari Age store. I may need to post a video of it so people might get an idea of how to play it.

[Papa]

I am currently uploading a brand new video of this game to my Youtube account which I will then link here for you all to get a better idea of how to play it and possibly spark some interest!!

[KevinMos3]

I really like your sprites. Since this is a beta, I look forward to seeing what else you do with it. It looks interesting, although I'm not sure I completely understand what's happening at times. I'll definitely check out your video once you post it. I'd say, great work so far. I think it looks pretty impressive for bB without DPC+.

 

Oh, one more thing... I'd suggest an option to toggle off the background music/noise. Maybe one of the difficulty switches would be suitable for that.

Edited February 26, 2015 by KevinMos3

[Papa]

Here's the vid..I'll consider making a way to turn off and on music..

 

http://youtu.be/TnAgjC150bU

 

 

..also, I know the music is a bit heavy, but I don't think there are any other 2600 games with a five song soundtrack (and no custom chips). I like to just turn on the title screen and push and hold a direction to hear a song. The title song (through several levels) is my favorite, though.

 

The reason for not using DPC+ is that I have read it is harder to get onto an actual cartridge. I want this game to be able to be produced as an actual Atari game. Most of my games will be 32K bankswitched!

 

This game has 64 screens (nine levels), several animated backgrounds (a waterfall, lava falling, a giant flying eagle, a giant turtle, a huge Mayan styled head with blinking eyes, a pyramid with an all seeing eye blinking, etc..), a five song soundtrack, two playable characters, fully animated sprites, two interchangeable difficulty levels, a pause feature with zoom and music, full screen animated 'summon' attacks, and you get to free cute little fairies!!

Edited February 26, 2015 by Papa

[ZackAttack]

After watching the video I can see that I was mistaking the magic sequence for a crash. Sorry for the confusion.

 

..It doesn't hurt too bad to derail a thread where the only comments are by people ,who don't even like the genre of the game in question, belittling and badgering it for minor cosmetic devices when it is obviously one of the best looking 2600 games of all time (*TOOOOOOOT of one's own horn!!) (*patta pat pat on ones own shoulder)!

 

I love my own game and play it a LOT!

 

It sounds like you're more interested in having people praise your game than having honest feedback that may allow you to improve the game further. For the record, I don't care for all the screen flashing either. In fact it's the main reason I thought the game was crashing. I'm glad you love your game and I hope many others will enjoy it also.

 

Basic without DPC+ really limits the visual effects. Have you considered trying to write the next game in assembly to make it look even better than this one?

[Papa]

Show me one single game for the 2600 that has graphics as big, as colorful, or as animated as this one! I am seeking praise, criticism, and possibly some advice from people who enjoy this type of game. If you already don't like these types of games I don't see how it should matter to me! If your not going to play or buy it then it's just a gripe and sits low with my considerations.

 

How many games have you seen written in DPC+?

 

DPC+ isn't really that much better than 32K bankswitched, in my opinion. You have to locate and define your sprites, regardless. You can make similar effects without DPC+! I have done demos showing all of the characters from Titan Axe at once on the screen with considerable flickering. If I wanted to show a character explode with DPC+ I would have to locate the sprite and single it out as an explosion animation, whereas with one enemy character at a time the sprite is easily replaced. The game wouldn't really look any better graphically with DPC+ unless I went up to 64K or higher (this would allow for more sprites only, and their look, size, and colors would still have the same limitations) and that would limit my ability to put the game on a cartridge!

 

I've considered all of these things before programming. My original Titan Axe used much larger enemy sprites and I ran out of memory rapidly! Enemies are now zoomed using the hardware to squeeze in as many as are there to begin with. To mirror enemies too many times will cause flicker no matter what kernel you use, as will more exclusive sprites, regardless. I plan on playing around more with DPC+ in the future, but I don't find the fact that it doesn't allocate a specific x,y for the extra sprites (which are really mirrored memory) to be very helpful for the type of game I'm making. The need to locate the sprite to effect it's animation costs more RAM. DPC+ uses the entire first bank and is harder to put on a cartridge than 32K bankswitched, plain and simple!

 

If I'm going to program from assembly up, I'll probably use a system like the Coco3 or something like that.

 

One of my favorite games, and one of the best games ever designed for the 2600, Princess Rescue, was made with Batari Basic and helped to inspire me to program using this method. It's plenty good for programming excellent games!

Edited February 26, 2015 by Papa

[+Random Terrain]

How many games have you seen written in DPC+?

If you mean batari Basic DPC+, the info for it wasn't added to the bB page until 2013. Around the same time, RevEng started fixing bugs and adding more features, so we've only had the shiny new fixed up version of the batari Basic DPC+ kernel for less than 2 years.

 

If you mean DPC+ games that have nothing to do with batari Basic, I think Frantic, Space Rocks, Stay Frosty 2, and Draconian are all DPC+ games.

 

 

 

 

The game wouldn't really look any better graphically with DPC+ unless I went up to 64K or higher (this would allow for more sprites only, and their look, size, and colors would still have the same limitations) . . .

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your post, but batari Basic DPC+ sprites can be more detailed since they are all multicolored single-height sprites. Regular multicolored batari Basic sprites are double-height (meaning each row is thicker, so you get less detail). A batari Basic DPC+ sprite can look as good as an Imagic or Activision sprite. And if you have enough vertical space between the DPC+ sprites, there is no flicker, so that's always a nice thing to know.

 

The batari Basic DPC+ kernel also lets you have a multicolored background and a multicolored foreground at the same time, along with a higher resolution, so you could create screens that are so detailed and beautiful that it would make people drop to their knees and cry. Then it wouldn't have that "blocky batari Basic look" that some people complain about.

 

Here's an example of a DPC+ work in progress that doesn't have the infamous batari Basic look:

 

Satan's Hollow

[Kiwi]

The sprite work do looks and animate great. I really like getting the satisfaction of shattering my foe into bit and pieces. I recognize the turtle village and the turtle from Golden Ax.

It pretty hard to tell what the bar on the bottom of the screen suppose to tell you. I think you can use the score kernel as graphic representation of the hero's life bar boxes [] [] []. Or the left status box as health,and right status box as magic meter. And I think health should be drop a tad more often as the enemies are random.

If doing the graphication of health box I would make it, like this.

BITMAP "........"
BITMAP "XXXXXXX."
BITMAP "X.....X."
BITMAP "X..X.XX."
BITMAP "X.X.X.X."
BITMAP "X..X.XX."
BITMAP "XXXXXXX."
BITMAP "........"

And that dragon magic animation is great.

[Papa]

I personally think my game looks WAYYY better than Satans Hollow! Just my opinion, of course, but there is no framed animation, there are sprites hovering around, mirroring each other, and a missile! I like the background and how much detail there is, but I don't think that having lines or double pixels sets back my game at all! All it really does is free up RAM so more can be put in.

Of course I was referring to BB games with DPC+, but honestly.. my game is totally different than most Atari style games. It's not the dot, it's how you use it. I think that DPC+ has it's merits, but I still see that all the extra sprites are copies (still can be done with other kernels), and that every sprite flickers when intersecting the same horizontal line as another sprite.

I would not consider Princess Rescue to be infamous due to it's BB design, or several other games I've seen using this delightful programming environment. I've tried using mirroring and found that the flickering offsets the graphics of the enemy to a degree where it seems off. I like that there is a sense of one-on-one warrior combat in my game and that there is no flickering. These were things I was looking for when designing my game.

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH KIWI!!

 

I was wondering if anyone here has ever played a game like Golden Axe to compare it to mine!

 

Thank you very much for your kind words!

 

I had considered using the healthbox you suggested or omitting the health bar altogether, as it adds a bit of mystery as to how things are going as you progress!

Edited February 26, 2015 by Papa

[Papa]

I like your health box sprite, too! When I first designed the levels I wanted there to be no real indicators as to health or status, but placed the generic binary representation to have something to follow as I tested the game.

 

A health bar sounds like a great idea, though!

[+atari2600land]

I think you should get the yellow flash thing worked out. Sometimes something may look perfect on an emulator, but the screen on a real Atari 2600 may jitter when it happens.

[Papa]

Yes, there is a jitter or two on a couple of screens (I think three screens..two on level 5 and one on level 3) due to the timing being taxed rather heavily.

I have worked out a couple of these and am figuring out ways (other than an earthquake sound effect) to bust the jitters.

I have thoroughly tested this game from the beginning on a Fat Sixer, a 4-Switcher, a 7800, and, more recently, a Gemini. Also on Z2600 on an XBOX, and Stella.

 

I have noticed that this is a timing issue and has happened even before I put the yellow damage flash effect in the game. My wife likes the yellow flash. It used to be a longer duration and the character was knocked down longer (like in the game over screen), but I thought it chopped up the playtime and so I sped things up a bit. I think it's possible that a couple of clear-screen commands may help to pick off the small amount of jittering I've seen on those couple of screens.

 

If you've seen more jitters than on the two screens before the giant stone bat or during the lava stage then please point them out to me!

 

There are also rare instances where right after you defeat an enemy it will accelerate you to the next screen automatically. I am also working out that bug, as this is Beta!

 

Thank you giant banana!

[+Random Terrain]

I have thoroughly tested this game from the beginning on a Fat Sixer, a 4-Switcher, a 7800, and, more recently, a Gemini. Also on Z2600 on an XBOX, and Stella.

Speaking of Stella, have you also checked the scanline count using the "The Faster, Easier Way" or one of the other ways?

 

atariage.com/forums/topic/181081-keeping-track-of-the-scanline-count-with-stella/

 

I use the "The Faster, Easier Way" when testing games and Stella jumps to the debugger on your 'game over' screen. I didn't play it long enough to see if any other parts of the game go over 262.

[Papa]

Oh, I'm sure it keeps regular most of the time. It plays fine on the actual systems and in Stella without the debugger in front, so I'm not too worried about it. I use the debugger to check on my game and am aware that it goes about at the regular scanline count most times, yes..

 

..I use the Fast, on the Fly way.

 

Stella has been an extremely useful tool in creating games with this system. I couldn't have done it without her!

 

I have, however, considered doing all of this work in DOS.

Edited February 26, 2015 by Papa

[Papa]

Well, I've officially had a post deleted from this forum with no explanation why. It was an extremely informative post and it is really pi$$ing me off that someone couldn't have just edited it (with the authority of an admin that would have been easy..) or, at the very least, explained to me why it was deleted. I can see that seeking maturity enough to care about the truth is not something for a forum like this. I check my facts quite well and am certain that I wasn't overstepping any boundaries. I think someone just wanted to hurt me and that's what they did.

 

I will be working on my games and probably avoiding the forum as a tool for communication as the truth really has very little place being expressed here. I can see that if it's enough truth to rouse anyone at all it's as likely to be deleted without explanation.

 

On the note of DPC+..

 

You still are restricted to the last bank for graphics data, so my sprites would all have to be redrawn to use DPC+. All of my sprites would take up much more RAM and so the number of different sprites I have in my game would go down. The amount of graphics in my game use up the entire graphics bank (the last bank in a bankswitched game). To lose nearly the entire first bank, have to double the amount of RAM each sprite and the backgrounds take up, and redraw the entire game from scratch to use the DPC+ kernel would likely make it impossible to make this game!

 

I think that having multiple sprites is important to push the Atari up to the standards expected in more modern games, and the type of games people need to try for also has to advance along with this. I understand that making a pong-like game or a combat-like game using BB might be what it was originally intended for. I think the environment can do a lot more. DPC+ is proof that sharper graphics and more sprites are a possibility with the system, however, the memory constraints will always hinder what can be done. If all graphics data resides in the last bank and once that bank is full you are out of graphics, then DPC+ will still have limits as to how big or advanced a game can be on this system.

 

..I really wish I would have saved that post. I've read posts about giving Nintendo carts blowjobs on this forum and to have a ultra-informative post deleted, as this was, is a sign that if people are jealous of you or are just looking for a reason to single you out or hurt you then all they have to do is complain. I'm sure someone could find a reason to delete many of the comments on this forum if they wanted to single someone out. Many off topic posts are made regularly.

 

I will be finishing up this game soon, and I am beginning to feel that it was a mistake to post it for download, as that may have had a more positive impact for me in the long run. There are people who do their homework (like me), and there are twisted people who pick, poke and prod at things they don't understand or just don't want to read or hear. I would have expected a forum of computer enthusiasts and programmers to be more lighthearted and even be appreciative of the learned, but it just seems to be graced by a lot of immature people that don't read and care very little about the truth.

Edited February 28, 2015 by Papa

[+Random Terrain]

I've had posts deleted in the past. You learn to get over it and move along. Not a big deal in the long run. Was it deleted from the batari Basic forum? Are you sure it was deleted and it wasn't just the forum software screwing up and not even posting it to begin with? A lot of us have learned over the years to copy a post before hitting the Post button in case the forum software eats it.

 

About DPC+, I wish the stack could have been converted to variables. That wouldn't help with the space for graphics, but it would help me have enough variables to make the type of games I've been waiting to create. Right now, if we want a bunch of extra variables, we have to use Superchip RAM. If I had the 10 multicolored sprites and detailed playfield of the DPC+ kernel and the extra variables from Superchip RAM, my brain would explode from joy overload.

[Mountain King]

Good Game Papa, I have a little difficulty in seeing whats going on and how to do the particular moves. But when i do, its pretty fun. A minor note, i'm not sure you health bar is displaying properly.

[Papa]

The bar is binary and only to help in the final stages of programming. It will be chopped off when the game is finished. I have used basically (he, he) all the RAM that can be used for graphics, so a graphical counter is not possible at this stage. I will be posting an updated version of Titan Axe later with some changes!

 

Thanks again for saying my game is fun. I really love it. If you pay close attention most of the details explain themselves, although to add some mystery to it isn't bad.

 

The Dwarf is rolling back and forth while popping up with his axe. This can seem a bit confusing, I guess.

The Valkyrie is spinning and hacking in two directions.

 

The moves are as follows..

 

Hold down plus action to do a special move

Hold up and action to use magic (this uses some life force)

Hold left or right and action to perform an attack

Hold action to jump

While jumping use left or right to go in that direction

Letting go of action in mid jump does a jump attack

 

Combining these attacks creates a combo effect that knocks back the enemy and eventually destroys them.

[ZackAttack]

On the screen where the throwing stars fly at you, are they supposed to pass you without hurting you if you're slashing away at them?

[Papa]

Magic can destroy them or move you one screen past them, or they will miss you by standing in the foreground (the bottom of the screen). If you are high enough up the screen they will hit you. Slashing at them while they are within striking level will not prevent them from hitting you. This is a type of emulated collision detection, otherwise the stars would unrealistically hit the top of your head and hurt you when you are in what would appear to be the foreground. The same rules apply for enemies. If you are below an enemy and they swing or lash out they will miss you as you will them. The rules apply to a greater degree in the foreground and as you move into the background the enemies will have an easier time hitting you. This allows a sense of dimension that imitates the playfield of more advanced games, although it is flawed in that the background opens up the character to easier attacks. If you start the screen by moving upward ,and thus setting the enemy on a path upward to intersect, you can then lower yourself rapidly and dodge an attack even though the two sprites are actually colliding. The enemy will then scoot down the screen to try and attack, and once they are close enough the hit will happen. Magic also has the benefit of driving the enemy back to their starting X coordinate after use, getting them off of your back, so to speak.

 

My latest revision, which I will post soon, has an updated Game Over screen, some graphical upgrades to certain backgrounds, more magic uses (making the game easier), and some other minor alterations. Eventually, if all things go as planned, the jitters on three screens in levels four and five will be gone and there will be different types of magic effects in addition to the present ones. The dragon may come in from the side rather than above and other alterations. The lightning may crisscross and have other effects, based on the characters stamina. Magic can be used to transport to the next screen, eliminate projectiles and damage or defeat enemies. Based on the weakness of an enemy when used, you may go to the next screen as an added bonus. If you use magic on a screen where the enemy is defeated it will usually take you to the next screen and subtly damage the next enemy.

 

RIDE THE LIGHTNING!!

Edited March 2, 2015 by Papa

[TrekMD]

I just downloaded this to give it a try.

[Papa]

I've uploaded a newer Beta with some pretty big upgrades!

 

99% screen jittering fixed

More color on certain backgrounds

Sound effects changed or quieted

Enemy knock-back improved

Warp animation changed/improved

Certain animated backgrounds improved (sped up or altered)

More magic uses (game is a LOT easier now)

Continue on easy sends character back some (more challenging, less repetitive)

Binary bar removed (less confusion)

Game ending (on hard) "THANKS" is now fixed so there is no mixed color from top row

Game Over screen is improved

 

My download counter is now reset so download a BUNCH so it looks slightly popular again!

 

Please download from the first post of this topic!

 

Sincerely,

The Spanish Potato

 

The final changes of the game will be kept a secret and will be found only on the store copy of Titan Axe!

Edited March 4, 2015 by Papa