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A New Marauder


Carpenter

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Hi folks

I have been working on a hack, along with my friend HSW3ET (Leandro Camara), called "A New Marauder". It is a tribute to 1982 Tiger Vision's Marauder, a game that always caught our attention and we thought it could have been a more fun and challenger game.
We spent some (a lot of) time developing new graphics and gameplay, according to our vision, polishing it and designing printed materials that we hope to be of interest to collectors and other players like us.
A New Marauder is the first release of a series and it would be a pleasure to partner up with other game developers who have created quality VCS2600 games and would like to release them in the brazilian market with our help.
If you want to know more about the game and our initiative (which we call More Work Games), please visit us in the following website: www.morework.com.br
We hope you enjoy!
Carpenter (Darcio Prestes)
ANM-AA-640.jpg
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Question: Are Planeta Provoado, Lua de Transmissao, Planeta Usina, Lua de Extracao separate areas in the same game?

 

They all appear to share the same engine. It's kind of like a mix of Berserk and Adventure, with some Metroid like exploration space areas going on. Sorry for the language barrier. I hope the manual is both in English and Portuguese.

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Question: Are Planeta Provoado, Lua de Transmissao, Planeta Usina, Lua de Extracao separate areas in the same game?

 

They all appear to share the same engine. It's kind of like a mix of Berserk and Adventure, with some Metroid like exploration space areas going on. Sorry for the language barrier. I hope the manual is both in English and Portuguese.

 

Yes, they're separate areas, they're, say, "separate games" if you like. icon_winking.gif

 

I'm not sure, but I think there's an English manual as well.

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The game itself looks nice and pretty large. Can you provide some more details about it?

Sure, Thomas!
The full game is composed actually by four copies that are selected during console on/off cycles, each copy being a different planet. The original game is 4k but this version was expanded to 16k on each planet.
It uses a bankswitching scheme that is triggered by HW states, not SW instructions, so it will not work properly on emulators unless they are patched to simulate this behavior.
VCS2600 console is the only way to have complete gameplay it at this moment. No assembly and no bB where used to make this game, only bit twiddling by direct manipulation of binaries.

Talking about gameplay, you can find it in the video posted above by Marcus and in our YouTube channel. Please note that you can select up to 4 different levels of difficulty on each planet so you can make the game harder to play than it is shown, if you want.

 

The printed material can be checked at our website. There is a lot of pictures and non-technical information there.

 

Thanks for asking! :-)

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Different game every time I power on? You've sold me. Purchased! ;-)

 

Direct eBay link for anyone interested:

 

I'm always curious about electronics so It would be nice to know a bit about how the power toggle circuit works, being that the VCS has no hardware reset like later consoles. Presumably if enough time passes between power cycles, the regesters will reenergize to a seudo-random state that tends to vary from one chip to the next. I assume persistence or a counter increments the game?

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Question: Are Planeta Provoado, Lua de Transmissao, Planeta Usina, Lua de Extracao separate areas in the same game?

 

They all appear to share the same engine. It's kind of like a mix of Berserk and Adventure, with some Metroid like exploration space areas going on. Sorry for the language barrier. I hope the manual is both in English and Portuguese.

 

Yes, you can think of separate planets being on the same game engine.

 

The Manual is in Portuguese, as the game was intended to be released in the brazilian market, but there is an English guide to the user manual that translates every single information provided, so you won't be left in the dark.

 

Check our website for complete information, once it has an English version too.

 

 

english-guide.jpg

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Different game every time I power on? You've sold me. Purchased! icon_winking.gif

 

Direct eBay link for anyone interested:

 

I'm always curious about electronics so It would be nice to know a bit about how the power toggle circuit works, being that the VCS has no hardware reset like later consoles. Presumably if enough time passes between power cycles, the regesters will reenergize to a seudo-random state that tends to vary from one chip to the next. I assume persistence or a counter increments the game?

 

Thanks for the purchase, Kosmic Stardust! The ATARI VCS2600 scene really appreciates your business! :-)

 

You are right, the game cartridge saves the planet selected for a certain period of time while the power is off! A counter is in charge of changing them!

Edited by Carpenter
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Sure, Thomas!

Thanks a lot.

 

The full game is composed actually by four copies that are selected during console on/off cycles, each copy being a different planet. The original game is 4k but this version was expanded to 16k on each planet.

So in total 64K, right?

 

It uses a bankswitching scheme that is triggered by HW states, not SW instructions, so it will not work properly on emulators unless they are patched to simulate this behavior.

If you plan to release the ROM (fingers crossed), you should contact Stephen Anthony, so that he can add support to Stella. And maybe it will work on the Encore cart too, so you should talk to batari too.

 

VCS2600 console is the only way to have complete gameplay it at this moment. No assembly and no bB where used to make this game, only bit twiddling by direct manipulation of binaries.

Ah, so this is more or less an extended hack of the original, right? Would it work to split the ROM into 4 parts?

 

BTW#1: Have you created the packaging all on your own in Brazil? Looks great! icon_thumbsup.gif

BTW#2: The LG TV looks fancy! icon_smile.gif

Edited by Thomas Jentzsch
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Thanks a lot.

You are welcome :-)

 

So in total 64K, right?

Right.

 

If you plan to release the ROM (fingers crossed), you should contact Stephen Anthony, so that he can add support to Stella. And maybe it will work on the Encore cart too, so you should talk to batari too.

Good suggestion. Sure we gonna contact these folks in the case of releasing, but that's not planned for now for several reasons.

 

Ah, so this is more or less an extended hack of the original, right?

Think of a super-mega-extended tribute with great value added :-)

 

Would it work to split the ROM into 4 parts?

Technically yes, but you'd ruin the gameplay. I have discussed this BS technique somewhere else in the forum.

 

BTW#1: Have you created the packaging all on your own in Brazil? Looks great! icon_thumbsup.gif

Thanks! This have been a four hands hard work for at least two years. Actually all the graphics were designed by HSW3ET who is IMHO extremely talented.

 

BTW#2: The LG TV looks fancy! icon_smile.gif

This TV set was released in Brazil some years ago as a limited edition. It even contains the designer's signature! I Like it :-)

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No ROM, huh? Well, I suppose I'll have to save my money.

Hi Lauren!

 

I know that this may be frustrating but it is not technically possible to run the ROM in emulators.

 

I encourage you to watch the gameplay video on YouTube to see it for yourself.

 

We have been distributing the game in Brazil since last Christmas (Dec 15) and we are getting good reviews, for both the game and printed materials!

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Thanks for the purchase, Kosmic Stardust! The ATARI VCS2600 scene really appreciates your business! :-)

 

You are right, the game cartridge saves the planet selected for a certain period of time while the power is off! A counter is in charge of changing them!

So there's like a big capacitor in there holding the charge while the power switch is toggled? Neat idea.

 

There were some NES multicart repros made based around a similar concept, ie four SMB hacks on a cart or whatever, that used the Reset switch to change the game instead of a boot menu. These generally had oversized EPROMs installed and a counter that got it's clock from the Reset line of the lockout chip. The counter altered the most significant bits of the EPROM essentially changing the game whenever the user hit Reset. Some of these carts did not operate correctly on toploaders or Famicoms though which lacked lockout circuitry.

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How that?

 

Thomas, every single piece of material used is brand new, including the white case that was manufactured (injected) exclusively for us. It has the classic shape of some cartridge cases manufactured during the 80's in Brazil and it resembles the Xänte style.

 

(even the cover screws are new :-)

 

white-case.jpg

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