Champ Games - Mappy - 2600

[WizardBone]

The Atari is dreaming.
And we just stepped into that dream.
Because... how even
So beautiful!





Thanks for Xmas-eve gift!

[Nerf Herder73]

Wonderful!

[+Karl G]

That's amazing! I can't wait to see more progress on this.

[christo930]

Here's a sneak peek at the 2600 soundtrack:

 

 

Absolutely outstanding! If you can get this audio working with what has already been shown, it will be one of the most advanced games on a 2600! Great job.

[Gibstov]

Wow...this is pretty impressive. Can't wait until it is finished.

[+johnnywc]

Update:

 

I have spent some time focusing on the UI and made some pretty good progress:

- Added AtariAge splash screen (displays SAVEKEY FOUND if Atarivox/savekey is detected)
- Added prelim title screen including Mappy logo, copyright/ CHAMP GAMES and skill level (NOVICE, STANDARD, ADVANCED, EXPERT)
- Added the 'STARRING' screen that introduces Mappy, Goro and Meowky
- Added the high score screen. Displays TOP 5 for all 4 skill levels, including score, highest round reached (1-99) and up to 3 initials. Scores are not saved to Atarivox / Savekey yet
- Added UI controls:

• button on splash screen jumps to title screen
• button on title, starring and high scores resets game
• left/right selects skill level on title and high score
• RESET will always reset the game (UI and in-game)
• SELECT will select the skill level on title screen; return to title screen in all other cases
• PAUSE implemented (2600 & 7800 compatible)

- added game intro screen "NOW ON TO THE STORY"

- added game intro sequence (Mappy entering from right on level 1)

- added GAME OVER screen, including bouncing and running Meowkies

- added hi score entry if hi score is achieved. Current initial flashes; use left/right to change active initial, use up/down to change, button to accept

- added bonus level intro screen (STING balloons BEFORE music ENDS)

- added a timer to the bonus level screen

- added the bonus level results (EARNINGS) screen. Displays # of balloons popped (1-15), if the Goro balloon was popped, additional bonus if all balloons & Goro balloon is popped, plus the total

- added check for bonus score (first at 20,000, second at 50,000, and every 50,000 after that.

- cats speed up after HURRY timer expires

- added Mappy scoring 50 points for hitting a cat with a door

- added the 'coin' that appears approximately 30 seconds after the HURRY timer is shown.

• Cannot be captured by a microwave
• Kills Mappy on touch (doesn't have to be 'walking' like the Meowkies or Goro)
• Opens microwave doors (Meowky and Goro cannot). However, if any cats are caught in the microwave, the points are added to your score. Mappy cannot be caught in the microwave regardless

- SKILL level settings:

• 3 lives to start on ADVANCED and expert, 4 on STANDARD and 5 on NOVICE
• 3 cats (including GORO) on first NOVICE level, 4 on STANDARD, 5 on ADVANCED/EXPERT
• Goro hiding time increased for first 2 NOVICE rounds

- added prelim level difficulty ramping:

• Additional cats to start a level (this was implemented before, per the arcade)
• HURRY timer is shorter for each level (90 seconds on level 1, 42 seconds on level 16)
• Meowky, Goro, speed increase per level

- right difficulty A: scroll triggers are closer to the edge, causing longer but less frequent scrolling, but with less visibility. right difficulty B: scroll triggers are closer to the middle, keeping Mappy closer to the center of the screen. Shorter, more frequent scrolling but better horizontal visibility.

- plenty of other bug fixes (graphic glitches, etc).

There is still no sound but progress is being made. We hope to have this added in the next build.

Any feedback is appreciated!

Thanks,

John

mappy_20180124.bin

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I would like to test the scrolling a bit more, but those cats are a pain. Can you post a test version where I cannot die?

[+johnnywc]

I would like to test the scrolling a bit more, but those cats are a pain. Can you post a test version where I cannot die?

Here ya go; left difficulty A makes you invincible to cats, but you can still get killed by the coin or if you break a trampoline and hit the floor or fall through a trap.

 

Thanks!

John

mappy_20180124_p0.bin

[Jinroh]

Right on, can't wait to try this new build.

[uosipa llamxew]

It plays wonderfully!

 

Although I haven't played the arcade in quite some time, I used to play it regularly. Without digging MAME out to make a direct comparison, I still have to say this feels spot on!

 

Cheers!

[SS]

Unbelievable how good this has gotten so quickly. I am a longtime fan of Mappy and this feels just right. Can't wait to hear the sound fx!

[iesposta]

Game play! Wow. It's really Mappy. Top points for game play.

Graphics. Spectacular for the 2600. Top points for pixel art.

Color: Mappy is using lots of colors. Top points for color use.

Sound: No sound effects in current build.

Music: No music in current build. For its time, Mappy had background music the entire game, during introduction, long 1 1/2 minute tune in main game before it repeats, bonus rounds, even name entry.

 

 

The 2600 has 128 colors which consists of 16 colors with 8 brightness levels. Way before its time.

 

I don't know why companies and consumers were so against flickering the 2 "sprites".

Flickering is not really a deal-breaker for myself personally, partly because it allows more objects.

On real hardware it is not that bad considering that all those characters horizontally should flicker so terribly that it can't be played.

Sadly video and capture cards almost always show flickering way worse than it is in real life.

The camera doesn't take into account persistence of human vision and persistence of CRT television tubes.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Ok, I tested the scrolling and it feels odd to me. Both versions. The short scrolling is definitely too short. And the long scrolling triggers are sometimes too close to the edge.

 

Also the short sometimes scrolls a bit too far, so that you can trigger repeated back and forth scrolling. The scrolling should stop a bit before the trigger distance for the opposite direction.

 

And they both seem to scroll at fixed positions. Maybe this is the better option for a game like this, where the layout is fixed. Else I would suggest to trigger the scrolling freely, simply depending on the distance to the screen border.

 

Here is a simple example for the scrolling I mean (as used in Thrust and Boulder Dash):

if distance to screen border <= 40 pixel
  scroll until opposite screen border distance <= 48 pixel
; distance is measured from the center of Mappy

The result is:

• the start and stop points of the scrolling are variable
• the stop point is influenced by any movement Mappy during scrolling.
• since 48 > 40, Mappy has to move a bit into opposite direction before starting an opposite scroll
• if Mappy is not moving during scrolling, these values scroll 72 pixel (160 - 40 - 48), else the scroll may be larger or smaller.

40 and 48 are just random example values. Changing them allows fine tuning of visibility, scroll length, scroll frequency and opposite scrolling prevention.

Edited January 25, 2018 by Thomas Jentzsch

[TPR]

I was so impressed with this I had to make a video. This is already my favorite Atari 2600 homebrew!

[MemberAtarian]

Interesting, it can detect my tv type? I used it on an entirely PAL system, but it seemed complately fine.

[+SpiceWare]

Interesting, it can detect my tv type?

 

 

By using a timer on the ARM processor in the Harmony Cart / Melody Board, we can measure how long it takes to draw 1 frame from which we can determine if the console is NTSC, PAL or SECAM. You can read about that in blog entries menu's back in place and Progress on game screen.

 

I just did a test in Stella and it doesn't look like John's implemented that in Mappy.

 

NTSC:

 

PAL60:

[Tangentg]

Looks very nice! Seriously looking forward to this one. Not so much of a fan of the music though. It feels too mono (e.g. compare Juno First) and some bits seem off-pitch.

Edited January 25, 2018 by Tangentg

[+Nathan Strum]

Looks very nice! Seriously looking forward to this one. Not so much of a fan of the music though. It feels too mono (e.g. compare Juno First) and some bits seem off-pitch.

 

 

There's no music in the game yet.

[Tangentg]

I mean the one that was posted.i thought they were gonna use it in the game.

[Kiwi]

This game is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO awesome and I can't believe this is running on the Atari 2600.

 

One question. In Mappyland for the NES, you're able to push down on the dpad to go down earlier instead letting you go to the ceiling on the trampoline. Is the mechanic the same for the arcade version of Mappy? It's one way to shake off a cat if they are overlapping you.

[+Nathan Strum]

This game is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO awesome and I can't believe this is running on the Atari 2600.

 

One question. In Mappyland for the NES, you're able to push down on the dpad to go down earlier instead letting you go to the ceiling on the trampoline. Is the mechanic the same for the arcade version of Mappy? It's one way to shake off a cat if they are overlapping you.

 

 

Nope - you can jump off at any floor, but that's it. Could be a possible option for "Novice" though...

[imstarryeyed]

Wow just saw the video, amazing! I love Mappy and to think this version is 2600 and gives many of the other versions a run for their money. Champ games you are doing amazing! I bought Super Cobra and will be buying Scramble. Its crazy I play my games on an 7800 and have Bob's D's Scramble and it is so excellent, but I am looking forward to having Scramble on the 2600 just to see how you guys created alchemy!

 

Keep up the great amazing work!!!

[iesposta]

I mean the one that was posted.i thought they were gonna use it in the game.

 

Still unclear. (Seriously want to understand as I'm doing Mappy sound and music.)

Do you mean the DPC+ music in post #67, or the arcade's sound overlaid in post #88, or the fact that the latest demo posted has no sound?

 

Mappy seems to be "love it" or "hate it".

I understand that some just don't like gameplay with music, and some don't like scrolling like Mappy and Jr. Pac due to no indication of what is just off screen.

Options to address these can be:

Background music in Stay Frosty 2 can be off with a difficulty switch, and then that channel plays more game sound effects.

Solution for what is off screen, I saw a Mappy version that used smaller enemies in the far right and left columns to indicate their off screen positions.

I don't know if these options will make it into Mappy as matching the Arcade comes first.

Even these cutting edge games so far have to be 32K in total with 29K ROM available for code.

[xybot67]

Wow! I can't believe how fantastic this is. I couldn't imagine how it could get any better than the previous build (except the addition of sound), but the added bells and whistles bring it to a whole other level. Kudos. Just as fun as the arcade version and I can't wait to add this one to my collection.

[TPR]

Still unclear. (Seriously want to understand as I'm doing Mappy sound and music.)

Do you mean the DPC+ music in post #67

 

For what it's worth, I actually thought the music track you posted sounded GREAT! (and this is coming from a die-hard Mappy fan who once even owned an arcade cabinet of it!) In hindsight, I should have used that to overlay into the video I made but that didn't even occur to me until just right now!