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Baby Berks (Type In)


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Great, thanks for letting me know ... I'm glad it works for you too.

 

I've got a 130XE and my trusty old 800 but I need to set them up again next to my PC - which won't be for a week or two. Let me know if you do manage to get it running on real hardware.

 

Thanks,

Jon

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Well, the game looks good! Loaded it only with Atari 800 Win, but will test it on the real A8 soon. The file is missing a RUN adress, so I assume that the start adress $0FFD is also the Run adress (it worked when I added it). Some DOS and Gamedos versions on the A8 however will not start the file without a RUN adress, so one has to add it manually...

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Ah, ok ... thanks for letting me know. The load and run address is indeed $0FFD which is simply a JMP vector to the actual game start. I did wonder if it needed some additional header data but it runs on Altirra so I forgot to check.

 

I'll do a bit of Googling to work out how to assemble it in MADS ... unless anybody can point me in the right direction?

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I'm a sucker for a rainbow DLI, yeah sad I know and I'm having a treat in that department :)

 

Would have preferred a centralised firing position rather than an appendage related one but it adds to the skill but does get you in tight corners..

 

Got 11 rounds in and no changes so far apart from maze position, not familiar with the game, are there changes Jon..

 

Have to say I'm loving it so far, its pure old school (old skool??) :)

 

Great fun shooter, looks great, sounds great and very polished (as expected)....and notice, its free....

 

Going back in for some more..

 

Thank you Jon, hope there's more to come after I give this another million blasts, its going to be one I come back to, I can feel it..

 

Can't ask for more..

 

Paul..

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The non central firing position is a quirk of the fact it's completely 'character' based. I remember trying to work out how to get a 'tank' that was 2 by 2 characters wide that could fire bullets along the character rows and columns. If the bullets came out centrally they would have to take up 2 rows / columns and would make hit detection too easy (plus it could look like you'd missed something that registered as a hit - if you see what I mean). I came up with the idea of something that squished into the centre of the 2 by 2 block while moving but still fired along a single row / column. If I wrote it from scratch for the Atari I'd have probably used player missiles with the hardware collision detection.

 

The difficulty does ramp up as you progress - depending on your starting skill level. The internal skill level bumps up for every two waves completed and this affects the initial delays, stun time and speed of the Berks (plus the speed the fuel goes down). It's a cheap and cheerful way of doing things but does make things feel more hectic later on. I played this morning and cleared about 35 waves .. at the start it was easy enough to keep my lives at 10 but as I progressed I lost more than a couple of lives per wave so soon crashed and burned. I think starting at the Master skill level could be tricky.

 

In the past I've often made games too hard because they felt easier to me the more I played them during development. It's always a hard thing to balance.

 

Glad you're enjoying it though, it's definitely old skool.

 

PS: I just had to mess about with the rainbow - first thing I did ... it was on the C16 version too ;-)

 

Cheers,

Jon

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Awesome. Going to try this on my A8.

 

Loved English Software, they had so many fantastic Atari games. Loved Jet Boot Jack, it really stood out from the crowd of 80s platformers.

 

Ooh! I've just worked out how to reply to a specific post ;-)

 

English Software were a great company to do things for ... I'm glad you enjoyed Jet Boot Jack.

 

Judging by the earlier post I have a feeling this version of Baby Berks may not boot on the A8 ... if it doesn't I'll take a look when I'm back from a short holiday.

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English Software were a great company to do things for ... I'm glad you enjoyed Jet Boot Jack.

 

Soooooo many great games.

Elektra Glide

Stranded

Airstrike 1 and 2

Chop Suey

Diamonds

Jet Boot Jack

Kissin' Kousins - Frustrating as hell, but damn addictive.

 

 

 

Judging by the earlier post I have a feeling this version of Baby Berks may not boot on the A8 ... if it doesn't I'll take a look when I'm back from a short holiday.

 

I should have added, it's a A800 XL 64k. Would like to stick the game on a SIO2SD, and try that, if possible.

Thanks for all the great memories. :)

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I always thought the bat looked like the one from Pitfall II, the Kangaroo reminded me of Flip & Flop (but can't be ...as that one is "3D", the "moving floors" reminded me of Bruce Lee.....

 

Unforgivingly hard and I cursed a lot .....and then gave it another try..... I KNOW I can do it..... ;)

 

But Kissin' Kousins was fun :)

 

 

So glad that Jon is here now !!

 

I bought JBJ with KK and Airstrike II original on tapes directly from English Software. I'm sure they had some promotion for 3 games for 1 price.... I also ordered A.C.E.

In 1984 ordering something from abroad (and as a kid) was pretty exiting....my parents had to post a Eurocheque to English Software to pay :)

 

​I think those were the only original tapes I ever bought....yeah I know.....but at least I'm honest about it...so Jon I can look you straight in the eye...I honestly payed for JBJ.... :D :D LOL

 

Very fun game....kinda of a combo between puzzle and platform...you really had to think about your next move...

 

Great to have you here and looking forward to your future contributions :)

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I always thought the bat looked like the one from Pitfall II, the Kangaroo reminded me of Flip & Flop (but can't be ...as that one is "3D", the "moving floors" reminded me of Bruce Lee.....

 

Unforgivingly hard and I cursed a lot .....and then gave it another try..... I KNOW I can do it..... ;)

 

But Kissin' Kousins was fun :)

 

 

So glad that Jon is here now !!

 

I bought JBJ with KK and Airstrike II original on tapes directly from English Software. I'm sure they had some promotion for 3 games for 1 price.... I also ordered A.C.E.

In 1984 ordering something from abroad (and as a kid) was pretty exiting....my parents had to post a Eurocheque to English Software to pay :)

 

​I think those were the only original tapes I ever bought....yeah I know.....but at least I'm honest about it...so Jon I can look you straight in the eye...I honestly payed for JBJ.... :D :D LOL

 

Very fun game....kinda of a combo between puzzle and platform...you really had to think about your next move...

 

Great to have you here and looking forward to your future contributions :)

 

Wow! A.C.E. That certainly brings it back - that was even before Jet Boot Jack.

 

I remember when I first got my 800 it cost a fortune in the UK so I couldn't afford a disk drive. The cassette system was a step back from the Commodore PET (with chiclet keyboard) that I'd been using up to then. I delved into the 800 and worked out how to install my own handler to add the ability to name cassette saves ... plus load or verify a named file. I think it added a few extra features like renumbering etc. While English Software were waiting for me to finish JBJ I asked if they'd be interest in releasing A.C.E. too. It's good to hear somebody actually bought a copy ;-)

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Haha, sure did but I have to admit that I used it little. Yes it did renumbering. But having to load it before....well you understand.... :)

 

But it was sure a clever little program, I think I used the renumbering the most actually...... (until Turbo Basic XL popped up ;) )

And not much later I bought a 1050 drive.

Stupidly I sold all my original A8 stuff BITD to co-finance a 1040STfm....

 

Oh and naturally I had a good number of floppies with Mulitboot XL ...... :D Thanks for all your hard work and looking forward to see future stuff ! :)

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Well, the game looks good! Loaded it only with Atari 800 Win, but will test it on the real A8 soon. The file is missing a RUN adress, so I assume that the start adress $0FFD is also the Run adress (it worked when I added it). Some DOS and Gamedos versions on the A8 however will not start the file without a RUN adress, so one has to add it manually...

 

Just a quick follow up on this ... I think I've worked out how to add the RUN address as an additional file segment - it looks ok in a hex editor and still runs on Altirra and Atari 800 Win.

 

I thought I'd upload it in case anybody wants to check it on real hardware.

 

Thanks again for the heads up.

BabyBerks_V2.xex

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Gotta ask Jon: what's your story about Road Riot on the Lynx ? The ROM "got out" but it was never officially released AFAIK.....do you know it this was the finished version ?

Did you do anything else for Lynx ?

 

Mmmmm.....maybe this would be a lot more fun on the (regretfully not so exiting) Lynx pages on this forum ? Should I open a thread about it there ? :D

Edited by Level42
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Just a quick follow up on this ... I think I've worked out how to add the RUN address as an additional file segment - it looks ok in a hex editor and still runs on Altirra and Atari 800 Win.

 

I thought I'd upload it in case anybody wants to check it on real hardware.

 

Thanks again for the heads up.

 

Works fine on my 800XL using SIO2PC.

 

Fun game; it's the first time I've played it before. Nice contrast to Robotron 2084, with the slower gameplay, different type of enemies, and obstacles.

 

You should add Robotron 2084 style controls to the mix.

Edited by MrFish
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Gotta ask Jon: what's your story about Road Riot on the Lynx ? The ROM "got out" but it was never officially released AFAIK.....do you know it this was the finished version ?

Did you do anything else for Lynx ?

 

Mmmmm.....maybe this would be a lot more fun on the (regretfully not so exiting) Lynx pages on this forum ? Should I open a thread about it there ? :D

 

Road Riot! I'd forgotten all about that ... I think a veil had come down in my subconscious to block it out ;-)

 

I can honestly say its all a bit hazy, I know I was asked to convert the arcade game to Lynx and was given a development system but I can't for the life of me remember why it ended. I certainly didn't complete it to release standard.

 

I'm just about to leave for a short break but I will have a delve into my old stuff when I get back to see if it jogs any memories. I know I don't have any source for it.

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Works fine on my 800XL using SIO2PC.

 

Fun game; it's the first time I've played it before. Nice contrast to Robotron 2084, with the slower gameplay, different type of enemies, and obstacles.

 

You should add Robotron 2084 style controls to the mix.

 

Thanks for letting me know it works on the 800XL ... that's a relief.

 

I did try firing while moving but it threw up all sorts of problems due to the limitations of the C16 (mainly with diagonal movement). It was a bit of a compromise in the end.

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Just a quick follow up on this ... I think I've worked out how to add the RUN address as an additional file segment - it looks ok in a hex editor and still runs on Altirra and Atari 800 Win.

 

I thought I'd upload it in case anybody wants to check it on real hardware.

 

Thanks again for the heads up.

 

 

Just played in Altirra - Very nice and a lot of fun - and some JBJ familiar sound effects :)

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Gotta ask Jon: what's your story about Road Riot on the Lynx ? The ROM "got out" but it was never officially released AFAIK.....do you know it this was the finished version ?

Did you do anything else for Lynx ?

 

Mmmmm.....maybe this would be a lot more fun on the (regretfully not so exiting) Lynx pages on this forum ? Should I open a thread about it there ? :D

 

Following on from my earlier reply ... I've had a look at some of my old archives and have found some Road Riot related stuff ... and I've also found my old diaries from the time which throw a bit of light onto things.

 

I've Googled a bit and have seen the long play video of the ROM that was released - it all came flooding back ;-)

 

If you think anybody would be interested feel free to open a thread on the Lynx forum.

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Following on from my earlier reply ... I've had a look at some of my old archives and have found some Road Riot related stuff ... and I've also found my old diaries from the time which throw a bit of light onto things.

 

I've Googled a bit and have seen the long play video of the ROM that was released - it all came flooding back ;-)

 

If you think anybody would be interested feel free to open a thread on the Lynx forum.

I just picked up a repro of road riot on the Lynx. Great little game! I'm sure the Lynx forum would love to hear about it.

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