 GALAXIANS 7800 - new game (WIP)

[Baby Blue Azure]

 GALAXIANS - based on the original GORF7800 set of games released by Steven Scavone (2009)

It’s hard to believe it’s already been 9 years since all that went down with Steve. The guy did a tremendous amount of work on the GORF family of games even before what all he did for us on the 7800. He had to go and it’s completely our loss. But to our gain, he did drop off his source code to Bob. Of course Bob knows what to do with source lists and make things “pretty.” But I couldn’t get the source to work and I went to Bob and he couldn’t get it to run either. So it was dropped - back into my hands. So a couple of years ago I did a disassembly of everything - GORF, WARBIRDS and UFO!. On GALAXIANS I’m on revision G16 which I just built today - so it’s been a long road to get here. Today I built a new spare life indicator sprite and changed the color to match the player sprite. Cool! In the original games, the scoreboards didn’t work, in some cases player collision works, and some games drop bombs and some don’t, and there’s a myriad of other enhancements that could be done. GORF and WARBIRDS have 5 game modules each that can be played in sequence or skipped across. Personally I have my 5 favorites which are ASTROBATTLE and GALAXIANS in GORF, and ASTRALASSAULT and DEATHSQUAD in WARBIRDS and then UFO! It is possible that those 5 could be imported into a new modern version of GORF. Or, as I was thinking, we could have stand alone versions of some or all of them. Enjoying GALAXIANS the most with that wonderful entrance dance, I started with that and have another one UFOgenesys. They are both done except for player collision and other minor housekeeping. Knowing the time I have spent on these I just can’t justify continuing. So I’ll be putting this out there with the complete documentation and hope someone will pick it up.

We don’t know whatever happened to Steve Scavone but would love to hear from him at atari78in84@yahoo.com, if possible. You did a grand job on everything! But you already know that.

PHOTOS:

GALAXIANS START-UP SCREEN:

GALAXIANS 49-POINT BONUS:

GALAXIANS WAVE 04 START:

 

SUPPORT DOCS:

GALAXIANS DISASSEMBLY:
GALAXIANS_G16_BEC7_Disassy.pdf
GORF TO GALAXIANS CHANGELIST:
GALAXIANS_G16_BEC7_Changelist.pdf
GALAXIANS HEXDUMP:

GALAXIANS_G16_BEC7_Hexdump.rtf

 

GALAXIANS NTSC bin:
GALAXIANS_G16_BEC7.bin
GALAXIANS NTSC a78:
Galaxians_G16_32K.a78

 

ENJOY THE GAME!

Baby Blue Azure

[Jinks]

Cool! Thanks for your work will check it out!

[+sramirez2008]

Can't wait to add it to the Mateos. Thank you.

[Trebor]

Can't wait to add it to the Mateos. Thank you.

 

*.32P should be the extension utilized.

 

The set of WIP games provided by former AA member Gorf incorporate POKEY sound. In fact, the (incomplete) Gorf game itself features both TIA+POKEY sound. Per the header setting in the *.a78 file provided by BBA, he has retained the POKEY sound.

[+sramirez2008]

 

*.32P should be the extension utilized.

 

The set of WIP games provided by former AA member Gorf incorporate POKEY sound. In fact, the (incomplete) Gorf game itself features both TIA+POKEY sound. Per the header setting in the *.a78 file provided by BBA, he has retained the POKEY sound.

 

Thank you Trebor. I was unaware of the incorporated POKEY sound. Icing on the cake.

[Trebor]

You may want to hold off on trying the game on real hardware, sramirez2008.

 

BBA, I don't mean to be a wet blanket at the party; although this hack works great under the ProSystem emulator, with real hardware and near hardware precise emulators, such as A7800, it crashes immediately:

 

 

Something similar, though less severe, occurs with at least one of the Joust hacks provided too. It looks great under the Prosystem emulator, but real hardware, and close to hardware exact emulators like A7800, there are issues.

 

While ProSystem emulator is truly the Nesticle emulator of the 7800 community, for the sake of those who utilize original console hardware and closer to hardware accurate emulators, it is less than an ideal development tool, and it can lead to frustration and wasted (development) time.

[+sramirez2008]

You may want to hold off on trying the game on real hardware, sramirez2008.

 

BBA, I don't mean to be a wet blanket at the party; although this hack works great under the ProSystem emulator, with real hardware and near hardware precise emulators, such as A7800, it crashes immediately:

 

 

You had me at POKEY. I just tried it and it crashed. Still can't wait for this one, though.

[Bakasama]

While ProSystem emulator is truly the Nesticle emulator of the 7800 community, for the sake of those who utilize original console hardware and closer to hardware accurate emulators, it is less than an ideal development tool, and it can lead to frustration and wasted (development) time.

Prosystem seems to me like the Neorage X of 7800 emulators. It's been dead for a long time and for a while there were people making hacked ROMs of the newer games make them work on Neorage X. When you're at that point just to play the latest NeoGeo ROMs, maybe you should move on to newer emulator.

 

It seems like hacking/modding 7800 ROMs that work in hardware or MAME to make them work on Prosystem seem to be happening here too.

Edited November 26, 2018 by Bakasama

[Trebor]

Prosystem seems to me like the Neorage X of 7800 emulators. It's been dead for a long time and for a while there were people making hacked ROMs of the newer games make them work on Neorage X. When you're at that point just to play the latest NeoGeo ROMs, maybe you should move on to newer emulator.

 

It seems like hacking/modding 7800 ROMs that work in hardware or MAME to make them work on Prosystem seem to be happening here too.

 

It does not seem to be the desire of the supplier of the hack to make it only work under ProSystem, but it is often an unfortunate effect when utilizing the ProSystem emulator primarily or exclusively.

 

MAME lacks some improvements and enhancements to hardware accuracy that is contained under A7800; regardless, MAME would definitely be a much better test bed than ProSystem.

 

For those familiar with NES emulation history, the best analogy to give is:

 

ProSystem = Nesticle.

A7800 = Nintendulator.

 

There are many late 90's/early 00's SMB & Zelda hacks that were developed under Nesticle that do not work properly, if at all, under real hardware or closer to hardware accurate NES emulators. We're at an advantage of having mature emulation that of course did not exist 15+ years ago, so hopefully precautions can be taken to avoid a similar occurrence with hacks and the 7800 platform now.

 

Needless to state, best practice is always to test with real hardware, whenever possible, prior to a public release.

[CPUWIZ]

@Trebor: I suppose you used the MCP cart, yes?

 

 

I am working on a WiFi version at the moment.

 

[Trebor]

@Trebor: I suppose you used the MCP cart, yes?

 

 

I am working on a WiFi version at the moment.

 

 

Every time.

 

It cannot be stated enough, thank you, sir. That tool has seen and assisted in much development - And obviously continues to do so. Already a must have as is...A WiFi version...Developer/testers have funds set aside, it's another must buy.

 

BBA, perhaps consider it a Christmas gift to yourself, if available in time. Otherwise, maybe a New Year's resolution to obtain one when its ready.

[TrekMD]

Really cool! Thanks!

[+DrVenkman]

@Trebor: I suppose you used the MCP cart, yes?

 

 

I am working on a WiFi version at the moment.

 

 

Maybe, since no one has yet mass-produced a working, easy to use 7800, and readily available multicart, you could arrange to have those wifi boards produced and sold to interested hobbyists? I'd be pretty okay with loading roms from a file server on the LAN (especially if your MCP cart had a socket for POKEY).

[Curt Vendel]

Where is Steve Scavone? Did something personal or health wise happen to him? Or did he just exit the hobby?

[+sramirez2008]

Just played this on Wii7800.

[+sramirez2008]

Wow The incomplete Gorf game is really cool. Here's hoping that it can be completed some day.

[Shawn]

Where is Steve Scavone? Did something personal or health wise happen to him? Or did he just exit the hobby?

 

Things went seriously south with him and he's actually banned from AtariAge last I checked.

[8th lutz]

Where is Steve Scavone? Did something personal or health wise happen to him? Or did he just exit the hobby?

I know he spent time in the Jaguar forum before he was banned. I also know the Jaguar forum before he was banned was not exactly a nice forum when he was a member.

 

I know he was on the Retro Video Gamer forum for a time after he was banned here, but I don't know the last time he was on that forum.

[gambler172]

Hi Guys

 

well...on my Concerto,it crashes too.

Edited November 27, 2018 by gambler172

[Curt Vendel]

 

Things went seriously south with him and he's actually banned from AtariAge last I checked.

Oh, wow... sorry to hear that, Steve was a talented guy and seemed really nice when I had spoken with him, but this was a very long time ago.

[Curt Vendel]

I know he spent time in the Jaguar forum before he was banned. I also know the Jaguar forum before he was banned was not exactly a nice forum when he was a member.

 

I know he was on the Retro Video Gamer forum for a time after he was banned here, but I don't know the last time he was on that forum.

Its like the curse of the Jaguar, so many people who get into the Jaguar seem to fall victim to rage & insanity... sorry to hear he went that route.

[Zonie]

Seems when one goes above 8 bits, things go to shit.

[Atarifever]

Seems when one goes above 8 bits, things go to shit.

There's a meme in there I think.

[Lendorien]

Loving all the updates. It's been a while since I really was much into the 7800 scene, but once this thing ships, I predict I'll be dropping a lot of money on homebrews!

[Kurt_Woloch]

I just tried the game (A78 version) on MAME 0.169b, and it shows a stable screen for maybe half a second and plays sounds for a few seconds before it disintegrates like shown on the screenshots above.