Rikki & Vikki

[Mord]

Sure, it's just a new mapper design. The only "big thing" compared to the existing schemes is the ability to differentiate between Sally and Maria fetches which lets both of them use different banking arrangements.

 

I'm assuming this is achieved by tying the HALT line into the switching logic? I had an idea for that ages ago, great to see it actually works in practice!

[legeek]

WOW!!!

[funknflow5200]

Very excited for this -I'm ALL IN! lol

Edited December 12, 2018 by funknflow5200

[Jinks]

Very excited for this -I'm ALL IN! lol

Check the first post.

[TailChao]

Will you be producing cartridges to meet demand? or do i have to set an alarm and wait for the exact moment it goes on sale?

I'd like to keep manufacturing them, but we'll have to see how the first run goes. There'll be 550 copies for the Atari 7800 available for purchase and infinite copies for Windows. Ah! I'll add that to the first post! (edit : done)

 

 

I'm assuming this is achieved by tying the HALT line into the switching logic? I had an idea for that ages ago, great to see it actually works in practice!

Yes

 

A small delay is required after HALT lowers to make sure Sally is off the bus, but that's basically it. Good thing it works too, the game would have been much more difficult to write otherwise!

Edited December 13, 2018 by TailChao

[Jinks]

Did you make your own game shells? That is quite a few copies made! I hope they sell out within a couple of months.

I wish you all the best with your sales!

It is unreal the amount of work put into the hardware and software for this to be possible.

Are you going to sell nes pad adapters, av mods, and dev kits for your hardware as well?

[Lynxpro]

For even less shekels than that you can go for the Windows version, we're working on bringing it to Humblebundle now in case you're not into Steam.

 

Sure, it's just a new mapper design. The only "big thing" compared to the existing schemes is the ability to differentiate between Sally and Maria fetches which lets both of them use different banking arrangements.

 

Uh oh, that wasn't supposed to be public yet!

But since you caught me - and it's the holidays, I'll make this page more easily accessible and formally release our emulator (BupSystem) in the next few hours.

 

 

And here I was a few days ago irked that none of the Atari consoles were getting Collectorvision's Sydney Hunter titles and then this appears and just completely blows it away in terms of jaw dropping excitement...

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but out of all of the 7800's existing commercial and homebrew titles, this is [now] the game that one would really want to save their scores on and brag about them... I'm really surprised you guys aren't supporting HSC on this.

 

I really want that cart in my 7800 so I can see these eye-popping graphics right in front of me on my TV. And the music....wow... Just...wow. It's like halfway between 8-bit and 16-bit console generations for a game... I'm blown away. I showed some of my coworkers - who are Ninjaendo fanbois - the posted videos and they too are blown away...

[Turbo Laser Lynx]

Jesus man! It's so beautiful I'm gonna faint!<3<3<3 You really inspire me to push my own games further.

[zezba9000]

I would like to get the Atari version. Is there an email list we can be put on?

[atarianallstar]

Wow thank you for creating this, it really looks amazing. I also love your cartoony Artstyle A definite purchase on my part! I loved zaku!

Can we know what the chip for audio is (i like to think about such things)?

 

[Andromeda Stardust]

Thanks. I need to lookout for this title!

[RushJet1]

Wow thank you for creating this, it really looks amazing. I also love your cartoony Artstyle A definite purchase on my part! I loved zaku!

Can we know what the chip for audio is (i like to think about such things)?

 

 

 

 

The BupChip is just a microcontroller running a modified version of BupBoop 1.2.2cz which the game software can communicate with. So unlike a Pokey or most other sound chips from the era it's a "music coprocessor" in that the Sally-side code just tells the BupChip to play a track, stop, pause, resume, or attenuate and has no idea or care what's actually going on otherwise. I'd go as far as saying the "BupChip" only indicates there's some microcontroller able to run the audio software on the cartridge. For Rikki & Vikki in particular we used a 72MHz ARM which could happily render 16 channels at 48KHz.

 

From the composer's perspective this is a simple 16 channel sampler with limited memory. In our case the microcontroller had 256KB flash and we partitioned it into 32KB BupBoop + Support and 224KB Music Data. So the audio is still generated real-time within certain limits.

However, all the sound effects in the game are from our old friend the TIA.

 

 

The music track in the trailer was composed exclusively for it and recorded using the Windows tools, which is why it's in stereo. On the actual Atari 7800 version the music is in mono.

[John Stamos Mullet]

So is the version in the trailer video the 7800 version, or the Windows version?

[CPUWIZ]

So is the version in the trailer video the 7800 version, or the Windows version?

 

Did you read the thread?

[Andromeda Stardust]

Really looking forward to this. It easily surpasses every 7800 game in existence, as well as many of the best NES games ever made.

If I may ask the developer a question:

You say you have experience with Famitracker and presumably NES games as well. I'm aware the NES is far more popular than 7800 in general and has a much larger market. What made you decide to develop on the 7800 instead? Really awesome that you did, but just curious. I do collect homebrew for both Nintendo and Atari, so this has definitely piqued my interest.

 

= = = = = = = = = = =

Did you read the thread?

I would assume not.

I want to know how you are getting stereo off the chip if there is only one channel for external audio to follow through on the cartridge port? Most noticeable at the end of the video btw...

So is the version in the trailer video the 7800 version, or the Windows version?

[RushJet1]

If I may ask the developer a question:

 

You say you have experience with Famitracker and presumably NES games as well. I'm aware the NES is far more popular than 7800 in general and has a much larger market. What made you decide to develop on the 7800 instead? Really awesome that you did, but just curious. I do collect homebrew for both Nintendo and Atari, so this has definitely piqued my interest.

 

TailChao is the developer, and I'm the composer. I'm the one with NES/Famitracker experience and had not done anything with any Atari consoles before being contacted by him (though I had always been interested, especially in making TIA music).

[Andromeda Stardust]

TailChao is the developer, and I'm the composer. I'm the one with NES/Famitracker experience and had not done anything with any Atari consoles before being contacted by him (though I had always been interested, especially in making TIA music).

You guys are quite a dynamic duo then. Looking forward to getting the game...

[mutterminder]

My goodness! What a big surprise. I don't think you'll have any trouble selling all those copies. I wouldn't mind have a couple of those ProNES GamePad Adapters either. And the Atari Y/C ProVideo Board...

 

[TailChao]

Thanks, everyone

 

Did you make your own game shells?

I didn't make them personally, but yes we had new plastics designed and manufactured. They're not completely identical to Atari's but won't look out of place on a shelf next to them.

 

 

Are you going to sell nes pad adapters, av mods, and dev kits for your hardware as well?

I wouldn't mind have a couple of those ProNES GamePad Adapters either. And the Atari Y/C ProVideo Board...

These I have no plans to manufacture on any scale, but their designs are available so someone else can.

 

I think the ProNES Adapters would be nice with a little plastic case or extension cord, I made a batch of around 15 or so for gifts. The Y/C ProVideo really needs a proper audio amplifier section added, though. For both you'd want some changes if you were actually going to make these in quantity for consumers.

 

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but out of all of the 7800's existing commercial and homebrew titles, this is [now] the game that one would really want to save their scores on and brag about them... I'm really surprised you guys aren't supporting HSC on this.

No worries, High Score Cartridge support was seriously considered but I thought the space would be put to better use for more content. While the HSC is pretty neat, I think nowadays most people have a cellphone with a camera on hand or close by. Take a picture

 

 

I would like to get the Atari version. Is there an email list we can be put on?

No, unfortunately.

 

 

Can we know what the chip for audio is (i like to think about such things)?

If you're looking for the specific chip family it's a Fujitsu FM3.

 

 

What made you decide to develop on the 7800 instead? Really awesome that you did, but just curious. I do collect homebrew for both Nintendo and Atari, so this has definitely piqued my interest.

How the game actually happened is very longwinded (and dull), so I'll give the abbreviated version.

 

I read the programmer's manual some 15 years ago and thought it didn't really add up with the existing library. A friend of mine had the console and got sick of it, so I took it home and used it to hold doors open for a few years. When I came up with the mechanics for Rikki & Vikki I didn't think much of them and decided to try writing a demo on old hardware. The 7800 seemed like a good fit because it had two controller ports, 320 pixel wide modes, was kind of an "arcade at home" machine, and just barely fast enough to run the game. Also I had to do something with the hardware or toss it.

 

Now here we are.

 

 

You guys are quite a dynamic duo then. Looking forward to getting the game...

It was definitely fun working together, but keep in mind that we weren't the only two on the project - just the only two at this forum.

[Shawn]

Do you have any interest in selling those new 7800 shells you have made? There is a market just waiting for them.

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

How the game actually happened is very longwinded (and dull), so I'll give the abbreviated version.

 

I read the programmer's manual some 15 years ago and thought it didn't really add up with the existing library. A friend of mine had the console and got sick of it, so I took it home and used it to hold doors open for a few years. When I came up with the mechanics for Rikki & Vikki I didn't think much of them and decided to try writing a demo on old hardware. The 7800 seemed like a good fit because it had two controller ports, 320 pixel wide modes, was kind of an "arcade at home" machine, and just barely fast enough to run the game. Also I had to do something with the hardware or toss it.

 

Now here we are.

I for one am glad you got some proper usage out of that "doorstop."

 

Fun thing to think about, the 7800 really does have much superior sprite handling characteristics compared to NES/Famicom, but the NES has superior audio and a much more powerful scrolling engine. Robotron 2084 for instance would have been a terrible flicker fest if ported to the NES, though that didn't stop the amazing Spook-O-Tron from being developed for it.

 

Tramiel was a cutthroat businessman and pinched pennies whenever he could. That is why the Pokey chip was offloaded to the cartridge port (and subsequently never used outside of two games) as opposed to including it in the hardware. He was vehemently against using expansion mappers in the early days because $$$, and the planned 1984 launch lineup was all that the 7800 had when it released alongside the NES nationwide in 1986. The arcade ports, while classics now, were considered old and dated at the time so they never really got off the ground.

 

There are a few gems in the 7800 library, for instance Food Fight and Robotron (especially with a custom dual joystick) really standout as arcade exclusives to the platform. But I mainly invested in the 7800 to enjoy the great homebrew library being developed for it. So many amazing games have been ported to it, original and arcade.

 

So I am looking forward to this release.

[DracIsBack]

 

 

And here I was a few days ago irked that none of the Atari consoles were getting Collectorvision's Sydney Hunter titles and then this appears and just completely blows it away in terms of jaw dropping excitement...

 

 

I noted that too and even wrote them. Never heard back. Anti-Atari bias hahaha!

[DracIsBack]

Tramiel was a cutthroat businessman and pinched pennies whenever he could. That is why the Pokey chip was offloaded to the cartridge port (and subsequently never used outside of two games) as opposed to including it in the hardware. He was vehemently against using expansion mappers in the early days because $$$,

 

The decision to have audio in cartridge had nothing to do with Jack Tramiel. That was GCCs decision and design. The issue of POKEYs almost never being used was definitely a Tramiel problem. They never had mappers like the NES, IIRC. A few carts had extra ram (notably the Epyx conversions).

[RushJet1]

Whenever I used to see comparisons of the 7800 and the NES, I would think there is no comparison, even graphically. Every game I see for the 7800 is like single screen tiny graphics or 160 wide mode, which just looks weird and clunky to me.

 

Basically I was expecting to see something kind of like this

 

 

But never really did. I do realize that a good chunk of that is having an entire art team behind your game versus one or two people though.

 

I think Rikki and Vikki comes the closest to being like an NES game. Hi res, really good animation, and it hides the fact that it only uses seven colors really well. it kind of looks like later NES games that started defaulting to black backgrounds, like Batman and Shatterhand.

[John Stamos Mullet]

 

Did you read the thread?

I did. It is said that the video portion is from a "real 7800" but the audio is from the windows port, which seems an odd choice - kind of confusing.