ZillaRUSH Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Would be a great addition to the Homebrew list! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 I'm already tagged for a legally distinct homage.. but, you should look up IntyBASIC here in the forums and make this. If you can handle BASIC it should be imminently doable. http://nanochess.org/intybasic.html The mutual support on AtariAge is outstanding. Oscar even published a book if that's your preferred learning style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Steve Jones Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Oscar just did a great version for TI99 last year so he could probably knock this out in a spare afternoon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Oscar just did a great version for TI99 last year so he could probably knock this out in a spare afternoon. If he's making games then less work gets done on IntyBASIC.. which means many more people don't get new features to make a Berserk homage. Shhhhh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 I believe there has been a handful starts on Berzerk! already. Some may be closer to finishing than others. While it might not yet exist, in particular not in cartridge form, it is definitely not unheard of before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Tarzilla Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Would be a great addition to the Homebrew list! Berzerk has had a lot of discussion, in multiple threads, for instance: http://atariage.com/forums/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=search&fromMainBar=1 There is also a gif somewhere on Rev's site showing a work in progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMBerzerk Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 With Intellivoice support would be colossal for the Inty! But I'm biased. Lol! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digress Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 not too hard. boot hill is not very dissimilar to bezerk . I'd probably suggest frenzy instead though 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted January 17, 2019 Share Posted January 17, 2019 Or how about Shamus, to follow up on the trend of porting 8-bit computer games to the Intellivision? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 not too hard. boot hill is not very dissimilar to bezerk . I'd probably suggest frenzy instead though Well, the difficulty is in making many robots move simultaneously and autonomously, each one with the ability to shoot independently as well. If you limit it to 4 robots only (to conserve sprites for the player and bullets), then it's not much of a Berzerk game because it loses the "enemy swarm" feel. This can be done with background or so-called "software" sprites, which requires additional logic and processing, and has its own challenges for animation and collision detection. Although this is not the hardest thing to do on an Intellivision, it is an advanced programming technique, and therefore not trivial. There have been various attempts in the past, but it has mostly been treated as an "engineering challenge." That is, once the programmer reaches the point of, "look, I can put 20 robots on the screen all moving and shooting independently," then they move on to something else, or life gets in the way to distract them. Thus, we have a few "technology demos" that show off how it can be done, but not a full game yet. -dZ. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 (edited) Even though arcade berzerk can have ten enemy robots on the screen, with Intellivision's lower resolution, seven robots might do. That means all missiles are done as background animation. That's how it was done with intv commando. Doing the robots in background might mean limiting their movement orthogonally, but you'd have more of them. Edited January 18, 2019 by mr_me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Even though arcade berzerk can have ten enemy robots on the screen, with Intellivision's lower resolution, seven robots might do. That means all missiles are done as background animation. That's how it was done with intv commando. Doing the robots in background might mean limiting their movement orthogonally, but you'd have more of them. Sure. But that's still not trivial, and not as simple as Boot Hill. You can also animate the robots in the background to move diagonally. It will just require more GRAM cards dedicated to each one, and of course more computations and more effort. It also means making sure that there are no robots sharing a larger surrounding space. I believe it is technically possible, but like you said, perhaps overkill for this game. Seven robots seems plenty on an Intellivision screen. -dZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+nanochess Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Something is being done that's the only I can say ;) 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 When it comes to software sprites, I think it can be nice to get inspired about how similar games on other systems worked. Roger Merritt made Amok for the unexpanded VIC-20. It moves the robots in all 8 directions, one robot at a time by sliding it into the next position. It would translate to using BACKTAB and when each robot is about to move, put a MOB in its place, animate it into the new position and store it into the BACKTAB again. Perhaps a bit unconventional way to do it, but in theory you could have 50++ robots on screeen. Roger apparently redesigned the game as Super Amok which is a 8K cartridge game. This version implements full software sprites where all robots simultaneously move around slowly, either horizontally or vertically (not diagonals), though it seems they don't collide into eachother. Tom Griner made Shamus, also a 8K cartridge game. This one has plenty of evil beings, clustered together where they move one pixel at a time as very clever software sprites. Of course the VIC-20 has room for 256 redefinable characters which perhaps makes it easier to do these software sprites. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Actually, that's like some Martel games work. Specifically, MLB Baseball: it reuses a MOB to move the field players, and then "parks" them in the BACKTAB when at rest. It works great as long as you can get away with limiting the number of sprites that move simultaneously. That can work for Berzerk, but keep in mind that in the original, all robots have the ability to move simultaneously to trap you, and changing that has potential implications on difficulty and game mechanics. Still, a practical alternative. dZ. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 (edited) Yep. It all depends on whether one is aiming for an exact Berzerk game or would settle with a Berzerk-esque game like Amok, Frenzy etc are. Edited January 18, 2019 by carlsson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Dumb it down and call it a prequel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Dumb it down and call it a prequel Or put a single robot and call it "Mildly Irritated." 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Or put a single robot and call it "Mildly Irritated." Make it an apathetic robot and call it Meh. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfy62 Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Something is being done that's the only I can say ;) I like the sound of that...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Make it an apathetic robot and call it Meh. Isn't it a bit unnecessary violence to shoot a robot that minds its own business and basically is leaving you alone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DZ-Jay Posted January 18, 2019 Share Posted January 18, 2019 Isn't it a bit unnecessary violence to shoot a robot that minds its own business and basically is leaving you alone? You are right. Then, the game-play should be that your little man goes around giving candy and hugs to the robots, trying to make them smile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted January 19, 2019 Share Posted January 19, 2019 Yes, and perhaps locate a robot friend for our lonely friend so they can form a nice little couple, even have robot children one day if everything works out fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+JasonlikesINTV Posted January 19, 2019 Share Posted January 19, 2019 (edited) Fingers crossed for robot fertility... ... And what family is complete without a pet? Edited January 19, 2019 by JasonlikesINTV 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Lathe26 Posted January 19, 2019 Share Posted January 19, 2019 Fingers crossed for robot fertility... ... And what family is complete without a pet? I find that GIF... unsettling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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