+Muddyfunster Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 Can't wait to see the next update! and yes, The 7800 so needs a version of Bubble Bobble! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlidellMan Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 @mksmithI'm glad that you liked my suggestions, especially that most of those I mentioned hardly got even one port. I look forward to seeing this port finished since it could have the possibility of being better than even the Apple IIGS and Mac versions. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NRV Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 23 hours ago, SlidellMan said: Just played it on JS7800, and you just may have made the best 8-Bit home port of Arkanoid. Maybe you could port more Taito arcade titles such as Raimais (You may have to include the cutscenes from the Japanese version), Darius, Legend of Kage, Bubble Bobble, Space Dungeon, or Exzisus? There is already an A8 version of Raimais, so there is code done if you need it, but probably if there is a popular vote Bubble Bobble would win x) (and the graphics for the 7800 are already done in this thread: ) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlidellMan Posted August 26, 2020 Share Posted August 26, 2020 @NRVI might have to check that Raimais port out... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mksmith Posted August 26, 2020 Author Share Posted August 26, 2020 Yes Bubble Bobble would be an awesome conversion ? 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 Space Dungeon would be pretty cool too.? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy2600 Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 Just wanted to give a howdy to anything here in case this is still a thing? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlidellMan Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 Atariboy, it is still a thing, and one that is going to continue to get better. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mksmith Posted August 27, 2020 Author Share Posted August 27, 2020 19 minutes ago, Atariboy2600 said: Just wanted to give a howdy to anything here in case this is still a thing? Yes mate - nothing much past where we were last year (I have reprogrammed again from the start with things I learnt doing Millie and Molly) but will contact you again once we get further towards the end. Still rocking your awesome Arkanoid background! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlidellMan Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 By the way, I was going to bring up Arkanoid 2: Revenge of Doh in my porting suggestions. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthpopalooza Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 I've already done Bubble Bobble music as well, if anyone wants to use it. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthpopalooza Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 On 5/17/2020 at 1:12 AM, mksmith said: Hi! Thanks for taking a look! Arkanoid has been on a bit of hiatus due to working on Millie and Molly - I had reached a few roadblocks TBH but this new game had provided a few answers to those issues thankfully. Once I get back to Arkanoid we'll see about the sound. There are pokey replacements now available which Al has started using but TIA sound is something I would like to consider if we can fit it in. There is also a few new options coming into 7800baaic soon which might be an option outside of the pokey. Will definitely consider all options! If we go with the AY chip ... that is the exact same chip used in the arcade version of Arkanoid. I wouldn't be able to get the echoing in that one, but then I don't really anyway with POKEY. It's 3 square waves plus a noise wave. Pretty much what I use in the POKEY setup. So yeah it'd be arcade perfect. Mind you I have gotten VERY close with the POKEY. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthpopalooza Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 Also, I have done TIA only versions of the opening theme, game over, and hi score music for Arkanoid and they sound really good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthpopalooza Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 6 hours ago, SlidellMan said: @NRVI might have to check that Raimais port out... I did the sound fx for it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mksmith Posted August 27, 2020 Author Share Posted August 27, 2020 2 hours ago, SlidellMan said: By the way, I was going to bring up Arkanoid 2: Revenge of Doh in my porting suggestions. Synthpopalooza did mention that one in the early stages of working on this one. Who knows but I really want this one in the can very soon so I can do something else! M&M was such a great project for 4 months but this one is heading towards 18 months since I first started it. I was learning on the job early days but it's drains a little now - need to push on! 1 hour ago, Synthpopalooza said: If we go with the AY chip ... that is the exact same chip used in the arcade version of Arkanoid. I wouldn't be able to get the echoing in that one, but then I don't really anyway with POKEY. It's 3 square waves plus a noise wave. Pretty much what I use in the POKEY setup. So yeah it'd be arcade perfect. Mind you I have gotten VERY close with the POKEY. The pokey music/sfx are definitely sounding great Bobby! At that stage I couldn't fit anything else in but things are better nowadays with how the current project is configured. We could add a few more pokey sounds now if required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nadir Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 7 hours ago, SlidellMan said: By the way, I was going to bring up Arkanoid 2: Revenge of Doh in my porting suggestions. I enjoyed Arkanoid on PC, but I spent a lot more time on Arkanoid 2. Would love to see that as well eventually, but I wonder if the extra graphic and audio complexity would be an issue on the 7800? Sound requirements might even be beyond a POKEY to do it justice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Usotsuki Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 How about Puzzle Bobble? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthpopalooza Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 5 hours ago, nadir said: I enjoyed Arkanoid on PC, but I spent a lot more time on Arkanoid 2. Would love to see that as well eventually, but I wonder if the extra graphic and audio complexity would be an issue on the 7800? Sound requirements might even be beyond a POKEY to do it justice? I know some POKEY tricks to get it close. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synthpopalooza Posted August 27, 2020 Share Posted August 27, 2020 More specifically: There are tricks with the hi pass filter or SKCTLS two tone filter that can get some of those Yamaha type sounds. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mksmith Posted August 29, 2020 Author Share Posted August 29, 2020 Hey everyone, Probably time for a proper update - been a while now. Firstly work has been progressing more slowly than I'd hoped. The main reason is this damn covid has locked down my home state again for the past 6-7 weeks - we can only travel within a 5km radius. Essentially we can't leave home except to get food or exercise, have to wear masks and kids schooling from home again. I work from home anyway even I've felt the lockdown this time ? Outside of this we have also been doing additional work to finish off Millie and Molly for release (tunes, pokey player and some minor code improvements) as well testing some exciting changes coming in 7800basic (see below). I guess the two big changes in this update is the addition of balls (1-3) and the start of enemies! The balls continue to be a work in progress (collisions still need work) but I've managed to get them updating quite nicely with a few lookup tables. By adjusting these tables (in ram) I managed to reduce the number of loops down to 3 (from 5), kept the speed but incremented the increases in more gradual steps. I've also recently added a new auto-speed increment timer also which activates in a similar manner to the level increments in the grey/gold brick collisions. These will probably need some adjusting as they can be reasonably aggressive depending on the level. The enemies - I have to admit I've procrastinated doing these for so long as I just couldn't get my head around the best way for this to work. I know they don't have to be arcade perfect but you want to do the best you can. They appear to split their movement type between the top and bottom half of the screen and sort of pulse around. Anyway after some discussion with the guys I've come up with basic start to the top half process. In the top half we need to effectively check for collision with the bricks and slide around them. I've resorted to an almost platform like process where they move from cell to cell, check their surrounds and then do the next movement. In the video below you can see this on Level 2 where it slides down and up the bricks. So more work required here but it shows this basic process will work and it's reasonably quick and simple code and time wise (only runs every 2nd frame ?). As noted previously I found some additional colors so that allowed quite a few changes around the bricks and sprites which restored the flashing tip on the vaus. I also wanted to reduce the size of the vaus (always seemed a bit too wide TBH) so this meant reworking the intro, expand, laser and explosion frames. I was also able to add some missing frames from the expand and explosion animations. As noted above, outside of Arkanoid Sythpopalooza (and RevEng) have been working their programming magic on the pokey playback (mainly for Millie and Molly but affects Arkanoid as well) and everything now sounds incredible and clear. Bobby has also been cleaning up the tunes for release so we've all be doing work behind the scenes to get this coded up and real hardware recorded (thanks Trebor!). Mike has been continuing his work on the controller code in 7800basic and you guys will be blown away with how well these are working (joystick, paddles, driving controller, amiga and st mouse will be supported) - those with a driving controller will be in for a treat! Here is a recording of the current gameplay (apologies for the poor play ?? Stay safe all! 10 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Usotsuki Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 That's about my own level of competence, as far as gameplay goes. (Coding is another matter, though believe me, I've tried.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_hawk Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 Simply incredible. Thank you so much for the update. I am in awe. I'd have been happy enough with a generic Breakout clone with a vague attempt at Arkanoid style gameplay...but this...this is the real deal!!! To say I'm looking forward to this would be somewhat of the understatement. An Insta-purchase and to hell with the import tax!! ?? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwentySixHundred Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 (edited) Looks Great! Thanks for the update cant wait to try it out ? Edited August 29, 2020 by TwentySixHundred 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 Wow this is awesome. So the sounds are POKEY? Also very excited to hear that this could work with paddles and/or driving controller! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NostAlgae37 Posted August 29, 2020 Share Posted August 29, 2020 On 8/25/2020 at 9:18 PM, mksmith said: I would love to do some sort of shooter or another platformer eventually so who knows - those might be an option! I vote Alien Sector/Baraduke! 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.