Pac-Man Collection - 40th Anniversary Edition

[PacManPlus]

Guys, please don't kill me.

 

I want to get used to the XM (more specifically the Yamaha), so I've teamed up with @tep392 to do this.

I figured it would be easier to take something I already know, and add the parts that I haven't worked with before as my first XM game.

 

Having said that, this *will* work without the XM; it will just use TIA sound and a localized High Score that will be lost when you turn the machine off.

 

No binary yet but I'm quite far along with this,  here are some screenshots of what I have so far:

 

The games are:

- Ms. Pac-Man

- Ms. Pac-Man Plus

- Ms. Pac-Attack

- Ms. Pac Random Mazes*

- Pac-Man

- New Puck-X

- Hangly Man

- Ultra Pac-Man

- Pac Random Maze*

- Popeye Pac-Man (with the Hangly Man maze, as that is the only way I saw it back in the day)

- Largest Pac-Man**

- Pac-Man Plus

- New Puck-X Plus

- Hangly Man Plus

- Ultra Pac-Man Plus

- Pac-Man Plus Random Mazes*

 

You can select the starting level, and player speed.

 

*I am trying to implement an actual random maze generator.  I found one written in Java, so if I can convert it to assembler I'll have it here.

**I reserve the right to take this one out if it becomes to complicated to implement.  I've taken video to follow the differences between this an regular pac-man

 

Please note, I had to take some liberties with the colors.

The object most affected by this is Inky.  Most of the time he is somewhere between blue and green, but sometimes he is brown or tan.  This could not be helped.

Blinky and Clyde are always the static colors, and Pinky can vary slightly.

 

Some of the 'filled in' color of the mazes have been changed.

 

Edited March 23, 2020 by PacManPlus

[Shawn]

Use of NVRAM on the board could save the high score state  

[TrekMD]

Just one word:  Awesome! 

[+cjherr]

Can't wait!

[cvga]

Sign me up!

[Jinks]

Amazing!! Looks great. So this will have yamaha sound someday? 

 

Just need super, jr. And Baby. 

 

Not sure what is would be called then..

 

Edited March 23, 2020 by Jinks

[Defender_2600]

9 hours ago, PacManPlus said:

 

Please note, I had to take some liberties with the colors.

The object most affected by this is Inky.  Most of the time he is somewhere between blue and green, but sometimes he is brown or tan.  This could not be helped.

Blinky and Clyde are always the static colors, and Pinky can vary slightly.

 

 

Hi Bob and Perry, looks great !  A huge thank you for sharing!

 

About the colors, I was thinking that maybe a different scheme could be used to reduce compromises. In the example below, i used (very carefully) dithering for ghost eyes: Blinky and Clyde use 3 colors while Pinky and Inky use only 2 colors.

 

Ms. Pac-Man sprite requires 2 overlapping sprites and you can use the 320D mode for overlapping sprites. The 320D mode has the advantage of being 1bpp and in our case it can be used (without combination restrictions) for momochromatic sprites * only * with color 2 (PO C2 and P4 C2).

 

You will notice that my Ms. Pac-Man sprites differ from the arcade version by a few pixels, this is necessary to avoid that we get some black pixels when we overlap the sprites, however it will be almost imperceptible to notice during the animation (the same goes for the dithering of ghost eyes).

 

Also, with this different use of palettes, it is no longer necessary to use dithering for the walls of the maze.

 

Just to add that these palettes are valid only for Ms. Pac-Man, therefore some variations are necessary for the other games.

 

As always, thank you for your kind attention.

 

- Marco

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tep392]

3 hours ago, Jinks said:

Amazing!! Looks great. So this will have yamaha sound someday? 

 

Just need super, jr. And Baby. 

 

Not sure what is would be called then..

 

Not someday. From day one.

[PacManPlus]

Thanks guys.

I know some of you are thinking "Pac-Man?  Again?"  But I wanted to do a kind of 'warm up' to get used to some of the new features of the XM.  I originally was going to just keep this for myself because I knew some of you might think that way, but I figured whoever doesn't want it doesn't have to get it.

 

@tep392  Thank you for chiming in; I didn't want to speak for you.

 

@Defender_2600  Thank you again for for color input  This one, however, is a little different than Baby Pac:

- I also have to share colors with the fruit (for Pac, Ms. Pac, and Pac Plus, which I dithered already as much as possible)

- The fill inside the maze changes color every few mazes (or in the case of Ms. Pac-Attack *every* board)  That would make things difficult to have all different color options for.

- I can't overlap sprites in this, as I am already at the edge of Maria's cycles.  i.e. the level indicators were originally on the bottom right-side of the maze (vertically placed like the lives indicators). When all players were at the bottom, there was some 'disappearing' going on...

- Believe it or not, I am using all sprite placement areas already.  The tiles/character mode area is shared by all (and is also full).  The respective sprites tables are in each bank, and I'm trying to leave room for both the TIA and Yamaha sound.  These banks also have data tables and maze definitions, so once all is said and done there won't be much room left in each bank:

I know there's some duplicate sprites (like pac-man's closed mouth), but for efficiency's sake, I put everything in the same place in each sprite sheet, so each bank can just be swapped out for the correct sprites (i.e. Ms. Pac-Man's closed mouth is respective to the direction).

 

I just wish there were more colors in this mode.  I *believe* Rikki and Vikki used 320B mode and overlapped sprites to get their colors...  but there aren't many sprites in a single zone there... the enemies seem to be vertically separated.

 

Anyway, I do appreciate the help.  

Edited March 24, 2020 by PacManPlus

[Defender_2600]

Bob, thanks for the detailed answer, I really appreciate it.

 

I had thought that 2 overlapping sprites in 320D / 1bpp were equivalent to a single sprite in 320B / 2 bpp (Maria's cycles) and I was hoping there was enough room to add the other Ms. Pac-Man sprites but these were only my guesses.

 

I understand that making a "Collection 320" requires a lot of effort and therefore some compromises are necessary. But having said that, I'm also sure that if you and/or Perry decided to focus exclusively on Pac-Man 320 or Ms. Pac-Man 320, both of you have all the skills to make a perfect arcade version. Maybe one day.

 

[PacManPlus]

@Defender_2600  In looking at this:

  

 

If I take more 'liberties' with the maze colors (and fruit colors), I might be able to pull this off.

The only thing is that I'll have to use P0 color 3 for the player.

 

Taking Ms. Pac-Man mazes into account only (because the Pac-Man/Pac-Man Plus/Ultra etc. only use the outline, and can go between Blue and Green with Inky's color like it is now),

Maze 1: Inside P0 color 3, outline P0 color 2

Maze 2: Inside P4 color 3, outline P4 color 2

Maze 3: Inside P4 color 2, outline P4 color 3

Maze 4: Inside P4 color 3, outline P4 color 2 (I can make P4 color 3 a little darker here to more closely match the arcade)

Maze 5: Inside P0 color 2, outline P0 color 3 (It doesn't match the arcade, but at least it's different)

Maze 6: Inside P0 color 3, outline P0 color 2 (like the first maze)

 

The only thing, is the blue monsters will match whatever Inky's color is.

Marco, if you can come up with convincing fruit bitmaps without changing the palette colors, I will try VERY hard to get this working.

 

Thanks for always making me see other ways to resolve color issues.

Bob

Edited March 24, 2020 by PacManPlus

[+sramirez2008]

Wow! So when does this special XM/PAC-MAN Collection Bundle go on sale again??

[Defender_2600]

2 hours ago, PacManPlus said:

 

Marco, if you can come up with convincing fruit bitmaps without changing the palette colors, I will try VERY hard to get this working.

 

Thanks for always making me see other ways to resolve color issues.

Bob

 

Thanks Bob, it's very kind of you. I do some tests with the graphics of the fruits using the same palette.

 

Just a clarification about the dithering for ghost eyes, as I said in the previous message, Blinky and Clyde use 3 colors while Pinky and Inky use only 2 colors. I did this to make dithering for ghost eyes almost unnoticeable, however this means that you need 2 sets of ghost sprites, a set dedicated to Blinky / Clyde and a set dedicated to Pinky / Inky.

 

I saw that in the bank you showed you have already duplicated the ghost sprites so I hope you have the opportunity to use that space (I tried to use a single set of ghost sprites but the result is rather disappointing).

[PacManPlus]

@Defender_2600  ---  I think I have a compromise between your idea and my original one.  Nevermind about the fruit (at least not yet)...  I'm working on something.

 

Thanks,

Bob

[SlidellMan]

I have to say that this is grade Amazing!

[Defender_2600]

58 minutes ago, PacManPlus said:

@Defender_2600  ---  I think I have a compromise between your idea and my original one.  Nevermind about the fruit (at least not yet)...  I'm working on something.

 

Thanks,

Bob

 

I was working on it, right now I was looking at the fruits of Pac-Man Plus. However, these are ready.

 

 

 

[gambler172]

Hi Bob

 

cannot wait to get a bin ?

[PacManPlus]

WIP Demo.  No Yamaha sounds yet.  Even the 'pass through' bug made it into the game.

There are 8 different 'little intermissions' that can play during the title screen.  The monster introductions count as 1 (it randomly pics one of the four monsters and introduces it).

 

@Defender_2600

This is the compromise I was talking about.  I used your idea for the monster's eyes, and some of the colors.  For Pac-Man, I did a little of both...  although Blinky looks a little jaundice...
 

 

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by PacManPlus

[R_Leo_1]

Absolutely kick-ass! Excellent work

[Trebor]

1 hour ago, PacManPlus said:

...although Blinky looks a little jaundice...

Ehh...more authentic to playing on an aged CRT. ?

 

Fantastic, Bob!  Looks excellent!  The options, maze, and colors.  So very well done.

 

One question:  Any chance of the score being placed on the side of the screen vertically or just above the maze horizontally? 

 

No showstopper by any means, just a little jarring (but can certainly get use to), having the score inside the monster pit.

[Defender_2600]

@PacManPlus, what a great emotion, really. I have hoped and thought about it for years.

 

This your "huge Collection 320" is yet another demonstration of the great potential of the 7800. I love the many game options and the high resolution (with transparencies included), but I also love that arcade pixel aspect ratio that we get thanks to the very high resolution of 320 horizontal pixels.

 

And, to be honest, I think it not only makes the NES versions pale but also the SNES version (which by the way has a "fat" graphic also because of its low resolution of only 256 horizontal pixels).

 

But above all, our wizard Bob, is yet another demonstration of your great generosity. I'd like to shake your hand and say thank you. Sincere congratulations!

 

[Jinks]

I can not remember if I said this looks amazing... with the yamaha sound it will blow away all 8 bit variants. 

[Defender_2600]

4 hours ago, PacManPlus said:

 

@Defender_2600

This is the compromise I was talking about.  I used your idea for the monster's eyes, and some of the colors.  For Pac-Man, I did a little of both...  although Blinky looks a little jaundice..

 

 

 

You really anticipated me on this!

 

When I told you that Blinky and Clyde use 3 colors while Pinky and Inky use only 2 colors, I was referring only to the game of Ms. Pac-Man. Instead for Pac-Man and Pac-Man Plus I wanted to propose Blinky and Inky use 3 colors while Pinky and Clyde use only 2 colors.

 

I know, it's another little nuisance with the code but you would have better colors with the fruits (cherry and strawberry without yellow, bell with blue and without red, etc.) and also eyes without yellow dithering for Blinky (he is the leader after all). However, to work well, Inky should be a little darker than what I'm seeing (in the Pac-Man game). But either way, you did a superb job!

 

[Defender_2600]

1 hour ago, Defender_2600 said:

 

You really anticipated me on this!

 

When I told you that Blinky and Clyde use 3 colors while Pinky and Inky use only 2 colors, I was referring only to the game of Ms. Pac-Man. Instead for Pac-Man and Pac-Man Plus I wanted to propose Blinky and Inky use 3 colors while Pinky and Clyde use only 2 colors.

 

I know, it's another little nuisance with the code but you would have better colors with the fruits (cherry and strawberry without yellow, bell with blue and without red, etc.) and also eyes without yellow dithering for Blinky (he is the leader after all). However, to work well, Inky should be a little darker than what I'm seeing (in the Pac-Man game). But either way, you did a superb job!

 

 

I apologize, I meant to say:

"However, to work well, Inky Pinky should be a little darker than what I'm seeing (in the Pac-Man game). "

 

[PacManPlus]

 

 

 

Thanks, guys - always for the kind words you tell me, and appreciating what I do - even if it's a repeat.  Truth be told I've been wanting to do this for a while, but when I heard the Yamaha example sounds, I thought it was the perfect 'excuse' to do so.

 

11 hours ago, Trebor said:

One question:  Any chance of the score being placed on the side of the screen vertically or just above the maze horizontally? 

Hey Trebor!   Short answer: I can't.  Explanation: It started out as a way to have the maximum amount of the board on the screen as possible at any given moment, and turned into a necessity as I am at the end of Maria cycles as it is now (over 400) with the character mode being just as wide as the maze,and up to 7 sprites possible on a line (the level / life indicators are a sprite).  Also, I originally had the level indicator going up the right side of the maze, but when I did that there was some 'disappearing' going on because I maxed out Maria.

 

5 hours ago, Defender_2600 said:

However, to work well, Pinky should be a little darker than what I'm seeing (in the Pac-Man game).

Done.  Thank you so much, you guys are some of the nicest people I've ever (almost) met.

 

Quote

cannot wait to get a bin

Soon, my friend, soon...  I would like to finish the in-game intermissions (and a few other things) first.

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by PacManPlus
clarification.