Back Yard Football (2600 ) RC-9

[easmith]

38 minutes ago, chewy said:

thanks so much-- to understand further, on a light 6'r one player, do i, or do i not have to flip the left and/or right difficulty to B to play one player?

 

is P1 left and P0 right, or vice versa? thanks so much

here's a matrix  !

 

 

                                   Right diff
                           A                       B

             A      2p h to h        1 player offense only vs AI def
L  diff
             B      2p h to h        1 player regular game vs AI opponent

[intergalactic419]

5 hours ago, easmith said:

Thanks to Intergalactic419 for valuable testing and fedback

BackYardfootballRC1.bin 16 kB · 6 downloads

Thanks, I've had a blast playing and look forward to playing someone head to head.

[chewy]

I am so sorry.  I am still confused.  Please bear with me.  As a 1 player, left difficulty switch will be set to A or B?

[easmith]

58 minutes ago, chewy said:

I am so sorry.  I am still confused.  Please bear with me.  As a 1 player, left difficulty switch will be set to A or B?

Set right to B and left to B for regular football ( where you play off and def)
 

set right to B and left to A for just playing offense .

 

i think in final version i will change to select switch game options 1,2,3 vs difficulty switches but for  now is placeholder 

[chewy]

thank you easmith, i am getting it now.  So you have two one player games, one regular football and you switch off playing offense and defense (B---B), and another game where you just play offense (B---A). 

 

is this because offense play where you run/throw the ball is what the people want most, so in this variation, thats all you play as?  

 

I think this is a great addition of the vcs, even if i cant do it real good yet!

 

 

[easmith]

On 5/6/2020 at 11:15 PM, chewy said:

thank you easmith, i am getting it now.  So you have two one player games, one regular football and you switch off playing offense and defense (B---B), and another game where you just play offense (B---A). 

 

 

 

 

Thanks .  You have encouraged me to add teh game selection with select switch at title screen

Right number is game option

Left number is No. Players

 

Game option 1 = 1 player vs. computer

Game option 2  = 2 player head to head 

Game option 3 = 1 player offense only   vs. AI def.

 

On 5/6/2020 at 11:15 PM, chewy said:

 

 

is this because offense play where you run/throw the ball is what the people want most, so in this variation, thats all you play as?  

 

 

 

   Initially was going to make it 2 player game with offense practice mode .  Also , games like 10 yd Fight were like this I think.  Also I though programming

decent AI offense was going to be too hard.  But then I just really wanted to play a game with off and defense without having someone else to play against so I tried it and am fairly happy with the AI offense 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KevinMos3]

Just thought I'd throw this pic up here as a potential option to add to the game.  If you've freed up any switches by using the game select switch, it could be added as an option for some lawn mower lines. 

 

[easmith]

46 minutes ago, KevinMos3 said:

Just thought I'd throw this pic up here as a potential option to add to the game.  If you've freed up any switches by using the game select switch, it could be added as an option for some lawn mower lines. 

 

Maybe........ but make them less brown and more lighter  green perhaps?   I don't like the brown I guess. Also player color should  be black , or certainly  not green at any rate .      Send me some more options in PM  

 

[KevinMos3]

17 minutes ago, easmith said:

Maybe........ but make them less brown and more lighter  green perhaps?   I don't like the brown I guess. Also player color should  be black , or certainly  not green at any rate .      Send me some more options in PM  

 

Sure, I'll shoot you a PM. 

But just to clarify, I didn't change the colors of the players.  That's a screenshot from Stella with phosphor turned on, so the flickering makes them appear that way.  Also, I didn't add any brown to the image.  I just added of the more green C2 color alternating with your existing D2 color.  The C color range is a more pleasant green which makes the D color range look more brown by comparison.  Depending on the application, D or C color ranges may be more fitting.  In this case, I do like the combination of them.  C may be a bit too green, D may be a bit too dirty green, but together, I think they look great.  Alternating shades rather than hues would also be a nice option.  The original Football by Atari used two alternating shades of D (D0 and D2).

 

Edit: wow, that screenshot really highlights how much more advanced your game is.  ~40 years later?  I don't feel that old.  Maybe we should start marking out the copyright dates on our Atari collections. 

Edited May 7, 2020 by KevinMos3

[chewy]

thanks for all your coding!!!!!!!!!!!

[easmith]

On 5/7/2020 at 11:16 AM, KevinMos3 said:

Just thought I'd throw this pic up here as a potential option to add to the game.  If you've freed up any switches by using the game select switch, it could be added as an option for some lawn mower lines. 

 

 

 

Thanks to KevinMos3 for convincing me to add this as the default field:

 

 

 

 

 

you can drop the mowed stripes by putting Left diff to A.

 

 

 

 

[easmith]

Ok a few more fine adjustments,  such as AI offense variety . Also , the mow lines revealed that the yard numbers were not exactly symmetric . Fixed now . 

Very happy with this version.    Please let me know if there are any bugs / crashes .

 

I am aware of the "bug" where tackle doesn't register. This is only after the runner has run over an opponent.  This could be fixed, but I like it as a temporary "beast mode" where the runner "drags" the tackler for a second or so .

Also , defender occasionally trips and falls . I decided to keep this in as it sometimes leads to longer plays.

 

 

There are 4 different fields possible. Think of it as playing at each player's different house!

 

                                               P0 DIFF

                                A                                   B

                

             BW    white markings                    white  marking 

                         & no stripes                      & stripes

 

TV TYPE

 

            Color   brown markings                  brown markings 

                         & no stripes                       & stripes

 

 

 

BackYard Football.txt

 

 

 

 

[KevinMos3]

I really like this.  It's very playable and pretty fun.  Kinda sucks when you're at the end zone, it's 1st and less than inches, and the opponent keeps getting sacks as soon as you hike the ball until turnover on downs though.  But there seem to be enough opportunities to mess up the opponent that it's fair enough, (like when the opponent fumbles).  Awesome job on this.  Looks and plays great.

[intergalactic419]

3 hours ago, KevinMos3 said:

I really like this.  It's very playable and pretty fun.  Kinda sucks when you're at the end zone, it's 1st and less than inches, and the opponent keeps getting sacks as soon as you hike the ball until turnover on downs though.  But there seem to be enough opportunities to mess up the opponent that it's fair enough, (like when the opponent fumbles).  Awesome job on this.  Looks and plays great.

The positive is if you're on the goal line the next snap is an automatic qb sneak touchdown. I run out of bounds prior to the inches situation or make sure my pass target doesn't leave me in the inches situation. Once in awhile I'll have luck putting the receiver out wide and selecting the down route in the inches situation.

[easmith]

a few more tweaks :

 

1.  improved the AI defense a bit more.  Also if P0 Diff = A , even a little bit more challenging  ( your fumble rate goes up and your tackling is worse ) 

2. So now P1 Diff controls mow lines on / off

 

 

Got a working label :

 

 

also , here is a photo of my birthday party  ca. 1981, 1982 ?

 

I am hard to spot -- behind the kid in the Blue shirt ( Blaine).  The guy  being tackled in gray shirt was 2 years older than everyone else and "Tecmo Bo Jackson" ing us !

BackYardfootballRC6.bin

[intergalactic419]

1 hour ago, easmith said:

a few more tweaks :

 

1.  improved the AI defense a bit more.  Also if P0 Diff = A , even a little bit more challenging  ( your fumble rate goes up and your tackling is worse ) 

2. So now P1 Diff controls mow lines on / off

 

also , here is a photo of my birthday party  ca. 1981, 1982 ?

 

I am hard to spot -- behind the kid in the Blue shirt ( Blaine).  The guy  being tackled in gray shirt was 2 years older than everyone else and "Tecmo Bo Jackson" ing us !

BackYardfootballRC6.bin 16 kB · 0 downloads

Haha that pic is great! Exactly what I think of when using the term Backyard Football. I'll send you a message on RC6.

[easmith]

Thanks to Intergalactic419 for continuing to push for improvements.

I have improved the AI offense a bit more.  I have even lost a few games !

 

I'm gonna let this one sit for a while . Don't know if I can do much better than this! 

BackYardfootballRC8.bin BackYard Football.txt

[easmith]

Thanks to extensive testing by intergalactic419, I think I have a version with a much more challenging AI opponent.

The red zone offense is better and the player is just a little smarter. 

 

This will most likely be the cart version . 

BackyardfootballR9.bin

[easmith]

fixed bug where touchdown would  not register  if entire end zone was not showing .

This version sent to production.

BackYardFootballCART.bin

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

We'll be checking out Back Yard Football on tomorrow's (Tue Jul 14) ZeroPage Homebrew stream LIVE on Twitch at 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 1AM GMT! Hope everyone can watch!

 

Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/

 

Games:

• BLiP Football (2007) by David Galloway (@djmips)  & Bob Montgomery (@vdub_bobby) (Programmer) | Tommy Montgomery (Music) | Peter Hirschberg (Designer)
• Pitch'n Catch (2008 WIP) by Simone Serra (@seemo)
• Pro Football 1770 (2015) by (@Retro Lord)
• Back Yard Football (2020) by Edward Smith (@easmith)

 

 

 (SET VIDEO TO 1080P60 FOR FULL QUALITY)

 

 

Edited July 16, 2020 by ZeroPage Homebrew

[easmith]

On 7/14/2020 at 12:33 AM, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

We'll be checking out Back Yard Football on tomorrow's (Tue Jul 14) ZeroPage Homebrew stream LIVE on Twitch at 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 1AM GMT! Hope everyone can watch!

 

Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/

 

Games:

• BLiP Football (2007) by David Galloway (@djmips)  & Bob Montgomery (@vdub_bobby) (Programmer) | Tommy Montgomery (Music) | Peter Hirschberg (Designer)
• Pitch'n Catch (2008 WIP) by Simone Serra (@seemo)
• Pro Football 1770 (2015) by (@Retro Lord)
• Back Yard Football (2020) by Edward Smith (@easmith)

 

 

 (SET VIDEO TO 1080P60 FOR FULL QUALITY)

 

 

On the stream the video did not look right . 
the players were flashing on and off like the frame rate was slow . That is not how the game is supposed to look or how it looks on Stella or on hardware . Is it just my phone or was that How it  actually Looked ?

[neotokeo2001]

35 minutes ago, easmith said:

On the stream the video did not look right . 
the players were flashing on and off like the frame rate was slow . That is not how the game is supposed to look or how it looks on Stella or on hardware . Is it just my phone or was that How it  actually Looked ?

You have to change your video quality to 60 fps.

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

1 hour ago, easmith said:

On the stream the video did not look right . 
the players were flashing on and off like the frame rate was slow . That is not how the game is supposed to look or how it looks on Stella or on hardware . Is it just my phone or was that How it  actually Looked ?

As @neotokeo2001 said above, definitely make sure you watch at 60fps in order to match the 60fps output framerate of the Atari 2600. If you have it set to Auto, YouTube sometimes default to 30fps and will drop every second frame in order to convert 60fps into 30fps. Running at 30fps will make games that use flicker management look TERRIBLE, it'll make characters disappear or blink in and out weirdly like you saw.

 

I always try to make sure I type "Set video to 1080p60 for full quality" above every video on post on Facebook and in the AA Forums to make sure people are set to the right settings to avoid problems.

 

Thanks again @easmith for making Back Yard Football, it's was super fun to play and was great to include it in our 'All Football' homebrew special!

- James

[easmith]

9 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

As @neotokeo2001 said above, definitely make sure you watch at 60fps in order to match the 60fps output framerate of the Atari 2600. If you have it set to Auto, YouTube sometimes default to 30fps and will drop every second frame in order to convert 60fps into 30fps. Running at 30fps will make games that use flicker management look TERRIBLE, it'll make characters disappear or blink in and out weirdly like you saw.

 

I always try to make sure I type "Set video to 1080p60 for full quality" above every video on post on Facebook and in the AA Forums to make sure people are set to the right settings to avoid problems.

 

Thanks again @easmith for making Back Yard Football, it's was super fun to play and was great to include it in our 'All Football' homebrew special!

- James

Thanks .    That is reassuring . I just was freaking out and thinking everyone else was seeing what I was seeing !. I have watched several streams before and have not seen that . Maybe I watched those live on twitch and that’s why. 

 

the game takes practice and patience  to get the offense controls and pass timing down but once you get it is plays pretty well.  Thanks ?