r_type2600 Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 Just wow! The demo already oozes more arcade feeling than the 5200 or Lynx versions. Seems to be all there - cool presentation, perfect graphics (& effects), smooth gameplay + awesome, "electric" sound! 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4923449 Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenJ Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 1 hour ago, r_type2600 said: Just wow! The demo already oozes more arcade feeling than the 5200 or Lynx versions. Seems to be all there - cool presentation, perfect graphics (& effects), smooth gameplay + awesome, "electric" sound! "...Just wow..." I agree! 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4923498 Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted October 13, 2021 Share Posted October 13, 2021 That looks fantastic! Wow! 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4923501 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 Love it how devs like SpiceWare and ChampGames have made the Harmony Architecture a commonplace 2nd official hardware expansion. Arcadia/Starpath SuperCharger having been the 1st. 5 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4923699 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+D Train Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 20 hours ago, r_type2600 said: Just wow! seconded (or thirded). I just saw the video and this is NUTS. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4923921 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 8 hours ago, Keatah said: Love it how devs like SpiceWare and ChampGames have made the Harmony Architecture a commonplace 2nd official hardware expansion. Arcadia/Starpath SuperCharger having been the 1st. Thanks! I am a bit surprised at how slowly it's been adopted by others. Hopefully once I resume work on the CDFJ tutorial over in the Harmony/Melody club we'll see more activity. 5 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4923950 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 1 hour ago, D Train said: seconded (or thirded). I just saw the video and this is NUTS. And it plays really well, too! Can't wait for people to try this out. 8 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4923983 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 will this trying it out experience be happing shortly? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4924113 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 19 minutes ago, chewy said: will this trying it out experience be happing shortly? 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4924125 Share on other sites More sharing options...
quohog Posted October 14, 2021 Share Posted October 14, 2021 That looks amazing! I can't wait to play it. Qix was an arcade favorite of mine. I hope you do a big "how we did it" presentation at a conference some day and I also hope it's recorded and posted. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4924168 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy Posted October 15, 2021 Share Posted October 15, 2021 wow!! 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4924276 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 ZeroPage Homebrew is playing the Exclusive World Premiere of Qix from Champ Games on tomorrow's (Tue Nov 2, 2021) stream LIVE on Twitch at 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 1AM GMT! Hope you can join us! ZPH Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/ Games: Qix (2021 Exclusive World Premiere | 2600) by John Champeau @johnnywc, Nathan Strum @Nathan Strum (Graphics), Bob DeCrescenzo @PacManPlus (Sound) 1942 (2021 WIP | 2600) by @homerhomer & Wolfgang Stubig @Al_Nafuur, Pat Brady @Pat Brady (Sound) After Dark: Sadoom!+ (2019 Hack of Kaboom | 2600) by Thomas Jentzsch @Thomas Jentzsch Kaboom! (1981 Activision Patch Attempt #2: ?/3000) by Larry Kaplan (WATCH AT 1080P60 FOR FULL QUALITY) 8 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4936562 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FujiSkunk Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 Excellent stuff. Instabuy when it hits the store. 2 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4936663 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+johnnywc Posted November 4, 2021 Author Share Posted November 4, 2021 To all: The demo version of Qix (NTSC and PAL60) is now available for download on our Champ Games website: https://champ.games/downloads Since the game uses CDFJ bank switching, it will only work on Harmony carts (no PlusCart+ or UnoCart compatibility). As always, we recommend you download the latest version of Stella if you plan on playing through an emulator. The game can also be played using Stellarator. If you are using Stella, there seems to be an issue with gamepad detection using 6.5.3; if you plan on using a single button joystick, you may need to specify a joystick for the left controller (-lc joystick) to override Stella's autodetection (which may detect a QuadTari or Gamepad). The game does support 2 button Genesis gamepads (button B is draw fast, button C is draw slow). Single button control is tap and release button while moving to draw fast, press and hold the button while moving to draw slow (release the button to move fast). We estimate the game to be about 80% complete, with plans to add in additional play modes (2 player alternating, 2 player co-op) and a CHALLENGE mode as well, plus Savekey support. A full release is not planned until late 2022 (after Lady Bug Arcade, Gorf Arcade and Turbo Arcade ). Thanks to @Nathan Strum for game design and the cool graphics (especially the warp in/death animation) and Bob DeCrescenzo @PacManPlus for the awesome sounds! Also, special thanks to Steve Ramirez @sramirez2008 and @McCallister for game testing and feedback and @ZeroPage Homebrew James & Tanya for playing the game on the ZPH Twitch stream earlier this week. As always, any feedback is welcome. Have fun! John 10 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4938471 Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy Posted November 4, 2021 Share Posted November 4, 2021 so its kind of like a free-form demolition herby.... 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4938547 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prizrak Posted November 4, 2021 Share Posted November 4, 2021 Played a quick game on my phone and it's cool with that 2600 flair that I expected. Definitely going to play some on my Harmony later. Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4938757 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dionoid Posted November 4, 2021 Share Posted November 4, 2021 (edited) What a strange and highly addictive game. After the first play I was hooked! Excellent port! Everything plays really smooth. Amazing animation of the Qix. Getting chased by a few rotating lines never was this scary and never looked this good! I do have one suggestion: please consider switching around fast and slow drawing for 1-button players. Maybe it's me, but I found activating slow and fast drawing to be counter-intuitive. Holding the button down to me feels like 'hitting the gas' and releasing the button feels like slowing down. Now every time one of these nasty Qixes comes near, I intuitively push the button, which only makes me slow down ? Anyway, I can't wait to buy this on cartridge! [btw: the PAL60 demo uses 263 scanlines, which causes my TV to show the game in black & white] Edited November 4, 2021 by Dionoid 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4938870 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+adamchevy Posted November 4, 2021 Share Posted November 4, 2021 This looks great and would be fun to have on the 2600. I loved playing this on the 5200. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4938893 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+johnnywc Posted November 5, 2021 Author Share Posted November 5, 2021 1 hour ago, Dionoid said: What a strange and highly addictive game. After the first play I was hooked! Glad you like it Dion! The game has certainly grown on me too as I've discovered more strategy doing research (and Nathan's playing tips ). 1 hour ago, Dionoid said: Excellent port! Everything plays really smooth. Amazing animation of the Qix. Getting chased by a few rotating lines never was this scary and never looked this good! Thanks! I'm pretty happy with the Qix animation; the trick is to show the previous animation frame 1/4 of the time to get that ghosting effect. 1 hour ago, Dionoid said: I do have one suggestion: please consider switching around fast and slow drawing for 1-button players. Maybe it's me, but I found activating slow and fast drawing to be counter-intuitive. Holding the button down to me feels like 'hitting the gas' and releasing the button feels like slowing down. Now every time one of these nasty Qixes comes near, I intuitively push the button, which only makes me slow down ? I do see your point, but the problem is that once you start drawing fast, the entire path will be blue (even if you switch to slow/orange) and you'll only get 1/2 the points. The control scheme is set up like the Lynx (I believe), so you have to draw then *entire* path using slow (button pressed) to get credit for an orange/2x square. Since you have to press the button to start drawing, this would automatically make every draw a 'fast draw'. ? I'm sure this was the logic for the Lynx version as well (default to slow for button pressed, release to go fast). Hope that makes sense! Of course, the true solution is to use a 2 button Genesis which gives you 1 button for fast draw (Button B) and 1 button for slow draw (button C) like the arcade. 1 hour ago, Dionoid said: Anyway, I can't wait to buy this on cartridge! Thanks in advance for your support! We're shooting for either PRGE 2022 or holiday season 2022 (one will be Turbo Arcade and the other will be Qix ). 1 hour ago, Dionoid said: [btw: the PAL60 demo uses 263 scanlines, which causes my TV to show the game in black & white] Wow - good catch! Looks like somewhere along the way (October 14th at 5:33pm EST to be precise ), my scanline count got bumped to 263, probably when I was trouble shooting screen rolls and adjusting the vertical blank/ overscan timers. ? I fixed the issue and will post a new build soon (with a couple other suggestions from TJ @Thomas Jentzsch for improving the marker movement). Thanks again, John 4 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4938920 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prizrak Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 Got to playing it on the console, really nice work@johnnywc. Finally got the hang of it and was sad to see it loop after level 4 lol. I'll have to play the Lynx version to get some practice in. As far as the one button configuration, I feel the current setup with fast and slow movement works well and should be easy to pick up for most folks. I saw the explication and I was like, oh I get it! Once again, awesome work.Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4939028 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FujiSkunk Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 4 hours ago, johnnywc said: ...Since you have to press the button to start drawing, this would automatically make every draw a 'fast draw'. ? I'm sure this was the logic for the Lynx version as well (default to slow for button pressed, release to go fast). Hope that makes sense! If I'm not mistaken, how you've set it up is the same as how it's played on the Atari 8-bit computers. So this is not without precedent. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4939072 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 8 hours ago, Dionoid said: Holding the button down to me feels like 'hitting the gas' and releasing the button feels like slowing down. Just think of the button as a brake. 2 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4939106 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dionoid Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 10 hours ago, johnnywc said: Since you have to press the button to start drawing, this would automatically make every draw a 'fast draw'. ? I'm sure this was the logic for the Lynx version as well (default to slow for button pressed, release to go fast). Hope that makes sense! Ah, so pressing the button technically always starts 'slow draw' mode until the moment you release the button, after which it switches to 'fast draw', right? I think it's probably just something I will get used to after a few more games. @Thomas Jentzsch : thinking of the button as a brake indeed helps me. Having never played Qix before (and without having read the demo instructions), I initially expected some 'auto-draw' mode when moving the joystick into the direction of an empty space where there is no line (yet). But I realize that will totally break the original gameplay, so never mind. Moreover, being on par with the Lynx version makes sense to keep consistency across the ports. The game has a great look & feel; like I'm trapped inside a futuristic game. The sound effects also add to that! 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4939166 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+johnnywc Posted November 5, 2021 Author Share Posted November 5, 2021 9 hours ago, Dionoid said: Ah, so pressing the button technically always starts 'slow draw' mode until the moment you release the button, after which it switches to 'fast draw', right? I think it's probably just something I will get used to after a few more games. @Thomas Jentzsch : thinking of the button as a brake indeed helps me. Yes exactly. I did struggle with this a bit at first but 'tap' and draw has become second nature (to draw fast) and I'm sure it will for you too soon. 9 hours ago, Dionoid said: Having never played Qix before (and without having read the demo instructions), I initially expected some 'auto-draw' mode when moving the joystick into the direction of an empty space where there is no line (yet). But I realize that will totally break the original gameplay, so never mind. Moreover, being on par with the Lynx version makes sense to keep consistency across the ports. I may be wrong, but I think the 800 version does this (auto-draw mode); perhaps it's something I can add for NOVICE players. 9 hours ago, Dionoid said: The game has a great look & feel; like I'm trapped inside a futuristic game. The sound effects also add to that! Thanks! Bob did a great job on the sounds and it really adds to the atmosphere and Nathan's graphics really take it up a notch too. Glad you're enjoying it! FYI I did update the demo version (v2) on the Champ Games download page after some suggestions from TJ (and to fix the 263 line colorless PAL issue): Fixed the line count so it's now 262 on both NTSC and PAL60. This was causing the game to run a bit slower than expected, and also would cause the PAL version to display only black & white. Updated the movement code to be closer to the arcade and reduce the chance of getting your cursor 'stuck': (thanks @Thomas Jentzsch for the suggestions) When you attempt to move in a direction (for example, you're moving left and try to move down), if you can't move in the desired direction (because you are too close to a previous line), the game will continue to move your cursor in the current direction until it can move in your desired direction (in this example, the game will continue to move your cursor left until it can move down). When moving the joystick in a diagonal direction, the game will move your cursor in the newest direction. For example, if you are moving left and then move your joystick diagonally left and up, the game will move your marker up (first change of direction only so you don't continue to move diagonal ). Have fun! 5 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4939472 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dionoid Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 3 hours ago, johnnywc said: I may be wrong, but I think the 800 version does this (auto-draw mode); perhaps it's something I can add for NOVICE players. Yes, it seems the Atari 400/800 version indeed uses auto-drawing. The No Swear Gamer talks about that in this video. Would be great if this could be an option. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/309276-champ-games-qyx-aka-qix-for-the-atari-2600/page/4/#findComment-4939626 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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