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Hellway, an Atari 2600 homebrew with love


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2 hours ago, wongojack said:

Look to the C64 classic Le Mans for inspiration.  If you hold down the button, it accelerates and moves "up" the playfield.  Release to move back "down."  I love this style and have played Le Mans to death over the years.

 

C64 Gamevideo 03 - LeMans - YouTube

 

 

yes it is, but this game is a bit different than Le Mans, you can check this game, see link

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/316516-1-line-sprite-playfield-kernel/

 

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I have tried this game from time to time when I've found that it was updated in the PlusCart library, so yes, I've played it only on real hardware.

 

I found it very exciting, but every time I found no path to go through and crashed (slow reactions). Trying to recover the high speed always is difficult because the traffic hits from behind.

 

I'm somehow confused with hex counters, at the point that I thought that it was debug info, but after I saw your videos, I now know it is on purpose.

 

My NTSC CRT TV set displays the grays as green, as you can see here:

 

image.thumb.png.96bbb1aad856312402768a9fcfbb425b.png

 

Congrats!

 

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2 hours ago, vitoco said:

I found it very exciting, but every time I found no path to go through and crashed (slow reactions). Trying to recover the high speed always is difficult because the traffic hits from behind.

To not have always a defined path is expected, you should break and wait for the right moment to overtake cars, reading the opportunity windows and timing is crucial. Also, it is your strategy to limit your max speed based on the road conditions. It is possible to get consistently better at the game.

What to do after get hit is your choice, but if you want to play safe, push to the right. Just go back to the left tracks once you gain speed again. This might not always be the most optional strategy, but should be the safest. It is always possible to not get hit in sequence.

 

2 hours ago, vitoco said:

My NTSC CRT TV set displays the grays as green, as you can see here:

This is not intentional. I wonder how many people have colours that are slight different from what I intended. I tried to always produce a valid tv signal and see no variations per frame. Differences between monitor and console versions are expected, but I will keep observing and fix if it is indeed something wrong. This is something I will have to count on the community to keep testing. By the way, I flicker the text at 30Hz. I only render half the screen each frame, this might be one of the reasons.

Thanks for testing my game!


 

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@ZeroPage Homebrew

 

I would like to say thank you for playing my game, but more than that, for getting what was my vision and understanding it.


Another spacial thanks to all people present on the live!

I would like to clarify that the game is indeed v1.01, and is a digital release, meaning that it is ready to be played, but this doesn't mean it will not get updated  until the physical release. Any change will also update the version number from now on (and keep posting here). 
I will announce of the version to be "burned" to the cartridge ROM before publishing it. My friend Leonardo Nogueira is creating all art, and making something very special!

 

 - Some points that were mentioned on the live:

To change the color of the background lines in the vertical parallax is not possible whiteout affecting the car colour on the second column. The engine is in its very limit (the drawing kernel), not allowing any kind of middle scan line trick at this point.
I tried, as an alternative, to flicker at 30hz the two background lines, it indeed made its color less intense. But was not much better in the eyes. It also makes the scroll of those lines less smooth, so I aborted it. Thanks for the suggestion, but I will not proceed with it.

 - About the HEX score (The elephant in the room):

That is the only way I can currently fit everything on a 10 digit HUD. I could get some arbitrary window of the game variables, but this would make it very weird, like checkpoints at 4096, that would probably cut the last digit, so, checkpoints at 409, or cut the current speed...
More than that, it is an artistic choice. You never need to convert anything, just need to understand how the count works. You never need the decimal value during gameplay. I also like the nerdness of it, and the CPU cycles it saves me.

I am also posting the screen shots of the colour change I mentioned on the last post (old, new).

 

I have approximately 1KB ROM, 40 Bytes RAM, and 500 CPU cycles on the vblank.

I am open to suggestions before the physical release, fell free to brainstorm, now is the time to suggest stuff.

 

See you next time.
 

 


 

hellway.asm_12.png

hellway.asm_13.png

hellway.asm_6.png

hellway.asm_8.png

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2 hours ago, Octavio Pinho Bokel said:

@ZeroPage Homebrew

 

I would like to say thank you for playing my game, but more than that, for getting what was my vision and understanding it.


Another spacial thanks to all people present on the live!

 

You're so welcome, it was a lot of fun playing Hellway on ZPH! It's an action packed game with really responsive controls and I love all the options for different tracks on the side of the road.

 

Looking forward to seeing the physical version of the game!

 

- James

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18 hours ago, Octavio Pinho Bokel said:

 - About the HEX score (The elephant in the room):

That is the only way I can currently fit everything on a 10 digit HUD. I could get some arbitrary window of the game variables, but this would make it very weird, like checkpoints at 4096, that would probably cut the last digit, so, checkpoints at 409, or cut the current speed...
More than that, it is an artistic choice. You never need to convert anything, just need to understand how the count works. You never need the decimal value during gameplay. I also like the nerdness of it, and the CPU cycles it saves me.

You could make the HEX score a part of the story of the game somehow.  Could be cool.  For instance, instead of a car on a road, you are controlling a "Bit" of data who is trying to avoid corrupted sectors on a disk.  That way the scrolling options on the side is different IO routines going on actively in parallel.

I dunno - just riffin

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3 hours ago, wongojack said:

You could make the HEX score a part of the story of the game somehow.  Could be cool.  For instance, instead of a car on a road, you are controlling a "Bit" of data who is trying to avoid corrupted sectors on a disk.  That way the scrolling options on the side is different IO routines going on actively in parallel.

I dunno - just riffin

 

Or it's the Game Grid escape sequence from Tron: Legacy...

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Version 1.10 update.

 

Changes checkpoint text from CHPT! to CKPT! @ZeroPage Homebrew tip.

Gliding decelerate faster.

A brand new game over screen (See attachment):
 

Gives you a detailed statistics of the game session:

S: Score (also distance) in decimal. This is a direct conversion of the HUD.

T: The total time you spend playing in seconds.

G: The time you spent gliding (unable to accelerate) in seconds.

H: The number of times you hit another car.

C: Total number of checkpoints.

Last line is a unique identifier of the version of the game and the configuration played, making it easier to compare scores among friends and online, and also for archiving your scores, it reads like this: GameMode (0 to F) | Difficulty Switch 1 (B - A) Difficulty Switch 2 (B - A) | Game Version. Example: E|AB|1.10

 

Holding the fire button allows you to see the traffic passing by (like in the previous version).


Also attached, a better quality version of the game art.

A nice weekend to you all.

 

hellway.asm_9.png

cartucho2.png

Edited by Octavio Pinho Bokel
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  • 2 weeks later...

Just dropping by to say we submitted the box and are working on the manual.


This is just a print on a A4, folded at home, and I opened the top just to show in the picture.

The final box might change a little if technical changes are requested by AtaryAge, but we hope not ;)

I am keeping the back part a mystery for now.

All design done by @Leonardons


 

20210325_093322.jpg

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On 3/25/2021 at 1:48 AM, Octavio Pinho Bokel said:

PS: After the score screen, we still have 512 bytes +- on the cartridge and 18 bytes of RAM.

 

The score screen have space for at least one more line.

 

If you have any of you have any final suggestions for the game, that is the time.

Nothing I can think of that you haven't done already, this game is AWESOME!

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Version Update 1.20

 

The game starts with a QR code, pointing to this repo at the moment. It can be dismissed by pressing fire or game select. Expect improved functionalities in the future. An updated high score and a mobile optimized quick manual are exemples. It can be shown again by cycling through the game modes.

 

 

Notes from the author:
In an ideal world game instructions should be in game. This is not the case for a 4KB game, but the QR code cover this gap, binding past and future!

Not just a quick manual, but online updates, new, high score, monthly challenges are possibilities.

Since the link points to a page in github.io repo, and this page redirects to the game repo, it is easy to change where this page will redirect, and to have updated content.
Another advantage is that I can have contributors. So, even if I stop updating, another person can keep the page alive.

 

hellway.asm_43.png

hellway.asm_44.png

Edited by Octavio Pinho Bokel
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Hello again,

 

I think most of you saw Circus Convoy QR code on the @ZeroPage Homebrew coverage of the game.

 

What I understood is that some of their QR codes are dynamic, so they can submit scores from inside the game.

 

If that is the case, they indeed deserve the title of masters, looks super complex to port a qr code lib to the 6502, also the restriction on RAM makes this a feat!

 

I had the idea of dynamic QR codes, but looked almost impossible to implement, so I aborted it. I decided last minute that a static QR code was still worth to be in the game, since the page itself can be updated.

 

My QR code is note dynamic, but everything uses 100 bytes, and no additional memory space. It was a nice use case for assimetrical mirrored playfield, since this saves a full byte in a 21x21 qr code.

 

I found a way to port a QR code bytes inside any game in less than half hour, and I would be glad to share if there is interest.

 

If anyone knows if there are indeed dynamic QR codes inside Circus Convoy I am very interested in knowing how it works!

 

Have a very nice day!

 

 

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I am also Brazilian, that is a coincidence!

 

He is using a 25 x 25 QR code, using a mirrored playfield would not save the extra byte, so, it does not really matter in his case. Also he uses a wooping 32kb cartridge.

 

I like the smart use of the sprite for text.

 

I am doing PF1 PF2 PF2 , 3 bytes per line, with the change on the cycle 48, since my qr is 21 x 21. With the regular playfield, I would have to use 4 bytes per line.

 

There are trade offs between an 21 and a 25 sized QR code (I will not talk about it in this post). I manage to squeeze my url into 21 (version 1) by watching the @ZeroPage Homebrew

Circus Convoy video, and annalyzing their QR code. ;)

 

With this the qr code only uses 63 bytes, plus +- 40 of the drawing routine. Very acceptable even for 4KB games.

 

What I really want to know is if C. Convoy adds information on the fly to the QR code. Displaying a qr code is not very hard, but generating one is!

 

If they did manage to do that they are even more amazing and the grand timeless masters, this would give new possibilities to the homebrew community.

 

I imagined the possibility of a common community manteined system, where with the proper URL in the QR code, you can submit all kinds of achievements, and have a high score table. You don't even need a custom ID per ROM, since the user phone can keep you logged in. You don't need special hardware or emulators to have a online functionalities, and this is a revolution!

 

I am really curious if I did understood correctly the video and they are indeed doing it.

 

PS: @alfredtdk thanks for bringing this game to my attention. Can you or someone else test my QR code on a CRT tv?

 

thanks!

Edited by Octavio Pinho Bokel
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