Dig Dug 2 on Atari 7800

[Jaden (JRH)]

I initially wanted to wait until I had done more work on this, but I just couldn't wait any longer. So, I put together this little collection of assets for a theoretical port of Dig Dug 2 to the 7800. There's no programming here. I'm admittedly not much of a coder. I'm still in the process of learning C#, and I've barely touched 7800basic at all. However, I figured that I should make at least something to get the ball rolling. I'm not super familiar with the limitations of the 7800, and you guys can let me know if there are any issues with my sprites. However, I think I managed to stay faithful to the limitations in terms of colors and pixel size. This is also in no way meant to be a call for any programmers to work on a port of Dig Dug 2. Homebrew devs are obviously busy doing whatever they're doing right now and I'm not gonna stop them. This is mostly just a "what if" scenario, but it could become a full game once I learn how to write in 7800basic. Hope you like what you see, and hopefully there are other Dig Dug 2 fans on this forum besides me.

Dig Dug 2 7800.zip

[+sixersfan105]

Neat idea! DD2 is a fun game. I have it on NES. Would you mind adding some screenshots of what you've got so far as pics in your post? Then it would be easy for those on mobile to see, too. Thanks!

[Jaden (JRH)]

Can do! Here's what I got so far.

And yes, Dig Dug 2 is a very fun game! I have it on NES as well, and it's a great version. However, I think the 7800 can also pull off an equally great port of the game.

Also, I'll keep updating this thread whenever I have some more stuff to share. I might try doing some sound effects next.

[+sixersfan105]

Looks fantastic! Thanks for sharing. I'd love to see Dig Dug 2 on the 7800. Time for you to brush up on coding and make this happen! ?

[Jaden (JRH)]

Thanks! I'm glad you like what you see so far. And hopefully, I can get started on coding this soon. This will be my first 7800 game. So, I might need some people to help point me in the right direction. But I'm hoping that the final product will turn out nice.

[gambler172]

Looks good ?

[+Pac-Lander]

Great work!

[R_Leo_1]

This game uses so few colors that I think using one of the 320 modes would be pretty doable. If that's something you're interested in

[Jaden (JRH)]

I've been trying to find my way around 7800basic and use the examples to help me out. Right now, I just want to draw a screen of graphics to see that it works, but I'm having some issues with it. It keeps giving me an error saying that my file size is 0 bytes. I also have to keep moving certain files into the 7800basic folder just for the program to identify them. I will share the code that I have and what the command prompt window has told me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

digdug2.bas command prompt.txt

[Jaden (JRH)]

Guess I'm on my own with this one. ?

[+Muddyfunster]

You posted your source (incomplete, missing the files that you are trying to integrate) just a day or so ago. Folks probably haven't had time to take a look yet.

 

If you post the complete folder (including your source and any graphics and map files) then someone will probably be able to give you some guidance and pointers.

 

Just looking at your source, you don't have a loop structure set up to display your map file. You probably want to do something like this :

 

Set properties (zone height, romsize etc)
Load graphics,
Load mapfile
etc.

Set palette
Draw the mapfile
Save the screen

Loop
	Restore the screen
	Drawscreen
Goto Loop

Your mapfile plot also looks wrong, you look like you have a X & Y plot of 0 and 2 and a width of 2 and height of 0. I'm guessing that's not the dimension of your map  

 

If you attach a zip of your folder I could probably figure out more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jaden (JRH)]

Sorry, I must not have been thinking when I posted this. I guess I didn't realize that yeah it would be kinda important to have all of the graphics and stuff included with it. I also didn't understand what the numbers meant after the plotmapfile command. So, thank you for telling me that. I've attached my entire 7800basic folder, which will be more helpful. I'll get back to this tonight and fix it up.

7800basic.zip

[SlidellMan]

I would also have dedicated player_xpos, player_ypos, pooka_xpos, pooka_ypos, fygar_xpos, and fygar_ypos variables. Hope this helps you get in the right direction.

[+Muddyfunster]

3 hours ago, Jaden (JRH) said:

Sorry, I must not have been thinking when I posted this. I guess I didn't realize that yeah it would be kinda important to have all of the graphics and stuff included with it. I also didn't understand what the numbers meant after the plotmapfile command. So, thank you for telling me that. I've attached my entire 7800basic folder, which will be more helpful. I'll get back to this tonight and fix it up.

7800basic.zip 8.3 MB · 1 download

 

 

No worries , I'll take a look on Friday when I get some time.

 

FYI, plotmapfile usually takes 6 parameters. The numbers are the X Y co-ords on the screen that you want to plot your map at and then the width and height. So to plot a typical map, you would be doing something like 

 

plotmapfile mapfile.tmx mapfile 0 0 20 24 (link)

[Jaden (JRH)]

Good news! I finally have a working ROM of the game. With some help from a friend, we were able to figure what exactly I was doing on. The main things were having to change the order of the code and moving in a bunch of files into the 7800basic folder. Without them, games just wouldn't compile. There's no actual gameplay yet, but it does boot up and show this lovely little island. My next step is working on movement.

 

digdug2.bas.a78

[Jaden (JRH)]

Well, this was a quick update. Now we have movement and animation going! Pooka is sadly not the hero of this game, but he does show off the new features very well.

digdug2.bas.a78

[+Trebor]

Great progress, Jaden!  Rightfully so, the title of this thread should be edited. 

You've gone beyond "Mockups" at this juncture - congrats!

[Jaden (JRH)]

Thank you for the kind words! I can't edit the thread, but I agree that it should be changed since this will actually be a full game. I'll wait a little bit before posting the next demo. The next one I post should hopefully have Dig Dug, his pump, and some basic enemy movement.

[+Mitch]

Just updated the thread title. Let me know if you want something different.

 

Mitch

[Jaden (JRH)]

Alright, so I'm currently having some problems with the animations showing up. All of the sprites are there, but I just couldn't get them to work right for whatever reason. If anyone is willing to help out, I would greatly appreciate it. Here's the full 7800basic folder containing the ROM, sprites, code and everything else needed for the game.

7800basic.zip

[Giles N]

Go @Jaden (JRH)!!!

Edited April 13, 2021 by Giles N

[Jaden (JRH)]

So, here's where I'm at now. I decided to save animation for later, since I didn't think it was too important to have right now. And also I was having some trouble with it. But hey, Dig Dug can now shoot kinda! I need to add the graphic for his pump and also have him stop shooting after a certain period of time. But hey, it kinda works. And Dig Dug shoots Pookas, which is pretty epic.

digdug2.bas.a78

[7800Knight]

Two thumbs up!

[Jaden (JRH)]

Alright, the pump is now working just fine! Next step in enemy AI. However, I do have a question for you guys. Which color pump do you think looks better? Red or blue? Whichever one people like more is what I'll go with. I hope to have enemy AI and more done soon. I'm really excited to be making progress on this game!

digdug2.bas.a78 7800basic.zip

Edited May 18, 2021 by Jaden (JRH)

[BIGHMW]

I will probably want to play this tomorrow morning and maybe even make it the subject matter for a future episode of the 7800 Edition of The Atari Report!!!

 

Right now it is nearing midnight, and it is past the 10:00 pm-8:00 am noise curfew so I can't do it tonight, but I'll let you and everyone here what I think of this build, it sounds (and looks from the pics I see here) like a hit in the making!!!