A silly little project

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

Update! By changing the file extension to .3ep (thanks @Bruce-Robert Pocock!) the game 'runs' on the UnoCart and the music plays. Unfortunately I'm unable to move my character and the screen 'opens and closes' as in the following video:

 

UPDATE: Everything has been fixed! See you on the stream tomorrow. 🙂

 

- James

[+Al_Nafuur]

3 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

Update! By changing the file extension to .3ep (thanks @Bruce-Robert Pocock!) the game 'runs' on the UnoCart and the music plays. Unfortunately I'm unable to move my character and the screen 'opens and closes' as in the following video:

I have build and uploaded the newest version with commits just an hour ago from GIT to the PlusStore (with file extension .3ep). It now starts on the PlusCart, but still acts like described above?

 

3 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

UPDATE: Everything has been fixed! See you on the stream tomorrow. 🙂

What has been fixed? @mzxrules, @Bruce-Robert Pocock are the fixes pushed to the GIT repository?

 

 

[mzxrules]

The problem was two things; the game is designed for a genesis controller so the hud kept constantly opening, which was easy to fix.

 

The other thing is that I think this bit of code is the problem: https://github.com/DirtyHairy/UnoCart-2600/blob/master/source/STM32firmware/Atari2600Cart/src/cartridge_3ep.c#L21

 

The rom built by everyone else isn't an even 32 KB, there's a couple of bytes extra to it, so the number of banks is undercounted, and you end up swapping in bank 0 instead of the last bank.

 

I've hastily made an updated build for the ZeroPage stream that addresses this and hastily adds some new things. There's a chance it might run out of cycles in some cases, I didn't do extensive testing but I think I avoided it for now.

 

zelda.bin zelda_PAL60.bin

[+Al_Nafuur]

2 hours ago, mzxrules said:

The problem was two things; the game is designed for a genesis controller so the hud kept constantly opening, which was easy to fix.

 

The other thing is that I think this bit of code is the problem: https://github.com/DirtyHairy/UnoCart-2600/blob/master/source/STM32firmware/Atari2600Cart/src/cartridge_3ep.c#L21

 

The rom built by everyone else isn't an even 32 KB, there's a couple of bytes extra to it, so the number of banks is undercounted, and you end up swapping in bank 0 instead of the last bank.

 

I've hastily made an updated build for the ZeroPage stream that addresses this and hastily adds some new things. There's a chance it might run out of cycles in some cases, I didn't do extensive testing but I think I avoided it for now.

 

zelda.bin 36 kB · 3 downloads zelda_PAL60.bin 36 kB · 1 download

I have uploaded these 36 kB  ROMs to the PlusStore, but still the same issue on the PlusCart

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

5 hours ago, mzxrules said:

I've hastily made an updated build for the ZeroPage stream that addresses this and hastily adds some new things. There's a chance it might run out of cycles in some cases, I didn't do extensive testing but I think I avoided it for now.

 

The new version works great via the UnoCart on real hardware, thank you so much @mzxrules! We're all set for tonight, see you there!

 

- James

[+Bruce-Robert Pocock]

For the record, I just suggested the 3EP on the file name, I haven't really contributed anything here @Al_Nafuur All @mzxrules!

[LatchKeyKid]

This may seem like a silly question but how much space does the overworld map take up in the rom?   I'm curious if this kind of game could have fit in some limited stripped down way (ala Adventure) in the ROM sizes available during the 2600 original run.

Edited April 29, 2023 by LatchKeyKid

[+MarcoJ]

Wow, nice. The game has potential to be great. Looks like a lot has already been worked out like assymetric kernel, soundtrack, enemies, items, player states. Great to see 3E+ being used, it's quite an under-appreciated bankswitching scheme, has potential to do almost anything within the scope of naturally aspirated 6507 code. I would encourage you to continue. 

[mika15]

what a conversion! NES original is probably my favourite game of all time, and you have done a magnificent job translating it to 2600.

 

If this ever gets released with a world map (like the original was) it would be a must buy. If it ever gets to the release stage and you have to change the name for obvious reasons, I once again suggest Legend of Stella, because that would just sound brilliant 😂

 

thanks for this, and can’t wait for a full version some time in the future.

[mzxrules]

15 hours ago, LatchKeyKid said:

This may seem like a silly question but how much space does the overworld map take up in the rom?   I'm curious if this kind of game could have fit in some limited stripped down way (ala Adventure) in the ROM sizes available during the 2600 original run.

Each room is 8 bytes of data, so the overworld, dungeons 1-6 and dungeons 7-9 are 3 banks of 0x400 bytes. This does not include sprite data or the logic needed to unpack the level data. Using extra ram to store playfield data is essential to the approach I use... it's not just for making the environment destructible, it's also to allow the walls using the same base sprite have different patterns, leading to more complex and interesting rooms on the overworld.

Edited April 30, 2023 by mzxrules

[poconojo]

Will this game work on the Harmony Encore?

[+Yurkie]

On 4/29/2023 at 4:29 PM, mika15 said:

Legend of Stella

I second this. I would love to see a label a la botw.*

[+Yurkie]

@mzxrules

Any word on this awesome game?

[mzxrules]

Still plugging away at it slowly. Flute actually sounds like the flute now. Next big milestone I'm working towards is getting enemy missiles and the shield functional.

[+MarcoJ]

On 7/7/2023 at 12:39 PM, poconojo said:

Will this game work on the Harmony Encore?

Pretty sure not. It uses a fairly recently developed mapper called 3E+. Encore came out years before. It is however supported in emulators and PlusCart.

[+MarcoJ]

51 minutes ago, mzxrules said:

Still plugging away at it slowly. Flute actually sounds like the flute now. Next big milestone I'm working towards is getting enemy missiles and the shield functional.

Great to hear. I've enjoyed playing it so far. It's awesome.

[LatchKeyKid]

Thanks for the update!  I'm looking forward to see the next release version when it's ready.

[poconojo]

7 hours ago, MarcoJ said:

Pretty sure not. It uses a fairly recently developed mapper called 3E+. Encore came out years before. It is however supported in emulators and PlusCart.

Will there be a cart release?

[mzxrules]

Been thinking about implementing this one for far too long, so I decided to just do it today. 

[+MarcoJ]

7 hours ago, mzxrules said:

Been thinking about implementing this one for far too long, so I decided to just do it today.

Ooh, that looks like an inventory and map screen. Looking great!

[mzxrules]

Still making progress. Not a whole lot gameplay wise, mostly just behind the scene stuff being rewritten/reorganized. But I'm at a point where I feel like I should be able to get a lot of content done soon. Hopefully I can get a "completed" level 1 soon.

 

 

[freshbrood]

I am actually fluent in Megazeux! Lol.. Ironically I started to port Ninja Kombat to MZX first before I lost interest and learned Batari Basic.

[mzxrules]

Wanted to make this video almost two months ago to mark the 3rd year I've been working on this silly project, but got sidetracked by major life stuff. The video is a little bit on the spoiler-y side if you're someone who wants to play things fresh.

 

 

[+Bruce-Robert Pocock]

That is seriously impressive.

[+Pac-Lander]

1 hour ago, mzxrules said:

Wanted to make this video almost two months ago to mark the 3rd year I've been working on this silly project, but got sidetracked by major life stuff. The video is a little bit on the spoiler-y side if you're someone who wants to play things fresh.

 

 

This is fantastic! Great work.