Ramses' Revenge 2021 BC - A new 8bit and 5200 game by Anschuetz/Weisgerber/Anschuetz

[rra]

 

BUG FIX NOTE: THE ORIGINAL VERSION POSTED CONTAINED A BUG ON LEVEL 4.   I HAVE REPOSTED THE BINARIES WITH UPDATED VERSIONS.

 

Atari 8Bit Version (UPDATED BUG FIX VERSION 10/16/21)

 Ramses' Revenge 2021 BC.XEX

 

Atari 5200 Version: (UPDATED BUG FIX VERSION 10/16/21)

 Ramses' Revenge 2021 BC.ROM

 

As promised, here is our second new Halloween-related game this month - Ramses' Revenge 2021 BC.

 

The original BASIC version of this game was written by us in 1983 and can be found on Atarimania.com here: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-ramses--revenge_31475.html.   This was one of the first games our team wrote in 1983, shortly after we discovered in a magazine how to redefine character sets.  We wrote the BASIC version in a single day, staying up into the late hours of the night getting everything to work.

 

This Assembly language refresh of the game adds player/missile graphics (some players are reused multiple times) for additional smoothly moving colorful monsters.  This refresh also adds a familiar and fitting background song.  You can turn on artifacting on your emulator to see a different color in the base of the pyramid, or you'll get to see it no matter what if you play on actual hardware!

 

This game can be played by either one player or two players.  It is funner with two players, and it was originally designed to only be a 2-player game, but in our new updated game, you can play the game single-player or dual-player.  One or two players start at opposite ends of a pyramid, and race their way underground and then to the top chamber.  Along the way, moving cobras, bats, and other obstacles get in the way.  The first person to get to 10 keys wins the game.  Collect 5 rings to gain another life.  Rings are refreshed at levels 3 and 6.  Enemy monsters speed up at levels 3, 6, and 9.

 

Here is the object of the game as shown on the 2nd splash screen:  5000 Years ago, the Pharaoh Ramses was swallowed up by the Red Sea while in pursuit of Moses who had freed the slaves of Egypt.  However, before leaving the glory of Egypt, Ramses transferred all of his power to the great golden keys, praying to the evil god Seth that they might remain safe; hidden in the sacred pyramid.  Only now, have you and another explorer stumbled onto this previously undiscovered pyramid.  Will one of you recover the all powerful golden keys, or will both of you fall victim to the curse of Ramses’ Revenge? 

 

We hope you enjoy this game for Halloween!  Play it with another player for an even better game!  Let us know what you think in the comments!

 

Robert Anschuetz (@RRA).

Eric Anschuetz (@EEA)

John Weisgerber (@JJW)

 

 

 

 

Edited October 16, 2021 by rra
Updated Binaries with Bug Fixed Version

[+MrFish]

Cool; I like it! Thanks!

 

[VincentGR]

Looks fantastic, thanks.

[800XLNZ]

Well done guys, another great game, thx

[+Philsan]

Nice!

 

I would add a 1 second delay when you die for the last time.

Titlescreen appears immediately when you die.

[Yautja]

1 hour ago, Philsan said:

Nice!

 

I would add a 1 second delay when you die for the last time.

Titlescreen appears immediately when you die.

Totally agree. It would be great to add a "game over" screen in most of your games, if possible.

 

- Y -

[rra]

BUG FIX UPDATE!!!   PLEASE UPDATE TO THIS VERSION!!

 

A couple YouTube videos of Ramses' Revenge 2021 BC have already been posted.  While watching, I noticed a major bug in the speed-up of monsters starting on level 4.  Some monsters stopped instead of going faster.   

 

Moderator: If you could please give me edit permission to the first post, I will update the binary files at the top of this thread and provide a notice that there has been a bug fix.

 

Here are the bug fixed versions of Ramses' Revenge:

 

Atari 8bit version

Ramses' Revenge 2021 BC.XEX

 

Atari 5200 version

Ramses' Revenge 2021 BC.ROM

[rra]

3 hours ago, Philsan said:

Nice!

 

I would add a 1 second delay when you die for the last time.

Titlescreen appears immediately when you die.

That's a good idea. 

 

Right now, after the game is over, look at the top 3 lines of the status screen that shows the results of the game. 

 

3 possible endings:

1. Game Over!  Player 1 Wins the Game!!

2. Game Over!  Player 2 Wins the Game!!

3. Game Over!  The Legend of the Curse is True!  (meaning that you died in single player mode or both of you died in two player mode)

[+bhall408]

On 10/15/2021 at 9:31 AM, rra said:

You can turn on artifacting on your emulator to see a different color in the base of the pyramid, or you'll get to see it no matter what if you play on actual hardware!

Didn't catch the bit about artifacting being used the first time reading the description...

 

I'm wondering which you (and others) prefer...

 

I got really used to it being off:

  

 

We just now turned it on (server side)

  

 

Thoughts?

 

I'm somewhat torn between the two myself! I appreciate the crisp look of the moon and players with it off.

 

[Yautja]

1 hour ago, bhall408 said:

Didn't catch the bit about artifacting being used the first time reading the description...

 

I'm wondering which you (and others) prefer...

 

I got really used to it being off:

  

 

We just now turned it on (server side)

  

 

Thoughts?

 

I'm somewhat torn between the two myself! I appreciate the crisp look of the moon and players with it off.

 

Interesting. What emulator are you using?

[rra]

1 hour ago, bhall408 said:

Didn't catch the bit about artifacting being used the first time reading the description...

 

I'm wondering which you (and others) prefer...

 

I got really used to it being off:

  

 

We just now turned it on (server side)

  

 

Thoughts?

 

I'm somewhat torn between the two myself! I appreciate the crisp look of the moon and players with it off.

 

I'm torn too!  Artifacting gives a little bit more color at the expense of crispness.  I guess I would lean a tiny bit toward no artifacting.

 

BTW: These screenshots are from the Argon emulation platform available on multiple devices.  Argon supports 5200 emulation and many other platforms and includes many homebrew games including our A/W/A 5200 games.

[rra]

Kooky's Quest 2021 is also a good candidate for artifacting if that is the preferred look.  It adds a color border around the hallways and map.

[+bhall408]

On 10/18/2021 at 3:04 PM, rra said:

I'm torn too!  Artifacting gives a little bit more color at the expense of crispness.  I guess I would lean a tiny bit toward no artifacting.

Yeah, a noble experiment, but we'll turn it back off.