+johnnywc Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 5 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: Actually I was on Dionoid's "VIP list". Darn, now there's TWO lists I need to get on? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 32 minutes ago, johnnywc said: Darn, now there's TWO lists I need to get on? Just two? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thank you Posted February 8, 2023 Share Posted February 8, 2023 Playing this game as a kid on my Atari computer was proof my 2600 was a toy. I watched James play this on the @ZeroPage Homebrew stream, see the photos posted above, and I think, "What a bizarre and elaborate hoax!" (Epic achievement @Dionoid!) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dionoid Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 (edited) Wow!!! Last Saturday at the 5th Annual Atari Homebrew Awards, Lode Runner won two awards: Atari 2600 Best Homebrew (port) and Atari 2600 Best Graphics (port). I'm especially proud that Lode Runner won the Atari 2600 Homebrew (port) category, which had many strong contenders: Bringing Lode Runner to the Atari 2600 was a long journey, which started late summer of 2019. Inspired by a mockup from AtariAge user ZylonBane, I did some research on possible playfield grid sizes and the amount of RAM and ROM this game would require. Unable to wrap my head around how to create a faithful port of Lode Runner using the Atari 2600's meager 128 bytes of RAM, I put it aside for a few months. Then in October 2019, I met John Champeau at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, who game me a 15 minute crash course on CDFJ cartridges (32K ROM and 8K RAM!) and provided me some example code. Soon after that, I had a working proof-of-concept with Lode Runner's main character running around on platforms, climbing ladders, digging holes and collecting gold. Implementing the guard AI took some special effort, as I wanted the game to play as close to original as possible. Luckily for me, there is a Japanese book published in the late '80s called "Learning Practical C Language by Source Program of Lode Runner". I don't own that book (I'm still looking for a copy), but the most important part of the sources, the guard AI, can be found on github. Then in the summer of 2020, I contacted Tozai games, who are the IP holders of Lode Runner. I didn't expect a response, as I heard that many of the large publishing/licensing companies don't care about the retro scene. But Tozai did respond to my email and they turned out to be very friendly people who have Lode Runner close to their hearts. They were actually friends of the late Douglas E. Smith, who created the game in the early '80s. For the past decades, Tozai took care of protecting Lode Runner, but also bringing it to all modern gaming platforms like Switch, PlayStation, XBox, PC/Steam, allowing more people to enjoy this classic game. After the initial conversations with Tozai, I involved Albert (who is also a big fan of Lode Runner, which was the first game he bought for his Apple II), and together with Tozai we started working on a license deal to bring Lode Runner to the Atari 2600. In the mean time, I worked on fine-tuning the game and trying to get all 150 levels squeezed into the 11K of ROM I had left on the cartridge, for which I got great help from Thomas Jentzsch. Then after the game was fully playable, I asked around on AtariAge for beta-testers, and found that a lot of members were willing to help test the game! The group of beta testers helped me discover bugs, getting all levels playable and also provided some great suggestions for improving gameplay. Thank you guys! In April 2022, a couple of weeks before we signed the license deal with Tozai, I contacted David Exton and asked him if he would like to do the artwork for Lode Runner 2600, as I really like his artwork style. It turned out that we're both a big fan of the slightly gloomy style of Japanese video game art from the '80s, which was apparent on many MSX games from that period. David did an excellent job on the artwork and really captured that slightly "dark" and "minimal" Japanese '80s painting style. He also took care of the manual, which is only 8 pages, but contains everything there is to know about the game! Eventually, with the artwork done, the game completed and the license signed, the ball was in Albert's court. Working like crazy, Al did an amazing job of getting the materials printed (box, manual, poster, labels) and building the cartridges, while in the mean time preparing for PRGE 2022. Hats off to you, Al! Together with David, we can be very proud of bringing Lode Runner to the Atari 2600. Lode Runner is available in the AtariAge store here: https://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1274 Note that the license for selling Lode Runner 2600 has an expiring term, so if you'd like to own this game, don't wait more than a couple of years Edited February 28, 2023 by Dionoid 23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted February 27, 2023 Share Posted February 27, 2023 Congratulations, Dion, Lode Runner was very deserving of the accolades and awards it's received! You did an amazing job bringing this game to life on the Atari 2600. It just floors me to see titles like this on a video game console that was released in 1977, considering the computers games like this were released on were considerably more expensive and more powerful than the venerable 2600. Even with the addition of the ARM chip in the cartridge, everything still has to be pushed through the limitations of the built-in TIA for graphics and sound. And to squeeze all 150 levels into the game into 11K of ROM is remarkable! Games like this truly push the Atari 2600 to its absolute limits, and it's incredibly exciting for someone like me whose first game system was the Atari 2600 when I was eight or nine years old. I'm very happy to have had a part in bringing this game to fruition in physical form. It was great working with Tozai, and of course David Exton brought his creativity and vision to fashion entirely new packaging for this latest iteration of Lode Runner. I am feverishly working on building Lode Runner and other games that were recently added to the store so I can get them shipped to everyone, and I greatly look forward to seeing reactions from those who purchased Lode Runner! ..Al 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atwwong Posted February 28, 2023 Share Posted February 28, 2023 Congrats on the wins, Dionoid! I am really looking forward to playing Lode Runner on my 2600. I'm very happy to have ordered it from the AtariAge store. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+groundtrooper Posted February 28, 2023 Share Posted February 28, 2023 Congrats Dion!! You RAN away with a LODE of votes!! Well deserved. I can't wait to get my copy. 2 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted March 4, 2023 Share Posted March 4, 2023 (edited) Finished level 100 today. How is everyone else's progress? Edited March 4, 2023 by Thomas Jentzsch 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted March 22, 2023 Share Posted March 22, 2023 Stuck at 141... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianC Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 On 3/4/2023 at 5:09 AM, Thomas Jentzsch said: Finished level 100 today. How is everyone else's progress? Have these started shipping out? I'm still waiting on mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 45 minutes ago, BrianC said: Have these started shipping out? I'm still waiting on mine. Not yet, but I am very busy building games. It is my life right now. ..Al 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted March 24, 2023 Share Posted March 24, 2023 This reminds me a lot of the Apple II version. While I spent the most time on the NES port it's amazing to see how close an Atari 2600 can get to the original. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dionoid Posted March 24, 2023 Author Share Posted March 24, 2023 (edited) On 3/22/2023 at 11:32 PM, Thomas Jentzsch said: Stuck at 141... 141 is very hard indeed, but solvable. I just played it, and it me almost half an hour to solve (while I know the solution!) Spoiler The trick is to get both guards on one side, which allows you to dig to the middle gold. Edited March 24, 2023 by Dionoid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted March 25, 2023 Share Posted March 25, 2023 (edited) 8 hours ago, Dionoid said: 141 is very hard indeed, but solvable. I just played it, and it me almost half an hour to solve (while I know the solution!) Hide contents The trick is to get both guards on one side, which allows you to dig to the middle gold. I know that trick. It am just failing over and over again. Edited March 25, 2023 by Thomas Jentzsch 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcwalter70 Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 Is there a digital only release? Everything I own is played off my Harmony cart. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 5 hours ago, rcwalter70 said: Is there a digital only release? Everything I own is played off my Harmony cart. Same here. Though I do 100% emulation for classic gaming. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffIrok Posted April 22, 2023 Share Posted April 22, 2023 This is great - I loved Loadrunner on C64 - Wonderful conversion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dionoid Posted April 24, 2023 Author Share Posted April 24, 2023 On 4/21/2023 at 2:58 PM, rcwalter70 said: Is there a digital only release? Everything I own is played off my Harmony cart. The release is cart-only as that was part of the license deal we got with the IP holders of Lode Runner. I'm aware there are plenty of people who prefer to buy a downloadable ROM, but that would require the AtariAge store to support downloadable ROMs and the Lode Runner 2600 license to be changed. But you never know, as I heard that the next version of the store software supports digital downloads. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeddyBear89 Posted May 12, 2023 Share Posted May 12, 2023 This game is simply AWESOME! I have been playing the C-64 edition since 1985 and am just blown away at how good this turned out. It took me a minute to determine that there are no extra lives earned (because you don't need them) and I really appreciate the gold bar counter (since many times one of those sneaky zombie bastards is hoarding the last one). The joystick control for moving (and digging) is superb. Enough gushing......just want to give a heart-felt THANK YOU to all involved in getting this done!!!! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeddyBear89 Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 Halfway there to level 150......uttered many bad words while trying to complete levels 50 and 64 I'll keep the tip of level 141 in mind when I get there. I still can't get over how sweet this game is! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwh Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 I am stuck on level 88. The middle chute is a dead end at the bottom with a gold piece sitting there. I assume that is the last piece of gold to collect ,then a ladder appears, but it is hard to keep the other runners from falling in there and being in the way. Also, what the heck does the AtariVox say when the game is powered on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dionoid Posted June 8, 2023 Author Share Posted June 8, 2023 (edited) 13 hours ago, dwh said: Also, what the heck does the AtariVox say when the game is powered on? Hmm, Lode Runner isn't using the AtariVox for speech synthesis. However, the games does read the current high-score and level progress from the AtariVox/SaveKey. Maybe the default welcome tune and "AtariVox" message is interrupted because of the high-score being read? Edited June 8, 2023 by Dionoid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeddyBear89 Posted June 9, 2023 Share Posted June 9, 2023 Apologies if this has already been addressed......who's initials are these? And I'm stuck with dwh on level 88. I knocked down 10 levels today so gaming fatigue (along with a good helping of Jameson) have settled in and I'm calling it for the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetboot Jack Posted June 11, 2023 Share Posted June 11, 2023 My hazy memory is that level is in the original (the internet tells me level 86 apparently) - no idea what the letters mean though... BTW - I just received my AA store purchases, and 2600 Lode Runner was amongst them - I am blown away, truly amazing work @Dionoid - the conversion is incredible and plays beautifully, brilliant work! sTeVE 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Usotsuki Posted June 11, 2023 Share Posted June 11, 2023 It's there, yep. The game disk won't let you edit it, but I wrote an editor of my own some years ago (this is where the graphic above is rendered from). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.