My New Atari ST Graphic Text Adventure Project

[ColecoGamer]

 

Vampasm first began life as an Apple II text adventure. Ever since I acquired an Atari 520ST - and after spending a considerable amount of time with the computer - I have decided to switch my project over to the Atari ST as a graphic text adventure.

 

Please find below the introduction to Vampasm; a futuristic vampire hunting game set in the distant future:

 

 

Vampasm

 

The Park:

You awake to find yourself lying on a patch of sweet smelling, green grass, inside the local park. Your head is throbbing from a large bump on the back of your head. The events before waking up seem disjointed and hazy. As you slowly sit up to get your bearings, the world around you seems to spin out of control. What the hell happened to you? Who hit you over the head? A woman… you vaguely remember a thin, tall, well-endowed raven haired lady with perky red lips. The silver crucifix and chain that was wrapped around her neck sparkled wildly. What’s her name? Unfortunately you can’t remember it. There is one thing you do remember, though - you are a seasoned vampire hunter for the city of Neo New York. You also recall the day and the year - Wednesday, April of 2093. And as a rule, you are extremely proficient at dispatching ‘Blood Suckers’, as your memory recalls.

 

Since after 2052, the need for trained vampire hunters became a reality, shortly after the existence of these creatures was proven to be legitimate. Some experts of the day argued that vampirism was an illness that rode on the back of a giant celestial rock (an asteroid) that  impacted the Earth back in 2038. Others argued that vampires always co-existed alongside mankind, but no evidence was ever found to prove this theory. In fact, the existence of vampires happened by late 2050, when a small Texas town was besieged by a large group of those cannibalistic monsters.

 

Vampire hunting pumps through your veins; its become a family tradition of sorts, as many of your ancestors were self-accomplished vamp hunters. Now the torch (or rather the stake) has been handed down to you. As a hunter, you must register in your hometown (in this case, Neo New York) and receive a valid hunting license. There are specific rules to hunting the NightStalkers (as they are generally called; saying Vampire feels so 20th Century). Though they are many, there is ONE rule that MUST be followed - always be sure the person you are hunting is a NightStalker. Otherwise, it becomes murder. 
 

(I will post updates in this thread, as they occur. I am very excited about this project; I hope everyone else will be too!)

[Jinroh]

Very cool! I will be checking this out! Graphical Text Adventures are always cool!

 

The premise is interesting. :)

 

[ataricrypt]

Ohh yes. This sounds great & something I’d love to play. Great idea bringing it to the ST 👍🏻

[MarkC]

As someone on the 'sidelines' (currently looking at different Atari machine options to buy/or not).

 

With a standard Atari STFM/E with floppy drive, how would WE get it onto our Atari's from a download.....🤔

AFAIK the Atari doesn't connect online.

 

Coming back into ST world after 30 years of absence.

 

[MasterMotorola]

50 minutes ago, MarkC said:

As someone on the 'sidelines' (currently looking at different Atari machine options to buy/or not).

 

With a standard Atari STFM/E with floppy drive, how would WE get it onto our Atari's from a download.....🤔

AFAIK the Atari doesn't connect online.

 

Coming back into ST world after 30 years of absence.

 

Buy a USB Floppy Drive (about $20 USA) and copy the program to a DD 720Kb floppy disk using your modern computer.

[MarkC]

Just been doing a load of research into different issues with old tech.

I assume the Atari would read the disk ok.

 

Reason being, have recently hit a brick wall with trying to get my Mac to read Atari commercial disks from a USB floppy drive.

To then use in Hatari (emulator).

 

Long story short, Atari computer went about 30 years ago, but I kept the games.....😉

Edited October 3, 2022 by MarkC

[ColecoGamer]

5 hours ago, MarkC said:

Just been doing a load of research into different issues with old tech.

I assume the Atari would read the disk ok.

 

Reason being, have recently hit a brick wall with trying to get my Mac to read Atari commercial disks from a USB floppy drive.

To then use in Hatari (emulator).

 

Long story short, Atari computer went about 30 years ago, but I kept the games.....😉

You can purchase a Gotek SD card reader to replace your ST’s internal floppy drive. Whatever you download for the ST will boot like the real thing; just no moving parts to break.

[ColecoGamer]

I meant to say USB, not SD Card.

[+DarkLord]

I would go ahead and buy one of the mass storage devices

like an Ultrasatan:

 

https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=48

 

Or Masteries version:

 

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=40018&hilit=masteries

 

With either of these devices, you'll not have to worry about transfer isssues

and man, just having all that storage space and access speed is such a big

boon.

 

Do yourself a favor, go for it.  
 

[ColecoGamer]

Development is coming along. Since the story and the game elements are written in Notepad on my iPhone, I am having to transcribe everything to the Atari ST.

This will probably take some time, since I have no idea if there’s a way to copy text from a modern device and make it ST compatible.

 

If anyone is aware of a method to make this task easier, I am all ears (eyes?) for the method involved.

 

More as it develops…

[ColecoGamer]

If time permits, I will be showcasing some graphics that will appear in-game.

 

I’m also working on a promo trailer thst will be posted later.

[leech]

On 10/7/2022 at 6:53 PM, ColecoGamer said:

Development is coming along. Since the story and the game elements are written in Notepad on my iPhone, I am having to transcribe everything to the Atari ST.

This will probably take some time, since I have no idea if there’s a way to copy text from a modern device and make it ST compatible.

 

If anyone is aware of a method to make this task easier, I am all ears (eyes?) for the method involved.

 

More as it develops…

As mentioned in this thread.  If you can get a USB Floppy drive (though I do not know if an iPhone can actually get a USB-A to lightning adapter connector to work with this, it DOES work with Android) then save out your text as either plain ascii, of if you need some markup (like italics, bold, etc) then use RTF (Rich Text Format) files, as the Atari has many programs that can read those.

 

Edit: the Atari ST can read standard FAT12 or FAT16 DOS formatted disks.  So make sure if you're typing things out on a modern computer or other device, to name the files with 8.3 limitations, otherwise things will be called VAMPGA~1.RTF.

Edited October 11, 2022 by leech

[ColecoGamer]

2 hours ago, leech said:

As mentioned in this thread.  If you can get a USB Floppy drive (though I do not know if an iPhone can actually get a USB-A to lightning adapter connector to work with this, it DOES work with Android) then save out your text as either plain ascii, of if you need some markup (like italics, bold, etc) then use RTF (Rich Text Format) files, as the Atari has many programs that can read those.

 

Edit: the Atari ST can read standard FAT12 or FAT16 DOS formatted disks.  So make sure if you're typing things out on a modern computer or other device, to name the files with 8.3 limitations, otherwise things will be called VAMPGA~1.RTF.

Thank you for replying. Yes, my ST does have a Gotek drive installed. It looks like development will be faster now.

[bfollowell]

On 10/7/2022 at 7:53 PM, ColecoGamer said:

Development is coming along. Since the story and the game elements are written in Notepad on my iPhone, I am having to transcribe everything to the Atari ST.

This will probably take some time, since I have no idea if there’s a way to copy text from a modern device and make it ST compatible.

 

If anyone is aware of a method to make this task easier, I am all ears (eyes?) for the method involved.

 

More as it develops…

Well, push comes to shove, you could always copy the text then email it yourself to get it to whatever Mac or PC, whichever is your choice. Then it would be pretty easy to get to an ST with a Gotek or Goex drive.

 

I have to say, you win , hands down, the award for the weirdest software development tools that I've ever heard of. I can't say as I've ever heard of anyone doing game development on a text editor on an iPhone. But hey, if it works for you, who in the  heck am I to knock it. We're all weird in our own way. Whatever works for you my friend, then more power to you. I'm definitely excited to see your progress. Good luck!

 

[masteries]

On 10/11/2022 at 10:41 PM, ColecoGamer said:

If time permits, I will be showcasing some graphics that will appear in-game.

 

I’m also working on a promo trailer thst will be posted later.

An adventure based on graphics and texto is always welcome!

 

I remember from childhood playing "La aventura original", "Cozumel" and some others from AD 

 

 

Do you have a way to create games for the Atari ST?

 

Atari Game Tools support also standard ST machines, as well due to your adventure will make a limited use of sprites, you can rely in high quality static graphics using interleaved colour, in order to give the feeling of displaying more than 16 colours.

 

Due to the experience I gained programming the Metal Slug port, I can provide assistance using Atari Game Tools 

 

 

 

Edited October 18, 2022 by masteries

[ColecoGamer]

4 hours ago, masteries said:

An adventure based on graphics and texto is always welcome!

 

I remember from childhood playing "La aventura original", "Cozumel" and some others from AD 

 

 

Do you have a way to create games for the Atari ST?

 

Atari Game Tools support also standard ST machines, as well due to your adventure will make a limited use of sprites, you can rely in high quality static graphics using interleaved colour, in order to give the feeling of displaying more than 16 colours.

 

Due to the experience I gained programming the Metal Slug port, I can provide assistance using Atari Game Tools 

 

 

 

Thank you for responding. I do have software to develop my graphic adventure. But you caught my interest when you mentioned ‘Atari Game tools’. I was unaware of these tools existing and would appreciate your help in acquiring them.

 

I will certainly take any help that is being offered. Thank you again!

[+DarkLord]

There is a (very) long thread at Atari Forums:

 

https://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=31558

 

Hope this helps. 

 

[ColecoGamer]

Thank you to everyone who responded to this thread.

 

Development isn’t moving as fast as I had hoped, but progress is being made. I plan on releasing a full update soon, along with some in-game screenshots. I have decided to forgo pixel art for rendered imagery instead.

 

The end result is a more realistic appearance to the game’s environments and characters. 
 

More as it develops.

[ColecoGamer]

I’ve decided to post some renders for the game, before I take off for the day. 

Be warned - some of the events/screens contain R-Rated content.

 

I plan on doing both a regular ST version, followed up by an STE version.

 

These images have not been formatted to the ST’s resolution or 16 color palette yet. In fact, they are closer to what the STE version will look like.

 

 

Edited October 24, 2022 by ColecoGamer

[+DarkLord]

Those are some amazing pictures!