Isometric action/adventure games on the 2600?

[LatchKeyKid]

I was curious if any games with isometric action/adventure exist for the 2600 (whether official or homebrew).  I'm referring to the style of games that seemed more popular over in the UK on affordable microcomputers but also made it on occasion to the NES like Solstice (pictured below).

 

 

Q-bert showed you can do isometric grid based movement but I was curious if a multiscreen adventure game would be possible in that style (grid movement/combat, possibly turn based).  I suppose a simpler method would be to do a faux isometric view using the larger playfield pixels (whether with squares or a more traditional rhombus) but I don't have the knowledge/skillset to know if something like this would be too much for the 2600.

[+SpiceWare]

Crystal Castles

 

[LatchKeyKid]

Thanks!  I forgot about that one.  In gameplay, that's more of a single screen Q-bert style game, right?   It's definitely the look I was referring to though.

[jhd]

 

There is also Congo Bongo:

 

[Ecernosoft]

23 hours ago, LatchKeyKid said:

I was curious if any games with isometric action/adventure exist for the 2600 (whether official or homebrew).  I'm referring to the style of games that seemed more popular over in the UK on affordable microcomputers but also made it on occasion to the NES like Solstice (pictured below).

 

 

Q-bert showed you can do isometric grid based movement but I was curious if a multiscreen adventure game would be possible in that style (grid movement/combat, possibly turn based).  I suppose a simpler method would be to do a faux isometric view using the larger playfield pixels (whether with squares or a more traditional rhombus) but I don't have the knowledge/skillset to know if something like this would be too much for the 2600.

I *tried* an ICT3D on the 2600 once.

It went badly.

[+Andrew Davie]

Qb on the 8-bits was an isometric puzzler/action.  I briefly toyed with doing an isometric version on the '2600 (a "flat" version already exists).  Here's a video, just to show an in-principle idea of what might be possible as far as colours/animation. Using ARM.
 

 

[LatchKeyKid]

47 minutes ago, Andrew Davie said:

Qb on the 8-bits was an isometric puzzler/action.  I briefly toyed with doing an isometric version on the '2600 (a "flat" version already exists).  Here's a video, just to show an in-principle idea of what might be possible as far as colours/animation. Using ARM.
 

 

Wow... that looks complex and impressive!  And definitely beyond what my limited imagination (let alone lack of ability!) would attempt!   Would it be a multiscreen linked adventure or more like Qb where you have one at a time until you finish?

[LatchKeyKid]

11 hours ago, jhd said:

 

There is also Congo Bongo:

 

I also forgot about that one.  Someone mentioned that in an earlier thread I posted and I wasn't aware of it at the time.  Thanks!

4 hours ago, Ecernosoft said:

I *tried* an ICT3D on the 2600 once.

It went badly.

Fortunately, you can always come back to it with time/practice.

[LatchKeyKid]

I've just been brainstorming if it's possible to make an adventure style game like that with just base hardware and maybe the extra RAM if necessary using the playfield in faux-isometric.  This is the test playfield designs I came up with for a single level a week ago just to see if the idea might work visually.  The player, enemies, and powerups/details would be mostly fit into each faux rhombus.  Another alternative would be to just use a square grid instead of 2x2 playfield pixels and not bother pretending it's isometric at all.  I was just attempting to see if I could make level maps that work both in copy and reflect playfield mode for added variety.  The little playfield smiley face was just a happy accident though. 

Edited November 25, 2022 by LatchKeyKid

[Ecernosoft]

3 hours ago, LatchKeyKid said:

I also forgot about that one.  Someone mentioned that in an earlier thread I posted and I wasn't aware of it at the time.  Thanks!

Fortunately, you can always come back to it with time/practice.

That's true, although if I ever make an ICT3d, it will probably be on the 7800 and use some sort of blitter so I can use 160C (160*96 pixels with 169 colors) and not need a ton of cpu time to copy graphics data.

[+Andrew Davie]

11 minutes ago, LatchKeyKid said:

Wow... that looks complex and impressive!  And definitely beyond what my limited imagination (let alone lack of ability!) would attempt!   Would it be a multiscreen linked adventure or more like Qb where you have one at a time until you finish?

I was more interested in the *systems* to see what could be possible.  With the ARM co-processor you can redraw an entire screen like this every frame.  The colours are achieved through a display system I call "ChronoColour" -- and more recently "iCC" - interleaved ChronoColour.  It offers 8 colours (including black) at a resolution of 40 x 64 (ChronoColour) or 40 x 192 (iCC).  iCC has a sort of 20Hz "shimmer" that some may find annoying, but you can switch back and forth between either system easily at no extra cost of graphics data.

[Ecernosoft]

14 hours ago, LatchKeyKid said:

I've just been brainstorming if it's possible to make an adventure style game like that with just base hardware and maybe the extra RAM if necessary using the playfield in faux-isometric.  This is the test playfield designs I came up with for a single level a week ago just to see if the idea might work visually.  The player, enemies, and powerups/details would be mostly fit into each faux rhombus.  Another alternative would be to just use a square grid instead of 2x2 playfield pixels and not bother pretending it's isometric at all.  I was just attempting to see if I could make level maps that work both in copy and reflect playfield mode for added variety.  The little playfield smiley face was just a happy accident though. 

Using extra RAM and a special asymetric kernal you can do 4 way scrolling! So, sort of like sonic 3D.

[LatchKeyKid]

I'm afraid I have to work myself up to a normal kernal first, lol!  But I appreciate the enthusiasm.   I'll be happy if I can just get this to work by this point next year as I've got a lot to learn first; that's why I'm asking about existing isometric style games first to see what has been possible in the right hands.

Edited November 25, 2022 by LatchKeyKid

[Ecernosoft]

34 minutes ago, LatchKeyKid said:

I'm afraid I have to work myself up to a normal kernal first, lol!  But I appreciate the enthusiasm.   I'll be happy if I can just get this to work by this point next year as I've got a lot to learn first; that's why I'm asking about existing isometric style games first to see what has been possible in the right hands.

Haha!

I can help you out if you want.