New small game for Atari 2600

[kamaleon70]

Hi everybody, I have just created a small game for Atari 2600 for the "inspired by... retro game jam". If you want to try is on this page: Punch Chess by kamaleon70 (itch.io) It can be played directly in that page (uses the Javatari emulator) or the binary can be downloaded and used with emulator or directly on your Atari 2600 (I tested on my Atari 2600 Junior using the Harmony cartridge). It is a very small game... but I really liked working on it.
If you try it, please let me know what do you think about it... Thanks.

[JasperAK]

Addictive little game; I love it! I got 390 the first time AFTER I figured out what was going on. I never read the manuals BITD and didn't read your notes today.

 

I love how simple it was to pick up but challenged by the tactics and choices you have to make. I left a rating and comment on itch.io. I said there, this is going on my Harmony. Great job!

 

But the big question is: How many points do we need to get the patch? 😜

Edited November 8, 2023 by JasperAK

[JasperAK]

I almost edited my last post but figured I'd just post this separately. This game really captures the Atari vibe for me. The graphics do exactly what they need to. The gameplay is simple to pick up, but learning the strategy behind the game would take some time I think. Speeding up the pieces so they come out at different speeds was a brilliant change of pace. This game hits all the things I love about playing games on the Atari!

 

While I love me some Solaris, the games I go back to are the Yars' Revenge, Moon Patrol, Asteroids, Ice Hockey, Robot Tank, Wizard of Wor (original and homebrew), Galagon, Empire Strikes Back, and Defender type games that you just want to go back and play for no more than 15 minutes of time. Games you just load up and see if you can break your high score but have fun while playing.

 

I have and love Turmoil, I have a legit cart. I see that the Turmoil influence is there but I love the tongue/punching mechanic. A few times I wasn't as quick on the draw as I needed to be and lost a life.

 

This will be one that is in constant rotation on my Harmony. Again, impressive job.

[+bent_pin]

Loads of fun. Going to put it on my Encore. My girlfriend and I will be punching some chess pieces over Christmas.

Great work!

[kamaleon70]

Thanks a lot for trying my game. I will work on improving it. Any feedback on how to make it better is really appreciated.
I am planning to make also public the GitHub repository with the code for the game. But I have to clean up the code to do that. It is a little messy at the moment.

Edited November 8, 2023 by kamaleon70

[JasperAK]

2 hours ago, kamaleon70 said:

Thanks a lot for trying my game. I will work on improving it. Any feedback on how to make it better is really appreciated.
I am planning to make also public the GitHub repository with the code for the game. But I have to clean up the code to do that. It is a little messy at the moment.

I like it just the way it is. Personally, I'm not a big fan of people constantly working on their stuff to make it better. Once it's out in the wild, and there is nothing broken about it, I wish people would just start a new project and grow. As a shitty writer, I've found that there comes a point where I can't grow if I keep working on the same project looking for perfection.

 

Maybe it's time for a new game. Mash together two more games and see what comes out.

 

Cheers

[+LS650]

Thanks for posting this - I'll have to check it out tonight!

 

Update:  Nice job.  It has quick fun game play and very nice graphics for a 4K VCS game.  Frankly it's better than quite a few commercial releases from big companies.  Well done! I am putting a copy on my Harmony cartridge...

[kamaleon70]

On 11/8/2023 at 11:58 AM, ls650 said:

Thanks for posting this - I'll have to check it out tonight!

 

Update:  Nice job.  It has quick fun game play and very nice graphics for a 4K VCS game.  Frankly it's better than quite a few commercial releases from big companies.  Well done! I am putting a copy on my Harmony cartridge...

Thanks for playing my game.

[+bcombee]

This is neat.  It reminds me a lot of the Fox game Turmoil, but that's a shooter instead of focused on close combat.  I admit to not reading the instructions at first and was confused about the knight's movement, thinking it actually had something to so with the jump-style movement it has in chess.

[MrTrust]

On 11/7/2023 at 7:13 PM, kamaleon70 said:

It is a very small game...

 

In a lot of cases this is a good thing with systems like the 2600.  There are so many games out on so many different platforms that often those small, just-one-more-try type games are the best at cutting through all the noise.  This is a good one; it ramps up perfectly, it has a distinctive look and feel, and the riff on Turmoil is not so close that it can't stand on its own.

 

I did get a bug where, in one go, I just kept getting the bishop on the top row over and over and over.

 

This idea could be expanded.  The pieces could have variable point values as they would in chess, and you could implement some kind of penalty for letting a high-value piece escape.  Or, passing through the top or bottom of the board could cycle the player sprite to different pieces.  Perhaps a queen would be faster, but yield fewer points per punch.  There are many interesting things you could do with the chess theme, which is really a good choice for the 2600 since the graphics are so recognizable.

[kamaleon70]

4 hours ago, bcombee said:

This is neat.  It reminds me a lot of the Fox game Turmoil, but that's a shooter instead of focused on close combat.  I admit to not reading the instructions at first and was confused about the knight's movement, thinking it actually had something to so with the jump-style movement it has in chess.

Actually the game was made for a jam on itch.io with the title "inspired by... retro game jam" and turmoil was one of the games in the list of the jam to "inspire" the developers. Another one was "Punch out", this is why I was thinking about punching enemies.

For Atari games the instructions are crucial. It is difficult to find enough space for a tutorial or explain something during the game.

[kamaleon70]

3 hours ago, MrTrust said:

 

In a lot of cases this is a good thing with systems like the 2600.  There are so many games out on so many different platforms that often those small, just-one-more-try type games are the best at cutting through all the noise.  This is a good one; it ramps up perfectly, it has a distinctive look and feel, and the riff on Turmoil is not so close that it can't stand on its own.

 

I did get a bug where, in one go, I just kept getting the bishop on the top row over and over and over.

 

This idea could be expanded.  The pieces could have variable point values as they would in chess, and you could implement some kind of penalty for letting a high-value piece escape.  Or, passing through the top or bottom of the board could cycle the player sprite to different pieces.  Perhaps a queen would be faster, but yield fewer points per punch.  There are many interesting things you could do with the chess theme, which is really a good choice for the 2600 since the graphics are so recognizable.

I know that there are some bugs (I developed it from scratch in about 2 weeks, working after my regular job and some time during the weekends, so in a very limited time). I would like to expand and add some animations or better mechanics (like implementing some of your advices) but I need to find time for that. A note: at the end of the game some pieces start to move faster as well. I have already moved to another project with a small team with friends (from different places in the world). But I will keep improving punch-chess as well.

Edited November 10, 2023 by kamaleon70

[kamaleon70]

An update on the game: a small music created with TiaTracker has been added to the splash screen of the game. Same link on itch.io https://kamaleon70.itch.io/punch-chess
Credits to composer Pedro Pimenta are in the description of the game on itch.io

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

ZeroPage Homebrew is playing Punch Chess on today's ZPH stream LIVE on Twitch! Hope you can join us!

 

Tue Jul 23, 2024 | LIVE @ 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 1AM GMT+1Day

WATCH LIVE: https://twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/

WATCH LATER: https://youtube.com/zeropagehomebrew/

 

Games:

• Punch Chess (2024 Final | 2600) by kamaleon70 @kamaleon70 / Moritz the Underdog (Graphics) / Pedro Pimenta (Music)
• Cave Bandit (2024 WIP | 2600) by Steve Engelhardt  @Atarius Maximus
• Cave Trap (2024 WIP | 2600) by Steve Engelhardt @Atarius Maximus
• Sky Saviour 2600 (2024 Final | 2600) by Flump Studios / Paul Marrable @FlumpStudios
• Duck and Cover (2024 WIP | 2600) by Siddikinz @Siddikinz

 

[Pitfall Harry]

@kamaleon70 

 

Tried it.  Since you asked, here are my comments:

• It's certainly a lot more entertaining than the Atari 2600 game I wrote years ago. Nice job!
   
• It seems kinda strange to me that you would use a chessboard that is 9 columns wide when chessboards are 8x8.
   
• Why only Pawns and Rooks?  Why not The King, the Queen and some Bishops, too?
   
• You can add deeper strategic elements to your game if you assign different point values to different enemy chess pieces, making higher point value enemies appear less frequently
   
• Maybe you could add an enemy King, which if you can punch it out, you instantly WIN the game.  Maybe it takes 2 or 3 punches to punch it out. 

 

-Ben