Alley Cat, concept art

[Jess Ragan]

Don't you just hate it when someone makes a post about an arcade game that wasn't released for the ColecoVision, and you think someone's making a port of it to the ColecoVision, except the post is "Wow, don't you wish this game was on the ColecoVision?"

 

This is kind of like one of those posts. Except Alley Cat isn't an arcade game, and I've actually done my homework. Using Tursi's image conversion tool, I've made a couple of ColecoVision ROMs to illustrate what Alley Cat could look like if someone ported it.

 

What I'm learning from this experience is that porting games to the ColecoVision means a lot of compromise, and tailoring specifically for the console. The apartment that works as a hub in Alley Cat looks completely different from the IBM PC Jr. and Atari computer versions, and I don't think there's realistically any way around that. It gives the game (or the prospective game) a different feel from those versions, for better or worse. It's all a little... loud. (I considered putting shadows behind the garbage cans to hide the black parts on their bottoms, but I worried that it would camouflage the cat.)

 

I've also included images for those of you who don't want to spend the time starting a ColecoVision emulator. There's very little difference.

alley cat cv.rom alley cat cheese.rom

[jblenkle]

2 hours ago, Jess Ragan said:

Don't you just hate it when someone makes a post about an arcade game that wasn't released for the ColecoVision, and you think someone's making a port of it to the ColecoVision, except the post is "Wow, don't you wish this game was on the ColecoVision?"

 

This is kind of like one of those posts. Except Alley Cat isn't an arcade game, and I've actually done my homework. Using Tursi's image conversion tool, I've made a couple of ColecoVision ROMs to illustrate what Alley Cat could look like if someone ported it.

 

What I'm learning from this experience is that porting games to the ColecoVision means a lot of compromise, and tailoring specifically for the console. The apartment that works as a hub in Alley Cat looks completely different from the IBM PC Jr. and Atari computer versions, and I don't think there's realistically any way around that. It gives the game (or the prospective game) a different feel from those versions, for better or worse. It's all a little... loud. (I considered putting shadows behind the garbage cans to hide the black parts on their bottoms, but I worried that it would camouflage the cat.)

 

I've also included images for those of you who don't want to spend the time starting a ColecoVision emulator. There's very little difference.

alley cat cv.rom 13.46 kB · 1 download alley cat cheese.rom 13.46 kB · 3 downloads

This is one of my favorite games on the Atari 8-bit computer.

[Jess Ragan]

You like what you see with this concept art, or do you think it looks a little weird? Everything's so damn SQUARE with tile based graphics, and the ColecoVision has varying shades of eye-searing orange pinks and gross barf yellows. It doesn't feel as spontaneous as the IBM and Atari versions, yanno? Even though the IBM version had like four colors.

[retroillucid]

Looks great!
Good job!

[timdu]

12 hours ago, Jess Ragan said:

You like what you see with this concept art, or do you think it looks a little weird? Everything's so damn SQUARE with tile based graphics, and the ColecoVision has varying shades of eye-searing orange pinks and gross barf yellows. It doesn't feel as spontaneous as the IBM and Atari versions, yanno? Even though the IBM version had like four colors.

Jess, I like what you have created. I think it "fits" the Colecovision and it has that style. 

I spent a lot of hours playing the Atari 8-bit computer version of this game. I would love to see a version on the Colecovision. (and ADAM )

Do you think you will continue?

 

 

[Jess Ragan]

Thanks. I think this game is a little beyond my ability to program, honestly. Whack a mole is one thing, but Alley Cat is a great deal more complex, with a hub and at least five action stages.

 

However, I wouldn't object to doing artwork for someone else, should they want to tackle the game.

[zyzzle]

One of my favorite games. I like your concept CV art. I would eliminate the black garbage can shadows, however, or make them shaded like the ones at the right instead of all black. I like the "playfulness" / loudness of it. FWIW: The original 1984 Alley Cat on the PC could work in 16 colors, in composite mode on CGA. There was even a patch of the PC version which allows 16 colors on VGA. It looks much better than the 4 color version.

Edited April 28 by zyzzle