Beef Drop work in progress

[Bruce Tomlin]

There aren't?

 

What are the CuttleCart 2's using then?

Completely custom and not suitable for a plain old homebrew cartridge.

 

Right now the only way to make protos without having custom boards made from scratch is to desolder the parts off of a salvaged 7800 cartridge (though I suppose Best Electronics might have some unsoldered boards), and rewire it. Oddly enough, a Pole Position II board just needs a 7404 inverter, like a 2600 cart, only two pins farther apart, so the "upside-down bug" trick still works.

 

I've only ever desoldered a couple of supercart boards so I could trace out the circuitry and make a copy of the Monitor Cartridge, and one PPII board for a Tubes prototype. Hat Trick is a good source of supercart boards, and I think Summer Games is a good source for boards with RAM chips.

 

It would be interesting to see a board made with more useful design decisions, such as holes for 32-pin ROMs, a GAL instead of two or three 74xx chips, and holes for a RAM backup battery. It would also be cool if it could do 32K or 128K bank selected RAM.

 

And it would be extremely cool if somehow room could be found on the board to put in holes for both a RAM and a POKEY. Even if there's no room for them both to fit at the same time, you could still be able to support one or the other with one common board by using offset holes (sort of like the pads you see for multiple package types of RAM or Flash in modern surface-mount stuff).

[Albert]

There aren't?

 

What are the CuttleCart 2's using then?

 

I'm talking about a new PCB designed specifically for single games that could be produced in quantity for a reasonable price. Such as what we do with homebrews for the 2600, 5200, and ColecoVision. The Cuttle Cart 2 is great, but it's not a viable means to distribute homebrew games in physical form.

 

..Al

[kenfused]

Development of the 7800 version Beef Drop has been stopped or at least put on an extended hold. Some of the data on the hard drive with the source code seems to be partially scrambled. It only seems to effect a couple of the files but they will take some time to rewrite. I do still have the final bins on an MMC for the CC2 and on a test EPROM so I think something can still be released, but just lacking the final amount of polish and bonus screens. I also may have some backup somewhere of some older verisons so I am still hopeful.

[Gregory DG]

 

That sucks. But at least the game is virtually finished.

[Bruce Tomlin]

Development of the 7800 version Beef Drop has been stopped or at least put on an extended hold.  Some of  the data on the hard drive with the source code seems to be partially scrambled.  It only seems to effect a couple of the files but they will take some time to rewrite.   I do still have the final bins on an MMC for the CC2 and on a test EPROM so I think something can still be released, but just lacking the final amount of polish and bonus screens.  I also may have some backup somewhere of some older verisons so I am still hopeful.

I'm relatively paranoid about losing my code (aversion therapy from using microcomputers since 1978), so I zip up everything from time to time, and scp it to another computer. And every now and then I'll even copy it to a USB stick I keep in my laptop bag. Classic video game source code is infinitesimal in comparison to modern stuff, so it's easy to throw copies all over the place.

 

I'm still not paranoid enough to set up CVS for my code. :-)

[+-^CrossBow^-]

And April fools to you as well Ken!...hehe...it isn't a good as last year's 5200 Burgertime discovered trick...but you got at least a few to believe.

 

[Danno]

You know...this game was one of the reasons I bought a 7800 again recently.

 

And with allt he virus activity my company has had recently - I almost actually believed Ken.

 

Bastid.

[kenfused]

Good News.

Turns out it wasn't a problem with the hard drive at all, but a problem with the clock in the computer. Now that it is a new day here in the eastern time zone, things seem to have corrected themselves.

[Schmutzpuppe]

Good News.

Turns out it wasn't a problem with the hard drive at all, but a problem with the clock in the computer.  Now that it is a new day here in the eastern time zone, things seem to have corrected themselves.

[gambler172]

Hi Ken

uff,ha ha ha

hope to see a new version soon again.

:wink:

greetings gambler172

[DracIsBack]

Good News.

Turns out it wasn't a problem with the hard drive at all, but a problem with the clock in the computer.  Now that it is a new day here in the eastern time zone, things seem to have corrected themselves.

 

Baaah!

 

Thou hast commited thyself to porting Castlevania to the 7800! Or designing a real RPG!

[Gregory DG]

So, is BD 7800 complete? Haven't heard much in awhile...

[kenfused]

So, is BD 7800 complete? Haven't heard much in awhile...

849025[/snapback]

Well I still have a few minor things I want to do, like replace one of the "extra" screens that is incompatable with the new feature of the enemies climbing back up from the bottom of the screen. I tried to program around the problem but it was becoming too much work. I think it could use some speed/difficulty tweaks since the difficulty doesnt seem to ramp up enough when all of the boards are cleared (IMO). Another thing I would like to do is port my new sprite engine from qbert back to beef drop which might let the game run a little smoother.

 

As far as I know, there is no pcb board yet for the game to live on, so I have been taking a little break, but need to jump back in and get it to where I call it done.

[Bruce Tomlin]

I just got this running on my Ultracart prototype board with Pokey sound. (2005-03-08 version) Pretty cool.

 

Just a few things I've noticed:

 

1) the POKEY background music seems a tad slow. The other tunes sound okay.

 

2) the TIA music has one or two squaky notes in it, with an effect similar to fingernails on a chalkboard

 

3) when going up the ladders, if the stick is a little bit diagonal, you will turn suddenly when you reach a platform. It's hard to say whether you should continue or turn in that case, but since the Mindlink project was scrapped, there's no ESP support for the 7800.

 

4) you don't handle the case of the Pokey suddenly disappearing during the game and automatically fall back to the TIA

 

FYI, after a quick disassembly of Ballblazer and Commando, they both access the POKEY at $4000-$400F.

Edited July 10, 2005 by Bruce Tomlin

[birdie3]

Is this game complete or is it still a WIP?

[shadow460]

Very good work, Ken. I just played this today without the Pokey, and I can't find fault with it at all.

As a matter of fact, I'm noticing signs of addiction...

 

The following needs to be added to the label text:

Atari Age member's warning: Software contained in this package has been known to cause loss of sleep, loss of awareness of surroundings, antisocial tendencies, and cravings for pepper. Use with enjoyment.

[Shawn]

There aren't?

 

What are the CuttleCart 2's using then?

Completely custom and not suitable for a plain old homebrew cartridge.

 

Right now the only way to make protos without having custom boards made from scratch is to desolder the parts off of a salvaged 7800 cartridge (though I suppose Best Electronics might have some unsoldered boards), and rewire it. Oddly enough, a Pole Position II board just needs a 7404 inverter, like a 2600 cart, only two pins farther apart, so the "upside-down bug" trick still works.

 

I've only ever desoldered a couple of supercart boards so I could trace out the circuitry and make a copy of the Monitor Cartridge, and one PPII board for a Tubes prototype. Hat Trick is a good source of supercart boards, and I think Summer Games is a good source for boards with RAM chips.

 

It would be interesting to see a board made with more useful design decisions, such as holes for 32-pin ROMs, a GAL instead of two or three 74xx chips, and holes for a RAM backup battery. It would also be cool if it could do 32K or 128K bank selected RAM.

 

And it would be extremely cool if somehow room could be found on the board to put in holes for both a RAM and a POKEY. Even if there's no room for them both to fit at the same time, you could still be able to support one or the other with one common board by using offset holes (sort of like the pads you see for multiple package types of RAM or Flash in modern surface-mount stuff).

823404[/snapback]

 

 

JINKS is the best board to use for homebrews hands down. It comes with rame and 2 inverters on board and supports up to 128k or 144k if your crafty.

[Bruce Tomlin]

a copy of the Monitor Cartridge, and one PPII board for a Tubes prototype.  Hat Trick is a good source of supercart boards, and I think Summer Games is a good source for boards with RAM chips.

JINKS is the best board to use for homebrews hands down. It comes with rame and 2 inverters on board and supports up to 128k or 144k if your crafty.

Well, yeah, but I hadn't found that out yet (ahem) nine months ago. It wouldn't hurt to check the dates on posts before replying to them.

 

Also, FWIW, I later found out that the problem with offset holes for RAM+POKEY was not enough room to bring all the traces that far up the board in 2 layers. It's just exactly possible with a half-width RAM chip right above the ROM, though.

[Shawn]

a copy of the Monitor Cartridge, and one PPII board for a Tubes prototype.  Hat Trick is a good source of supercart boards, and I think Summer Games is a good source for boards with RAM chips.

JINKS is the best board to use for homebrews hands down. It comes with rame and 2 inverters on board and supports up to 128k or 144k if your crafty.

Well, yeah, but I hadn't found that out yet (ahem) nine months ago. It wouldn't hurt to check the dates on posts before replying to them.

 

Also, FWIW, I later found out that the problem with offset holes for RAM+POKEY was not enough room to bring all the traces that far up the board in 2 layers. It's just exactly possible with a half-width RAM chip right above the ROM, though.

987974[/snapback]

 

 

It wasn't ment in any type of rude manor, I just wanted to point that out for others that might not have known is all.

[Almost Rice]

I have been taking a little break, but need to jump back in and get it to where I call it done.

849035[/snapback]

 

It seems near complete. They only problem I saw was the maze had copies of the hero on the ladders when the 2nd players turn came up. I think I was playing either normal or hard on a 7800 using a CC2 w/ Pokey. I will try to get a screen shot if that ever occurs again. Also the enemy climbing back into the maze is something I remember was missing in the 8bit version. Was that ever added?

 

BTW,

This is the closest version of BT next to the Intellivision version. I remember playing that until the controller broke. Great job Ken.

Edited December 30, 2005 by Almost Rice

[kenfused]

It seems near complete.  They only problem I saw was the maze had copies of the hero on the ladders when the 2nd players turn came up.  I think I was playing either normal or hard on a  7800 using a CC2 w/ Pokey.

 

I just noticed that the other day that two player is broken like that. Those characters re actually "invisible" ladders that drop enemies climb up on from the bottom, but they are supposed to be removed from what you actually see

 

Also the enemy climbing back into the maze is something I remember was missing in the 8bit version.  Was that ever added?

 

No it had not been.

 

BTW,

This is the closest version of BT next to the Intellivision version.  I remember playing that until the controller broke.  Great job Ken.

Thanks.

[kenfused]

Fixed two player mode I think. Let me know if there are any screen problems with 1 or 2 player mode. Thanks.

bd7800demo.zip

[birdie3]

[+Allan]

996897[/snapback]

 

?

 

Allan

[birdie3]

Let's just say that I need to get a new EPROM burned. Will this be the final revision?