+SpiceWare Posted June 12, 2010 Author Share Posted June 12, 2010 Hmm, the last 2 reviews in the AA store bring up an issue with PAL: Roger Wolf - the black bar at the bottom may have been smaller if the programmers had taken a bit more attention in this issue. David Kelly - The only minor thing in PAL land is the border at the bottom of the screen which is a bit on the big side - but really it's a minor point. Thing is, I couldn't have "taken a bit more attention" on this as there's no way for me to see it as I only have NTSC equipment. I don't recall anybody bringing this up as an issue when the game was being developed. That said, here's a PAL60 version: mm20100612PAL60.bin If those of you in PAL land can let me know if this works OK then I can have Al add it to the store as an option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potatohead Posted June 13, 2010 Share Posted June 13, 2010 Get a nice PC capture card. They do PAL nicely. Use one for testing PAL video code on Propeller all the time. Honestly, I've never found anything here in the US that does PAL, but for the odd device here and there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATARIPITBULL Posted June 13, 2010 Share Posted June 13, 2010 Another game I wanted but never got around to buying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted June 13, 2010 Author Share Posted June 13, 2010 (edited) Weird, this topic was in the Homebrew forum until I posted the PAL60 version. Capture device could work, have to see what's available for the Mac and if the price is worth it or not considering how few of the games are sold in the PAL regions. Could also just stick with PAL60 for future games, it's a lot less hassle. It's not going away, so it'll still be there whenever you get around to buying it Edited June 13, 2010 by SpiceWare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
potatohead Posted June 13, 2010 Share Posted June 13, 2010 (edited) And I recommend you do. Yeah, there are USB capture devices that will work with Mac. There are two varietes. HD capable ones deliver a fantastic signal, but their support varies. I've one that appears to be XP only, despite buying it fairly recently. Another "EasyCAP" is ordinary def, and it's got much more broad support. For VCS stuff, most any of the full frame ones will do, and the nicer capture display won't really impact what you see on a VCS. It's resolution lies below those issues. Some older ones, like "Dazzle" seem limited and picky. Either way, that's the easy PAL display in NTSC regions. Edited June 13, 2010 by potatohead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Another game I wanted but never got around to buying. Pick it up man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari2600Lives Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 (edited) Another game I wanted but never got around to buying. Pick it up man! In my opinion, if you were not to differentiate between homebrew or original titles , this would be one of the top 5 games ever released for the 2600 system, it should almost be a crime not to own it. Warlords was great but this is a quantum leap beyond warlords . Its always going to hold a special place in my heart and I am very grateful that Darrell made it. Edited June 14, 2010 by Atari2600Lives Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonpig Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 (edited) Capture device could work, have to see what's available for the Mac and if the price is worth it or not considering how few of the games are sold in the PAL regions. Could also just stick with PAL60 for future games, it's a lot less hassle. Hi was thinking about buying an atari just for this game, and was wondering has the Pal bug been fixed? Thank you Edited January 27, 2012 by Moonpig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 It's not a bug, its caused by the fact that PAL has more scan lines than NTSC. I did up a page, Atari NTSC vs PAL vs SECAM, that goes over how the TV standards work in regards to the Atari. In the screenshots you can see how the PAL picture is larger, therefore the black area below the score is also larger. If I made the game area larger for the PAL version, say by inserting 50 scan lines in the middle of the arena, then it wouldn't play the same - diagonal shots wouldn't line up anymore and it would take longer for the fireballs to travel up/down. Yes the speed tables could have been adjusted to compensate for this, but as mentioned above nobody brought this up as an issue during the 9 months the game was under development and I'm not going to go back 6 years later to "fix" it. The PAL60 build is a quick hack that uses NTSC timing (fewer scan lines) with PAL colors. While most PAL TVs will supposedly support PAL60, there's no guarantee that your specific TV will. None of the 20 downloaders have replied as to whether or not that build worked for them, which is why it's not offered in the store as an option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 What bank switching does the version above require? I'll test it on my CC2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 It uses standard F4 bankswitching. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 Just tested it on my old 50Hz portable PAL TV and it can't lock to the TV signal. I'll test it on a more modern TV after the weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davyK Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 (edited) Hmm, the last 2 reviews in the AA store bring up an issue with PAL: Roger Wolf - the black bar at the bottom may have been smaller if the programmers had taken a bit more attention in this issue. David Kelly - The only minor thing in PAL land is the border at the bottom of the screen which is a bit on the big side - but really it's a minor point. Thing is, I couldn't have "taken a bit more attention" on this as there's no way for me to see it as I only have NTSC equipment. I don't recall anybody bringing this up as an issue when the game was being developed. That said, here's a PAL60 version: mm20100612PAL60.bin If those of you in PAL land can let me know if this works OK then I can have Al add it to the store as an option. VERY late to this party but I haven't been here in a while. Downloaded this PAL60 BIN and copied it to my Harmony cartridge. No full playtest yet but it works great on my PAL woody!! Full screen. I had to use my woody though - it wouldn't launch from the Harmony menu when trying it on my PAL 7800. Really sorry for the delay and a massive thanks for doing this!!!! That was my review quoted above - I'll keep the cartridge as a collector and play this version.... Edited January 27, 2012 by davyK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 Yep, it's a 32K game w/out extra RAM using standard F4 banking. So far we've got 1 OK and 1 bad. I don't think 50% odds are good enough to make it an option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted January 29, 2012 Share Posted January 29, 2012 There are a few TVs here so I can test on them too. There is a retro gaming club that meets once a month and they have a ton of TVs. Next time I go there I'll test it out and report back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted January 29, 2012 Author Share Posted January 29, 2012 Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Wolf Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 Hi there SpiceWare Remember me, I'm the one that posted one of the reviews at AA for MM I'm not much into technical know-how but since I wrote this review I found out that MM works perfectly fine on my old Epson Beamer with PAL60 option. I cannot tell you how much fun I and my colleagues had with this game ever since. I played almost all retro multiplayer (4 player and more) games out there but yours must be in the top 3 (in par with bomberman) and we will enjoy it surely many years to come. By the way: we are fortunated to play on a modified Atari 2600 with s-video and separate Hi-Fi output Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davyK Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Re the PAL60 option - this probably won't work when using an RF connection. I plug my 2600 into a VCR and connect the VCR to the TV using composite - should work with any TV that accepts composite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davyK Posted January 24, 2016 Share Posted January 24, 2016 (edited) Just for completeness....the PAL60 version works just fine using my PAL woody and RF hookup on my Panasonic CRT. Edited January 24, 2016 by davyK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangentg Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 (edited) Just ran into a "problem" where 1 ball was essentially out of play cause it was bouncing absolutely horizontally across the screen back and forth and it's not posing any threat to any of the warlords. In theory then all the balls could be "stuck" and everyone would be left at an impasse because there's a maximum number of fireballs. Edited December 16, 2016 by Tangentg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted December 16, 2016 Author Share Posted December 16, 2016 There's a random offset-bounce, referred to as "english" in the development notes found in my blog, that will occur periodically in order to prevent the fireballs from getting stuck horizontally or vertically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangentg Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 (edited) It's been going on forever but the ball still seems to be only going horizontally... You sure you haven't overlooked something? The ball was basically bouncing against the two walls with nothing in between at the bottom of the screen. Edited December 17, 2016 by Tangentg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted December 17, 2016 Author Share Posted December 17, 2016 It's possible, though this is the first time in 10 years anybody's reported it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangentg Posted May 5, 2017 Share Posted May 5, 2017 It always happens when I do the "move away while holding the ball to lure the AI paddle away, then quickly swoop to the far left and release the ball" thing on Slow speed. Do that several times and Blue would be eliminated. Then the new fireball that's generated in Blue's castle eventually always ends up just moving horizontally. No random movement is ever introduced. Might be worth mentioning I played this without Catch for the AI players. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted July 12, 2019 Share Posted July 12, 2019 STELLA-THON 12 HOUR TWITCH ZEROPAGE HOMEBREW AUCTION & GAMING MARATHON FUNDRAISER TOMORROW! Auction includes A CIB SIGNED COPY OF MEDIEVAL MAYHEM w/ RARE CLEAR SHELL CART Donated by Darrell Spice Jr. of SpiceWare!! ALSO: We will have a CALL-IN by Darrell Spice Jr. at 3PM PT!! CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS ON ALL THE AUCTION ITEMS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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