Re: [stella] Collaboration

Subject: Re: [stella] Collaboration
From: "Albert Yarusso" <albert@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 02:13:42 -0600
So, should I re-add Death Derby to our "In Development" page on AtariAge?
:D

 ..Al

----- Original Message -----
From: "Glenn Saunders" <cybpunks2@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <stella@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 12:36 AM
Subject: Re: [stella] Collaboration


> At 11:13 AM 1/14/2003 +0100, you wrote:
> >Should they be able to move (slowly) through the safe zones?
>
> No, they'll bump off it similar to the tanks in Combat.
>
> > > Maybe if the tombstones had just 1 extra scanline (that would normally
> > be a
> > > tombstone line--lots of CPU available) between them we could get the
ball
> > > positioned in there?   That way I could have the gremlins drop
grenades
> > > when they are within the vertical range of the grenade line, and
they'd be
> > > able to drop it anywhere horizontally on that line.
> >
> >I think we would need 2 extra scanlines for that and with multiple
> >grenades we would have to reposition them inside the kernel too. Or they
> >had to flicker.
>
> 2 scanlines might still be narrow enough between tombstones to look
> okay.  It might actually be a good way to separate the tombstones
> vertically.  The way it is now two tombstones on top of eachother look
like
> one continuous stripe.  Could you try experimenting with this please?
>
> >I think I need to play the original game to understand every detail your
> >are talking about. AFAIK DD isn't emulated by M.A.M.E, any other chance
to
> >play it?
>
> The only place it's up for public viewing is California Extreme, which is
a
> coinop convention every September.  I've been wanting to go for two years
> straight to do research but never could break away.
>
> I could get Rob Mitchell to send you a copy of his VHS screen footage, but
> it's pretty brief and really bad quality video.  The guy shot the screen
> rather than tapping the composite video line.
>
> My website has about as much information you could find on it without
> playing the game, I think.  The manual that comes with it explains the
> gameplay pretty well.
>
> http://www.homebrewgames.net/deathderby/index.cfm?action=service_manual
>
> The collision behavior:
>
> "When you crash your car into anything, whether it be a Gremlin, cross, or
> a boundary (line), your car will pause briefly before moving again, unless
> you immediately shift it into reverse to back away from the scene of the
> crash. Even if you do not back away, your car will begin to move again. It
> is thus possible to crash into and pass through, after a pause, any
boundary."
>
> It doesn't really explain what happens if you manage to hit a gremlin
> within a safe zone.  But I suspect you'd just pass through them or you'd
> crash and they would not turn into tombstones.
>
>
> It would be nice to extract the graphics from the ROM data.  I think it
> uses ROM chips for the sprites like Tank does.  Here is the link to the
manual:
>
> http://www.spies.com/~arcade/manuals/DeathRace.pdf
>
> here is the state of emulation:
>
> http://unmamed.mame.net/no_cpu.html#DeathRace
>
> You will notice in this screenshot that there appears to be two gremlins
on
> screen at once.  The in-game footage I have doesn't feature this.  It
might
> only happen if you coin up both players because I believe the in-game
> footage only had one car moving, the other was stationary.  That would
> explain it.
>
> >Utilizing the ball won't be easy. And doing this only for the challeng
IMO
> >doesnt make too much sense.
>
> I think the best kinds of classic games are ones in which there are
> multiple competing objectives where the player is forced into snap
> judgement.  In chess that would be the mid-game where you often have
> opposing pieces locked on the verge of an exchange or mutual checks.  In
> videogames, that's how you get into the "zone".  All of Eugene Jarvis'
> Williams games feature that aspect.  It's hard to do that without getting
> more objects on the screen, something the 2600 has trouble with.  Having
> friendly/hostile zombies does satisfy that criteria, but adding one extra
> wildcard as a powerup or an obstacle I think will help, something beyond
> the ghost that will happen during the main gameplay mode.
>
> >That will only be possible by doubling the kernel(s) for each additional
> >zombie.
>
> Scratch that then.  I doubt it will be that important.  As the tombstones
> fill up the screen it will be too hard for clusters of zombies to navigate
> around them anyway.
>
> >That shouldn't be a big problem. Should the cars or zombies be able to
> >move over that border?
>
> Only the zombies.
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------
> Archives (includes files) at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/archives/
> Unsub & more at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/
>

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archives (includes files) at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/archives/
Unsub & more at http://www.biglist.com/lists/stella/


Current Thread