johnreder
2600 Jr.
Bad spellers of the world UNTIE!
Posts: 27
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Post by johnreder on Feb 19, 2017 21:03:25 GMT -5
Okay... I need real help! I'm having more fun making games for the Atari 2600 than playing games on my XBOX One!!! Revisiting my K.C.'s Crazy Nightmare recently and listening to the "Select Game" Podcast ignited a spark in me last week that I'm happy to report has resulted in another 2600 game inspired by my old trusty Odyssey 2. UFO - Link: tacticalneuronics.com/content/UFO.aspThis was the Odyssey 2's answer to Asteroids and I lost weeks of my life playing it when it first came out! Now the Atari 2600 has its own homebrew variant (some artistic liberties have been taken to make it fit in 4k) but I believe I have come close to the spirit of the games essence. For the record - I posted its existence here first!!! Like K.C. it doesn't play well on the portable (too complex for its flawed emulator) but it works great in Stella, and on the original hardware via the harmony Cart! Enjoy! John
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johnreder
2600 Jr.
Bad spellers of the world UNTIE!
Posts: 27
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Post by johnreder on Feb 14, 2017 16:13:27 GMT -5
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johnreder
2600 Jr.
Bad spellers of the world UNTIE!
Posts: 27
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Post by johnreder on Feb 10, 2017 22:01:47 GMT -5
I recently updated K.C.'s Crazy Nightmare! now v13 (see how long the Odyssey2 character can live on the Atari 2600!!!) Get it here: tacticalneuronics.com/content/KCsCrazyNightmare.aspI'm working with some folks on the AtariAge forums to see if the 6 digit scoring bug (first digit reflects 3rd digit) on the two games of mine that come with teh flashbacks (Strip Off and Shield Shifter) so we may get these two games working right for the Portable SD card. Also they have posted fixes and controls for many games that can be played on the Portable here: atariage.com/forums/topic/259166-flashback-portable-needed-controller-hacks/page-11?hl=%2Bportable+%2Bfix#entry3689058If you liked Strip-Off, stay tuned... I recently finished 'Strip Off 2' with 16 Game Variations and the alien can now shoot back! I'm working with someone on a possible real cart release, more on that when I have details! Thanks, John
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johnreder
2600 Jr.
Bad spellers of the world UNTIE!
Posts: 27
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Post by johnreder on Feb 8, 2017 20:13:31 GMT -5
Yup, it took me 2 weeks! (I suggest treating it like a pod cast and do a bit every day) The first 2 were a bit off topic, the second 2 were painful (too much directing and the featured programmer was not able to find his way past all the nit-picking) After that it got pretty interesting and when they started filming at Nolan's estate (around #13 & #14) I felt like a time-traveler ghost, spying of all of these guys catching up with each other at a private party. The remainder were group sessions that were really entertaining as they all sat around and walked us through the entire story of the Atari VCS and Activision and all of their lessons learned along the way... Well worth slogging through the first few. It's interesting to see how some of the stories you read about in all the published recountings seemed to have slightly morphed over time, but most of the really interesting ones were re-told with a detail or two extra, and a few I never heard before, like how they intentionally mis-marked chips in their products that looked like other more expensive chips that were actually incompatible electronically, just to make reverse engineering them a big headache for their competition, and another one, where they found that they purchased 20,000 '555' timer chips at two times beyond the actual number of chips that actually existed in the world according to their manufacturer (10,000), and found that their staff had pilfered their stock and sold it to companies that were continuing sell them back to Atari in a never ending loop... crazy stuff!) I hope you get the chance to hear them all, it might be more exciting to start at #13!!!
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johnreder
2600 Jr.
Bad spellers of the world UNTIE!
Posts: 27
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Post by johnreder on Feb 5, 2017 15:58:21 GMT -5
Link of list of videos (29 total in two possible formats to download OGV (small) and MP4 (large)) Full list: archive.org/download/StellaAt20Main site: archive.org/details/StellaAt20True treasure troves of insight and knowledge about what game making is truly all about!
I finished watching these and put up this review:This is a must see for anyone who looks back on the late 70’s and early 80’s as the spark that created the wonders of the technical world we live in today. It is also a great time capsule of where we were in the late 90’s. These wonderful engineers gave birth to the video game console, we owe them for years of entertainment as a result of their contributions. They were engineers, they weren't looking for fame or glory, and they were just doing their job, but through some miracle they came up with one of the most open approaches in hardware design allowing the very talented programmers to fill in the rest. Although limited by memory, their ingenuity and imaginations conquered these challenges and they managed to gift us with one of the best periods in time, here on earth to be a kid....
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johnreder
2600 Jr.
Bad spellers of the world UNTIE!
Posts: 27
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Post by johnreder on Dec 27, 2016 10:00:18 GMT -5
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johnreder
2600 Jr.
Bad spellers of the world UNTIE!
Posts: 27
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Post by johnreder on Dec 27, 2016 9:38:48 GMT -5
Merry Christmas! I also live in the Cincinnati Area.
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johnreder
2600 Jr.
Bad spellers of the world UNTIE!
Posts: 27
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Post by johnreder on Dec 10, 2016 10:41:30 GMT -5
Ferg, Cool! I'm glad Adventure is still in its original form! Not sure if you mentioned this on the podcast but the book 'Ready Player One' by Earnest Cline pays great homage to that game and this Easter egg. When I read a book, it usually takes me weeks to get through it... I read this book in 3 days! Any retro gaming fan will love it, anyone who didn't grow up in the 80's will understand our generation much better if they read it. I can't wait until Spielberg releases the Movie! Here is a fan made trailer - not real movie sceenes - but a mix of movie parts that come pretty close to what you imagine in your minds eye when reading it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ni-9ydZPoAWhile we are on the subject of great stories for the retro fan, check out a book on Amazon called 'The Final Day at Westfield Arcade' for a great walk down memory lane, if you haven't already found it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kZhw3--24E
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johnreder
2600 Jr.
Bad spellers of the world UNTIE!
Posts: 27
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Post by johnreder on Dec 6, 2016 20:26:46 GMT -5
I finally found them here in my hometown. Looks like 'Bed Bath & Beyond' has them in stock and for just $39 USD. I purchased one 2 days ago and I think it is pretty cool. It must be running the same emulator as the flashback console does, since it has some of the same emulation glitches, The SD card slot is a great touch, I found a page on AtariAge where they put together a download of all the compatible roms.
My two games come with it and they actually have their artwork on the box this time around, pretty sweet to see them mixed in with so many classics. My two games run fine on the flashback devices as long as you ignore the first digit in the score, looks like their chip architecture repeats a register or something because it always reflects the 3rd digit value. The carts on Good Deal Games and my free to download rom copies from tacticalneuronics.com work great with the actual 2600 hardware and on other emulators... regardless, it's still cool to be a small part of an Atari sanctioned device, and I believe that I'm a lucky part of the rare few that mention my name as the developer boldly written in my games title screens! I wonder if Warren Robinett's name is still hidden in the Flashback copy of Adventure? I was disappointed to see that it was removed from the game's secret room and replaced with '(c) Atari' on the Jack's Pacific devices sold a few years back.
John
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johnreder
2600 Jr.
Bad spellers of the world UNTIE!
Posts: 27
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Post by johnreder on Nov 22, 2016 9:01:15 GMT -5
I recently noticed in Retro Gamer magazine (page 8 of the one that features Mario 64 on its cover) in the retro-radar feature that my two games are also included on the Flashback 7 and the Flashback hand-held that is coming out in the 28th!!! The handheld also has a SD card port!!!!!
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johnreder
2600 Jr.
Bad spellers of the world UNTIE!
Posts: 27
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Post by johnreder on Oct 24, 2016 18:52:31 GMT -5
Anytime Ferg! I'll install it now just so I'm ready!
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johnreder
2600 Jr.
Bad spellers of the world UNTIE!
Posts: 27
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Post by johnreder on Oct 14, 2016 18:55:19 GMT -5
Thank you Ferg for setting this up! My story... I never had a Atari 2600 growing up. I had an Odyssey 2 and my Friends had Atari's. I was 12 in 1977 when Atari first started selling them, I wasn't aware until 1979 when I got my own game console (that wasn't Pong based). I picked it myself from a Service Merchandise catalog...the Odyssey 2... looked so much cooler than the Atari. Anyway, I enjoyed it and still have it. I've been a gamer all my life and started writing software in high school on TRS-80 systems, and then on my very own C=64. Actually that lead to my 30 year career in software development and related technologies. I got back into retro systems in the mid 90's and built my first Arcade cabinet around 2006. In 2009, as a challenge to myself, I wrote a batch of four Atari 2600 games using the Stella emulator to test them out. Two of my games caught the eye of the founder of Good Deal Games and he published them as Carts (Shield Shifter and Strip Off). Ultimately he struck a deal between me and the current Atari license holder ATgames which publishes the many flashback consoles. As a result these two games are now on the Atari Flashback 5 and 6 models! Anyway, I give the roms away on my website for free if you want to play them. tacticalneuronics.com/content/AtariShieldShifter.asp Also, check out my other 2600 game K.C.'s Crazy Nightmare! It is poking fun at Odyssey 2 characters on Atari 2600. I have written many other games for systems such as Nintendo Game Boy Advance, Windows, Android, DOS... they are all on my site too. The funniest part of my Atari story is that I didn't get an actual 2600 until after Good Deal Games sent me some copies of my games on carts... well I had to get one after that, it was a matter of pride... Since then, I also started collecting 2600 carts among carts for other vintage systems such as the Vectrex... it has been a great journey and Ferg has been spurring me on with each episode, not to mention Willie and company for the Vectrex....
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