Combat

[fizgog]

Whilst I'm still slowly disassembling Hellgate, I decided to take a stab at another Atari 2600 classic Combat, but I will be dividing my time between the two games.

So far I can generate all the 27 screens using a custom mode 2 screen

Have 1 moving tank (doesn't rotate yet)

Need to add the other sprites, fonts, game play and sound effects

A few screenshots of what it curretly looks like

[fizgog]

Any thoughts on the following key controls on being the best between 1,2 and 3, before I start coding them tonight

Player 1
1) Z,X : Rotate left and right, RIGHT SHIFT : forward, RETURN : fire
2) A,Z : Rotate left and right, RIGHT SHIFT : forward, RETURN : fire
3) A,Z : Rotate left and right, X : forward, C : fire

Joystick 1
Up : Forward, Left : rotate left, Right : rotate right, Button : fire

Player 2
<, > : rotate left and right, RIGHT SHIFT : forward, RETURN : fire
NB Force player 1 to use (player 1 option 3)

Joystick 2
Up : Forward, Left : Rotate left, Right : rotate right, Button : fire

[Arcadian]

I've always hoped somebody would port Combat to the Beeb - so I'm very happy to see these screenshots!

For controls, do you think the Player 1 Option 3 (forced when 2p mode is activated) would work with Z, X, Tab (Forward), Q (Fire) ?

[tricky]

It can be tricky finding friendly key combinations that don't alias for two players, but at least it is only four keys each.

[marcusjambler]

Woohoo for COMBAT port

[fizgog]

I've always hoped somebody would port Combat to the Beeb - so I'm very happy to see these screenshots!

For controls, do you think the Player 1 Option 3 (forced when 2p mode is activated) would work with Z, X, Tab (Forward), Q (Fire) ?

Good suggestion with the TAB and Q - I've made a note for when I code it.


Last night I did find time to code a 1bit unpacker which converts a 8x8 1bit sprite to a 8x16 4bit sprite when the sprite is rotated, so i've imported the tank sprites into the following video.


https://youtu.be/3ibjYuJoUbU

Need to sort out collision detection and also slow down certain movements when rotated next.

[fizgog]

I've cleaned up a extremely early Alpha release, doesn't do much cannot fire or change playfield to one of the other 27 yet

Shift Break to start

Keys as follows: -
Escape - exit
Z rotate left
X rotate right
SHIFT forward

Combat.ssd

(3.5 KiB) Downloaded 28 times

[Arcadian]

Love it! Thanks for sharing an alpha at such an early stage!

[fizgog]

Added a bit more work on this

New front screen with level select
Z level down, X level up, RETURN to start

You can now see all 27 game screens
Added the biplane and jet images

Combat.ssd

(4.5 KiB) Downloaded 30 times

[Arcadian]

Amazing to see all the game screens in, I think when complete this is instantly going to become one of the best 2 player games on the Beeb!

[fizgog]

Might be a while before next up as I need to completely rewrite the sprite routines to handle 1 pixel movement as it doesn't look good moving every 2

Players are updated on alternative vsyncs, Player 1 even, Player 2 odd

Needs slowing down as the sprites move too fast.

This update includes the following

New letter M font (didn't like the other one)
Changed entry Level to Game Select
Added player 2 sprites and movements

New keyboard controls
1 and 2 change game level
Escape to exit

Player 1
Z and X to rotate, Tab - forward, Q to fire (not implemented)

Player 2
< and > to rotate, Shift - forward, Return to fire (not implemented)

Use SPACE or player 1 fire to start
Escape to leave current game level

Combat.ssd

(4.5 KiB) Downloaded 26 times

2 player jets

[ChrisB]

Good work. When you do your sprite plot you might want to look at the rotation as when you rotate 180 your gun appears to be at a different level.

[fizgog]

Good work. When you do your sprite plot you might want to look at the rotation as when you rotate 180 your gun appears to be at a different level.

The 8x8 sprites that are horizontal only use 7 rows, not the full 8 like the rest, so when it expands it converts this

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to this 8x16

Code: Select all

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I'm going to have to generate 2 9x16 sprites instead to handle moving left, right by 1 pixel, but I'll see what I can do with the above sprites, not sure what the 2600 version does.

[ChrisB]

Just fired up an online emulator - and the rotation does indeed work as you've got it now. Interestingly the bullets come out of the middle of the tank - so slightly misaligned with the gun - then again it was 45 years ago!

[fizgog]

Nothing to show, but I've just finished implementing the 1 pixel horizontal movement sprites for Mode 2

Game now takes 1 8x8 1bit sprite and creates 2 10x16 4bit sprites (second sprite is offset by 1 pixel from the first one) every time the tank is rotated.

Every even x position shows the first sprite and every odd x position shows the second sprite.

Still lots to do with the following in no particular order.

Out of bounds clipping
Collision detection
Adding bullets
Scoring
Joystick support
Game play
Sound effects

[tricky]

... Interestingly ...

It has been years since I started a framework for 2600 games, but I seem to remember that if the "missile" is not "moving" it lives in the centre of the "player" and something about auto movement that might have been for missiles or the ball, I don't remember.

[fizgog]

Not a lot done I’m afraid, and I’ve also started a new (massive) project for work, so even less time to spend, but I’ll keep plodding on with the free time I get.