Pitfall

[fizgog]

Started working on a new game last night, at the moment I'm just generating the screens to get a feel for the layout
(not all gfx have been added yet)

[tricky]

Looking good, I like the way you can "see" the game on the beeb.

NuLA support is dead easy to add and could make for a very authentic looking port/version.

Were you planning on using the 2600 ROM or reimplementing the game?

[fizgog]

Looking good, I like the way you can "see" the game on the beeb.

NuLA support is dead easy to add and could make for a very authentic looking port/version.

Were you planning on using the 2600 ROM or reimplementing the game?

Thanks, I've never coding with NuLA before, but I have bought the upgrade from Rob for my beeb, so will have to look into how it's done once the mechanics are all up and running.

I've planning on a reimplementation of the game, the 2600 hardware is a b*astard to understand

This screen shows the pond level, I'm still playing about with how the screen layout is generated

For info this is what I'm starting with before adding the rest of the tiles (I call it my base layer)

[TobyLobster]

Looking good.

[tricky]

I think that the most basic way to use NuLA is to define two versions of each colour that you already have and then such that using one colour works but if you have a NuLA then you get both.
This wouldn't really work for the screen you have as your two greens would become one big area of green without NuLA.
This is basically the way I did Frogger and Moon Patrol, but with Frogger it is slightly "tricky"er as I use flashing colours 0 for the top of the screen and 1 for the bottom, effectively allowing me three different magentas, brown, purple and magenta!
Anyway, you can also auto detect NuLA and in your example choose between dithered and a separate colour.

[Rob_hawk]

A great choice for your next game. Fond memories of playing this to death on the neighbours VCS!

[fizgog]

Looking good.

Thanks Toby

I think that the most basic way to use NuLA is to define two versions of each colour that you already have and then such that using one colour works but if you have a NuLA then you get both.
This wouldn't really work for the screen you have as your two greens would become one big area of green without NuLA.
This is basically the way I did Frogger and Moon Patrol, but with Frogger it is slightly "tricky"er as I use flashing colours 0 for the top of the screen and 1 for the bottom, effectively allowing me three different magentas, brown, purple and magenta!
Anyway, you can also auto detect NuLA and in your example choose between dithered and a separate colour.

I was thinking I could use 2 of the flashing colours for the green leaves and change them to either dithered green / black or both NuLA dark green, although I might end up with no colours left to play with. Other possibility to to split the game in two, standard and enhanced and have the basic loader run the correct one, but I'm getting way ahead of myself as usual .

A great choice for your next game. Fond memories of playing this to death on the neighbours VCS!

I did start looking at River Raid at first, but got confused looking at the pseudorandom map generator, also my climbing and jumping experiments with my tech demo will help better in this game.

[oss003]

This screen shows the pond level, I'm still playing about with how the screen layout is generated

Maybe this helps understanding building the screens: https://evoniuk.github.io/posts/pitfall.html
Or the sourcecode of the Atari: https://github.com/johnidm/asm-atari-26 ... itfall.asm

BTW would be great to see such a classic game ported.

Greetings
Kees

[fizgog]

This screen shows the pond level, I'm still playing about with how the screen layout is generated

Maybe this helps understanding building the screens: https://evoniuk.github.io/posts/pitfall.html
Or the sourcecode of the Atari: https://github.com/johnidm/asm-atari-26 ... itfall.asm

BTW would be great to see such a clossic game ported.

Greetings
Kees

After looking through the River Raid source and getting confused , I didn't bother looking in detail with the Pitfall source, but yes the first link you mentioned is the one I found last night which gave me the inspiration to do a beeb conversion.

I'm also running the 2600 game through Stella as it's been decades since I played it.

[oss003]

I'm wondering if it's a good Atom MPAGD candidate ......

Greetings
Kees

[Rob_hawk]

also my climbing and jumping experiments with my tech demo will help better in this game.

Good to see that your climbing and jumping techniques are going to be put to good use - they were looking fabulous.

As an aside this is a nice read on Atari and the VCS including a section on Pitfall. It’s not a coding book but provides some great insights into the challenges of creating software on the VCS back then and much more.

[Lardo Boffin]

Racing the Beam is a great read.

Good luck with Pitfall - a great game and done in a 4K ROM if I remember correctly?

[Rob_hawk]

Glad you approve of the book and yes I couldn't believe it when I read it was all done in a 4K ROM - Wow.

[Lardo Boffin]

Glad you approve of the book and yes I couldn't believe it when I read it was all done in a 4K ROM - Wow.

And lets not forget the 128 bytes of RAM!

[kieranhj]

This is great news and a good start!

Pitfall is also a favourite game of mine from BITD and has been on my “would be interesting to port to the Beeb” list for ages. I’m glad someone has accepted that challenge! I look forward to seeing the progress.

[Beebson]

for Pitfall! for the BBC!

I think Pitfall game logics are/were fully explained somewhere.

After finishing this, just add "][" and bit other things and you have Pitfall ][ finished!

[fizgog]

Animation test 1

Running and jumping

https://youtu.be/ETx1IqU08Ec

[TobyLobster]

Looking good. Is he running backwards, i.e. the order of the frames is reversed? Maybe it's just me.

[fizgog]

Looking good. Is he running backwards, i.e. the order of the frames is reversed? Maybe it's just me.

I think you may be onto something I'll add it to my list of things to do

[fizgog]

More changes last night with the following added

Fixed running animation
Added leaves graphics
Added alternative back colour?

Question
What background do people prefer original green or cyan?

New video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApOpTAFGwEI

[Rob_hawk]

He’s looking great now running and jumping in full flow!

I prefer the cyan background personally. Having just watched both together I think the man and his animation stands out much better against the cyan than the green.

[Lardo Boffin]

+1 for cyan. Looks awesome!

[oss003]

+1 for cyan. Looks awesome!

+1

[marcusjambler]

Really looking forward to this game

The cyan is easier on the eye me thinks

[Beebson]

Thank you for fixing his running. Both background colours are looking good, but maybe green brings more the feeling being in the forest. Cyan background is like he´s running on the very edge of the forest where there are just few trees. His yellow arms seem to vanish into cyan background, arms are a bit more easier to see against the green.

It´s not necessary, but will he grow some hair during the programming? Blue will be a good choice for hair for either background. Bald Harry is allright, though. He´s old anyway.

[Beebson]

Perhaps the background and tree leaves should be vice versa? Dotted green/black background to bring a dark forest feel, like an endless forest. And light green tree leaves above the player. Just a suggestion.

[lovebug]

funny I was thinking of making this my next game

looking great and the cyan background looks great too

fantastic work so far

[fizgog]

funny I was thinking of making this my next game

looking great and the cyan background looks great too

fantastic work so far

Thanks and sorry if you have made a start on it, or if anyone else has.

I’ll probably stick with the cyan for the standard version and then use proper colours if you have NuLA installed

I thought Tricky was trying to persuade you to do Mr Do’s Castle

[lovebug]

funny I was thinking of making this my next game

looking great and the cyan background looks great too

fantastic work so far

Thanks and sorry if you have made a start on it, or if anyone else has.

I’ll probably stick with the cyan for the standard version and then use proper colours if you have NuLA installed

I thought Tricky was trying to persuade you to do Mr Do’s Castle

dont be sorry that you started, its great to see it come to life and your work is quality

ive never been fond of mr do's castle (because im useless at it) so i wouldnt be the best tester of the game while writing it

the other game im thinking of attempting is Circus Charlie, theres a lot going on in this game that might be too much for the beeb ?

[tricky]

I was tempted by that too, but I don't think that I'll ever get to it!

PS And you'd do a better job of it