[stella] Blizzard's World of Warcraft for Atari VCS 2600
Billy Eno
ceno at austin.rr.com
Tue Apr 1 22:40:02 CDT 2008
I looked at the screenshots earlier today and posted this analysis at
AtariAge:
Quick technical analysis:
The splash screen seems to have been done using a standard 6-sprite-wide
technique with color changes between each item. Looks ok, but it must
take up a ton of ROM. This must be a bankswitched game. Also, the flames
under "Molten Core" kind of look like a dead chicken with 6 legs. I
think Sulfuras, the Hand of Ragnaros is at least recognizable on the
bottom there.
Playfield from top to bottom:
Names: Looks like the sprites were put into x2 mode, positioned next to
one another and then updated during the scan lines to draw the names.
The fade effect from top to bottom is decent.
Stat Bars: Looks like it uses the same setup as the the names, as they
are suspiciously the same width as the name. Again, a fade effect with
different base colors
Big Gold Bar: Not sure what that monstrosity is about. Could be used to
hide artifacts from the sprite repositioning, and an attempt to make it
look nice during a bunch of burned scan lines.
Playfield: Clearly using a mirrored playfield. If you look closely at
the screenshots, you can see that the center playfield part (PF2) is the
same on the left and right. This probably makes it so you don't have to
updated PF2 twice during the scan line and gives you a little more time
to work out if the players and/or monster is enabled. It should also
save memory. These rooms must be memory hogs as well.
Players: Must be using the ball graphics.
Monsters: Using one of the sprite graphics, note it is the same color as
one of the ball/player graphic. This means you could easily add pairs of
monsters. Shouldn't the Majordomo and Garr have minions?
XP/Rep bars: Looks like playfield graphics with overlaid sprites the
same color as the background to give it a separated appearance.
Flame Graphics: Don't know how those were done, really nice looking
animations though, it must be hella-flickery on a real machine, though
appropriate for gflames.
Bears: Wow, 7 bears, with graphics in a different color appearing over
them to indicate aggro. Must be really flickery as well on a real machine.
Looks like there is a playable game in there. I wonder how far along the
game logic really is. Can't wait to see the Beta.
-Billy
John Mezzacappa wrote:
> Turbo et at. This brings back some memories.
>
> Who knows? The Beef Drop April Fool's Day joke
> eventually became a homebrew release. ;-D
>
> --- Albert Yarusso <albert at atariage.com> wrote:
>
>
>> There's a long thread about it here:
>>
>>
>>
> http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=96298
>
>> Yes, the previous April Fool's joke was immediately
>> brought up. :)
>> But there wasn't really any doubt as to its
>> authenticity..
>>
>> ..Al
>>
>> On Apr 1, 2008, at 10:28 PM, Pete Holland wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Oh, wow! How tough was it to convince people that
>>> THAT one was legit?
>>>
>>>
>>> --- Albert Yarusso <albert at atariage.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> The real Turbo prototype was later found. :)
>>>>
>>>> ..Al
>>>>
>>>> On Apr 1, 2008, at 10:04 PM, Pete Holland wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Not bad. Although I think this would have gone
>>>>>
>>>> over
>>>>
>>>>> better if we hadn't been spoiled by the Doom
>>>>>
>> 2600
>>
>>>> bit.
>>>>
>>>>> Or the very ambitious Turbo prototype.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --- Adam Thornton <adam at fsf.net> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Apr 1, 2008, at 3:44 PM, Ruffin Bailey
>>>>>>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>>>>> How in the world did they get that fire effect
>>>>>>>
>>>> to
>>>>
>>>>>> work? That's pretty
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> cool. And the players move laterally
>>>>>>>
>> incredibly
>>
>>>>>> smoothly. That's
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> excellent programming. No flicker either.
>>>>>>>
>> How
>>
>>>>>> the heck are they
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> doing that?!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Wow. WoW.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>> One might even call the effect unbelievable.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Adam
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
>
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>>>>>
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>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>
>>>> ____________________________________________
>>>> Albert Yarusso, http://www.AtariAge.com
>>>> Atari News, Forums, Media, Guides, and more!
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
>
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>>>
>> one month of
>>
>>> Blockbuster Total Access, No Cost.
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>> ____________________________________________
>> Albert Yarusso, http://www.AtariAge.com
>> Atari News, Forums, Media, Guides, and more!
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
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>
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