Retro Video Gamer

RVG Blast is my donation to Retro Video Gamer.  This is a 2k game with 0 bytes left for changes or improvements.

Press FIRE at the title screen to start.  Launch a torpedo at enemies by pressing FIRE in-game.  Reset switch will reboot game system.

Occasionally the space tornado and aliens will release deadly energy blocks.  As you progress this tendency will increase.

Destroying the space tornado will award 10 points.  Upon destruction of the tornado a chaos bolt will launch downward.  The length of the bolt will grow over time.

Destroying the space alien will award 10 points.  When a new alien spawns they will change appearance, color, size and formation.  Up to three aliens may fly in formation.  Especially sneaky aliens will choose colors that camouflage their attack!

Touching a block, chaos bolt or space alien will deduct a life and send you back to the middle of the screen.  It will also clear the screen of deadly energy blocks and reset the difficulty.  When all 3 lives are spent the game reverts to the title screen displaying your current score.

Technical Features:
* 2k with all available space used!
* Animated title screen
* Vertical scrolling
* Many space alien types
* Difficulty increases with success

Developer Notes:
2k Atari 2600 games are a challenge within a challenge.  You could compare it to writing a haiku with only three letter words.  The original Pac-Man was twice the size and desperately needed more to compare favorably with its arcade counterpart.  In short, on a system with extremely limited resources, this is the most limited any commercial game attempted.

RVG Blast uses a stripped down batari BASIC kernel modified by Atarius Maximus for 2k Gate Racer.  By experimenting with what features were still available I determined a straightforward shooter was possible.  Since the 2600 only has 2 missiles a "bullet hell" type game is problematic.  I therefore used playfield "blocks" as the main obstacle.  Up to 11x32 blocks can fill the screen.  If dropped vertically these blocks become more projectile and less background art.

The tornado sprite is actually a trick to save space.  It's actually the lower part of the S and T from the title screen graphic.  Using the same graphic is an age old technique that can be seen even in more modern games like Goldeneye for the N64.  In that game the trigger sight texture is also used in the wooden barrel graphic.

The various alien sprites are actually one long sprite graphic being viewed in sliding vertical 8 pixel chunks.  A "new" alien is made simply by altering where the top part of the alien starts within a larger chunk of sprite.  The Atari 2600 hardware provides different sizes, colors and horizontal copies of sprites virtually for free.  All this combines for many, many different alien types.

Sound is produced by two similar routines that alter their character by how long they are run.  By combining one or two of these and varying the length we get explosions, laser blasts and other sound effects.

As you can tell developing in 2k  is more about what clever strategies you can make a game out of.  This differs from coming up with a game first and using clever strategies in service of a concept.  This is how most developers approached the 2600 in its hayday - figure out a neat trick and wrap a game around it!

No NTSC for those of us in the other side of the pond? 

Quote from: "TrekMD"No NTSC for those of us in the other side of the pond? 

Of course.  I'm starting with PAL first.  Otherwise I might forget :p

Quote from: "theloon"

Quote from: "TrekMD"No NTSC for those of us in the other side of the pond?  :21:  Thanks again!

Lol, this is so awesome i am speechless for a the first time in a while..

pretty impressive stuff and now with the fresh new theme added also, this is a winner of a day

Quote from: "Greyfox"pretty impressive stuff and now with the fresh new theme added also, this is a winner of a day

Whoa, that's quite the change!  Looks nifty.

2k game complete!  See first post for PAL and NTSC goodness!
http://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/http://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=65045#p65045 (//http)

Flip me, you are a genius.. Will have a bash on this later and work out the details of a release.

What do you want in terms of copyright fella? Terms and so on..

That was quick!  Cool!

Quote from: "zapiy"Flip me, you are a genius.. Will have a bash on this later and work out the details of a release.

What do you want in terms of copyright fella? Terms and so on..

Whatever you please.  As long as "Jason Santuci" is given credit for making the game.  Especially on the manual and art.

Thats a cert fella.

Just to clarify I am open to feedback and bugs.  It's just that the game literally has no room for changes   The lightning storms when the tornado and space alien futz with blocks is intentional :p

Give us a day and we will feedback if thats ok..

I had a quick game.  Simple but fun gameplay.  We need to work on instructions. 

Quote from: "TrekMD"I had a quick game.  Simple but fun gameplay.  We need to work on instructions. 

Yes.  Please =)

Quote from: "theloon"

Quote from: "TrekMD"I had a quick game.  Simple but fun gameplay.  We need to work on instructions.  ;)

Just been playing it, its addictive stuff, Simple to pick up and fun at the same time.

I was going to suggest we need to get some idea of story for the Labels also.

Quote from: "TrekMD"

Quote from: "theloon"

Quote from: "TrekMD"I had a quick game.  Simple but fun gameplay.  We need to work on instructions.  ;)

I added my PM to TrekMD as developer notes to the first post.  Good (if not proofread) stuff!
http://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/http://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=65045#p65045 (//http)

Cool, thanks.  I have to read through that. 

Changed the game a bit after playtesting.  Fixed some bugs.  Changed instructions to reflect, er, changes.

* Chaos bolt no longer removes blocks.  Now deducts a life and gets longer over time!
* Fixed title screen getting dirtied after a playthrough.
* Made sound less beepy and more rumbly.
* Fixed difficulty not getting reset after game over

Thanks! 

Great stuff can't say I noticed those issues.

Ok a release on this is ramping up..more soon

Good to know.  Wasn't I supposed to help write a manual for this?

To do a full blown release is to cost prohibitive for what will be essentially a niche sale me thinks, I have 20 games, 10 NTSC and 10 PAL..

All we need doing is the instruction card and Jason covered that i think in his description..

Sadly, I can't find a way to make the game autodetect PAL or NTSC.. thus two versions :/

No biggy Randy seems fine with it all.

I'd like to give the manual text a try.  Expand on what's on the instruction card. 

Ok bud go for it, not sent nothing yet.. Greyfox is doing the label.

Once i get that i will do a new thread that will include your write up, the label and the rom images.. Jason can then vette them and confirm he is happy, we can make any adjustments, make sure all involved and named in someway and then i can get the first one made and get the images of these to start the proper sales thread and go from there.

Cool.  I've saved his text to a WordPerfect file that I'll use as a template to start from.  Who is laying out the manual?  Is there a word limit constraint to keep in mind? 

I dont think so, look at this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Atari-2600-Homebrew-Power-Off-by-Ebivision-/251410346599?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a89397267 (//http) thats similar to what we will get.

OK, good to know.  So, essentially four "pages."

Yeah i thing so pal.

Quote from: "zapiy"Yeah i thing so pal.

No problem.

Quote from: "zapiy"I dont think so, look at this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Atari-2600-Homebrew-Power-Off-by-Ebivision-/251410346599?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a89397267 (//http) thats similar to what we will get.

That is shockingly bad mate :6:

[align=center:29k2qkxb](http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs28/f/2008/120/5/a/I_am_Relaxed____by_whisperpntr.jpg)[/align:29k2qkxb]

Is this a fast enough return ?

I did this, this morning, hope it capture the energy of the game. @zapiy when your around, I'll send across the first labels, I did a Pal one and an NTSC one. so two labels for two regions :77:

That's the bollocks. A wizard on Photoshop.

Boy that was quick!  Are you open to suggestions (assuming you have time)?  Would a label design more similar to the design on the 2600 Crystal Castles label?  That's the design used on later labels. 

[align=center:1dazgl9y](http://stopxwhispering.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/atari-2600-crystal-castles.jpg)[/align:1dazgl9y]

That manual cover art looks awesome!  Very space age.  The lines shooting out remind me of the energy walls in the game.  They're eventually the most deadly obstacle in the game for me.

The in-game screenshot on the cart looks a bit strange to me.  I don't think I've heard of an Atari game having a screenshot on the cart itself.  Kind of like a milk carton having a picture of a milk carton on it.  Not a biggie.

Okay, I could certainly make look in the same vein as the crystal castle cart , when I'm at my machine, hopefully this evening :)  so I'll get it out of there for ya, but I do feel its okay on the manual. The laser shots were exactly the thinking  you had in your reply, so my designing spidy senses were correct on that :36:

Congrats on the 3K, GF!

Thanks Trek, it's a milestone for me that, I've never posted this amount on any forum before ever!..

anyways, is this what you're talking about

[align=center:3rzj1epe](http://i61.tinypic.com/f0cfhv.jpg)[/align:3rzj1epe]

enjoy!

Holy cow that's marvelous!  Nothing says old school shooter like neon colors and dark, fading purple backgrounds!!!

That's really inspiring, man!

That definitely is what I was talking about.  Nicely done! 

So I can say, we can go with this one?..

Of course you can.    Will you be using this new look for the manual as well?

No, as I felt it was only the cartridge that needed the attention, but I might add the red laser shots, plus i will need information for the back of the manual cover and the front page also as this is simply a mock up at the moment and it was only to see what you all thought from Zap request for it.

I'll be working on the manual text this weekend.  I'll see what I can come up with given the information I have.  We may have text on the back with some of the story of how the game came about. 

Quote from: "TrekMD"I'll be working on the manual text this weekend.  I'll see what I can come up with given the information I have.  We may have text on the back with some of the story of how the game came about.

As long as you leave out how Zaipy woke up with a safety cone on his head and the steamer I left in the chucker-outs boot we should be okay.

:24: :113:

Quote from: "theloon"

Quote from: "TrekMD"I'll be working on the manual text this weekend.  I'll see what I can come up with given the information I have.  We may have text on the back with some of the story of how the game came about.

As long as you leave out how Zaipy woke up with a safety cone on his head and the steamer I left in the chucker-outs boot we should be okay.

 :24: :21: ;)

Wholly shit that's awesome.

I only hope we sell more than one lol.

Quote from: "zapiy"Wholly shit that's awesome.

I only hope we sell more than one lol.

Don't let my slovenly dress code fool you:  I'm about as narcissistic as they come!  I'll definitely take an NTSC version

UPDATE: We really must remember to pimp these on Facebork, Twatter and Fumblr.

OK guys, I've added an intro and reformatted the text to look like it's in the inside of booklet (I'm assuming we'll have a four "page" manual (cover, page 1, page 2, back cover) made from a single sheet of paper.  I've purposely left out some space for images.  I'm attaching a Word file with the text.  I hope you like the introduction I created and the new meaning I gave the letters RVG for the game. 

On the back I think we should have the credits and the RVG logo at the center of the page. 

Fantastic, let me send this of and see what he can do?

Sure thing.  More space can be created by changing the margins or text size. 

Can we have an RVG image on the cart and the other images as the producers? 

I suppose it should be possible to add the logo in a corner of the cart label.  That's how Atari Age does it. 

Okay Guys, I've shipped the work over to Zap now for confirmation on it, so I think it ready to go.

@TrekMD , just to note to you, I actually did the front and back manual covers as A5, so it's A4 page landscaped for a center fold, and I suggest double side print paper, your text will be too small on the pages I've done, the idea of a 4 section fold on an a4 will make it far to small to read if you get me, when printed

So, does that mean that we need to reduce the word count?

No, not at all, my sizes are bigger that the frames sizes you used when writing it up, the font size will need to be upped by who ever is doing it, so they should make it fit to my page size of the manual at A5 size. easy.

Quote from: "Greyfox"No, not at all, my sizes are bigger that the frames sizes you used when writing it up, the font size will need to be upped by who ever is doing it, so they should make it fit to my page size of the manual at A5 size. easy.

OK, that's good.  We should have some game images in the instructions area, so there should be more room for that then, based on what you are saying. 

Bare in mind that the guy doing this will do it his way lol so it could be different either way.

That's OK too.  My job was getting the text done.   

Wallop email sent..

Cool! 

Ok I got some feedback that the game had problems running on real hardware. Apparently stuff that happens on the emu simply does not on real hardware so I have sent Jason more details.

ohh what a bummer , hopefully Jason can reverse the issues..

This sort of stuff happens fairly often, it seems.  I'm sure it can be addressed by Jason. 

I have no doubts, i thought if it ran on on emu it would on real hardware lol.. How wrong was I.

Quote from: "zapiy"I have no doubts, i thought if it ran on on emu it would on real hardware lol.. How wrong was I.

Most of the time that's true but there are times where the code doesn't play well on real hardware. 

I'm thinking there's something about 2k games that doesn't compile right.  I'll try these 4k ROMs tonight.  If anyone else has a flash cart please have a go as well!

The good news:  The builds I offered for download in 2k and 4k run as expected on my Atari 7800 at home.

The bad news: this doesn't discount the odd behavior Randy encountered.

If anyone else has a Harmony or Krokodile cart a third opinion would be awesome.

Interesting. Are you contacting Randy or should I. 

I'll see if I can test it tonight when I get back from work using my Harmony.

It's up to you.  Right now we just have his experience which differs from my experience.  If we could reproduce his issues then I could better cook up a solution.

The issues are with the 2K binary, right?

Quote from: "TrekMD"The issues are with the 2K binary, right?

Tried both 2k and 4k last night.  Randy sez:

1. The smaller invaders never show up on his system
2. The space tornado stays at the top of the screen and just follows the player horizontally.

It still could be that on his system my 2k ROMs don't work so well.  I don't know how much of a hassle it would be for him to try the 4k ROMs.

I will try testing it tonight or the next couple of days, at the latest.

Quote from: "TrekMD"I will try testing it tonight or the next couple of days, at the latest.

You da man!  I've had games made by him before.  So, I know batari BASIC games can be made by him.

Worst case scenario I re-write RVG Blast from scratch or just make it for a different platform like the Sega Genesis.

Well, I tested this today both the original 2K and the new 4K games.  I did not have any problems playing either.  The played the same way.   The hurricane  moves up and down as it should. 

I appreciate the sanity check TrekMD.  Unfortunately, this all means that we cannot reproduce the issues found on  a real cart.  I've already begun work on completely re-writing the game.  sigh.

Quote from: "theloon"I appreciate the sanity check TrekMD.  Unfortunately, this all means that we cannot reproduce the issues found on  a real cart.  I've already begun work on completely re-writing the game.  sigh.

Dang.  So, will you be keeping it at 2K or going up to 4K? 

Since I assume the ROM Randy did try and make was 2k I'll have to go 4k.  Shouldn't cost any more.  I don't think most people know enough to appreciate the significance.

Are you going to use the extra space to add to the game or are you keeping it as is.  I know you wanted to keep it at 2K because of the challenge it represents for programming. 

New game.  4k to keep it the same price to make.  One very real possibility is that being a 2k game was a problem.  I'd rather not let that be a factor if I'm going to re-write the thing

OK, sounds good.  Looking forward to it. 

@theloon hey fella, Randy is not getting back to me about this? Any ideas?

I think the deal here (from what I've been reading) is that either Randy's boards don't like the game or his TV refused to play nice with PAL.

In either case the "plow forward" answer is to find a different cart maker for a second opinion.  I know not anyone in the UK.

The other answer is that a completely new game is made which will take some time.

Thats up to you fella?

Yeah.  I was hoping someone would check with the other cart makers for a second opinion since no one could reproduce Randys (Hozers) issues.

Well, now your around I would like to think we could easily arrange that..

What are our choices?

Quote from: "zapiy"Well, now your around I would like to think we could easily arrange that..

What are our choices?

I'd say if you cannot find an enthusiast on your side of the pond try AtariAge or AA member CPUWIZ.  If they find the same weird problem as Hozer then I'll redo the game.

Is CPUWIZ sympathetic to the issues risen from previous events?

CPUWIZ and Albert could give a flying fig about The Laird from what I hear.  Thankfully.

Here's a freshly compiled PAL and NTSC version.  They're both filled out to 4k just in case being a 2k game was the issue.

Anyone in the Dev suite able to run some tests on real hardware?

I doubt you'll have any issues with CPU and Albert and I have spoken about "the issues" and cleared the air.  There are some individuals who just seem incapable of separating things but that's their problem.

I have pm'd Albert again, let's see what happens.

Delighted to see this rise from the grave, considering all the work that was put into it all from us here. Fingers crossed people will get a RVG blast for xmas in their stocking!

I take it Albert hasn't responded yet.  Has there been any more leads on alternative cart makers?

I wonder if Bob could make the carts. 

I have been chatting to Albert and getting a sense of connection from our previous issues. I will now approach him properly about this.

Quote from: "zapiy"I have been chatting to Albert and getting a sense of connection from our previous issues. I will now approach him properly about this.

Awesome!

Ok Albert has agreed to test this for us and I will report back once I get his feedback.

Wallop

Excellent news!

That's fantastic! Great work

@bogstandard can you remember what Randy said the issues were? I can not find the email he said and Albert is asking for more info?

I don't remember specifics but I do remember there being an issue with the game not working properly when burned onto a cart. 

It's been a long time but I think it was something about the sprites staying at the top of the screen?  I was never able to reproduce it.

Albert is going to have a play.

Not that this is progress but I'm posting because I am logging in and seeing where we're at.

Any word from Albert, @zapiy ?

I will chase him up. Wanted to give him space to breath over Xmas and new year.

Thank for letting me in again.

Yeah.  If Albert isn't able to reproduce the cart I will find another game to become RVG Blast.

Cool.  Good to have you back also.  :)

Nice one mate, thanks..

I have heard nothing back from him..

Albert's pretty busy so it may be best to look for another way to get it done.  It'd be great if he made them but not sure if he'll have the time.

This is RVG Blast 2 if the original becomes too tedious to deal with.

Should work NTSC and PAL60.  Test it out.

You are the long thing with eyes.

Collect happy faces and hearts.
Shoot enemy ships for points.
Shoot death face for points - shooting death face extends your body
Points awarded may go up the longer your ship is
DO NOT shoot happy faces or hearts.  There may be a score penalty

Rush may be able to get the carts made for us.

Lets do some test runs..

Might as well do a small 20 or so run on this.. I am sure we can get the graphics for the labels redone @Greyfox

I had a game years ago that used the bones of this.  Made it to cart without problem.

I just don't have a PAL TV to test this on. 

Hey guys. I've got access to get a few pcbs made and potentially 3d printed cartridge shells. the rom or bin file is only 2k right?  The AA pcbs are nothing more than a copy of the open-source ones floating around online.

Yes, it is a small game.  There is a label design in here already but it may need to be modified as we have a new version of the game that's a bit different.

Okay, if I can get a description on what I've to changet on this I can knock something up

The first RVG Blast was more about shooting only.  The new one involved picking up happy faces and hearts and shooting death faces and ships.  So, maybe adding some of that into the graphics?  The background is different also.  The instructions read:

Collect happy faces and hearts.
Shoot enemy ships for points.
Shoot death face for points - shooting death face extends your body

A picture is worth a 1000 words...

okay thanks Trek..I'll begin landing troops shortly

Quote from: rush6432 on August 29, 2016, 02:58:57 AM
Hey guys. I've got access to get a few pcbs made and potentially 3d printed cartridge shells. the rom or bin file is only 2k right?  The AA pcbs are nothing more than a copy of the open-source ones floating around online.

This RVG Blast is a completely new game.  4k.  I figured that would be the least expensive / simplest option.

Okay I'm beginning to redo the Gfx I originally did for RVG blast, now is that purple face the "Happy face"? And that cyan creature the "Death Face"? And I take it that the purple rectangle is the player? At the bottom ?

Just so I know what I've to do in the scene :)

I'll have a bash tonight..

Quote from: Greyfox on August 30, 2016, 10:11:47 AM
Okay I'm beginning to redo the Gfx I originally did for RVG blast, now is that purple face the "Happy face"? And that cyan creature the "Death Face"? And I take it that the purple rectangle is the player? At the bottom ?

Just so I know what I've to do in the scene :)

The cyan is a ship.  The death face is the same color as the happy face but it is huge.  The purple rectangle is the player.  Here is another image:

Okay, I've had a go, i took the elements from the game screen Trek gave me and recreated from the templates I made 2 years ago now..so with that here are the results..




Hope you like the previews, I'm aware that these are NTSC(Label designs?) I have a pal one too with the red strip that Atari ran with nearing the machines end..I've yet to upgrade the images too..

I might not be able to give this more time as I'm knee deep in another project, so if things need changing let me know as soon as you can etc...

cheers.

I think that looks fantastic, GF! 

Thanks fella, I've updated the instructional manual now, as it reading 2014 for Jason's name and is now 2016..

cheers pal :)

Quote from: Greyfox on August 30, 2016, 13:45:21 PM
Okay, I've had a go, i took the elements from the game screen Trek gave me and recreated from the templates I made 2 years ago now..so with that here are the results..

Cartridge Label

(http://i68.tinypic.com/25005y0.jpg)

Manual Cover reskin

(http://i65.tinypic.com/2mwb8qv.png)

Cartridge collection mock up

(http://i68.tinypic.com/379xd.png)

Hope you like the previews, I'm aware that these are NTSC(Label designs?) I have a pal one too with the red strip that Atari ran with nearing the machines end..I've yet to upgrade the images too..

I might not be able to give this more time as I'm knee deep in another project, so if things need changing let me know as soon as you can etc...

cheers.

Looks great!

thanks pal..appreciate the comments, I hope it fits the tone of the game now :)

It sure does.  I can't remember if I had written a manual for this or not.  I need to check as the text will need to change now that the game is different.

Its flipping awesome GF, how the hell can one man have such talent..8)

Quote from: zapiy on August 30, 2016, 19:59:03 PM
Its flipping awesome GF, how the hell can one man have such talent..8)

Haven't a fucking clue man..I'm still figuring that out myself....what's that? ...get back!...........get back in your box..........I told you............

Definitely very, very cool Greyfox!  Thank you for your work.

The colors are surreal enough to be agreeable on NTSC and PAL.  I don't know how the TVs over there take it on real hardware though.  I'd definitely try it on a flash cart before mass production.

That looks phenomenal! Some outstanding work there amigo 8)

Where you guys are ready and require the art work, I'll send over the full highres versions 👍

Did you guys find a good cart maker on your side of the pond?  I have a friend from SAIDAI games (Super Trash Truck) that could use such a craftsman.

I am working on something as I type this but no promises.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Should we move this to a different console?  Are sega genesis cart makers more available in Europe?

Seems like a nice idea.  The game could be enhanced also.  Not sure how Zapiy feels about it.

I am more than happy to look into what your suggesting..

The easiest route to market will be best for me as that way we are not reliant on lots of different people.

I'm working on a contract for a sega genesis shmup.  Afterwards I could take the engine and re-imagine RVG Blast.

I'd love that pal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That sounds great!  And congrats on that!

Any sneak peaks of this game chap?

Combination of writers block, mother dying and various other things have stifled any progress.

However, a fellow interested in manufacturing and publishing Atari 2600 games in Europe got in contact with me.  You should see if he can successfully make RVG Blast carts.

His name is Roberto and goes by vcsrocks on AtariAge.

Sorry to hear about your mom's death.  My condolences. 

Good to see you around mate, real life gets to us all and sorry about your mum, I lost mine recently and its never easy, just a case of cracking on, and funny you should ask, I have someone testing it on harmony and they said this.

QuoteTried on my Harmony and it works the same.. I'm just confused on somethings.. If I go to the left of the wall it kicks me back to the center. The walls tend to get thicker sometimes, etc... I assume the idea is to shot the aliens and avoid any other object?

I have invited him here, should be along shortly.

This maybe revived shortly.

Very cool!

Yes.. I need to get in contact with the dev, is poundlander still around on AA.

Haven't seen much of him there but maybe shoot him a PM.

The first RVG Blast had walls that kill you and reset your progress.  So,

Quote from: zapiy on April 12, 2018, 14:33:29 PM
Good to see you around mate, real life gets to us all and sorry about your mum, I lost mine recently and its never easy, just a case of cracking on, and funny you should ask, I have someone testing it on harmony and they said this.

QuoteTried on my Harmony and it works the same.. I'm just confused on somethings.. If I go to the left of the wall it kicks me back to the center. The walls tend to get thicker sometimes, etc... I assume the idea is to shot the aliens and avoid any other object?

I have invited him here, should be along shortly.

The first RVG Blast had deadly walls that killed you and reset your progress.  The walls take up more and more space on-screen as you progress.

Since Randy (Hozer Video) had trouble making the carts I made the other RVG Blast with the checkerboard background.  That one has no walls - just monsters and bonus objects.

Zap, so which version did you want to release?  Either version works but it seems the second one is the only one that can be released in carts.

Quote from: TrekMD on December 07, 2018, 02:06:44 AM
Zap, so which version did you want to release?  Either version works but it seems the second one is the only one that can be released in carts.

To be clear (from what I've gathered) only Hozer has tried to make a cart and failed.  Not sure if other manufacturers have been tried out.  It's pretty slim pickings out there so I understand if other options didn't turn up.

But, I guess I should admit that my memory is a bit hazy at this point.  Did we try AtariAge and Albert couldn't get it to work either?

I do not believe Albert has been approached, but I'm not sure if Zap has tried to talk to him about it.

Trek can you re add the manual doc please?

Can I ask for the latest NTSC and PAL builds of this as well.

Can I get some testers input too?

Regards

Jamie

This is the manual file that I have...

zapiy asked me to upload the lastest ROMs.  I haven't made any changes.

The first RVG Blast game has separate PAL and NTSC builds.  The second RVG Blast game works on NTSC or PAL60 as is.

Note these are two different games that play differently as I couldn't figure out why Hozer was failing to make the physical cart for the first. 

I had written a manual for the first version, if I remember correctly.

Thats correct Eugenio. Thats the version I will release free now I have consent to from Jason.

Cool!

Sorry for the confusion regarding file sizes.  The first RVG Blast game did indeed start at 2k.  Not many Atari 2600 games come that small.  I changed it up just in case the size was a problem.  So, the first game is 4k with a lot of filler.  The second RVG Blast game is 4k to start with.

RVG Blast is essentially 2 games, both are now available as free downloads on bitmapsoft.co.uk.

Awesome, just grabbed both.
Thank you! :D

Nice one pal, I can only say a huge thanks to Jason, me and GF wanted to at least give these games a moment in history, Jason created them as a favour for us a while ago as we all know, I have often felt guilty I never got them released properly, now at least others can enjoy them, couple that up with the awesome artwork Darren created I now feel a huge weight lifted that two peoples time and effort has not been entirely wasted.

Thank you both and just so you know, its been downloaded nearly 50 times since released.

Both games are over 100 downloads each, absolutely amazing and soon to be featured on the Atari Homebrew Youtube channel.

That's excellent!

Yeah, I am really pleased to be fair.

Should I come up with a manual for the second version?

That's great news to hear, hopefully may it continue to get into the hands if every one, I think rather that simply have a from dump, I might put together a label and manual pages that Trek MD did an amazing job on, but I don't know which game is different, as I only did one for the rvg that is now label RVG blast 2? The label on the first title RVG Blast was a beta design, but can do these if people would like?

It would be nice to get a proper manual done.  The manual I wrote was for the original game and only a DOC file has been posted.  We should offer something more "complete." 

I figured I'd share this here.  The guys from Zero Page Homebrew will be playing the games today...

We'll be featuring RVG Blast & RVG Blast 2 LIVE on today's (Friday) ZeroPage Homebrew stream on Twitch at 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 2AM GMT! Hope everyone can watch!

Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/

Games:

- RVG Blast (2019) by Bitmap Soft aka zapiy
- RVG Blast 2 (2019) by Bitmap Soft aka zapiy
- Kung Fu Combat (2019 WIP) by Edward Smith aka easmith
- 2005 MiniGame MultiCart (2005) by Chris Walton, Fred Quimby, Bob Montgomery, and Zach Matley

Quote from: TrekMD on February 16, 2019, 00:34:32 AM
I figured I'd share this here.  The guys from Zero Page Homebrew will be playing the games today...

We'll be featuring RVG Blast & RVG Blast 2 LIVE on today's (Friday) ZeroPage Homebrew stream on Twitch at 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 2AM GMT! Hope everyone can watch!

Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/

Games:

- RVG Blast (2019) by Bitmap Soft aka zapiy
- RVG Blast 2 (2019) by Bitmap Soft aka zapiy
- Kung Fu Combat (2019 WIP) by Edward Smith aka easmith
- 2005 MiniGame MultiCart (2005) by Chris Walton, Fred Quimby, Bob Montgomery, and Zach Matley

(https://i.imgur.com/WIDf6zc.jpg)

Just got home and clicked the stream but now the audio went out on my laptop. Great

They post the videos on YouTube afterwards, so you can always watch it on there.  :)

Cheers I will check them out once posted to Youtube.

I'll watch after I get a new laptop

That's really cool. I'll have to watch it. :)

This is crazy seeing our artistry in the wild like this..hopefully more of this thing of the future. 😉

Here is the YouTube video...

Thanks fella, will watch that later after work, what did you think?

They did a nice job.  The only thing is that they did not know it came from here, so they were not sure where to get information about it.  I posted on YT letting them know it was created for this forum.

ZPH tends to keep in touch with me.  Next time we have a 2600 release I'll make sure to give them whatever bullet points are needed.  One more voice with certain data points can help :)

Cool mate.


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