2019/10/6: Atari 2600: Warlords, Medieval Mayhem

Let me know what you think about my reviews.
goldenband
Posts: 766
Joined: April 8th, 2015, 10:29 pm

Re: 2019/10/6: Atari 2600: Warlords, Medieval Mayhem

Postby goldenband » October 8th, 2019, 8:37 pm

I assume Retro STrife was referring to Warlords ports from the 1980s. In truth I think the consoles that would be the most logical fit were the Astrocade and 5200, though we could have seen computer ports as well. But the 4-player paddle action was pretty much mandatory, and only a handful of platforms could support that.

crimefighter
Posts: 174
Joined: April 18th, 2015, 12:08 pm

Re: 2019/10/6: Atari 2600: Warlords, Medieval Mayhem

Postby crimefighter » October 14th, 2019, 2:30 am

War & Medieval Mayhem were graphically the closest ports of the arcade version of Warlords - but still only did last man standing gets a point scoring.

The 5200 version of Warlords is the only version that has the arcade style scoring.

SpiceWare
Posts: 149
Joined: April 8th, 2015, 7:04 pm

Re: 2019/10/6: Atari 2600: Warlords, Medieval Mayhem

Postby SpiceWare » October 15th, 2019, 8:59 pm

I don't think I could have pulled off 4 multi-digit scores in my first 2600 game, I wasn't familiar enough with TIA. With what I know now I'd do something like use the standard 48 pixel routine, used for the typical 6 digit score, but position it so the 48 pixels wrap around the screen. That would give each side 24 pixels, which can show 6 digits when using a 3 pixel font. Do that above and below the arena for all 4 scores.

Of course there is one other issue - I'd already used up all 128 bytes of RAM and would need 20 more bytes to hold the scores, plus more RAM to prep it for display. Using a SARA Superchip would have made that possible, though I don't know if AtariAge was able to make games with extra RAM back in 2006.

An updated version using the Harmony/Melody would let me easily do the scores plus make the fireballs look like actual fireballs, but I've enough on my plate already so don't see myself revisiting past projects.

Example 3 pixel font:
Screen Shot 2019-10-15 at 8.19.43 PM.jpg
Screen Shot 2019-10-15 at 8.19.43 PM.jpg (98.81 KiB) Viewed 3189 times

ThePixelatedGenocide
Posts: 1232
Joined: April 29th, 2015, 9:06 pm

Re: 2019/10/6: Atari 2600: Warlords, Medieval Mayhem

Postby ThePixelatedGenocide » October 16th, 2019, 4:13 pm

Will you be updating the review? It's mostly good, except the bit about the lack of reverse controls for the top castles.

SpiceWare
Posts: 149
Joined: April 8th, 2015, 7:04 pm

Re: 2019/10/6: Atari 2600: Warlords, Medieval Mayhem

Postby SpiceWare » May 25th, 2023, 3:20 pm

You had an issue with the paddle directions in Medieval Mayhem:
My friends complained that the paddle direction feels like it should be reversed for certain players, and I've noticed that too.


which I covered in this reply (basically direction is controlled by the difficulty switches)

At the time I'd overlooked that you also had this issue:
When you throw a fireball it tends to leave at a random angle, and this prevents you from firing it with surgical precision as you could in Warlords.


I suspect you've never played the arcade version of Warlords as Medieval Mayhem is arcade-accurate with how the release of a captured fireball works. I cover that in my blog entry Research:
I've decided to play Warlords in MacMAME today to get some ideas on how the game dynamics should work. An example of what I'm researching is what happens when a fireball is released:

blog-3056-1144025288.png
blog-3056-1144025288.png (65.87 KiB) Viewed 733 times


A fireball is only released perfectly straight (up or sideways) when you are nearest an edge of the screen. When you're at the corner of your castle you'll release at 45 degrees. Anything between will be released at a different angle depending on how far you are from the edge.


In 2600 Warlords the fireball can only travel in 8 directions:
  • up
  • up-right (45°)
  • right
  • down-right (45°)
  • down
  • down-left (45°)
  • left
  • left-up (45°)

and the up/down/left/right are only immediately after a captured fireball is released because they always switch to one of the four 45° directions after they bounce off something (shield, castle, king, and even the edge of the screen). With its limited directions 2600 Warlords could not match the arcade's release directions.

In Medieval Mayhem the fireball can travel in 32 directions, so I was able to match the arcade.


Return to “Review Feedback”