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Phoenix ZX81 arcade conversion

Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2021 7:37 pm
by Bukster
My latest project is a conversion of the 1980 arcade game Phoenix. This is a beta version so a few other people can test it and let me know if they find any bugs or have any ideas to improve it. It only takes up about 12kb so there is some spare memory for any other ideas anybody has. This version uses the Chroma interface and Zonx sound but will also run with only a 16k ram pack.

Here are some screenshots:
Phoenix1.jpg
Phoenix1.jpg (5.16 KiB) Viewed 3768 times
Fight off two waves of little birds
Phoenix2.jpg
Phoenix2.jpg (2.78 KiB) Viewed 3768 times
Phoenix3.jpg
Phoenix3.jpg (3.45 KiB) Viewed 3768 times
Eggs hatch to become big birds. Shoot the wings off for extra points
Phoenix5.jpg
Phoenix5.jpg (8.9 KiB) Viewed 3768 times
The final boss battle before the game repeats

Here's the game
Phoenix BETA 070321.p
(11.83 KiB) Downloaded 191 times

Re: Phoenix ZX81 arcade conversion

Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2021 8:03 pm
by JohnsBargs
Oh my goodness that's extraordinary. Really gets the feel of the arcade.

I did stumble into one quite bad bug - when I smushed a bird with my shield on the first wave I knocked a big chunk out of the border, which affected all the other graphics, and did so persistently even after Game Over. Had to reboot to get rid of it.

Phoenix-210307-185031.png
Phoenix-210307-185112.png
Phoenix-210307-185130.png
(I'd also love a black-border option in your games.)

Otherwise, just wow.

Re: Phoenix ZX81 arcade conversion

Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2021 8:51 pm
by JohnsBargs
Scuffed up a little box art for it:

phoenixbukstersmall.png

Re: Phoenix ZX81 arcade conversion

Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2021 11:39 pm
by kmurta
Wow! :o

The game is wonderful and you managed to capture the look and feel of the original arcade, this is awesome!

Congratulations!!!

Re: Phoenix ZX81 arcade conversion

Posted: Mon Mar 08, 2021 8:20 am
by Bukster
JohnsBargs wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 8:03 pm Oh my goodness that's extraordinary. Really gets the feel of the arcade.

I did stumble into one quite bad bug - when I smushed a bird with my shield on the first wave I knocked a big chunk out of the border, which affected all the other graphics, and did so persistently even after Game Over. Had to reboot to get rid of it.
Well done finding the bug. I'll look into it soon, but i'm guessing it's probably the shockwave type explosion occurring too close to the edge of the screen. There's a safeguard for the shockwaves but not the centre words. So it doesn't cause a problem for the big birds, but the little ones get closer to the edge. I'll run a few tests and figure it out.

Nice work on the cover art. Perhaps if Chronosoft publish this one they could use it.

I like having a white border so you can see the edge of the play area, but it wouldn't be difficult to put an option in as I do have about 3 usable kilobytes left.

Re: Phoenix ZX81 arcade conversion

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2021 7:22 pm
by marste
JohnsBargs wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 8:51 pm Scuffed up a little box art for it:
That's a very nice one! Maybe you might propose a nicer one also for the 1K Real Chess! :)

Re: Phoenix ZX81 arcade conversion

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 12:10 am
by marste
Bukster wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 7:37 pm Phoenix BETA 070321.p
Just tried and the game is a fantastic port of the original coinop! Compliments!!

Re: Phoenix ZX81 arcade conversion

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:48 am
by JohnsBargs
marste wrote: Tue Mar 09, 2021 7:22 pm
JohnsBargs wrote: Sun Mar 07, 2021 8:51 pm Scuffed up a little box art for it:
That's a very nice one! Maybe you might propose a nicer one also for the 1K Real Chess! :)
Can you post your logo? Here's what I've been idly fiddling with to amuse myself.

1krealchess2.jpg

Does the ZX81 version of 1K Real Chess actually exist? Can't seem to find a download anywhere.

Re: Phoenix ZX81 arcade conversion

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 6:10 pm
by blittled
I believe marste has a Kickstarter page for Real Chess viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4080&p=41658#p41658

Re: Phoenix ZX81 arcade conversion

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 6:37 pm
by marste
JohnsBargs wrote: Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:48 am Can you post your logo? Here's what I've been idly fiddling with to amuse myself.
1krealchess2.jpg
Does the ZX81 version of 1K Real Chess actually exist? Can't seem to find a download anywhere.
Wow, you're really an artist!! If you don't mind I'll pm you to work a bit on it... :)

And yes, as bittled pointed out I've a page for this project on kickstart, even though unfortunately even in our niche community is pretty unknown and results are visible on numbers... If it will continue like this maybe the new version will wait a bit more, but I've still ready the "old" but fully working one!