Release: Popeye

[beamrider]

Release 11/11/2015

PRG Link

[13/1/2016]
pixel has kindly converted it to a fast tape loader
TAP download

Requires 32K! expansion memory to run (VICE - configure to ALL)

Notes about the game:

- Features most things and visual effects from the Arcade (except skulls and popeye turning red)
- Extra life at 20,000 points !!
- Difficulty is set fairly easy at the moment but ramps up quickly once you pass the first 3 stages, (so you should be able to complete all 3 stages and observe the final cut-scene).
- Built on top of the Pooyan codebase, (in assembler) with a forked version of R.Hurst's SSS library
- Thanks to @tokra for extended pre-release testing

Please continue discussion and provide feedback at the end of this thread….

Enjoy....

[Mayhem]

Interesting

Does retain the Atarisoft graphics look too heh...

[hasseapa]

Ultra cool! Looks like a playable and fun game already... The background graphics look close to the arcade orignal. The 'sprites' are of course out of reach. Not even NES could do them any justice. The C64-version looked terrible (this looks better.)

Vic already has a very rudimentary clone - Luv Bug, but the best Popeye-like game for Vic must be Bongo. It's not exactly like Popeye but close enough and a very good game in its own right.

Good luck and take your time!

Edit: There is apparently yet another 'rudimentary clone' - Viceye - just recently made available http://sleepingelephant.com/ipw-web/bul ... =10&t=7600

[Misfit]

wow,
Looks like a hidden unreleased gem from 80's.
Popeye brings memories from childhood.

[orion70]

Very very nice! Popeye on the 64 has always been one of my all-time favs, despite criticism about the quality of conversion (maybe it's because I've never played or even seen the arcade version ).

Well, the VIC Popeye looks lovely - BTW, musical notes are OK but hearts in level 1 look more like small books or something, could this be fixed? You know, Olivia's hearts are the funniest shape in the game. Oh, and those two arrows indicating the passage on top platform are redundant, every Popeye player knows he can pass through

As for color schemes, they look quite monotonous in levels 2 and 3, but I guess that's for strict hw/sw limitations... Keep up the great job, and Popeye will be the wonder of 2015 . Any ETA?

[Vic 2000]

Great job. Popeye is one of those games that every computer and console should have it's own version of.

[highinfidelity]

Wow, excellent job so far!!!

Oh, and those two arrows indicating the passage on top platform are redundant, every Popeye player knows he can pass through

The "thru" arrows were a distinctive feature of the arcade original!

[beamrider]

Thanks for the positive feedback folks.

Not sure when it will be finished as I'm doing it just in my spare time. Been on it about 4-5 months up to yet and I would say it's about half way there (80/20 syndrome).

I don't think the C64 version is great and could have been much better, but I guess those guys back in the day were facing commercial pressure and time constraints.

As for the hearts they need to be multicolor otherwise they affect everything they "float" over. I really wanted them red, but then you cant see them againt the background (much of which is also red). On the arcade original they tilt in the wind, but there isn't the resoloution in a single Vic Multi-color character to depict that without them looking more like splodges of bird poo than they already do.

Have a go on my online designer ( http://www.fox-ts.co.uk/vic20sdd/Vic20SDD.htm ) and see if you can come up with a improvement (single char multicolor).

Yes, the signs were on the original and will be staying.

[Ivanhoe76]

It is something amazing... Good work!

Inviato dal mio Moto G utilizzando Tapatalk

[orion70]

Thanks for the positive feedback folks.

Thank you for this effort - take your time, we've been waiting for almost 30 years, we can wait some month more

I don't think the C64 version is great and could have been much better, but I guess those guys back in the day were facing commercial pressure and time constraints.

As I wrote, I was biased by never-ending challenges with friends, the whole bunch of us being pimply teenagers who never saw the original... BTW sorry, my mistake about arrows (no way to get street arrows with the THRU written on them? ).

As for the hearts they need to be multicolor otherwise they affect everything they "float" over. I really wanted them red, but then you cant see them againt the background (much of which is also red). On the arcade original they tilt in the wind, but there isn't the resoloution in a single Vic Multi-color character to depict that without them looking more like splodges of bird poo than they already do.

I see. I tried playing with the limited multicolor 4x8 gris, but couldn't get much. See if this fits better:

Don't know if the BC color (cyan) is allowed, but it gives some glow to it. If you wish, wind could flip it horizontally (try it in your char generator). Sorry if I can't do better, I'm no artist

[Boray]

Wow, looking forward to it!

[hasseapa]

Regarding the color scheme - there is a superb looking old clone for the Color Computer - Sailor Man- that has a very limited palette and can perhaps serve as inspiration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob1FFwjnnf8

I also note that they use black background for the boat level, which does look better IMO, although not true to the arcade original.

[beamrider]

Thanks yes I saw that before. The colours are not finalised yet. That computer seems to have a slightly bigger palette than the Vic which only has 4 including background and border (if you want to avoid color clash)..

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[hasseapa]

Just for fun I played a bit with your online tools (wow!) and used red, white & blue.



I found it very challenging to make anything that even vaguely looks like Popeye and Brutus. Popeye should look smaller than Brutus and therefore not fill out the chars, and that makes it even harder. I have no clue if these work for animation. I may try myself later. It's pretty fun anyway

Edit: An improved Popeye has been added.

[beamrider]

found it very challenging to make anything that even vaguely looks like Popeye and Brutus.

Yes, it's tricky - that's why I've simplified them a bit for animation. Your bluto looks good, not quite so sure about Popeye.