WIP - Hat Trick

[Vic Porter]

Hat Trick is a VIC-20 port of the C64 game with the same name. Requires 16k memory expansion.

The game is one-on-one hockey with space-time anomaly simulation for extra fun. Two players are supported. The second one uses the keyboard or an userport joystick (see the readme for details).

This is version WIP 2. It is untested. Source is included.
The sound and graphics need polishing.
There is no music. A conversion of the sporty little tune would be nice.
Any volunteers?


[edit 2016-11-13]
Released. Download here and discuss there.

[Misfit]

Oh my god,
Best ice hockey game ever! And it works great!

[hasseapa]

Wow! Vic-20 was not exactly spoiled by a lot of arcadey sport games back in the days. There were basically none!

I never played C64 Hat Trick and I did not know of the 1984 arcade original, but now I am tempted to check them out as this plays very well.

I definitely think the players should be solid rather than outlined and most importantly of different colors to avoid confusion. That means color clashes of course, but most likely worth it. Multicolor would be nice but hard to pull off considering the rotation.

I may fiddle with the player graphics some day and will let you know if I come up with something worthy.

It would be nice if it was added to the Finnish Retro Gaming Comparison Blog when it is no longer WIP.
http://frgcb.blogspot.se/2013/10/hat-tr ... -1984.html

[Vic Porter]

I definitely think the players should be solid rather than outlined and most importantly of different colors to avoid confusion. That means color clashes of course, but most likely worth it. Multicolor would be nice but hard to pull off considering the rotation.

The other problem with different colors is the CPU time required. It's not much, but NTSC is getting tight.

One option is to make one player (or just the helmet) solid. However, this would require updating to 32k expansion. Runtime detection of that extra RAM and adjusting accordingly is doable.

I will not attempt either option. Code is welcome.

I may fiddle with the player graphics some day and will let you know if I come up with something worthy.

Thanks. Post the results in this thread. I may have moved to the next project by the time.

[tokra]

You could try alternatiung color-RAM updates for player 1 and player 2 each frame. So in one frame you only update player 1 color-RAM and in the next only player 2 color-RAM and so on. Might flicker a little, but maybe would work out. Alternatively the players could look different (one solid, one outlined or something like that).

[darkatx]

I am so impressed! It plays extremely well.

[Boray]

Tried it a bit in VICE. Very cool! I have to try it on a real Vic soon.

[Boray]

Tried it more now on a real Vic. This is really a lovely game!

One problem though; When playing two players, one of the goalkeepers isn't controllable and stands still.

I was also thinking maybe making one of the players helmet black would be a good idea, but if it requires 32K, then hmm... It would be okay for me but well...

[beamrider]

Does seem a bit severe to need 32K for such a tiny change. Can it not be squashed in?

[Vic Porter]

Vic-20 was not exactly spoiled by a lot of arcadey sport games back in the days. There were basically none!

There is a dearth of decent multiplayer games for the obvious reason ("friendly computer for lonely people"?). The overlap of these two sets may be quite large. My focus is on alleviating the latter lack.

It would be nice if it was added to the Finnish Retro Gaming Comparison Blog when it is no longer WIP.
http://frgcb.blogspot.se/2013/10/hat-tr ... -1984.html

I agree with the blog in that the C64 version bugs make it magical. The gameplay affecting ones are preserved in this port.

You could try alternatiung color-RAM updates for player 1 and player 2 each frame.

Don't forget the puck. One goalie can also join the clashfest.

One problem though; When playing two players, one of the goalkeepers isn't controllable and stands still.

Thanks for the report! I will fix this and post the next WIP version in a few days. Perhaps call it RC1 unless graphics/music/code contributions pop up.

Does seem a bit severe to need 32K for such a tiny change. Can it not be squashed in?

The player sprites (12*21 pixels, 3 frames, 8 directions) are preshifted to the 8 pixel offsets. All this data takes about 10k of RAM. Adding a second set doubles the RAM usage, slipping beyond the 24k line.

Using overlays for the helmet could be possible from the RAM point of view (haven't checked), but the extra CPU time would push the drawing code execution to the play area on NTSC.

It may be possible, but it is beyond my abilities and/or interest. The source is there and I'd be happy to be proven wrong on this!

[Vic Porter]

I will fix this and post the next WIP version in a few days.

More like hours... here is WIP 3.
- fixed the immovable goalie bug (happened when playing 2p game after playing 1p on the right, a bug probably in the original)
- implemented differing player gfx (requires 32k expansion, game still works with 16k but players look identical as in WIP 2)

I will wait a few weeks for contributions and then release the final version if no contributions or outstanding bugs appear. Anyone tested this on NTSC?

[Boray]

- implemented differing player gfx (requires 32k expansion, game still works with 16k but players look identical as in WIP 2)

This is a really neat solution! Tried it with 32K now. Very cool!

[Boray]

This is a situation that happens now and then:
http://museum.boray.se/#!album-1-76

The computer opponent is standing still with the puck in front of the goal until you go and bump him around. If he is in the lead, then why not. But if the human is in the lead you can just let him stand there and win the game.

[Boray]

Me and my wife tried two players now, and both players shot in the opposite direction from normal!!! Maybe another bug that shows if you have played single player from the right before playing two players?

[Vic Porter]

The computer opponent is standing still with the puck in front of the goal until you go and bump him around.

This one I bumped into while porting. I'll check if it's in the original. It may be too much effort to fix.

Me and my wife tried two players now, and both players shot in the opposite direction from normal!!! Maybe another bug that shows if you have played single player from the right before playing two players?

I'll look into it. The puck shooting code is quite buggy in the original, sometimes in a gameplay enhancing way. Wouldn't want to fix the wrong bug...

Thanks for testing!