TEMPEST ELITE for Atari 400/800 XL XE

[Video 61]

This is a game we have been working on for almost 5 years. Tempest Elite runs on a standard 64K Atari computer and has the ability to detect VBXE and Stereo Pokey. When detected it loads the subroutines (drivers) to take advantage of the upgraded hardware in 320x192 256 color mode. If not detected it will run with original Atari 8-bit Antic GTIA player/missile graphics in 160x192 4 color mode.

 

 

i got to level eight today, including the bonus round, lost that round again! over 400,000 points though, not bad.

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

[Video 61]

i got to level eight today, including the bonus round, lost that round again! over 400,000 points though, not bad.

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

 

got to level nine now, artisan21 got to level 20.

 

lance

[peteym5]

Hey everyone, it is Tempest Elite is now available.

 

http://members.tcq.net/video61/tempestelite.html

[Justin]

Fantastic work Peter, you and Lance really outdid yourselves. Tempest is one of my favorite games. This looks like one of the nicest 8-Bit incarnations of Tempest I've seen, I can't wait to play it. Thanks for making this happen 

[TrekMD]

This really does look great.  Will this work on the XEGS?

[Video 61]

This really does look great.  Will this work on the XEGS?

 

hi, yes it will. it will work on any stock 64k XL/XE atari 8-bit computer.

 

thanks for your interest.

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

[Willie!]

Hey everyone, it is Tempest Elite is now available.

 

http://members.tcq.net/video61/tempestelite.html

 

Sent a email to order!  oh man I love tempest!  this will be awesome for my atari 8 bit and for a video on my Arcade USA channel!  (I bought your Venture for the 8bit some time back, its also incredible, one of my favorite versions of the game now!)

[TrekMD]

hi, yes it will. it will work on any stock 64k XL/XE atari 8-bit computer.

 

thanks for your interest.

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

Cool, then I need to check if my XEGS has the 64K required memory.  Thank you.

[Video 61]

Tempest Elite is now available, price of the cartridge is $49.95. please, we are only taking e-mail orders at this time. our e-mail address is: video61@tcq.net

 

if you need any further information, please feel free to e-mail us, and we will try to answer all of your questions to the best of our abilities.

 

thanks,

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

 

 

 

Tempest Elite Teaser:

 

 

 

 

Tempest Elite End Credits (with a special THANK YOU to everyone who offered their support and suggestions at Atari I/O):

 

[Video 61]

Tempest Elite Commentary:

 

[The Professor]

How on earth are you making that earth? Are you throwing the system into an alternate mode? Your earth looks like it's being generated by a 16-bit graphics engine. I've never seen anything like that on an Atari 8-Bit. Is this on a cartridge? Can you explain a bit about what is going on here (with the earth during end credits) and how this is possible on an Atari 8-Bit?

[Atari 5200 Guy]

How on earth are you making that earth? Are you throwing the system into an alternate mode? Your earth looks like it's being generated by a 16-bit graphics engine. I've never seen anything like that on an Atari 8-Bit. Is this on a cartridge? Can you explain a bit about what is going on here (with the earth during end credits) and how this is possible on an Atari 8-Bit?

What The Professor said.  That was impressive!  In the words of Hagrid, "I shouldn't have told you that."  

[Video 61]

How on earth are you making that earth? Are you throwing the system into an alternate mode? Your earth looks like it's being generated by a 16-bit graphics engine. I've never seen anything like that on an Atari 8-Bit. Is this on a cartridge? Can you explain a bit about what is going on here (with the earth during end credits) and how this is possible on an Atari 8-Bit?

 

its pretty cool programming no doubt about it. peter is a wizard

 

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

[Video 61]

Cool, then I need to check if my XEGS has the 64K required memory.  Thank you.

 

the XEGS comes stock right out of the box with 64k. to make sure all of the ram is there in working condition, just run the memory test by holding down the option key, then turn on the computer, you will get the test screen options. pick the memory one.

 

here is a video of it:

 

 

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

[TrekMD]

Thank you!  That is very helpful.

[btbfilms76]

Wow great work guys! This looks amazing and I cant wait to play it!!

[peteym5]

The video of the Earth is from the game running in VBXE mode. SInce the Player/Missile multiplexer program needs to load into RAM because of self modifying code, it can also be replaced with a VBXE routine that simply places sprites at the same screen positions. On start up Tempest Elite detects if VBXE is present, if not, it loads standard atari player/missile and related graphics driver routines into RAM. Lets say the player is intended to go at 40,60, and is single width and 14 pixels tall. The game VBI sets the positions and the index of that "sprite" in a prior frame. All a VBXE routine needs to do is multiply the horizontal position by two to convert the X coordinate. All the player (sprite) images are index. Lets say 1-16 are all the possible shapes for that Red X shape flipper. 1-16 will have the pointers inside the player source data that the multiplexer copies into the pm area at the start of the next VBI cycle. If on a VBXE area, it will have pointers inside a bitmap image source that the blitter will send to the VBXE screen. You can disable VBXE by holding down option when booting the cartridge. 

[Willie!]

Sent payment

[The Professor]

The video of the Earth is from the game running in VBXE mode. SInce the Player/Missile multiplexer program needs to load into RAM because of self modifying code, it can also be replaced with a VBXE routine that simply places sprites at the same screen positions. On start up Tempest Elite detects if VBXE is present, if not, it loads standard atari player/missile and related graphics driver routines into RAM. Lets say the player is intended to go at 40,60, and is single width and 14 pixels tall. The game VBI sets the positions and the index of that "sprite" in a prior frame. All a VBXE routine needs to do is multiply the horizontal position by two to convert the X coordinate. All the player (sprite) images are index. Lets say 1-16 are all the possible shapes for that Red X shape flipper. 1-16 will have the pointers inside the player source data that the multiplexer copies into the pm area at the start of the next VBI cycle. If on a VBXE area, it will have pointers inside a bitmap image source that the blitter will send to the VBXE screen. You can disable VBXE by holding down option when booting the cartridge.

 

The game looks incredible. Thanks for clearing that up Petey. I did some research and came into the thread to ask if Tempest Elite requires VBXE and you had already posted the answers I was looking for.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o51S_ylNP4A

[peteym5]

I am glad that you like the VBXE support ideal. Now I am awaiting for feed back on the game play from real customers. We will answer any technical concerns about the game.

 

Here on some more screen shots. The levels with finer lines and sprites are what the game looks like while playing on a system with VBXE.

 

A few of the screen shots were taken from earlier development of the game. The ones with a narrower colon between the V and number are more recent. The yellow ship was also enlarged. This was so we can do the 3 green triangles in a row to indicate the Warp Keys.

Edited June 23, 2017 by peteym5

[peteym5]

Some people had been asking about what the game looks like while playing on standard Atari-8-bit hardware vs playing on an Atari with VBXE. That along with differences between Tempest Extreme and Tempest Elite. I have attached some screen shots of the same level. In addition, I am including a screen shot from Tempest Xtreme. All from Web Number 6. Some differences between Xtreme and Elite are the scoreboard icons for Warp Keys and a Bigger Ship. Also I chose this particular web. The Xtreme version was 5+5+6 (16) to make up a triangle. Elite has 6 lanes to make up an 18 lane triangle.

[peteym5]

Thank you for all the positive compliments. I am now waiting for some feed back from those that had played the game other than our own associates. We spent a lot of time beta testing and debugging this game.

[TrekMD]

I just placed my order!  Looking forward to getting this!

[peteym5]

Now that Tempest Elite is available for Sale and being shipped. We decided to make this a technical support thread. Tempest Elite is set up to by default to run on a stock Atari XL/XE computer with 64K RAM with standard 6502. We are not taking responsibilities for program conflicts caused from custom hardware upgrades other than VBXE or Stereo Pokey. Makes use of the RAM under ROM ($C000 to $CFFF & $F800 to $FFFF). Does not make use of extended RAM over 64K, like 130XE, RAMBO, etc. Does not take advantage of any 65816 upgrades or issues undocumented (illegal) 6502 instructions.

 

On Startup Tempest Elite checks for VBXE present in the $D640 or $D740 memory areas, if not detected, it will continue to load the standard Atari graphics and Player/Missile multiplexer sections into RAM. If detected, a VBXE blitter is loaded into RAM instead. The VBXE can be bypassed by holding down option key when the cartridge when turning the power on.

 

Stereo Pokey is checked in the $D210 memory area. Majority of the 2nd Pokey Chip upgrades use this area. I am aware of some custom upgrades that placed the 2nd pokey at $D280, or Quad Poker, or with COVOX chip. Tempest Elite does not support Pokey chips mapped between $D220 to $D2FF.

 

"CONTROLLER" + "JOY+UP" or "CONTROLLER" + "JOY+DOWN" is for joystick and the direction you need to press for the "super zapper." If your joystick works with standard Atari Games, it will work with Tempest Elite. Tempest Elite does not support extra fire buttons.  When the title splash title is on your screen. You can use the joystick to choose game options or use the console SELECT & OPTION buttons. However the joystick will only select "JOY+UP" or "JOY+DOWN." to choose other controllers, you will need to use the OPTION button to choose these other controllers. Space Bar or Escape Key toggles the pause. When using alternate controllers, Space Bar triggers the "super zapper" and only the Escape Key toggles the pause. Paddle Controller option moves the ship depending on how far the paddle knob is turned.

 

Trackball controller is based on CX-80 and WICO Command Trackball based on that 2bit code. Some of these have "joystick mode" also. Some people managed to hook up an Atari ST track ball that uses "gray code", which may work with the (Indy 500) Driving Controller option. If a trackball or driving controller is causing the game options to cycle through a rotation on the title splash screen, move the controller until it stops, or unplug the controller and plug it back in.

Edited June 29, 2017 by peteym5

[peteym5]

Anyone who is looking to purchase Tempest Elite and play it on their VBXE system, please hold off until we get this latest update checked by our beta tester. There appears to be some issues with other hardware present, such as Ultimate 1MB, other memory upgrades, and with various versions of the firmware. There is something called a color map which allow VBXE to change the color registers in different areas of the screen. Similar to a Commodore 64 color screen map, or think of doing DLIs, but able to split sections vertically. The color map set up of Tempest Elite had to removed because it was cause the sprite overlay map not to appear on top of the web. May possibly not working with certain system hardware configurations.

 

In VBXE mode the web background will be a strait 320x192 mode without any lane highlighting and the spikes will be a dotted line to distinguish them from the web lane lines. VBXE has the ability to make the pixel and background two true separate colors.

 

Edited August 19, 2017 by peteym5