Ludum Dare #46compo
Whale Dive
The Game
A giant sperm whale was plummeting from the sky above an alien planet - a planet with strange constructions, built by unknown creatures - constructions of wood, metal and strange plastic-like substances that would prove to be lethal if the whale were to crash into them.
Luckily, you are here to guide the whale in its fall. You and your joystick. *You have to keep the whale alive!*
The Atari 2600 (also known as Atari VCS, which is confusing as there's a recent product with that name), released in 1977 was one of the first home consoles. This is a game for that platform. A game about a whale that you need to guide so it avoids obstacles while it falls towards its home in the ocean.
Instructions
Use one of these links:
* Play it online (uses the Javatari online emulator)
* Download the ROM (4 KB download to play on native emulator or real hardware)
* Download the PAL version ROM (a post-compo update for PAL hardware)
Select level with left and right on the joystick. There are 3 levels.
To toggle difficulty, use the "Left difficulty" switch on the console, F4 on the Javatari emulator and F5/F6 in Stella.
Set it to A or Expert for the original compo version. Set it to B or Novice to lower gravity and make the game a bit easier.
Press the fire button to start.
Make the whale go left and right with the joystick. If the whale hits something, you get one more chance, but if it happens again, it's bye-bye, whale! :cry:
You succeed if you manage to guide the whale all the way to the blue sea. :ocean:
Updates
April 26th: Version 1.1 fixes a glitch in the graphics in the logo and also supports difficulty setting. To judge the game the way it was at the time of submission, set "Left difficulty" to A or Expert. (To toggle difficulty, use the switch on the console, F4 on the Javatari emulator and F5/F6 in Stella.) To make the game somewhat easier so you can see all content, switch "Left difficulty" to B or Novice.
April 29th: There is now a version for PAL hardware. The NTSC version worked well on my TV, except that the colors were wrong. The PAL version fixes that. Since it runs at 50 Hz as opposed to 60, the game also runs a bit slower which makes a big difference in difficulty!
Comments25
DevParty20 Apr 2020, 22:45
This is really good! I dont know how to code with atari
ShyguyBerlin20 Apr 2020, 22:47
Nice gameplay, nice idea, nice platform, but I think the movement is a bit to slow.
fiaKaiera20 Apr 2020, 23:01
I was not expecting an actual atari submission! I was expecting more of an atari-esque than anything. I'm so happy you gave us the ability to try it out without even having an atari.
I would give more feedback, but how it's designed it's already been addressed by Nyunesu like before. How the game works feels like it's unforgiving, more so if there's increasing speed throughout the whole thing. Not sure if that's your intention or not but even the whale doesn't have that fast reflexes or movement like the dev does! (unless you need the joystick to move faster/slower better)
Anyway, it's amazing for someone to make an Atari game in 48 hours. Especially since Atari programming is already challenging to do since it's on older hardware. (As a sidenote, I am rating graphics compared to other Atari games, which is already pretty alright.)
I would give more feedback, but how it's designed it's already been addressed by Nyunesu like before. How the game works feels like it's unforgiving, more so if there's increasing speed throughout the whole thing. Not sure if that's your intention or not but even the whale doesn't have that fast reflexes or movement like the dev does! (unless you need the joystick to move faster/slower better)
Anyway, it's amazing for someone to make an Atari game in 48 hours. Especially since Atari programming is already challenging to do since it's on older hardware. (As a sidenote, I am rating graphics compared to other Atari games, which is already pretty alright.)
brandann20 Apr 2020, 23:02
I think I really needed an Atari joystick to get the full effect of this game! Good premise, and a double hit on the theme (save the whale, but I mean if you sit here wading through all the plastic maybe your takeaway will be saving the earth?!) I appreciated the throwback to original games. That said, I was on a keyboard, and at least for this mode of gaming, the controls cannot respond fast enough to get more than 10-15 seconds of gameplay. It feels like maybe the intensity ramps up too quickly. Maybe taking some of the speed progression a game like Galaga uses would be appropriate to apply here? All in all, fresh game, good ideas, just wish I could get a better feel with a longer play-through.
Flamus23 Apr 2020, 16:14
wow. Im amazed, congrats on providing such a game! This is a really original entry!
sanjuro23 Apr 2020, 20:22
I really love the fact that you made an actual Atari game, in such a short time too. The only thing that I didn't particularly like was the fact that the speed was a bit to high, such that it was quite unfeasible (for me at least) to rely just on reflexes to not die, as you would necessary need to perish a couple of times to get to know the level a bit and know what was ahead. Great job anyway!
Trusty23 Apr 2020, 20:30
Simple yet fun, should add some whale pals to celebrate your return to the ocean.
p-r26 Apr 2020, 15:16
That isn't a sperm whale, jk, very nice to play a game for a 40 year old system.
vilcans26 Apr 2020, 21:00
Thanks for the feedback everyone! @nyunesu, @fiakaiera, @brandann and anyone else who thought the game was too difficult: Yes, it's supposed to require you to play the game repeatedly until you know the level by heart. But you may be happy to know that I've made an updated version that supports two difficulty setting. In the easier setting, the gravity is lower so the whale doesn't accelerate as fast. You may want to try that one to see all content.
vilcans26 Apr 2020, 21:01
@sanjuro Yes, exactly, my idea was that you should have to play the same level several times so you learn it before you can complete it. Thanks for the feedback! You can try the version that has two difficulty settings (see above) if you like to see if it's still a challenge.
Artur Hawkwing26 Apr 2020, 21:29
What can I say...it was A WHALE OF A TIME :D
It would have been nive to have a few more levels, but the ones you had were definitely fun
It would have been nive to have a few more levels, but the ones you had were definitely fun
GaryS26 Apr 2020, 22:20
Ahhh, clearly those posting about difficulty didn't grow up during the era of home computing... I actually found it kinda easy - certainly I think the levels could have been a bit longer, but these would have been great as starting levels.
It's a fun game. I thought the controls were good on both keyboard and gamepad, and I thought the gravity was set well to give a nice sense of speed as you progress.
Would have been nice to have had more levels and perhaps a survival mode - with no lives, progression from one level to the next and see how far you get.
Also I can always appreciate a HHTG reference. ;)
It's a fun game. I thought the controls were good on both keyboard and gamepad, and I thought the gravity was set well to give a nice sense of speed as you progress.
Would have been nice to have had more levels and perhaps a survival mode - with no lives, progression from one level to the next and see how far you get.
Also I can always appreciate a HHTG reference. ;)
knason27 Apr 2020, 18:40
Impressive! Worked very well with the keyboard, two levels completed thus far.
Filip Bergkvist29 Apr 2020, 17:06
I find it amazing that you made an Atari 2600 game for a ludum dare! I would love a breakdown video or post similar to that of Micro Mages or something to go through how a game like this is structured, code wise.
TheDouche29 Apr 2020, 17:10
Very cool! That you made an Atari 2600 game! I completed all the levels! :D
zondarg29 Apr 2020, 17:18
Yay a real Atari 2600 game! Impressive. Found it a bit hard to control, and of course you need to repeat the levels often until you know where the dead ends are. And there is one glitch - especially in L3, when you hit a wall you get stuck often inside the wall without being able to move - then its essentially game over. But otherwise: great! :thumbsup:
vilcans29 Apr 2020, 20:58
@filip-bergkvist I don't know what Micro Mages have done, but I've been considering doing a retrospective, maybe going through the history of the game commit by commit.
Filip Bergkvist29 Apr 2020, 22:53
@vilcans Please do! I'd read it!
henrycgs29 Apr 2020, 22:54
Really cool! Impressive to see an actual atari game made for the jam. It's quite hard, which is appropriate, considering the difficulty level of the games of that age! Great job.
8BitCharlie8 May 2020, 11:21
It looks simple but there is a lot of interesting details (color changes, background "fade in/out", behavior on crash, ...). Good entry! And pretty hard game! :)
vilcans11 May 2020, 20:07
@8bitcharlie Thanks for noticing! I wanted it to be polished in details like that.
khopa20 May 2020, 21:15
Really nice game for the Atari, that's a really impressive entry and actually a better game than some that were released full price for the system back then !
As a fellow retro dev enthusiast, i'm really tempted by the Atari 2600, do you have any resources to recommend to get started ?
As a fellow retro dev enthusiast, i'm really tempted by the Atari 2600, do you have any resources to recommend to get started ?
vilcans22 Sep 2020, 19:36
@khopa Sorry, I didn't see your comment after the last Ludum Dare until now. If you're still interested in 2600 coding, Atari 2600 Programming for Newbies is a good start. And the interactive IDE and examples on 8 Bit Workshop.
Loved the whale dive, I wasn't expecting an atari submission, but this was great. I'm not from the Atari age but I've played a lot of atari games on emulators when I was a younger. I really like the feel of the game, the speed sense increasing while the whale falls is great.
I'm not sure how to properly handle this feedback because this game was completely unexpected for me, oops. But that's great, you did great with your innovation and the game's atmosphere (:
The design was a bit unforgiving, but being able to explore different levels without the requirement to beat the previous one was great, so I was able to take a look at your game! I'd have more levels and facilitate the design a little bit so it wouldn't require an extreme amount of skill.
Hope that helps, and if you happen to update this game, come back here in your comment section to remember me and drop me a tweet or something!
If you have time, please click on my profile and give me some constructive feedback on my game (:
See ya!