An idea!

[GroovyBee]

I've been looking at the Inty technical documentation (STIC, processor etc.) on and off for the last few days and since I don't have any prior exposure to the machine (unlike 6502 machines) it gave me an idea. Would you guys be interested in a technical game development blog or would that bore you all to tears? Or are you just interested in seeing the normal higher level "whats new in this release" style?

[jaybird3rd]

I'd love to see a technical game development blog, especially since I'm thinking of developing for the Intellivision myself someday. Just don't stretch yourself too thin with all the projects you've got going!

[GroovyBee]

I'm actually very tempted to try something along the lines of 'code a game in a week'. Along the lines of this. It would be a game more suited to the Inty tho.

[Rev]

you would have a blog on a different/your own site ......or

 

somewhere on AA, like a sub section in the intellivision forum?

Edited September 7, 2010 by revolutionika

[+5-11under]

I'm sure there are people interested in this. I'd just make an AA thread.

[roberto]

I'd definitely be interested!

[intvnut]

I've been looking at the Inty technical documentation (STIC, processor etc.) on and off for the last few days and since I don't have any prior exposure to the machine (unlike 6502 machines) it gave me an idea. Would you guys be interested in a technical game development blog or would that bore you all to tears? Or are you just interested in seeing the normal higher level "whats new in this release" style?

 

 

If you don't mind, could you copy the INTVPROG Yahoo group on your major updates? You can find it here: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/intvprog/

 

I personally don't have a lot of time to follow a lot of blogs, and I think INTVPROG would give you some additional exposure among other folks that are trying to learn Intellivision programming.

 

Also, the IntelliWiki is back up. If you end up writing tutorial-focused material, would it be OK to include copies of it there, or perhaps link back to your blog?

[GroovyBee]

I haven't really thought about it being an AA blog or even just a collection of threads here. As for the content I know there are some code examples in the sdk-1600 distribution but they are GPL'd. I've nothing against GPL'd code but I'll probably be reinventing the wheel because I'll learn much more that way.

[intvnut]

I haven't really thought about it being an AA blog or even just a collection of threads here. As for the content I know there are some code examples in the sdk-1600 distribution but they are GPL'd. I've nothing against GPL'd code but I'll probably be reinventing the wheel because I'll learn much more that way.

 

GroovyBee: I changed the license of many of my examples in jzIntv to "public domain" back just to remove one more excuse for people not to use the code. :-) Mainly I've just kept the emulator and whole games as GPL now. Also, I have the right to redistribute the SP-0256-AL2 samples / ROM data, but the copyright remains Microchip's.

 

You want to use my task scheduler or controller reading code? Knock yourself out. Want to use that 700 cycle fixed-point square root or fast Euclidean distance approximation? Be my guest.

 

It appears I need to do a major update to the SDK-1600 site (and release a new jzIntv!), since the copies there still show the GPL on them. The versions in the current jzIntv SVN repository (as linked to above) all have been updated.

 

That said, I'm sure you could learn a few things by reimplementing some of those pieces. Of course, I'm of the opinion that you can learn plenty implementing the pieces that aren't already covered by SDK-1600, such as playing music, getting MOBs on-screen, and so on.

Edited September 7, 2010 by intvnut

[GroovyBee]

GroovyBee: I changed the license of many of my examples in jzIntv to "public domain" back just to remove one more excuse for people not to use the code. :-)

 

I wasn't looking for a get out clause. I'm sorry if it came across like that. I like to create my own header and start-up files from the chip datasheets and available system information because it means that I have to read and understand what is going on. The engineer in me also likes to know why things are done the way they are.

 

Mainly I've just kept the emulator and whole games as GPL now. Also, I have the right to redistribute the SP-0256-AL2 samples / ROM data, but the copyright remains Microchip's.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I hadn't thought about getting to grips with speech.

 

You want to use my task scheduler or controller reading code? Knock yourself out. Want to use that 700 cycle fixed-point square root or fast Euclidean distance approximation? Be my guest.

 

Yep! There are plenty of useful functions in the sdk-1600.

 

It appears I need to do a major update to the SDK-1600 site (and release a new jzIntv!), since the copies there still show the GPL on them. The versions in the current jzIntv SVN repository (as linked to above) all have been updated.

 

I downloaded the sdk-1600 earlier in the year. I just haven't done much with it until I got my hands on a real Inty last week.

 

That said, I'm sure you could learn a few things by reimplementing some of those pieces. Of course, I'm of the opinion that you can learn plenty implementing the pieces that aren't already covered by SDK-1600, such as playing music, getting MOBs on-screen, and so on.

 

Having fun, making a game or two and learning are my only goals for any retro system.

[intvnut]

GroovyBee: I changed the license of many of my examples in jzIntv to "public domain" back just to remove one more excuse for people not to use the code. :-)

 

I wasn't looking for a get out clause. I'm sorry if it came across like that. I like to create my own header and start-up files from the chip datasheets and available system information because it means that I have to read and understand what is going on. The engineer in me also likes to know why things are done the way they are.

 

No worries. Others have stated the GPL was a turn-off for them for a range of reasons. Whatever their reasons, it was working against my primary goal of getting more games out there on the system. Since you had mentioned GPL, I felt the need to point out that that's no longer a barrier to anyone.

 

I too like to write my own code to understand how all the pieces work, even if others have provided functions that do much of the same. Heck, that's why all that code is there: I had some reason to write it the first time! I figure I may as well share it. It does nobody any good just rotting away on my hard drive.

 

That said, I'm sure you could learn a few things by reimplementing some of those pieces. Of course, I'm of the opinion that you can learn plenty implementing the pieces that aren't already covered by SDK-1600, such as playing music, getting MOBs on-screen, and so on.

 

Having fun, making a game or two and learning are my only goals for any retro system.

 

Those are the best reasons, IMHO. :-)

 

Anyway, whenever you do get started, PM me to remind me to post an update to jzIntv and SDK-1600. There's a ton of new goodies in there, and I've made a ton of enhancements to jzIntv's debugger. For one thing it can read the assembler's "sym" file output, and use those symbols when setting watches/breakpoints or showing disassemblies. Very helpful.

[Albert]

Is there enough interest here in Intellivision programming to warrant an "Intellivision Programming" sub-forum?

 

..Al

[GroovyBee]

Is there enough interest here in Intellivision programming to warrant an "Intellivision Programming" sub-forum?

 

..Al

 

I'm quite happy to make a tutorial along the lines of the 2600 one once I get going. There is a yahoo group called INTVPROG which I guess you'd call the official Inty programmers home. However I don't see any harm in an Inty programming group here. After all AA managed to attract quite a few of the Yahoo group's TI99 programmer/developer crowd when the forum dedicated to it opened for business.

[+cmart604]

Is there enough interest here in Intellivision programming to warrant an "Intellivision Programming" sub-forum?

 

..Al

 

I'm quite happy to make a tutorial along the lines of the 2600 one once I get going. There is a yahoo group called INTVPROG which I guess you'd call the official Inty programmers home. However I don't see any harm in an Inty programming group here. After all AA managed to attract quite a few of the Yahoo group's TI99 programmer/developer crowd when the forum dedicated to it opened for business.

 

 

GroovyBee/Al, should this thread get moved to the new programming forum as well?