How Limited Am I?

[FudgeFiddle]

Hi all,

 

I've just started messing around with bAtari Basic and am starting to get a little more comfortable with it. I was just wondering, how limited am I by space in terms of RAM and memory? I know I have to keep the game within 4k (Generally), but can go larger. I also know that it depends on how you optimize your code to save space. I'm just asking this because the type of games I want to make I'm thinking will probably be too much. I'm very much a fan of Metroid, Zelda, or Castlevania type games. In that I mean I want to make games similar to those. Would it be possible to make a platform shooter with many rooms and enemies within 4k or will I have to increase? I'd like to be able to make something that has a feeling of progression (Metroid) rather than just doing a repeated process(Pacman). Any thoughts?

 

Fudge

[+Random Terrain]

If you want to make something pretty that can have up to 10 multicolored sprites, you'll want to use the DPC+ Kernel:

 

randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-batari-basic-commands.html#dpcplus

[+atari2600land]

Bankswitching in bB is very easy. All you have to do is type "bank 2", "bank 3", etc. and then use goto statements like "goto yadda bank2" to direct you to the requested bank. 32k is the maximum size that the Harmony cart can do if you want to test them out that way, but you can make games larger than that.

[FudgeFiddle]

Looking into DPC+ this makes me very excited as it seems it can really expand what I can build. However, I'm still a bit of a newbie so I can't quite calculate the amount of space to the amount of game I will have. Would I be able to make something along the lines of Legend of Zelda NES or Metroid NES? Of course probably not as good looking but I'm talking more along the lines of the size of the map and collecting powerups and such.

 

Thank you all for your input though. It's been very helpful.

[RevEng]

[...]so I can't quite calculate the amount of space to the amount of game I will have. Would I be able to make something along the lines of Legend of Zelda NES or Metroid NES? [...]

There isn't a single formula we can give you that will tell you how many screens you can pack in, because it varies greatly depending on the resolution, complexity, and how you store them.

 

Adventure packs a lot of screens into its map using clever reuse of prototype screens. If you take this approach, with your room loading room doing slight embellishments with sprites, then there's no reason you couldn't have hundreds of screens.

 

If you're looking to store them straight in memory, then you'll probably max out at less than a dozen, depending on the resolution. YMMV.

[+Gemintronic]

If you want to imitate NES games without C or asm experience I suggest you check out BasiEgaXorz for the Sega Genesis:

http://devster.monkeeh.com/sega/basiegaxorz/

 

On the Atari 2600 you find neat tricks that look impressive and build a game around that. You can make the game of your dreams but it's like going toward the speed of light. It takes exponentially more energy/skill/time to make the 2600 do what you want.

[FudgeFiddle]

Thanks I might look into that. I'll probably just leave this specific game to my Java and C++ experience. Right now I'm just going to try and make simpler games with bB while trying to learn asm.