Hello, world!

[Xenomech]

Hello. I used to have a 2600 when I was a kid, and have many great memories playing it for hours on end. As a .NET programmer in adult life, I read Racing the Beam a few years ago (which was great!) and figured I'd finally give programming hardware that's as old as I am a shot. I've spent the past month reading up on Atari 2600 programming, mostly following Andrew Davie's great (if sometimes buggy) tutorials.

 

I've attached my first Atari 2600 program. I coded it all by hand in assembler (no batari Basic for me -- I wanted as raw an experience as possible). All it does is display a Canada flag on the screen, but I feel it's an achievement given the arcane intricacies and complexities involved in Atari 2600 programming -- it's all so very different from the modern programming I'm used to.

 

I hope to continue to learn how to tame this ancient beast to do my will, with the ultimate goal being the creation of a simple, two player game (probably spaceships shooting each other or something).

canflag0.zip

[+SpiceWare]

You may like to check out my tutorial Collect, it covers writing a 2K game from scratch.

[Xenomech]

You may like to check out my tutorial Collect, it covers writing a 2K game from scratch.

 

Thanks! I'll definitely check it out.

[MacrosCode]

Your flag demo is a pretty nice first attempt... and a well documented source!

 

I can also recommend SpiceWare's tutorial Collect. Everything is explained to create a full working game!

 

 

@SpiceWare: Thanks for your effort to do such a beginners guide! Was really helpful to understand how the 2600 works.