Super Challenge Football: One player mode

[jeff20]

I am a complete newbie taking on a project of passion: creating a one player hack of Super Challenge Football.

 

Here's the plan: during the play calls, I would like to have the player 2 joystick input redirected. In theory the address for second player joystick data could be swapped with another address to return an unpredictable number (perhaps the clock?) It seems this could be a one number hack.

 

Obviously, the second player avatar would still be motionless, but that could be a future challenge to take on. Would anyone with experience contribute to this project idea? Or at least second my proposal if you want this game to happen.

[ZackAttack]

Did you use stella debugger to "trapwrite SWCHA"? That should point you to the spot where the joystick is read. Both joysticks are at the same address. They each get 4 of the 8 bits in that byte. If you're lucky SWCHA is read once for each player, otherwise you'll have a much more complicated task.

[Arenafoot]

 

I am a complete newbie taking on a project of passion: creating a one player hack of Super Challenge Football.

 

Here's the plan: during the play calls, I would like to have the player 2 joystick input redirected. In theory the address for second player joystick data could be swapped with another address to return an unpredictable number (perhaps the clock?) It seems this could be a one number hack.

 

Obviously, the second player avatar would still be motionless, but that could be a future challenge to take on. Would anyone with experience contribute to this project idea? Or at least second my proposal if you want this game to happen.

 

awaiting for work......good luck!

[jeff20]

Thanks for the feedback, ZackAttack and Arenafoot. I'm a complete newbie. I was hoping a more experienced forum member could access the feasibility of such a project.

[jeff20]

Update: Ok, I checked the debugger and it seems to be SWCHB at like f3a3 where the second player joystick is read. Now what do I do? As a complete beginner, I had hoped for some input. I don't know how to change the value in the debugger.

[ZackAttack]

Update: Ok, I checked the debugger and it seems to be SWCHB at like f3a3 where the second player joystick is read. Now what do I do? As a complete beginner, I had hoped for some input. I don't know how to change the value in the debugger.

 

Thanks for the feedback, ZackAttack and Arenafoot. I'm a complete newbie. I was hoping a more experienced forum member could access the feasibility of such a project.

The project is feasible, but you're going to have to learn a ton about Atari 2600 programming before you make any real progress. To accomplish a 1 player mode you will need to understand how to disassemble and reverse engineer the existing game, how to implement bank switching to make room for the AI, how to program in assembly to write the AI, and a million other skills I'm probably forgetting.

 

Btw, I think there's a dedicated hacking forum though I'm not sure if that's technical or just a place to post hacks.

 

Why not start off with one of the several good tutorials on 2600 programming? Then focus on disassembling this game. I think you're months away from even attempting to modify it. I took a quick look at it and don't see this as being a quick one or two byte change. You're going to need to produce a buildable disassembly to get anywhere with this.

 

Another good starting point would be to try hacking colors or graphics. That's probably just data and could be done directly in stella.

 

Update: Ok, I checked the debugger and it seems to be SWCHB at like f3a3 where the second player joystick is read. Now what do I do? As a complete beginner, I had hoped for some input. I don't know how to change the value in the debugger.

SWCHB is the port you read for console switches. For player joysticks you need SWCHA. For the second player button you need INPT5. For what you're trying to do it needs to be SWCHA since the second player button is not used for defense selection.

[jeff20]

 

The project is feasible, but you're going to have to learn a ton about Atari 2600 programming before you make any real progress. To accomplish a 1 player mode you will need to understand how to disassemble and reverse engineer the existing game, how to implement bank switching to make room for the AI, how to program in assembly to write the AI, and a million other skills I'm probably forgetting.

 

Btw, I think there's a dedicated hacking forum though I'm not sure if that's technical or just a place to post hacks.

 

Why not start off with one of the several good tutorials on 2600 programming? Then focus on disassembling this game. I think you're months away from even attempting to modify it. I took a quick look at it and don't see this as being a quick one or two byte change. You're going to need to produce a buildable disassembly to get anywhere with this.

 

Another good starting point would be to try hacking colors or graphics. That's probably just data and could be done directly in stella.

 

SWCHB is the port you read for console switches. For player joysticks you need SWCHA. For the second player button you need INPT5. For what you're trying to do it needs to be SWCHA since the second player button is not used for defense selection.

 

Thanks so much for your patient and kind reply! I don't know if you are familiar with the game, but I don't want an AI. I just want random data instead of second player input. So, I proposed pointing the inquiry for second player input to some other (changing value) address. That's all that would be needed to make the game one player friendly. After the initial joystick input, the game is good to go. Does it sound feasible?

Edited June 4, 2018 by jeff20

[easmith]

 

Thanks so much for your patient and kind reply! I don't know if you are familiar with the game, but I don't want an AI. I just want random data instead of second player input. So, I proposed pointing the inquiry for second player input to some other (changing value) address. That's all that would be needed to make the game one player friendly. After the initial joystick input, the game is good to go. Does it sound feasible?

Seems like this would be feasible for when playing offense, but for the computer to play offense would require some fairly complex AI for the game to be any fun to play