Getting in home brew programming

[maxdrive]

For someone who never done anything like this where is a good place to start to learn and what kind of programs do you need

[Inky]

Start here:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/222638-7800basic-beta-the-release-thread/

[+SmittyB]

Have you done any programming before or is it more that you've never programmed something like an old console before?

 

You'll definitely need an emulator and A7800 is the best and can be found on the forums. Some people seem to have trouble getting it set up so ProSystem would work in a hurry but it's not very accurate.

 

Assuming you're not going to dive right into assembly you'll want to set up 7800BASIC which includes everything you need. Despite the name, 7800BASIC is in no way inferior to doing everything in assembly, it just does the heavy lifting for you.

 

Then you'll want a text and graphics editor of your choice, I use Notepad++ for text and GraphicsGale for graphics.

 

Feel free to ask questions.

[maxdrive]

I never did any type of programming so I didn't know if there is any tortorials or anything to help it all be new to me but seeing what people can accomplish I'd love to learn.

[+SmittyB]

Then you're in luck because 7800BASIC is not a bad place to start at all. It includes a few sample programs so start by trying to compile one of those and running it in an emulator. Once you can do that you're ready to get started.

 

Different people like to learn in different ways, but you might want to take one of the samples and make modifications to it until you get the hang of things.

 

If I recall there was something of a beginner's guide thread in the programming sub-forum but I'm not at my computer at the moment so I can't easily find it.

[+SmittyB]

Another thing to mention is that the samples include a lot of comments describing what things do, don't get overwhelmed by the amount of text because for most of them there's not a lot of actual code.

 

I've always learned by getting stuck in with a reference to hand and just trying things until something works so feel free to do that too.

 

My point is there's no right way to learn and every mistake you make will teach you how to improve, just stick with it, ask for help, and don't beat yourself up if you struggle with something.

[maxdrive]

Thanks that's great I'll definitely look in on that

[Mord]

For 7800Basic, also keep randomterrain's 7800basic website bookmarked for quick access. Very useful for looking up information on 7800Basic quickly. Between that and the release thread above you should be well supplied with help!

[jefffulton]

I've been working on some demos across all the early Atari platforms - 8bits/XL/XE, 2600, ST, 7800.

The best and "easiest" to using to make a good game that is commercial quality is 7800Basic, followed by the DPC+ Enabled 2600Basic, then the ST (there are new STOS routines now that make great games pretty easy, then finally the 8bits/5200 - where those you really need full assembly language, helped by a cross compiler on the PC. I have not tried Lynx coding yet, but I really would like to get into it ... and the 68000 Assembly (Atari ST) I have been working on, might translate to the Jag at some point.

Enough about me, there is a fantastic tutorial in the 7800 Programming thread that explains just about everything you need to know to start making 7800 games. The only drawback is that is is the hardest platform to test on real hardware as the # of multi carts in existence is limited and no new runs have been made in a while.