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MausBoy

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The problem with the multi-sprite kernel is that all the RAM that was being used for the playfield - which allowed scrolling, plotting, etc. - is now being used for the sprites. So the playfield is static.

 

It might be good to enhance bB to behave as if extra RAM were installed. For example, if cartridges with the "Super Chip" are reasonably common, then it might be nice to have a SET command that would indicate to bB that there is a "Super Chip" present, and then the extra 128 bytes of RAM could be used for the playfield. Of course, then all of the statements to read/write the playfield RAM would require absolute addressing, but it's just a thought on how bB might be enhanced so that a multi-sprite kernel could also have a RAM-resident playfield.

 

Michael Rideout

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the fireballs dont bounce all the way up the screen anymore and they only go in the direction they were fired. I uploaded the first try, you can make the fireballs come back to you by turning away, and I used this in another game I'm working on.

fireballs.bin

Edited by MausBoy
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The problem with the multi-sprite kernel is that all the RAM that was being used for the playfield - which allowed scrolling, plotting, etc. - is now being used for the sprites. So the playfield is static.

 

It might be good to enhance bB to behave as if extra RAM were installed. For example, if cartridges with the "Super Chip" are reasonably common, then it might be nice to have a SET command that would indicate to bB that there is a "Super Chip" present, and then the extra 128 bytes of RAM could be used for the playfield. Of course, then all of the statements to read/write the playfield RAM would require absolute addressing, but it's just a thought on how bB might be enhanced so that a multi-sprite kernel could also have a RAM-resident playfield.

 

Michael Rideout

 

I agree, it would be great to be able to use pfpixel and 4way scrolling with the msk. I want to be able to do something like Ikari Warriors.

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It might be good to enhance bB to behave as if extra RAM were installed.

I agree, it would be great to be able to use pfpixel and 4way scrolling with the msk. I want to be able to do something like Ikari Warriors.

Well, I'm rather ignorant of what's possible for homebrew carts as far as extra RAM is concerned, so I may have spoken too soon-- although once supercat gets his bankswitched carts with extra RAM finalized and in production, it might be feasible to enhance bB to exploit the new possibilities. In the meantime, if we're going to create bB games that are intended to be run on emulators, or on a 7800 with a Cuttle Cart 2 for example, then we can create our own custom kernels that make use of any existing bankswitching scheme or extra RAM. As far as the classic game carts, I know there were at least three varieties of extra RAM-- Atari's 128-byte Super Chip, CBS's 256-byte RAM chip, and M-Network's 2048-byte RAM chip. For example, before batari added Atari's bankswitching schemes in bB 0.99, I had modified bB 0.35 to allow M-Network bankswitching.

 

Michael Rideout

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I'd recommend making a game based on the Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch that debuted just before the original Game Boy was released. I think the 2600 should be able to handle that, and even make it better by giving you more control over Mario.

 

JR

 

I LOVE that freakin' game.

 

That should definitely be possible in batari basic, the game and watch is a chunky LCD thing, so any home console should be able to do it with ease.

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I'd recommend making a game based on the Super Mario Bros. Game & Watch that debuted just before the original Game Boy was released. I think the 2600 should be able to handle that, and even make it better by giving you more control over Mario.

 

JR

 

I LOVE that freakin' game.

 

That should definitely be possible in batari basic, the game and watch is a chunky LCD thing, so any home console should be able to do it with ease.

 

 

The game and watch was cool BUT a Super Mario Bros. prequel would be 10 times better. I prefer to have control of my player where as with the G&W your pretty much just jumping up and down as the level rolls by. Super Mario has to advance threw the levels himself. I like that idea much more. But hey WTF do I know, I'm not the one making the game, Heck I'll be happy with whatever mario title he makes as long as it stays looking as sweet as that demo. Ah hell even if it was DK Mario or my SMB:RIBC mario running about to open up the other player routine slots for enemies it would be awsome.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Shawn Sr - Dosn't this kinda look like Megaman in street clothes? I'm switching out the sprites and you'll have your game sometime this summer :) Sorry it can't have the real deal but I don't want any C&Ds!

 

 

Thats cool for sure, I can't wait!! And the "street clothes" are fine to keep yourself out of hot water. Thats what why I got HOM on hand all times. :P

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  • 1 month later...

Can you post your source? My nephew(11) wants to learn how to write a game for his Atari when I'm visiting next week, so I've been preparing a binder with the compile instructions, help file, tia color chart, do re bB and a bunch of sample program listings (only those that compile under 99b though).

 

I'll be posting my jEdit MODE files tonight (for syntax highlighting).

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Can you post your source? My nephew(11) wants to learn how to write a game for his Atari when I'm visiting next week, so I've been preparing a binder with the compile instructions,

I'll be posting my jEdit MODE files tonight (for syntax highlighting).

 

I could, but it's a total mess, not commented, and it only works with the very latest build that hasn't been made available for download. Your best bet is the cleaned-up and commented code posted on the first page of this thread by AM.

 

The jEdit highlighting files was a neat idea, and I bet it saves a lot of headache trying to find specific areas of code. That's one thing about the bB ide I haven't gotten used to, needle in the haystack debugging/editing of long code.

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I could, but it's a total mess, not commented, and it only works with the very latest build that hasn't been made available for download. Your best bet is the cleaned-up and commented code posted on the first page of this thread by AM.

I missed that - those comments should help him out quite a bit.

 

The jEdit highlighting files was a neat idea, and I bet it saves a lot of headache trying to find specific areas of code. That's one thing about the bB ide I haven't gotten used to, needle in the haystack debugging/editing of long code.

Syntax highlighting is da bomb. This is what it looks like:

post-3056-1151686791_thumb.png

Edited by SpiceWare
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post-8939-1151673533_thumb.jpg post-8939-1151673552_thumb.jpg post-8939-1151673571_thumb.jpg

 

Here is a demo with working vertical collision detection, the new sprites, and a few colors. No fireballs yet as the code has been reworked from scratch. Comments?

 

How did you get the multiple colors on the playfield? Did you make a custom kernel?

He's using the latest build of bB which supports multicolored playfields without losing other objects. This build hasn't been released as a bleeding edge since I would classify it more as a hemorrhage.

 

But if anyone wants a patch to update 0.99b to the latest builld, shoot me a PM, but keep in mind that there will almost certainly be bugs and future updates might "break" your code.

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I'm pretty sure Batari offered it to me in the hopes that I would find some bugs to report back. So far virtually everything I've tried has come off without a hitch, other than the fact that removing the blank lines in the playfield breaks scrolling and offsets colors by one pixel (notice the single line of a seperate color on the top surface of each platform).

 

Also I was told that you can set the background colors as an alternative, but I haven't been able to get this to work. I don't even know if it changes the colors in the same height of 'blocks' that the playfield uses.

 

Otherwise, you can now use color tables for both player sprites, the playfield, and get rid of the blank lines, use a pfclear command, use a table to create your playfield, plus a few other things - so this is one hell of an update.

 

Atari2600land -

"Here is a demo with working vertical collision detection"

Haven't gotten around to the horizontal yet, so the code can only tell what your head and feet are touching, allowing your midsection to pass through platforms. Batari says that I should be using tables and calculations to figure out how sprites react to interaction with the playfield, but I still have no idea how to go about that, I'm not even completely sure what he means.

If it means constantly comparing the players x/y to a list of "hotspot" coordinates, I'd really rather not. Setting that up for a scrolling game would be a complete nightmare, setting it up for a 'screen at a time' game would be enough of a headache to discourage large complicated level designs.

I'm really at a loss on how to go about creating anything besides a 'chase/be chased/shoot everything' game. Once I got used to thinking in 8 pixels, design became a lot easier, but implementation is still always wishful thinking on my part.

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Sorry. Didn't know what working vertical collision detection meant (when you put all 4 words together).

 

"setting it up for a 'screen at a time' game would be enough of a headache to discourage large complicated level designs."

 

Take my Mr. Flanksteak, make it vertical-based, put in that Mario sprite, add some enemies, stomp on them to make them disappear, then you've got a pretty good Mario game. Some of the vertical worlds of Super Mario Bros. 2 (1-1: cloud section for example) used a screen-to-screen design, so if it's good enough for Nintendo, why not your game?

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I just read through this for the first time. I really like your mario and notmegaman sprites. I have a feeling that bB isn't going to support this, but I had an idea on how you could you could add enemies into the game. You could use M-Network style missile stacks and the ball (if you make the playfield black). Use the ball for fireballs and coins, too. Have fireball and coins use a constant 30hz flicker, and dissapear completely if they are on the same scan line as each other or a ball being used for an enemy.

 

It would work pretty well for some objects like mushrooms, turtles, and ice. Some things like the flying turtles and the crabs would be almost impossible to do like this, though. Another downside would be that you could never have more than one enemy on the same scan line.

 

If you decide to use this idea, I'd gladly help with the enemies.

 

Here's a mockup using a tiled background:

post-9522-1155436865_thumb.png

 

Edit:

Here's a illustration of how the mushroom and turtle are made. Green and Blue are missiles, teal is a pixel occupied by both missiles (I'm not sure how well that would actually work), and red is the ball:

post-9522-1155439178.png

Edited by R. Jones
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  • 2 weeks later...

That looks awesome, and I really wish I could do it. So far there is no way to make the ball or missiles anything but rectangles, and I don't have the ASM experience to do what you are talking about. Bitmaps are still impossible too.

 

It's cool to see what a mario game could look like on the VCS though, and how it might be possible. I love the way you designed the sprites and the background.

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  • 8 months later...

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