protomank

There is a hack that fixes quite a lot of the issues on the game. It make it much better.

Thanks a lot, awesome. I will give it a try.

I understand, I am just asking if there is an existing free kernel that would support a HERO-like game with BAtari. I need to now how much time/effort I would need to put into it beforehand, to see if it is feasible. Sadly I do not have much free time due to, you know, work and family, those things that stood between us coders and the fun

Hello. I am a software engineer and already developed a couple of games for other platforms, but more of a high level, in C and C++ using SDL library, but I do have understanding of ASM, if that is required for this idea. I already run some tests with Atari basic and it is nothing difficult for me to handle it. I am a fan of HERO game, and I got the HERO 2 hack cartridge from Game Select, and I think it has nice features, but the difficulty is kind of a cheating, placing enemies in the start of the room, so you have no time to miss them. There was a kind of discussion on that game, however, because it was just a hack and not a new code. So I was thinking, what would it take to develop a new one? Is there a kernel that can be used for HERO-like games, or would be necessary to write a new one? I lack knowledge of how Atari-dev kernels work, so I kinda need to know if I can use an existing one, or if I need to learn about this part, in order to create a new one, before even starting.

Hello. I am a software engineer and already developed a couple of games for other platforms, but more of a high level, in C and C++ using SDL library, but I do have understanding of ASM, if that is required for this idea. I already run some tests with Atari basic and it is nothing difficult for me to handle it. I am a fan of HERO game, and I got the HERO 2 hack cartridge from Game Select, and I think it has nice features, but the difficulty is kind of a cheating, placing enemies in the start of the room, so you have no time to miss them. There was a kind of discussion on that game, however, because it was just a hack and not a new code. So I was thinking, what would it take to develop a new one? Is there a kernel that can be used for HERO-like games, or would be necessary to write a new one? I lack knowledge of how Atari dev kernels work, so I kinda need to know if I can use an existing one, or if I need to leran about this part before even starting. Thanks in advance.

1. Agreed, but you are (almost) the only one taking this point. Other people just do not want the UI even if its hidden because that will hurt their eyes when they are obligated to enter the UI even if they do not want, or something like that. UI is not priority, just a nice bonus that might be useful to improve compatibility also (likje picking the right dumper in case of fails) and improving experience, like using select/start without moving into the console itself all the time. 2. The other options like Atari 50 the VCS, etc; do not allow you to play your own carts. I do not believe one should be restricted by the other and vice versa.

Some news about the 1.1 beta. Looking good.

I am a software engineer. The code would be the exactly same, just a flag to enable disable it would change between versions. I fail to see this being any issues. I do agree it is not ideal, but for some people here, it seems if you add the UI and saves they will be forced to use, like someone putting a gun on their heads, them and all joy of their livfes will be lost forever I still fail to see how such hidden option YOU DO NOT NEED TO USE are so bad. Maybe I am just the crazy one here, so I'll leave at it. Someday, someone will hack the plus and we'll end with a open source firmware that can do everything.

Just make two firmware versions. I still can't see why having a HIDDEN UI is so manacing to the experience, but whatever, just split it.

We are actually PAL-60. Our consoles can run NTSC, just transcode the colors to PAL, keeping the frequency, so that is what we usually had here.

I find funny some people (no one in particular here) are very against save-states, that is just an OPTIONAL feature. You do not ever need to use it, ever. But why would you want an option not to be available for people who do like it? I do agree most 2600 games do not need this, but there is always Pitfall 1 and 2, Hero, Frostbite, Keystone Kapers... well looks like mostly Activision games, that would benefit. Of course, in an ideal world, the game rom should be chacked to save between stages or some points (Pitfall 2 already has checkpoints), not giving an option for the user himself to sdave/load, but that is the easier way to implement saves. If someone wants to implement saves in games instead, I would love it.

That is why I think a save function would be welcome. I do love to play 2600 now and then, but I do not have the time or patience to start every time from the start some long games (such as Pitefall or Keystone Kapers), so I do use emulation and save-states. Of course, without the UI, it would need extra switches in the console (Atari 2600 Sixer+?). Maybe the console could save the state when powered off, then restoring it on power on if you hold a button? That option removes the UI but keeps functionality for saves. Other combinations in boot could change options, like button + up would change the video filter. Just my 2 cents.

I do understand how you feel, but given it is an option, you do not have to use it, and it opens the door for options like video-filter, I do believe it is a good thing. Most won't even know it is there. I believe it would be way worse adding a UI while boting the system, for example.

I was wondering one thing, that maybe @Ben from Plaion knows the answer to. Given that the Atari 7800 has 32 pins, and the 5200 36, but 4 can be ignored, 1 not used and 4 duplicated ground ones; would it be possible to create an adapter for the 5200 cartridges that goes into the Plus slot and the dumper to load the game? Circuit-wise it seems possible, I just do not know if the dumper could actually get the from from it. Would be really cool, as there are quite a few games int he 5200 I find better than the 7800. Just curious

Most likely your phone, the interval is quite the same. Thanks for the clarification. Looking great