BadBoy House

i have absolutely no programming experience whatsoever other than a 20 goto 10 basic three liner on the C64 20 years ago. i'd really like to be able to program a simple game on the atari 2600 and am not afraid to learn. can anyone point me in the right direction on where to start from the absolute beginning? and i mean beginning. the more basic the better. thanks in advance!

cheers for all your replies guys. i've got myself a copy of the machine code for beginners book as well as the stella programmers guide. i'll work through those.

i've been looking at a number of commented dissassemblies - one of the shorter ones is the code for Outlaw. What's confusing me is the commands that are used in each line: ; RAM variables: PF0Array = $80 ; PF0 array, 18 Bytes ScoreshapeLow01 = $92 ; Shape of player 1 lower score digit ScoreshapeLow02 = $93 ; Shape of player 2 lower score digit ScoreshapeHi01 = $94 ; Shape of player 1 higher score digit ScoreshapeHi02 = $95 ; Shape of player 2 higher score digit ; Draws the playfield and bullet 1 & increments the kernels linecounter STA PF2 ; Draw PF2 LDA vertPosition01 ; A-> vertical pos player 1 SBC lineCounter ; Current pos above player1? BPL SkipDraw2 ; Y: SkipDraw1 LDY shapeOffset01 ; Y-> shapeOffset01 LDA LF6FE,Y ; A-> player 1 shape TAY ; Y-> player 1 shape LDA PF0Array,X ; A->PF0 data (obstacle) STA.w $000D ; Draw PF0 (4 cycles!) LDA lineCounter ; A->lineCounter CMP bulletVerPos01 ; Check for bullet 1 PHP ; En/Disable bullet 1 LDA PF1Array,X ; A->PF1 data (obstacle) STA PF1 ; Draw PF1 LDA PF2Array02,X ; A->PF2 data (frame) STA PF2 ; Draw PF2 PLA ; Restore... Whilst there are comments which say what each line does, I'm interested to learn from a master list what each command does. For instance, these three lines: PF0Array = $80 ; PF0 array, 18 Bytes ScoreshapeLow01 = $92 ; Shape of player 1 lower score digit PHP ; En/Disable bullet 1 where could i find out that the PHP command enables/disables bullets? and what the PF0Array command actually does. thanks in advance

i thought the target ones could be the single player games. would've been good to play the outlaw vs outlaw games single player though. cheers

this might sound like a daft question but how do you play Outlaw in single player mode? each game select option i go through seems to be two players only. cheers

is there any way of converting the binary source code of a game into batari basic?

the one i got from ebay has paint splashes and marks on it which werent visible on the auction photo - i'd prefer a top in decent condition if anyone has a spare going. i'm in the UK cheers

other than the obvious places like ebay, markets and charity shops, can any of the UK members recommend good places to go cartrigde hunting?

yeh i'm in the uk

there's people selling 2600 power adapters on ebay for 4.99 GBP - i'll get one of those. i can put up with the buzzing until then

yeah i'm finding every spare minute i get i'm on ebay looking at 2600 carts. there seems to be some cracking bargains out there though

just got a 2600. is there anything under the hood worth cleaning or greasing up to restore the console?

The power supply that came with my 2600 buzzes. i can get another one no problem i just need to know what power rating a new supply would need to be The model number on the bottom of the console says CX-2600 U. There are no voltage details on the console or on the power supply. thanks guys

i've been playing warlords for the past 2 hours. awesome. collecting 2600 games is gonna be a great hobby!

is there a price guide (uk prices/pal games)site/book that anyone knows about ? i find the rarity guide on here very useful but was wondering how to value the rarity numbers.