For me, a big attraction of programming for the Atari 2600 is that it would not have been possible back in the day without an expensive development setup, and access to the proprietary technical documentation. Consequently, you would almost certainly have had to work for a games company to write code for the machine, much as is the case for the latest batch of consoles. Now, thanks to the Internet, the barrier for entry had been lowered considerably. All of the necessary documentation is f
One of the big problems that I have with Atari 2600 code development is the ever present "shiny object syndrome". For those who are not familiar with this term, it means that you get easily distracted from a task by cool things that you discover along the way. The problem is that the beginning of a project is exciting, as you struggle to fit your game concept into the constraints of the machine. For example, I find writing the display kernel is a particularly enjoyable process. But, once
The name of this blog is "The Southsider", which is the name of the pub that I frequent several times a week. I have attached a photo of the establishment below:To the uninitiated, a pub may simply appear to be a drinking house. However, this is only a small part of the picture. The British pub is a tradition here which stretches back to the bronze age, where "pub" is a shortened version of "public house". The purpose of the pub is to act a place where anyone (over the age of 18) can com
Here is another nostalgia piece before I get back on the Atari track:My love of 8-bit computing started shortly after our school obtained its first computer: a BBC Micro Model A. This was the early 80's and home computers had only recently become affordable. The BBC Micro is virtually unknown outside the UK, but the design was commissioned by the BBC (our national broadcaster) to accompany a range of educational broadcasts on computer literacy. As such, it became the computer of choice for
OK, to get things moving I thought I would post a little about how I came to start programming for the Atari 2600. Unlike many of the folks around here, I have only been programming the 2600 for a short time (since the beginning of 2005), and I still consider myself to be a newbie in the scene.Although I was around in the heyday of the 2600, I must admit that it passed me by completely. I only became interested in computers, and computer games, with the later advent of the 8-bit home micros,
Hi Folks,I though I would start this blog to chronicle the development of my various Atari 2600 programming projects, and to avoid cluttering up the main site threads. So far, I have developed the following four games, all of which are now fully playable, but none of them are entirely complete yet:
Hunchy
Jetman
Nightrider
Hunchy2
I also intend to punctuate this with some of my own insights into the differences between British and American culture, which I have observed while travelling.
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