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Showing content with the highest reputation on 09/05/2020 in all areas

  1. Hi ! Here is a small video with part of gameplay from "They are many". Game is kind of real time strategy with gathering resources, building stuff, moving units around, and trying to resist incoming zombie attacks that grow in strength over time. I haven't managed to squeeze in every planed thing into it before deadline but I hope it's enough to show games such as this are totally possible on A8. We need more games like this imho. Coderz please consider building much more complex worlds and game mechanics. Cheers ! PopMilo ps. There's only one sfx (shoot) in game, so please put on some atmospheric music in your room before playing the game
    14 points
  2. Raising a glass to Curt tonight, and listening with amusement to him ranting about modern Atari shenanigans, and talk about his various projects including XM. Rest well, Curt. ?
    13 points
  3. Just finished a bunch of testing on the "patched" Concerto. Wow, it is so much better than previously. Only a (very) few minor glitches on my crankiest 7800 console. Mitch
    9 points
  4. Hello Friends !! Attached you will find my second homebrew game for the Atari 2600... STRATOVOX 2600 It is a port of the 1980 Taito arcade game Stratovox also known as Speak and Rescue. The object of this game is to shoot UFOs attempting to kidnap astronauts that appear on the right side of the screen. If all astronauts are kidnapped, the game is over. Use the joystick to move your spaceship left or right and press the button to fire. You have to destroy 12 UFOs to complete the first level. On the second level, you have to destroy 15 UFOs, then 18, 21, 24 and so on. At the end of each level, you will receive 100 bonus points for each astronaut not kidnapped. Also novice players will receive an extra astronaut without exceeding the maximum of 10 astronauts in the screen at once. You start the game with 3 spaceships. Reach 5,000 points to receive an extra spaceship. Yellow UFOs score 50 points and Red UFOs score 100 points. UFOs carrying an astronaut score random points from 300 to 1,000 depending on their color and speed. There are 36 levels in this game. Levels 1 to 4 are the easiest levels, the real action starts in level 5. This game does not have voices like the arcade but I am planning to add some using Atarivox+ or SAM. If you find any bug please let me know. Enjoy !! Carlos RaymanC Stratovox_2600_NTSC_RC1.bin Stratovox_2600_PAL60_RC1.bin
    8 points
  5. I've spent the past week or so playing with the awesome PlusCart from @Al_Nafuur and integrating it into my development environment. What I'm trying to show with this video is a build/run cycle in action in glorious blurrycam... VID_20200906_005125.mp4 First, there's the absolutely mind-bogglingly-good Atari Developer Studio environment from @mksmith which has totally changed the game. I love using Visual Studio Code and all that it brings, to develop for the '2600. So first I show Stella running my game (from the absolutely awesome Stella crew), and then I make a simple change to the program - in this case, enabling "rainbow" mode. Then I do a keypress/build (option/command/B) and it runs my makefile, does a build via the awesome dasm assembler, and copies the binary to a directory (~/Nextcloud) on my machine. It runs Stella, and meanwhile in the background Nextcloud is uploading the binary to my Pluscart account. It's pretty quick - just a half-second or so - I tried to capture it when I zoomed on that green tick icon up top. By the way, if you haven't checked out the brand spanking new dasm manual - run, don't walk, to... https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dasm-assembler/dasm/master/docs/dasm.pdf So, stella's running the game on my machine, now over to the real Atari 2600. You can see my PlusCart is running chess at the moment - and here I needed to soft-reset (which is joystick-right + RESET press) and it was tricky to do that one handed while filming, so.. shakycam. Anyway, once I reset there's my Pluscart menu and I select chess.bin (which is hopefully the new one)... and after a bit of a download wait, up it comes. I have the ability now to build for emulator and test, and while that's happening, it's already basically ready-to-run in my "My ROMs" folder on the actual hardware. I love it.
    8 points
  6. Our beloved TI99 will be 40 years old within few months, so we need to prepare the celebration. Since the game Astrosmash for the Intellivision will also be celebrating its anniversary and we do not have if for the TI, I decided to create this Super Astrosmash version! ? Super Astrosmash has the same game mechanics, score system, number of levels, type of enemies of the original version, however I've introduced some changes to better adapt to the improved TI99 resolution, added some speech, etc. The game is not a direct porting, but rather my own interpretation of a possible TI99 conversion. The initial release will be only in SSS module format. In the era of digital downloads, let's return back to the roots! With the precious help of Ciro (aka ti99iuc from the TI99 Italian User Club) we are now working to prepare a small batch of SSS, complete with labels and manual. The module will have two versions of the game: the Super Astrosmash and the Legacy version. It runs on the console + 32K memory expansion, supports joystick and keyboard. The Speech is optional. If you are interested in the SSS, please contact the TI99 Italian User Club using the website (http://www.ti99iuc.it/web/index.php?pagina=contacts) by the end of September, so it will be possible to determine the final cost and prepare the shipping for Christmas. In attachment a video of the gameplay from the beginning of the game up to level 2 and a preview of the manual/cover design. We will post additional material/info in the next days, so stay tuned. Super Astrosmash TI99.mp4
    7 points
  7. Couldn’t that question be asked in a week or two, after the body is cold and in the ground and his wife and young daughter have had at least a week or two to grieve?
    7 points
  8. Add it to the hex code at address 34FADE. Compile the .rom file into a .bin file. then use winrar to compress it into a .rar file. Then run your emulator in discombobulated mode with admin rights. It should boot right up.
    6 points
  9. Since modern day atari doesn't have any hardware engineers maybe they should just sell the case as merch. Let real hobbyists who know things build it out into the ideal system.
    6 points
  10. #Atari8bit Shown here is @Savetz 's Connect Four game, written in Turbo BASIC XL, for the #Fujinet. We have two Atari computers successfully playing a game over the network!
    5 points
  11. Hi, just joined after recently requiring a TI-99/4a. Grew up with 8-bit computers (and one with a 16 bit CPU....) as my dad sold them at the time. Had therefore the luck to basically try them all. Four systems I worked by far the most with: the Commodore 64 (later 128D), ZX Spectrum, Oric Atmos and the TI-99/4a. Only my original Commodore 128D survived and is still working. Recently I completed the original four again by also acquiring a ZX Spectrum 128, Oric Atmos and finally the TI. Have added the FinalGROM99 and a 32k extension. Foto’s of my setup now and my setup back when I was a child:
    5 points
  12. European Bike Rally certainly did not BECOME Motocross, as Motocross was released much earlier (by Mattel, even). I know John Sohl started Flight Simulator (or at least thinking about it), but I don't think he got very far. I haven't seen any evidence of any of the others in the paperwork that Keith had.
    5 points
  13. Ooh-de-lally! It works like a charm after I added the 560 ohm resistors, so I finally got color via TMS RGB!!!
    5 points
  14. #Atari8bit #FujiNet - @jeffpiep has successfully ported the cassette code from the SDrive, and gotten it to boot a game! Now we need to hook it into the device slot machinery to make it usable.
    5 points
  15. Frankly, I am kind of shocked at how much these POKEY replacements go for. HOKEY has always targeted a much lower price point than any other POKEY replacement. I suppose I should actually finish the damn thing, as clearly there is demand. Good news about HOKEY (if I ever DO finish it!) is that it is microcontroller-based like BupChip, not CPLD/FGPA-based like other POKEY replacement devices, which could potentially mean that BupChip code could be ported and licensed on the hardware. It's just a thought I had, and I have no clue if it would even be possible!
    5 points
  16. Covid is the "go to" excuse for everyone these days... I'm not necessarily calling BS here but...the "covid card" is getting a little overplayed lol.
    5 points
  17. I was just reading up on automated "highlighting" of photos of decapped chips, and who pops up half way of this article: https://nerdstuffbycole.blogspot.com/2020/01/end-of-year-update.html Curt Vendel, regarding his work on Amy!
    4 points
  18. You're totally welcome. I was about a third of the way into the podcast when I posted here. It was a while later that Curt started calling out AA names, and was I surprised to hear my own name mentioned a couple times. Really I'm a late-comer to the XM effort, and have only invested time for creation of developer tools and code, but Curt was generous when it came to praise, recognition, and enthusiasm. Completely agreed that we need to give family and friends time to grieve, before anyone even takes stock of the project. With Marty's eventual involvement, there's certainly some reason for hope. But there's no point to anybody here asking for project status, because nobody knows.
    4 points
  19. Thanks for posting. I found it funny and quite insightful in many ways, the man totally lived for Atari. Obviously it was very sad too, as Curt was super pumped for the project. We must give the family all the time they need, however, just going by Curt's name dropping (in interview) there are several AA stalwarts who I'm sure will get this item delivered. If nothing else, because it meant the world to him.
    4 points
  20. I was in charge of the developement of the software and processing of a MRI scanner in the 80's. As I wrote the manual I added some legalese in tiny letters and set as the last sentence "Any resemblance of this manual with the real product is purely co-incidental". Years later when the product had been sold in thousands I happened to get my hands on the printed manual and the sentence was still there. It had passed the quality assurance and even an upgrade to the next model.
    4 points
  21. City Defence - 12,362 Not too sure if it's fair or valid to play my own game however i will just post my score anyway
    4 points
  22. You guys do not realize what you mean to true Atarians. We vested lots of energy and cash into the Atari Computer. When someone, like you and Curt, come along and do amazing things (amazing to us users) for our beloved computers (things Atari would never do...for whatever reason), we hold you (and him) in great esteem. You, along with Ben and Whooley, are really the Rock Stars of our hobby. I thank you, Ben, Bob, Curt, and all the rest for all that you have done for our lives. It is not just a hobby, it's a way of life. We are invested in all things Atari. I could no longer give up Atari than a family member. It is a part of my life, my history. You, and the rest, are a part of it. Even though some have moved on (and I totally get it), they are a part of our history, and lives as well. So, from the bottom of my heart, and this is no foolin', Thank you. Thank you for your time and your interest in this.
    4 points
  23. FWIW, forked: https://github.com/cubanismo/bcx-basic-Jaguar Don't know what strange turn of events has caused this, but condolences, as it sounds like this wasn't exactly voluntary.
    4 points
  24. I do not like this game and I acknowledge that is 100% because I can't get the controls down. And I can do better on emu w/ps3 controller than I can on original hardware, hmph. I got past 1k for the bonus, so I'm satisfied with this one. Spider-Man 1,110
    4 points
  25. It might please you to know that in my last email conversation with Curt back in May of this year he was discussing a new project going in a slightly different direction, and was really excited about doing this following the XM project completion. Essentially he wanted to create a drop-in motherboard for the 5200 making it fully 8-bit compatible and provide for easy VBXE upgrade. Here's a snippet of that conversation (the 'he' in the email is referring to a well known person on AA, but I don't feel comfortable revealing that name without his permission). My response. My biggest regret is that I got too busy to continue this conversation, but I always intended to get back to him at a later date and see how things were going with his plan. I waited too long, and now I'll never know ? . Just another example of how it's important to always make the time for others and ask the questions you are thinking about, because you never know how long our time is on this planet.
    4 points
  26. It's very confusing playing H.E.R.O. in the foreground, while they're playing H.E.R.O. in the background. A little less distracted (start of level 12):
    4 points
  27. The Chicago TI User Group just received word from the Evanston Public Library that the space in which the Chicago TI International World Faire is ordinarily held will be unavailable until next year. We had reserved the room almost one year ago, but due to COVID 19, all activities at the Library are now cancelled. We are, therefore exploring the idea of having a virtual Faire this year. We would like to assess the interest in such an event, and further, who would be interested in presenting a seminar, either with a video, or possibly live, albeit remotely. I would appreciate a response in private mail to hals12 @hotmail.com as soon as possible. The date for the virtual Faire remains as previously published, October 24, 2020. —Hal Shanafield, CTIUG Faire Chairman
    4 points
  28. That's a great picture ? . It shows Curt completely immersed in his element. What's deceiving about it, is that you would never suspect that a year later he would be gone, because he truly looks happy and healthy and could have passed for being in his late 30's, not 52 that he was at the time. My first and only meet up with Curt to the best of my recollection happened in 2002. It was at a vintage computer swap meet in Santa Clara (or was it San Jose?). I had loaded up my Honda CRV with all of my Atari gear and drove down there with my brother intent on finding someone to take it all for free. I was done with all things Atari and was ready to move on. So we get down to the show, and me and my brother are walking around checking out all the stuff when we saw a couple of guys with a table that had some A8 equipment scattered on top. I introduced myself and asked if they would be interested in a car load of free Atari gear. They immediately looked at each other and almost simultaneously said the name Curt, at which point they spotted him and called him over. So we get acquainted, and my first impression was that this guy is very knowledgeable and certainly an extreme fan of Atari (although I didn't have a clue as to who he really was at the time). And yes he was very interested in seeing what I'd brought. So out to the back parking lot we all went and I popped open the hatch of my CRV, and Curt immediately starts rummaging through the pile. Every item he pulls out he starts going into a bit of the history behind it. Then he gets to a bunch of TransKey1 bare PCBs, does a double take, and then looks over at me and asks how I got those. I simply said it was a project I had worked on back in 1990 to allow IBM AT style keyboards to be used in the A8, of which I had sold a few of them during that time. He immediately lit up and says to me "You're that Michael St. Pierre!". Next thing I know he's taking me around to see several other people at the swap meet, energetically proclaiming that I was the one responsible for the creation of the TransKey. It was too funny, and certainly unexpected that he would have even known who I was from over a decade ago. But that was my first introduction to what Curt was really about - an Atari historian at heart. Later that day we transferred everything I had brought into his Hi-Cube truck that he had driven out to California from New York, including some prototypes I had been working on that had never seen the light of day, exchanged emails and then parted ways. Over the next several months we conversed back and forth via email, with a lot of questions focused around the TransKey boards and the hardware prototypes. And then unfortunately I let the emails fade away as I continued to move on from the Atari and into website design on the PC. It would be yet another decade or more before we would once again exchange emails and PMs on AtariAge, prompted by the release of his book, which had drawn me back into the world of Atari and filled an empty spot I didn't even know was there. I feel very fortunate to have gotten to spend time with Curt before he left this planet. And I thank him for bringing me back to my roots. He was a great man and will be dearly missed by all of us.
    4 points
  29. Ok, I’ve found something new that is right up there amongst the favorite Intellivision items in my collection. There may be others of these out there, but it’s the first time I had ever seen this. The seller told me it came from a former Mattel employee and was the initial information release at the Toy Fair where Intellivision was debuted. It’s definitely early as it highlights the keyboard component and the pics of Auto Racing and Space Battle still show pre-production pics. Anyone else seen one of these? Here’s a few pages but there are a few more.
    3 points
  30. If you haven't visited the tribute wall on Curt's page, Loni Reeder, former assistant of Nolan Bushnell and former director of marketing at uWink (also founded by Nolan) has written a tremendous homage about Curt. It's super emotional and truly one of a kind. ? https://ruggieroandsonsfh.com/tribute/details/2607/Curtis-T-Vendel/condolences.html?visitorId=9854#content-start
    3 points
  31. No. Don't have my own printer alas.... Ordered them from webshops. Was looking at Arcadeshopper and The Brewing Academy, but in these COVID days, I prefer European sellers as delivery is much faster and more reliable in present circumstances. Especially also as shipping costs are crazy now overseas. So FinalGROM99 came from https://www.8bits4ever.net/ and 32k extension came from https://sordan.ie/
    3 points
  32. Myra Marshall, Computer Applications Tomorrow https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-395-myra-marshall-computer-applications-tomorrow Myra Marshall, along with her husband-at-the-time Roger Marshall, was co-founder of Computer Applications Tomorrow, a small software company that specialized in educational software for microcomputers. Most of the company's software was self-published and sold in small computer stores, including titles such as USA States and Capitals, Spelling Exam, and Alphabet Keyboard Primer. One title, Musical Computer: The Music Tutor, was sold by Atari Program Exchange. It first appeared in the spring 1982 APX catalog. It was available on disk and cost $14.95. This interview took place on August 26, 2020. Musical Computer in the spring 1982 APX catalog AtariMania's list of Computer Applications Tomorrow software 159 people wrote Atari Program Exchange software. 94 have been interviewed; 15 known dead; 7 declined=115 accounted for.
    3 points
  33. 1,018,150 The impressive thing about this death was me charging the guard because I lost track of the hit count and thought he died on the last throw. Whoopsie.
    3 points
  34. Sigh, people have the time and notion to do crap like that...
    3 points
  35. We're going to look into this, the rating was really high not that long ago so it's suspicious to say the least.
    3 points
  36. I have started a troubleshooting guide and a modification guide on the first post. If anyone has some really good links please list them and Thomas or I will add it to the first post.
    3 points
  37. CREATE is done. <BUILDS and VLIST are fine without change. Below is the current boot screen in Classic99. Note the “SAMS:” entry on the right side of the eighth line. ...lee
    3 points
  38. 3 points
  39. Doggone It - 20,386 Ms. Galactopus - 8,275 Not too bad although i could definitely improve, just strapped for time at this moment and only played a single round of both. Great games!
    3 points
  40. Doggone It - 40,693 VIDEO (approximately 24 minutes): Performed on September 4th, 2020 Timeline: 00:00 - My username on a piece of paper 00:05 - Stella Emulator startup 00:11 - Title select 00:17 - Game Properties / Difficulty Switches (B/Novice on both sides) 00:23 - Doggone It startup (Default) 00:29 - Start of run 23:39 - End of run and final score shown - 40,693 points
    3 points
  41. That reminds me; I forgot that was shown on James' ZeroPage Homebrew show and since it's completely playable, I should at least list it as a WIP. EA is one of my favorite arcade games from back in the day so if the BUS issues can be resolved, that will quickly move to the top of my priority list.
    3 points
  42. Greetings! I just wanted to announce that Wormhole 2000 will be available in the AtariAge Store once we complete a new box, manual, and label for the game. I'll share the updated box and label once they are far enough along to do so, and we're putting together a nice manual as well. All materials will be professionally printed in line with our previous Jaguar releases. Not sure what the price will be yet, but it will be reasonable. More soon! ..Al
    3 points
  43. Boxes have arrived at last!!! I will try to get these all sent out in the next couple of days. Please bear in mind that stuff took approximately a month to get to me from USA and Europe so I don't expect it will get to you all much faster going the other direction. Patience is a virtue these days. To try and speed things up, I have pre-ordered and pre-paid already for materials for my next release, which will be for sale early next month, so hopefully I have materials in hand ready to mail by then. Fingers crossed I've calculated right and sell as many as I think I should. Thanks again for all your patience. Cheers, Steve
    3 points
  44. The good news is, that we are quite close to the end of negotiations now.
    3 points
  45. Wow as well! I was a subscriber of Ben Poehland's ATARI Classics in the nineties, it's a shock that he did let go of everything. I can only talk from a personal point of view but we all go through stages in life. For a very long time, all my ATARI assets (except those bought locally in CA) were stored in Paris, France and, while I never stopped purchasing locally, there was a big hole in my heart as I didn't have access to my childhood setup and the software I coded as a kid. Long story short, my dad, who bought me my 600XL PAL when I was just 10, passed away 5 years ago. Loosing him was such a shock and memories of us were so far and between, I suddenly HAD to get all the stuff I had in Paris shipped to California. Over the next couple of trips to Paris, I would rent a mini van, go to the "ATARI Paris reserve" (or so called in the family) which was WAY out of town and, bit by bit, I would pack everything up with bubble wrap, peanuts and sturdy (crate compatible) carboard boxes. It was tremendous work and nights spent on location but, spread over 14 months, 4 crates shipped over 2 different airlines, everything eventually landed safely at L.A.X. and U.S. customs (I always dealt with the same person so that helped tremendously) did let me grab everything at no extra charge. I just had to get a u-haul and pay for warehouse storage at L.A.X. while the crates were waiting for me. And now, thanks to @Panther, who helped me fix my PAL 600XL, I can finally fool around again with my childhood computer. At the end of the day, if you love your stuff and it means something truly special to you, don't let it go. Same for all things I got from Curt and that I learned from him, those things were special before, they are even more special now. :)
    2 points
  46. Wow! That is an amazing story. Curt was a true Atari fan for sure. I too recall your TransKey back in the day and yearned to have one. I have one now for my XEGS. I love it. Sadly, however, I don't write letters like I used to, thus the ultimate clicky keyboard, my Model M, doesn't see much use. Anyway, what amazes me about your story, and what has always amazed me about people like yourself that were not just users of Atari, but innovators, can so easily dump all things Atari. Just like that. "Want some free Atari hardware?". Amazing. A couple of years ago I needed advice about how to get sound for a set up I had using my XEP-80, and a Zenith monochrome monitor. From one of the magazines from the day, I recalled Benjamin Poehland mentioned he'd used an Archer (Radio Shack) small speaker to get the sound. I found him on the internet and wrote to him (email). He mentioned he'd not used Atari in almost two decades, just got rid of all his stuff...development documents and all. I just could not understand it. I must be a real pac-rat, hanging on to all I ever got for my Atari (to my spouse's angst). Anyway, I guess you re-acquired some of your Atari bits.
    2 points
  47. Finally got the hand eye co-ordination working to a point... Spiderman : 12,590
    2 points
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