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Gemintronic

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Posts posted by Gemintronic

  1. Posted

    On 5/4/2021 at 6:42 PM, ZippyRedPlumber said:

    What coding tricks should I use?

     

    I was experimenting with embedding the ball and missiles into the player sprite for collision.  My code is too buggy to show.  But, maybe with your savvy at least the concept would pan out :)

     

    In this demo it is possible to get trapped when the player gets stuck inside the playfield.  Platforms with thin floors will cause the player to fall through if they just jumped.

     

     

     

    badaegondemo.png

    badaegondemo.bin

  6. Posted

    The original poster way back in 2014 stated $70 titles being a breaking point.  Also, availability.

     

    The opposite of expensive, well packaged games is experimental, simpler games with cheaper/loose cart packaging.

     

    Is there a demand for such games?  It feels like the bar is set pretty high.

  7. Posted

    Even with slightly better and more expensive (thus harder to sell) hardware the big N was coming.  The only alternative history that makes sense is if Atari called Miss Cleo for their free reading and agreed to become a shell company that sells Nuntendo product.

     

    The problem with THAT is that purchasers for big stores were sure video games had stopped being a trend.  Also, very little trust in Atari to sell like the old days.  I doubt Atari management would follow the big Ns "bend over backwards" and "hide the fact it's a video game system" philosophy that won the day either.

    • Like 1

  10. Posted

    I thought I saw that you posted about having your own score related code in there (5 digit score topic).

     

    Does this effect people who use modied score_graphics.asm?  I know I needed to modify that to include A-F and something else for RevEngs multi kernel framework.

  11. Posted

    Not an answer, but, I suspect whatever chips the Inty board has is not easily soldered off and on again.

     

    Probably have better luck with hardware assist on the cartridge either in a new standard library, additional CPU or more RAM.. or, all three!

  13. Posted

    30 minutes ago, Karl G said:

    If blank works, then you may not have to do anything special at all. I never noticed, but there seems to be a blank area following 9 in the default score_graphics. Try setting _sc2 to $AA instead (each hex digit is 10), and both of the digits should be blank. It worked for me when I tried it, at least:

     

    section2_bas.thumb.png.0ccf8f7411b849a8460cd700a8964f0c.png

     

    If there's no graphic specified for hex value A wouldn't it point to invalid data on a real cartridge?

     

    @KevKelly:  did you try adding the extra A-F values as documented in the links and you ran out of space?

     

    Not bugging or anything.  Just curious about these things :)

     

  14. Posted

    My first PC experience was at my best friends house.  There was still something called "middle class" back then and they just barely afforded an XT clone.  It had a wondrously grindy hard drive and a proprietary 16 color mode that we never used - although some shareware came up in exotic 16 color CGA.

     

    The first PC of my own was a CompuAdd 386sx at 25mhz.  Once I bought a copy of Borland C and wiped Win 3.1 off to make room.  Poor Windows got slapped around and demeaned on the system.  Even upgraded to Windows 95 by installing RAM Doubler so it would report enough memory to pass the installation check.

    • Like 1

  16. Posted

    For participants homebrew is brewing your own games on your own terms.

     

    For detractors it's a condescending way of deriding the quality of someone else's methods and work.

     

    I've learned you can't improve other people - you can only improve your own skills and share the results with like-minded enthusiasts.

    • Like 3

  17. Posted

    4 minutes ago, Al_Nafuur said:

     

    Or you switch the design of the game and us the left side for displaying the playfield and the right side for the virtual sprites?

     

     

    With batari BASIC using player1 for the virtual sprites that means those virtual sprites become background color (and therefore invisible).  Plus, player0 would have to be the main foreground color making the whole game unicolor.

     

    Quite a catch 22 :)

    playsprite002.bas.png

  18. Posted

    9 minutes ago, SpiceWare said:

    "Split color playfield" is really SCORE MODE. 

     

    Thank you for the explanation!    So, the work around would have to be either:

     

    * Rewrite the multi sprite kernel to stop drawing the playfield when it reaches the center or

     

    * Rewrite the multi sprite kernel to use player0 for virtual sprites instead of player1

     

    Is that it?

    • Like 1

  19. Posted

    Hey there fellas!

     

    I think I found an undocumented "feature" of CTRLPF $03 in the Multi Sprite Kernel.  Basically, any value of p (where CTRLPF is $bp) at 3 or above also causes sprites to move behind the playfield.

    https://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-batari-basic-commands.html#ctrlpf 

     

    I was trying to use the dual playfield colors to hide either the left or right copy of the playfield.  The theory being sprites can show on one side and an effectively asymmetrical playfield display on the other.  Problem is: when the sprites are behind the playfield the hidden playfield pixels block out the sprites.

     

    Is there any way to revert the sprites back to being in the foreground AND retain the dual colors feature of CTRLPF $03

     

    Or, any assembly hack to just disable playfield drawing for one of the screen sides?

     

     

    Thank you in advance for any clues! 

    playsprite001.bas.png

    playsprite001.bas playsprite001.bas.asm playsprite001.bas.bin

    • Thanks 1

  20. Posted

    Yep.  The 2600 is a strange beast and some things don't make immediate sense even in BASIC.  I'd suggest making small games that let you get familiar with what the 2600 can do.  If you tackle Minecraft right away then the project may seem impossible.

     

    Probably best to check out the examples in this forum sub-section:

     

     

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 1

  21. Posted

    On 4/5/2021 at 9:36 PM, MiranDaniel129 said:

    Hi everyone, is anyone interested in to try recreate Minecraft in Atari as an topdown game?

     

    Best way to answer that is try it yourself using batari BASIC.  Ask questions when you get stuck.  The more effort you put in the more people will get excited for it.

     

    As mentioned memory is a big issue.  You have 26 8-bit variables for the entire game.  You could build and destroy playfield blocks BUT there's not enough memory to store those changes when you move to a new screen.  Also, the kernels that allow you to turn off and on playfield blocks only allow 2 sprites - one of which is your player.  So, how to represent additional enemies, loose ores, etc.. becomes a challenge.  Physics is an interesting challenge too.  You'd have to think about how falling blocks would work.  There is very limited CPU time on the 2600.  Your game engine would have to simulate gravity for every block while not slowing down the game or causing the screen to roll.

     

    I have made a list of BASIC or BASIC-like languages for various systems that would be easier to deal with including the 7800, Intellivision, Sega Genesis and Atari Jaguar.  Maybe starting with a more compatible platform and working your way "down" to the 2600 would be the way to go.

     

     

    • Thanks 1

  22. Posted

    The NES could "cheat" and get tons of enemies on-screen by making them part of the background tiles.  Plus, the NES had hardware cheats in the MMC chips on the cart for scrolling.

     

    The 7800 would have to do 4 ways scrolling in software.  Also, I'm not sure how many objects it can handle at a time.  Probably more than a few.. but, more than NES cheaty Gauntlet?

     

    Would be interesting.

  24. Posted

    7 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

     

    Maybe I'm reading that wrong, but only a few games are working for you?  I'm using the beta dated 3.11.21, and it's been amazing with everything I've tried to run on it.  I'm sure there are some that likely won't work, but I've spent a few hours hopping between games of all sorts -- retail releases, homebrews, and hacks -- and they've all been great.  If you're using an older version, may be worth grabbing a newer one and giving it a shot.

     

    I am really bad at finding updated cores even when using the update all script.  Got a link to that 7800 core?

     

    Also, what will be the link to bookmark for the new core discussed here?

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