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Gemintronic

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Posts posted by Gemintronic

  1. Posted

    I personally didn't get the reference when I saw the F bomb. I didn't mind it much. Kind of out of context though. I don't usually think profanity and Pole Position II go together. Regardless, George Carlin is attributed as saying "I think it's the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately."

     

    My company tried requiring flash on their front page and got plenty of complaints. Especially when it crashed peoples web browser. Flash websites just aren't a great idea.

    • Like 2

  2. Posted · Edited by theloon

    ..Now what is easier, making a 2600 game or making some souped up peace of software that helps you make the games? Because we'll do the easy thing first.

     

    He speaks the truth! Our 69th President Samuel Adams said:

     

    "we choose to go do the Moon Patrol in this decade and port to the other consoles, not because they are hard, but because they are easy"

     

    peace of software and Goodwill to Clothes,

    theloon

    • Like 1

  3. Posted · Edited by theloon

    @EricDeLee: I think certain people have proven the usefulness of the ignore button. Might be time to use it! I don't want people distracting you from your playthrough! Please, continue (when you feel like it) :)

     

    The prototypes I've seen out in the wild have all been unplayable. I'm enjoying both the progress made since the protos I've and your experiences with EOB. I can't relive my first playthrough but I can enjoy your fresh perspective on the game :)

     

    In retrospect I spent more time learning the save game format and hacking it then I would have just grinding!

  5. Posted · Edited by theloon

    Well, it sounds like you like to expand/pimp your systems. C64 has many more options like the SuperCPU and IDE adapters. You can even run GUI multitasking operating systems like WiNGs or Contiki.

     

    Not gonna be able to upgrade that ADAM much more. I say it gets demoted :)

  9. Posted · Edited by theloon

    I think PS1 is where modern gaming starts. Gobs of storage. 3D graphics. More "adult" themes.

     

    It's the easiest to rip too. I could imagine collecting so I could rip every game to a dedicated PC and play Gran Turisimo 2, Tekken 3 and Final Fantasy 9 at leisure.

  10. Posted

    I get what the OP is feeling there. However, like some of us, DOS is very much part of our workday. I make autoit scripts that use command line tools. I run batch files to auto-install apps. Heck, I even tell green end-users to:

     

    IPCONFIG /RELEASE

    IPCONFIG /RENEW

     

    almost every day.

  12. Posted

    I understand the whole chicken/egg dilemma. From an end-users perspective it's like buying hardware without a definite software reason. I got the gear, where's the games?

     

    Intentions to support the scene and techno-lust can also be defeated by paying for mortgages, cars, kids and, er, 7800 carts :)

     

    Suggestion #1: Make sure a complete, easy to set up toolchain is available for the 7800 and your peripheral. If I knew I could program for this baby on day one I'd have a reason (besides somebody else's games) to buy. Of course, bB for the 7800 is a pipe dream but we're all dreamers here, right?

     

    Suggestion #2: This one would really seal the deal for me. Make some of the advantages work for the 2600 and BatariBASIC. If not RAM then at least save game/score support. Post inline assembly or a module to work with BatariBASIC and 2600 assembly.

  13. Posted

    While trolling through the source files in this topic: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/148427-vertical-scrolling-through-a-playfield-that-wont-fit-the-screen/page__hl__defaultbasbin I noticed a command/variable/something called playfieldpos being used.

     

    RT's command reference barely references it but it seems critical in the playfield scrolling examples I've seen in the linked topic.

     

    Anyone have any clue what playfieldpos is and does? How it works?

  14. Posted

    I don't want to start a new topic for every little question I have, so I'll ask the minor ones in here.

     

    Could someone explain to me how to put music and a title screen together? I have the .bas file for the music and I have the code for the playfield (title screen). How do I put them together? A tutorial on this would be nice if there is one out there.

     

    Also, how would you go about putting in a command to get out of the title screen?

     

    A tutorial on title screens would be really nice.

     

     

    As a start I'd make music with the Music and Sound Editor and then use CREATE .BAS to make a template for my game. You can add your title screen to music.bas and the rest of your game. I personally merge the code from music.bas to my main program manually which can be a pain.

     

    I usually add a line in the title screen loop like:

     if joy0fire then goto main

    where main is the main routine of your game.

     

    The post for the VisualbB download also has these helpful links:

    http://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-batari-basic-vbb.html

    http://www.tinkernut.com/archives/1396

  15. Posted · Edited by theloon

    I don't comment in code because I'm lazy/sloppy. Descriptive variable and constant names are a must though.

     

    Batari BASIC kernel features are pretty much what the 2600 can do. However, assembly lets you make sacrifices for better features in another aspects of your game. Disclaimer: Born and raised BASIC/4GL programmer.

     

    It's your programming background that determines whether BASIC first or assembly first is better. Most people I know were raised on farm fresh MS Basic and worked "down" to assembly routines.

  17. Posted · Edited by theloon

    Remember to set the Region to NTSC before editing yer sprite. Otherwise the colors will be off when you drag-and-drop the sprite into your code.

     

    Also remember to SAVE ALL before dragging and dropping your sprite as the changes aren't applied until then.

  18. Posted · Edited by theloon

    Wow, that is awesome. It is so much better than mine. Would you mind posting the source?

     

    No prob. Actually, it's all eye candy. Your binary seems to have level/tile loading which is beyond me at the moment. I just wanted to show what the potential for side scrolling was. As RevEng noted there may be cycle issues and I couldn't get it to play on a 2600 emulator for PSP.

     

    I think how a side-scrolling engine would work is the level data is stored as strips of 8 vertical tiles. Each tile would be a 4x4 block of pixels (Assuming a 32x32 pixel playfield). When the player "moves" right the pfscroll left command would execute. Most of the screen looks to have scrolled but the last vertical line of pixels gets wrapped around and is now effectively garbage. We must draw over that wrapped line of pixels with a strip from our level data. We determine which strip to load and then further determine which line of pixels from the tiles to draw. Using pfpixel the routine should then draw that vertical line.

     

    As a side the rem'ed out lines are code I used to determine when I ran out of playfield data. The turtle like object between the pipes is actually just a leftmost pixel and rightmost pixel to demark the edges.

     

    The 

    rem if !pfread(15,26) then pfscroll right

    and 

    rem if !pfread(18, 26) then pfscroll left

    were commented out collision detection using playfield pixel reads instead of collision commands. Remember: the player is stationary but the playfield pixels move!

    sidescroll.bas

  19. Posted · Edited by theloon

    Sorry to post again but I think it's possible. This is a test without level data loading:

     

    While up-down scrolling is pixel perfect I think Batari BASIC can only do side scrolling a playfield pixel at time. Basically, pfscroll and then load each new tile column a vertical line of pixels at a time.

    sidescroll.bin

  21. Posted · Edited by theloon

    I asked a similar question in the Harmony cart topic and my interpretation is we can go so far as 32kSC. Batari (at the time) indicated DPC features are in the works for bB.

     

    Another thought is Batari BASIC has inline assembly support. If the Assembly Gurus have posted examples it might be possible to access 400k on the Harmony cart.

  23. Posted · Edited by theloon

    I hope you continue to challenge this, er, challenge! Side scrolling platforming would be awesome! I'm trying to scroll and clear the far side that's scrolling then add in the new blocks. Timing is a big deal and so far I've not got it right.

     

    UPDATE: Check out the code in this topic:

    http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/148427-vertical-scrolling-through-a-playfield-that-wont-fit-the-screen/page__hl__defaultbasbin

     

    It's smooth scrolling vertically but maybe the code can be modified for side-scrolling..!

  25. Posted · Edited by theloon

    I have a definite urge to collect homebrew ROMs as they allow me to enjoy classic gaming on the go via a Harmony cart, PSP, Dingoo, XBox, GBA, etc..

     

    Physical copies are a different story. With small runs collecting homebrew is not a game everyone can play or enjoy.

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