Gemintronic

Is there no bridge warp into the yellow castle? You know, hang the bridge off the top or bottom of a screen and go through the wall.

sdata would be very cool as VisualbB uses it for music. It seems game assets are the focus of 256k support so it would fit in with that theme.

I use vblank in Uppa Creek! rem vblank Section vblank if in_game = true then pfscroll down return I could see it being used as kind of a "hypervisor" running in conjunction with the main loop.

I didn't mention anything but I think I encountered that with my "4 Way Scrolling Platform Engine" example. Sadly, I just worked around it and forgot about it 'till now

Yes! Please continue! Though I don't think you need and actual sprite collision with Donkey Kong. Just some x/y bounds check would do. The only flickering that bothers me is when the player flickers. Can pretty much ignore the rest.

I hope this goes for plain old data statements too. I could see making game interpreter code that would crunch through data statement "instructions" placed in that wonderful 256k area. Otherwise I could make do with "code playfields" using the playfield pixels as data for the game. Not very elegant though.

I think back then low production runs and store selection made things rare. When Nintendo came around the popular games were "rare" due to every kid on the block lining up for Super Mario Bros 2. Now games are rare because they're in "off" genres such as RPGs or shoot-em-ups. Not fun trying to find a retail copy of Chaos Wars.

Someone should make a feature request to the Grand Batari Master himself. Wriggling or being able to offset sprite graphics would be cool. I could see creating a vertical sheet of enemy graphics and offsetting the values so they appear to be separate objects. In some cases that trick could be used instead of the multi-sprite kernel.

The new life display is great! It's kinda one of those things most players expect. And, yes, when I'm home, tipsy and playing Atari it IS hard to count 0-3. You ever consider wrasslin' with VisualbB's music editor? People don't expect it in an Atari 2600 game but it's always cool. 'Specially in a title screen.

I remember games like Dragon Wars for the PC had story text in the manual. I suppose this was for 2 reasons: 1. Storage space constraints. 2. Pirated copies don't come with manual. With homebrew the second concern doesn't really count. Although a real manual with a function besides instructions may add value to the game. Any thoughts regarding in-manual flavortext? Is it a valid technique for storage/graphics limited systems?

Could you throw in a copy of NES ROM Maker?

I'm on a big prune juice kick so Passthrough keeps sounding better and better! I never commented on how the gem stone really added to the game. Er, well, now I am! Just like the title of the game keeping it simple is the key. Passthrough for the win!

Some RPGs for other systems used the manual for flavortext like the PCs Dragon Wars. I could see where this technique would be useful in storage constrained systems such as the 2600. Might add value to owning the game over a ROM. Any thoughts about games that make you refer to the manual for flavortext?

have you tried the contact information in his domain name information? http://www.networksolutions.com/whois-search/mobilebasic.com Not meant to be a complete answer but maybe a lead. This might also be the same person http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?forumID=231&threadID=502219&messageID=1534122#1534122

This really needed to be done. Great work as always RT. Maybe I can modify Drunken Pooper to really have a high score now!

I wish I was better at that. It's hard to explain what I did when I don't know what I did. I have no idea what I'm doing. I just keep messing around until it works. If you don't know how or why it works, how do you explain it? You can't I remember coding a 4 way scrolling engine in QuickBASIC as a teen. Plain old MODE 13 in QB didn't have a backbuffer. I changed the palette around so that half the colors were black and then XOR'ed the playable area to the top-left hand side of the screen. It was slow. It wasted screen real estate. And a month later I had no clue as to how I did it! Coding, writing and drawing are all things I do as I go. It's been a real challenge to remember comments and detailing how my functions work.

That gives me an idea..... I'd like to hear the idea. Atari Joe was the man to know for classic gaming hints. He had 2600 tips for 2600 addicts and these I couldn't miss: "Son, don't Riverraid while drinking rum" "Don't Breakout the Bicardi too" "if you get Astrosmashed it's asteriods you'll spew!" I never learned hence the shag got burned with sticky cartdridges all across the room Listen to Atari Joe or it could happen to you!

All this is weird because I bought Intellivision Lives! for the PS2 from them.

I guess this is where hard-to-find and rarity have differences. Rarity also adds collector demand into the equation. I'm not sure if there is much. The one man I could think of that would know is the awesome developer newcoleco. Disclaimer: Not saying the ADAM isn't 'bout it 'bout it. It's been in my DO WANT list since I was an early teen

The controls/jumping are much improved! The arrows are a VERY nice touch. I think an important aspect of Atari games is the pick-up-and-play factor. With indicators like the arrow this game improved that factor exponentially. Jumping and physics always seems to be a sticking point in all the Batari examples I've seen. If you can't share the source code could you whip up a stripped version with just yer awesome jumping code? I'd really like to learn how you got it so smooth. P.S. The label rocks too! Claymation for the win!

Well, if xg4bx thinks it's gonna happen I'll chip away at my cynicism. But, I think the second articles first sentence pretty much sums it up:

Arcades were for pizza parties. There's nothing like sitting in front of a PC with a paper notebook writing down hex combinations that gave you better items in Eye of the Beholder. ..er, except having a life that is

I don't think it's about the original topic anymore. Now it's something about the f-bomb and annoying Mili by bumping this topic.. ..uh oh.. I think I just did that.. DONT HURT ME MILI!!! *runs from room*

I haven't had a manual since Windows 3.0. They're good stuff from what I hear. Actually, the Super Mario Brothers manual had many little tidbits I completely missed just playing the game. I'll keep an eye out at Flea Markets for ya.

Looks like the arcade Tron combined with the baddies from Maze-A-Tron.