retroclouds

It seems we (the TI-99/4A programming subforum) are the only ones left in the programming section. Feels a bit lonely know. As a homebrew programmer I hang out most of the time in the programming sections. I liked checking out what happened in the other programming subforums to tune in on the latests replies. Now it only says "redirected hits: xxx". Question: is it possible to have muliple "entry" points to a subforum and still show their lates replies ? Doing so would be like having best of both worlds. Example: have the colecovision and Atari programming subforums appear where they were before and additionally in their new place. Still we are very, very happy we finally have a little spot at Atariage. It is really boosting the TI community. So again, big thanks for that.

On a sidenote: most of the resources mentioned in the turorial can be found in the development resources sticky thread (except for the TMS9900 Data Manual PDF and miller graphics "The Smart Programmer" publications)

Excellent, excellent stuff Matthew! Very well written as well. We should add this to the development resources sticky thread (tutorial section) and ninerpedia. This will assure it doesn't get overseen too easily when new threads appear. I'm hoping this kind of information (<plug on>including my commented Pitfall source code & SPECTRA game library</plug off>) will get more people to program assembly language on the TI-99/4A Hoping to see more quality tutorial material from you

I've got the Pitfall Cartridge !! , i'm very happy very very happy !! , it's a good work for this game... now you can start to work for a new project while will ship all cartridges remaining ! ... ... i would want create the Manual... i will try... Thanks for all... Ciro. Hi Ciro! its good to hear you have received the cartridges. Good luck with the manual! Yes, the next conversion will be something special I started working on it last week; it is not Time Pilot, because Time Pilot will need some extra memory on the PCB and we do not have such PCBs' yet. Hint: a long long time ago in Egypt there was a .... retroclouds

That is correct, winners will be announced on February 28th

I'll be getting myself some boards, they are of excellent quality and don't forget a cartridge case is included

I like the screenshot! Very nice :thumbsup:

This game is fun! This is the first time I was looking forward playing a game that doesn't run on a TMS9918 (I'm a TI & coleco fan). I'm not disappointed, the scrolling is so cool. ok, not knowing anything about the 7800 and its limitations: 1) Would it be possible to add a moving enemy object, like lets' say a snail or ant ? 2) Put in a timer ? After playing the 2nd time I was able to put in a high score, but I could not finish entering my initials. I thought that I could finish by pressing 'X', but that didn't work. Sorry I don't know the ProSystem emulator that well, so I'm probably doing something wrong. Excellent stuff, I love the graphics and gameplay

Today is a special day for me. I'm releasing both the binaries and source code for my remake of Pitfall! for the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A. This is revision B, which runs on a bare console without 32K memory expansion. Binaries pitfall_rev_b.zip Source code pitfall_rev_b_source.zip The source code is fully documented and includes instructions on how to assemble the game. I'm hoping it's showing how much fun programming TMS9900 assembly language can be. If you like this, you also may want to checkout my SPECTRA arcade game library. Enjoy

Yeah, it would be great to be able to buy cartridge PCB's when you need them. But I'm already very glad that Jon is organizing a group buy. Unfortunatly he hasn't found anyone yet who is willing to handle shipping/payment. The TI community definitly is in need for a publisher. I'd say that the game should be fully ready by the end of August. Debugging and testing does take a considerable amount of time. Unfortunatly for me its also hard to give a reliable target date estimation. Work is keeping me busy and as it pays all my bills it has to be my top-priority I wish I could spend more time on game development. Anyway, enough serious stuff now. I do am looking forward doing this conversion and we'll manage it somehow

Owen I guess that depends if we would be adding some kind of RLE compression on the graphics. However with todays' possibilities I would go for a 16K ROM image: 1 bank for game code 1 bank for graphics and sound Bank switching is not that hard, nor evil The problem I had while doing Pitfall revision B was that I had to add bank-switching to an existing assembly source. We won't have that issue when working on HR. We can write the code with bank-switching and 256 scratch-pad memory limit in mind starting from day 1. Have you considered getting some new cartridge PCB's from Jon ? You will be needing some and don't know if they will still be around after the group buy

Owen, don't forget we are gonna do a pure assembly version of Honeycomb Rapture. We won't have any garbage collection issues there Hey, happy birthday man! It's good to have you in the TI community

ok, this morning a bunch of cartridges got shipped. I now still have about half of the first batch, not bad at all The cartridges still there aren't yet paid for or I didn't receive an answer at all. If you are on the preorder list for the first batch and haven't responded then please do so. If I don't get a response by Tuesday, I'll have to hand over your reserved cartridge to the ones next-up on the wait list

oh, I know a couple of people that have been very busy for the competition lately.... ... it might be wise to take a break from programming for a few days and let everything settle a bit Excellent work guys, congratulations on a job well done!!!

Back to the Retroclouds Game Programming Competition; it's officially closed For the first game programming competition exclusively for the TI-99/4A I can say it was a success. Next task up for me is to evaluate the entries. I won't do that all by myself. I'll be setting up a poll (and perhaps leave myself a master vote ) Please give me some time, work is just plain crazy these days and this evening I have been preparing the shipping of plenty of Pitfall cartridges. Anyway, thank you to all that took part in the competition! Long live the TI !!! More to follow.

I'm definitly gonna try out your Atari 7800 Worm! game. Is that a scrolling game ? Would be cool to do a conversion for the TI, even though the TMS9918 Video Display Processor is not known for its scrolling capabilities Any plans on doing a conversion ?

I'm hoping to get a binary out this week then everybody can play it. Personally speaking I hate youtube's policies so you'll never find any videos on there done by me. Thanks I'm looking forward to that. I'll have to check how to get an Atari 7800 emulator running. Will try with MESS. Never owned an Atari so that will be fun

The competition is going to end at midnight (US time instead of CET), use the extra time for getting some sleep people

The screenshots look really cool! Any chance we can see a youtube video of this game in action ?

The first bunch of cartridges will be shipped this week. Most likely on Wednesday

Deadline is coming along at warp speed.... As of now we still have about 28 hours to go. Too bad the Destroyer entry has been cancelled, but the other ones are still going strong. Will we be in for a surprise ? Let's find out tomorrow. Even though the competition is not yet over, I want to take the opportunity to thank all competitors. It's a joy to check the TI-99/4A programming subsection and read about the progress being made. We are almost there people

A very clear and precise instruction manual :thumbsup:

wow, thanks. Working together with Armchair Arcade. That would be so cool. I would like to get back to you via PM early next week as soon as I have some stuff sorted out. These really are exciting homebrew times

Thank you Owen, appeciate it a lot

Yes sir, I certainly will And not just me, I want to set up a poll where people can vote the games they like best. Remember: it's all about getting some publicity for the TI homebrew scene. Ofcourse I do consider getting myself a master vote