kamakazi

The 7800 did have a another set of controllers released for it. I'm not sure what they were called but they looked more like a Sega Master System controller with a little joystick. Awkward looking, but may be more comfortable. I liked the Pro-Line controllers myself other than the fact that they did cramp your hands after a while.

Nice work!!! I haven't played the game yet...but what I see I like! Good luck with the game. For now, I'm going to call your game Bug Raid...cause the character reminds me of a Spider and the blue bars could be jets of Raid. Just my opinion...sorry if it offends. I'm currently learning the 7800, and have never learned assembly until recently thanks to the thread on here. I'm used to Atari BASIC, but I've never programmed outside of BASIC or on anything other than an Atari 8-bit computer. Hope to find some people here to help me learn assembly. Again, nice game, good luck with it!

Just thought you guys here would like to know...I'm currently in the process of learning to program the 7800 so I can start producing games for it. I will be using actual Atari equipment (an Atari 520ST connected to a 7800 console) for development purposes so any program made will be put on an actual cart. I'm posting this cause I do need all the information I can get...like sample source codes for side-scrolling. My biggest problem is coming up with a game idea. I am going to need someone familar with assembly programming to take the time to teach me a few things. I've already read the Programming the 2600 forum on here and it has helped. But some things like getting text on the screen and other important game functions are absent and I don't know where to go to find this information. Any help that you can send my way will be greatly appreciated!! Any ideas you guys have on a game idea, send them along!! Suggested ideas were a pinball game, a good baseball game (the 7800 never got a good one), an RPG, basically something the 7800 never had. My first game though will be made from beginner's efforts so, I don't want to go overboard on my first attempt. I'm used to BASIC programming so assembly is a little overwhelming for me. I'm not asking for secrets, just a step in the right direction. Thanks in advance to all who respond and look forward to being a part of the Atari community once again.

For those getting into this...I ran across some great information about the 2600 on all aspects, including programming. Here's a sample file for you to load and look at. Please visit the website if you want more. I couldn't believe all of the information they had on just the workings of the 2600. Here's the website link for those wanting to learn more about the 2600: http://nocash.emubase.de/2k6specs.htm#technicaldata I found this information very interesting TIASpecs.txt

Well...I did some testing on my 2600 (Mine was the sixer) and the power supply wasn't supplying. Good thing I have extra's on hand! But that didn't work. I ran tests on all the major parts (mainly ICs). The weird thing is...as soon as I plug in different adapter...they are somehow being shorted out. I've had this happen before with my 800. I think that the 2600 suffered a power surge...as I usually don't keep these older consoles on a power surge protector. Leason well learned. Keep your Atari consoles on a power surge. And thanks for the link...I'll check it out. Too bad there's not a place that sells these new (mainly the 2600jr).

Thank you for that information. It's good to know that people are still out there willing to help others. On a sad note...my Atari 2600 finally died today. I've had since it was bought new for me on Christmas back in 1980. It hasn't had a scatch on it. Other than ebay and amazon...is there anywhere else I might could look to buy another one?

I may be new to 2600 and assembly...but I'm no newcomer to programming. I just like to try and keep instructions nice. This was taught to me in high school while learning BASIC and in college using COBOL. I know that I'm getting off the subject here, but I did create my first Atari 8-bit program on my 800. I tried submitting it to make my mark in Atari's history. They loved my game! But the guy (who was an ex-atari programmer) was supposed to try and add some "better" graphics...there's only so much you can do with BASIC in any form I guess. However, he became ill and may not be able to finish "our" program. My question is what equipment will I need to start producing my own carts for testing and final production. I would love to be able to continue supporting what it is that Atari Age is doing as well as some other websites. I can also say that, despite the 2600s prehistoric faults, the machine is actually quite impressive on how it handles code. A few more questions: Is there a free assembler editor (using windows notepad now)? And do you know where I could find a programming manual for the 2600? Thankx Andrew. When do we dig into the 5200 or 7800?

Man...now we are getting into some wierd stuff. I was editing my code to do the background solid colors and the bars in rainbow (dubbed kernel reversed). After compiling and running the code...i only got the rainbow on the left side of the screen and I don't know what I did... processor 6502 include "vcs.h" include "macro.h" ;--------------------------------------------------------------- PATTERN = $80 TIMETOCHANGE = 20 ;---------------------------------------------------------------- SEG ORG $F000 Reset ;Clear RAM and all TIA registers ldx #0 lda #0 Clear sta 0,x inx bne Clear ;---------------------------------------------------------------- ; Once-only initialization lda #0 sta PATTERN lda #$45 sta COLUPF ldy #0 ;---------------------------------------------------------------- StartOfFrame ; Start of vertical blank processing lda #0 sta VBLANK lda #2 sta VSYNC sta WSYNC sta WSYNC sta WSYNC ; 3 scanlines of VSYNC signal lda #0 sta VSYNC ; 37 scanlines of vertical blank... ldx #0 VerticalBlank sta WSYNC inx cpx #37 bne VerticalBlank ;-------------------------------------------------------------------- ;Handle a change in the pattern once every 20 frames ;and write the pattern to the PF1 register iny cpy #TIMETOCHANGE bne notyet ldy #0 inc PATTERN notyet lda PATTERN sta PF0 sta PF1 ;-------------------------------------------------------------------- ;-------------------------------------------------------------------- ; 192 scanlines of picture... ldx #$45 stx COLUBK ldx #0 Picture stx COLUPF SLEEP 40 lda #$45 sta COLUPF sta WSYNC inx cpx #242 bne Picture ;------------------------------------------------------------------- lda #%01000010 sta VBLANK ; end of screen - enter blanking ; 30 scanlines of overscan... ldx #0 Overscan sta WSYNC inx cpx #30 bne Overscan jmp StartOfFrame ORG $FFFA .word Reset ; NMI .word Reset ; RESET .word Reset ; IRQ END Help me understand what I did?

I am just loving this! I'm actually able to learn assembly after years of being stuck with BASIC...and it's for the 2600! If it's alright with Andrew...I might use this code in the start of my first game program for the 2600. I like it...it's clean. Also...would doing away with all of the spaces between lines in an assembly source code be ok...or are the spaces there for a reason? Can't wait to see how to do sprites and sounds! ON TO THE NEXT LESSON!

I know that I am a few years behind all of you...but this is awesome! I finally learned something about the 2600! I'd waste a EPROM just to see this work on an actual 2600. You're doing a great thing...i hope that others find this page. And I'm actually starting to understand assembly a little bit...and I'm a BASIC programmer Look forward to the other lessons.