selling my collection

[selling my collection]

PM Sent

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa

[My Homebrew Game called Earth Invaders]

Unless this game is going to be HUGE, you should be fine at 4k. 2k is already taken up by the bb kernal, but the remaining 2k is usually plenty to work with.

 

AHHH ok see I didn't know that :!: That is really good to know, I wasn't planning on this game getting really massive, however I do want it to be a complete game meaning I want it to have decent animation, sound, graphics and game play, I don't want to make game that is all hyped up and then turns out to be nothing .

 

I could see this game taking 8K if just for the sound and animation that I have in my head, also I can see it for the final battle which I'm having a interesting idea for, but I'm not quite sure how its going to work yet or if its even possible (Yes I know the saying anything is possible, but the question isn't wether its possible, but wether I have the time, skill and patience to do it )

 

Honestly my goal is to make this game good enough to publish on a cartridge via the AtariAge Store once it comes back online . It has always been one of my dreams to design, code, and release a video game. I always thought it would be neat to say "Yeah I published a video game." Just one of the weird goals in my life.

 

Thanks again for all the tips and support, helps me to go back to vim and to continue coding!!!!

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa

[I need help, I'm a bit stuck at the moment]

Player0 and Player1 can be on the screen at the same time. There's no need to flicker it if you want only one ship.

I would go with the multisprite kernel on this if you want more than one. Just put in "set kernel multisprite" at the beginning at the program, then use players 2-5 as if they were players 1 and 0. Of course the playfield must be symmetrical, but you appear not to have any pfblocks in your program, so that doesn't matter.

 

Yeah I was reading about that, I might try tomorrow, I was hoping to have more than 5 enemy ships at one time but maybe I can modify their attributes so that they do not explode of the fire shot . . . . hmmm that is a really good idea atari2600land!!!!

 

Thanks for all your responses, its really helpful!

 

-Disjaukifa

[My Homebrew Game called Earth Invaders]

Hey,

 

Well its been about 7 hours since me last update and here is what I have been able to get in the last 7 hours . . . which I have to admit is not much, but I have spent most of the last 4ish hours playing games and taking a break, started to get a headache and had to walk away. However I am happy with what I have done in the last hour. I now have one enemy ship on the screen and I have collision detection working and the scoring now also goes up.

 

Turns out I could have saved myself a lot of time, debugging, and frustration if I had only left the missile to fire from one position but I am going to keep my cycling system and I think it is a fun and neat idea. Here are some screenshots of what has been done:

 

 

The score goes up a 100 points with each hit. Also I have attached the bin that you can play with in Stella.

 

My other concern as of now is I think I am going to have to upgrade this to either an 8K or possible 16K game . . . I really don't think I will need to go to 32K but you never know. I was hoping to avoid using banks on my first game, but adding the cycling canons has taken up a lot of space.

 

I am going to mess with the compiler setting tomorrow and some other ideas to see if I can reduce the size of the code. I am compiling the code now and it says I only have 2167 bytes left which I know is under 2K, and I have don't even have all the ships yet, levels, etc.

 

ANYWAYS let me know what you think, I not sure how long it will take me to develop this game, I thought it might only take a week or two but now I see it taking more around a month depending on my schedule and everything.

 

Thanks for the support!!!

-Disjaukifa

 

PS I have updated both list on what I have finished so far.

earth_invaders.bin

[I need help, I'm a bit stuck at the moment]

Or you could only use player0 for the player and player1 for the enemies and simply flicker it in different places as if you are using many sprites. I am doing that in a game I am working on and it works fine.

 

How exactly do you do that? I am about to post what I have in my other thread which I admit is not much, but considering I have only been doing this since friday, I am happy with it. What worried me is I think I am going to have to upgrade this program to a 8k, only have 2167 bytes of space left, which I know is 2K but still, I am a little concerned.

 

But I digress, can you send a me a code sample so I can see how its done?

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa

[What is your favorite Atari 2600 Console?]

Thanks to everyone that has replied!!!! Its interesting to see why people like the consoles they do!!! I have to admit I thought their would be more votes for the Darth Vader Atari . . . . guess I was wrong!!! I have found it interesting the comments about the Atari Jr. and the Sears Video Arcade II, those have been interesting!!!

 

Keep the votes coming!!!

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa

[I need help, I'm a bit stuck at the moment]

Hey Guys,

 

Hoping I can get some help here. I have been reading for hours and I can't figure out how to make enemy ships. I really could use a tutorial to help me out here. Also I keep seeing this about frames and I don't exactly understand them. If someone could give me a good tutorial or even a simple piece of code that showed how either works, I can not tell you how helpful that would be!!!!

 

I feel bad for starting a thread about this, but I have search this forum for the past two hours looking for the information I need and I just can't seem to find it!!!!

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa

[What is your favorite Atari 2600 Console?]

I voted for the Sears Video Arcade II, because I happen to have one of these interesting items in my collection. In the poll, you describe them as the "Sears version of Atari 2600 Jr." However, they'd be better described as the "Sears version of the Atari 2800 (the 2800 was only released in Japan)."

 

The 2800 case is actually very similar to the 7800.

 

Not that it really matters for the purpose of your poll...

 

Really??? Honestly I did not know that!!! Thanks for the information!!! Learn something new everyday!!! If an admin could update the poll that would be fanatistic, I just tried but it said I didn't have permission. I guess I should have add the Atari 2800 as well . . .

 

-Disjaukifa

[Are you going to buy a Harmony cart for the Atari 2600?]

I can't wait for the pre-order list for this to come out, I just sold some stuff so I have the money set aside for it!!!!! Hope it sells well this weekend!!!

 

-Disjaukifa

[What is your favorite Atari 2600 Console?]

Hey Guys,

 

Just wondering what everyone's favorite 2600 console. I didn't include the clones in the list or the Flashbacks because well there is a ton of clones and the flashbacks can't play original carts.

 

I would have to say my favorite would be the 2600 Heavy Sixer. I just seems the most durable and I just love how solid it feels.

 

Cosmetically I like the 2600 Jr, but I hate using, I always feel like I am going to snap it in half.

 

Lets hear what your favorite 2600 Console and why!!!

 

-Disjaukifa

[got a heavy sixer today]

ok so im playing halo demo for pc and the phone rings its my grand pa (i call him my paw paw dont laugh) and said he got a atari for me all he said was it said 1980 on the box (yes it came with the original box )and a coke crate plus a mini organ that belonged to the person that invented coke

and said he would bring it all tomorrow so the next day he brought the atari and to my suprise it was a heavy sixer it was just in a atari box that was from 1980 aperently the lady he bought it from had 2 2600's and got the boxs mixed up it also came with the original joystick that it came with back in 1977 and it had about 8 or 9 games nothing special i havent tested it yet i will tomorrow wean we get this part from radio shack and ill post pics then

 

Congradulations. I just restored my 2600 Heavy Sixer, its well worth taking apart, and cleaning it and Armor-All it really well and it looks great. Also it was nice to get ride of whatever was growing inside of it.

 

Enjoy your Atari 2600!!!

 

-Disjaukifa

[What brought you "back" to your Atari 2600?]

I had for my first Atari 2600 in high school (I think it was 2000 when I got the 2600) because I started to get into vintage technology and games. I got a Darth Vader Edition Atari 2600 with Breakout and Pac-man, I liked it put I was in high school and poor so it got backed away in a box.

 

Then two weekends ago I was out yard selling with my mother in law (Queen of yard sale, plus DC area is just a great place to look) and I ran across an Atari 2600 4 Switch, Atari 2600 Heavy Sixer, Atari 2600 Jr, and about 25 games. The entire lot was nasty, it looked like it had been storied in the attic . . . of the garage. I asked how much the guy wanted and he said "ehh how about 20 bucks?" And I said no thank you, All of it was so nasty that I wasn't going to pay that much for it.

 

Well they had a bunch of other stuff there cloths wise and we were there about an hour at which time it was almost 12:30. I was loading the stuff we had bought into the car when the guy said "Are you sure you don't want those Atari 2600 set" and I said "Well sure but I doubt they work". The guy looked really hard at the box with all the dusty and cob web filed Atari stuff and then looked at me and said "Would you pay 5 bucks for it?"

 

Well I said sure, I figure for 5 bucks, even if 50% of the stuff in the box was broken it would still be a great deal.

 

As it turned out everything worked except one game that no matter what I do I can get it working. I'm stilling trying to find my Darth Vader Atari 2600 and then I will have a heck of a collection, 2600 Heavy Sixer, 2600 4 Buttons, Darth Vader 2600, and an Atari 2600 Jr.

 

Well I found this website a little over a week ago and now I am trying to program my first homebrew for the Atari 2600 and I am having so much fun doing it!!!!

 

-Disjaukifa

[My Homebrew Game called Earth Invaders]

You probably want to read up on using the NUSIZ0/NUSIZ1 registers for player sizes and multiple copies to have more enemies on screen at the same time.

 

Hey thanks for the suggestions!!! I am going to start reading about NUSIZ0/NUSIZ1 registers!!! Also because of your earlier suggestion I have revised my list, the first list is still valid but this list needs to be completed first before I revert to the list above:

 

1. Player's Ship
   
   • Design Ship (Possibly Done)
     
   • Add Movement (Done)
     
   • Add Defense Status
     
   • Add Player Lives
     
   • Add Weapons (Possibly Done)
     

[*]Weapons

• Implement Missiles (Work in Progress)
  
• Set Missile Speed (Work in Progress)
  
• Set Missile Color (Done)
  
• Set Missile Height (Done)
  
• Set Missile Damage (Work in Progress)
  

[*]Enemy Vessels

• Design Enemy Ships (Work in Progress)
  
• Add Movement (Work in Progress)
  
• Add Weapons
  

[*]Collision

• Detect Missile Collision with Enemy Vessel (Work in Progress)
  
• Detect Collision with Player's Ship
  
• Detect Collision of Enemy's and Player's Vessels
  

[*]Scoring

• Determine scoring values
  
• Add scoring upon collision to enemy vessel (Work in Progress)
  

[*]Levels

• Design Arrangment of Enemy Vessels
  

 

AHHHHH ok, well back to reading batari Basic Commands this site has been become my bible for so far for Atari 2600 programming.

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa

[My Homebrew Game called Earth Invaders]

Personally I'd concentrate on getting the game going before adding title screens and the like. Things like that take up space that you may need later for tweaking the game play.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I think I will do that then, I'm trying to figure out how to make enemy ships, but I have yet to find a good tutorial that gives good examples . . . I would love to figure out today how to make enemy ships, place them on the screen and setup collision defection with the missile so that they would explode!!!! But being so new at this language not completely sure what I am doing .

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I think I am going to just focus on the rest of the game first!

 

-Disjaukifa

[My Homebrew Game called Earth Invaders]

Hey,

 

Well I have made some progress this afternoon. I am happy to say that I have made major headway with the firing of the missiles. Here are some screen shots:

 

 

 

The ship is going to constantly cyclin between 3 canons in Earth Invaders starting with the center canon, then the left wing canon, and then to the right wing engine and the cycles starts all over again. I have attached the binary as well below:

 

earth_invaders.bin

 

I also fixed a minor error/glitch that was happening with the missile in the first binary I had posted.

 

I hope to have a title screen for my next post . . . not the final title screen but a working title screen.

 

Let me know what you think. I hoping to have enemy ships by much later tonight/tomorrow.

 

EDIT: If anyone know a good tutorial on where I can find information about making enemy ships and posting them the screen that would be very helpful!!!! The only thing I can think of is using player1 but I can only put one of them on the screen at a time.

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa

[My Homebrew Game called Earth Invaders]

Ok,

 

This post to going to attempt to list out all my goals and objectives I want to complete for me to consider Earth Invaders to be finished. I know that it might be possible to make all the objectives but its good to have a list to start with. Even with the little work I have done has been somewhat aggravating mostly because I didn't have a focus list of goals so I was just programming wildly which is good for some and bad for other. For me its the later. Ok here is the list. More than likely this list will be revised several times:

 

1. Title Screen
   
   • Add Title Screen Image
     
   • Add Title Screen Sound
     

[*]Player's Ship

• Design Ship (Possibly Done)
  
• Animate Ship
  
• Add Movement (Done)
  
• Add Defense Status
  
• Add Player Lives
  
• Add Weapons (Possibly Done)
  
• Add Sounds
  

[*]Weapons

• Implement Missiles (Work in Progress)
  
• Set Missile Speed (Work in Progress)
  
• Set Missile Color (Done)
  
• Set Missile Height (Done)
  
• Set Missile Damage (Work in Progress)
  

[*]Enemy Vessels

• Design Enemy Ships (Work in Progress)
  
• Animate Enemy Ships (Work in Progress)
  
• Add Movement (Work in Progress)
  
• Add Weapons
  
• Add Sounds
  

[*]Collision

• Detect Missile Collision with Enemy Vessel (Work in Progress)
  
• Detect Collision with Player's Ship
  
• Detect Collision of Enemy's and Player's Vessels
  
• Add Collision Sounds
  

[*]Scoring

• Determine scoring values (Work in Progress)
  
• Add scoring upon collision to enemy vessel (Work in Progress)
  
• Add life depending on Enemy Vessels Destroyed
  
• Subtract score to regain lost life
  

[*]Levels

• Design Arrangment of Enemy Vessels
  

[*]Atari Switch Controls

• Add TV Type Functionality
  
• Add Left Player Difficulty Functionality
  
• Add Game Select Functionality
  
• Add Game Reset Functionality (Possibly Done)
  

 

As I work on items on this list I will mark them as (Done), (Possibly Done), and (Work in Progress).

 

Well that is everything I can think of for the moment, I am sure this list will be revised however I think that is a good start, if anyone has ideas for the list please let me know!!!! Well back to the programming!!! I'll keep ya'll updated!!!

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa

[My Homebrew Game called Earth Invaders]

Don't forget to include screenshots as you go along. Some of us don't develop for your platform of choice but still like to see what your game looks like.

 

Thanks for that info, I didn't think of adding screen shots Here are some screenshots. Again this is the very basic, I haven't gotten a a lot done, and this is my first game in basic.

 

 

-Disjaukifa

[My Homebrew Game called Earth Invaders]

Hey Guys,

 

I am working on a Galaxian/Space Invaders game which I am hoping to improve on some aspects of both games. I thought I would start a thread to kind of show my work in progress. First let me say I am VERY new to Atari 2600 programming and Batari Basic. Also I am a Mac user, so I am not able to use a lot of neat tools that seem to be available for windows which is fine by me. I am working almost purely in terminal with vim as my editor.

 

I have attached what I have so far. I am trying to figure out how feasible it will be to program my ship to fire two missiles at the same time, I think it will be easily done with missile0 and missile1 but I am not to that stage yet. I literally just got the first missile to fire correctly (Took me the better part of the last 3 hours . . . stupid || instead of && ) I'm really happy with what I have so far, I have a lot to add to get this game finished, but I am enjoying almost every minute of it.

 

I have attached the binary!!! I know this is not much but for 4 hours of work in a language and system I have never programmed for before I am very pleased with what I have accomplished!!!! Seeing as its almost 3am I am going to log off. Tomorrow I am going to list my goals/objectives I want to complete in this game!!!

 

Thanks guys

Disjaukifa

earth_invaders.bin

[Code Snippets & Samples for bB Beginners]

I know this is probably going to be complicated, but I am making a Galxian/Space Invaders game called Earth Invaders, and I have my ship, I have the play field, I have the missile . . . well I don't have the missile working yet but hope to soon.

 

Here is what I have yet to figure out, how exactly do I make the enemys??? Also if someone could send me a link that explains frames that would be helpful!!!!

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa

[Homebrew supply questions]

 

 

EDIT2: It may be possible to buy a "Homebrew kit" consisting of a Melody programmer and a number of Melody carts (say, 10 minimum) or some Melody carts separately (again, with a minimum.) This way you could build your own carts without an EPROM programmer or even a soldering iron. I have not decided if "blank" Melody carts will be available to everyone, or just trusted individuals (we don't want people selling others' homebrews without permission!)

Would this work with 2K games, 4K games, and 8K games? In other words, does it matter what size the games are?

 

From reading all the information I can, you would want to get the Harmony but yes the Melody/Harmony can play all the Atari games up to 32K, please correct me if I am wrong Batari!!!

 

OH Batari you have selling a Homebrew Kit I think it would be a good idea if the buyer(the developer) could show you the homebrew they want to sell (IE just send you the .bin and the .bas file)

 

Also make it so they have to agree to something, etc. I still see what you are saying and I am glad you have the interest of the developers at hand!!!!

 

I love this place!!!

 

EDIT 1: Hey Batari if I buy a ticket to Portland can you pick me up so I can buy a Harmony !! HAHAHAH joking!

 

-Disjaukifa

[Making Galaxian Clone with Batari Basic]

Well I have thought has a name, I would have used Space Nugget Random Terrian but that name has already been used. I was thinking about naming the game Earth Invaders. I like the name its generic and it says what the game is. I am still working on several things before I post anything I have done.

 

Got a question for ya'll. I was thinking about making it the paddles instead of the joystick. What do ya'll think would be better? Joystick or paddles?

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa

[Homebrew supply questions]

Batari,

 

I just realized my second edited sounded a bit condescending but its not. What you have been able to engineer is short of remarkable!!!! I'm just one of the people that likes to ticker with stuff so when I get into a situation where its get something that does what I need or I have the option to build and make it myself . . . . I have a difficult choice because I love to tinker!!!!

 

BTW I have a feeling the Harmony is going to sell out very quickly in Portland!!!!

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa

[Homebrew supply questions]

And if people are wondering why I don't just get the Starpath Supercharger/Cuttle Cart/Harmony Cartridge the reason is I just don't think it would be the same. There is nothing like testing software(games for here) on the actually hardware it will run on, that is the best way to test the code.

Then you don't quite understand what the Harmony cart is - you can develop on Harmony and release a cart on the same hardware. This homebrew hardware is a stripped-down Harmony, called Melody. It will be mass-produced so the price will be competitive with EPROM carts.

 

EDIT: Oops, Nathan addressed this already.

 

Anyway... Mass-produced Melody carts will be available in a couple of months.

 

EDIT2: It may be possible to buy a "Homebrew kit" consisting of a Melody programmer and a number of Melody carts (say, 10 minimum) or some Melody carts separately (again, with a minimum.) This way you could build your own carts without an EPROM programmer or even a soldering iron. I have not decided if "blank" Melody carts will be available to everyone, or just trusted individuals (we don't want people selling others' homebrews without permission!)

 

AHHHHHH ok I was missing that connection there!!!! I didn't realize that Melody was a stripped down low cost cartridge that homebrews were going to be sold through my guess would be the AtariAge store once it comes back online?

 

I am new to the Homebrew community so please forgive my mis-understanding of how the Harmony/Melody work, I just joined a couple of days ago and have been reading information like crazy and its beginning to get all jumbled in my head.

 

So let me see if I understand everything correctly. The Harmony cart is going to be a Developers Cartridge for the 2600 that will allow several nice features which I won't list here to let the dev test their code (presumably games) on a real Atari 2600.

 

Once they are done with dev and want to publish the Cartridge, the dev will somehow be able to contact I presume you or albert or whoever to get them to setup their program (again more than likely game) to be sold as a homebrew on this website. The Homebrew version would be published on a Melody Cartridge which is a stripped down version of the Harmony cart and is aimed at competing with the price of the EPROM carts, however the Melody has more features that allow for more complex programs to be written for it without the need for special hardware.

 

Did I get that correct?

 

EDIT 1: Hey Batari, after the show on Sunday, how will we get our names on the list and how soon do you think we will be able to get the Dev Cartridge??? Also do you have an idea on what the price might be for pre-order list? I have heard its over 100+ units at this point.

 

Wish there was a way I could buy one from you on the 20th but seeing as I am in Virginia I don't think that is going to happen . .

 

EDIT 2: I still thinking about doing the EPROM as I think it would be fun, I like doing stuff like that and it just sounds interesting. I know where I can get the EPROMS and I now where I can get the Programmer as well. Found out I need to cough up a little more money for a pure usb model seeing as I don't have a computer that comes with a Parallel port and all my computers are laptops . . .

 

Still don't know yet if I want to go the Harmony route or the EPROM . . . I guess it depends on cost, I can understand the cost behind the Harmony, I'm not saying its unfair, I think its a very fair price, however I can get the EPROMS, a Socketed 4K PCB board and the Burner for the same price as the Harmony . . . its really a toss up.

 

It would be nice to package and make all the cartridges myself (again I just enjoy stuff like that) but the Harmony sounds like a fantastic device. I not sure what I am going to do at this point . . .

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa

[Homebrew supply questions]

I made a release last year (20 carts). I used 8bitclassics for the labels, the eproms from above, and I got the boards from someone here. I enjoyed programming the eproms and soldering them myself.

 

If you want manuals, Albert is probably be the one to go to. If 8bitclassics does manuals, let me know . I sent an advertisement page (that is what I called it) with my cartridge since I could not make manuals myself. If you need help pm me.

 

Just out of curiosity what EPROM Programmer do you have? I'm looking into multiple ones that are all under 60 bucks, not looking to spend alot of money on a programmer seeing as I just want to program for the Atari 2600. Also were you able to sell all 20 copies of your game and how much did you sell it for?

[Homebrew supply questions]

And if people are wondering why I don't just get the Starpath Supercharger/Cuttle Cart/Harmony Cartridge the reason is I just don't think it would be the same. There is nothing like testing software(games for here) on the actually hardware it will run on, that is the best way to test the code.

Actually, the Harmony cart hardware is identical to the forthcoming Melody cart, which will be used for producing homebrews at AtariAge. Effectively, you would be running on the same hardware.

 

However the Harmony comes out on the September 20th . . . . and only in what Oregan and I can't seem to find the official order list??? If you could point me too it that would be great.

 

This is something else I have been wondering, if I make a homebrew game and want to sell on AtariAge how exactly does that work???

 

Part of me wants to go the EPROM route and make the board myself with parts from 8bitclassics.com and do the labels and everything myself, i think it would be fun.

 

Thanks

Disjaukifa