disjaukifa

That link was very helpful . . . this is SO impressing . . . I forgot to set the color, so the ship was always there . . . it was just the same color as the backgroud. So YEAH thank you so much for all the information, I am noticed my code does not utlitze goto but so far that hasn't been an issue . . . . but that might change. Thank you so much for all your help!!!! -Disjaukifa

Ok I have attached my code. Here is how I define player1 without the multisprite kernel if hit=0 then player1 %00111100 %01000010 %10011001 %10011001 %10011001 %01000010 %00111100 end Then you can move it and do collision detection with it on the screen as well. When I do that for the set kernel multisprite I can seem to get player 1 to show up on the screen, HOWEVER I was just messing with it and I can hit player1 which is of screen sometimes I just noticed because my points counters goes up. I have attached the binary and source. Let me know what you think. I have posted my code as well, its kind of a mess but I have tried to label everything. What I don't understand is am I suppose to define player1 sprite with _NUZIS1? I have tried doing that and I get a syntax error. Thanks Disjaukifa multi_earth_invaders.bas.bin multi_earth_invaders.bas

I've never heard of that, just googled that and it looks like one very interesting system!!!! I've never seen it or heard of it before!!! I have to admit, I am supprised that now one has voted for the Sears Video Arcade 6 or 4 switcher. -Disjaukifa

Hey Guys, I thought I would give you an update on what I have. I'm also going to ask you which you think is better. However lets get to the what has been worked on! I now have my one enemy ship moving on the screen at about 1/3 the speed of the players ship, I also have damage being shown if you hit the enemy. Here are some screen shots: Really thats it . . . I thought it was more but its not. Now its your turn to help me decide what I should do. With this post I have attached 2 different bin files. One is with the cycling canons and the other is just a single center canon. The bin with the cycling canon has 1976 bytes left after I compile the code where as the single canon as 2336 bytes left. I like the cycling canons, I think its neat and it presents both an advantage and challenge to the player. However that being said it takes up an addition 400bytes of information which when you only have 4K to deal with is significant. Let me know what ya'll think. I am also doing research at the moment into using the multisprite kernel which will solve several problems, however I am having issues with it at the moment. I will post an update once I have more working!!! Thanks Disjaukifa earth_invaders.bin earth_invaders_1canon.bin

The symmetric thing is only for playfield data. The multisprite kernel doesn't use the same variables for player1 that the regular kernel does. You're probably not using the right variables... From RT's online copy of the bB guide: I just read up on that, and I think that is what my problem, however I can seem to get the code to compile, I changed my player1 to _NUSIZ1 and everywhere I use _NUSIZ1 it tells me its an unknown variable. I have the set kernel multisprite set, so am I just doing something blatantly wrong here? Thanks Disjaukifa

See all this good information, stuff you learn every day, its fantastic!!! Thanks for all your your replies keep them coming!!! -Disjaukifa

Hey if you get a chance please send me that code on how to flicker the image, I think it would be good to know regardless Hey I was just messing with that set kernel multisprite option and now I can't seem to get my player1 enemy ship to appear on the screen anymore. Do I have to put player1 symmetrically on the screen as well? Thanks Disjaukifa

Yup that is my thought as well. I have to admit, I want to get the rest of the game working first, animation, sound, and colors are going to be the last on my list because at that point I consider that just fine tuning and clean up of what you already have, the base game is ready to go. Other might argue otherwise, and there are valid points to both approaches but I like doing that kind of stuff last. However with the animation I might have to do it sooner, as I have a neat idea one what I am going to do with it . I'll put an update on tomorrow so that ya'll can see how Earth Invaders is coming along!!! Thanks for all the help and support!!! Disjaukifa

PM Sent Thanks Disjaukifa

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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: 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

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

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

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: 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

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