freshbrood

Thank you for your help. Is is possible to use player0pointerlo=frame60lo:player0pointerhi=frame60hi:player0height=16 in the DPC+ ? I think that may have something to do with it. If so, what position/banks do you put your data tables/graphics/playfield? Thanks again

When I assemble my code using setromsize 32k with 8 banks, it works just fine. But when I replace setromsize 32k with set kernel DPC+ and reduce it to 6 banks, It just gives an error and refuses to assemble. Can someone tell me why?

Extra Vertical Lines using left over 4bytes of memory on each side of screen? I recall reading somewhere a while back, that there is a tiny bit of memory leftover after startup that allows you to get 2 vertical lines on each side of the screen. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? And if so, would you please tell me how? I know it was something very, very simple.. but I just can't remember. Thanks.

Well, I noticed you have a few frames of death animation. I don't think it would detract from the game at all if you were to eliminate those to free up a bit more memory in the main, and perhaps use that extra space to add some kind of projectile to demons. (or lobbers, which could be the elf differently colored) What if every other demon you hit changed into a missile? For example, there's a 1 in 4 chance that instead of dying, the demon sprite would change into a missile sprite, greatly increase it's velocity towards the player, then disappear when it arrives at or near the player, either taking a tiny amount of health, or none at all (miss) if the player is more than a certain distance from the target square by the time the missile arrives. -or- Once the spawner created a certain number of demons (10?) every 11th one becomes a missile that shoots towards your direction from the spawner. Then the player would be challenged to keep the number of demons lower or take out demon spawners because of the extra projectile threat. Being shot would indicate the direction of the spawner also. That might approximate the appearance/effect/feel of projectiles at least. Anyways, awesome job!

Can someone tell me why, when using vbasic to insert the dpc+ kernel, after each bank it says temp1 = temp1 ? What is the purpose of temp1 = temp1 after each bank?

Awesome. Do any of the demons or wizards shoot projectiles? I was thinking, if they don't, instead of 2 different food sprites- use just one for food, and the other sprite could be a "majic orb" (aka poison) that demons suddenly make appear near your character. This is sorta like a ranged attack. Not sure if you could squeeze that into the main loop, or think it's a good idea..

That did the trick, thank you! How can we stay updated on the latest versions of VisualBbasic?

C:\Users\FreshbroodsPCt\Downloads\batari_Basic_version_1.0 C:\Users\newport\Downloads\VisualbB_1.0_Build_554

Windows 7, 64bit. Visual Batari Basic will NOT save settings. This is driving me insane. Each and every time I start it, I get the "It looks like you are running VisualbB for the first time.. etc.." and I have to go through the config options again. BatariBasic is in it's own folder in DOWNLOADS VisualBatariBasic is in it's own folder in DOWNLOADS Stella installed in PROGRAM FILES I can properly set both paths, but the moment I close it then open it again, I need to reset everything. Also, when I try to test it in Stella, I get the Missing Binary "Could not locate default.bas.bin" message. Please help. What am I doing wrong?

I understand redundant, seemingly simple questions from noobs get annoying. Please bare with me. I can find many mentions of it, but no tutorials.. What is the simplest code I can use, starting with a completely blank .bin, to set the playfield blocks to their smallest size? Please tell me, what kernel if any this requires, how to implement it, and what lines of code to write. I cannot find a sample code anywhere.

Would someone please offer me some .bas examples of playfield resolutions? I can't figure out how to change the size of the playfield blocks, and I know it should be quite simple. Also some DPC+ .bas examples/tutorials would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Couldn't you save p0 and missile0 and use PF0=128 for the vertical borders?

When you say "very costly cyclewise", does this mean it will tend to slowdown the speed of the screen updates? Or add a significant amount of memory to the program? And if the answer is BOTH, which impacts the program MORE? Eating up SPEED, or eating up ROM?

How does one delete a post?

Does changing the default playfield block sizes, or overall screen size use up much more memory? For example: If I want to squeeze every last single little bit out of my game, and ONLY make as many different unique sprites from player0 and player1 as possible, would using the default playfield size (88?) yield me more memory space? Can I squeeze a bit more space by making the playfield size smaller? Is playfield size and playfield pixels/blocks the same thing? And finally, I understand that using the multicolor player kernel causes the loss of the missile. Can this be toggled on and off? For example: a 6 colored player that becomes one solid color while firing a missile, then when the missile disappears, becomes 6 colors again? If player graphics are always stored in the last bank (when using multiple banks), then couldn't you put a "player colors off/missiles on" sort of kernel in a different bank than the first kernel that causes the loss of the missile?

In using the multi color sprite kernel (both players) is it possible to toggle it off then back on so I could use the missiles? For example, write the code to make the sprite one solid color when a missile is fired, then once the missile clears, go back to multi colors?

Thank you for your replies. More to the point, I'm wondering what the largest games on average were for the 2600 at the time it was still widely used. I'm in the process of making a game that realistically could have been made in the day, even if at the higher price range. (late 80's, etc..) Would you guys agree that 8k would likely be the limit? Or were there a handful of games even at that time that exceeded that? (Such as Fatal Run..)

What is the largest rom size for any Atari 2600 game? (NOT homebrew, but a retail cart) Also, why is 32k with 4k banks the largest rom size available?

Thank you Michael, aka SeaGtGruff. Would you please include simple 2 bank tutorial. Reading instructions and implementing this is very different.

Please help me. This makes no sense. There has to be a simpler way of sharing sprite data. The whole point is to save rom. *METHOD 1 (293 characters) -------------------------------------- const frame10lo = #<frame10 const frame10hi = #>frame10 player0pointerlo=frame10lo player0pointerhi=frame10hi player1pointerlo=frame10lo player1pointerhi=frame10hi data frame10: %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 end *METHOD 2 (220 characters!) -------------------------------------- player0: %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 end player1: %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 %00000000 end What am I doing wrong? I want both player0 and player1 to use (share) the same sprites. But using the const/playerpointer method actually INCREASES rom size!!!? WTF am I doing wrong? There's no point in sharing the same sprite data if the code it takes to point to it uses up more rom than simply drawing 2 separate sprites for each player. PLEASE HELP! How can I share sprite data AND save more memory than just drawing a unique sprite for each player?

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Thank you. The 13_SharedSpriteData.bas I've been trying to understand doesn't seem to use a kernel. Would that save a significant amount of memory? How is that accomplished without a kernel?

I still do not understand this. What is the "lo" and "hi" for? I'm not even understanding the basic logic of; 1) Creating a data table for the sprite, then 2) Having Player0 look at that data table to know how it should look in that moment. , and 3) Having Player1 look at that data table to know how it should look in that moment. I am utterly confused on the "hi", "lo" and "const" or "frame" commands. I do not want to animate a still/idle sprite. I simply want one shared set of sprites, or "library" that each player may "borrow" from at different times as they do different things. Sometimes using the same identical sprite simultaneously, sometimes not. At least 3 different sprites. Rock, Paper, Scissors. Thank you.