Mr SQL

This looks pretty cool - the most powerful user-friendly tool there is for creating games for 8-bit computers. Supported formats include the ZX Spectrum, MSX, Amstrad CPC, BBC Model B, Dragon 32/64, Acorn Atom, Enterprise and VZ200 with more on the way. Create blocks, sprites and screens, knock out a few lines of code in AGD's simple scripting language (inspired by BASIC) or get the tool to create the code for you and create an 8-bit game that would have graced any software house's catalogue back in the day. This is cross-compiler for multiple systems it must work to the LCD (lowest common denominator) I would like to see the same game compiled on the different systems, curious how much code changes are required or if you can just select a system and recompile your code. Liked your original post too but your thread got deleted on the competition forum before I could respond!

I think the VCS will be allowed, let's enter this contest with some cool SuperCharger tape games! We've only got 7 days but we know BASIC! It would be awesome to see a CompuMate Tape entry too

This looks like fun! Like the idea the games should run on the old hardware and be loadable from a tape deck

Yes what you are describing is artifacting caused by idiosyncrasies in the NTSC color signal. It is possible to leverage these artifacts to make use of it like you surmised to give more colors, texture mapping and other effects games. Here is a computer art picture I drew in the 80's that is actually a black and white image: I've used these effects in games in the 80's on other systems and in several Atari games like this one. What's interesting here is we found these colors were more pronounced with "bad video" with Chroma leakage - adding a composite mod often corrects for this and reduces the effects, and the effects are not present on PAL; no color signal noise.

If it's a modern console by all means mod it, but it may be more fun to preserve the full retro experience of the older consoles. @Nolan Bushnell may have the worlds most interesting opinion

Yes Marble Craze has really fantastic music! Added to the homebrews list.

I follow what you are saying but I think it may be more a matter of perception. On the thread I linked there was an observation of a "gazillion bytes" being made available to ARM games but that should not be taken out of context; in the 80's there was such a world of difference illustrated between 4K and 16K games and again between 16K and 32K and 32K and 64K games that different comparison categories were created just on the memory footprint alone.

@splendidnut it looks like Orange808 was just called a weasel for expressing his opinion. I only saw a discussion prior to that, where were the attacks? I made a comment comparing the ARM to the Cray-XMP, but I don't think that's a loaded comparison or that it should get you upset; consider John's related comment to the effect "It's much easier to code the gameloop in c on the ARM than coding to the 6502" These are excellent games but being modern 32-bit code they simply can't be compared to advanced 6502 releases like BoulderDash, Arkanoid and KCMM that push the old 8-bit hardware to new limits. SillyVenture shares this perspective and doesn't allow any ARM games or demos to compete in their 8-bit programming contests. There's an interesting discussion on the Chess thread with Batari and Andrew about ideas for writing newer ARM games and also an advanced 32-bit interpreted BASIC that could connect through the USB on the Harmony for full featured debugging with Edit-and-Continue functionality as has recently been created for the Vectrex. The new code creations are fun to appreciate but it is also a lot of fun to work with the old hardware simply because it is more challenging. When reviewers compare the 32-bit Atari games to 8-bit Atari games like with Super Cobra and Super Cobra Arcade they aren't intentionally sniping but it's disappointing because reviewers aren't programmers and simply cannot tell the difference; John made the comment on the VGC's forum to try to explain the difference but Super Cobra still got an F and Super Cobra Arcade an A; I would give both games an A, and they are both a lot of fun to play but cannot be compared; it's really apples to oranges comparing modern 32-bit c code to retro 6502 code. Beyond one game being 32-bit and one 8-bit game there is also a considerable memory size difference; Whirly Bird Run was an impressive 16K clone of Super Cobra in the 80's but back then reviewers knew not to compare the 16K port to a 32K or 64K version running on the same processor. Even this is lost on many reviewers today.

Great discussion and concepts being developed on this thread! RT here is an inspiring ad to help with ideas showing six progressive Micro courses from Personal Computer World Magazine that could help to form an online teaching curriculum, here's my perspective on how you could apply this roadmap Today: Course 1 introduction to microcomputers focused on the Atari Video Computer System starts with the concepts and hardware - excellent place to discuss an overview of ROM, RAM, the CPU and the TIA with links to your existing FAQ's for the details! The available BASIC packages should all have a FAQ entry too - including the Atari 2600 BASIC Programming cartridge and SuperCharger BASIC in addition to Batari BASIC 1.0 and DPC+ Batari BASIC. Course 2 Fundamentals of Programming in BASIC: Atari 2600 BASIC Programming is awesome for applying simple examples like in that BASIC book and text books from the 80's - SuperCharger BASIC is too and it is closer to bB but Atari 2600 BASIC has a built in IDE that was ahead of it's time and phenomenal for teaching fundamental concepts of IDE's including a Trace that shows you your program flow right as it is executing which is pretty cool! Here are some great examples: Course 3 Improve your BASIC: Dig in with Batari BASIC 1.0 and learn how to use notepad as an IDE where you draw the playfield and sprites using ASCII art! Course 4 WordStar Wordprocessing - learning how to use an IDE Today Is a modern IDE like PageMaker? Yes of course it is! This is where you become a WordStar Wiz and begin the long journey to master the daunting intracacies of the modern IDE. Batari BASIC 1.0 running in the Atari2600IDE and SuperCharger BASIC are both simple introductory IDE's that let you click a Play button to launch the game but you still draw ASCII art inline with the code just like you did using notepad as an even simpler IDE in lesson 3. Course 5 DataStar Information Management - DPC+ Batari BASIC and the multi-faceted Visual IDE's Visual IDE's like Visual Batari BASIC and the new Visual Atari Dev Studio are multifacted and have visual tools and components for drawing, coloring and marking up graphics and for designing the musical score using multiple engine or sequencer plugin options. There is generally no longer a "single file" but a series of files and folders managed by the IDE automation that are marshalled behind the scenes when you click the Play button like you did in the simple IDE's. These complex processes assemble and create the game ROM from many more steps like a mousetrap - indeed as IDE's get more complex the process can be compared to building a better mousetrap: Similarly DPC+ has many more complex processes to extend Batari BASIC and these must also be mastered by the user. MicroPro Software Tools - Covers development tools for the advanced VCS programmer such as the Sokoban and BoulderDash frameworks which must be programmed in advanced Assembly as well as tools like TIA Tracker and voice digitizers, etc.

Emulation's pretty awesome, I wouldn't be able to play some games and systems that I don't have without it. But there are some pretty good reasons to use the old hardware besides nostalgia (which is a fantastic reason in itself) particularly when it comes to the C64, and the Atari 2600. The C64 because of the subtractive analog synth, the SID chip, which cannot be truly emulated and is so fantastic it has been put into commercial instruments for professional musicians. And the Atari 2600, because it can draw 60 full frames per second and is that responsive as well, this is difficult to emulate along with the twin oscillators and their filters which are more primative yet still analog, like the SID. Here are some examples with an interesting game to play that illustrates some of these discrepancies that make the game nearly impossible to beat in an emulator but much easier to play on real hardware and with better sound and graphics (scroll up for the comparison vid).

X2! Fantastic soundtrack

This is a really fantastic game but the review was disappointing - I was hoping to see the game being played and the gameplay discussed, not the Stella debugger being dragged around not fitting on the screen: Suggestion: Show the cool game and spend less time showing Stella and Stella not working or working differently than the last release; maybe create more seperate episodes to show off Stella editions like you've done before, it's much more interesting to see the games!

Here's a link to play 10LINEBLITZII in Javatari! Input Lag and emulation - Wanted to share this info with @Paulo Peccin and @JetSetIlly, this game is great for testing emu input lag. It's much easier to beat the game real hardware than in Stella because of variable input lag - the game throttles down to require 1/30 of a second accuracy to AIM and starts out with a bit more time, but the variable input lag can wreak havoc making it much harder to play. From my tests, the Flashback Portable emu has the most responsive input controls with Stella comming in second and Javatari 3rd - imo this is a good area for emu's to improve to more closely match real hardware. More fun stuff from the 80's... Found this ad for my 80's ML version of Blitz in Rainbow Magazine surrounded by BASIC type-in's - what looks to be a pretty adventure game and a one line Golf game: Also found two seemingly impossible BASIC demos Revolving Balls and TaffyBall!

Here's the updated list of 50 Atari classics and 9 homebrews with bgm - I didn't include Pacman or Ms Pacman for being too minimalist but Starship is included, the robot sounds melodious when it attacks and there are other mini tunes in the game. Acid Drop (1992) (Salu, Dennis M. Kiss) (460758) (PAL) ~.bin Asteroids (1981) (Atari, Brad Stewart - Sears) (CX2649 - 49-75163) ~.bin Blueprint (1983) (CBS Electronics, Tom DiDomenico) (4L 2486 5000) ~.bin BMX Air Master (1990) (Atari) (CX26190).bin Bobby Is Going Home (Rentacom).bin Breakout - Breakaway IV (Paddle) (1978) (Atari, Brad Stewart - Sears) (CX2622 - 6-99813, 49-75107) ~.bin BurgerTime (1983) (M Network, Patricia Lewis Du Long, Ron Surratt - INTV) (MT4518) ~.bin California Games (1988) (Epyx, Steven A. Baker, Peter Engelbrite) (80561-00286) ~.bin Commando (1988) (Activision, Mike Riedel) (AK-043-04) ~.bin Crystal Castles (1984) (Atari, Michael Kosaka, Peter C. Niday, Robert Vieira) (CX26110) ~.bin Dig Dug (1983) (Atari - GCC, Douglas B. Macrae) (CX2677) ~.bin Double Dragon (1989) (Activision, Dan Kitchen) (AK-050-04) ~.bin Frogger 1983 Starpath Corp.bin Ghost Manor (1983) (Xonox - K-Tel Software - Beck-Tech) (6210, 06002, 06004, 99002) ~.bin Ghostbusters (1985) (Activision, David Crane, Dan Kitchen) (AZ-108-04) ~.bin Gyruss (1984) (Parker Brothers) (PB5080) ~.bin Ikari Warriors (1989) (Atari) (CX26177) ~.bin Journey Escape (1982) (Data Age) (112-006) ~.bin Kool-Aid Man (Kool Aid Pitcher Man) (1983) (M Network, Stephen Tatsumi, Jane Terjung - Kool Aid) (MT4648) ~.bin Krull (1983) (Atari, Jerome Domurat, Dave Staugas) (CX2682) ~.bin Kung Fu Master (CCE).bin Meteoroids (Suicide Mission Beta) (1982) (Arcadia Corporation, Steve Hales, Stephen Harland Landrum) (4) (AR-4102) (Prototype).bin Midnight Magic (Pinball Wizard) (1984) (Atari, Glenn Axworthy) (CX26129) ~.bin Moon Patrol (1983) (Atari - GCC, Mark Ackerman, Noellie Alito) (CX2692) ~.bin Mountain King (1983) (CBS Electronics, E.F. Dreyer, Ed Salvo) (4L 2738 0000) ~.bin Mr. Do! (1983) (Coleco, Ed English) (2656) ~.bin Mr. Do!'s Castle (1984) (Parker Brothers) (PB5820) ~.bin Party Mix - Down on the Line, Handcar (3 of 3) (Paddle) (1983) (Starpath Corporation, Dennis Caswell) (10) (AR-4302).bin Party Mix - Tug of War, Wizard's Keep (2 of 3) (Paddle) (1983) (Starpath Corporation, Dennis Caswell) (10) (AR-4302).bin Pitfall II - Lost Caverns (1983) (Activision, David Crane) (AB-035-04) ~.bin Popeye (1983) (Parker Brothers, Joe Gaucher) (PB5370) ~.bin POPEYE.BIN Porky's (1983) (20th Century Fox - Lazer Micro Systems - Dunhill Electronic Media Corp., B. Winston Hendrickson, Randall Hyde, Mark V. Rhoads, John Simonds) (11013) ~.bin Pressure Cooker (CCE).bin Rabbit Transit (Hopalong Catastrophe) (1983) (Starpath Corporation, Brian McGhie) (8) (AR-4104) ~.bin Road Runner (1989) (Atari, Robert C. Polaro) (CX2663) ~.bin Secret Quest (1989) (Atari - Axlon, Steve DeFrisco) (CX26170) ~.bin Skate Boardin' (1987) (Absolute Entertainment, David Crane) (AG-042-02, AG-042-04) ~.bin Smurf - Rescue in Gargamel's Castle (Smurf, Smurf Action) (1982) (Coleco, Henry Will IV) (2465) ~.bin Sorcerer's Apprentice (1983) (Atari, Jerome Domurat, Peter C. Niday, Robert Vieira) (CX26109) ~.bin Spy Hunter (Dual Control Module) (1984) (Sega, Jeff Lorenz - Bally Midway) (011-01, 011-02) ~.bin Star Wars - The Arcade Game (1984) (Parker Brothers, Wilfredo 'Willy' Aguilar, Michael Becker, Neil McKenzie, Bob Smith, Brad Stewart) (PB5540) ~.bin StarShip.bin StarWars_ESB.bin Suicide Mission (Meteoroids) (1982) (Arcadia Corporation, Steve Hales, Stephen Harland Landrum) (4) (AR-4102) ~.bin Tapper (1984) (Sega - Bally Midway - Beck-Tech) (010-01) ~.bin Teller-Jonglieren! (AKA Dancing Plate) (1983) (Quelle) (685.996 1) (PAL).bin Up 'n Down (1984) (Sega, Phat Ho - Bally Midway - Beck-Tech) (009-01) ~.bin Vanguard (1982) (Atari - GCC, Dave Payne) (CX2669) ~.bin Homebrews: dot_20130211.bin (Atlas) loaded4bearAI.bin omicron_2k_20080113.bin ReinderRescue.bin RobotZed_15.bas.bin SF2_20131217_RC8_NTSC.bin spacegamedemo(portable).bin spacegamedemo.bin zippy05.bas.bin

Very cool! there is one project underway to create a Tiny C and a similarly inclined Java demo for the C64 with balloon classes that is pretty interesting. I think the BASIC to c Translator the Jag developers are using might be applicable for adaptation to an ARM framework from one of the new c games. 32-bit technology like the ARM bring modern choices like the interpreted BASIC or a translated and compiled BASIC or a c variant, but the new Chess as well as Sokoban and BD all have RUNTIME frameworks for tilemapped games that a vanilla 6502 based compiled BASIC such as bB or even a custom 6502 tiny C could leverage. I find both sets of technologies interesting, but the classic development more.

Along these lines of thought I have to include BREAKOUT 😎 Watch this video carefully from this perspective and see; BREAKOUT is more than just a game or even a minimalist musical, BREAKOUT is a computerized musical instrument played by the player and shaped by the strategy of gameplay: Pong champions can specifically make music and even play tunes while playing this game - the player controls several color coded musical notes that can be played in different sequences once the player has strategically exposed them. The player can even program the board to create a passage to the top as is often done, where an algorithmic computer generated tune will take over until the ball returns to player control.

Great thread! RT's online music page with the available notes you can click and hear shown on the keyboards for the different wave forms is excellent for chiptune composers. And I like the tracker sequencers and fit a very small one into SuperCharger BASIC that does some interesting Fx and can be overridden/resequenced by BASIC, heres an example with a game: This is a fascinating topic, in the 80's I released a digital sample sequencer aftermarket kit for Microsoft Color BASIC that was different. Some ideas discussed here with @MemberAtarian in context with his digital sampling routines for the Atari. You can download the kit to try it out here with more BASIC examples if you have a CoCo emulator or run it via the online emulator mocha to see the concept of BASIC being able to control and resequence a sequencer; hard to describe kind of like putting a tracker sequencer on a tracker sequencer or something else, because BASIC can be so many things with an API to the sequencer.

Yes and great point - I think minimalist music does qualify and can be very captivating in-game music like in Asteroids. I'm including Star Ship, Jr Pacman, Ms Pacman and even Pacman with it 's stattico rubber-band dot eating beat and in-game minimalist "ghosts returning to base" themes.

X3 and I think an important part of the philosophy is that coding to the old hardware is a big part of the nostalgia and hence the fun, particularly for programmers who were part of the scene writing cool 8-bit video games in the 80's. Gameloop internals coded to a 32-bit chip can be a less interesting option for old school programmers for this reason. You created Batari BASIC for classic hardware, would you find it comparitively interesting to create a full featured 32-bit ARM BASIC with an interactive debugger for the Atari like shown for the Vectrex here than your classic hardware implementation?

Great question! It's part of the sound routine in the BASIC ROM, it is a much briefer duration than sound 100,1. It will use the last tone seeded by the sound command and the routine takes so few cycles to complete that if you call it by itself you may not hear it but you will in a loop. Turn the volume up on Briza's vids and you can hear the sound Fx from it. The amount of time this ROM routine takes to return is key to the demo - the emulated VDG hasn't quite initialized by the time the routine returns, and the GIME is caught in an unprepared state switching pmodes again. A small for-next loop could probably replace it to match the visuals but it was cool to have sound Fx too during smooth animation on the CoCo!

Thanks Briza! Those visuals bring back fond memories! It was very unexpected to see a demo designed for the CoCo I & II exhibit the interesting graphical Fx only on the CoCo III. The GIME emulating the VDG is quite different than the VDG, we found out about the lack of full semigraphics modes support there but there were other differences discoverable in pmode 3 and 4 characteristics. Here's a related thread about glitches that inspired me to find this demo and an interesting BASIC Programming discussion on the Atari 2600 forums with pictures and discussion of Rainbow and Personal Computer World BASIC type-ins:

Wanted to share this example of an interesting glitch with cool graphics Fx I discovered unintentionally with BASIC in the 80's and shared in a magazine at the time. This thread reminded me about this program - hopefully someone in the CoCo community will upload a video.

Taffy Ball and Revolving Balls Impossible CoCo Demo Remember those bouncing ball demos? Here is a BASIC demo I wrote for Rainbow magazine that looks impossible from the code: awesome if someone with the real hardware (NTSC) could upload a vid!

Atari games with background Music so far - 38 classic (36 roms) and 7 homebrews: Acid Drop (1992) (Salu, Dennis M. Kiss) (460758) (PAL) ~.bin Asteroids (1981) (Atari, Brad Stewart - Sears) (CX2649 - 49-75163) ~.bin Blueprint (1983) (CBS Electronics, Tom DiDomenico) (4L 2486 5000) ~.bin BMX Air Master (1990) (Atari) (CX26190).bin Bobby Is Going Home (Rentacom).bin BurgerTime (1983) (M Network, Patricia Lewis Du Long, Ron Surratt - INTV) (MT4518) ~.bin California Games (1988) (Epyx, Steven A. Baker, Peter Engelbrite) (80561-00286) ~.bin Commando (1988) (Activision, Mike Riedel) (AK-043-04) ~.bin Crystal Castles (1984) (Atari, Michael Kosaka, Peter C. Niday, Robert Vieira) (CX26110) ~.bin Dig Dug (1983) (Atari - GCC, Douglas B. Macrae) (CX2677) ~.bin Double Dragon (1989) (Activision, Dan Kitchen) (AK-050-04) ~.bin Frogger 1983 Starpath Corp.bin Ghostbusters (1985) (Activision, David Crane, Dan Kitchen) (AZ-108-04) ~.bin Gyruss (1984) (Parker Brothers) (PB5080) ~.bin Ikari Warriors (1989) (Atari) (CX26177) ~.bin Journey Escape (1982) (Data Age) (112-006) ~.bin Kung Fu Master (CCE).bin Meteoroids (Suicide Mission Beta) (1982) (Arcadia Corporation, Steve Hales, Stephen Harland Landrum) (4) (AR-4102) (Prototype).bin Moon Patrol (1983) (Atari - GCC, Mark Ackerman, Noellie Alito) (CX2692) ~.bin Mountain King (1983) (CBS Electronics, E.F. Dreyer, Ed Salvo) (4L 2738 0000) ~.bin Party Mix - Down on the Line, Handcar (3 of 3) (Paddle) (1983) (Starpath Corporation, Dennis Caswell) (10) (AR-4302).bin Party Mix - Tug of War, Wizard's Keep (2 of 3) (Paddle) (1983) (Starpath Corporation, Dennis Caswell) (10) (AR-4302).bin Pitfall II - Lost Caverns (1983) (Activision, David Crane) (AB-035-04) ~.bin POPEYE.BIN Pressure Cooker (CCE).bin Rabbit Transit (Hopalong Catastrophe) (1983) (Starpath Corporation, Brian McGhie) (8) (AR-4104) ~.bin Secret Quest (1989) (Atari - Axlon, Steve DeFrisco) (CX26170) ~.bin Skate Boardin' (1987) (Absolute Entertainment, David Crane) (AG-042-02, AG-042-04) ~.bin Smurf - Rescue in Gargamel's Castle (Smurf, Smurf Action) (1982) (Coleco, Henry Will IV) (2465) ~.bin Star Wars - The Arcade Game (1984) (Parker Brothers, Wilfredo 'Willy' Aguilar, Michael Becker, Neil McKenzie, Bob Smith, Brad Stewart) (PB5540) ~.bin StarWars_ESB.bin Suicide Mission (Meteoroids) (1982) (Arcadia Corporation, Steve Hales, Stephen Harland Landrum) (4) (AR-4102) ~.bin Tapper (1984) (Sega - Bally Midway - Beck-Tech) (010-01) ~.bin Teller-Jonglieren! (AKA Dancing Plate) (1983) (Quelle) (685.996 1) (PAL).bin Up 'n Down (1984) (Sega, Phat Ho - Bally Midway - Beck-Tech) (009-01) ~.bin Vanguard (1982) (Atari - GCC, Dave Payne) (CX2669) ~.bin Homebrews: dot_20130211.bin (Atlas) loaded4bearAI.bin omicron_2k_20080113.bin ReinderRescue.bin SF2_20131217_RC8_NTSC.bin spacegamedemo(portable).bin spacegamedemo.bin

Yes great background music! I didn't hear it until I played the game - the volume is very low in the vid so I only heard the Fx and the intro/ending tunes initially. Awesome three more, and those are all great games! Excellent renditions in three of those SuperCharger games! I loved the William Tell Overture rendition in Tug of War. I had coded a rendition of this classical piece in one of my games from the 80's, the Parlog Building. The Supercharger has a lot of games with bgm, I think Meteroids and even the primative beat in Suicide Mission qualify too.