First Spear

Little endian. I should have looked at/for that before I asked. Thanks intvnut!

Retro Computing Roundtable Podcast #95 had the topic (paraphrased) "What should/could happen to all of your retro gear when you are 'out of the picture'?" The episode was pretty good. I think it applies to us on this forum as our median age is somewhere around 38+, and numbers of collectors and enthusiasts can be expected to dwindle over time for any number of reasons. What should happen to your collection of Intellivision goodies when the inevitable happens?

Why isn't noise on Channel A "111011" instead of "110001" ? The demo clearly works but why doesn't "111011" mean enable noise channel A only? I have music playing so A&B are unavailable anyway, so I played with the bits to get noise/tone on Channel C only and made a mess. Thanks.

Can anyone post a working sample of how to "play noise" using IntyBASIC? I have got the basics of sound effect generation but SOUND 4 is still a bit of a mystery. In the end I want to play the sound of things splashing in the water (think a salvo missing a ship in Sea Battle) but to get started I would be great to learn how to play a moment of white noise... I did see "SOUND 4" used in the gosub source (thanks!) but its usage is interwoven into other stuff. Thanks.

Next up - Christmas Carol Curling Cartridge 2015?

So awesome. I wish there was more than one "like" button for posts. Thank you!

Thanks. My unstated issue is that I want to input 4 digit numbers for #myvar, and I have 8 actual variables to fill. I started down the path you suggested but if I want to enter "45" and I first accept a 4 and then a 5 I will end up storing a 9. Thanks.

What would be a smart way to mimic the behavior of the INPUT statment used in other flavors of BASIC? For example, to do something like this: Input at 20 Color 7 , "Value 0?" , #myVar to allow numeric input on the screen into #myVar and potentially halt program execution until input is complete? Thanks.

Thanks to Kiwi for straightentening me out. Here is working code. Many issues addressed. Thanks sir! ' http://www.sean.co.uk/books/amstrad/amstrad6.shtm Mode 1 #soundTemp = 0 LoopMain: Wait If CONT.B0 Then GoSub TonePlay01 If CONT.B1 Then GoSub TonePlay02 Goto LoopMain TonePlay01: Procedure Print At 13 Color 0 , " " Print At 1 Color 5 , "01" Restore DataSound01 #soundTemp = 0 While #soundTemp <> 65535 Sound 2,#soundTemp,12 Read #soundTemp Wait Wend Restore DataNullState Sound 2,,0 Return End TonePlay02: Procedure Print At 13 Color 3 , "02" Print At 1 Color 0 , " " Restore DataSound02 #soundTemp = 0 While #soundTemp <> 65535 Sound 2,#soundTemp,12 Read #soundTemp Wait Wend Restore DataNullState Sound 2,,0 Return End DataNullState: DataSound01: Data 900,900,800,500,300,150,120,100,900,500,100,65535 DataSound02: Data 800,800,900,600,400,250,220,200,800,600,200,65535

Can anyone using IntyBASIC share successful techniques to make sound? I can make dinky tones as shown in the example code, but there appears to be a large gap between that and the sound of an arrow firing and subsequently vaporizing a monster in Cloudy Mountain. ' Sound experiment program Mode 1 #contTemp = 9 #freqCurrent = 370 #wasPlayed = 0 loop: 'Is this the most performant way to read the controller? Wait If CONT1.BUTTON Then Sound 2,,0 : Wait #contTemp = CONT1.KEY Wait If #contTemp = 12 Then Gosub ContDirectionHandle If #contTemp < 12 Then Gosub ContKeypadHandle If #wasPlayed = 0 Then GoSub PlayNow Goto loop ContKeypadHandle: Procedure If #contTemp = 0 Then #freqCurrent = 220 : #wasPlayed = 0 If #contTemp = 1 Then #freqCurrent = 233 : #wasPlayed = 0 If #contTemp = 2 Then #freqCurrent = 246 : #wasPlayed = 0 If #contTemp = 3 Then #freqCurrent = 261 : #wasPlayed = 0 If #contTemp = 4 Then #freqCurrent = 277 : #wasPlayed = 0 If #contTemp = 5 Then #freqCurrent = 293 : #wasPlayed = 0 If #contTemp = 6 Then #freqCurrent = 311 : #wasPlayed = 0 If #contTemp = 7 Then #freqCurrent = 329 : #wasPlayed = 0 If #contTemp = 8 Then #freqCurrent = 349 : #wasPlayed = 0 If #contTemp = 9 Then #freqCurrent = 370 : #wasPlayed = 0 If #contTemp = 10 Then #freqCurrent = 392 : #wasPlayed = 0 If #contTemp = 11 Then #freqCurrent = 415 : #wasPlayed = 0 Print At 1 Color 11 , <6>#contTemp Print At 21 Color 5 , "000000" Wait End ContDirectionHandle: Procedure If Cont1.Up > 0 Then #freqCurrent = #freqCurrent + 1 : #wasPlayed = 0 If Cont1.Down > 0 Then #freqCurrent = #freqCurrent -1 : #wasPlayed = 0 Print At 1 Color 11 , "000000" Print At 21 Color 5 , <6>#contTemp Wait End PlayNow: Procedure Sound 2 , #freqCurrent , 12 For #spinWait = 0 to 15 Wait Next #spinWait Print At 41 Color 7 , <6>#freqCurrent Sound 2,,0 #wasPlayed = 1 End I found what I think is a workable note/frequency table at http://www.armory.com/~rstevew/Public/SoundSynth/Novelty/AY3-8910/start.html Thanks.

I was thinking of the normal RF output path. The 8-bit Apple II had "40 column graphics" and 280 pixels horizontal display, but adding additional hardware and software calls made the display 80 columns of text and 560 pixels wide by interleaving two banks of 40 column display. I thought that through the cartridge port the Intellivision could be "tricked" into doing the same thing somehow. But the answer is no. I just learned a ton in the process. Thanks!

I was asking about cartridge-based expansion was for the single reason of having an upgrade basically available to "everyone" (that wanted to pay for it). Pure fantasy, but I thought I'd ask (and love Joe's answer) since I don't know the hardware well enough and looking at the Wiki didn't increase my clue count. I agree that letting games now use up to 42k is like having "super graphics" in that the storage allows for more expansive games than ever. Creative with tiles? Just wait....

I thought this was discussed a bit on the AA forums, but my searching is not turning up anything. How plausible would it be for a cartridge to add electronics to aid or circumvent the STIC to increase background tile counts (improve resolution) or increase flickerless MOB count (improve action)? On the 8-bit Apple II line, graphics resolution can be doubled by increasing memory and bank-switching with add-on hardware (http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-overlooked-artifact-color.html). I was wondering if the same could be done on the Inty. Of course it would break compatibility with everything else on the Intellivision, just curious....

I am 60% through the podcast. Great stuff as usual. The Intellivirgins segment was a little long but overall another great effort! This stuff will live forever, that's really cool.

Something that fell out of my head this morning. The game "Mr. Driller" was a favorite of mine on the Dreamcast, and I think a game that resembled it would play really well on the Intellivision. Hopefully it would not cross-over too much with Boulder Dash. I think it might require Pujals/Mueller-class talent to get the characters right, but would be fun and within the MOB capabilities. And it could work on the Flashback2! (ducks)

If I wanted to use as much space as possible (breaking compatibility with the ECS), what statements would I add to an IntyBASIC program, and where? I was under the impression that the IntyBASIC compiler already took care of that, but if there is an edit to the prologue file or something I need to do, I'll do it (or anything else). I read http://atariage.com/forums/topic/231165-goat-game/page-3 , got some great info there. Thanks.

Bushes/scrub-brush background pattern. Still a work in progress.

I'm going to subscribe to that one and check it out, just because.

Hour 4 of my two tile re-do....

There are less than 30 hours left in February. Intellihoes need their fix of the next episode! Help us!

Prince, "Let's go Crazy".

What's new, is old. Or what's old is new. Or something like that. Check out this piece of paper I just found in my basement. I used to actually keep archival info on paper, imagine that....

My hat goes off, and my heart goes out, to the lo-fi Intellivision graphic artists out there. I have spent at least 40 minutes on making just 2 tiles look semi-presentable.

+1 on the collaborative atmosphere. "It takes a village", and all that. I'm getting help from everyone, in the forum and PM. Thankfully no one is showing annoyance with my questions (yet). Really appreciated! The STIC is an obstinate beast. Without IntyBASIC, I doubt I would be even this far with my game concept. At any rate, I think there is some nuance to CS mode that I am missing, because my image appears to be legitimate to my eye (but not even IntyColor 1.0.3). Maybe I should draw my image with a single foreground color like white and then use background colors, instead of only drawing with the background colors? Thanks.

I can't use FGBG mode in my case because I need to use the GROM shape characters. Otherwise I might have gone for it. Thanks.