philipj

I'm willing to bet people pay more attention to 7800 if anybody manages to pull that off. They'll be buying 7800 just to get there hands on such collectables. 20fps... that's outstanding... Another 10 more frames and it would be past what's considered to be the standard in fps. I read in an old video compression book that 24fps is considered normal for human vision; the 7800 pulls off 20 of them. I'm ready start programming the 7800 now.

20fps...? That's outstanding. This is the first real proof that I seen that actual proves that 3D is possible on the 7800. Man that don't inspire anybody I don't know what will. If were I'd try and finish that project on my spare time. Those images look great. Now I know I got to put the 7800 to the test.

The system basically came to an end when Tramel took over until he decided to release in I think around 1986 or 87 in order to get rid of all of the 7800 system in inventory that he had when he first purchased Atari from Time Warner. Keep in mind, and I'm referencing what the guy who who's responsible for making the 7800, that Time Warner had property rights to the "Loony Tunes, Star Wars, Blade Runner, perhaps The Last Starfighter" and a whole bag of goodies that possibly would've been future laser disc games for the 7800 back during the "Dragon's Lair"/Laser disc explosion. I don't even doubt that with proper programming, and this wouldn't be the first forum that I mentioned this, that the 7800 can handle 3D with a little extra RAM. It probably wouldn't be nothing spectacular, but just look at what other 2600 programmers even here at this forum is able to do with a 2600 8bit TIA at 2 or 3 megahertz (perhaps not even that fast), and all the time Atari had a system with a 7 megahertz "MARIA" graphics processor, yet it didn't get half of the type enthusiastic programming that the NES got and it was well more powerful then the NES. The 7800 is probably the most overlooked Atari system next to the Atari Jaguar so I taking it upon myself to do a little research of my own on the 7800 system.

The 7800 seems to be the first "arcade home console."

It's no surprise that the only thing that sets the 7800 from every other system is the "Maria Graphic Processor;" the chip that actually made the 7800 more powerful then the any other system of it's time including the NES. I think it's time to know exactly what the Maria can do so I'm starting this thread to discuss the raw power of the "Maria Monster Graphic Processor." It's the processor that never really got the kind of optimization, both software wise and hardware wise, that it deserved. If it's powerful enough to handle a laserdisc player, what other things can the Maria do? It's well known what the 2600 can do, but what about the 7800. It's a question that could sadly, but possibly go unanswered if this avenue is not explored. What is your conclusion to this mystery

I think the "Yamaha 2151 or any of the OPL series" would be perfect for the 7800. Before I knew the history of the 7800 I use to try and compare the 7800 with the "Atari System 1" arcade board as a means of trying to link the both the systems. I always thought that Atari was trying to bring the "Arcades" of that era to the 7800 home console. Seeing an actual Atari System 1 up close, those things are really big... But yea; I think the Yamaha OPL series might be ideal for the 7800. http://www.system16.com/atari/hrdw_system1.html

Have there ever been any Jaguar games to just use Synthesized music and sound fx? Also there is DJGPP compatible GPU/DSP C compiler that's located at this website "http://hem.passagen.se/isvar/jaguar_server/jserver.html". has anyone affectively created Jag programs with this compiler? And if so, how do you get it started?

Has anyone ever successfully programmed the Atari Jaguar or know of any games that's been programmed in "C?" If so how did your project come and what games do you know of that's been programmed in C other than "DOOM"? Doom used a custom made C compiler that doesn't seem to be available now so any tips, advise and feedback from anyone who's programmed the Jaggy in C using altrenative "available C compilers" is very much welcome.

Those images are impressive. If the Atari 800 and 2600 can do all of that. Just imagine what the 7800 can do.

What are the alternatives?

Do you all use the Cuttle Cart to program the 7800? What kind of hardware or software do you use? I've been facinated by the 7800 for sometime now and any advice is helpful. I would like to make games for the 7800 system.

It feels good to be back.

Hello everyone; My name is Philip but I like to call myself "ACE". It's been a long time since I posted anything here, however i'm glad to be back. I'm hoping to someday make games for the various Atari platforms including the 7800 because I beleive that the 7800's best potential has yet to have been tapped and would encourage others to do so. It's also good to see that the "Pac Man" picture I drew apart of my description... My how time flys. Anyway it's good to be back and i'll be looking foward to comming back again. Thanks and God Bless; ACE

Just last week I found an old 7800 at a local fleamarket. I was glad because over here where I live 7800 systems are very hard to come by. It'll be my second 7800 console because I'd hate to try and make a dev system and mess my only good system up. As soon as I get a good understanding on 7800 game development, I'm turning the second system into a dev system.

You know what would be a good idea? If there was website that totally dedicated to posting screenshots of new games made for the Atari just to keep the whole new development thing going. Think about it... I know that there are a lot of development going on, but I don't know the full extent of it. Chances are if people knew the extent of the new Atari Lynx developments that art taking place it just might encourage more people to become active if they actually saw some any form of evidence of new Atari Lynx development(s). God Bless; P.T.W.

Has anyone been able to use any other add-on sound chip other than a Pokey? I beleive that a good way to start a new thing with the Atari 7800 development is to try something new. What do you all think?

I think it's a great idea to have some kind of definitive website for the Atari 7800 programmer. I don't have the skills yet, but I like to make games for the 7800 system. I had to look almost everywhere to get most of the programming info until I ran into the Atari Historical Society. The potential is there for new developments let's strike the iron while it's hot.

I hope there is room for a beginner.

I have a game called Eternal Champions for the Sega CD and the game starts off with short movie. The video format was a cinepack video that used 256 colors on a system that was only ment to show 64 colors total to my rememberance. With proper programming there is no telling what the maria chip can do.

I'm not a programmer yet, however I'm very much interested in making games for the 7800 and exploiting the maria chip graphical power.

Man I wish my programming was good enough to make 3D on the Lynx like that:)

I'm very much interested in the Atari 7800 because of it's potential graphic capabilities.