RetroFiends

Is there a source somewhere, or someone out there that can further elaborate bB's bitwise operations? Specifically, I'm trying to figure out if it's possible to do a bit shift rotation within bB.

Why does the car talk?

I don't know jack about the Knight Rider show, all I know is that the car looks cool. If I were making such a game, I'd probably just clone Pole Position. Very poorly. Pole Position, but at night.

To be frank, if you really have a dream to do something, nothing should stop you. If you want this to happen, the only person holding you back is who? Someone pointed Batari Basic which is so easy a kid can do it. If you need things exactly to your specifications, Andrew Davie above me, IIRC, did a huge service by writing up the 2600 101 segment which can be found here in these very forums. There is no shortage of documentation or helpful folks to push you in the right direction. People are responding the way they are, not because they're trying to be rude, but because they're trying to be real. As an "ideaguy", you're playing in the programmers court, and as a homebrewer, you couldn't ever realistically offer a number that we'd be interested in. We'd have to be into your ideas as much as you are into them for the the time and effort spent to be worth it. And then, we all have our own ideas. So there really is no incentive here. If I was in love with your ideas, it'd still probably take me a few benjamins to start considering it enough to move away from my own ideas. As the saying goes, ideas are cheap, execution is everything.

Absolutely, will send it momentarily.

FWIW, theloon, starpath cassette inserts are the standard "J-Card" insert. There are templates out there, and free software such as gimp can help you out there if you don't already have a graphical suite. The actual cards are printed on a thicker than average "paperboard", if you're going for authenticity. Although, since you're not Arcadia, I think you have a lot of freedom when it comes to the paper used and the designs overall Esp since, as far as paper goes, the glossy paperboard they use isn't what I'd consider cheap...

I've never even seen meteoroids box art. My supercharger pamphlet has it listed as suicide mission, but it does have Dragonstomper listed as Excalibur

I must admit, I'm VERY modern when it comes to programming. I enjoy my GUIs, my tools, my multiple widescreen monitors, whatever you can throw into a development environment, I want it. Then again, I'm 22, I grew up with the notion that if you want to do something, there's a tool to do it with. That said, I also find it all a bit distracting, sometimes. I can easily get flustered if there's just too much going on at one time, and I get easily sidetracked. At these times I find it best to remove everything that is a distraction and just focus on what needs to be done then and there. Sometimes a text editor is all you really need, and there's definitely a unique feel to programming in a text editor. I find it relaxing almost, especially when paired with a "clickety clackity" type mechanical keyboard. When I plot out my playfield and character graphics, despite the tools I have available (and even the tools I've MADE) I often still enjoy plotting all those 1's and 0's by hand, no mouse, no gui, just a keyboard and a notepad. I find myself in a place of zen when I can just tap away. To me, it feels like you're actually... doing something, even though the development process with tools is arguably faster.

It happens when I try to launch it. I'm using 566, and I'm using the version of soundlib for 566, (1.0.0.1).

Edit: Edit: Fixed. See post #6. Time to make some billboard 100 pop hits http://atariage.com/forums/topic/220302-music-and-sound-editor-doesnt-work/?do=findComment&comment=2897157 Edit: For the time being, I suppose this isn't a huge priority considering the lovely Tonetool provided. I'm making a shark game, and I needed a "Jaws" Esque alternating two note pattern which was easily done using the tones in Tonetool as a reference and a counter. ______________________________________ It just seems to be one thing after another. It's the same issue that's shown up a couple of times, but no answers work. For the record, I'm using the latest VbB and am trying to use the very same Music and Sound editor included with that. I get this error: See the end of this message for details on invoking just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box. ************** Exception Text ************** System.IO.FileNotFoundException: The specified module could not be found. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8007007E) at VisualbB.SoundLib.vbBSoundLib..ctor() at VisualbB.DialogMusic..ctor() at VisualbB.mainIDE.MusicEditorToolStripMenuItem_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.RaiseEvent(Object key, EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem.OnClick(EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleClick(EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleMouseUp(MouseEventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEventInteractive(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEvent(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam) ************** Loaded Assemblies ************** mscorlib Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5472 (Win7SP1GDR.050727-5400) CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll ---------------------------------------- VisualbB Assembly Version: 1.0.0.566 Win32 Version: 1.0.0.566 CodeBase: file:///C:/VisualbB/VisualbB.exe ---------------------------------------- Microsoft.VisualBasic Assembly Version: 8.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 8.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400) CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.VisualBasic/8.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll ---------------------------------------- System Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5467 (Win7SP1GDR.050727-5400) CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll ---------------------------------------- System.Windows.Forms Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5468 (Win7SP1GDR.050727-5400) CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll ---------------------------------------- System.Drawing Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5467 (Win7SP1GDR.050727-5400) CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll ---------------------------------------- System.Runtime.Remoting Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400) CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Runtime.Remoting/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Runtime.Remoting.dll ---------------------------------------- System.Configuration Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5476 (Win7SP1GDR.050727-5400) CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Configuration/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Configuration.dll ---------------------------------------- System.Xml Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5476 (Win7SP1GDR.050727-5400) CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll ---------------------------------------- VisualbB Title Kernel Assembly Version: 1.0.0.4 Win32 Version: 1.0.0.4 CodeBase: file:///C:/VisualbB/VisualbB%20Title%20Kernel.DLL ---------------------------------------- System.Data Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400) CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_32/System.Data/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Data.dll ---------------------------------------- System.Transactions Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.4927 (NetFXspW7.050727-4900) CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_32/System.Transactions/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Transactions.dll ---------------------------------------- System.EnterpriseServices Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0 Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.5420 (Win7SP1.050727-5400) CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_32/System.EnterpriseServices/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.EnterpriseServices.dll ---------------------------------------- VisualbB.SoundLib Assembly Version: 1.0.0.1 Win32 Version: 1.0.0.1 CodeBase: file:///C:/VisualbB/VisualbB.SoundLib.DLL ---------------------------------------- ************** JIT Debugging ************** To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this application or computer (machine.config) must have the jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section. The application must also be compiled with debugging enabled. For example: <configuration> <system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" /> </configuration> When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer rather than be handled by this dialog box. I tried following suggestions of installing .net 1.1 but that isn't happening as there is a known compatibility issue regarding it and as such just won't work. I'm on Windows 7 64 bit. So, any suggestions or alternatives?

New Build: -New GUI -Sounds on adding and removing playfield blocks -Message Box which reads you status updates (Copy to Clipboard Confirmation) -While the button for saving is there, and it gives you a confirmation message, saving to text is not implemented currently, but will most likely be in the next build. Screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/QJeDlRb.png

The difference is that this writes the playfield variables var0-var43, which can be stored outside of the last bank, not unlike converting a playfield to a data file. It does pretty much the same thing as a data file, but I feel a binary representation is a lot easier to read if you ever need to make small changes. Next version will also have an option to remove redundant 0's so that you can simply clear the playfield instead of wasting time removing zeroed playfield variables should you wish. I'm open to any ideas or criticisms.

What's new in 0.0.0.2 -New GUI -Sounds on adding and removing playfield blocks -Message Box which reads you status updates (Copy to Clipboard Confirmation) -While the button for saving is there, and it gives you a confirmation message, saving to text is not implemented currently, but will most likely be in the next build. ________ I seem to use playfield variables a lot, and manually tapping ones and zeros into a text editor was starting to get tedious, so I decided to take a day off from developing my batari game to make this little tool. Maybe someone else here can benefit from it as well. What this does, is let you draw your playfield, much like Visual bB's playfield editor, but it then allows you to copy the playfield you've drawn to your clipboard to be pasted directly into your bB program. PFVG automatically takes care of the reversed bit order rows so you don't have to worry about it, and it automatically formats your variables into the 11 default visible rows. So, in theory, all you need to do to use pfvars is to draw, copy and paste. The program as a whole is very bare bones but it appears to do the job so far. Please do report any bugs you may potentially find with it. Please Note this is for Windows OS only at the moment, the program is built in GameMaker Studio, and I have a Mac export, but no mac to test it with Considerations for future versions: -button press animation for copy to clipboard button -save playfield to text file, load from text file(Likely in next build) -Zero Removal (remove sequences of 00000000 from copied string) -Make Sounds not overlap.(If you draw too fast and have your speakers up load, yer gonna lose your ears.) -Give Disable Sounds Option. Below is a picture of the program, and it being pasted into a bB program. Latest Build: PFVG-0.0.0.2.zip screenshot: http://imgur.com/QJeDlRb Previous Build: PFVG-0.0.0.1.zip

Yeah, I actually figured that was how the crash happened, since whenever you hit enter it'll cycle through everything that's not up to snuff. I'll turn off syntax checking and see if that helps.

I recently reformatted and reinstalled windows. Previously, I'd been using that 'tinkernut' installer for VisualBB, but after being informed that that isn't the way to go, I decided to go for the lastest version available. (So, I have the 566 version) For the most part, everything is okay, except the mouse pointer constantly switches between the arrow and the text brackets whenever I move the mouse inside the text editor portion of VbB. While this happens, usage jumps up to about 25% in task manager, which goes back to the almost non-existant footprint as soon as I stop moving the mouse in this area. Before I was kind of "whatever" about it, but it seems to have just caused a crash. So, now I'm worried. Using just the keyboard in the text editor actually does the same thing, and is slower, except it changes between the pointer and the loading wheel, taking up about a max of 10% usage.. My hardware has all the current drivers, but I'm wondering if maybe I'm missing something else, like a .net framework or something of that ilk. Any ideas? I'm running windows 7 64 bit with 8 GB ram. Edit: Crash actually happens when I enter more than one duplicate label and then press enter. specifically "_" of which I was using to set up 16 labels I know I'm going to need.

This was neat

I'm already one step ahead of you, there. I'm already doing the game by an on-wall basis, and I already have an array which handles the rooms. I have my walls set as such rem up rem closed if !w{0} then var1 = %11111111 : var2 = %11111111 : var5 = %11111111 : var6 = %11111111 rem open if w{0} then var1 = %00111111 : var2 = %00111111 : var5 = %00111111 : var6 = %00111111 rem right rem closed if !w{1} then var19 = %11000000 : var23 = %11000000 : var27 = %11000000 rem open if w{1} then var19 = %00000000 : var23 = %00000000 : var27 = %00000000 rem down rem closed if !w{2} then var37 = %11111111 : var38 = %11111111 : var41 = %11111111 : var42 = %11111111 rem open if w{2} then var37 = %00111111 : var38 = %00111111 : var41 = %00111111 : var42 = %00111111 rem left rem closed if !w{3} then var16 = %11000000 : var20 = %11000000 : var24 = %11000000 rem open if w{3} then var16 = %00000000 : var20 = %00000000 : var24 = %00000000 return otherbank However, I could have up to 99 rooms, potentially. I don't think it would be very efficient to do 99 if... then... statements. Whenever you enter a new room, the room variable will update, and then it will need to tell me what w{0-3} is, so this routine can run to update the walls. Edit: On a side note, I might be able to combine the open and close variables into one line with an else...

EDIT: Disregard, should have waited for my coffee to kick in, I can use on... goto... and have multiples point to the same label. Oops I can get close to this using on... goto..., but that requires some level of linearity to work. I've finally come back to batari basic after a small break, and I've learned about switch statements and am now sorely missing them. My level screens are stored in what is effectively a 2D array (using variable D, +-1 for up/down, +-10 for left and right), upon checking what screen you are on, it loads the corresponding walls for that room, from 0 to 99. Before this re-haul, on... goto... was perfect, as it could simply jump to the room necessary. However, since every wall (north, south, east and west) is ultimately only one of two states, open or closed, I figure I'd save a lot of room by sharing them. I could still use on... goto... if those labels then redirect to the appropriate wall state label, but I wonder if there's a better way. My first thought was just to string a bunch of OR statements but batari basic limits this to only one per statement. I suppose even still, I can use OR to cut the lines needed in half to do this, but this probably gets messy really fast. Any thoughts?

I think with some refining you might have a nice game on your hands. Some notes: -The door or exit really ought to be more clear, somehow. There are many ways to tackle this. Perhaps a door sprite with 15 hz flicker on the door with priority 45 hz flicker on the sprites. Or, with playfield pixels create an arch with a hollow center instead of just a square. -Although the game might be easier as a result, you might gain something from lowering the player's height a bit. The guy is all legs and his maneuverability doesn't reflect that. You'll also benefit from some simple animation. The biggest problem with him facing the screen is that you don't have an intuitive grasp of where his lower half actually is in conjunction with a jump left or right. -Your gravity and jumping ability needs some work. In the real world, when you jump, you accelerate upwards at a remarkable speed against the force of gravity pushing you down. This means that your ascent is slowed down until gravity overpowers you and you start being pulled towards the earth again. In general, good platformers reflect this to a degree to give smooth and intuitive jump archs, even if they often ignore horizontal velocity.

I haven't tried making music with the atari 2600 yet (I'm scured to) but depending on what notes are available/missing, one solution might be simply to change the key. Of course, as an avid fan of microtonal music "sour" notes don't bother me at all. Remember folks, the only reason why we have a 12 tone scale is because it's what we're used to. Also, those pub doodles are awesome. I think it'd be funny if they worked there way into the manual or something somehow.

Godzilla, do this and you will be a god among men. (Or rather, a god among lizards) I'll try to stop by stream at some point to say hey.

A few notes: -I don't care how a game is made, I care that it's a fun game. Even if this was bB, it wouldn't change the fact that it's a faithful recreation of Desert Bus on 2600. People hating on the engine a game is made is like judging the story in a book on the type of paper it was printed on. It's an ignorant disposition. -While I certainly do not have the patience nor the time to actually play this game to completion, it would still be a fun game to own on sheer novelty alone. I'm content with the fact that the game does what it's supposed to do thanks the the developers dedication to ensure it. I would still like to own it when I can afford to pick it up. -The creator clearly has passion for the game, having tested the gameplay himself which is no easy feat, I assure you. Just because all that is on screen is a bus and rows of pixels and the occasional cactus doesn't mean this was thrown together in 5 minutes and pawned off the masses. Real blood sweat and tears went into this game. Sure, blood sweat and tears don't ensure a good game, but in this case it does. To me, this game is the story of the developer, almost a metagame where owning it would be owning a piece of his soul, a piece of his life. And that, to me, is worth 40$

^ Toxic Caves Zone has my favorite song out of all Sonic games.

Hello everyone. So, over the years game design has evolved to become ever intuitive. A majority of modern (well designed) games can be picked up without ever reading the manual, and that's saying something considering videogames in general are much more complex in the range of actions you can perform and how you can interact with a virtual environment. However, while game design has indeed advanced, Atari 2600 hardware has not. Now, this point can be argued considering the availability of larger rom and ram and better bankswitching methods, which although these points where technically available during later years of the Atari 2600's official lifespan they weren't exactly practical when price came into play. For this discussion, and this discussion is ultimately a learning tool for myself first and others second, I want to focus on ideas that can help to create intuitive gameplay without resorting to larger roms and ram or otherwise wasteful systems to create a "modern feel" in gameplay in Atari games. The object is to design aspects of a game that has a little more substance than the average arcade conversion. Granted, for simpler games most people can pick it up and play without a manual. I never read the instructions for space invaders for example. I'll make a list of Intuitive games, easy to learn via trial and error, and manual neccessary games to give a feel for what I'm talking about. Intuitive; Games that you know what to do within seconds of gameplay. -Space Invaders -Pac-Man -Dig Dug Easy To Learn By Trial And Error; You can apply what you've learned in other games here or the mechanics are simple enough to stumble upon by simply trying different things - Secret Quest - Adventure Manual Neccessary - Starmaster - Phasor Patrol - ET - Superman (Arguable) - Solaris So, what are some design choices we can do that are efficient and intuitive to communicate to the player how things work in the game world in more complex games? If you're interested in discussion, feel free to give ideas, give criticism to other's ideas, and so forth. Here's an example. I'm working on a Secret Quest/Zelda esque style game that in addition to a healthy amount of enemy's and objects, there are also some NPCs. I want the player to know with little trouble that NPC's do not pose a threat. I could: -Color code NPCs a non-threatening color such as Pink, like I color code objects such as chests or stairs as brown. -Make NPCs Stationary or otherwise appear "uninterested" in the player. -I could disable the sword attack when in the presence of the NPC (Assuming I don't want to allow the player to kill them.) Another example. Say you have a two player collecting game (for example, a two player pacman type game) where the object is to collect more items than your opponent or the AI. You could watch the score to see who was in the lead but that would lose the players attention and perhaps cause the player to unwittingly run into a trap or the other player. You could: -Make the player who is in the lead an increasingly brighter color and the player behind a darker one. -The player in the lead could crow in size. -The player in the lead could slow down the more he eats. Anyone have any ideas? Perhaps on the idea of "context sensitivity"?

Received my harmony cart a few days ago. Everything is working like a charm. I was pleased to find that it had directory support so my cart is very well organized and easy to manage despite having 500+ roms on it. My own homebrew I'm working on (which is why I got the cart in the first place) also works perfectly. I have no complaints, only praise to the people who made this possible. If I have any issues at all, it's that it's so convenient to have 500 games on a single cartridge and I have a hard time getting myself to decide which one I actually want to play. But that's my problem, not harmony's.