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Gray Defender

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Posts posted by Gray Defender

  3. Posted

    Thank you, I appreciate your support. The core of the Pac-clone game is pretty much complete, if not just in a sort of a beta mode, but the game is far from being complete. I hope to be able to complete it one day. I agree my videos are not very interesting to most people, sort of like watching paint dry. I mean how excited can you get about watching someone fix a few bugs in their program code, lol. I still have to work in joystick support, create a title/attract screen, adjust level ramp ups, etc, and probably last but not least, try to figure out how to throw in the all important sound effects.

     

    Also, I have been juggling around the idea in my mind, about having a level selector, on the title screen, and somehow saving off the high scores, based on the level you start on. I think that could be a good way to make the game more fun, to see if you can beat the high score, or at least be able to compare your score to the high score record.

     

    Some of the youtube commenters want me to post the program in github, a tool which I have not yet used. If I do post there it will be when I am done working on the game and the video series is completed.

  4. Posted

    Thank you, Mr. SQL! I appreciate it. Yeah the link that I provided has a couple of different VCS ROMs to try out + source code for VCS and Mac. The book is really nicely done but I can see where it would have a fairly limited audience. As for the Pac-Clone video series, I really hope some people find it useful. I have been enjoying creating the videos as I go. I really am taking my time with it and am learning a lot of techniques along the way. The creator of CBM prg studio, Arthur Jordinson, has been extremely helpful and supportive as well. He would often times have issues already fixed that I came across and provide me with beta versions. How cool is that!

    • Like 1

  5. Posted

    I recently completed reading the "10 Print" book which has a chapter on the Atari VCS. I was interested in trying out the code but could not find it anywhere online.



    One of the books authors Ian Bogost, has shared the code on his website ( http://bogost.com/downloads/10-Print-Atari.zip) and I thought I would share it here.



    One thing to note if you download and try out the ROM: The screen will remain black until you press Game Reset at which point the program executes.



    Below is my review of the book. In the mean time if you have read "10 Print", I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on it.




    • Like 1

  6. Posted

    August 7, 2016

     

    Okay I'll play along. Had lunch today at a place out here called Great Kahn's BBQ, although mine had no meat, except for the juice on the grill lol. Pulled some crab grass and weeds in the heat and came in to play some Atari 2600, alone, no music. I plugged up my Edladdin Supreme 78 and my harmony cartridge. First up, one of my go to games: Missile Command. Played in difficulty A, final score 38,400. Next up, I played dintari pac-man (not the latest build). Made it just past the first intermission, final score 11,840. Next up, Defender. Both difficulty switches in A , final score 29,400. And finally, a quick game of Asteroids. Once I flipped the score, I stopped playing. In all I played for about an hour and had loads of fun…

    • Like 1

  12. Posted

    Hi back to you. I used to own a c128, which back when it came it too me was a breakthrough. Now for Commodore related stuff, I use a C64c, which is a great machine. I am not familiar with zoom floppy but I assume it is something like the C64 Ultimate 2 which is what I have been using.

  14. Posted

    This is a really sweet upgrade. I mean it lets you load just about what ever rom you have onto the device. It has great graphics & sound. It's not just the hardware that's upgraded, he also loads it with some additional homebrew games that were not on the original flash back. I guess the main difference would be for the hardware purists (snobs lol) out there, who must play on original intellivision hardware. Since I don't have a cuttle cart or something similar, this is the way to go. It allows me to play my purchased roms and provides a beautiful interface for doing so. BYTE KNIGHT graciously answered all my questions and even repaired my unit from an issue I created. Let's just say I somehow fried the thing and BYTE KNIGHT repaired it for me FREE of charge. That's the kind of service he provides. If you were ever on the fence about purchasing this service, I hope this helps you to make up your mind. As for the game play I find that I am now playing games that I would not normally play and it has been a blast. Again the graphics are crisp and clean (w/ no caffeine) and it sounds great.

     

    I actually posted a related video on my channel on youtube if anyone would like more information about the Ultimate Flashback upgrade service, setting up the wifi or loading roms onto the unit using the USB dongle (my experience):

     

    • Like 2

  16. Posted

    Tomorrow i'll be sitting on a bus for nearly seven hours straight and plan to spend at least some of that time writing C64 code... that's a bit hard to do with a real C64 even with a 1541U2 and a TFT display! But it's far more convenient generally when downloading disk images to throw them at VICE for a quick test and, as a coder, being able to cross assemble and test on it is wonderful; my last couple of projects used most of the available memory, writing programs that large with a native assembler would have been far more time consuming and prone to issues.

     

     

    i'm not aware of any major problems on that front these days (there are a few "edge conditions" i've tripped over personally but it's usually demo-style abuse of VIC-II registers), what issues are you referring to?

     

     

    VICE can do all the things an average 1541U2 user needs such as mount disk, cassette or cartridge images, juggle a 16Mb RAM expansion and populate it with an REU file...

     

    Totally agree with these comments. Vice is terrific for testing out code you have written with a cross compiler. You can write a simple 10 line basic program press a button to test it out and you're off to the races. The cross compiler can also greatly assist you with creating special character sets, sprites and graphics. This allows you to test and debug your program before even powering on your C64.

     

    I have been using CBM prg studio. It also supports assembly programs and has macros, etc.

     

    http://www.ajordison.co.uk/

     

    Having said that, I have already said I do prefer to use real hardware when possible but there are instances when emulation is a great tool. Is Vice perfect? Probably not but it is pretty darn good.

  17. Posted

    Just wanted to add that I have this too and it's the best thing I've bought for the C64. Its kind of hard to get, basically waiting in line to get one shipped once you reserve it but its great. Took me a little while to figure out how to use it since the instruction sheet I got with it was hard to read but once you figure out what button does what etc. its easy. Nice video, there weren't many out there at all when I got mine years ago.

     

    By the way is that shell easy to replace on the C64? I got a blue one from the Kickstarter but haven't tried it yet.

     

    It was the first time I opened up a C64, so I took my time with it and it actually was not that difficult. I was considering buying some replacement keys from the indigogo, but dreaded the thought of popping off all the keys and decided that white on top of red looks just fine.

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

     

    As a rule of thumb, I tend to always do that with my older computers and consoles. After all, these things do have a bit of age on them, and you never know when the original power supplies may decide to kick the bucket and take whatever they're plugged into with them (assuming you're using the original power supplies).

     

    It's my understanding that the original C64 brick power supplies are prone to failure, and can cause quite serious damage to the C64 if and when that does happen. I know there is a safety device that Ray Carlsen makes that you can plug in between the power supply and the C64 itself that, in the event of a condition that would be dangerous for the C64, it will kill the power from it and protect it. He also makes new power supplies for various Commodore computers and disk drives that use modern parts and are safer to operate than the older original ones.

    Thanks, I wasn't aware of that. I will now be on the hunt for one of these savers....

  19. Posted

    Hey everyone, I want to mention I ran into a minor issue with my C64 Ultimate 2. It stopped working, sort of. I hadn't powered it on for about a week then when I did, I got nothing. No lights and a screeching sound on the monitor. I am running it on a c64c and was perplexed. Actually just short of panicked. I plugged in an omega race cartridge and it worked just fine.

     

    Long story short, I think I have figured it out. I swapped power supplies with a regular c64 I have and it now it works just fine. I guess my old gray colored power supply that came with the c64c is not quite functioning properly or maybe not providing the correct voltage. Also it was plugged into a decent power strip which was powered on all this time. I recommend either unplugging the old console/computer from power or power off the power strip it is plugged into when they are not in use.

  20. Posted

    The UK1541 adapter sort of looks like the "Chip" computer that made the news a few weeks ago, but it look like it has a nice built in lcd display and remote.

     

    There is also another device which can be found on ebay called the sd2iec. What I like really about that one is that is sort of looks like a miniature old 1541/71 floppy drive. I use and highly recommend the vice emulator, but I prefer to use real hardware when feasible. It sort of transports me back to the mid 80's.

  22. Posted

    I have a question about Atari 2600 Pac-Man. In the manual it states that game number 2 is a slow moving Pac-Man, but in my testing I have found this to not be the case? What gives?

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