How does the TIA actually do the collision check?

[How does the TIA actually do the collision check?]

Lol... yeah... AND!

[How does the TIA actually do the collision check?]

The TIA does pixel-to-pixel collision checks.  As the screen is being drawn, if any player0 pixel is drawn while any playfield pixel is also drawn, that bit gets set in the collision register.  So, it is essentially AND-ing the player data with the playfield data to set the collision bit.

 

EDIT:  Fixed logic error: Switched OR to AND!

[Ex-Activision Designers Launch Retro Game Publisher Audacity Games™]

5 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

James please don't let the comments stress you out.  You clearly provided a warning (as per below) on your thread as well as several warnings throughout the video.  We're all big boys & girls, we should be able to read your warning and decide whether/not to proceed with watching the video.  This really shouldn't be an issue.

Fully agree!  I was trying to figure out what to say, and it appears that @sramirez2008 captured it perfectly.

[Ex-Activision Designers Launch Retro Game Publisher Audacity Games™]

Hmmm... the Audacity of some people!  Seems fitting though, given the definition.

Definition of audacity

1 : the quality or state of being audacious: such as

  a : intrepid boldness - knights admired for their audacity

  b : bold or arrogant disregard of normal restraints - had the audacity to defy his boss

2 : an audacious act —usually used in plural Her worst audacities did not seem to surprise him.— Edith Wharton

 

[7800 assembly "hello world"?]

I used @PacManPlus's DLL Template as a reference point when building the Congo Bongo graphics demo:

 

 

[Congo Bongo?]

Yeah, the version that let's the player move around doesn't include the "alternating color interleave" kernel.  I wanted to save space/complexity until I got all the sprite stuff figured out.

[Congo Bongo?]

Yes, that's more how it should look.

 

Here's a hacked binary of the player movement version with those colors:congo_poc_PAL60_20210322_hacked.e7

 

Although Stella 6.5.2 has it bit darker (My PAL color settings must be off):

[Congo Bongo?]

The numbers at the top show the currently selected color (left 2 digits) and its value (right 2 digits).  But it only shows one at a time.   There are 4, two background and two foreground colors.  The fire button rotates thru them.

 

From your screenshots, I can see that you set color 1 to 92.

[Congo Bongo?]

I need to know what the 4 color values are

[Congo Bongo?]

Yes, those do look better.  What colors did you use?

[Congo Bongo?]

Huh, it doesn't look like the colors changed at all.  I was expecting something more like:

 

 

 

If you grab the congo_poc-(20210119).bin  from an earlier post (Post #11 - January 19th), you can play around with the colors using the joystick.

 

Post #11 (january 19th):

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/315431-congo-bongo/?do=findComment&comment=4729944

[Congo Bongo?]

Currently, your best bet for trying this out is to use Stella.

 

Between the two online emulators that I know of, only @DirtyHairy's Stellerator worked, but only after renaming the file.  The other online emulator, Javatari, does not like this, which is not surprising because this uses the rarely used E7 bank-switching scheme.

 

If you're talking about virtualatari.org, it looks like they use Javatari and they only accept completed games.  This is no where near being completed... it's just getting started. 

 

[Is Lode Runner for Atari 2600 leaked?]

I don't think it's a good idea to encourage the spread of a potentially "leaked" file.  It might discourage the developer from continuing and/or releasing the project.

[Full Motion Video concept]

This is really cool! Nice job.

[Ex-Activision Designers Launch Retro Game Publisher Audacity Games™]

5 minutes ago, CPUWIZ said:

What if some people brew outside their home? 

Where would they be brewing:  Work-brew?  Coffee shop-brew?  Picnic-table brew?  Back porch brew?  In the woods brew?

 

Addendum:

Although coffee-shop brew would lead to some confusion.

[Ex-Activision Designers Launch Retro Game Publisher Audacity Games™]

Oh, that sucks.  I like the word homebrew.

[Ex-Activision Designers Launch Retro Game Publisher Audacity Games™]

Just now, Mr SQL said:

The idea is everyone can be an artist, I designed a development tool around that idea. I think you're idea is to throw insults at me for labeling the development tool, correct?  

Insult?  What insult?   Aren't we just joking around?  Or do I need to apologize for hurting your feelings?

[Ex-Activision Designers Launch Retro Game Publisher Audacity Games™]

3 hours ago, Andrew Davie said:

I think the recent ARM-based games are remarkable. They show just what the TIA can do. There is still considerable skill required to make something that works - yet alone something that looks good. For example, many of the ARM games use sophisticated sprite multiplexing algorithms/engines to get HEAPS of stuff on the screen at the same time. It requires skill to program. Comparing these things is what I so dislike about where we're at now. A 4K game has its own unique challenges, and limitations. An ARM-supported CDFJ game has its own unique challenges. It is possible to produce fantastic games with either. But comparing one to the other and saying one is the "best" is basically misunderstanding (in my view, at least - and I've been bitten by my views on this) the very nature of what they are. You can do a lot more (dynamically) with an ARM bankswitch scheme such as CDFJ than you can with plain 4K. You can do a lot more with a non-ARM bankswitch scheme such as 3E+ than you can with plain 4K, too. Comparing them is pointless and in my world "unfair" to the developers. I refuse to be a part of it.
I am against any sort of push to label games with some sort of "32-bit" or "unassisted" or whatever. They are all '2600 games and all require skill to develop. If any good has come out of this whole Audacity thing, it is perhaps that good game design seems to be more the discussion point than the bankswitching scheme used. Even so, we're still seeing ridiculous comments with people still insisting on using terms like "best game ever", "best graphics", "best Atari programmers", etc. I think most people aren't going to be aware or care about any of this.
Anyone who finishes a game no matter what the medium (from bBasic to ARM-based) is a winner in my book. I consider programming a game an artistic endeavour, more than a technical one. To me, categorising and claiming one is the "best game", for example, is like comparing two great artists to decide who was the "best".  Do you try to level the playfield when making that judgement by deciding who had the better quality canvas, paints and paintbrushes? No. There's just no way to compare; they are both great artists who must be evaluated in their own context.
Unfortunately, some great artists never sell a painting in their entire lifetime - and some get rich selling stuff based on who they are.

 

Well said Andrew!

[Ex-Activision Designers Launch Retro Game Publisher Audacity Games™]

I think Mr SQL is broken.  He's not making a lot of sense. Could somebody fix him? 

 

[Ex-Activision Designers Launch Retro Game Publisher Audacity Games™]

2 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Thumb instructions are 16 bit, but they process 32 bit data.

Ah.  Crap.  Now I remember the previous discussion on this.  I've edited my previous post.

[Ex-Activision Designers Launch Retro Game Publisher Audacity Games™]

3 minutes ago, Mr SQL said:

 

If the games run on the CPU they are 32-bit so a sign would be helpful; I think signs on games are cool just not on people  

So you don't like T-shirts with words on them?  Or name tags?

[Ex-Activision Designers Launch Retro Game Publisher Audacity Games™]

1 hour ago, Mr SQL said:

It's generally Apples to Oranges comparing 8-bit games to 32-bit games, even 4K games compared to 16K games with the same processor are a different paradigm. 

 

When an 8-bit game does compare to a 32-bit game through innovation the reviewer just holds up signs  

 

I think it might be more sensible to put signs on the 32-bit releases indicating they are "32-bit productions on 8-bit hardware". 

 

Running old DOS 16-bit games on a 386 (32-bit processor), does not magically make those games 32-bit.

 

So, some of that depends on whether the games/releases use 32-bit instructions or not.  Ex:  Chaotic Grill uses DPC+, but only for the extra RAM accessed via data fetchers and fast-fetch mode.  Outside of that, it's purely running with just 8-bit 6502 code (display kernel AND game logic).

 

Also, I believe any DPC+ games that utilize ARM code can only utilize the Thumb (16-bit) instructions due to a bug/design flaw.  I believe I heard this has since been corrected with the CDF, CDFJ drivers.   BUT, that would make any DPC+ game only technically 16-bit, if that.  Sorry, that was based on my faulty knowledge...so it's been struck out.

 

Are we really going to have this discussion AGAIN on how to DIVIDE up the community into little niches of games based on specs?

 

OR can we ALL agree to enjoy these games that we like for what they are?

[Wizadry on the Woodgrain - Tiki]

Preliminary information about DPC and DPC+ has been added.

[Accidentally doing interlace mode?]

Looks like PAL50 mode is being triggered.  You can use Alt-L to turn on display stats in Stella to confirm.

[Congo Bongo?]

Alright, I used a hex editor to quickly hack the previous PAL release with new colors (35,E7,DC,4C).  Try this and let me know what you think.

 

congo_poc_PAL60_20210315_hacked.e7