metalbabble

Yep thats a bug alright. Ill look into it. There shouldnt be any invisible enemies; Im not that cruel, LOL.

Ok, hot of the press - I just uploaded a new version that has the diagonal shooting. I agree that was totally missing! I also moved the navigation map down a little into a colored block... it flickers a little more but I sort of like it positioned that way.... let me know what you think.

Yeah the diagonal shooting makes sense, I think I'll add that. Thanks for the feedback!

Nice games! The Al-Bert game looks really promising! Very smooth, great sound effects. Do you think you'll do any different arrangements of the blocks for the different levels? Lander is great too, pretty addictive.

Hey, just wanted to share a little project I've been working on. It's not as big or complex as my other games - but I thought it'd be cool to share anyways. The game is called "Stardust". The TLDR of how to play: * Explore space, use the navigation map on the bottom of the screen for guidance * Shoot asteroids, aliens - don't get hit * Find all 4 planets * Land on the planet, defeat the boss, get a power up (multi-ships, etc). * Return to the starting base I actually used some code from an earlier game I did (Bit Quest) so there are some similarities - the way the 12x12 map works, etc Anyhow, check it out. I've also got a manual and label art for authenticity. DOWNLOAD HERE EDIT: added updated version with diagonal-shooting EDIT #2: fixed multi-ship gfx bug EDIT #3: made a few more tweaks. Since I keep resetting the download, I just figured I'd link to my website stardust_manual.pdf

"Death Voyage" .... maybe that's like a weird version of Dodge Em or Fatal Run, lol. Anyhow love the label/name, cool game too!

FWIW, I wanted to share an example of a project that splits up the source files in the fashion I was referring to. I think this makes things a million times easier to work with, but I suppose it's ultimately a matter of preference. I also favor Visual Studio Code as an editor and have build tasks set up for that. Anyhow, here's an example I put together - it's a version of Conway's game of life for the 2600... I'm sure 50 versions already exist for batari basic, but honestly I was just bored on an airplane, lol. https://github.com/metalbabble/life2600 The key thing to point out is the build.sh and build.bat which merge the files and pass them to the compiler. Otherwise, working with the numbered files it's pretty easy to navigate. Hope this helps somebody out there! Happy holidays, all!

I think the launch of a new Atari is a big enough deal to warrant a couple of conversations on this site, right? In any case, just got the email... its delayed!

Im planning on going for one ... hopefully the price is fairly reasonable.

Hey, thanks for giving it a spin! So you might be interested in knowing that the placement of the sword and dungeons is randomized (or not) based on the difficulty switch. The way you played it intentionally makes it easier/closer for players staring out. Try the game out on "A"/advanced... it should randomize everything (sword, dungeons) making the game a little more complex. The sword isn't required at all... I figure that gives more ways of playing (evade the monsters, do a pacifist run, whatever) Anyhow, that map is great! I've been meaning to put something like that together and make a proper manual. Thanks again for checking it out!

Ha, yeah... high production value on that video there Just trying to get the word out a little!

Just curious - what emulator were you using on your phone? Thanks for trying the game out!

Awesomeness! Thanks!!

I just finished up a side-scroller/platformer called “Sand Castles” – I wanted to share a copy if anyone’s interested. Here’s a quick run-down… Shoot to defeat monsters to clear each round (if you spend to much time in a level, you’ll get chased by the “reaper”) Health bar is to the bottom-right, lives to the bottom left Left difficulty switch to control game difficulty (b=longer time before reaper, health restored each level) Right difficulty switch turns music on/off. Works with SEGA Genesis controllers with multiple buttons supported: B to shoot, C to jump – of course it also works with the 2600 joystick, where “up” jumps. DPC+ kernel (tested in Stella, and Harmony cartridge) Based on the feedback I got with Bit Quest, I thought it’d be cool to make a proper manual for the game, so I’ve include that as well. In any case, check it out. Hope you enjoy it! sandcastle_manual.pdf sandcastles.bin

Cool, thanks so much for the feedback. I think for sure a good manual (and maybe a map) is the way to go. That snowman thing is annoying, I think it has to do with their height. As far as the health power-ups that get dropped - I haven't seen anything weird with those, I'll have to investigate.

Yup, "A" should randomize the locations of the sword and dungeons on the map. "B" will use pre-determined fixed locations.

There's something to be said for good note taking. By the way I played both of those and they're completely amazing!!

Yeah, I hear you. That Visual bB is a great start, it would be cool if it kept going with updates. On that note, I was kind of thinking it might be neat to develop an extension for VS Code to support batari development. Something with snippets, syntax checking/highlighting, etc. (Hmmm...) For now, all I've got is that build script.

I was curious what peoples' strategies were for managing large .bas source files. (Maybe there's a super-obvious solution I missed, I am kind of a noob at this.) I bring it up because one of the biggest challenges I've encountered so far has been working with really large multi-bank games, where you have thousands of lines of code. I guess I'm just spoiled by OOP and modern IDEs! I've tried Visual bB - which is really slick, and I've heard there's some sort of bookmarking feature, but I didn't dig to deeply into that. What I've actually been doing is using Visual Studio Code and splitting up my source file into several .bas files. (bank1.bas, bank2.bas, etc) Then, I have a build action run a script that merges these parts into one large master .bas file that gets sent to the batari compiler and then the emulator. It actually made things a little easier for me.... I'd be happy to post that if it's useful to anyone. Or maybe there's an easier way you know of?