Dionoid

I think the RetroN 77 is a very promising system, and I'm happy Hyperkin brought this system alive. If it would support the latest version of Stella, then this will fix most compatibility issues, including the intermittent screen-tearing. And it would enable awesome features like TV-modes (Composite, S-Video, etc.). I know there is a big "if", but I try to see things in a positive way.

I guess we have to wait for Hyperkin if they decide to take this system to the next level (i.e. supporting SDL2 to be able to run the latest version of Stella). Until then, the community version is at least a step forward.

This is probably a stupid idea, but instead of having a multiplexer allowing 2 joysticks into port 1, would it be feasible to use the same multiplexer technique to add a pass-through joystick connector to an AtariVox? That way you would only need a single device in port 2, instead of both a joystick multi-tap and a AtariVox.

Nice game! I guess you need to get all the lights out, right? I didn't manage to solve it yet. What assembler are you using? Dasm is the most common, but I see you're using something different.

Would SaveKey support be hard to re-enable in the community build? I know the original RetroN 77 image also supports the stella.pro properties file, but configuring Controller.Right as "SaveKey" doesn't seem to be supported - or at least I see that no savekey_eeprom.data file is generated in the stella folder.

This is a cool game, even though it's unfinished. Reminds me of Fall Down for the 2600.

Wait... I might just be able to split-up the writing of the 3 highscore bytes into 3 successive frames. [Edit] Splitting worked for me! Writing of a single byte to the SaveKey takes 1292 cycles, for which I have just enough time during overscan. Note that writing a single byte at a time is not optimal, because the transmit-start and transmit-end in i2c uses most of the cycles. But with 2600 programming sometimes you just need to do what works :-)

This library is very easy to integrate. Thanks, Thomas! Because storing a 3-byte highscore takes 25 scanlines, I had to turn the screen to black during a single frame at the end of a highscore game. Otherwise that frame would need more than 262 scanlines. Are there any best practices on when/where to call 'jsr WriteSaveKey' ?

Lulu seems to offer free shipping for about a week in every two months (usually the code is ONESHIP for free shipping).

It's $8.21 if you're ordering from Canada and $4.69 from the US. From Germany it should say "Preis: 5,69 € (exkl. MwSt)". Maybe the price is different depending on where in the US or Germany you are located? Weird...

Actually your name is mentioned 5 times in this book, which might be a reason to order a copy after all :-) And Lulu.com offers free shipping regularly, which means the total costs will be under 6 euro's for you. Just saying :-)

For those who prefer to read the PDF: I just added a download-link to the PDF in the original post.

Note that I just added a link to the PDF in the original post

The RetroN 77 has been out of stock for a couple of months now. Does anyone has information on what's happening behind the scenes? I hope Hyperkin is silently working on supporting SDL2 for this system, using the guidance that StephenA has given online: https://github.com/stella-emu/stella/wiki/Retron-77

It seems there are roughly 3 ways to develop Homebrew-games for the Atari 2600: 6502 assembly only a combination or ARM and 6502 programming (DCP+, bus stuffing, etc.) batari BASIC (also supporting DCP+) I think all 3 serve their own needs: 6502-only is how they mostly developed games during the hey-days of Atari 2600. Except Pitfall II of course, which used DPC (I'm not sure if more games used additional processors back then) ARM/DPC+ is a natural evolution in cartridge hardware and enables games that weren't possible in the early days batari BASIC allows for fast game development and targets those who are new to software- and game-development (less steep learning curve) Myself, I'm sticking to original hardware limits: 6502 only and a maximum of 4K (so not even using bank-switching). I also take ice-water baths and for breakfast I drink raw eggs, haha.

Yay, Amoeba Jump is on the list! I'll make sure to do another release of the game somewhere in the coming months.

I just ordered my first set of homebrew games from the AtariAge store: a copy of Draconian (the "no box" version) together with Star Castle Arcade, Wall Jump Ninja and Fall Down. Can't wait to play these games!

This tools is exactly what I need, and the best I could find. Thanks!

That is good news!! As I don't have enough space in my room to store boxes, I only buy/collect loose cartridges :-)

Right, I'm using the sound effect driver from SpiceWare's Collect sample game. I changed the sound-tables but none of the code so far. Are there any known issues with it?

Wow, that is impressive! I was thinking about making the first 'all blue' level just half the height, so more people would be able to pass it. What do you think? I'm currently working on additional bonus & boost objects, for which I had to rewrite part of my kernel just to allow multiple objects on screen at the same time. I still have around 2K left for graphics, sound and code, so more to come :-)

I'm having problems contacting Hyperkin, but I'll inform them again today about the update for Amoeba Jump. And nice to know that Flappy will also be included in a future batch of R77 machines!!!

All good suggestions! Some I had already on my list, but some are new - like platforms that are only visible on some event (like lightning). I'm not sure about the 'lives' concept, as there is no end goal to this game - just try to jump as high as you can without falling :-) Anyway, thanks!! BTW: the version on the Retron77 is rather old. The current version has improved gameplay!

And did Lulu send you a replacement copy?

Thanks for the excellent suggestion, alex_79 ! I found that inside a skipdraw branch of my display-kernel I was doing lda VSYNC, assuming that would always read value 0 into the Accumulator using 3 CPU cycles. Note: I can't use lda #0 because that only takes 2 cycles, and I really need 3 cycles to have the branche-cycles stay in sync. So I changed my code to use a special "Zero" zero-page variable, which fixes the issue. Too bad I need to use an additional ZP variable for this, but it works and I cannot think of a better solution for now. I'll make sure to enable Stella's developer settings by default!