NoLand

Thanks! :-) It's worth mentioning that it was merely meant to allow bystanders to follow the project and not as a general tutorial. So it covers only what may be of a more general interest (what ever this may mean for readers who are already actively into retro computing in a way or another) and what arose in the course of that particular project. Notably, this was also my first attempt on Atari 2600 programing and I may not claim any higher expertise. (On the other hand, I tried to convey what I had learned and to provide some resources. If this is found useful or of service to others, I'm glad.)

It should be mentioned that the diagram is a copy from AtariAge, "2600 Programming For Newbies, Part 2" (compare the link provided with the image), http://atariage.com/forums/topic/29326-session-18-asymmetrical-playfields-part-2/ I'm not sure, if you are the original source. If so, thanks for producing the diagram! I think, it serves the purpose quite well. (author of that page / mass:werk, here)

This might be a tricky one: When the game is running in the first level, it reads"Computer Space" at the lower left corner. I don't know anything about Tempest 4000, but could it be that names of popular retro systems and arcade games are used as level designators? (Full disclosure: I'm very sceptic about this whole project.)

Was nice to see you playing my little game, among all those other fantastic homebrews. Just a suggestion: While it's a nice idea to dive into the games without any attention to instructions as in, "hey, I just found this cartridge," you're also systematically missing some of the fun. (A reoccurring theme.) Especially, as it's definitely hard to include extensive instructions in the program… So, if a game transcends the most basic, obvious game mechanics, or does provide some settings by console switches, you're already at a substantial disadvantage.

Great! Beta testing done live... :-) I seriously hope, it's fun. May your joysticks never break!

Sorry to say so, no. Quoting the blog, the general idea is about "Not another of the usual video games, but going back to the roots, when video games were about friends and family gathering in front of a TV set in cheerful exaltation. So it would be about two players facing directly in a noble, abstract competition, something about skill but also a bit of the unexpected for excitement." I guess, a single player version would be rather pointless.

I just did my first VCS game "Refraction". It's a two players game about a basic duel with a twist (6502 assembly, simple 4K cartridge). The game can be found here (Javatari preview and binaries): http://www.masswerk.at/rc2018/04/refraction/ It has been done as part of RetroChallenge 2018/04 over the course of April, which might be of interest here insofar as maintaining a blog or some kind of write-ups on the subject of the project is a basic condition of RetroChallenge. So there's a dedicated blog, where I try to explain, what the VCS is all about and introduce some of the basic concepts: http://www.masswerk.at/rc2018/04/ (I had some unexpected issues with the Battlezone repositioning routine and ended up with my own version and a some peculiar offsets for specific objects – 1px for missiles and the ball, 2 pixels for player sprites –, compare Episode 6. ) Finally, I did a small application for testing sound, "Studio2600": http://www.masswerk.at/rc2018/04/studio2600/ (If you're using this as a musical instrument on stage, be sure to post a video! ) Since this project has been some fun, others may follow. E.g., a Computer Space simulator for the Atari 2600. (I have done one for the PDP-1 – running at 60 frames per second on a computer introduced in 1959! – and a character based one for the PET 2001. The Atari 2600 deserves a version of its own, for sure!) P.S.: I also made a tiny, web-based sprite editor for this (maybe useful): http://www.masswerk.at/rc2018/04/TinySpriteEditor/