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Thomas, The latest version of your kernel that I could find is pop019.zip. Is this the last one that you produced, or is there a more recent one? Chris

Thanks (and wow this really is impressive!) Chris

Can you post the link or binary - all the versions that I can find give me messages like "Cannot read file '/home/biguser/www/lists/stella/archives/200404/bin00030.bin': Only configured to highlight HTML files." Thanks, Chris

Thanks - this is looking great (and I just checked that it still works with my hardware!). Will there be enough time in the kernel to display the player sprites also? There does seem to be a problem with stella (1.4.2), but perhaps this is fixed in the latest version. I have attached a screenshot of the problem below (the worsm appear broken into segments): Chris

Perhaps this would be a good project to do in batari basic, since the majority of the effort will be in the gameplay mechanics and graphics. If the kernel could be grafted on somehow, and the RAM/ROM limits relaxed then I think this would probably be doable, or perhaps I am getting carried away Chris

Thanks - I can't see a manufacturing date (perhaps it's inside) - all it says on the underside is: "Atari 2600, PAL-I, Atari Corporation, Made in China, S/N X709 3329215". Chris

Works! Great! Interesting... why? 903849[/snapback] As I understand it, the Supercharger uses the address $FFF8 to perform bankswitching, and in Hunchy 2, this address is used for the music data. Therefore, when this address is hit in the tune, the supercharger performs a bankswitch and crashes (unless it has been modified). EDIT: I just noticed that I can overlap Space and TimeBar2 in my code which saves 5 bytes at the end. This fixes the Supercharger crashing issue. I will make this change properly in the next release. Chris

OK, here is another version of Hunchy 2. The main changes this time are: Arari VCS Jr. Fix Modified Game Tune by supercat PAL Version Reset Button Support As usual, let me know if you find any bugs or glitches. If you are using a Supercharger then the tune will crash the console if you let it play for too long! Many thanks to supercat for his coding help and suggestions behind the scenes! Thanks, Chris h2v07.zip

Hi Eckhard, Thanks for the technical explanation. I'm not sure if I follow all the details, but if I understand correctly then there is no point generating a new table of HMOVE shift values (using Brad Motts tool) as the display of the player graphics be corrupted by this method? Thanks, Chris P.S. The worm whomper demo does indeed run fine on this console.

Hi Manuel, Thanks - this is going to be a real pain for 2600 development! At least I have one of the problem consoles to test things on. Does this happen with all Jr. consoles, or is is just the PAL ones? I will run your worm whomper demo after work and let you know the results. I also found Brad Motts Tool in the Stella archives and I will see if I can recreate the table for my Jr. I am hoping that there will be significant overlap ... Thanks, Chris

Hm... Just for the record, I tested on a 6er. I'd suggest looking into the Z26 log for "deep" or "weird" now. Greetings, Manuel 902943[/snapback] Interesting - I am also using an Atari Jr. with my supercharger. I just ran a trace with Z26 and the only "weird" in this section of the code was the HMOVE at cycle 62 which I use to move P1 left by 1 pixel. I got the $20 value from the HMOVE timing chart (-1 on cycle 62): lda #$20 ; [54] + 2 Shift P1 Left By 1 Pixel sta HMP1 ; [56] + 3 sta HMOVE ; [59] + 3 EDIT: I just dug out my old 6-switcher woody and the text is not garbled. This points to a subtle difference between the woody and Jr! Both consoles are PAL region (although the game is NTSC). EDIT: I tried putting the HMOVE in the proper place and that appears to fix the problem! I guess the HMOVE timings are different on the Jr. then?! Chris

OK, here is a small update to the 4K version of Hunchy 2. It now has a better version of the tune and a bit more polish. This is probably it for now unless any more bugs come to light. Chris h2v06.zip

Thanks - The game uses all of the available 4K ROM, so I guess it just a Supercharger issue. However, I'm surprised that it causes graphic corruption, rather than simply freezing the console. Chris

Great game, and surprisingly addictive! Have you thought about adding powerups (similar to the fuel, but which only appear for a limited time) to give you things like double shot, fast movement, reverse ooze, etc? I will be interested to see how this develops. Chris

Darn - I just noticed that the score between levels does not work on my Supercharger (the text is garbled) even though it works fine with the emulators. It could be that my hardware is broken (I recently plugged it into a 7800 by mistake), but I suspect that the timings are slightly out. Can anyone confirm that this happens for them also? Also, any suggestions for fixing this would be greatly appreciated. The source is included in the archive file. I was hoping that the 4K version was completed now

Very nice - reminds me a lot of those ST/Amiga demos that I used to admire It works with Stella (v4.1.2 Linux) for me. Chris

Hi Manuel, The original Hunchy that I wrote was my first real 2600 project and the code is a bit of a mess. To turn this into a real Hunchyback port will probably require a complete rewrite. I would like to go back and make a more faithful port, but I have got sidetracked with the platform-game idea for now. So the answer to your question is "maybe", but not right now Thanks, Chris

Thanks - I'm glad you like it! The inspiration for the game came primarily from Chucky Egg and Manic Miner. The game currently has 16 levels, but I am planning to move to 8K and add a whole lot more soon (perhaps as many as 64). The game screens are deliberately stored in memory, so this should allow a lot more flexibility than in the current release, such as moving blocks, disappearing blocks, different tile styles, and so on. As previously stated, the Bells are displayed using the M0 missile sprite. One of the most challenging (and interesting) aspects of 2600 programming is figuring out the best way to use the very limited resources available. This is true in both batari BASIC and assembly language - it is just that assembly gives you more flexibility in how you use the resources. That said, the missile trick in Hunchy 2 is not particularly complex. The technique has been used in many 2600 games, and I previously posted an example here. I think it is great that batari BASIC is introducing a lot of new people to 2600 programming, and I personally hope that it will be used as a stepping stone into full assembly programming for some. Chris

OK, I have attached a new version of Hunchy 2 (ROM & Source Code) to this message. I think this is basically it for the 4K version, so I will be very grateful for any bug reports. The main changes this time are: Scoring mechanism Improved tune by supercat Lots of bugfixes and tweaks There are still a lot of features that haven't made it into the game, so I am planning an extended 8K version in the near future. The extended version will have a lot more levels and block types, and I will try to put in some more realistic physics. However, this version is fully playable, and I think it is my best 2600 effort yet. Thanks, Chris h2v05.zip

Thanks - I am totally clueless when it comes to music I am using the following code to play the tunes which I assume is approximately what you had in mind: dec TIMER bpl EndMusic lda #4 ; Delay Value sta TIMER ldy #12 ; AUDCx Value ldx POINTER lda Music,X beq EndTune ; Skip 0 Values bmi AltControl ldy #4 ; Alternative AUDCx Value AltControl sty AUDC0 sta AUDF0 lda #8 ; Volume sta AUDV0 EndTune inc POINTER EndMusic I think I like the lower pitched one best, but to be honest I am going off the tune itself rather quickly after listening to it for extended periods of time! I was using this tune as I think is from the original HunchBack game, but if anyone can come up with something better I would be very grateful! Unfortunately space is very limited in the code, and the limit is around 150 bytes for the music data. Thanks, Chris

Most people here have probably seen this already, but there is a languages timeline which shows what happened to all of these languages. For example, BCPL became B and then C. Perhaps we should ask to get batari basic added to the lineup Chris

This looks great. I presume that you have seen this other thread on implementing Arkanoid for the 2600? Are you planning to add other features, such as powerups and enemies? I see that you are already emulating the dodgy ball/bat collision detection from the original The game is currently using a few too many scanlines (316 according to Z26) when it should use 312 for PAL. Is there any reason why you went for PAL first? I usually code for NTSC to start as there are less scanlines to play with and the code needs to be tighter. Anyway, great effort, and I am keen to see how this turns out. The 2600 scene is really getting busy these days! Chris

The latest version of Hunchy II should be attached to this post. The main changes this time are: 16 levels (14 excluding title screen and final screen). Fantastic sprite graphics by jussts. I think this is basically it for the 4K version, apart from a scoring system which will be based on the time remaining upon completion of each level. For now you can still use SELECT (F1/F2) to move between levels, but I am planning to remove this in the final version. Please let me know if you find any bugs in this version. Also, let me know what you think of the difficulty curve and order of the levels in this version. Thanks, Chris h2v04.zip

This looks really great Personally I am happy with a wave indicator instead of a score, especially since this is a minigame. It looks like the 1K minigame competition category is going to be very interesting this year! For me, the difficulty switch setting doesn't seem to work in Stella (but it does work fine in z26). Does anyone else have this problem? Chris HINT: an autofire joystick is a good way to save your trigger finger!

????????? What is a "mining picture" if you don't mind me asking? Just because I recently also got back into 2600 gaming (I have two 2600 and having one modded for composite video) and was considering getting a 7800. 896420[/snapback] Aha, I spot another Brit on AtariAge! Over here, minging means unattractive or ugly, and is usually used to refer to the opposite sex Chris