Omegamatrix

I just realized a lot of people probably don't even know who Alex is. But those of us with long memories do! Somehow it is completely off topic and yet strangely appropriate when we are talking about ARM's or LEG's.

Well, since Alex is still missing and a body has never been found I have somewhat of an idea why and of what goes into these boxes.

What is your provision for handling ports that are just loosely based? While most ports are trying to be arcade perfect there will be some that deviate quite a bit adding a whole bunch or original context which may take the game in a whole new direction. I think it is important to recognize that. It may still end up being all the same category but new ideas should be somehow recognized for what they are especially if it fundamentally changing some of the game play elements.

Not sure about the profitably, but I equate that point to saying one can not use certain programming tricks or techniques in a 4K game that were unknown back in the day. It becomes rather speculative when we are now in 2020 and building games with a whole pile of knowledge.

An unconditional best game category is a great idea. No holds barred, just let the people have their choice. To me unconditional is just that. It implies that it doesn't matter how the game is constructed for this category and anything goes. It absolutely does not mean it has to be the only best game category, but it should exist and could ease the tension on both sides of the debate.

When I get to the cartridges I chew every bit before I swallow every byte. Sometimes I even eat the bit rot too. I am wondering if Al can start making shells out of compressed sticky rice though. It might be a new thing... just need a little hot sauce packet included in the box.

I have to say, Seemo was the first person I thought of when I heard about the Lifetime Achievement Award. The creativity flows very strongly in that one, and the imagination and execution are in such sync that it is uncanny. Seemo just does his own thing for the sheer joy of it. Whether people get it or not doesn't seem to bother him. He just keeps going to a beat all his own. He has my upmost respect, and I feel he doesn't at all get the credit that he deserves for the great work he does. His stuff seems to slide under the radar because it does not quite hit that mainstream popularity vibe. Again though, he just keeps going on and creating like none of that maters. I have great respect for that man.

I absolutely agree that packaging has nothing to do with how the game is built, and every game from every category should be included there. However, I have heard ARM game boxes taste better. Myself I tend to stick to eating instructions only as I am a Manualtarian. We might need to break the packing category down further by "most digestible".

They don't need a system because the force is with them, always. They can simply Jedi Mind Trick it.

I don't think there is a magical mixture of votes that will somehow scale how games should be judged for the better. After all every vote should count, but saying some votes are more important than others is just not right and borderline discriminatory. That being said it does sound like James is considering taking ARM games into their own category. This might be a step in the right direction, but it's a slippery slope. It's very clear none of us can agree on where the boundaries of categories should be. That introduces problems of what to do with new bankswitching schemes, games with extra ram, games that are not programmed in 6502 assembly, and whatever else "enhances" a game. There are grey areas everywhere.

Listen, I know you are all worried about the ARM processor. I am here to tell you the real danger is the LEG processor (Lethal Energetic Gamemaker). @Albert clones 49 to 72 had these chips embedded in them. Now I am not saying that they are fully cyborg, but the impact was undeniable. Literally hundreds of Galagon's were being produced at a rate that just wasn't... human. It was almost as if these things were self replicating. It got so bad the store was shut down with a sign that Albert was on vacation. Which Albert? We know there are several of them working 24/7. Honestly I think it's a decoy and they are building an army. I am seriously thinking of digging up my floor to build a shelter, except that it is concrete. So I got to re-think this whole thing...

Andrew, that was well said. I think we all have to do what we are interested in, and love to do. I don't see you as being in a smaller subset of the community. I honestly feel you are one of the most open minded people here to trying new things. We all belong. Kudos to you man.

ARM games are real Atari VCS games, and have their rightful place in the ongoing history of the 2600.

If you ever get the chance than try my trackball version. It's a game changing experience. I also created the start up intro screen, so that you know it takes place A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....

Great job! This is an important step for BB's future. It's going to be so good to have it all consolidated to one place, and GitHub is the goto repository for most code development these days.

I agree. The challenge/skill of making a game actually fun is universal. It doesn't mater what platform you are using. People gave undeserving flack to BB for years. Now that has mostly shifted to flack for ARM games. I am a supporter of BB. I love that it has given people a chance to make games, people who may never had the time or perseverance to learn assembly. Random Terrain, thank you for making games. 😀 I've also helped out people with incorporating assembly in BB when I had the chance. When you pair an assembly person with a BB person you can have a very powerful and rewarding relationship. Years ago I helped Cybearg by creating a custom BB kernel for him for his game Heartbreak. We literally were replacing files in the BB source so that it would build using the custom kernel. The benefit was that we were able to extend BB beyond what it normally could do, and it gave Cybearg the freedom to make the game he wanted to make. He did all the game logic and I did all the technicals. I created a routine that would use the driving control or a joystick with auto-detection so that you could hot-swap them while playing the game. The custom kernel allowed for a non-flickering multi-colored display that also ran collision detection while it was drawing, and put the collision results in a variable that was easy and ready for the BB game logic. That project was a lot of fun. Oh, and I also did some work for Cybearg on the BB DPC+ kernel to do a split score. That one is useful.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure they don't feel too great about it. I've not surprised about the difference in opinions, but I am discouraged by the hostility to change. Here we have this amazing tool that can help us build really amazing games, and the discussion just seems to have enabled people to pull out a shovel and start dumping crap all over it out of fear. When a new homebrew thread gets sidetracked by pages of debates of why a game couldn't have been done in the day, how it is unfair to other homebrews or games of the past, and the insistent need to educate people about these things, then I just think wow we have really missed the point, completely. Someone has a new game, they want to share it and see what you think. I'm sure they don't post it to have a never ending debate on what an Atari game is. When someone posts a crappy game usually very few people comment and those that do are usually supportive with ideas for improvement. When someone posts an great game with a different processor it's like WWIII and the fricking nukes are coming out. I just think man you don't have to be that way, you don't have to feel threatened, and if you don't like it why not just leave it alone? I'm sure the author would rather have some feedback on how it plays than a whole pile of shit comments.

My old flicker test rom should help. With it you can scroll around and select the color you want dynamically. FlickerTest_rev2.zip With flicker in general, avoid it. When you can't avoid it use luminescence that is close for both colors, and it will minimize the flicker. Other than that there are other methods of blending (like in Boulder Dash).

Well, try downloading the zip file in the first post and you will find that NTSC, PAL, and PAL60 versions are all already there partner. 🤠

Ah, okay I tried your rom and see that each checker is 5 PF blocks long. For some reason I thought you would be doing 4. If you don't need to update the playfield then it might be doable. The big question will be if the timing is there for updates.

By salvageable, do you mean recyclable?

Hello all, I've added an updated rom pack to the first post which has the visible game number suggestion from Thomas, and reworked controls from the suggestions of Jstick. Please report any bugs or give feedback, and otherwise enjoy. 😀

Double wide sprites might be doable, but I would consider using multiple copies of single wide instead. If double wide, than consider how Meltdown did it. Meltdown drew P0 and P1 double wide, and then at a certain cycle switched to 2 copies wides and then immediately changed it back to double wide. The end effect was double wide copy was drawn for each sprite. The cycles are very specific and might not align to 16 pixels. It's conceivable to simply flicker two frames of offset sprites like this to get 8 copies. Changing all the colors though and updating the graphics might require a ram kernel. Meltdown used a ram kernel. The real crux of the problem is still having a playfield for the checkerboard. This is where I really wish the 2600 had additional PF registers and accompanying modes in CTRLPF which allowed the entire playfield to be set with no sharing of Left/Right side. I think the only way around it for using these double wide sprites would be to offset the checker board so that reflect PF could be used. Even then there would still be some clean up to do with adding/removing the extra PF patterns. Two roms you should check out are Meltdown, and the Care Bears prototype. Meltdown is explained above. Care Bears does a trick with Reflect to produce a huge detailed sprite.

Darrell, please take whatever time you need and come back. I sincerely, truily, appreciate you and what you've done. The internet is just a brutal place for criticism. It's not always easy to have a thick skin, but sometimes you just have to do your own thing and filter out the nay-sayers. Hope you still post in the meantime and stick around. If not please come back recharged and renewed of purpose!