tjb

There's no last minute bug. The game is done. Here is a new demo based on final code to prove it and to keep you busy until you get your copy -- 2 game variations are on this demo, both intermediate difficulty, which is easy enough for BABIES to play. See what kind of rankings you can get. Great! Can't wait to play it! So has the cartridge entered the production phase then? tjb

Speaking of Apple, Atari did a port of Gremlins for the Apple II under the Atarisoft label. It looks and plays about the same. IMHO ports from Atarisoft were a mixed bag. Some, like Gremlins was well done while others like Stargate (speaking mainly of the Apple II and PC ports) were no where near as good as the 8-bit/5200 version. I haven't played the Apple version of Defender but I would expect it should be good since Steve Baker wrote it. Anyone played it? tjb

I received my copy yesterday. That was fast! Thanks Brian. tjb

Thanks for sharing. This is the first time I have seen this game. Very nice. I especially like the animation for the man. tjb

This is a copy of the email that I received from Al on December 13th. Greetings, You are receiving this update because you previously purchased Adventure II and I'd like to let you know where the game stands. Ron Lloyd has made great progress in the last month and the game is basically complete at this stage. All he's doing is tweaking some final sounds. With the game complete, we are wrapping up the manual (which couldn't be finalized until all the gameplay features were frozen), and those will be professionally printed within the next week. For everyone who pre-ordered the game, we are going to include some extras as a way of saying thank you to everyone who's been waiting patiently for the opportunity to play Adventure II. I'm not going to reveal what these items are so everyone can be surprised. I don't want to promise exactly when the game will ship as that's gotten us in trouble before, but it will be soon. If there are other games or items from your Adventure II order that you're still waiting on, I'd be glad to ship them separately so you can enjoy them now. Additionally, we just launched this year's holiday sale in the store--if you place a new order, please leave a comment in your order or let me know directly and I'll include any outstanding games with your new order. Likewise, if you wish to cancel your Adventure II order, please let me know and I will take care of that for you right away. I apologize for the game taking this long--had we known that Adventure II would not ship when we initially stated, we never would have taken pre-orders for the game. As always, you can read Ron Lloyd's development diary here: http://cafeman.www9.50megs.com/atari/5200d...dventureII.html Sincerely, Albert Yarusso AtariAge.com I received the same e-mail. It's nice to get an update but it would be good to know more specifically what kind of time frame we're talking about. Don't get me wrong I'm not upset or anything. I'd just like to get a ballpark estimate or at least know how close to shipping it really is (i.e. has the final binary been created and now it's just a matter of printing manuals and burning/assembling cartridges). I'm sure it will be well worth the wait. tjb

Very nice! It plays well. Will this make its way to the AA store eventually? tjb

Part of the problem is that there just isn't that many homebrews being developed for the 8-bit. At least that's the way it seems. tjb

As usual the problem was my own stupidity. It seems I was inadvertently overwriting the shadow register for POT1 which reflects the vertical position of joystick 0. Oh well, you live and learn... tjb

Help! I've been working on porting my Rasteroids game to the 5200 and I can't seem to read the joystick correctly. In order to read the horizontal position I'm using the shadow register for POT0 ($0011) and that seems to work fine. I was expecting to be able to read the shadow register for POT1 ($0012) to get the vertical position but it doesn't seem to change when the stick is moved. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, tjb

I lean towards Basic XL only because a runtime package is available so you can distribute your programs without requiring your end-users to own the cartridge. If I'm not mistaken Basic XE requires the cart. This may or may not be important to you. My 2 cents... tjb

Into the ABBUC shop "Hardware" - Freezer XL or XE. If you are not ABBUC member please add 5€. http://www.abbuc.de/shopabbuc/index.php Bernd Thanks for the info. Is there any advantage to the XE version? Is it just a matter of interface? I own both and since I don't speak German I'm not sure which version I should get. tjb

Where can I purchase the Turbo Freezer 2005? tjb

The easter egg is so elusive that the game's author doesn't even have knowledge of it! tjb

If you just want an 64K machine Best Electronics sells the 1064 64K plug-in RAM Module for $24.95. That might be another option. -tjb

I have both and personally I like the 800XL better. To me the keyboard has a much better feel and I prefer a top-loading cartridge port. The cartridge port on the 65XE is at the back of the machine. It's less convenient and more importantly, less stable. In my experience moving the machine while a cartridge is plugged in to the back can cause the cartridge to become loose usually frying (temporarily) the cart. Other than that they are pretty much the same. The only other difference I can think of is the built in BASIC. I believe the 65XE has the final revision C whereas the 800XL might have the buggy revision B. I'm sure someone will chime in and verify or correct me on this. That's my 2 cents. -tjb

I'd buy a couple as well. -tjb

Right now the ship's velocity is impacted if the ship happens to be moving at the time. It's possible to bounce back and forth between Asteroids. I'm wondering if the ship should be knocked back (so to speak) when an object strikes it and it's not moving. -tjb

Progress has slowed considerably since real life has intervened. I’ve had to do more programming for a living than usual so I haven’t much time to devote to the project. That said, I have just about finalized the shield behavior. The plan is to have everything the ship encounters – asteroids, alien bullets, even the alien – bounce off the shield. There will be a power up that will enable a “destructive shield” which will cause asteroids to take damage or be destroyed (in the case of the smallest ones) upon contact. The alien will also be destroyed (with points awarded) and alien bullets will simply explode harmlessly. The destructive shield will remain in effect until the current ship is destroyed. Other power ups will include a bonus ship, more shield time, bonus points, and maybe double point values (until the current ship is destroyed). I also want to put more challenges as well. I’m thinking of having a comet which cannot be destroyed but whose course may be changed with several bullet hits. I’m also considering adding the “death star” hexagon that breaks apart ala Asteroids Deluxe if I have enough memory for the sprites necessary. Besides the shield I’ve been working on organizing the code to make it ROMable. Anyway, here’s a video that shows the current state of the shield. Note how the alien bullets bounce off the shield. Also, the shield time is temporarily infinite to facilitate testing. -tjb rast10192006.zip

I just picked up one of these jewels as well. The guy sent me the wrong power pack however I e-mailed him and he responded immediately with a new one on the way. I can't wait... tjb

Is anyone out there doing any TI-99 development? -tjb

I few days ago I saw a device that allows the TI-99 to store files on a compact flash card. Evidently it has since been sold. Does anyone know of a vendor that sells such a device? Thanks, tjb

Having AtariAge carry them is an excellent idea! If for whatever reason that doesn't happen you can count me in for the group buy as well. -tjb

Yes on both counts. There will also be an 8-bit cart release as well. -tjb

Wow the game looks really good so far,nice job. I don't mean to nitpick but the ufo ships do seem to be moving just a tad too fast,I mean it looks hard just to get a fix on them because theyre gone before you know it. Everything else looks damn fine so far,amazing job. I know I would pick a cart up should it ever become available. Hope it works out. C'mon Atari Age,get the ball rolling here. Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. I assume you're referring to the smaller alien ship. I need to slow it down a bit. The idea was that the smaller one would be faster and a better shot than its larger counterpart. -tjb

I don't know if you are aware of this or not but I am currently working on an Asteroids clone for the Atari 5200/8-bit entitled "Rasteroids". The basic game is pretty much finished and I am currently looking into adding some power ups, an aliens-only "wave", etc. It's done in Graphics 8/Antic Mode F so it doesn't have the nice colors of the 7800 version. I have an on-going post about it under the Atari 5200 / 8-bit Programming forum if you're interested. I'd be interested in hearing any ideas you have on game enhancements. I've attached a video so that you can get some idea of what it looks like. I'll post a more recent one later as this one only shows the use of hyperspace and not the shield. On the 5200 version I plan to take advantage of the joystick to allow you to use shield, hyperspace, and flip at any time. Currently the 8-bit version uses the space bar (like Defender) to activate Hyperspace while the Shield is activated by pulling back on the stick. I'd like to publish it in time for Christmas but so far I've gotten very little response from AtariAge. Let me know what you think. Thanks, tjb rast09162006.zip