Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'programming'.
-
I have not done any development in Linux for Atari and I'm wanting to write some programs (games or utilities) and I'm wondering if anyone has ever set up a virtual machine via Virtual Box or VM Player? I don't want to duplicate effort if it's already been done, Why a virtual machine? I have multiple computers running multiple OS's and I want to be able to develop on whatever machine I'm currently in front of. I also want this pre-configured environment to be freely distributed, which is why I will not be using Windows. (I may use Mint so that it will look like Windows for those who have not used Linux before.) Constructive ideas and suggestions appreciated.- 6 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- 8-bit
- programming
- (and 2 more)
-
This is very early version of my first Atari 2600 game. It is is intended be more feature filled than the Blackjack game released by Atari. My goals are accurate casino play, higher quality graphics, and supporting a true multi-deck shoe without dealing duplicate cards. Why am I making this game? I like Blackjack, and I don't like the official Atari version. The Atari 2600 is the reason I became a programmer, so I'm somewhat fond of the 2600 and 6502 programming. I made an attempt in 2008 with a different game concept, but I didn't have the time to work on it. I had accepted a new job that kept me extremely busy. The joystick controls are simple: Press down to HIT. Press up to STAY. Press fire to begin a new game. Why Theta VIII? You're an unfortunate guest of the Hotel Royale on the planet Theta VIII. Roadmap This is a work in progress, so the features are very limited. The controls will evolve as features are added. The core game play appears to be working, but it's not well tested. The status bar at the bottom displays the player's score, dealer's score, and the current game state. Those will be removed in future revisions, but the status bar will show message prompts, chip totals, and win/loss status. I'm posting on my blog to stay off the forums for now. This version is way too early for game reviews. It's bare bones. I have to return to my other work for a while, so my rate of progress will slow down for a while. I hope I can have it complete after about a year. I have plans to add many more features and user interface touches. Here's a short list in order of descending priority (although they're all important): accurate casino game play with betting, double down, splitting (only 1 split planned), surrender, insurance, etc no duplication of cards (cards are unique by deck, rank, and suit) betting mechanics and player's chip management sound effects a 2nd player: paging left and right will switch between players. I gave up my original plan to show 3 hands on a single screen. It won't be practical. support for 1 deck with 75% penetration and up to 4 decks with less penetration improving UI feedback: getting rid of the ugly Hit/Stay/Win/Lose graphics; using the bottom status bar instead lots of game options and variations (such as dealer hits on soft 17, early or late surrender, color scheme, number of decks, etc) sprite animations more graphic touches Accurate game play is my number one priority. My goal is for card counting to actually work with a single player, 1 or 2 deck game, which requires that no duplicate cards can be dealt, random numbers must be unbiased, and the deck is dealt to a realistic depth of penetration (between 50% to 75%). Technical Details I've attached the binary and some screenshots, but not the source. I'll attach the source after I've rewritten a few messy subroutines. I'm somewhat inexperienced with 6502 assembly, so there's lots of room for optimizing the code (and data). Let me know if you find any bugs or inconsistent scan line counts. I'm rendering at 262 lines. When I release the source, I hope to get some tips on better assembly programming. Until then I just really like solving problems on my own. The only problem I've been unable to solve so far is I couldn't get the joystick latches to work. I had to write my own latch logic, but I'd prefer to use the hardware latches to free up some space. You're probably wondering how I'm storing 4 decks in 128 bytes. Well, I'm not. I'm storing the cards in play (meaning they're dealt to an active hand) in a packed format. I'm currently using this format: ; Card: Single packed; deck suit rank; Bits: 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0;; Rank: 0-13 = ranks Ace through King; 14-15 = unused The discard pile is a different situation from the active cards in play. I'm currently not storing discards. Cards shifted off screen are summed into a total, which doesn't work for preventing duplicates. A combination of strategies is what's going to work. The discard pile doesn't require knowing who has which card. It only needs to know which card is available to deal, so I could use a bitmap. Four decks contains 208 cards. If one card is one bit, then the entire 4-deck shoe can be stored in an array of 26 bytes. ; Cards 0 to 8 : 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0; Cards 9 to 16 : 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0; Cards 17 to 24 : 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0; Cards 25 to 32 : 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0; Cards 33 to 40 : 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0; ... The average hand consumes about 4 to 6 cards, so the RAM usage is low for the average case. The trouble is dealing with worst case scenarios, which could deal 20 or more cards to a single player given multiple decks and splitting hands. The worst case contains all the lowest valued cards for both the player's and dealer's hands. I have to balance the worst case scenario of active cards in play with the format for the discard pile. If I don't go with the bitmap, then I'll have to settle for implementing a circular buffer for storing the discards. It will truncate the card history, but would only affect a very small percentage of hands. I currently have about 45 bytes of RAM free. I'm wasteful with RAM, so I have some easy optimizations to make for freeing up space. This version represents the culmination of about 1 month's work so far. I spent a week rewriting code that wasn't going to work, and then spent another 2 weeks goofing around with writing my own horizontal and vertical positioning algorithms. In the end I just ended up just using the divide by 15 method. Heh. Heh. SkipDraw is not used, because the vertical positioning in this game is trivial. Nothing moves and everything is divided into fixed size rows. Hardware Testing The game is completely untested on hardware, because I don't have a Harmony cart. I'll get one sooner or later.
- 6 comments
-
- 1
-
-
- blackjack
- Theta VIII
- (and 4 more)
-
Looking to sell several different Atari 8-bit computer programming languages, price doesn't include shipping but open to any and all offeres Educational System Master Cartridge $20 OBO Pilot $10 OBO Assembler Editor $35 OBO
-
Hello Everyone! This is my first blog post ever here on AtariAge, and I'm excited to be on here! Let me introduce myself. My name is Chase, and I am a seventeen year from Ohio. I have been playing and collecting Atari 2600 games for 3 years now and I have never felt more passionate and happy playing simple games compared to the high resolution, highly complicated games of today. The 2600 seems to pull me in with simplicity and the appeal of playing games that have shaped the game industry into how it is today. I have used my Atari 2600 (a four switch Woody) more than my Ps4, and I actually love my Atari more than my PlayStation. I want to start up a YouTube channel reviewing games and potentially talk to the people who programmed them. I hope to have a fun time on here and I can't wait to share my passion with others and hear stories from others who grew up with the console I love. I will mostly will be talking about the 2600 on this blog, mostly about games. Which ones I love, which ones I think are ok, and which ones I don't really like. I might also dabble in the 5200, 7800 and the Lynx and Jaguar. And one question to end this blog: Which Atari 2600 launch title is your favorite? Mine is Indy 500, followed by Surround.
-
Asking $125 shipped, but open to offers. Included is the Action! cartridge, Pro Card which illustrates the error codes and their meaning, as well as the Programmers' Aid Disk
-
Hello everybody, I know that most of you, even those that play more than collect, steer away from the Intellivision Programming Forum because it's just full of nerds. However, as you may have heard, we are running an IntyBASIC Programming Contest to showcase the work of some burgeoning and veteran Intellivision programmers and everybody is invited to take a look at their work. I would like to invite you all to take a stroll down the contest thread (just ignore the nerds, and keep your hands and personal items out of reach) and see what's cooking. With two weeks to go till the end of the contest, the pressure is on to polish and clean up all entries, and I'm sure that any feedback from you will be much appreciated. After all, who knows where the next Intellivision classic gem will come from -- it may as well be from one of these works in progress, and your feedback can contribute to its success. So how about it? Want to join us and play some games? All of them are in various stages of completion, but they are all playable, very interesting, and (mostly) original. Look at the screenshots, download the ROMs, give them a spin, and let the programmer know what you think. Any feedback is welcomed (those nerds love the attention! )! IntyBASIC Programming Contest 2018 -dZ.
-
i cant find a working compiler for windows 10 so can someone help me find a compilers for bas to bin???
-
New Atari Portfolio Page on Facebook
rcamp48 posted a blog entry in Atari Portfolio Page On Facebook
I am starting a Facebook Page for The Atari Portfolio which will be Closed,and I need 3 admins that really know their stuff around The Atari Portfolio........... Russ Campbell (Mr Portfolio) Yes I wrote the article , What Good Is An Atari Portfolio way back in the old days. -
Hi all, I've been hunting for Peter Goode's rare Aquarius Program Book (mentioned in this old thread) for almost a year, and I finally tracked down an eBay UK seller who was willing to ship it my way. I've now scanned the book and uploaded it to the Internet Archive (and attached it to this thread), so it is rare no longer. I haven't typed in any of the programs yet, so if you do, please share the results here. ========== Nathan metopal.com pre83.com Peter Goode - The Aquarius Program Book (1983).pdf
-
The Java game library seems to be unexplored considering that it's one of the most popular programming languages and that it's supported by so many systems. -
I've recently decided to make a joke Atari game in my free time. Problem is, I don't want to spend weeks or even months learning Assembly when chances are either A. I'm not going to finish the game B. It's going to be some joke game that lasts about 30 minutes. This is the most likely outcome as the working title for the game is "Epic Funny Meme Game". If that doesn't give you a clue as to how unfunny it's going to be I don't know what will. So I've done some digging and found "VirtualBB", a software that allows you to program Atari games through BASIC. So far I've found a few tutorials for it, and I can confirm that the software does indeed work. However, I can't find any complete tutorials for it, and from what I've heard the programming for Atari is much deeper then just displaying images and spawning missiles. Is there any tutorials that are actually complete that I can use? BASIC tutorials work fine but I'd prefer would that's specifically for the programming so I can follow along with it (I'm more of a visual learner.)
-
OK, I've made a raft of improvements since last week's release. All this is now available in the 2018-01-08 release. NEW: Add _EXPMAC keyword, to force macros to expand in both the taken and not-taken branches of an IF. This is needed for IF-statements inside a RPT block, whose taken/not-taken behavior varies across loop iterations. NEW: Increase resolution of release_date to include hours, minutes, seconds, and timezone. NEW: Add build_date and version CFGVARs. build_date takes the same format as release_date. version is an arbitrary format string. Both tags can appear an arbitrary number of times. NEW: Add %z specifier to TODAY_xxx. Reports timezone as +HHMM in TODAY_STR_xxx. Reports timezone as minutes relative to UTC in TODAY_VAL_xxx. NEW: Add _ROTL16, _ROTL32, _ROTR16, _ROTR32 operators.Same precedence as SHL, SHR, SHRU. Internal: Increase IF-ELSE-ENDI stack depth from 32 to 256. Internal: Additional infrastructure for normalizing metadata between different object file types. BUGFIX: Add missing __FEATURE.TODAY for the TODAY_xxx feature. This was supposed to be in the last release, but a fatfingered edit fail deleted it. BUGFIX: Fix some nested RPT cases. Multiple RPTs inside a nested RPT now work. RPT guarded by an IF also now works. BUGFIX: Fix some metadata tag behavior when loading ROMs w/ tags. Misc: Start marking stuff 2018. Misc: Update documentation for new features.
- 9 replies
-
- 5
-
-
- intellivision
- jzintv
- (and 4 more)
-
In order not to pollute the thread of Sound List Ripper with this, I've created a small utility in VB5 which converts MID files into TI-99 sound lists. It's somewhat crude, but I'm posting it anyway since there has been interest in it. I think it facilitates the development of sound lists for the TI-99 which are a nice, compact format with a player built into ROM. You can find details on its usage in the README file supplied with it. The ZIP file contains an EXE file, the source code project and the README file. Oh, sorry to say, but since it was developed in VB5, it only runs on Windows. I'm not exactly sure which versions it will run on, but I'm pretty sure it will run on Windows XP, 7 and 10. Maybe earlier versions (from 95 upward) are also OK, but I haven't tested it. Enjoy! Kurt MIDI_TO_Sound_List_0_0_1.zip
-
Specifically the pcbs this dude used in this video.
-
And now, as a free gift to the Intellivision development community, I bring you - RobotFindsKitten. It's as good as finished. The documentation is included. Enjoy! RobotFindsKitten.zip
- 17 replies
-
- 8
-
-
- Intellivision
- Programming
- (and 2 more)
-
I have used a lot of assemblers to program games. I have used Learn to Program BASIC, BasiEgaXorz, and EASy68K. I have also used Apple ][ Basic, C++, and others. There are many different assemblers out there, but what if there was a computer (or maybe an application) with a really sophisticated assembler that could be used for programming games, and other things? The goal is to make programming easier, faster, and more enjoyable. First, I'd like to mention all the essential things that any good assembler needs. Fast interface, as well as fast assembling. The ability to cleanly divide a ROM into sections. Code/data folding. The ability to test code as you write it. Storing colors, but showing them visually, rather than as numbers. Storing graphics for a game as data, and making it show like it would in the program. Compress graphics if necessary. If it's for a system that uses tiles for graphics, computing the mappings for them. Compress data in some way. Test code for length. Being able to make short/long branches automatically according to smallest possible file size. Making sure VBlank code starts and ends properly. For any routine, sort the local labels alphabetically or numerically. Add a number of labels to a ROM that follow a certain character pattern. Add/manage data structures. Lets you pick labels/variables from a list. Calculates a ROM checksum and/or adds code. Pads a ROM to a number of bytes that is a power of 2. I might add more of these. Over time, I will be adding blog posts regarding one or more of these elements. Keep in mind that any images posted in this blog are simulated. The Apple ][ is my inspiration for their look, since it was one of the first computers I grew up with.
-
This is my first post on any atariage forum, if this is the wrong place to post this topic, then I'll gladly move it. First of all, I just need to give out a big thank you to Random Terrain for the awesome tutorial page (I use it like a bB bible), atariage for this forum, and anyone who worked on batari basic/visual bB. So while testing out my first project this weird glitch came out of nowhere, everything works fine until the player touches (collides) with player1 (the finish flag). When this happens the game starts all over. I assume either a variable was messed up or misspelled, or perhaps players can't collide? (I don't need anything else fixed, I know the movement of the player sucks as well as the collision against walls. I'll be sure to improve those in Max's Maze 2) Max's_Maze_2017_11_2_1723.bas
-
I always wanted to know how software sprites worked in this demo. Here it is a dis6502 2.2.2015-04-06 zipped workspace of laser demo. I don't think i will be working on disassembling it anymore. Maybe someone will use it for something else. laserdemo.zip
-
Hello! Thanks so much for reading, I was reading Steven Hugg's excellent book on Atari 2600 programming when I hit an interesting stumbling block. He wrote some code that is supposed to set the course and fine position of the player on the screen, using a loop to make sure the cycles were correct for the job. In this case, the code was supposed to set the horizontal to pixel 0, which means resetting the position at cycle 23, the first cycle where pixels are visible. His code added up to 20 cycles BEFORE the final sta Resp0 command. In the book, he says you want to do the store exactly on cycle 23 to guarantee that pixel 0, the first pixel on the left at a given vertical point, is lit. In actuality, does the sta Resp0 START on cycle 21 and END on 23? And it was poor wording in the book? Or, was he missing a bit of code that needs to be added so sta Resp0 STARTS on 23? And it's a coding error? Thanks so much in advance! -
So, I know that the main CPU runs at 1.19 Mhz, and I also know that the TIA is 3 times as fast as the 6507, so it runs at 3.57 Mhz. How would I figure out how long a single color clock takes to execute? -
It's been a while, here's something fairly original. I don't like the long note breaks, but they are OK and I'm kind of done with tinkering with this one. I know other folks are busy making games, so maybe this will help someone that needs a title page song or intermission song or something. HTH. Free to use, don't even have to credit me if you don't want.
-
Hello Atari 8-Bit Community! We were inspired by the many kind responses about our Atari BASIC game development document, our newly posted 1980's Anschuetz/Weisgerber/Anschuetz Atari BASIC games, and our Antic Atari Podcast. For those that missed it, here are the links: Forum post with Atari BASIC game development document and 1980's Atari BASIC games: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/268424-1980s-anschuetzweisgerberanschuetz-basic-games-release/ Antic Atari Podcast: http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-297-robert-anschuetz-eric-anschuetz-john-weisgberber-antic-magazine-games In this post, we are uploading version 2.0 of the Atari BASIC game development document. This version enhances the original document in many paragraphs, and also adds some new and very interesting sections to the document. This version includes our original 1980's type-written (we didn't have a printer) instructions and programming notes that were submitted along with our BASIC games to Antic, COMPUTE!, and A.N.A.L.O.G. Perhaps even more interesting, we have also scanned the correspondence letters from these magazines for programs that were accepted and rejected for publication. The table of contents indicates these new sections (Development Notes pages 46-71, and Magazine Correspondence 75-91). These are scans from documents that hadn't seen the light of day since the 1980's! Thanks go out to John Weisgerber for saving all of this information for the past 30 years! We are still trying to dig up the old design notes and the graph paper that we used for character bitmaps! They are probably in the attic, closet, or basement somewhere. We hope you enjoy these new additions. Robert Anschuetz Eric Anschuetz John Weisgerber Anschuetz-Wesigerber-Anschuetz v2.0.pdf- 1 reply
-
- 8
-
-
- Antic
- Programming
- (and 5 more)
-
I have received many questions over the past fifteen years on how to use Bally BASIC and "AstroBASIC." In this thread, which I may pin if it becomes popular, I am creating a place where people can ask questions about Bally BASIC, "AstroBASIC," Blue Ram BASIC and Vipersoft BASIC, the four different BASIC languages available for the Bally Arcade/Astrocade game console/computer that was released in 1978. To get this thread started, I've created a video overview of "AstroBASIC," by far, the most common BASIC available for the Bally Arcade system. This 4KB cartridge, which includes a built-in tape interface, was released by Astrovision Inc in 1981. "AstroBASIC" is part #6004 of the Functional Series. You can view the video here: This video includes: An overview of "AstroBASIC" and the over 100-page "AstroBASIC" manual Explains how to type in BASIC commands and keywords using the Bally BASIC overlay for the 24-key keypad Shows examples of loading "AstroBASIC" programs via 2000-baud interface Shows an example of loading and listing a BASIC program (Chicago Loop by Mike Peace) from the BASIC manual The "Bally/Astrocade Game Cartridge and Hardware FAQ" says this about this "AstroBASIC:" "This updated version of the Bally BASIC cartridge is notably set apart from the original because it has a built-in 2000 baud interface that connects to a standard cassette recorder; there are also some additional commands added for the programmer. It's visually different from the original release as well. This cartridge was packaged with some Astrocade consoles (these consoles were designated as Arcade Plus). Astrocade, Inc. manufactured the later releases of this. Written by Jay Fenton." I would appreciate any feedback that you may have about this video. For instance, do you find it helpful? What would you like to see next if I decide to cover one or more of the various Astrocade versions of BASIC in more detail? I hope that you enjoy the video and find it useful. Please post any questions or comments that you have on this subject here. Adam
- 5 replies
-
- 1
-
-
- Programming
- Bally BASIC
- (and 3 more)
-
Anyone feel like writing a MegaDemo? Well now you can! Here are two versions of an assembler that was used extensively for demo coding back in the day: http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=47999 http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=62372 (apparently this one includes a manual) If anyone knows of other assemblers that are good for this sort of thing, feel free to post links in this thread.
-
AtariX Hello everyone, my name is Iuri Nery, and a few days ago I started reading some tutorials at RandomTerrain to learn more about Atari programming, and so far I’m finding everything fascinating. I’m right now at number #16 of Andrew Davie’s tutorial (Atari 2600 Programming for Newbies). I’m learning a lot from it, and to learn faster, I needed to built something to help me testing the sample projects, that’s why I made this IDE. AtariX is a very simple IDE, but has a couple of features that can help novice users to get into Assembly programming: · Save/Load assembly files (.asm/.s); · Build binary files by pressing the “Export” button; · Test your games with 1 click; · Colored syntax for comments, assembly instructions, numbers, binary numbers and also for the labels from “vcs.h” (like COLUPF); Files included: · “vcs.h” and “macro.h” (unmodified); · DASM Assembler; · z26 Emulator; · AtariX executable; How to use: 1. Open the assembly file you want to test; 2. Put all the included files in the “include” folder; 3. Click on the “Play” button (you can also press F5); Credits: ; AtariX ; ------ ; Copyright © 2017 by Iuri Nery ; DASM Assembler ; -------------- ; Copyright © 1988-2002 by Matthew Dillon ; Copyright © 1995 by Olaf "Rhialto" Seibert ; Copyright © 2003-2008 by Andrew Davie ; Copyright © 2008 by Peter H. Froehlich ; z26 Emulator ; ------------ ; Copyright © 1997-2004 by John Saeger . This is not an advanced IDE or anything like that, just wanted to share it with you guys, I hope it can help someone. ps: I’m not an experienced programmer, so any tips are apreciated, also I don’t know if this is the correct session to post this kind of stuff. Thanks! AtariX_v01.zip
- 2 replies
-
- 5
-
-
- 2600
- programming
- (and 3 more)
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord