Square Playfield

[irondog]

If the screen is 40 pixels across and 192 scanlines down, how many horizontal pixels would look equal in length to the vertical length of the TV screen, to make a square playfield?

 

Please tell me if my numbers are correct:

 

I think the maximum horizontal resolution is 160 but I don't remember where I saw that number.

160 / 192 * 40 = 33.3

 

So it looks like I could design a square playfield that is, maximum, 33 x 33 units?

[Robert M]

The aspect ratio on the Atari 2600 pixels is somewhere between 1.5 and 1.75 depending on the TV, so you need 6 or 7 scanlines to make a PF pixel look square. If you use 6 scanlines, you can get 32 such square vertically in 192 scanlines. If you use 7 scanlines, you get 27 squares.

[irondog]

Uh, thanks! I had a close estimate. Where did you find that information, in the original Stella guide? I will try it out.

So if I don't use the areas outside my square playfield then that buys extra programming cycles, right? Time to experiment...