ClausB Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 I've been lurking around these 2600 forums for nearly 2 years, learning what I can about VCS programming. I've been an Atari 8-bit programmer since 1980, but never tried the 2600, mainly because the TIA documentation wasn't available to me back then. But in these excellent forums you can find almost anything you need! I've been working on my first kernel all this year, and I hope it will become the basis for a game I'm designing. It's been developed and tested only on the PC, using Stella 2.6.1 and some other tools, but not DASM. Stella, with its nice debugger, makes it so easy. It's almost ready for posting, though it's still far from a complete game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GroovyBee Posted October 31, 2009 Share Posted October 31, 2009 Post away! Don't forget to include some screenshots of your work in progress. Although I'm not a 2600 guy I like to see what other people are doing on the machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClausB Posted October 31, 2009 Author Share Posted October 31, 2009 Here it is. I had hoped to have it by July for the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, but now it will have to be for Apollo 12. The joystick trigger is the only active control right now. APOLLO12.BIN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yuppicide Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 Looks great so far! Love the sprite! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MausGames Posted November 2, 2009 Share Posted November 2, 2009 It's a great start! You should consider adding a reset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClausB Posted November 2, 2009 Author Share Posted November 2, 2009 Thanks! Sorry about the reset. I got spoiled by Stella's easy restart. Anyone tried it on a real 2600? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 Anyone tried it on a real 2600? Yep, and unfortunately one of the bugs that emulators don't show appears. There is a small gap between the player objects. Chances are this is due to writing to the HM registers too early in the scanline. The Stella Programmer's Guide has more information. It's an easy mistake to make, and others have done so before, so think of it as a programming rite of passage. Otherwise the work so far is looking great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 Yep, and unfortunately one of the bugs that emulators don't show appears. There is a small gap between the player objects. Actually, the gap does appear in Stella 3.0. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClausB Posted November 6, 2009 Author Share Posted November 6, 2009 There is a small gap between the player objects. Chances are this is due to writing to the HM registers too early in the scanline. The Stella Programmer's Guide has more information. Thanks for trying it. You're right, I set the HMPx regs too soon after the HMOVE. I see now that warning in the Guide. Here's a fix: APOLLO12.BIN Guess I should upgrade Stella, or maybe even get a 2600! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted November 4, 2017 Share Posted November 4, 2017 (edited) Love this! Any change of it getting turned into a full-featured game? The sprite looks good, really good. And the ballistics seem just about right. I had hoped to have it by July for the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, but now it will have to be for Apollo 12. Get this game back on track and we can go to the moon ourselves. No need to worry about NASA or anniversaries. Perhaps make the source available and someone else'd pick it up. I would, but I ain't no VCS programmer.. Edited November 4, 2017 by Keatah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClausB Posted November 4, 2017 Author Share Posted November 4, 2017 Thanks. Well, we have two years until the 50th anniversary! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djmips Posted January 30, 2019 Share Posted January 30, 2019 172 days 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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