Bryan Posted May 12, 2016 Share Posted May 12, 2016 Knowing that the Jumpman is made of 2 Players, it should be possible to make the 3-color sprite from the C64 version with a DLI. During the lines occupied by Jumpman, you could use both Players, changing colors as necessary then turn the 2nd sprite black and reset the collision registers right at the feet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted May 14, 2016 Author Share Posted May 14, 2016 Owen Rubin: Major Havoc, Space Duel http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-172-owen-rubin-major-havoc-space-duel Owen Rubin worked in Atari's coin-op division from 1976 to 1984 — he is best known for his programming work there on Major Havoc, Space Duel, and Battlezone. He also served as a go-between between the arcade division and the consumer division, where the Atari home computers were created. After that, he was a game designer at Nolan Bushnell's Bally Sente. In this interview, we discuss Ed Rotberg, whom I previously interviewed. This interview contains some coarse language. It took place on February 12, 2016. Teaser quotes: "And I lost it. I just completely lost it with him ... and I slammed the listings down on his desk, basically clearing his desk of just about everything else, and I said, 'Do it yourself, I quit.'" "I find MAME both very cool that you can see it, and very sad that you don't get the right feel." "We really wanted coin-op games to be about a 90-second experience. Up to a couple minutes if you got good at it." 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 That was a total blast! Did Owen actually send his old disks? -- Atari Frog http://www.atarimania.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris++ Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 That would be incredibly cool if you two were to catalyze Randy Glover's creation of some new Jumpman levels. I hope you'll be keeping podcast listeners informed of your de-coding progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted May 15, 2016 Author Share Posted May 15, 2016 That would be incredibly cool if you two were to catalyze Randy Glover's creation of some new Jumpman levels. I hope you'll be keeping podcast listeners informed of your de-coding progress. I've created one level so far, which is available on the Jumpman hacking thread (http://atariage.com/forums/topic/252267-jumpman-hacking/?p=3505464). I'm working on more. When @playermissile and I release our reverse engineering notes, anyone will be able to make a level — but it's not easy. But a couple of people are talking about building a level editor. That would make basic levels much easier — though anything with custom bad guys would still require assembly language. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted May 16, 2016 Author Share Posted May 16, 2016 Ursula Wolz, early computing and education http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-173-ursula-wolz-early-computing-and-education Ursula Wolz was thinking about computers and education in the early days of personal computing. She worked on Apple ][ games for Children's Television Workshop, consulted for Atari Research on their endeavors in educational software, and taught Logo to some of the first students who learned it. This interview took place on February 12, 2016 Teaser quote: "It was one of the first games that was completely graphical ... Because the kids using it might not be able to read the text, we did everything through gestures." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bani Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 how about philip price gary gilbertson ? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted May 20, 2016 Share Posted May 20, 2016 I've created one level so far, which is available on the Jumpman hacking thread (http://atariage.com/forums/topic/252267-jumpman-hacking/?p=3505464). I'm working on more. When @playermissile and I release our reverse engineering notes, anyone will be able to make a level — but it's not easy. But a couple of people are talking about building a level editor. That would make basic levels much easier — though anything with custom bad guys would still require assembly language. Indeed, but if we can see where to inject custom assembly routines, etc.. then snippets of code could be collected to make custom stuff, and become part of the editor. -Thom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted May 20, 2016 Author Share Posted May 20, 2016 Robert Waldman, Financial Asset Managment System http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-175-robert-waldman-financial-asset-managment-system Robert Waldman wrote Financial Asset Managment System, which was published by Atari Program Exchange. It first appeared in the Fall 1981 APX catalog, where it won second prize in the personal finance and record keeping category. As explained in my interview, Robert submitted a program called Atari 800 Olympic Gamebook System to Atari Program Exchange but it was not accepted or released. Robert sent me his only copy of the never-before-published Olympic Game Book System software, which was lost in the mail. He scanned the manual and a small part of the program listing, which I've uploaded to archive.org (you'll find a link in the show notes at AtariPodcast.com). But it appears that the complete program is gone forever. This interview took place on February 8, 2016. Teaser quote: "I remember writing long BASIC programs. I would come home from work and then stay up all night coding." 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkindig Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 Tod Frye, Asteroids http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-174-tod-fry-asteroids Most notably, while working at Atari, Tod Frye developed the 400/800 version of Asteroids and the 2600 version of Pac-Man, converting them from the coin-op version. He has many other games to his credit. He later worked for Axlon, Nolan Bushnell’s company. This interview was conducted on January 3, 2016. Teaser Quotes “While I was at Atari, it went from a pretty big company, to a huge company, to a complete flop.” “I didn’t work at Atari; I LIVED at Atari; and I loved it.” “Because of the CTIA and GTIA and Antic, the sprite hardware was WAY better than the sprite hardware on the Commodore.” “The hard parts were: writing code that was fast enough, writing code that was small enough to fit in the cartridge, and writing code that would fit in the RAM. Basically everything was hard.” 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted May 22, 2016 Author Share Posted May 22, 2016 Clyde Spencer: Stereo 3-D Graphics and Isopleth Map Making http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-176-clyde-spencer-stereo-3-d-graphics-and-isopleth-map-making Clyde Spencer published two programs through Atari Program Exchange: Stereo 3-D Graphics Package and Isopleth Map-Making Package. Stereo 3-D Graphics Package was first available in the winter 1982 APX catalog, and Map-Making in the Spring 1982 catalog. Clyde was also co-founder of the Bay Area Atari Users Group, and wrote some reviews for Antic magazine. This interview took place on March 1, 2016. In it, we discuss Liza Loop and John Crane, both of whom I previously interviewed. Teaser quote: "I actually withdrew my teacher's retirement money out to help fund the startup on that. ... About a year or two into that project, Atari went bankrupt. ... I was left with an orphan then at that point in time." 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkindig Posted May 22, 2016 Share Posted May 22, 2016 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1neIlWZQQYo_rdJO7XtcPrCtf_zgSquBzL9TA51Bocas/edit?usp=sharing Having a hard time keeping up with the Antic interviews? Want to see who has been interviewed so you can go back and listen again to your favorite ones? We've created an index of all the interviews on the ataripodcast.com Web site to make it easier for you. Thanks to Wade Ripkowski (Inverse ATASCII) for all his help in getting this created! Enjoy! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted May 24, 2016 Author Share Posted May 24, 2016 Steve Smith, ANTIC chip http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-177-steve-smith-antic-chip Steve Smith was an engineering technician at Atari from 1977 until 1979, where he worked on the development of the Atari 400 and 800 computers. He was one of the technicians who designed the ANTIC and CTIA chips. In this interview, we discuss Liza Loop, whom I previously interviewed. This interview took place on February 9, 2016. Teaser quotes: "...Huge roomful of 1 MhZ but not 1.1 MhZ devices. So that's what they put in the peripherals, was 6507 that they had surplus lying around." "The first chips came into the lab, and I was plugging in the CTIA, the first one. Completely untested. And I dropped it and it broke in half." 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted May 24, 2016 Author Share Posted May 24, 2016 165 people wrote Atari Program Exchange software. 56 have been interviewed*; 8 known dead; 3 declined. That's 40.6%. I think I'll go for another 27. Interviews with fully half of APX programmers will be enough. Some would say, more than enough. APX programmers' names include 8 Johns, 8 James/Jim, 8 Stephen/Steves, 7 Dave/Davids, 5 Williams, 5 Michael/Mike, 4 Richards, 4 Pauls, 4 Bobs. (*This includes Randy and Rob. Also, not all in this count have been published yet.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted May 24, 2016 Share Posted May 24, 2016 I hope you can get interviews with David Bueler, Wes Newell ,Greg Christensen, and Dan Rohr. Greg will be the holy grail. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted May 25, 2016 Author Share Posted May 25, 2016 I hope you can get interviews with David Bueler, Wes Newell ,Greg Christensen, and Dan Rohr. Greg will be the holy grail. Allan Haven't found him yet (but I have another lead); no leads; hasn't responded to my request (if it's even the right guy); hasn't responded to tweets and mail (if it's even the right guy). Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Any chance of an interview with Keith Ledbetter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted May 26, 2016 Author Share Posted May 26, 2016 Any chance of an interview with Keith Ledbetter? I've reached out two him twice, no reply. —K 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted May 26, 2016 Author Share Posted May 26, 2016 Wes Horlacher, Magic Melody Box http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-178-wes-horlacher-magic-melody-box Wes Horlacher published one program in Atari Program Exchange: Magic Melody Box. Magic Melody Box first appeared in the winter 1982-1983 APX catalog, where it was awarded second prize in the education category. It was also published as Boîte à Musique by Atari France. Teaser quote: "These machines aren't just for accounting and computation and mathematics. We can do creative things. Let's see what we can do with these machines to actually inspire the least thing you would expect from a deterministic machine like this: how can it inspire a human being to create?" This interview took place on February 15, 2016. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eegad Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Been listening to some of these interviews at random...very investing and informative. During the David Crane interview he mentioned something about Alan Miller insisting on having a way to turn off the OS in the 400/800 so that a game programmer could have complete control over the hardware without any overhead. Just wondering....did that really make it into the OS, and if so what is the "Al Miller bit" (memory location).....also are there any games that actually used this method? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Been listening to some of these interviews at random...very investing and informative. During the David Crane interview he mentioned something about Alan Miller insisting on having a way to turn off the OS in the 400/800 so that a game programmer could have complete control over the hardware without any overhead. Just wondering....did that really make it into the OS, and if so what is the "Al Miller bit" (memory location).....also are there any games that actually used this method? Star Raiders is a diagnostic cart, which bypasses the OS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 There's a Poke to $D301 that can disable the OS (when bit 0 = 0, disabled, 1=enabled). It's done in some games and demos to get full control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
evilmoo Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 There's a Poke to $D301 that can disable the OS (when bit 0 = 0, disabled, 1=enabled). That only works on the XL/XE, not on the original 400/800. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 That only works on the XL/XE, not on the original 400/800. Man - I have to stop posting when not awake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted May 30, 2016 Author Share Posted May 30, 2016 Greg Thrush and Marian Dillashaw: Stock Management and WordGo http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-179-greg-thrush-and-marian-dillashaw-stock-management-and-wordgo Greg Thrush published two programs through Atari Program Exchange: Stock Management and — with his wife Marian Dillashaw — Wordgo. Stock Management first appeared in the fall 1982 APX catalog, where it won first prize in the business and financial applications category. Wordgo first appeared in the summer 1983 catalog. This interview took place on March 4, 2016. Teaser quote: "If nothing else, it got them a little excited about technology. They could see that they could actually make some things happen." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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